NOVEL WEB 34. The Darks' Hideout
This immense and mysterious cave was anything but a natural creation. From his position on the boat, Ale could see through the clear waters of the lake that extended beneath him. The lake's artificial bed was surprisingly flat, carved with surgical precision. The cavern's walls rose perpendicularly, marking sharp, calculated boundaries. Furthermore, some of the waterfalls cascading from outside fed the lake with a carefully directed flow, too precise to be a mere natural phenomenon.
The walls of the cave, rough at first glance, revealed skillfully carved platforms in certain spots. These spaces held torch brackets, their flames dancing lazily, casting a warm and eerie glow over the entire cavern. Ale turned his head from side to side, taking in the grandeur of this monumental space. The cave must have been at least 100 meters wide and nearly 300 meters long.
The lake occupied most of the area, stretching about 250 meters. The remaining 50 meters hosted a coarse sand beach and a rudimentary dock. A few small boats floated peacefully in this hidden underground refuge. The dock was simple and functional, equipped with a loading crane and a couple of two-wheeled carts ready to transport goods. A basic pathway extended from the dock, leading to a double wooden door, massive and sealed shut. Judging by its width, Ale estimated that three men could walk side by side through the entrance with ease.
"A hidden base for the followers of darkness?" Ale murmured, narrowing his eyes as he tried to unravel the mysteries of this place. As he pondered, the boat suddenly shifted before settling again. The spirit of the river, that gigantic sea monster, had gently deposited the boat on the shore. Ale watched as the creature slowly moved to the edge of the lake, its massive jaws theatrically opening.
The creature began to cough loudly, its body contracting with effort. Then, with a sudden movement, it spat out the animals it had swallowed earlier. The beasts – cows, pigs, and goats – were regurgitated onto the shore, all unharmed but visibly disoriented.
"It didn’t eat them?" Ale exclaimed, surprised. He had believed the animals offered to the spirit had been devoured, sacrificed.
"I'm a vegetarian," a deep, grave voice suddenly resonated, breaking the cave's oppressive silence. The declaration was delivered with such calm that, for a moment, Ale wondered if he had heard it correctly.
Startled and puzzled, Ale leaned over the edge of the boat, searching for the source of the voice.
"I’m forced to carry the animals in my belly! The mage cast a spell on me, turning my stomach into a spatio-temporal space!" The river spirit seemed to be explaining, as if trying to clear Ale’s suspicions.
"For a divine river spirit, being trapped by a mere mortal is… surprising," Ale replied, skeptical. As a spirit, it should have near-divine strength, hard to constrain by a human mage. Ale frowned, doubting the creature’s words and wondering if it was attempting to deceive him.
"I don’t claim to be a divine spirit," the creature replied calmly. "I am a Torenyx, an ancient creature, but not divine."
"But you speak!"
"Knowing your language doesn’t make me divine," replied the Torenyx. "I’ve simply lived long enough to learn it."
Ale pondered, realizing his understanding of this world’s creatures might be too simplistic. He had always assumed that only divine or magical beings could possess intelligence and language, but now he wondered how many other creatures, ignored by humans, might hold wisdom and reason. Perhaps humans had driven these creatures away simply because they were misunderstood.
"You defeated the dark mage," continued the Torenyx in a tone almost pleading, "So you must be a powerful mage yourself. Could you help me lift this curse? I can’t even eat properly anymore! Everything I swallow gets sent to this hellish storage space."
Ale, sensing the creature’s sincere distress, nodded. "Alright, let me take a closer look." He jumped from the boat, landing on the beach, and gestured for the creature to approach.
The Torenyx slid toward the shore and opened its cavernous mouth, revealing a space as dark as a cave. Ale could only see darkness, except for a few faintly glowing symbols deep within the creature’s throat.
"This is no simple spell," Ale muttered to himself. "Standard spatio-temporal magic is time-limited and isn’t meant to contain living beings. These spaces are sealed, without oxygen." He mused, inspecting the creature's mouth and considering a new hypothesis.
"Perhaps… a magical relic?" Suddenly, a name he’d never known surfaced in his mind. Recently, whenever he faced complex questions, answers would arise within his thoughts, like dormant knowledge coming to life. He realized his pact with Nyxion had unlocked a treasure trove of knowledge, an immense amount that he couldn’t fully absorb without overwhelming his mind. This knowledge remained latent, awaiting specific reflections to be triggered.
Ale had the sense of a hidden intelligence within him, like an extra awareness, accessing this knowledge base and providing likely answers, manifesting as intuition. The idea surprised him but grew increasingly logical as he familiarized himself with the pact’s mysteries.
A magical relic, unlike enchanted scrolls, was a sophisticated mechanism, containing intricate, permanent magical formulas. Unlike scrolls, which were fleeting by nature, a magical relic was powered by magical stones that fueled it. As long as these stones remained charged, the relic could operate indefinitely, like a flame that never goes out as long as it's fed fuel.
The creation of these relics required not only exceptional magical skill but also significant time and resources. The most powerful mages resorted to this method to perpetuate their spells beyond their own lives, a legacy that could endure for generations. Through these relics, descendants or apprentices, even without advanced arcane knowledge, could benefit from powerful spells without needing a prodigious mana reserve.
This made magical relics rare and precious objects, often regarded as divine artifacts. In this world, the very idea that a mere object could hold such potent and lasting power was fascinating—a way to reach eternity, to transcend the limits of a fleeting human life.
The thought of retrieving this magical relic made Ale's eyes sparkle with curiosity and excitement. He leaned closer to the creature's massive maw and, determined to inspect every detail, murmured an incantation. "Visus Arcani," he invoked, activating inspection magic capable of revealing elements invisible to the naked eye. Instantly, a beam of light, like a thin laser, emerged from his eyes, scanning the scene meticulously, sweeping every corner of the creature’s mouth from left to right, top to bottom.
His attention was suddenly drawn to a plume of smoke with iridescent reflections nestled between the gaps of a massive molar. Intrigued, Ale moved closer to inspect it. What he found surprised him: it was a complex artifact, embedded within the creature's flesh, connected directly to its nerves. It appeared as a crystalline core surrounded by magical circuits inscribed with ancient symbols, and the vibrant glow it emitted hinted at its power.
The structure of the relic—identified thanks to the intuitive knowledge surfacing in his mind—was called the "Oculus Abyssi." This relic, embedded within the monster's mouth, linked to its nerves, transforming the creature's insides into an infinite spatio-temporal space. Drawing directly from the creature’s mana reserve, it utilized its vital energy to maintain the space and provide regular oxygenation, allowing for the storage of living beings.
Ale took a moment to contemplate the complexity of this mechanism. The information flooded in, clearer and more detailed. "A relic that turns a living being into a spatio-temporal container... The larger the body, the bigger the space created," he murmured, impressed. The precision of this knowledge, appearing from nowhere, intrigued him.
"I should really give a name to this... 'intelligence' whispering all these insights to me," he thought with a faint smile.
Ale approached the relic and carefully removed it from the creature's mouth. Instantly, the nerves that had been tense and swollen with energy gradually relaxed, returning to their normal size. The dark symbol, floating in the creature’s throat, gradually disintegrated, revealing the natural anatomy of the creature, down to the massive gland at the end of its throat.
"Thank you. I feel so much lighter now," the monster declared with a sigh of relief, bowing its head respectfully toward Ale. A horn adorned with strange engravings floated gracefully before Ale. "Take this," added the monster. "If you ever need me, blow it, and I’ll come."
Ale took the horn, examining it with curiosity. "Where are we exactly? Is this the hideout of the followers of darkness?" he asked, his gaze shifting from the cave walls to the imposing doors at the cavern’s back.
"Yes, this is one of the Darks’ hideouts in this region," the sea monster replied. A chill ran through Ale at hearing that name. "The Darks? That’s what they call themselves..." he murmured. "The kidnapped children are here, then?"
"Exactly," confirmed the monster. "Behind those doors, a passage leads to their fortress. The children are held there."
Ale frowned. "And the flooding… that wasn’t you, I imagine? It was their distraction for kidnapping the children, right?"
The sea monster nodded slowly, seeming troubled. Ale realized then that the Darks had enchanted the creature, making it responsible for the floods to justify capturing the children. Yet one question remained, burning with uncertainty in Ale's mind. "But… why are they kidnapping the children?"
The monster lowered its gaze, helpless. "I can’t answer that," it said gravely.
Ale clenched his teeth. He knew that, to get answers, he would have to seek them himself. And he had another mission: to put an end
to the unending rain. If there were still dark mages in this hideout, they were likely responsible for this magical storm. He took a deep breath and looked at the monster.
"Take these children to safety, as far from here as possible, and wait for my signal." The sea monster nodded, signaling that it understood.
"Be careful," it warned. "There are dozens of dark mages here. Though they may not be as powerful as the one you faced, they are numerous and formidable."
Ale gave a slight nod in acknowledgment, watching as the monster took the boat with the children onboard to escort them to safety. The bravest of the children waved to Ale, some smiling timidly in gratitude. Ale returned their salute with a confident smile, then, resolute, turned and headed toward the massive doors.