Team Zephyr was searching through their third building when they heard a loud explosion. Keng and Calis turned and watched as a small manhole cover blasted out of the water.
"Woah!" Keng pointed as the manhole splashed into the water. "Do you think that's them?" Keng pressed himself against the dirty window and listened to the liquid pour.
"That doesn't sound good." Calis commented.
"What?" Keng looked at Calis.
"If that's Lee Seng," Calis pointed in the general direction where the manhole cover came from. "Then, all of that water is going to vortex straight down the hole." The noises of pouring stopped and both Keng and Calis turned their attention to the yellow liquid. "They closed it…"
The liquid rippled and Calis turned to look at Keng. Keng stared at the liquid, the flicker of hope growing within him. Calis patted Keng and motioned. Keng nodded and started to turn. Their search continued to find nothing. Another disappointment, they climbed to the top and waited for the rest to come back.
"Did you see that thing fly out of the liquid earlier?" Manny asked Ritsuka and Evan.
"Yeah. Do you think it's Lee Seng and Olivia?" Evan asked.
"I think so." Liz answered.
"I know so." Manny nodded. The four of them stepped out onto the ceiling. They noticed Calis and Keng looking out at the liquid below.
"I guess we all heard it then." Calis looked at Keng. Keng nodded and waved to the others.
"Any luck?" Keng asked. They all shook their heads. Keng sighed and nodded. "Onto the next one then."
"Do ya think that was Lee Seng?" Evan asked Keng.
"I think so." Keng replied. "Have any of you tried to get in contact with them, again?"
"No." Manny shook his head. "I can't even get in contact with you guys."
"It's strange… It's like the moment that liquid happened, our comm devices short circuited out." Ritsuka looked at his device.
"Do you think searching every building is the fastest option?" Manny asked. "Calis, don't you have a natural affinity to the artifact? Wouldn't you know for certain if it was anywhere near us?"
"I wasn't trained to know where the Cup is. I'm only going based on what I've been told." Calis sighed. The group sighed. "I agree this method is… annoyingly long. If we could figure out a better way to find the Cup, it would certainly beat going to every building in this city."
"There's hundreds of these buildings… And not to mention it, but that liquid is going to heat up with the sun and stink up the entire area."
Seven buildings down and the group tiredly landed on the eighth one. The sun was burning and the smell of the disgusting liquid was starting to really get to them. They fled into the building, attempting to escape the smell.
"It's really not getting any better." Liz gagged.
"Let's just… fine a place away from all of this…" Manny pinched his nose. The group descended down the flights, occasionally checking a floor for any signs of the Cup. They eventually reached the steps to the first floor and noticed the floor wasn't as flooded as the rest.
"It still reeks." Ritsuka complained, pinching his nose. Calis lifted his hand and swiped it across. Waves of water pushed the liquid through the open door. Keng swung his hand and closed it shut, keeping the water from leaking back in. Calis and Keng slowly descended and noticed something strange about this building.
Earth was removed away from the bottom of the stairwell. A harsh and ugly path of stone and dirt lined with old lights descended deeper into the ground. They followed the path, making sure not to slip and fall to their doom. The path slowly spiraled downwards, growing darker.
What once was working lights, were old and broken. This was a good sign for the group who spent hours looking for the Cup. This was the first major evidence of the old city. Keng lit up their space with his light. He couldn't have the rest of the group becoming useless around him.
The rough path led them to a large rusted door. Yellow liquid and remnants of standing water filled the space between Team Zephyr and the rusted door. Calis threw a dark path over the standing water and walked over it first. Keng followed, motioning to the others to follow.
Calis peeked through the rusted door slits. It looked like holding cells. He looked over to Keng who peered inside. His eyes narrowed and a realization grew over him. This looked too familiar.
"Lee Seng was here before…" Keng whispered.
"Hm?" Manny asked. Keng blew the door off and stepped inside. The door slid to a stop as Keng moved the lights forward, revealing jail cells. A couple skeletons laid on the floor. They looked like they were trying to get out of the chains that bound them.
"A jail all the way down here? Why would they make one down here?" Liz asked.
"There probably wasn't a police station nearby so they made due." Manny guessed. Keng came to a stop in front of a jail cell on the left. The door was busted open and the bars were pulled apart. Keng sighed. It was many years ago, yet Keng could feel the emotions. Despair. Anger. A fleeting hope.
Keng turned away and continued on. It was just feelings from Lee Seng. It was from years ago when they were split and couldn't be together. It was during a time that was past them now… That's what Keng would tell himself to escape it.
The end of the jail cell was a locked and shut metallic door. This door was in better condition than the rusted door they had come through. Keng pushed on the door and tried to open it, but couldn't. There was something different about this door.
"You can't open it?" Ritsuka asked. Keng stepped back and shook his head. He blasted it with gravity which only resulted in the wall cracking in front of him.
"What do we do now?" Evan asked. "Anyone know how to pick a lock?" Manny sighed and stepped forward. He knew how to.
"You got something I can use?" Manny asked the group. Keng summoned Hydrosphere and shifted them into picks. He handed them to Manny and watched Manny kneel. "I haven't done this in a long time. Doors aren't usually locked like how they were in the old days…"
"You went from old fashion to hacking doors on your own time." Liz chuckled. "Of course you're rusty." Manny ignored her comment. It was a bit too dark. He began to ask Keng for more light, but Keng was already a step ahead of him. He moved the lights closer and watched Manny work.
The door clicked open and Calis was impressed.
"I don't think I've seen someone use such a skill before. Where did you learn it?" Calis asked. Manny handed Hydrosphere the lockpicks back to Keng and stood up.
"I was rebellious and wanted to know secrets in the lab." Manny opened the door. "So I picked locks to learn. I got into a lot of trouble because of that skill. They shortly replaced it with tech locked doors so that skill quickly became useless in the lab. I picked locks outside for a while, getting into a lot of trouble and grew bored with the skill."
The door opened to root-like tendrils that were infesting the hall.
"What's that?" Evan asked. "Tree roots?"
"Purple tree roots?" Ritsuka looked at Evan. "I doubt there can be such a thing." Keng and Calis focused on the roots. They couldn't sense any energy from them whatsoever. It was like the roots had a similar effect like the Corrupted.
"Corrupted roots?" Calis asked Keng.
"Yup." Keng moved forward and wrote a rune. He swiped it and blasted first into the hallway. The purple roots shimmered before the flames hit the end wall. Team Zephyr watched as the fire ate at the roots, devouring them and leaving the smell of iron in the air.
"Wherever this goes, must lead to the place we're meant to go to." Manny commented.
"The Cup might be down here." Ritsuka agreed.
"C'mon." Manny motioned. "Let's go."
The hallway led to another door filled with tendril roots trying to regrow. Keng pushed another fire rune onto them and watched the roots burn away. He blasted the door open, revealing the rough terrain of the cavern.
For a brief moment, a quiet trickle of water caught Keng's ear. He looked over at Calis, who stared at him blankly.
"Water." Keng whispered. "I hear water."
"It could just be cave water." Manny suggested.
"Better than nothing." Keng stepped past Manny and started forward. The cavern was huge and descended even lower. Holes appeared above Keng that looked like pathways that snaked further from their current spot. The sound of water grew from a trickle turning into a constant spill of water. Keng looked around for a bit and eventually settled on a tunnel on the right side that went up.
"Where are we going? We're walking blind and I'm pretty sure I see tendrils around still." Manny pointed out. Keng pointed to the tunnel that went up. It was where the tendrils were thickest.
"That way." Keng told him. "I'm pretty sure the water's that way."
The 𝘮ost uptodat𝑒 novels are pub𝙡ished on fre(e)webno(v)el.𝒸𝑜𝘮