NOVEL NEXT Chapter 54: Red
In the end, Kyle disclosed his new skill to her. There was no true reason to conceal it, for it lacked any extraordinary quality. The difficulty lay elsewhere, tied to Orion and Adela, neither of whom knew of his Dual Core. He had been forced to align the skill with the same element that branded him a practical undead, which was a deliberate falsehood.
The beautiful stranger remained unaware that he possessed the ability to tame beasts. He had not yet achieved mastery in that field, yet she did not know that his second core lay behind it. In that respect, he retained a considerable number of secrets beyond their perception.
These were matters he could never disclose, regardless of whatever measure of trust he might grant them in the future. For now, he defined their bond as... something... umm... bordering on distant friendship.
It was his first occasion truly socialising with people who had taken proper notice of him — or, more precisely, his first time with humans he did not detest more than the beasts themselves.
A different concern now demanded attention.
...The Island.
At present, they occupied the shell of a ruined structure, built in an archaic style and once consecrated to one of the false gods fashioned by the people of the old world to perpetuate their own deceits.
***
After the handsome youth had re-summoned his shadow, he sent it to prowl the length of the building. It returned nothing of note beyond the scattered offering boxes. From what they could determine, the place had once been a temple, its age stretching back centuries.
The interior lay in near-total darkness, pierced only by faint traces of light filtering from outside. Na-Ri resolved to kindle a flame. Orion alone possessed the ability to navigate the gloom through the nature of his element, yet reliance on his sight alone was unwise. Even with that gift, his vision reached only so far, never with the clarity the youth enjoyed.
She sifted through the offerings and drew out a strip of white cloth, stiffened and brittle at its edges, though still whole enough for her intent. At the base of a fallen beam she found a splintered stick, pared it down, and bound the cloth firmly to its tip, twisting until it held fast against the wood.
Her search then carried her to a cracked brazier in the corner. She parted the ash with her hand and uncovered fragments of old charcoal, which she set aside. From the debris she lifted a shard of flint, then struck it sharply against a rusted iron hinge torn from a door long since decayed.
Sparks leapt at once, snapping against the dark.
She bent close over the brazier, guiding a spark into the charcoal dust. It glimmered faintly, then took hold as she fed it a shred of cloth and breathed life into the ember until it burned with a muted flame.
She worked without delay, pressing the glowing scrap to the torch head. The white cloth smouldered, then flared into fire. Smoke lifted in oily strands, and the flame hissed as resin buried in the wood ignited. With the torch secured, Na-Ri returned to the others.
"I found a basement behind the altar. Let us move," she said, holding the fire high to illuminate their path.
While kindling the flame she had noticed it. The ground beneath a discarded garment had sounded different beneath her step, yielding the hollow creak of a door. When she pulled at it, the panel shifted and revealed an entrance into the earth.
Minutes later, the four of them forced the hatch open and discovered a wooden staircase descending into shadow. They hesitated. The unknown awaited below, and hesitation seemed only prudent.
The memory of the demon lingered. It had dragged them to the brink of death. Kyle more than the rest, for he had crossed the threshold before clawing back. That creature had given no signal of its arrival, erupting from the soil without warning.
What certainty did they possess that something worse did not await them beneath the stair?
Kyle reasoned that greater dangers must exist on the island, which explained why they had not encountered a single beast since their arrival, apart from the accursed demon. That alone should have been sufficient to instil caution.
'Are we truly going down there simply because... I cannot even say why.'
He glanced at Orion, Adela, and Na-Ri, and understood that he alone resisted the reckless notion of descending into a random basement on a strange island.
The idols they had passed on their way to the temple spoke for themselves. No explanation was required for anyone to recognise the worship of false gods in the ruins of the old world. That alone suggested the temple might once have belonged to a cult.
It was worth recalling that this very ruin had been raised to honour a false god, whose likeness stood in stone upon the altar. If such a sight was not warning enough to turn back, particularly in light of all they had endured, then nothing ever would.
Even so, Kyle went after them down the stair without a word. He decided, with no small measure of contempt for himself, that he had become something less than vermin. He despised insects, yet the comparison lingered. He could no longer bear the weight of death, and so he followed.
Not even beheading could bring him to an end. Perhaps if he were to lose the Orb, or hand it to another, he might then become a subject to death.
The manual allowed such transfers. Ownership of any item, whether weapon or artefact, could be bestowed upon another. The same principle applied to those with beast affinities, for they could surrender the bond of their tamed creatures to another cultivator who shared the same affinity. That stood as the only restriction in such cases.
Therefore, unless he relinquished the Abyssal Orb, death would not claim him for a long time to come.
In that knowledge, he cared little for the decisions of the others. His survival already lay beyond question. A faithful companion in peril and endurance, he considered himself...
At the base of the stair, they entered another chamber. An altar stood at its centre, commanded by a golden statue of the false god. Red cloths were spread in deliberate layers across the floor and draped about the idol. Four short pillars rose before it, placed in pairs on either side. The room bore no trace of neglect. Every surface appeared freshly cleansed, and upon the altar rested a candle, its wax unspoiled, its wick blackened but unspent.
...All the signs revealed that the place remained in use.
"This is without doubt a cult fixated on red and a false god, and the astonishing part is that they are still active. Have you any greater notion of why this island is so peculiar? We have just uncovered the first clues," Orion said in a veiled tone.