Grace stilled in her tracks as her ears registered Aleena’s question. She wads right - if sothing so powerful was present in this place, then why it hadn’t been taken away by soone already?
And it seed like she already knew the answer. "Since it’s sothing so powerful, I’m sure it can’t be taken away so easily. No doubt the governnt is trying to locate powerful people."
Her team was silent for next few seconds as they processed the aning behind her words. It was Davian who spoke first. "Do you think they are looking for powerful people to take hold over whatever power is lying hidden here?"
Slowly, Grace nodded her head in a positive response. "According to the system, the imnse power in this place belongs to a spirit stone, which ans a really powerful Beast is hiding in this place."
She turned to face her team before continuing, "The military barricaded this area and announced it as a restricted zone only after the end of rain disaster. That’s also when the first tremor from this area was recorded. All these can’t just be a coincidence."
"So the military ended up finding out about whatever spirit beast is hiding here and now they are trying to gather enough powerful people who can - either kill the beast and retrieve the spirit stone, or capture the beast." Rune finished analyzing the situation.
More or less, they had a rough idea about exactly what might be going on with the restricted zone and the governnt’s plan of finding people with strong superpowers. However, it was still just an assumption.
"Let’s find this beast then. I’m also curious about why it’s stuck here." Nina said, bringing everyone’s attention to the latter part of her sentence.
"Since that beast is the one behind the tremor’s, maybe it’s stuck beneath the ground?" Silas voiced out the first convincing reason he could think of.
Grace let out a small sigh, ready to unveil the answers tonight. "That can be possible. We will find out soon anyway."
And with that, they once again resud their journey. After navigating through the broken terrain for next ten or so minutes, they finally reached the edge of a clearing.
And what they saw made them freeze.
In the middle of the restricted zone, hidden deep within the ruins, lay a massive pond.
But it wasn’t an ordinary body of water.
The surface shimred with an unnatural glow, swirling with blue and green energy, as if the very essence of magic had seeped into it. The water wasn’t clear - it was deep, dark, and alive.
Ripples spread across the surface despite the absence of wind. The energy coming from it was overwhelming, pressing against their bodies like a physical force.
[Alert: Spirit Stone detected. Source is located deep within the pond.]
2025’s voice filled Grace’s head as it notified her about the system’s new detection.
"That’s it," she let her team know what she just learned from 2025. "The Spirit Stone is in there."
Davian walked closer to the pond and crouched near the edge, scooping up a handful of the glowing water. It shimred between his fingers before slipping away like liquid light.
"This is pure energy," he muttered. "I have never seen anything like it."
Kevin shifted uneasily. "Alright, we found the damn thing. Now, the real question - what’s inside?" Explore more stories with .Côm
Silas exhaled. "If it’s been left unclaid all this ti, then sothing big... and powerful must be in there."
Grace felt it too - a presence... a really powerful one. It felt like sothing dangerous, sothing powerful, sothing that was watching them.
At that very mont, a deep, low rumble vibrated through the ground.
And it was definitely not an earthquake, nor was it a tremor.
It ca from beneath the water.
A deep, guttural sound - so low that it resonated within their bones.
As seconds later the surface of the pond stilled, the air grew thick with tension.
"Did... did the pond just growl?" Nina whispered.
Everyone was standing there frozen, waiting.
The water, which had been glowing steadily, suddenly dimd, and the energy swirling within it slowed, as if sothing huge had just shifted below.
The silence was deafening.
And then...
A single massive ripple spread across the pond.
Grace took an instinctive step back only for Rune to wrap his arm around her waist from behind. He was right there with her, and so was Davian who hurriedly stepped back from the pond as well.
That was no ordinary energy disturbance.
Sothing was down there.
Sothing alive... the beast that was carrying the Spirit Stone. Maybe it was an aquatic animal? But from the data that Grace received from the system, this pond only ca into existence after the flood. This made it unusual for an aquatic animal to be present here.
Rune’s voice was quiet, but firm as he spoke. "We need to move."
No one argued.
Grace spoke to 2025 through their shared mind-link. "Tell what’s down there."
The little creature began to work instantly and the familiar chanical voice of the system filled her head a second later.
[Scanning...]
She was expecting for so kind of breakthrough, but the hesitation she felt coming from 2025 made her worry. And it only got worse when the little creature finally spoke -
[Unable to identify.]
The words sent a chill down her spine.
She had never seen 2025 fail to analyze sothing before.
And if even the system couldn’t detect what was beneath the pond... then they were dealing with sothing far beyond their expectations.
Davian noticed her silence and the expression on her face first. "Is sothing wrong?"
Grace turned her attention to him as she whispered. "The system is still unable to identify what kind of beast is hiding in there."
He took a slow breath, his voice steady despite the tension. "What are you planning to do next?"
She didn’t answer imdiately. Because for the first ti in a long ti... she wasn’t sure.
But one thing was certain.
They had just awakened sothing the mont they stepped into the restricted zone.
And it was waiting for them...!
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