It was around 2 in the morning. The weather was extremely cold and the night dark, yet the sound of footsteps rang loudly in the streets of Fortuna.
"Slowly, stay in the shadows," Hao Xuan whispered to Bai when they passed by another squad of soldiers decked out in black armor.
The incident had taken place somewhere near the northwest of the outer city less than 20minutes ago.
The roads leading to and from that entire region had already been littered with checkpoints manned by squads of up to 20 soldiers each.
That complete area had been cordoned off. If Hao Xuan had used his identity then he probably could have gained access to it easily, but he chose not to do so on purpose.
First's vague message gave him a very bad feeling and he didn't want people to know he was going there.
So Bai had to make several dozen stops along the way, hiding in the shadows whenever they passed by a checkpoint.
Hao Xuan noticed that Bai's power had risen considerably as well. He seemed to have an innate affinity with the darkness. His body, which was bigger than a double-decker bus, somehow almost turned invisible whenever he was in a shadow half his size.
This must have been a new ability of his but Hao Xuan had no information about it.
The squad of 16 soldiers slowly marched on by. Hao Xuan waited for 30 seconds after they had left
before whispering, "Now," into Bai's ear. But he didn't move and instead kept staring to their left where the soldiers had just come from.
Hao Xuan followed his line of sight and squinted his eyes hard, trying to find anything out of the ordinary when he saw it.
It was a shadow on the wall. A vague and inconspicuous shadow of a humanoid creature with a tail and horns, but there was no physical body casting it. The shadow moved on its own, looking left and right before jumping over a wall and disappearing into a wooded area
"What the hell was that?!" Hao Xuan mumbled.
"Something….sinister…" Bai's voice rang in his mind.
Hao Xuan looked at him with a raised eyebrow, "You know what it is?"
Bai shook his head once, "Just felt it. It is something…not of this world. It should not be here."
Hao Xuan could feel how anxious Bai was feeling right now. Their souls were connected so whatever overwhelming and 'strong' emotion he felt, Hao Xuan could too, and vice versa.
"Alright, keep going but keep an eye out," he said while raising all his senses to the max.
Bai continued jumping from one shadow to another and soon went out of the city gates.
From then onwards it became much easier to travel since there were essentially no soldiers here. The entire area was a vast open farmland as far the eye could see.
With 30 more minutes of sprinting they reached an area overlooking the place where the smoke was coming out from.
It was a normal wheat field that went on for dozens of kilometers. There was a hole the size of two football fields put together in the middle of it.
"Do you sense anyone nearby?" Hao Xuan asked Bai when he failed to find any signs of life himself. Bai's ears perked and his eyes glistened with a strange light as he scoured the area. About 20 seconds later he also shook his head confirming that there was nobody near them.
Instead of feeling relieved, Hao Xuan found the entire situation even more strange.
Why was access to this place blocked?
Why was nobody here? Not even the soldiers themselves were anywhere near this place and it seemed like they were avoiding it on purpose.
How come no one had been sent to check out what happened?
This was anything but normal.
"Okay, go closer, slowly," Hao Xuan said to Bai but they were in a completely open area. There was nowhere to hide here. There wasn't a shadow where he could hide if something did go wrong.
Still, Bai followed his orders and walked closer. About 10 meters away from the hole he suddenly stopped.
Hao Xuan instantly tensed up.
"What's wrong? Do you see something?"
It seemed like Bai couldn't find the appropriate words. Hesitation was clear on his face.
His head tilted to the side while his brow scrunched up in discomfort.
"This place is not good. We should not be here," his tone somber.
"What? Why not?"
"I….don't know. But every fiber of my being is telling me to stay as far away from this place as possible. Something very bad happened down there."
Hao Xuan straightened his back and looked at the billowing smoke in front of him. He looked around him but there was still no sign of anyone.
"Alright, I'll go alone from here," Hao Xuan said before recalling Bai before he could say anything else. He felt the strong resistance Bai was putting up just to stand this close to the hole so he didn't want to force him.
With soft steps, he walked to the edge of the hole and looked down.
About 30 feet below him the ground turned to cement. There were pieces of white granitelike materials embedded inside it. This manmade layer was 10 feet thick.
The smoke was coming from somewhere much much deeper within though. It seemed like this entire field was hollow from inside.
As Hao Xuan peered downward, he couldn't even see the bottom of it. It was completely dark.
He took out the glaive and grasped it tightly. It vibrated in response, giving him a feeling of security and warmth.
It seemed like his connection to the glaive was much stronger than before. Now, whenever he held it he could feel its own lifeforce coursing through the shaft and the blade. It truly was alive.
With the glaive in his hand, he moved to edge and used it as a pike to stab into the ground for support.. And just like that, he slowly descended into the dark unknown.
