Chương 73: Beneath the Mountain

The second voice should not have existed. Rin stood before the partially opened stone door with his blade lowered at his side, staring into the narrow gap where pale light spilled across the floor, while Leo remained several steps behind him, every sense focused on the corridor rather than the voice itself.

"Open it." The words had come from somewhere beyond the door. They had been spoken in Leo's voice. Not a voice resembling his. Not an imitation with a different rhythm or unfamiliar pronunciation. His voice. The same calm tone, the same measured pace, even the slight roughness that appeared when he had gone too long without speaking. Rin slowly turned his head.

"You heard that."

"Yes."

"That was your voice."

"Yes." Leo's hand rested on the hilt of his sword. He did not approach the door. The first voice came again.

"Rin." It was Kaien.

"Do not listen to that voice." Rin stared at the gap.

"Where are you?"

"Behind the door."

"Then come out."

"I can't."

"Why?" There was a pause.

"Because it won't let me." Rin took a step forward. Leo caught his shoulder.

"Wait." Rin looked back.

"My brother is there."

"I know."

"Then let me go."

"No." Rin's expression hardened.

"You don't understand."

"I understand exactly what you're thinking." Leo released him.

"But you don't know whether the person behind that door is your brother." Rin turned toward the opening. The pale light flickered. Kaien's voice became quieter.

"Rin, listen to him." Rin froze.

"He's right." The words seemed to hurt him more than anything else had.

"Kaien?"

"I don't know how much time has passed." His voice sounded exhausted.

"I don't know how long I've been here." Rin's fingers tightened around his sword.

"But you're alive."

"Yes."

"Then come out."

"I can't."

"Why?" Kaien did not answer. Leo stepped closer.

"Kaien." The voice beyond the door became silent. Leo continued.

"You said the mountain wouldn't let you leave."

"Yes."

"You were able to cross this door."

"No." Leo looked at the narrow opening.

"Then how are you speaking to us?" Another pause.

"I don't know." That answer sounded genuine. Leo believed him. Not because he trusted Kaien. Because the uncertainty in his voice was difficult to imitate.

"What happened to the fourteen people?" Leo asked. Silence. Rin looked at him. Leo waited. Finally, Kaien answered.

"Some followed the voices."

"What happened to them?"

"I don't know."

"You saw them."

"Yes."

"Then what happened?"

"I stopped seeing them." Leo's eyes narrowed.

"That's not an answer."

"I know." Kaien breathed slowly.

"The mountain separates people."

"Physically?"

"Yes."

"How?"

"I don't know." The second voice interrupted. This time it came from farther inside.

"Leo." Rin looked toward the darkness. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Leo did not move.

"Leo." The voice sounded exactly like him.

"Come closer." Leo stared at the door.

"Why?"

"Because you already know me." Rin looked at Leo. The words had changed something in the atmosphere. Not because the voice knew Leo. Because it was trying to make him believe that it did. Leo stepped toward the door. Rin immediately reached for his arm.

"Don't." Leo looked at him.

"I want to hear what it says."

"You're doing exactly what it wants."

"Probably."

"That doesn't bother you?"

"It bothers me enough." He stopped several feet from the opening.

"Who are you?" The voice laughed softly. Not mockingly. Almost kindly.

"I am the reason this mountain was built." Leo's expression remained still.

"That's unlikely."

"Why?"

"Because people don't build mountains." A pause. Then the voice answered:"Not the mountain." Leo understood. The structure. The doors. The chambers. The symbols. Something had been built beneath the mountain.

"What were you containing?" Leo asked. The voice did not answer. Instead, Kaien spoke.

"Don't listen to it." The second voice became silent. Leo looked toward the door.

"You know what it is." Kaien answered after several seconds.

"I know what it isn't."

"What isn't it?"

"It isn't human." Rin's expression tightened.

"What is it?"

"I don't know." The answer came with such exhaustion that Leo believed it. Kaien continued.

"When I first came here, I thought the voices were ghosts. Then I thought they were memories. Then I thought the mountain was using some kind of magic."

"And now?"

"Now I don't think the mountain is doing anything." Leo's attention sharpened.

"Explain."

"The mountain is a container."

"For what?"

"I don't know."

"Then what is the voice?" Kaien's breathing became unsteady.

"It is something inside the container." Rin stepped forward.

"Then open the door." Kaien immediately answered.

"No."

"Why?"

"Because the door is not keeping it inside." Rin stopped. Leo's eyes narrowed.

"Then what is it doing?"

"Keeping it from reaching the rest of the mountain." The meaning settled slowly. The door was not a prison door. It was a barrier. A division. A line between one section of the underground structure and another. Leo looked at the three-line symbol carved into the stone.

"Why are there fourteen weapons outside?" Kaien was silent. Then he said:"They tried to cross." Rin looked down at the weapons.

"And they disappeared."

"Yes."

"Where?"

"I don't know."

"Did they die?"

"I don't know." Rin's voice broke slightly.

"Stop saying that." Kaien went quiet. Rin looked toward the door.

"You saw them."

"I saw them enter."

"You saw what happened."

"I saw the door close."

"And then?"

"Nothing." Rin's hand shook. Leo noticed. He also noticed something else. The pale light beneath the door had begun to move. Not flicker. Move. Like something was approaching from the other side. Leo stepped backward.

"Rin." Rin looked at him.

"Move." They both retreated. The light reached the edge of the opening. A shadow appeared within it. Tall. Humanoid. Still. Then two pale eyes opened. Rin raised his blade. Leo drew his sword. The figure stepped forward. It was a man. Or something that had once looked like one. His skin was almost white, and thin black lines ran across his neck, arms, and face like cracks in porcelain. His hair was long and colorless, hanging around his shoulders. Silver eyes looked at them. He did not attack.

He simply stood there. Then he looked at Rin.

"You shouldn't have come." Rin's breathing stopped.

"Kaien?" The man smiled faintly.

"No." Rin's expression collapsed into confusion.

"Then who are you?" The silver-eyed man looked past him toward Leo.

"That is a better question." Leo kept his sword raised.

"What are you?" The man considered the question.

"I don't remember." Rin stared.

"You don't remember?"

"I remember entering."

"When?" The man looked toward the corridor.

"Long ago."

"How long?"

"I don't know." Leo studied him.

"You're one of the fourteen." The man shook his head.

"No."

"Then who?"

"There were six." Rin frowned.

"Six what?"

"Six who entered the door." The man looked at Leo.

"Five returned." Leo's expression changed slightly.

"You were the sixth."

"Yes."

"What happened to the others?" The silver-eyed man looked down at his hands.

"I don't know." Again. That answer. But this time there was something different behind it. Not uncertainty. Loss. Leo lowered his sword slightly.

"What is your name?" The man looked at him.

"I had one."

"Do you remember it?"

"No."

"Then why can you speak?" The man smiled faintly.

"Because I remember language." Rin stepped forward.

"What happened to my brother?" The silver-eyed man looked at him.

"Kaien?"

"Yes."

"He is alive." Rin's eyes widened.

"Where?"

"Beyond."

"Beyond what?" The man pointed toward the door behind him. Rin immediately moved. Leo stopped him. The silver-eyed man spoke again.

"Your brother is not where you think."

"Then where is he?"

"Beyond the sealed door." Rin looked at the door.

"Can we reach him?"

"Yes."

"How?" The man looked at Leo.

"You shouldn't." Leo's expression hardened.

"Why?"

"Because the door is beginning to open." A low vibration passed through the chamber. The fourteen weapons on the floor trembled. One sword moved slightly. Then another. The silver-eyed man turned. The black cracks across his skin seemed to darken.

"It has started again."

"What has?" Leo asked.

"The waking." Rin looked toward him.

"What is waking?" The man did not answer. Instead, he looked at the fragment hanging from Leo's belt.

"The markers." Leo's gaze followed his.

"You know about them."

"Yes."

"They aren't keys."

"No."

"What are they?"

"Signals."

"For what?"

"To tell the doors that someone has arrived." Leo's expression became colder.

"Who?" The man looked toward the ceiling.

"The people who built this place."

"They're dead."

"Yes."

"Then who receives the signal?" The man looked at Leo.

"The mountain." That answer irritated Rin.

"What does that mean?" The silver-eyed man ignored him. He continued staring at Leo.

"Your power is different." Leo's hand tightened around his sword.

"What about it?"

"It doesn't belong to the systems used here." Rin looked between them.

"What are you talking about?" Leo said nothing. The silver-eyed man continued.

"Magic." He raised one finger.

"Aura." A second.

"Chakra." A third.

"Resonance." A fourth.

"And Internal Energy." A fifth.

"They were once studied together." Leo's expression remained unchanged.

"But Internal Energy disappeared."

"No." The man shook his head.

"It was isolated."

"By whom?"

"I don't know."

"You don't remember?"

"No." Leo studied him.

"You're not very useful." The silver-eyed man smiled.

"That is what the others said." Rin stepped forward.

"You said there were six."

"Yes."

"Five returned."

"Yes."

"Where are they?" The man looked at him.

"They left."

"Then why didn't you?"

"I couldn't."

"Why?" The silver-eyed man looked toward the door.

"Because the door remembered me." Rin frowned. Leo's eyes narrowed.

"What does that mean?"

"It means when I tried to leave, the mountain opened a different path."

"And?"

"I walked through it."

"What did you find?" The man looked at Leo.

"A place that wasn't supposed to exist." Leo waited. But the man did not continue. Instead, the floor beneath them began to vibrate harder. A silver line appeared across the chamber. Then another. Then another. The three lines formed a circle around Leo. Rin immediately moved toward him.

"Leo!"

"Stay back." The symbol beneath Leo's feet brightened. His Internal Energy reacted instinctively. Darkness gathered around his body. The mountain answered. Not with hostility. With recognition. The silver-eyed man took several steps backward. For the first time, genuine fear appeared in his eyes.

"No." Leo looked at him.

"What?"

"You shouldn't have brought that power here." Leo's gaze hardened.

"I didn't bring it here for you." The man shook his head.

"You don't understand."

"Then explain."

"I can't."

"Try." The man looked toward the seven enormous stone structures carved into the chamber walls. Leo followed his gaze. Seven doors. He had not noticed them before because they were almost indistinguishable from the surrounding stone. Six were sealed. One was open. A pale light shone through the seventh. The silver-eyed man whispered:"There are seven." Leo stared at them.

"The doors."

"Yes."

"Why seven?"

"I don't know."

"Where do they lead?" The man shook his head.

"Not somewhere." Leo's eyes narrowed.

"Then where?" The man looked toward the floor.

"To boundaries." The word meant something. Leo remembered the archive beneath Blackridge. The old records. The five power systems. The researchers who had disappeared. The fragments. The doors. None of it formed a complete picture yet, but for the first time the pieces were beginning to occupy the same space. The silver-eyed man pointed toward the open door.

"That one was opened two hundred and eleven years ago." Rin looked at him.

"How do you know?"

"Because I was here."

"You were one of the six."

"Yes."

"What happened?"

"We entered."

"And?" The man looked toward the darkness beyond the open door.

"Five left."

"Where?"

"I don't know." Leo stared at him.

"You keep saying you don't know."

"Because I don't." He looked almost amused.

"Do you think ignorance is a weakness?"

"No."

"Good." The silver-eyed man's smile disappeared.

"Because this place has survived precisely because nobody understands it completely." The ground shook again. This time, dust fell from the ceiling. A distant sound echoed through the chamber. A bell. Rin looked toward the eastern corridor.

"The bell." Leo nodded. The same bell they had heard outside. But now it was coming from beneath the mountain. One deep note. Then another. The seven doors responded. Silver light spread across their surfaces. The open door brightened. The six sealed doors remained dark. Except one. The third. A thin line appeared across it. Then another. The silver-eyed man stepped backward.

"That's impossible." Leo looked at him.

"Why?"

"Because that door hasn't moved in two hundred and eleven years." The line widened. A crack appeared. Pale light spilled through. Then a voice came from behind it. A human voice. Weak. Frightened.

"Rin." Rin froze. Kaien. This time there was no doubt. His brother was behind the third door. Rin took a step. Leo did not stop him. Kaien's voice came again.

"Don't open it." Rin's eyes filled with anger and relief at once.

"I'm coming for you."

"No."

"I'm not leaving you."

"Rin." Kaien's voice trembled.

"Listen to me." Rin stopped.

"You need to leave."

"Why?"

"Because I'm not alone." The chamber became silent. Then another voice spoke behind Kaien. It was Leo's voice. Calm. Cold. Almost amused.

"Neither are you." The third door cracked wider. And something on the other side began to breathe. End of Chapter 73.