Chapter 38: Their Will
With careful steps, Aldrian walked slowly through the long, dark hallway. He created his own light using fire energy, forming flames in his hands. His senses functioned normally here, allowing him to spread them forward. What he found was a long hallway descending underground, its end beyond his senses' reach. Always alert for traps or surprise attacks, he circulated his energy, ready to unleash a technique, and had his sword out just in case.
He kept walking until he saw light at the end of the hallway. Feeling the rich energy ahead, he quickened his steps and when he reached the light source, he found himself in a huge empty hall with stones producing light on the ceiling and walls. The hall was quite large for an underground structure, about 250 square meters. When he saw the stones, he was shocked—they were actually peak-level energy stones. After living in Balin for some time, he understood how precious these stones were.
Energy stones are special stones produced by large rocks called energy stone sources. These sources formed from the long-term concentration of heaven and earth energy, crystallizing into huge rocks. The presence of an energy stone source speeds up the production of smaller stones and increases their quality over time, and if all the energy inside is absorbed, the stones turns into a black stone or black rock.
Aldrian felt the urge to take the stones but restrained himself, aware of the potential danger. He marveled at their beauty before noticing three pathways leading in different directions—in front of him, to his right, and to his left. He considered them for a moment before deciding to take the path in front of him. With the path illuminated by the light of the energy stones, he no longer needed his fire and simply followed the path.
He walked along the hallway until he saw two huge doors. Pushing them open, he found another hall, this one with two statues in the middle. He recognized one of the statues—it was the lion statue whose head he had seen at the entrance cave. The other statue was of an elf he didn't recognize.
"Are they Emperor Thonias Evergreen and Dahan?" he wondered.
The statues had moss growing on some parts but were generally in good condition. He looked at the masterpieces for a moment before searching the hall for clues. After investigating every part of the walls, he found nothing. Confused, he thought,
"Is Dahan or whoever it is in another room?"
He looked at the statues again, assessing them one more time. Focusing all his senses on the statues, he touched them and felt a connection established. He inserted his energy into the statues and before he knew it, he was in a different place.
He found himself in the middle of a pond under the moonlight and thousands of stars, surrounded by different kinds of plants.
"Is this some kind of space law? There are also time and illusion laws in it."