Chapter 52: Forgotten City [2]
A drop of sweat rolled down Aegon’s face as he could literally feel the stench from the monster as it drew near.
He didn’t have mana and was unable to fight in his current situation. His last battle still did one on him, and so he needed a break
But if worse came to worse he would make the move when needed.
The monster who was sniffing was already a couple of steps away from the space where Aegon was hiding, and was about to enter when all of a sudden it stopped.
Aegon noticed its shadow on the ground as it suddenly stopped. He didn’t know why but didn’t think too much about it.
It turns out that the second monster who was pushing the carriage with the one sniffing, had come to tell it they didn’t have time for this.
In their own language they communicated and agreed they didn’t have time because they had a job to do.
And just then, Aegon noticed the shadow retreating.
At that moment, his heart became calm, as he began hearing the carriage moving once again.
These monsters were the last of the others that came in, they were all moving a carriage; but it was more like a cage.
’They had come from outside the gate...’ Aegon thought inwardly.
’If I had waited any longer I would have been seen.’
Aegon came out from the space in-between the buildings, then he looked to his right and saw as the monsters were moving into the city.
"What are they carrying? And where are they going?"
He had asked but there was only one way to get to the answer, and he was going to follow that way.
He looked around, looking for a place that would secure his movement. And just like where he hid, there were other buildings that had space in-between them.
Aegon noticed this and moved slightly to two buildings opposite where he first hid, then he entered the space.
While he was in this space, he put his head out and watched as the monsters continued to move forward.
"Are they going to the castle?"
It was only logical for him to think that because that was the same way to it.
Although the castle was far from the gate and where he stood, but, the ground was straight up.
The ground from the gate to the castle was in a somewhat slanted position. The gate was lower and increased as it went upwards.
Although it was slant, it wasn’t too difficult to climb and the houses and shops were built just right to balance on it.
"Whoever this city belongs to were..."
As he was talking, before he could finish his statement, he saw the monster enter a right corner and vanished from his eyes.
"Where did they go?"
Aegon walked out from the alley and moved carefully forward.
While he was moving, he noticed the building around. They were looking old and dusty.
Windows were broken and toys of little children were seen on the ground, which had dried to a point of no return.
There were also shops that had been turned down, counters that had once held goods were broken and chairs and tables had fallen to the ground.
Even in the house, there were some doors that were opened and inside, the furniture and pictures had fallen on the ground.
The scene was as though there was a panic before the people left. Like they were in a hurry to leave, and tripped on things as they moved.
Aegon saw all these and wondered what had happened, and who had done this.
The city looked like it was inhabited by humans but he didn’t know for sure.
With the monsters and the dryad, and everything that goes on in the abyss he thought.
"This doesn’t look like a human settlement to me..."
"Or perhaps this place is from another world?
He looked at the castle.
"There is no place in the real world that is still ruled by a kingdom, so this is definitely not from my real world."
"It is from someplace else..."
As Aegon was coming closer to the place in which the monsters had entered, he moved to the walls, and walked alongside it.
Then he moved to the building, leaned on them and walked to the area they had entered, and just as he reached, he stopped.
For a moment, he took a breath and materialized the wolf dagger in his right hand.
Then, he moved his head and looked at the corner, but just as his eyes met the area; he saw nothing, a dead end.
"What?"
Aegon moved away from the wall of the building and came out fully in front of the alley.
It was spacious, more than the one he hid in on his way.
"Where did they go?"
Aegon was perplexed by this turn out, as there was no way of explaining it since all that was in front of him was a wall.
"Did they pass through it?"
Aegon walked forward towards the wall and when he got there, he raised his left hand; his right holding the dagger, and placed his left on the wall.
"Guess not."
"I thought there was a way to pass through it but looks like I was wrong."
Aegon had touched the wall but it was thick as a rock. There was no secret passage or hidden door.
"If that’s the case, then how did he get in?"
Aegon began to move his hand around the wall as he looked for some hidden clue, a block of some kind to pull and open a secret way.
However, there was none. The wall was like any regular wall, built to hold something in or keep something out.
This was when a thought hit Aegon.
"If there is a wall here, then there is something on the other side. They must have used some kind of technique to pass through."
He turned around, looking outside of the alley. It was wider than a usual alley and the moon was able to shine half through it.
"There has to be another way..."
He walked out of the alley and turned to his right, he saw the path to the castle. It was far and had to pass a whole lot of buildings to get there.
"I should make my way there nevertheless. That’s where she told me to go..."
CRACK!
As Aegon said this, he heard a voice and immediately hid outside, beside a building.
He could hear the sounds and was able to make it out as the language of the monsters from earlier.
’They are out...’
He moved his head to look inside the alley but quickly leaned back after seeing about four monsters coming out from the wall.
They passed through it so easily, like a portal from one place to another. Then a single thought came to his head.
"Mana?"
He didn’t have any on him at the moment, so he was more like a regular human who didn’t perceive it at all.
"Is that why they are able to pass through the wall, and I can’t?" he mumbled.
’But how do they have any mana at all. Shouldn’t they be drained from it?’
It would only make sense, he didn’t have any mana, but they had had.
’Suisho had said there was a king, and was the one causing the forest to die. Does that mean he had mana on him, or perhaps is he the one that’s...’
Aegon was deep within his thoughts to the point that he already reached a break-through, but at the same time, had forgotten he was hiding from the monsters.
Just then their voices came closer and with his keen sense he detected it and he came back to reality.
He moved a bit away from the entrance of the alley and entered a smaller alley of two buildings.
There, he watched as the five monsters came out of the alley and walked back to the path of the gate.
Seeing this, Aegon noticed.
"They are not carrying the carriage any longer. Were they loading something?"
He watched as they vanished out of the gate, and took it as an opportunity to go back and explore the alley.
"This door requires mana to be able to pass through it, and I don’t have any now. How am I supposed to move forward."
Aegon would have gone directly to the castle, but it was a long walk and besides he was more curious about the wall.
He was obviously going to go to the castle but he wanted to know what was behind the wall.
"If only I have a bit of mana left, perhaps the system can help."
The system opened and he read the area where his mana point was.
[MP: 0]
"Still not full?..."
Just then, at that moment, his shirt began to glow light and his head bent to look at it.
He looked at his shirt and noticed the light was coming from the pendant of the necklace he was wearing.
"Is this..."
Aegon brought out the pendant from within and held it in his hand. Suddenly, the light that grew concentrated solely on the pendant and then charged out, towards the wall.
As the light touched the wall, a small amount of leaves grew on it, and created a round shape, and within the round shape; it began to glow.
In that moment, the path that was glowing began opening as the blocks of the wall separated from each other, creating a passage.
Upon seeing this, Aegon dropped the pendant in his chest, a bright expression on his face as he knew what had just happened.
Just then, he took one step, and walked in.