Chapter 29 - 28. Where Vision Cleared
"It's really there,"
Ron, Bassena, and Sierra were hiding behind a boulder on an elevated ground overlooking a huge, flat terrain that seemed to be the heart of the mountain. There, in the center of the terrain, was a tree-like creature as big as an apartment building filling up the space. Its road-size roots were planted on the ground, on the wall, and on the ceiling of the huge cavern, pulsing like some kind of life-sustenance device.
"So that's the Wood Specter?" Sierra asked in a whisper carefully, peeking out of the boulder.
"Hmm...this is tricky..." Bassena looked at the ceiling of the cavern. His eyes then moved to the nine cave entrances surrounding the Specter. One of them should lead to the location of the shard, but they had no idea which one.
After walking along the right-side path and spending another night on the uncomfortable river bank, they arrived at the end of the tunnel. From there, the river ended in a waterfall, but there was no way to climb up. The tunnel led them to another exit not far from the river, and as they climbed the elevated ground that marked the exit, they were greeted with this view.
It was an underground lake with a small island at the center. Or, rather than an island, it was probably more correct to call it the Specter Lair. The only occupant of that island was the sinister-looking tree, sitting in the middle of black water that felt more like a huge puddle than a lake.
Within various levels of height, there were cave and tunnel entrances much like the one they used right now. Five of them had streams of water flowing to the lake, and they concluded that one of those five should lead to the shard.
The question was which one?
"Let's get down first," Bassena tapped on the other two espers and they slid back down to the tanker and the non-combatants waiting down in the cave.
"So?" Han Shin greeted them with a question.
"It's tricky," Bassena repeated what he said up there. "There are five possible entrances, but we couldn't know which."