In the pitch dark, Rin gasped to breath, he covered his mouth and nose to avoid inhaling more dust that had already filled his lungs to burn his throat. He squinted his eyelids close together so he wouldn't be blinded to investigate his surroundings. He reached upward and found a wall of rocks had crushed above him and trapped him in a tiny space of less than 10 square meters. He could barely move his body, not to say to sit up straight. Then he started to scrape against the cold, unforgiving stone in search of an opening, but the only thing found was the wooden box he discovered prior. "This can very well be the end of me." He listened carefully to see if he could hear any rescuer's calling, there were none.
The time for Rin to escape was running out, the oxygen in this tinny space had become limited. He slowly felt lightheaded and began to doze off. A bright purple light came from inside the wooden box woke him from his half-awake state.
Rin extended his hand to grab the box, but it was too far away. So, he used his right leg to move the box closer. After few tries, he succeeded.
The box that made with a dark wood was nicely polished. Its waxed surface shined with glare even covered by dust. An unusual powerful evil encompassed the box. He opened it. A light bright as the sun exploded in his face and blinded him for a moment.
Rin opened his eyes, a red leather jacketed book sat inside the box glowed with purple light. An unrecognizable hieroglyph language written on the cover and a thick hemp rope that tide the thick tome together. A completely different kind of vibe came from the tome from the box that enclosed it, the purple light was comfortingly warm and intensively engaging. Rin stared at it and couldn't look away, as he sensed the present of Claus.
☆☆☆
Ten workers dug and drilled on the pile of fallen rock looking for survivors of the recent rock slid accident. As they dug further, a heated air came from cracks in between the piled rocks, hot air turned into steam like an erupted volcano.
"I think we found something!" One of the workers informed the foreman.
"Good! Keep digging!" The foreman ordered.
The worker dug harder into the clefts of the rocks till the they find an opening on them. They found a man sat in a meditation position and some black ashes of something just burnt in front of him. The shallow interior was heated like an oven.
"We found someone! The monk! He is still alive!" The workers shouted.
☆☆☆
Rin had sat in the same position since he was brought to the infirmary. His body as still as a statue, but despite his lack of sustenance for the past five days, his complexion shone with vigor.
He opened his eyes, Shogon accompanied by an old man stood by his bed.
"You are awake!" Shogon cheered.
"My eyes were closed, but it doesn't mean that I was sleeping." He replied as calm as a placid lake.
"It's a miracle that you are still alive! What happened in there? Something happened?" Shogon grabbed on Rin's hands intensely. She begged him with earnest need for the truth, her eyes searching his for any hint of an answer.
Rin didn't respond but smiled.
"There is something I must share with you!" She too had a smile on her lips, her words ripe with promise.
☆☆☆
The room lit by candlelight, twisted shadows played on the walls as the coven of immortals had gathered around the massive square stone table of at least 80 tons, their faces shrouded by solemn. Shogon was among the 9 others were seated at the table, where Rin sat on one side on his own. They must make sure the secrets were about to be disclosed would remain among them alone.
Shogon began her tale, her tone rising softly in between the crowd. "The immortals had been around longer than the recorded history of human. Throughout the years, we collected thousands of relics of sacred and demonic from all sorts of faiths. Many of those items were extremely powerful and dangerous, therefor, for the purpose of securing them from regular men, we had to stay underground. Another reason the immortals settled here as our home was because this very location was a holy ground of our ancestors. The excavation was to uncover as many artifacts or records here as possible." Shogon spoke while the other sat quietly.
Her gaze then rested on Rin who sat quietly across table from her, his hands folded in his lap. After rescuing him from a bear attack months ago, he had turned to become a changed man—an extreme confidence that was effaced with wisdom and strength.
"We stumbled upon two of the most important scriptures beneath this very place—the Book of Light and the Book of Dark. It was said that they were written by a powerful immortal man and a beautiful immortal sorceress respectively; both lost their lives in the great war, but their writings survived through time, only to resurface again a thousand years later. The secrets in those books provided us with powers beyond our greatest imaginations, yet no one had ever been able to completely master both disciplines. Some were able to master one but found extreme difficulty to do the same with the other. Now both of their records are being secured under the statues of the chapel."
Before Shogon continued, the old man who saved Rin from the bear attack interrupted her. "Sir, I am not sure you should compromise that information!"
"It's ok! He is one of us now." Shogon announced with authority to the man who looked twice of her age. "Why we are sharing all this with you is because we want to know how you survive in the accident. Did you find something? And where is it."
Silence was all Rin had to offer in response, his face as inscrutable as a sitting stone.
Shogon stood from her seat, her eyes locked on Rin in attempt to will the truth from him. "You can keep your peace, that is fine. But I must tell you about the origin of a book that many considered even more powerful than the book of the light and book of the dark that we had not yet uncovered." Shogon quietly spoke. "The book is a Sumerian scripture called The Key. It recorded some of the most powerful incantation and spell that the world had known. In prophecy, that whoever mastered the skills of that book will be able to combine both discipline of light and dark. And his or her power will reach the realm of great completion. Highest achievement of all might. Rin, this is very important that you tell us what you found inside the tunnel, and what did you do with it."
There was no reply, only the deafening silence that sounded through the chamber.
"That's fine. We will give you a few days to think about it. We will leave you in peace, for now."
☆☆☆
No one had seen Rin came out of his room for over a week. The foods that were delivered by the staffs were left outside the door for days.
"I think he must have lost appetite after the accident." Shogon responded as the kitchen staffs reported the situation to her.
"Sir! Something happened! You must come see!" The giant man came into Shogon's study room and interrupted her conversation.
"Be calm! What happened?"
"The chapel had been broken in. The scriptures were stolen!" He gasped, beads of sweat rolling down his forehead like raindrops on a windowpane.
Another man came in the room and couldn't catch his own breath. "Sir, the monk is gone! We can't find any traces of him!"
Shogon looked unexpectedly serene, her eyes clear and her posture poised, as if she had been expecting this very turn of events. She pinned the giant man to the spot by stare, "so this is how it happens, just like the divination foretold."
Her eyes locked on the distance, as if she could see the unfolding of events far beyond time and space. As the very fabric of reality bending to her will, and with every word that left her lips, it inevitably shapes the course of destinies.
Time continued its relentless march, and the world above these caves grew and changed, as if oblivious to the hidden struggle that lay beneath. Empires rose and fell, wars were waged and lost, and the secrets of immortals remained locked, guarded by its secrets and their unseen force.
This was the last time anyone had seen the Gatekeeper, till half a century later.