Man's greatest fear was the fear of the unknown and what it holds,that was why man in particular feared the night for it bore many secrets.
The Resistance stronghold was never truly quiet even at night, faint footsteps echoed faintly through the carved stones and whispers of plans lingered in the air. But tonight felt different . Heavier to be precise.
Jackie lay on her bed eyes open as sleep had refused her that night,for she lay awake awaiting her night visitor.
It still felt like a dream, everything that happened the previous night,she couldn't shake it off,for the paper with the cryptic message was still there to prove it.
It had been in her mind all morning preventing her from concentrating in all the training sessions.
She had even ventured to the library Lieutenant Kael talked about but all that was there were normal books and nothing special.
She had felt something unexplainable,as if a presence was with her too and how did the message get inside her room?. She thought to herself frowning.
She was about to doze off as she had kept a vigil and nothing happened when the sound of paper sliding beneath her door awoke her.
She sat up instantly,heart pounding as she stared at the paper neatly folded on the floor .
" What could it be this time". She thought to herself. She lit her hand as a blue flame illuminated the room. One of the perks she had mastered in her abilities.
She picked up the note wrapped neatly and sealed with a wax emblem she couldn't recognise. The emblem was of two crescents overlapping to form an eye.
She broke the seal and read the message which stated.
WHERE THE LIGHT DIES KNOWLEDGE WAKES. SEEK THE ANSWER BENEATH THE WATCHERS GAZE
It was a riddle and this time no other hidden messages.
She hesitated before opening her door and looking outside but finding no one, the hallway was dark and quiet,more quiet than usual.
She was about to move out when she suddenly thought. What if it was a trap? What if the sender of this note and the previous note weren't the same? But how was she to know for she had no clue.
She decided within herself to get to the bottom of this herself even if it meant her getting hurt.
She put on her worn out boot and went out into the court yard.
The "watcher's gaze" could mean only one thing the statute in the court yard which she was somehow so captivated by.
The statute was that of a gargoyle with hollow eyes that stared eternally at the sky and in the night stared intently at the moonlight.
She stood before it, studying the gruesome expression of the beast like it was in pain and looked to heavens for help before being petrified.
Still studying it she noticed something,one of the eyes the right socket in particular had a metal disk wedged inside.
She pried it out and found a second message scratched into its surface.
COUNT THE STEPS WHERE SHADOWS SLEEP AND THE SEVENTH HOLDS THE KEY
She followed the the instructions which led her away from the courtyard and into the torch lit hallway .
On the seventh step in the darkest stretch her boot struck something hollow.
Kneeling down she found a loose stone and behind it was a brass key, cold against her fingers.
Her pulse quickened whoever left this trail wanted her to keep moving.
This wasn't a mind game anymore this was real, she swallowed hard and kept going.
The next clue was harder as she wandered into the deepest parts of the building,where some of the fighters might not have ventured for the air smelt of mould.
She was lucky enough to spot it as she reached a dead end which had carvings on the walls.
On observing closely she found out that these were carvings of constellations.
All of the constellations seemed accurate and now she was confused,but from closer examination she found just one which she had skipped to be out of place, the cluster was wrong.
She pressed the misplaced star and a thin panel slid open revealing yet another clue.
SPEAK THE NAME OF THE FIRST FLAME AND THE DOOR SHALL BE REVEALED
The first flame? This was a tricky one, who could be the first flame? She thought hard.
No answer seemed to be forth coming to her and she felt frustrated she hadn't come this far just to fail now.
The thought suddenly came to her,the first flame, the first resistance fighter according to their history was a torch bearer who used the flames to scare off the demons at first .
But what was the name she thought harder until it finally clicked Aethros "Bearer of the flame."
Saying it out loudly a sudden groan or a grinding sound was heard that shook the hallway mildly revealing a hidden archway with iron bars.
The key fitted perfectly into the locks as the bars screeched open allowing the scent of dust and parchment to flow through the air as Jackie mildly coughed and covered her nose.
Steps spiralled down into pitch darkness only allowing one to see just a step ahead and nothing more.
As her foot touched the first step,she heard a faint whisper.
She spun around immediately to find no one but just herself and the sound of crickets.
She breathed out,heart pounding in fear as she looked ahead of her into the pitch darkness.
" It's now or never". She said to herself and proceeded to venture down with only the aid of her lit flame.
The more deeper she got the more fear engulfed her for she didn't know what was before her .
"This could be her end". She thought, but still something deep inside her maybe curiosity or not kept pushing her on.
It took her a few minutes before she could reach the end of the stairs which showed a huge door.
The door appeared to be ancient and above it was inscribed some letters in a foreign language which translated to.
WOE TO THEE WHO SOUGHT KNOWLEDGE FROM HERE UNLESS THOU ART CHOSEN THOU SHALT PERISH
The door also had a carving of tongues of flames in a circle around a star which looked like the star of David.
Jackie studied it for a while and could actually read it, funny enough she hadn't seen the language before,but she could translate.
She hesitated before she finally reached out to the door that just felt her touch although how might it was didn't need her to push but gave way easily.
As she stepped her foot inside the lights became illuminated revealing a breath taking sight.
But something suddenly happened, a voice suddenly spoke " Woe unto thee for thou hath come too far".
Before she could even react to anything a strong wind pushed her against the wall knocking her out. As a dark figure cloaked from head to toe who had been watching her stepped out of the shadows.