👥 Collaboration Collateral 👥

Chapter 17

“Have you found anything?” Hong asked, breaking the silence which hung over them like an imaginary veil.

“No.” Violet replied, “Not yet anyway.”

“We should've gotten out of this place by now.” How eyed the ruin for an exit as they went further. Hong eyed the structure of the walls, the igneous rocks that had its own luster and density. Some of the stonework had a similar appearance to komatiite, granite, feldspar, dacite and scoria.

The Morean noticed that with each passing minute inside the underground ruin, the more she ruminated about the ancient labyrinth back in Lavanda. As an orphaned child raised at a monastery tasked with obligations, she had to find a place to meditate, or at least sneak off under the guise of meditating.

Violet used to sneak into the labyrinth to train, the insects that crawled up the walls, fissures and stalactites were suitable moving targets for Violet to practice on. The hidden traps from the labyrinth served for her to sharpen her reflexes and heighten her senses, despite that she risked herself of potentially losing an appendage.

Violet found it quite nostalgic, though Hong found it bothersome. Dozens of paths that led to nowhere, a couple of directions which lead to the starting point, and the same stonework from minutes ago silently mocking her.

“If I turn around to find the same carving on the wall from when we got here, I'm going to lose it.” Hong internally warned.

They found a section that was under renovations, the cobblestone walls met iron bars, from what could be seen through the bars there were doorways that had been sealed shut or locked as a clear reminder that the ruin was under construction and unaccesible to the public eye.

“Another dead end!?”, or so Hong thought until she saw a switch from the other end.

“Guess we'll have to find another route.” Violet turned to look.

“I don't care if any of these doors are locked, I'm getting out of this maze.” Hong loosened the wire from her arm and lauched it through the metal bars at 33MPH. The sharp tip of the wire hit the switch to raise the bars for them to pass. The doors were still locked, but the ones that were sealed opened.

“It was nice knowing you, but I have places to be. Zàijiàn!” Hong bid farewell, waving her metallic fingers without giving Violet a glance. As the Asian girl stepped to the threshold when a brood of snakes slithered out of the door Hong entered in. Through Violet's experience, it was preferable to avoid venomous vipers that resided in some of the nests.

Hong stepped back as the serpents slythered forward. The number of the snakes grew as they slithered out of a duct.

“Gāisǐ! (Damn!)”

“Forget the snakes, go to another door.” Violet suggested.

“No way, I'll kill them myself.” Hong insisted, “I need something to take my anger out on.”

“This isn't a game! You'll be outnumbered. Pick a door, I'll hit the switch and we'll both go our separate ways.” Violet mentioned as she pointed out the options with her katana before she sliced a snake in half for getting too close.

“Fine by me.” Hong threw the thread like confetti a few meters in through the snake infested door, ignited the following string, and the serpents combusted as the string blew up like a firecracker. The Morean rolled her amethyst eyes at Hong's antics.

“Have it your way. So long, Hong.” Violet bid farewell as she hit the switch on her way to the third door.

“Bye, Vi.” Hong blew up a second wave of snakes, then retreated to the second door like a mischievous child before the doors sealed shut.