Psychronicles

6. The Secret of Aevincere

Ian was beginning to get bored wondering where his two other team mates went. They were supposed to analyse the area for a secret passage and told him not to do anything suspicious until then. But how long exactly did they expect him to wait? He pulled out his phone again to ask them.

Ian: Aren't u done measuring the stupid place yet?

Rina: Sorry Ian, we already found the passage and decided someone has 2 stay on the outside 2 keep us up 2 date. Please inform us if anything changes.

"Darn it," Ian complained, falling on the bed of his dormitory. "Those two just love to hog all the excitement to themselves huh, if only I could find where that passage is."

"Now I'm supposed to keep watch? What strange thing is going to happen in this boring church anyway?" And right on cue, Ian had spotted a burning flock of something outside his dormitory window. They are the winged serpents, much like the one described to have chased the other religious camp off last night. But the most prominent difference is each of these winged serpents seem to have an extended burning tail trailing behind them. The flock of them are getting closer to the church by the second. "What the fu-"

VWVVW

Rina and Prisha had already cautiously enter the passage leaving Ian to keep tabs on the outside for them. Rina led the way past the security footage and down into the dark depths of the tunnel. The passage seems much like a cave, with all the stone walls and rocks, there were also lamps deeper in along the walls. Rina was quite excited about the discovery, "Say, any bets on what those disciples hide in here? Maybe there's a killer snake made to hunt all non magical people."

"If you were any bit worth betting with, you can at least draw from the hint that the High Disciple said he'd like the opposing religion members alive, but what would he do with them?" Prisha replied as they entered a chamber with a door with seemingly no security at the other side.

"Right, how about if we find a lab where they secretly practice forbidden alchemy and use the prisoners as test subjects for human chimeras?" Rina changed her theory.

"Let's just hope they don't watch as many anime as you do," Prisha gave her an annoyed look and stopped for a moment. Rina, however just walked forward toward the door, intending on opening it before Prisha stopped her. "Stay back Rina, I think it's a trap."

"Yeah, you can talk," Rina turned back frowning.

"You must always question the design of a facility, especially a dungeon that has great reason for security," Prisha frowned back, ignoring Rina's remark. "So do they just enjoy leaving doors wherever they can?"

"Furthermore, the layout of this so called cave is too suspicious, the floor, the walls and ceiling are just too organized and you should be able to tell where the corners are," Prisha examined the surrounding. "It's like the chamber started as a room you would find in a house, but they added the layer of rough stone walls to make it look like a cave. The placing of the rocks too, they're far too evenly distributed along the walls. Ironically they believed it would help them avoid suspicion."

"And all that means..." Rina waited for the answer.

"They got us think we're in a cave to get us in a certain state of mind," Prisha examined and shifted some rocks in the corner to reveal a trapdoor underneath. "So they planned to hide a trapdoor somewhere here and with the preconception that it's a genuine cave, most people would overlook the rocks they covered it in."

"Neat," Rina went over to observe the trapdoor. "So we're absolutely certain this is the right path right?"

"Well it's the only trapdoor and path besides the door you were about to enter," Prisha answered. "And you are smarter than most people-"