Secret archives

Book 2.

Volume 1: The Chamber of Secrets

Chapter Two: The Secret Archives

*****

They ran for their lives. Well, where else could they run to in the middle of the forest? Miyazaki and Kai didn't look back, and it's a good thing they didn't, because an angry bear is speeding up behind them, about to catch up with them. The girl catches up with her friend and with a disgruntled look on her face, "How did you manage to run into a bear?" but Kai didn't notice her gaze, he was running as fast as he could and just stared ahead, running through bushes, trees, holes, dirt and other thickets of the forest.

- I know! - He shouted sharply, a rescue light lighting up in his head out of the blue. - Miyazaki, follow me, I remember this way!

- Are you sure about this? - Miyazaki asked the girl, still running, clearly not trusting Kai.

- We have to take a shortcut, after 100 meters we reach a flowery field, because the scent of the plant is too strong and the bear will lose our scent!

Miyazaki didn't say anything, she was very tired, she also had to run without stopping. The girl trusted the guy and followed him. Behind their backs there was heard a stern bear's roar, just like that to stop him from eating berries in the bushes.

- What the...? - Kai stood up in a stupor when he saw the dead end in front of him.

Well, they didn't end up in the flower fields as they were promised, but in the end they came to a huge rock that was a barrier to continue on their way. There's no way to get around it, because there's a lot of thorn bushes on each side. If you try to get past them you might get more wounded than if they had been shot by a bear.

- Kai, you idiot! - Miyazaki screamed in frustration.

And that's when the bear caught up with them. The leering bear pressed the boys against a rock and slowly approached them, tasting the fresh meat.

- Miyazaki, if we die, I would like to tell you... - Kai was about to start crying. - Your grandma's cakes are so good, I used to sneak them into my sack before you saw them...

- So that's what you decided to tell me just before you died. About the stolen cakes...? - she was surprised, even forgetting a little bit about the bear.

- I'm sorry, I'm so embarrassed and I'm dying of embarrassment! - Strangely enough Kai is totally serious about Grandma Miyazaki's cakes, and the genius of the man is off the charts as they say.

- Okay, then I have something to say too... - The girl saw a familiar face lurking in the bushes behind the bear, and smiled, though she was very angry in her soul. - Get down! - she grabs Kai by the head and falls to the ground with him.

A little boy runs out of the bushes with a slingshot in his hands, he's armed with a sleeping bomb, just in case he needs to fight off the local beasts.

- Don't hurt my sister! - he shouted boldly, his sight is aimed straight at the bear's forehead.

The leering bear slowly turns to the little one and lets out a loud roar. The little frightened kid fires a bomb and hits the exact target. The bear inhales the smell of the slingshot and falls asleep. The whole big carcass collapses down, and the little guy jumps victoriously for joy. But like everywhere else, this joy did not last long. Miyazaki runs up to his little brother, Toda is so pleased, really thinking that now his sister will hug him and admit that she wouldn't have made it without him, but no such luck.

*Bam.

Right on top of his head with his fist. The bump popped out so big you could hammer nails with it.

- Fool, why did you follow me into the woods? - She asked him nervously.

Toda grasped his lump guiltily and looked Miyazaki sadly in the eyes. He's not exactly fighting a bear, but he's a much tougher opponent, and even if he were, a corner or a belt would kill him in a heartbeat.

- I'm sorry, sitting at home with Grandma is boring, I wanted to go with you!

- Miyazaki, why are you angry? It's thanks to Toda that we're both alive, he's basically saved us from death. - Kai tried to stick up for him. He shouldn't have done that.

- If you hadn't been so stupid we wouldn't have stumbled on the bear," she said. - She let all the steam out on her friend.

- Okay, okay, I admit my fault. But let's not forget what we came here for. There's a speakeasy room not far from here with some secret documents I wanted to read about Titan, but I didn't. I figured I'd go back there with you.

- Kai, are you sure you're going to take us to that place? I wanted to save you, but instead of a flower meadow you led us to a dead end...

- Don't worry I led you to a dead end so Toda could save us. - Kai tried to make an ingenious little excuse, as if he'd known all along that there was a huge rock, and there was no way to get past it. Yeah, Miyazaki believed it, just like that.

- Okay, now that you've been there, I'll trust you one last time. Before we do that, let's take Toda home; it's still dangerous for him to wander into any abandoned rooms. - The girl grabs her brother by the arm and leads him toward the house.

- Hey, let go of me! - Toda started to get indignant. You saved your sister from death, and she has the nerve to kick you out of the woods by force. Care at maximum.

- Miyazaki, wait! Let's give Toda a chance. He didn't let us die, so why doesn't he come with us for that? If you're so worried about him, I can watch him personally. I promise I won't let him out of my sight.

- You can't take care of yourself, can you? - Jace looked at her friend awkwardly. With a sigh, she makes a hard decision for herself. - Fine, you can come with us, but don't you dare take one step away from me! - Miyazaki threatened her brother with her index finger.

- Yes, I promise! - Miyazaki was happy to see his sister, not the boring one he had to see every day.

The boys packed up and moved on while the bear was still asleep. Toda was out of bombs, well how can I say, there was only one, and there wasn't much more that would fit in his pocket. Kai had a lot of trouble finding the abandoned place where he had recently fallen and showed it to his friends.

- We'd been walking for over an hour, but I'm amazed! - Miyazaki was surprised to bits.

She and Toda went to a deep hole and looked down into the bottom, where it was dark and damp. There was an unpleasant smell of rot, as if someone had died, and they could hear drips clattering against the rusted iron. Miyazaki didn't want to go there, she wished she could go back home and talk about the meaning of life. But no, she's also got two unstable teenagers, and okay, Toda - he's nine years old, excusable, but fifteen year old Kai should know that going to such places is extremely dangerous, especially if there are classified documents inside. Now any politician would know about this place, and in an hour he'd be gone and everything would be stolen.

- You know, for some reason I have changed my mind, I think I'll go home... - ...the girl said with excitement. She was afraid of the noise under the ground.

- Come on! You can't be frightened, can you? I've been there, there's no one around, they must have been dead a million years ago. Look at Toda, even he's not scared!

- Toda ate a bar of soap once because it smelled like strawberries, he's not afraid of anything! - Miyazaki answered, and from hearing that Kai felt even more respectful of her little brother.

- Yeah... - ...the boy was dumbfounded. - A whole lump of soap, even I wouldn't have dared to do that... - So he went into his own thoughts, forgetting all his plans.

- Kai, come in! - She woke up her friend. - So are we going home, or do you really want to go down that hole again?

- Nurse, don't be a drag! Did I follow you for nothing? I was hoping for an adventure and I ended up with nothing! - Even Toda, knowing his status, became indignant.

- I'm fed up with you! Well, we'll go downstairs... - Miyazaki replied tiredly, finally giving up.

Kai was the first to go down, as usual. He took another look around, seeing if anything had changed. Kai gives the okay to go down, Miyazaki lets Toda in first. What if she ends up downstairs, and her brother just runs away for fun. Nah, that kind of thing has to be stopped beforehand. Toda made it down without any problems, and was already surprised by the atmosphere under the ground. Miyazaki got curious too, and carefully caught on the grass... Falling right on top of Kai.

- My back... - The guy couldn't feel his limbs from the pain. Oh no, he was just touching Miyazaki's leg, so he didn't feel anything.

- Sorry! I've never climbed a place like that, so I couldn't get down properly... - she got really embarrassed. While stupid Kai climbed the trees so easily, really couldn't get back down, clinging to anything, she, not being so stupid, couldn't get a proper grip on something strong and be down without difficulty.

- Nothing, the back seemed to go... - the guy got to his feet, shook himself off, and looked ahead.

It was very dark everywhere, like they were in some kind of horror movie. Thankfully Kai remembered the way, though what was there to remember? There was only one corridor ahead of them, you go straight ahead until you bump into a door. Either way, it was a whole maze for the boys. It wasn't until ten minutes later that they came to that room and saw the steel door. Kai walked over to it and tried to open it, which he managed without difficulty. The door opened so loudly that the creaking sound cut the boys' ears. All the difficulty was behind them. They stepped inside and saw a whole room of papers and folders on tables. The desks themselves were arranged along the walls and were full of these dusty documents.

- Gee... - Miyazaki couldn't find the extra words. And why should she? It's easier to turn on the light and be surprised later. She sees the switch and puts it down, after which one light bulb for an entire room lights up and all the darkness visibly disappears.

- Wow!!! - Amazed to the bone Toda. There's so much to look at for a nine-year-old: some papers, desks, folders, and that's assuming he can't read.

- Toda, be careful not to touch anything! - The girl was very worried about her brother, anything could happen to him, but not this time. What's the big deal about just looking at the paper?

- Miyazaki, all these papers were written a long time ago, but there are some fresh ones, about ten years old. Let's go.

Kai leads her friend and they walk over to a corner. The guy opens a drawer and pulls out a document. Miyazaki opens it and her eyes widen in amazement.

- A secret file with all the information about Titan...? Where did this come from?!

- You better read it.

The file contained everything from her birth to what was written ten years ago. Miyazaki read and was amazed at every line she read.

- Titan, what kind of monster is this? It says here that he killed a lot of people, and at the time the war started, he was a nobody at all. By the way, what kind of war is this? - She asked Kai.

- You mean the Second World War of the Warriors? It started twenty years ago and it's still going on today. It's the usual, good versus evil, I don't remember the exact details, but they say there used to be two countries, then Titan destroyed them and created his own, but there were also seven more countries. Titan didn't like it and wants to take over the whole world, but the Warriors are still fighting against him.

- And who are the Warriors? - Toda asked him, already for the sake of curiosity. He liked what Kai had told him, at least the boy was good at something, he calms children down with his stories.

- The warriors? They're people with superpowers. There are ordinary people like us who don't have magical powers, and then there are the Warriors, who have Hikari energy flowing in their bodies and can create fire, water, air, earth, and so on.

- Hikari? That's the first I've heard of it. - Miyazaki doesn't fumble for all these details at all, that's the level of the village.

- Hikari, translated in ancient language, is "Light," the energy of light, to put it simply. It's supposed to be used by people for good, to heal people there, to create good homes, but instead they kill each other in pursuit of the most powerful ability...

- I'm amazed...

- So am I.

- No, I'm amazed at how you know all this.

- Huh? It's just that my father was a Warrior, and then he and my mother were killed in the war... Well, let's not talk about that. Let's take the important documents and take them home with us. They can be sold later, I'm sure of it!

Miyazaki didn't go into detail about Kai's parents, she'd heard this story a hundred times from her neighbors before, so she sadly looked at her friend and listened to him.

- Kai, we're not taking all these files away! - Miyazaki's right. There aren't enough pockets to carry all the stuff from my room into the house.

- We'll take the essentials. You take the Titan information, and I'll take Titania. There's so much important stuff in these files, we're gonna be the richest people on the planet!

*Boo-oo-oo-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Underneath the ground, everything shook. The floor shook and the guys almost fell off their feet. Something big had happened.

- What was that? - The girl asked with fear on her face.

- An explosion. From the sound of it, it sounded like it came from the direction of the village. No, I can't believe...

- What? Tell me! - Miyazaki squeezed all the information out of her friend, as if her grandmother was alone without protection.

- No, just delusional thoughts. Quickly, roll up the files and shove them in your pockets. It's time to go home, something happened there... - For the first time all day Kai's face showed great excitement.

The guys packed up the files and headed out of the room, we need to hurry back, something unknown has happened in the village, and we need to find out what exactly.

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Author: Youn Ji-min

Cycle: Madness

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I'll post two chapters in one day and then do the same every other day. Occasionally there may be pauses to rest and build up new ideas.

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