288: A Plague of Phantoms: Black Crescent Moon IV

"This cave goes on forever!" Bo groaned loudly and slumped against the wall of the air cube I created with a custom spell so everyone could breathe and walk as if they were on land. As everyone walked forward the cube moved through the water. I also channeled shine attribute mana into my finger to make it glow and light the way.

"The cave opens up soon." Bone-lasher informed Bo. He swam in the water next to us, opting to act as a guard outside the cube instead of walking inside with the group.

"Notice anything dangerous?" Turak'Kahn asked. He was walking beside me with Reagan and Anders on my other side, Bo stood in front of me and my grandfather walked slightly behind me.

"No. Tunnel leads to a large cave that has a door at the end of it…I think?" Bone-lasher replied. Reagan looked over at Bone-lasher and frowned.

"You think? What does it means it thinks?" Reagan asked then looked at Anders. Ander shrugged then looked over at Bone-lasher.

"I thought it was intelligent since it could talk however…." Anders started though his voice trailed off as Bone-lasher growled deeply in his throat.

"I am intelligent! I was chosen by the Boss!" He exclaimed angrily.

"Calm down Bone, I know you're intelligent. And I understand what you mean." I said quickly to calm Bone-lasher down. He grumbled under his breath something unintelligible.

"What do you see lad?" Grandpa asked.

"There is a large cave up ahead but the door at the back looks weird…constantly shifting like waves…" I said. Reagan frowned and looked at me.

"You can see ahead?" He asked. I nodded looked over at Reagan and Anders.

"Yes, Splicers can share information and senses with evos telepathically if they have enough of a bond. Bone-lasher is sharing his electromagnetic vision with me currently so I can see everything he sees." I explained. Reagan and Anders both looked shocked by that revelation.

"So depending on the abilities of a splicer's evo, their own abilities can be enhanced and changed?" Reagan asked. I shrugged in response.

"Yeah I suppose, though I don't like to think like that. My evos aren't tools to me." I replied. Bo huffed proudly and pounded his chest proudly.

"Yeah! Evos are a part of a splicer, each time we splice we put a part of ourselves in them. Idiots that cannot understand that aren't fit to be a splicer and probably a no talent hack!" Bo exclaimed proudly. Reagan stayed silent, as if he was digesting what was told to him. While Anders seemed energized by Bo's declaration.

"So you're a real talent, kid?" Anders asked. Bo looked back at Anders incredulously and crossed his arms.

"Of course I'm a real talent! I'm a genius!" Bo exclaimed. Reagan and Anders both had looks of disbelief which only made Bo angry.

"Actually he is very gifted for his age." Turak'Kahn spoke up then glanced over at me. "Though it doesn't seem like that when you compare him to someone like Chase. He is very talented in comparison to other children his age…hell half the splicing specialists in my military seem ordinary in comparison to his potential."

"Mighty high praise from a Pharaoh." Grandpa Seamus said. Turak'Kahn chuckled softly.

"A wise ruler acknowledges strength." Turak'Kahn said.

While that conversation was going on we slowly made our way through the tunnel slowly the elevation of the tunnel started to rise and we found ourselves rising out of the sea water and into a larger cave much like Bone-lasher had shown me.

"Looks like we're here…" Grandpa Seamus said as we took our final steps out of the sea water and into the cavern.

"It's dark." Anders said, stating the obvious. Reagan frowned at him.

"It's a cave at the bottom of the sea, of course its dark!" He grumbled.

"Yeah give me a minute…" I said then stopped channeling shine attribute for a moment to bite my finger and started scribe a quick lighting spell on my arm. Once I cast the utility spell sigil a wave of bright golden light washed over the entire cavern from my hand and the ambient light illuminated the cave. "…there better."

"Doesn't really look like much…just a cave." Anders said.

"Well thank you Captain obvious." Reagan said sarcastically. Anders shot Reagan a smirk then glanced at the back of the cavern.

"Well that thing at the back of the cave was obviously what that liger evo said was a door." Anders said teasingly then pointed where he looked.

I looked in that direction as well and saw a stark black slate with purple energy pulsating from the center to the edges of the slate. There was something odd about the way the energy moved through the stone, it was like a wave.

"That's no door…that's a phagialgy!" Grandpa Seamus exclaimed. I looked at my Grandpa, who looked like he was about to hop out of his skin from excitement.

"A what?" I asked.

"A phagialgy! A temporal gateway to a pocket in time and space!" Grandpa replied giving a slight hop as he did. I frowned and looked back at Turak'Kahn to see if he understood what Grandpa said. Turak'Kahn looked just as confused as I did but intrigued as well.

"What's a pocket in time and space?" Bo asked. I suddenly felt grateful for Bo being there since he could ask the questions that I wanted without looking stupid for not knowing.

"Powerful magic, think rooms that 're cut off from the rest of the world an can only be entered through these 'ere phagialgy." Grandpa explained. Everyone nodded but judging from the blank stare in Anders and Reagan's eyes they didn't fully understand what he said.

"So that means everything beyond that gateways is in the exact same condition as the day it was created? Including the defenses?" Turak'Kahn asked.

"Yes, though think of it lad, ancient splicer tech in pristine condition! Grand Maeister Lockland would chop off his left leg fer a find like this!" Grandpa Seamus replied with another excited hop.

"Well let's do some investigating!" I exclaimed then snapped my fingers and dispelled the spell that created the air cube we were standing in. Everyone dropped a couple inches and touched the cave floor.

Grandpa Seamus immediately rushed over to the phagialgy at the back of the cavern, stopping a few feet away from the phagialgy he looked up at the massive gate in awe. I reached into my pocket and pulled out two manacite daggers that I had stored in my room since they can't be stored in my void pocket.

"Bo, Turak'Kahn, take these." I said then handed them the daggers.

"I don't think that giving a child a dagger is something a responsible adult does." Anders said. Turak'Kahn looked the dagger over, the dark glint of the crystal reflecting in his eyes.

"This isn't normal metal." He commented. Bo's eyes lit up when he saw the runes that were etched into the blade of the dagger.

"These are Crystal Genesis enchanted daggers." Bo exclaimed.

"Yeah, I figured it would be a good idea for you two to have them just in case." I replied then reached down into my holster and pulled out my own dagger slightly. "This is a laboratory of an ancient splicer, and not just any old splicer. A previous Star farm crystal bearer so who knows what sort of experiments she carried out."

"Considering the weird shit that you do it could be anything." Bo said. I frowned at that remark while Turak'Kahn and Grandpa Seamus both chuckled.

"About how dangerous do you think this lab is?" Reagan asked.

"Considering the weird shit that Chase does, it could anything from minor to world ending." Turak'Kahn replied. I frowned even deeper while Bo and Grandpa Seamus both laughed heartily.

"I can take away those daggers you know…" I threatened. Bo looked astonished and feigned fear as he looked back at me.

"And leave a poor innocent child defenseless!" He exclaimed dramatically.

"You're hardly innocent…." I said snidely, which Bo stuck his tongue out at me in a bratty way.

"Well what do we do if something happens? Wave sticks at the danger?" Reagan asked. I opened my void pocket and pulled out two Thompson MK.4S and tossed them over to the former soldiers. They both caught them in mid-air and their eyes widened in shock when they realized what they had caught exactly.

"You can use these." I replied casually. Reagan and Anders looked at each other then back at me.

"ARE YOU SHITTING ME?" They both exclaimed.

"You have Thompson MK.4S? The holy grail of guns!" Reagan yelled.

"Yeah, I borrowed them from some gangsters." I said casually then tossed them a couple magazines of ammo a piece.

"What fucking gangsters have fully automatic weaponry?" Anders demanded. Reagan's expression darkened and he leveled his gaze with me.

"The gangsters that Simon Caldifax was working with…as well as Beaufort." Reagan said. Anders looked shocked but didn't say anything.

I reached into my void pocket one more time and pulled out an axe and a skazzas rifle for my Grandpa Seamus then held them out to him.

"Here Grandpa, I know you're not as good with a gun as Grandma but ranged options are good ones." I said. Grandpa Seamus took the skazzas and slung it over his back and secured it with the leather strap and then took the axe and slid the handle through the belt of his pants.

"Nothin' better than an axe. Thank you Starlight." Grandpa said then turned and looked back towards the phagialgy. He seemed transfixed on it in a way I hadn't seem before, almost nostalgic.

"How do we open this thing?" I asked looking up at the massive gateway. Grandpa Seamus pointed at a small indentation in the side of the gateway.

"That tablet of yers goes there lad, it's the key. Put it back an it'll open." Grandpa Seamus explained. I nodded and walked over to the indentation in the gateway that Grandpa Seamus pointed out then pulled out the tablet and placed it in the indentation.

I expected the phagialgy to activate immediately and for a portal to open and suck our little group into the pocket dimension but there was nothing. No rumbling, no glowing sigils forming on the gateway. I waited for several seconds then looked back at Grandpa Seamus.

"I think it's broken…" I started only to get cut off by a loud rumbling that shook the undersea cavern. I stumbled back and almost fell flat on my butt if it wasn't for Bone-lasher who quickly caught me and my Grandpa. The phagialgy's surface glowed with bright red runes.

"INTRUDER DETECTED! INTRUDER DETECTED!" A voice echoed through the cave.

"What the fuck?!" Bo exclaimed while covering his ears.

"I thought that was the key to the phagialgy?!" Turak'Kahn exclaimed.

The runes on the phagialgy suddenly disappeared and the entire gateway glowed with a deep red light as the individual panels of the gateway shifted to the side and a vortex of energy appeared, sending a shockwave of energy that knocked everyone into the air. The runes appeared on the phagialgy again and everyone was suspended in mid-air then sucked into the vortex kicking and clawing at the air.

"I KNEW SOMETHING LIKE THIS WOULD HAPPEN!" Bo bellowed as we were sucked into the vortex. I reached for Grandpa Seamus to keep him from being pulled away from me as we were sucked into the dark mire of the vortex. Grandpa Seamus reached for me as well, our fingers brushing against each other before we were sucked apart and sent hurtling into the darkness.

"GRANDPAAAAAAAAA!" I bellowed as I reached for him in vain.

The murk and mire swirled around me as I felt myself getting dragged deeper and deeper into the depths of the vortex and then suddenly all at once I froze. In time and in space, like I had hit a wall while running at high speeds. I felt like I couldn't breathe and clawed at my throat, desperate for air.

A bright light shined in my eyes and I was no longer falling but submerged, skill taking deep breaths but only gulping in large amounts of water instead of air. My lungs burned and screamed as I clawed at the water around me and tried to reach the surface only to feel something grab my shirt and yank me upwards. I gasped and coughed loudly as I looked into Bone-lasher's armored face.

"BOSS! YOU OKAY?!" Bone-lasher exclaimed. I coughed up mouthfuls of water then gasped and grabbed onto Bone-lasher.

"Grandpa Seamus! Where is he?!" I demanded. I felt the shame and worry Bone-lasher felt as he turned his head away.

"I don't know…I can't see him…" Bone-lasher replied.