CHAPTER 24: SURROUNDED

"How's the situation out there?" Jana asked as he helped the other special operation team members cover the bodies of the fallen priestesses with a cloth. The bodies had been there for a while, and they couldn't just leave them there, but since they were in contact with magic, their bodies rotted slower than normal human beings, therefore, it wasn't too late even if they were to be buried later.

"They're still there," Roscoe informed them. He had been looking out the window, taking notes of the movements outside of the barrier surrounding the temple ground. But those people were just standing there, unmoving. Observing, giving them the creeps.

"Where the hell did they come from anyway?" Chet, who was undeniably agitated, asked as he paced around the altar where they were currently on.

"That's not the problem right now," Joleen quipped from the other side of the room as she, too, was scouting the area outside the barrier. "The problem is, how do we get away from here? It;'s not like we were prepared to stay here long term. Not to mention, we have limited resources and weapons. Also, we can't contact anyone outside the village," she reminded the whole room which then plunged into a depressing silence.

"Dawn is just in a couple hours," Seho said, looking at his watch, "maybe we should wait it out until there's light and then we figure out the next step after we see what they were going to do," he told them his thoughts. 

"Is there really no way to contact the world outside?" Aaron asked gloomily, yet still hopefully. "Can't you, like, reach out with your magic to the Goddess?" Aaron turned to Mavi who had been sitting in silence on the floor of the altar.

"Well… maybe not Amaya…" Mavi said, thinking deeply. He had not used the calling since before the great war, so it might have been a little difficult for him to do so now. And there was a particularly great distance between him and Mairin currently so he wasn't even sure that the calling would even reach him. After all, the state of earth magic was now very different from before the great war. He might need to exert a bit performing it. But what else could they do?

"If not the Goddess, then who?" Jana asked, his eyes following Mavi who had gotten up and was looking around the mass hall.

"Mairin," Mavi said, "he and I were both beings that were born from magic, so we have the same wavelength that could resonate fairly well. But the distance is the problem, as well as the amount of magic it's needed for me to use tha calling to contact him," Mavi explained.

"What do you need?" Rigel asked readily, as he, too, stood up and approached Mavi in anticipation and a little hope.

"I need a secluded room, small one preferably," Mavi said, turning to Rigel, "Also, please check anywhere in this temple if there is any recharging station. I may need to use all the energy crystals for the calling," Mavi asked them.

"I think I saw a station when I made my rounds earlier," Aaron said while thinking. "Let me check again and report back," he said and he picked up his belongings before rushing out of the mass hall and disappeared behind the doors.

"Anything else?" It was Allerick who asked this time. He looked at his lover with worry on his face and he couldn't help but to want to hold the younger man, knowing that using that much energy crystal would render the latter weak for a while. But there really was nothing else they could do to contact the outside world and request assistance.

Sensing the King's gloomy mood, Mavi approached him and held his hands instead and offered him a smile. "It will be fine. I haven't done it in a long time, and it does take a lot of magic to perform it. But I have grown since the great war and I have more power now. So there's nothing to be concerned about," he reassured Allerick who just stared at him.

Allerick kept on staring at him for a little while more, making Mavi embarrassed and nervous. But after some time, Allerick only sighed and patten Mavi's head gently before turning to Rigel. "Make sure the room is cleared of everything. And open any windows and let as much natural light in as you can," Allerick ordered him. Rigel nodded readily before heading out to personally search for the most suitable room for Mavi to use.

On the other side, Aaron who was searching for the station that he saw earlier was circling around the main building, accompanied by Jana who stared at him in annoyance. "We literally only have been here for a couple hours and you already forgot things? What should we do with you? You're unbelievable!" Jana said almost exasperatedly.

"I mean, I wasn't thinking about it at that time, okay? Who knew we would be needing it as soon as we got here?" Aaron said, also frustrated, mostly at himself.

"Nevermind that," Jana said, sighing again as he walked into another corridor on the third floor of the building, "keep looking and holler if you find it," she said and disappeared into the dimly lit hallway, leaving Aaron on the foot of the stairs leading to door of the attic.

Aaron grumbled as he climbed the stairs hastily and stopped dead in front of the wooden door. He looked down at the keyhole and then at the knob which were both rusting. It definitely hadn't been open for some time, so the station couldn't have been on the other side of the door. But something at the back of his mind kept on nagging him to open the door. He stared at it as if in trance. There was nothing extraordinary about the door. It was a regular, old-fashioned wooden door that every household in this village had at some point. There was no carving anywhere on the door. The color was also a boring old-fashioned one, although it did look very sturdy, albeit old.

Gulping down his nervousness, Aaron reached out his hand to the knob and tried turning it. It didn't budge. But before he could breathe a sigh of relief, a critting sound from inside the room faintly entered his ears, slightly alarming him.

"Ahh… I really hate creepy things…" he said to himself before he took a deep breath and forcefully tinkered with the keyhole until the door creaked open.

At first he saw nothing, only darkness, inside the room. But when his eyes finally adjusted to the darkness, his entire body was frozen still in place. The entire attic room was big. So big. Almost as big as the main temple itself. But all Aaron could see was layers upon layers of white silk intertwining, filling the entire room, emitting a light fragrant. It smelled so good Aaron almost took a deep breath and took it all in when he came to his senses and closed the door frantically.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck," Aaron kept repeating the word as he bolted out of the stairs and ran all the way back to the mass hall. He was sweating all over. Not just because he ran, but because he was terrified and shocked. Aaron burst through the door, straddling the remaining people inside.

"What the fuck? What is it?" seeing Aaron came in a hurry, Roscoe got up from the floor and approached him who was panting and bending down. "Are you okay? What is it? What happened? What about the station?" Roscoe asked, also almost frantically.

"Jana's looking for it," Aaron swatted Roscoe's hands which were holding him steady and stomped towards the King and the Warlock with a serious face. His usually rosy complexion was almost white from fear and his back was ramrod straight as he stood before his ruler.

"What have you found?" with Mavi by his side, holding his hand, Allerick looked at Aaron and asked.

"I found lotus spider eggs in the attic," Aaron told them and the room went into silence immediately, "there were thousands of them. By the state of the fragrant and the sound they emitted, I'd say they were about ready to hatch. But I am not an expert," he said and turned to Mavi whose face also started to go paler.

"What the fuck are you saying?" Roscoe asked in disbelief and started opening his mouth out of panic.

"Show us," Allerick interrupted Roscoe's agitated mumbling and said to Aaron who nodded and turned on his heels and led them to the attic.

"The door seemed very old, like ancient, and kinda rusty and unused, so I thought there would be nothing inside. But then I heard sounds from inside so then I opened it and well," Aaron recounted what he had seen inside the attic as they walked upstairs. They turned towards another corridor and walked to the foot of the stairs. Aaron pointed up and said, "up there."

Allerick, being the leader that he was born as, climbed the stairs in front of everyone with confident steps. He was worried, but he never let it known. Mavi, perhaps, the only one who could clearly gauge Allerick's emotion at any time and any place. And right now, Allerick was positively worried and confused.

Mavi, walking beside Allerick on the not-so-wide steps, held his beloved's hand tightly before letting it go. Allerick stood beside Mavi, looking down at him as the latter opened his palm wide and placed it on the door as he chanted a spell. A soft blue light emitted from his palm, and soon it spread to cover the entire door.

When the light dimmed, what was shown as a result was the scene inside the attic.