They both turned to look at me, neither expected the expression on my face, let alone the sudden outburst.
"Wait what, what do you mean we need to leave. It's the middle of the night, and you just woke up. You need to rest, we'll head out in the morning. For now you need to stay put."
Sofia put her hand on my arm trying to push me back down.
"I agree, you must rest. For your sake and ours. Don't worry Miss.Bryne and I will continue to watch over you till morning."
I looked him in the eyes with distraught:
"You don't understand, that raven..... None of it was a dream. It was a premonition of some kind, it was trying to tell me something. Showing me the path to take."
They both looked at one another, then back to me. I turned to Sofia and grabbed her by her shoulders:
"Listen you know better than anyone, the things we've seen... right. Well listen that raven, it was there with me. And now it's here, I was protected and sent away before anything could happen but they're not here now.
We're not safe, please that raven is a bad omen, it's a sign of what's to come."
Sofia held her head down as she took everything in, I could tell she very well understood my words. She thought back to what happened before, with the sword.
She thought about how afraid we were when we got back, and now to be told that those things could possibly be coming here.... now. This was real..., what if there was no reset this time. Death now could be just that.... Death.
Letting her go I looked Ray in the eyes, my expression grew serious. My tone changed, my demeanor shifted:
"Ray, you trust me right. You said you'd have my back and I'd have yours. You said you would follow my lead, keep me safe, help me.
Then do it, keep your word. No animals within at least a hundred miles, yet now all of a sudden one bird, a dangerous, highly intelligent creature. All of a sudden shows up at our door.
What more do you need. Pack your shit, Ray. We're leaving."
Ray simply nodded after hearing my words, he rushed out and informed the others. The quickly got to work, without a word.
"Sun are we really in danger?"
"Yes, I'm not sure what's out there but it spooked someone way stronger than us. They protected me and sent me back here. I don't know what happened to them but that raven is what started it."
"So what do we do."
She looked up at me with worry in her eyes. Her expression was soft..., she was afraid.
"We head to the entrance, the real entrance. I know the way, and I've got a feeling when I opened it before something changed in our reality. Opening it here will only cement the change.
I've gotta ask now before it's too late. Do you really wanna do this? From here on out everything changes, are you sure you want to be the reason.?.?"
A single tear slowly rolled down her cheek, she slowly rose to her feet. Wiping it away, her expression changed. She reached her hand out to me with determination.
"Let's do this, partner."
I smiled as I grabbed her hand, she helped me up and we began packing everything. We rushed out to meet with everyone else, they were finishing up gathering the supplies.
As I looked around for Ray the young lady walked over to me, handing me a small bit of rations, then gestured for us to follow her.
We followed her as she led us towards Ray, whom was giving orders to one of the guards:
"You two ready? We leave on your call."
"Good, let's move, the sooner we get to the entrance the better. (I hope)"
Ray nodded and started for the cave, I grabbed his shoulder stopping him. I gestured towards the trees to the left of the cave.
"Wrong way. That there's a fake, follow me."
He looked toward Sofia whom simply nodded in response. He then rounded everyone up and we started for the trees.
It was dark, and there was a fog forming. It further cemented my worries but I tried not to let it show. The others followed close behind as I led them through, Chandler was kept in the middle of the group.
Ray stood beside me while the young lady stood beside Sofia, they held their weapons at the ready as they used their flashlights to peer into the darkness.
Sofia's guards were the next best trained, under mine, so they were stationed in the back; to keep watch.
I followed the path I had gone before, following the figure. Then I could finally see it the stone slab from before.
I broke away from the group and ran towards the grave, out of respect I cleared of the moss and apologized.
I then ran around to the otherside and began looking for the markings. Once I found the first one, I began clearing it off unveiling the rest.
I placed my hands onto the markings and waited but nothing happened. Sofia and Ray walked over to see what I was doing, they watched as I continously place my hand onto the markings.
"What's wrong?"
"I'm... I'm not sure, it's not working."
"Are you sure this is the right spot?"
"Yes!"
In a moment of frustration I accidentally snapped at her question. Something was wrong, I was under pressure. I wasn't looking for a solution, only hoping it would solve itself.
Then the call rang out once more, only this time it was closer. Then came the rustling of the trees in the distance.
Ray place his hand on my shoulder, trying to calm me down:
"Slow down, think for a second. It's not working, so clearly somethings missing. You just need to figure out what."
I closed my eyes and slowed my breathing. Taking in the air around me, I slowly opened them. I scanned the area around and began to think back on the vision.
Standing up, I took a step back and took another look at the symbols. Looking at them I finally realized what was missing:
"One of the symbols.... It's missing."
Behind me I could hear the rustling getting closer and everyone preparing their weapons.
"Sun do something!"
I could hear the panic in Sofia's voice, as the first shot was fired. I flinched at the noise then turned to look behind me.
I could see tall dark figures making their way towards us through the trees, the only features that could be seen were their long limbs and sharp fingers.
I watched in horror as a bullet shot right through the chest of one of the figures, yet without even flinching it continued forward.
Ray grabbed me by my shoulder and gave me a big shake:
"FOCUS! NOTHING ELSE MATTERS."
I shook my head, chasing away the distractions. I through my bag down and shuffled through till I found the journal.
Flipping through I found the page and began matching the symbols to the one on the ground.
"SUN!"
"I KNOW, GIVE ME YOUR KNIFE!"
Sofia fumbled around trying to unclip her knife from her hip, after getting it she tossed it over to me. I took off the cover and began carving the missing symbol into the dirt.
Slamming my hand down, the ground began to shake as the entrance began to open.
As soon as the opening was big enough every one rushed inside, Ray moved to the back end waited for everyone else before entering.
He continued to fire shot at the creatures until I grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled him in. Sofia seeing the chance slammed her hand on the symbols on the wall closing the entrance.
Everyone stopped to catch their breath, we were standing on stairs leading down underground. Some chose to sit while others remaind standing, Ray walked over to me and patted my shoulder.
"Thanks kid, you did good out there."
"Thanks, you too."
Sofia squeezed through the others to reach the top, where we were:
"What were those things?"
I looked up at the wall protecting us from them:
"Some kind of defensive measure, I guess. Whatever is down here, is important. Those things must have been put here to keep us out."
"Old gods?"
"Old gods."
We shook our heads then stared down the dark stairway.
"So what now."
"Now..., we keep moving."
As soon as I said that, torches along the walls leading down, lit up. Showing us our new path.
But we were unaware that as we moved deeper the world above us was changing. When the markings were completed and the cave was opened, a seal was partially broken.
A wave of dark energy broke free and encased the world. It moved through all of the living things on the planet, marking and rewriting their souls. Unlocking what was hidden inside them.
Some were broken, some twisted and some rebuilt, but none were luckier than the few that were reshaped and re-awakened.
Those few became stronger, brighter yet they were left with a small darkness inside them, keeping them from reaching their full beauty.