The Pyrenees mountains serve as a natural border between Spain and France. Stretching for more than 600 kilometres, from the Atlantic all the way to the Mediterranean Sea, they create a significant physical and cultural divide between the two countries.
But the Seredums sensed that this border was radiating an unusual arcane presence at certain areas along its peaks. Both Faris and the sisters ruled out some of it as either naturally dense spots of magical energy or known Cultist areas. But one location caught their attention – the triangle between Plateau de Beille, Grotte de Lombrives, or the Cave of Lombrives, and Vicdessos Valley.
The plateau was high, foggy, and isolated, and the valley was remote, rugged, and dotted with old mines and narrow paths. But there was more. The Cave was one of Europe's largest and always a hot spot for Demon worshippers once continuously monitored by the Outsiders. The Valley had networks of abandoned tunnels and mines often used by Cultists and arcane wrongdoers.
The Ki flow of the entire area felt disturbed and tampered with. But according to the Eye's records, there should have been no Cults in this area at the time.
"Feels a bit too odd," Faris mused. The Seredums had led them to just outside Vicdessos village, up a narrow winding road with a dead end in the dark. "Ki networks are blurred. This is some complicated interference."
Upon the senior Mystic's advice, everyone suppressed and masked their Ki.
"What could be causing it?" Erina asked. She knew Faris was more experienced. He had dealt with Cults all his life, had worked with the likes of Mustaqeem, Ambris, and even Warren, and understood the many intricacies of Ki better than most.
"I have a few theories," he replied, "but we'll have to go deeper to be sure."
The village below was mostly dark. Only a handful of street lamps were visible. Faris moved ahead and noticed a faded skiing poster on an information board. Another board next to an old abandoned stone building up the trail had a schematic of old mining paths.
Reading the signs, Faris said, "I can sense Ki residue all over this region. But it seems to be coming from under the ground."
"Exactly," Eila responded. "That's exactly what we read as well. The plateau and the cave up ahead, and this valley… they're all the same. It's an odd triangle of Ki disturbances that shouldn't be here."
"Master Naji." Ella moved a step closer.
Faris finally looked back. "Yes, Ella?"
"What should we do now?"
He thought for a moment. "Divide and conquer…" He sighed. "Let's split up. That way, we'll cover more ground and save some time." Pointing at her, he said, "You and me, we'll go deeper into the valley." Looking at the sisters, he added, "You ladies should move on to look at the cave. I think you'd be better suited to go there than us…"
Erina nodded. "Understood."
Avoiding the village, the Mystic duo moved down to the valley floor. They followed a narrow forest path with old mining rails half-buried in moss. It was tough to follow the blurred trails of Ki and even tougher to follow an abandoned path in the dark of the night. But the deeper they went, the stronger the signals became. They could sense the Ki pulsating stronger and stronger.
Along the path, they found small, barred tunnel mouths some of which had been sealed shut with chains and locks. The rest of the tunnels had old dusty signage indicating that they had caved in. Some rusted cart frames were also lying around with broken tools.
Eventually, Faris stopped at one tunnel mouth and asked Ella to wait. He moved closer. There were chains blocking the path.
"Hey, kid," he said. "Come over here…"
Ella walked over.
"Can you sense it?" he asked.
She shook her head. "What is that? Ki?"
Unlike usual Ki which flowed in natural random patterns, they could feel a subtle hum pulsating like vibration – mechanical, patterned.
She looked at him. "That's too regular to be Ki… isn't it?"
Faris brought out a dagger and in one swipe cut the chains down.
As they began to move in, Ella attempted to light a flame to illuminate the dark tunnel. Faris promptly stopped her.
"What?" she asked, leaning closer.
He shook his head. "No Ki."
He brought out a torch from his umro bag and led the way. At first glance, the place felt abandoned. But then they started seeing signs indicating otherwise.
"Look at that…" Faris pointed at a trail of footsteps. "Those look fresh to me."
Ella observed closely. "I agree."
A little deeper and they noticed light coming from around the corner. Faris switched off the torch and they approached cautiously.
"Do you hear that?" Faris whispered. Ella nodded.
They could hear a sound now.
"That pattern," Ella whispered, wide-eyed. "It's the same pattern."
The pattern resembled the humming they felt outside.
Faris peeked around the corner – a few bulbs were hung from the wall lighting the path inward. He waited and observed for a few moments. He could feel no Ki signature inside except for the pulsating odd energy.
'A deep tunnel like this creates a Ki pocket anyway,' he thought. 'There's natural Ki all around. And then that damned hum is making it even tougher.'
He slowly moved in, Ella followed close behind. They kept going in and the noise kept getting louder. Eventually, they reached the end of the tunnel and found a large diesel generator there.
Stunned, the duo observed for a few moments before looking around. They could find nothing else. It was a dead end. A few wires from the generator were going into the ground and the walls on the side of it, but there was no room, no control unit, nothing.
"What on earth is this all about?" Ella asked, frustrated, sweat trickling down the side of her face. "It's just a generator."
Faris shook his head. "Something's going on here that we don't fully understand."
The young Mystic looked at him. "Maybe the humming vibration and sound from this generator is what's keeping us from sensing any Ki."
"These are physical vibrations, Ella. They don't interact directly with Ki."
"Evidence to the contrary…"
"It's not possible." Faris removed the cap and wiped the sweat from his forehead. "There must be something else."
Thereafter, they headed back out. Before they could get to the exit, however, Faris stopped Ella. His senses were sharper. Before she could tell what had made him stop, he had already sensed two men standing at the tunnel mouth, observing the broken chains..
The senior Mystic tried but could not establish a stable telepathic link between them. So, he got close and whispered, "Two men at the entrance. We have to take them out but not before we understand what they're doing and how they're doing it."
Ella nodded. "I'll phase through and attack from behind…"
"No." Faris shook his head. "The Ki here is unstable. I don't want you getting sealed inside the walls…"
"So?"
He switched off his light. "Just follow me quietly and let's observe first."
They moved slowly, light switched off, and stopped a safe distance away. They saw the two men wearing black cloaks. They were holding the broken chains in their hands. Faris noticed something else – one of the two had a walkie-talkie with him.
Before he could radio for help or report the broken chains, Faris shot a dagger straight at the walkie-talkie. And before the broken device could even hit the ground, he rushed at the cloaked men. They noticed too late and could not avoid. He came jumping out of the tunnel entrance with legs stretched wide and kicked them both in the face simultaneously.
As he knocked one of them out with a swift hit to the head, the other one attempted to get back up. But before he could, Ella came rushing at him and drove her knee to the back of his neck knocking him out cold as well.
Faris nodded, smiling. "Nice."
Now that they were outside, Ella could sense the elements in her surroundings a lot better. There was distortion still, but she noticed something unusual.
"Hey, Master Naji," she said as she stopped and looked down at the ground. "I can sense an underlying energy here."
Faris dragged the cloaked men to the edge of the tunnel and began wiping their memory clean.
"What do you mean?" he asked. "Could you describe what you're feeling?"
"It's… I don't know…" She took a deep breath then looked around. "It's eerily similar…"
"Similar to what?"
Once the memories had been wiped, Faris threw both men into the tunnel and then began tying the chains back on the mouth of the tunnel.
Ella looked at him. "We visited a Keeper's Post with Master Baylis. I felt a presence like this over there."
Faris smirked as he looked over. "Dig deeper. It is similar, but dig deeper. With all this distortion it's tough to tell, but there's a difference between this and that." Looking back at the chains, he said, "There's something here deep underground… or at least there used to be…"