《RECALCITRANCE》Chapter 14 ? Starting Line
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From the tower, they now have a much clearer view over the land below them. Ugly marks of abandoned construction work are obvious, but the land below is far more than what meets the eye. The uneven land tells them there are underground tunnels below, hidden amidst the supposed barren land.
"Down there," Alaina whispers, hardly believing her own eyes.
"We can only find out if we go down there ourselves," Lloyd states the obvious. His fingers brush the old letters of 'Deep Fire Within' on the wall gently. "So, this is your clue?"
"I believe so," Lancaster says, unsure himself. That is the only thing Clyde left him with, but he isn't even sure if it's a clue or some sort. It does seem like one, though; with all their discoveries so far, this is bound to lead them somewhere. "We should head down."
The sun is hanging proudly over them, sending its brilliance over the entire place, casting bright rays on their skin.
As Lancaster hurries over to the nearest uneven grounding he spots to examine it, searching for a passageway, with Alaina and Lloyd following along very briskly.
With a hand shading him from the blazing sunlight overhead, Kai squints his eyes for a clearer view of the land ahead. Sweat trickles down the back of his neck, soaking his shirt, and he isn't very happy that they're about to indulge in another self imagined search.
As he wipes sweat off his forehead, he finds Rose right beside him, not searching like the others. Instead, she just stands there, looking deep in thought.
"I guess that makes us the only normal ones," Kai states happily, but Rose turns to cast him a look.
"I found the tower that led us as we are now, you know; and I'm searching -- just effortlessly."
"By overlooking the area from a different perspective to get a better view of things?"
She smiles, and something about her smile tells Kai she is up to something. "Exactly."
And immediately after she has uttered the word, she glows green without warning. The moment she does so, the ground below them shakes, and the shaking stretches as far and as wide as the entire area goes; Alaina reaches for something to support her for the sudden quake as Lancaster struggles to balance himself, and Lloyd trips over.
The non-natural quake lasts only several seconds, as it stops when Kai shakes Rose frantically. "What are you doing?"
"We're searching for underground stuff, aren't we? There are plenty of mosses growing underneath -- all over rocks and shattered bricks... from the feeling of it, it really does feel like something's under our feet." She closes her eyes, trying to regain the focus lost.
But before she can glow green and attempt to activate her powers again, Kai grabs her arm. "And you're going to do what now?"
"I'm going to make the mosses grow rapidly, and from there we can find whatever we are looking for."
"You mean you're going to make the mosses grow out the entire whatever's underground for you."
Rose rests her hand on her hips, turning to look at Kai. "What's wrong with that? It saves time and effort."
The way she states it so innocently and nonchalantly makes Kai boil; if his powers were very entwined with his emotions, he'd be a human torch. "Are you serious?"
The others seem to sense the tension forming between the two, or are just curious where had the sudden, momentary unnatural quake originated from, wondering if it'll occur again -- because the three of them rush towards where Rose and Kai stand.
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"What are you doing?" Lancaster storms over, not pleased with their ineffectiveness, not to mention interruption.
"Nothing, just trying to help," Rose replies.
"Your way of helping is wrong," Kai says before Lancaster can say anything.
"And how is it wrong, when it saves time and energy?" Rose isn't angry -- she never really gets angry, but she is rather frustrated.
"If you pull everything to the surface it'll defeat the purpose of it being underground in the first place!"
"Then what do you suggest, Mr. Flame Hands?"
This makes Kai burst; his face turns scarlet red and he nearly produces flames. "You --"
But he stops immediately as his frown gradually turns into a look of pure confusion, staring past Rose at something ahead. When the others look at what he's staring at, they share the same confused look Kai has because there's a young boy in such a deserted place.
The boy stops dead in his tracks and freezes at the sight of them, seemingly very surprised to see people here. He stumbles backwards, taking a few steps away from them. And before anyone can say anything, he breaks into a clumsy run.
Lancaster is the first to make a move. Very quickly, he runs after the boy, briefly saying over his shoulder, "follow him, he might lead us somewhere."
Dropping the argument before like it has never happened, Rose and Kai simply exchange glances before following Alaina and Lloyd who are picking up after Lancaster.
Surprisingly, the boy is rather fast and he disappears from sight after a short run. Catching his breath, Lancaster tries to search for him, but he only finds the same abandoned, lonely atmosphere as before. He squints his eyes ahead, but finds nothing. The wind blows, as if mockingly, in his ear.
When the others catch up, Lancaster turns to them with a frown on his face. But before he can speak, Lloyd cuts in first, despite gasping for air desperately.
"Please don't tell me you've lost him."
"Can you not tell the obvious?" Lancaster says frustratedly.
Lloyd dusts himself as he regains composure. He begins walking closer to Lancaster. "I just can't believe the great Lancaster failed to catch a kid," he mocks, taking a few steps further from the group. "Are you getting ol--"
A loud thump clouds his voice. Lloyd has just tripped over thin air.
"And I see you are getting clumsier by the second," Lancaster shoots back.
Alaina is shaking her head in disapproval of their actions while Kai is trying his best to not even giggle after sensing the dangerous demeanour beside him. Contrary to him though, Rose bursts out laughing.
Despite having all eyes on her, she either doesn't notice the stares or simply doesn't care. Still giggling, Rose walks over to Lloyd who still has his face buried in the ground due to extreme embarrassment.
"Just how many times do you plan on tripping?" she asks between laughter, offering her hand out to him. "And how long are you going to stay dead?"
Finally lifting his head slightly, Lloyd fumbles for Rose's hand. "The land isn't very smooth here," he simply comments. But as he is getting to his feet, he slips and nearly falls again, making even Rose lose her balance.
"Do you not eat enough?" Rose complains.
"Wait, over there," Lloyd says immediately, ignoring Rose's comment, getting to his feet at last.
Prompting the others to follow, he finds a very tiny tunnel opening behind an uneven ground not far from where he fell. When Lancaster heaves open the rusty circular metal door, they find the tunnel leading somewhere underground.
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"How many tunnels are we going to go through today?" Alaina mutters, but her voice echoes in the tunnel. She looks down the tunnel, but it is seemingly endless, and only darkness lies ahead.
Lancaster, too, isn't sure about this; it definitely leads to somewhere underground, but he is hesitant as it's only leading to somewhere unknown, and they still aren't sure if there's a way out.
Picking up a pebble he finds nearby, Lloyd throws it down the tunnel and waits patiently to hear its landing. However, it must be really far down, as they hear nothing even after waiting for a rather long time.
Growing impatient, Kai says, "ladies first?" He gestures for Alaina to enter.
"Wait," Lancaster says immediately, putting a hand between Kai and Alaina and sending a glare to Kai. "We need people up here in case anything happens; and with Rose, we can use her vines --"
"I have a better idea," Alaina interrupts, a sly smile forming across her face.
Kai barely turns to her when he is pushed by a strong force and shoved into a cramped space. The next thing he realises, he's already falling into the tunnel.
In a split second of panic, flames burst out from his arms and hands, burning through his gloves and lighting up the tunnel. He doesn't even realise he is able to do that until the emotions are felt in that exact moment. But the flames only stay for as long as he feels panicked; in a short amount of time where the flames had lit up the tunnel, he finds himself sliding steadily down the tunnel instead of falling into nothingness.
Yet that doesn't help at all, because he still doesn't know what is down there -- or how far below does the tunnel stretch, for that matter.
Kai uses his arms to shield himself, but from what, he doesn't know. Behind his arms, he closes his eyes and turns his head to the side, bracing himself as he slides down with maximum velocity.
Suddenly, he slips as he is flung out of the tunnel, falling with a splash. He lands on shallow water; half of his body is above the water level even when he sits. It's quite dark, but he spots a dim light hanging on the wall in a narrow passageway ahead. Steps before him leads to the platform above, and behind him the tunnel that led him here.
Standing up, he pulls out his tattered gloves and throws them aside. Kai thinks of doing the natural thing everyone in his position would do: to shout that it's safe for the others to jump, but he has something better in mind.
Picturing the look on Alaina the last he remembers however vaguely, a similar sly smirk stretches across his face in the darkness. With all his energy, he thrusts his arms and shoots a strong, heavy wave of flames up the tunnel as a signal.
Since he doesn't know how far and long the tunnel really goes, he can only hope the full force of flames are successfully sent upwards. The flames travel fast back up the tunnel without burning the rusty metal sides, but increase the temperature inside drastically.
Flames burst out from the tunnel opening suddenly, startling the other four still above. Alaina stumbles backwards at the sudden dangerous wave of heat, the flames nearly missing her hair.
When the flames dissipate, she angrily shouts back at the tunnel, "watch where you shoot those!" Then, turning on her heels to face the others, she says, "I guess that means it's safe to go."
When Lancaster and Rose move forward without a hint of doubt or hesitation, Lloyd is rather dumbfounded. "Wait -- you're not seriously going down there, right?" he asks nervously.
"No, of course not," Rose replies, turning to face him. "We are."
"Exactly. And since you ask so nicely, you may go first," Lancaster adds, gesturing to the tunnel.
Taking a small step back, Lloyd says, "I'm good, you can go ahead --"
But Lancaster doesn't listen any further. He reaches for Lloyd's bag, snatches it away from him and threatens to throw it down the tunnel. When Lloyd frantically hurries after his bag, Lancaster takes the opportunity to shove him down the tunnel forcefully, throwing the bag after him.
Finally able to force the most reluctant person among them down the tunnel, Alaina, Lancaster and Rose follow after him.
Similarly, they find themselves drenched in the dark underground after landing. Alaina picks herself up, drying her hair and clothes, but water splashes on her from the side. Due to this, she doesn't get any dryer but wetter instead, and she falls as a result of the distraction.
Sitting miserably in the water where she started, annoyance and frustration takes over her and she feels the need to scream at someone. Her head snaps to the source, only to find Kai laughing.
"That's payback."
She flushes angrily, ready to yell at him. But his following unpredictable actions makes her shut her mouth and swallow whatever insults she's about to throw at him, because when Kai stops laughing, he walks over to her and offer her his hand.
Yet immediately as he does so, he retreats his hand after realising he has no gloves on. His smile fades and he turns away darkly; Alaina notices his sadness.
There is hesitation. She wants to reach out for his hand, to grab it and comfort him. But at the same time, she is afraid.
And she doesn't do anything. That moment of decision that might, even a little, change something is gone forever.
Lancaster calls out to them as he ascends the steps leading to the dark passageway, and Kai leaves without another word. Left slightly stunned, Alaina is conflicted and doesn't even understand her own regrets.
Shaking it off and pushing the thoughts and emotions for later, she focuses on the things on hand. She follows them up the steps and into the dark passageway lit solely by the dying candlelight hung on the bracket against the wall.
They turn a corner, and are surprised to find an old wooden door. But when Lancaster tries to open it, it is locked. The sliding panel on the centre of the door is also out of their reach, since it can only be opened from the inside.
To Lloyd's horror, Lancaster is about to try and break it down with his sword. He looks ready to kill, like the door is an obstacle threatening his life that should not be there to begin with. But Lloyd feels worse when he realises the others are not seeing this as a problem -- in fact, Alaina looks like she has been expecting this and is in full support of his actions while Kai and Rose are ready to knock down the door anytime.
"Want me to burn it down?" Kai offers.
"I can do it too," Rose says eagerly.
Alaina stops them, "Lancaster can do it without causing too much... havoc."
Before Lancaster's sword hit any part of the door, the panel slides open suddenly. A pair of tired eyes meet theirs.
"Password?"
"Password?" Lloyd repeats.
This seems to piss Kai off, because he crosses his arms and says impatiently, "die?"
"No one enters without the password," the person behind the door states simply.
"What is this, some sort of game?" Kai raises his voice, stepping close to the door to threaten the person, but Alaina holds him back.
"Iros?" Lloyd suggests. In fact, he is rather confident, since it is the church itself that led them here.
But to his dismay, the person doesn't open the door for them. Instead, he says, "last chance."
They exchange clueless glances. Rose is just about to blame Kai for simply wasting their attempts just because he grew impatient, but stops as she notices the confident look on Lancaster. The others notice it, too, and they wait patiently for him to say something.
Finally, after a moment of thinking, Lancaster says, "an uncaged bird is one that flies the highest, towards the sky and beyond."
And the door opens.
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