• Upon hearing my clock begin to sound its wake up alarm I awoke to say "2 hours sleep is not good for the body". "Sigh... Maybe I went to in-depth with the whole reading thing.“ I thought to myself and gently rubbed my eyes, and moved to the kitchen to fix some coffee up. Ruri was already up and a coffee was already made for me. Ruri looked at me as I slumped into the kitchen. “You look like crap, what happened to you ?” I yawned and gave her an evil stare. “Lack of sleep. Would you believe it ?” she laughed. “Well you should of left the books alone a little earlier.” I nodded. “Yeah I guess.” I began drinking my coffee when Ruri handed me a pro plus tablet. I used them a lot when I didn’t get much sleep but needed to be alert for things like this. Swallowing the tablet I then finished my coffee and walked to the shower. “Hope this wakes me up more then that stupid coffee did.” I climbed in and turned it on jumping at the cold shot I got I got changed into my uniform and asked Ruri if was she ready. “Yeah I’m done. Lets go.” We both walked out the door toward the armada base.

    Ruri looked at me then asked. “So why the sudden curiosity with the ancients then ?” I looked at her. “What do you mean ?” she looked back at me. “Come on Chii, you’re a poor liar. Plus I saw that massive book you carried in with you. Wasn’t hard to take a stab at it” "Sigh...I’m just preparing myself for today’s mission.” she looked somewhat worried. “You have never done that before, you usually take life as it comes.” I walked on in a bit impatient with the constant questioning. “Look just leave it Ruri, okay?” She withdrew defensively. “Okay Chi, sorry.” She said lowering her head. As I looked back I felt bad. “Ruri I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snap at you like that. I didn’t sleep well, and well I have a lot of things going through my head.” Just saying that kind of took my mind off the things I was pondering about. Ruri looked up at me and said. “Chii, you know if you need to speak to someone i'll always listen, you know that don’t you ?” I nodded. “Of course I do Ruri“I smiled, and then carried on walking with Ruri towards the base. When I got there I looked around the main yard of the base, and noticed the helicopter we would probably be taking getting refuelled. “Dammit not only do I go to a place I’m not comfy with going to, but I have to be briefed by the idiot of the century.” I thought this aloud and Ruri heard me and laughed. “You really don’t like him, do you?” I looked at her. “Nope, hate him. He’s an idiot."

    I walked into the briefing room. It was silent and only me and Ruri were present. “Something’s up here. We might be elites but any excavation always has at least 10 of us.” I looked at Ruri and she returned the look. As we took our seats Zanar then walked in and looked at Ruri with a smile, then looked at me and shifted his head quickly to face forward. I never liked him: There was just something about him I didn’t trust, and Ruri wasn’t on either side. I whispered to Ruri. ”Ruri something is up here, don’t you think were a little under maned here ?” She looked around, noticing only a consultant, Zanar and us present. “Yeah, I have to admit something doesn’t fit here. Where’s the rest ?” Zanar stood at the conference desk and began to brief us on the situation

    We were to go into the crater and look for Talics, and also find out where the strange light generates from. It seemed pretty simple but was far from it. I would soon find. Ruri stood up. “Sir if you don’t mind me asking...” Zanar looked toward Ruri and replied. “Yes Ruri, please speak.” “Well, where is everyone else? I mean if you don’t mind me saying….” I stood up and he looked at me with a angered look of disgust. As always I was forward with my point to him. “You’re ripping the piss a bit here. We're elites yeah, but this place hasn’t been looked at once, so you want to send us in alone. Any particular reason for that?” he looked at me, pushing his head back a bit as if my words had knocked him back a little. “Well I trust you 2 enough. Besides, with the current war issues we cant spare anymore soldiers, but we also need to know what’s there” I took my seat and whispered to Ruri. “He’s up to something, plain as day. What kind of answer was that ? And since when are we in a war with anyone ?” Ruri shrugged her shoulders. “Your guess is as good as mine, but for now its probably best we just do as we're told. Besides,there’s a big fat reward after completion.” I nodded with approval. “Yeah, I guess your right. They are paying considerably more then usual.” And with that the briefing closed, and me and Ruri made our way to the transport helicopter.

    It was silent except for the sounds of the propellers, not a word was said by either myself or Ruri until I shattered the silence. “So how long till we get there pilot ?” He looked at his chart and said. "We should still have another 30 minutes, Ma’am.” I leaned back laying my head against the side of the wall. "Sigh... Okay thanks for the information.” I began fidgeting and playing with the cuffs on my uniform. It got Ruri’s attention till she said. “You cant ever sit still, can you ?” I looked up. “Not when I’m bored like this. I mean a television would be nice.” She laughed, great way to kill tension. "Chii want a spa in here to or a BBQ stand ?” I looked and her sarcastic smile. “No need to take it that far.” She laughed again “You know I’m only joking with you.” I ran my hands through my hair. “I don’t care about the pay. Something's just screwed up here. I don’t think we have the whole story here and I cant stay really calm thinking like that.” She looked at me then looked out the window. “I know what you mean. I feel like were not quite getting the information we need here.” I stood up, clenching my fist. “it’s a conspiracy, I bet !” She looked round and smiled. “You sure take this sort of thing serious, don’t you ? Maybe you should be more lax like me, walk in, walk out, get your pay, its simple.” I sat back down. “Well sorry Ruri, but I accept that things don’t always work out so easily, and I feel like now is one of those times.” She shrugged her shoulders. “If something happens, it happens. Hell we have dealt with worse before, I’m sure.” As she finished that the pilot turned and announced that we will be touching down in about 5 minutes. I checked my equipment through carefully, not knowing what to expect. Both me and Ruri looked at each other and smiled. “Let’s do this”

    We both climbed from the helicopter down to the floor. The pilot apologized to Ruri. “Sorry Ma’am, I cant get any closer with something this heavy. Lord Zanar’s orders, Ma’am." She saluted him. “That’s fine, thank you for your help.” I began walking towards the crater. I was curious as to why the light I saw in the pictures was not there. I leaned over the side a little and looked down the crater. It was pitch black from about 30-50 meters deep, then suddenly a twinkle appeared from the centre, and a hugh beam of light formed from the crater, firing into the sky. It truly was something to behold, it even parted the clouds in the sky. “Well, guess that solves my question of where’s the beam of light.” I scratched the back of my head and Ruri patted me on the back. “Huh, oh Ruri its you.” She looked at the beam of light standing next to me. “Kind of amazing isn’t it ? That beam has a massive level of energy in it. Just think... If it could be harnessed, what could be possible ?” I looked at the column. “Depends who harnesses it, Ruri. If a power hungry idiot does, then I doubt the happy things your thinking of it being used for would become reality.” She laughed. “Good point. But then I guess that’s why it’s a good thing people haven’t realized how to harness this energy.” Nodding, I then asked. “So how are we suppose to investigate that hole if we cant get near it ? I’m sure that energy is harmful to us.” Ruri picked up a stone and chucked it into the column. The stone fragmented and dissolved before it even touched. “Well, guess your right on that one,“ She remarked, “but apparently it dies down after about 5-10 minutes... So it should calm down in a bit.”

    We both waited for a moment, and with a large bang sound, the column collapsed back into the crater. The sound rattled across the land, and Ruri looked down the crater. “I suppose this is its calm.” I looked at her. “You seem to know a bit about this oversized hole in the floor so cough it up.” She slammed her iron stake into the floor and as she adjusted it and explained. “The more you talk the less time we have. According to sources that thing goes off every 2-3 hours.” She tightened the harness cable to the stake. “Hey so you mean we have between 2 -3 hour to climb in, find something, climb back out, and we don’t even have a set time ? So you mean its volatile like a volcano ?” She nodded, tugging on her harness. “Pretty much, Chii.” I hit my stake into the floor. “Aren’t you a little worried, I mean if it goes off we don’t have a chance.” She began to lower herself down. ”Nah I get quite a buzz out of the thrill, really.” I followed her down. The light was gradually fading until finally I could only see up, not down. I thought of the energy technique I had for the palm light technique. As I was preparing it Ruri tugged on my foot. “Listen, miss sensible, we're sat in a hotpot of pure energy here.” I looked toward her hand as it was the only thing I could see. “Yeah, so what’s your point ?” She squeezed my leg. “Use your head ! Its volatile, you want to set it off by adding your energy to it ?” I felt kind of foolish. “Yeah, I kind of forgot about that. Thanks Ruri.” She lets go of my leg and carried on descending. “Baka...” I followed her slowly. “No need to be personal,” I thought, “,we cant see here. So how are we meant to find anything down there ?” And with that thought Ruri lit a flare. “There ! Now that’s better.“ She said loudly. We carried on down until we reached as far as we could go.

    We stood on a cliff ledge, a small fissure was located across the other side of the crater. I looked down, I could see the pure energy moving around below. The sight of it was kind of scary to know: If it went off, I was looking death in the face. “So how do we plan to get over there ?” Ruri pointed to the left. “We walk round, leave your harness here its already at max tension.” I looked at the harness, then looked at where Ruri pointed. the idea seemed fine till I realized the cliff side got much more smaller. Gulping I let the harness go and began to follow Ruri around the edges of the cliff. “Steady feet Chii, the cliff side here doesn’t look very sturdy.” I gulped loudly. “Thanks for making me feel better, Ruri.” She looked round. “Did you say something ?” I shook my head. “Nope, not a thing.” Then I carried on following her around the edges.

    We made it to the Fissure, just as we did a loud rumble went off. “Huh ? What’s going on?” Ruri grabbed me tightly and pulled me into the fissure. ” the things going off, 2 hours my a**.” I was scared, the thought of it going off now made me tremble with fear. I looked around and found a large scorched rock. “Ruri follow me.” Both me and Ruri took cover behind the rock. It was a tight fit to ensure both of us were behind the rocks cover, but as we squeezed in, the rumbling stopped and a sudden silence replaced it. “Ruri do you think maybe it was just it letting off steam, not blowing its top ?” She poked her head out from around the rock. “Maybe.” As she said that the rumble returned with great force. The cave was shaking. “Crap its gonna blow !” she tried to take cover again but couldn’t fit properly. “Huh, crap I’m not fully covered.” She was standing on my legs. I felt the energy begin rushing up the crater and grabbed Ruri from the back, and pulled her on top of me. As I did 2 seconds later pure energy flew against the rock and the nearby cave wall. I closed my eyes in fear holding Ruri tightly.

    Once the rumbling stopped and it sounded calm, I opened my eyes. Steam was raising everywhere around the rock, and Ruri’s head was buried in my breasts. I pulled her away and blushed. “Geez Ruri I’m so sorry !” She shook her head then held it still with her right hand. I looked at her. “I didn’t mean to make your head go there, I mean I was trying… to and well …” I couldn’t get my words out properly. Ruri helped me to my feet and hugged me. “thank you Chii, I owe you my life.” I scratched the back of my head and looked around. The fissure lead into a cave, and the cave was scorched a dark black. The cave had nothing really of any interest or, if it did, it probably was dissolved from the intense energy. Looking around I spotted a cavern leading from this cave deeper. “Ruri maybe we should go that way.” I pointed. She nodded with approval. “So much for 2-3 hours huh, Chii.“ She laughed. We carried on walking, the cavern was scorched pure Black. After 2 minutes walking we found an archway within the cavern. It was pure black, but it wasn’t scorched black. It was paint. I ran my finger across, and to clarify I peered around the arch and the cave had a natural earthy brown texture and color. “What the hell ?” Ruri stopped looking at the arch and looked at what I was looking at. “Hmm, now that is strange. How can an arch with nothing but dust and a clean coat of paint on block energy of that level ? I mean shouldn’t it be toasted ?” "I agreed.” "Yeah, you would think so, wouldn’t you ?” Something felt strange about the arch though, as I stepped beyond it a cold shiver riveted down my spine. Shuddering I carried on, Ruri followed. The cave was much more appeasing to the eye. we only got about 7-8 steps past the arch and a sudden rumble happened once more, but this time we were done for. “Ruri its going to blow again and there’s no cover !” I ran forward with fear until I heard. “Chii stop ! One we cant outrun it. Two, I don’t think we will need to even try. I'd say we are safe.” I looked back to see a twinkle of light flying towards us at amazing speed. I covered my head in my arms and awaited what I thought to be my untimely end.

    I rose my head from my arms to see Ruri standing fine. “Just as I thought.” Ruri said. Looking forward, I noticed the energy had stopped before the arch. The energy itself looked as though it was being stopped by some unforeseen force. As if drawn to the energy, I walked towards it past Ruri. “Chii ?” smiling I pulled a cocky face and said as though the energy could hear me. “Ha-ha cant get me now, can you ?” however I got a response: It flared at me, somewhat as if angered by my words. I pulled back. “Guess you wont be so smug next time, huh Chii ?” I looked at her, then returned my attention to the wall of energy, which slowly began losing its force and crumbling back to where it came from. “Guess we should carry on, huh Ruri ?” She didn’t move, but was inspecting a mural on the cave. “Hey Chii, check this out.” I came over and viewed the mural. From what I could make out people were in the mural, and the talic symbol was also present, and what seemed to be the energy that we have been chased by somewhat since we came in here. Moving along, the mural seemed to be trying to tell a story. The next image showed the beam destroying people, then stopping in front of a black door. Beyond that door was simply nothing but a large black scribble. “Hmm, this mural looks a lot like this crater and that door... Ruri do you think that door represents that arch ?” Ruri looked at the mural. “Possibly, but if it does then we're in whatever this black scribble is suppose to represent.” I was getting an uneasy feeling about the mural and where we were. “Ruri, maybe we should just leave... I mean we came we saw that’s really it huh ?” She carried on walking deeper. “I’m curios as to what the black scribble represents, aren’t you ?” She then shrugged her shoulders. “For all we know we might not even be in the place this mural is speaking about.” I followed her closely. “I guess you could be right, Ruri.” She walked deep into the cave. Soon we had no light. “Ruri, can't we light a flare ?” I asked. she held my hand. “Just stick together and we will be fine.” I tightly gripped Ruri’s hand. For the first time in my life, I was experiencing fear. Ruri was the only reason I was being brave enough: Had I have gone alone, I would have turned back ages ago. “Hmm, want a flare now ?” She asked. “Yes, please.” I replied in a shaky voice, my fear was plain to see. Ruri lit the flare, but before the light could spread I asked. “Why light it now ?” she turned to face me. “Well I don’t have many more so I wanted to conserve.” I looked back. “But why now ?” She sighed “Chii, remember your ears will succeed where your eyes fail. The echoes of our foot steps told me I was in a room and I was correct.” The room became lit. Ruri began searching the room, then found what seemed to be a button. She pressed it without hesitation and the lights bathed the room. “Wow look at this place.”

    The room was covered in murals and some treasures Talics littered the floor. “Jackpot Ruri. Look at all these Talics.” Ruri came over and inspected the floor of talics. “Nice find huh ?“ she responded. I moved on from the floor looking around the area. The cave ended here. Looking around, nothing looked out of the ordinary, just your regular ancient booty filled cave. After the trial really until my eyes locked on something that would change me….. “Huh ?” I shook with fear and said to Ruri with a weak voice. “Ruri... what is that ?” she turned and was to scared by it. “What the hell ?”