Chapter 66: Bonus Chapter for Egypt’s World Cup Historic Performance: The Ancient Garrison Post
When Cher revealed her Calling, the hidden meaning behind those words echoed through Silas’ mind and shook him to the core. Back when he had first become an Enhancer, he had received a Gaia Calling for the first time. At the time, everything had been new and overwhelming. His attention had been consumed by his Raven Ability and his Time Attribute.
The Raven Ability shaped his combat style, while the Time Attribute granted him access to the Time Mind World. From that moment onward, those two powers became the centre of his growth.
The Fear Effect had simply faded into the background. In fact, he had forgotten it existed. At least until Cher spoke those words.
’Is that why my Calling told me to trust Cher?’
’If I hadn’t shared my Calling with her, she would never have revealed the second part of hers, and I would never have remembered the Fear Effect.’
Then another thought surfaced. The moment he placed the Fear Effect into the equation, the entire picture changed.
Shadowheart had always been terrifying. Every encounter with that monstrous entity left scars on his mind. Until now, he had assumed that fear came from the experiences themselves.
But what if he had been wrong? What if Shadowheart was terrifying because it had been using his Fear Effect all along? The possibility sent a chill down his spine.
No one understood the power of that ability better than Silas. He had experienced it firsthand. He had suffered under it. The mere memory was enough to make his skin crawl.
For the first time, he found himself genuinely eager to enter the Time Mind World and face Shadowheart.
’How did that thing know about my Fear Effect when I barely remembered it existed?’
’How could it use my own powers in ways that completely surpassed my understanding?’
The questions left him confused, but they also filled him with curiosity.
Ever since Shadowheart had entered his life, Silas had done everything possible to avoid it. Now the situation had reversed. He wanted answers. He wanted guidance. He wanted to speak with it.
Whether the entity would answer his questions was another matter entirely.
At least Shadowheart had spoken before, even if most of its words had been drowned beneath those unsettling laughs. Unfortunately, despite two times the Shadowheart took control over him, Silas had never exchanged a single proper word with it.
His plan was simple.
Once he found a bathtub, he would first fill it with cold water and carefully contemplate both Gaia Callings, his and Cher’s, searching for the hidden meanings buried beneath their surface.
Ramus had warned him long ago that Gaia Callings were never as straightforward as they seemed. Silas intended to understand every implication before stepping into the Time Mind World again.
Afterwards, he would replace the cold water with warm water and confront Shadowheart directly. If the entity refused to cooperate, he would experiment on his own and attempt to uncover the secrets of the Fear Effect through trial and error.
Even now, after realising that Shadowheart relied heavily on that ability, Silas still had no idea how it actually worked.
The plan was simple, yet the risk was not.
The moment he submerged himself beneath the water, he would become detached from the outside world. Cher would be left on her own, and if anyone discovered their location, the possibility of an attack was far from negligible. Worse still, he would remain completely unaware of any danger until it was too late.
Fortunately, Cher’s detailed map made it possible to shake off their pursuers. Even so, the process cost them nearly two hours. By the time they reached their destination, evening was approaching, and the blue sun had already begun sinking toward the horizon.
"We’re here."
Cher spoke as they rounded a bend and entered a wide valley. The sight immediately filled Silas with unease. His only experience with valleys was quite traumatic and draconic.
Despite his instincts, Cher stepped forward without hesitation. Silas silently cursed his luck and followed behind her.
At the heart of the valley stood a colossal structure.
Ancient and broken, it rose from the earth like the remains of a forgotten age. Massive sections had collapsed long ago, leaving heaps of stone overgrown with trees and wild vegetation. In the fading light, the ruin appeared as a pitch-black giant watching over an increasingly dark world.
The structure was neither welcoming nor beautiful. Without a single source of light inside or around it, it looked abandoned and lifeless.
Yet even in its ruined state, Silas could tell how enormous it truly was. Once, this place must have been magnificent. Now it stood silent and gloomy, a shadow of its former glory.
Yet Cher, for an unknown reason, looked quite cheerful and excited.
"This was once acting as both a watchtower and observatory," she paused when she noticed how uninterested Silas was. So she cleared her throat, pointed at different incomplete sections, and explained.
"See that part over there? It should be covered with lots of runes. As for that section, it works to gather the Mana from tons of crystals and pour it across the entire structure. As for that part, it was the section where old Enhancers experimented on various stuff..."
Cher was surely excited, and Silas was very bored. Yet he noticed something.
"You kept saying lots of stuff, but never mentioned where the Enhancers lived."
She once told him during the early part of their journey that this post was perfect, as it had living quarters for Enhancers and lots of soldiers in the ancient age. That meant finding a bathtub was easy. Yet she mentioned different things, not the place where people lived.
"That’s because they didn’t live on the surface," she pointed her finger downwards, "they lived in hidden sections underground. In fact, if my memory serves me right, then the entire structure was built over a multi-level dormitory section for the Enhancers and soldiers."
Silas didn’t miss the simple note of recalling from memory. It simply confirmed his doubts that this wasn’t the first time for her to see something like that.
’Perhaps she is the type to love travelling the world and visiting weird places.’
No matter how he looked at it, however, the ruin resembled nothing so much as a place normal people would come and visit. Yet he knew Cher wasn’t normal.
On top of that, regardless of how he saw it, that ancient structure looked more like a shattered ancient tower than anything else.
’Why is it always a tower and never anything else?’
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