A Psychic's Scarlet Dream

Sneha: "We have been walking for quite a while now."

Girl: "It has been half an hour."

Sneha: "Yeah, I know that. I meant to say that we should have come across something of value by now."

It"s strange but we hadn"t seen a single thing by then except the walls, the floor and the ceiling.

Sona: "That"s been bugging me too, to be honest."

I was constantly using AurReading so we couldn"t have missed some hidden doors either. So the fact that for half an hour, we had been walking in what seemed like an empty tomb would surely worry anyone.

Girl: "Hmm … we are on the third floor now so …"

She trailed off. The one other thing we had seen except walls, floor and ceiling were the stairs. We were already on the third floor and all the floors below us had been completely empty. And it looked like the same would be true for that floor also.

Sona: "I don"t know what to think about this but …"

She turned to look at me as she asked,

Sona: "Do you suppose Ozyllus could be doing something for the tomb to look this way to us."

Her worrying about something like that made total sense but that was not the case.

Kais: "If he had been doing something like that, I would have known. Have some faith in my Aura Reading, will you?"

I said in a somewhat light-hearted tone even though my mind was full of heavy thoughts. Or maybe that was the reason I used that tone.

Sona: "It"s not that I don"t have faith in your abilities. But I am worried that he might be using some mechanism that your abilities wouldn"t be able to detect."

We had mentioned the possibility of something like that existing before I entered the tomb. And while this isn"t what we were afraid something like that would be used for, who is to say that there is no mechanism that can be used for this purpose.

Sneha: "I really doubt that though."

Sneha however objected to that guess.

Sneha: "Alongside him using his AurReading ability, I have also been constantly keeping an eye out for anything that may have any relations to supernatural. And I have come up empty."

Sona nodded as if to say she understood that, but the anxiety still didn"t seem to leave her mind. And so,

Kais: "There"s something I have been wondering about for a while too."

Sona turned to me as I voiced my concern.

Kais: "How exactly is this island going to get destroyed?"

I asked the question that had been weighing on my mind.

Kais: "I a.s.sume it has something to do with the tomb as well."

I looked at the girl as I asked that,

Girl: "I have no idea."

But much to no one"s surprise, she didn"t know anything about that.

Kais: "Tell me, how much do you know about this island?"

She put a finger to her cheeks and looked up as she wondered. Seeing her actions which matched her figure, it"s actually pretty easy to forget that she"s made of energy and is not a real child.

Girl: "I don"t know how large or small you would call my knowledge of the island, but I don"t think I know a lot."

She then started to mention all the things she knows.

Girl: "I do know that the flow of energy on the island favors psychics."

That is something I think most people who know of this island also know.

Girl: "I know that the island has a pond on the opposite side of the beach that everyone from outside first appears on."

I found that out about half a day ago.

Girl: "I know all the animals living on the island."

That is something I didn"t expect. Knowing a lot of them is something of a given when she has only ever been on the island but knowing all of them is an amazing feat even for her.

Girl: "I know that this tomb is for … is for …"

She knew the name but hesitated in saying it.

Sneha: "What"s wrong?"

And then I remembered that she and the animals in the forest had become very lively when I had mentioned Ozyllus" name back when I was talking to her for the first time.

Kais: "I think there"s a reason why she is hesitating. We should rather not force her to say it."

Sona: "Is that so? Well, fine."

Sneha nodded as well. I made the suggestion and both women agreed to it. Seeing that, the little girl continued.

Girl: "Well, I also know that the island would get destroyed somehow after the dragon steps out of the tomb the first time."

Kais: "I think it was more like after you see him out of the tomb the first time but anyway, that last one was said to you by Ethan Kales, wasn"t it?"

She nodded.

Sona: "Do you know anything about that?"

Seeing where I was going with that, Sona asked that question while looking at Sneha. She moved her head in denial.

Sneha: "I don"t know about everything he says. In fact, I don"t have a clue about most of the things he says."

So it seemed. I didn"t expect her to know much to be honest. I just can"t picture anyone knowing the meaning of most of the things that Ethan says, much less everything.

Sona: "Well, that"s that I suppose. We"ll just have to leave that issue."

Kais: "If that"s the case, then I want to ask you something too."

I said while looking at Sneha.

Kais: "What exactly is in the tomb that you are after?"

Hearing my question, she narrowed her eyes as she looked at me with suspicion.

Kais: "You are using my help to get there so you should at least let me know that."

Sneha: "Hmm …"

She wondered about whether to tell me or not as I and Sona glanced at each other. The little girl watched our exchange from further ahead.

Sona: "Well?"

She tried to probe Sneha to give an answer and, in response, she sighed. The probing seemed to have done its job.

Sneha: "I have been searching for records of the history of a particular shrine."

Kais: "Shrine?"

Sneha: "It was the shrine that I was raised in as a kid."

She revealed that information with a straight face, leaving me surprised. Though for Sona"s reaction, it seemed like she had predicted that.

Sneha: "Out of all the people that lived there, I am the only one alive."

She said in a voice that seemed to be losing some of its composure.

Sneha: "There are a lot of questions in my mind for those that lived there. And the only way I may be able to get the answers to those questions are by finding the history of that shrine. So I am searching for the records of their history."

Her reasons made sense.

Sona: "And those records would be present in the tomb?"

But it didn"t make any sense how she would find those records in this tomb of all places.

Sneha: "Well, I have been shown some proof that the records would be here."

Sona: "By whom?"

Sneha: "By Ethan."

I had seen that answer coming but it still was surprising.

But after hearing all that, it made some sense why Sneha and Ethan were working together. Ethan would have wanted someone with supernatural abilities on his side (probably). Sneha agreed to be that person in exchange for giving her this information. I don"t know how he would have known those records would be in this tomb and how he would have given proof of it but at least some things had cleared up.

Sona: "I see. But does it really look like we"ll find anything in this tomb."

She said while looking at the stairs we were approaching. The fact that the tomb had so many floors and empty ones at that was a troubling issue no matter how you look at it. From how it looks from the outside, we figured that the next floor would be the last one. And since we had not found Ozyllus" body so far, it would be on the top floor as well.

Girl: "Something wrong?"

She asked with a curious look while t.i.tling her head as she looked at us three who had stopped walking.

Sona: "No, it"s nothing."

She said while looking at me as if asking if I have anything to say. I closed my eyes to say "no" and she understood it. Sneha didn"t say anything either. And so, after spending about 40 minutes in the tomb, which would be 8 hours on the time-axis, we finally reached the top floor, empty-handed.

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Ethan: "Now this is something I didn"t expect."

Ethan says, baffled about the fact that the tomb has been completely empty. It has been half an hour since he entered the tomb. And since he had to search every corner of it by himself as opposed to the previous party of four, he had only reached the second floor so far.

Ethan: "Still, I would expect there to be something on these lower floors of the tomb."

There was no one around to hear these words. They weren"t meant for anyone anyway. The only reason Ethan said those words was to keep calm. He didn"t know what would happen in this tomb and so needs to keep his cool for any kind of situation. Unfortunately, doing that isn"t that easy especially when the fear of unknown looms over you, so he tries to talk to himself in an effort to ease the burden on his mind.

Ethan: "I should have two more floors to go before I reach the top one. And I"ll probably come across them before or at that floor."

He took a long sigh and looked up. By them, he obviously meant Sneha and Kais since those two are the only ones he really knew well in this tomb.

Ethan: "Let"s just hope nothing has happened that would make either of them extra hostile towards me."

He stands no chance in a fight and the only way he can get around by using his brains is if no one tries to kill him the moment they see him. That is why; he can only wish that the situation is in his favor.

However, he meets Sneha much sooner than he expected.

Ethan: "Uh …"

A gasp escapes his lips as he suddenly sees her kneeling on the ground when he takes a turn.

Sneha: "I see, it"s you, huh?"

She says as she looks at him. Her voice, for some reason, is sad. And she is alone.

Ethan: "Care to explain what"s going on?"

Sneha: "Well, something really twisted."

Is all Sneha says in her response to Ethan, which only ends up confusing him more. But from Ozyllus" tone before and Sneha"s att.i.tude now, he does understand one thing – that a dramatic turn of events has taken place, one that would affect the players involved for the rest of their lives.

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