Chapter LVII (57)

  Sterling pushed the constraints of his limits in regards to answering her request for advice by also marking the location of the southern ruin site on her map; however, after that, he withdrew back to frustratingly cryptic replies.

  As Mitsuko beat through the jungle foliage with her sword, she berated herself for not preparing for longer in town. Not that she had much money to spend, but a few ideas had formed in her mind on how to proceed and they all required supplies that she currently lacked.

  She strongly considered turning around and robbing the town. The thought of theft while in the timeloops inspired exactly zero guilt from her. In real life, she’d stolen plenty of times. Here it would be even more guilt-free. But turning around now would cost her time. And she wanted to be as unintrusive to the town as possible. The guardian could still have acolytes stationed back there watching for her.

  Mitsuko frowned as her mind focused on that earlier thought. Real life. Were the timeloops not real life? In some respects, they were as real as anything else she’d experienced in her years alive. She still felt pain and people still acted the same as people.

  And yet, nothing held permanent consequences. She could kill swine like Akuta with very little hesitancy because she understood the pig would be back at the end of the week. And yet, she still felt there was a moral line in the loops.

  “This is awful,” Sterling complained for what must have been the hundredth time. “My paws are covered in sticky gunk. The air tastes dreadful. And the foliage is dripping water coated with a slimy sap on me from above.”

  “I am not carrying you,” Mitsuko replied. She hacked away at the next bush in her way, taking a juvenile pleasure in the task.

  “And if a predator carries me off? Do you feel no pity in your black heart for a creature as piteous and elegant as myself?”

  “Better it carries you off and you grab a new host, then have me get caught off guard by a monster because I’m lugging a cat around in the swamp. If I die, we lose several days of work and we have to repeat everything to get back here.”

  Sterling continued to bemoan his circumstances.

  “You said you’ve been here before,” Mitsuko said. “How did you get all the way out to this place in the past? There’s no harbor near the site.”

  “Spatial mages carried me,” he said. “Far more efficient than trodding through the jungle with only a compass spell as your guide.”

  “You are my guide as well.”

  “I’m a spiritual and educational guide. Not a wilderness exploration guide.”

  They continued on for several hours. Mitsuko only had to defeat three monsters on the way. The only unique one she hadn’t encountered in her previous loop exploring the jungle was a bird that threw knife-like feathers at its prey.

  However, since they were no longer part of the creature after they exited its body, Mitsuko was easily able to launch them back with her Mend’s aura and toss them back at the bird. Projectiles were extremely useless against Mitsuko at this point in her training. The more she used her spell, the less she found she needed to rely on her skills with her sword. She supposed that was the reason the art fell so far out of fashion.

  “You’re certain you inspected the map correctly?” Sterling asked as they entered the jungle’s area where the map marked the site.

  “You’re the one who’s been here before,” Mitsuko replied. “You tell me.”

  “Which is why I am skeptical of our current location. I recall several massive trees in the area that the…um, residents, used as housing.”

  “I’m extremely surprised that buildings made inside of trees did not stand the test of time,” Mitsuko said dryly. She used her sword to lift foliage as she inspected the area. Instead of ruins of an ancient civilization, she found a glowing snake that lashed out. But Mitsuko skewered it long before it managed to touch her. “There must be something remaining though. Otherwise Basha wouldn’t have mentioned it at all.”

  Sterling stalked around the area, avoiding heavily obscured bushes. Likely not wanting to die from a snake bite.

  “The boulder over there does look rather familiar. Perhaps your navigational talents have not, in fact, led us astray and this is indeed the correct location after all.”

  “Great. I don’t suppose there’s a secret passage inside the boulder that will lead us down to the tunnel?”

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  “Don’t be ridiculous. The secret passageway would never be hidden via a rock. It was under the roots of the fifth largest tree.”

  Mitsuko sighed. They spent the next half an hour shuffling around the nearby forest. Mitsuko did find several small stone structures which she assumed must be the ruins Basha meant. But she had almost begun to give up hope when Sterling called her over to a boggy patch of jungle.

  “This is it,” he said with confidence.

  “How do you know?” Mitsuko poked the bog and her sword sank into the mushy ground.

  “Feline instinct.”

  Rather than question that thought process, Mitsuko just stepped into the bog and sank up to her knee. She attempted another step, dragging a trench behind her where her legs moved.

  “This is gross,” she said.

  “I concur.” Sterling sat off to the side, licking his paws. “Make certain you clean yourself after. You smell foul.”

  Mitsuko narrowed her eyes. She hadn’t gone far just yet. She cast Mend on her boots, expelling her from the bog at a rapid speed, then she scooped up Sterling in one swift motion and tossed him into the bog. The sage yowled and floundered mid air before he landed with a wet sloooop. He struggled to move forward, using some unique sounding curses, but sank out of sight.

  Grinning victoriously, Mitsuko waded back into the muck to fetch him.

  He continued to curse well after his retrieval.

  She took another step and felt something hard underfoot. She stomped her foot. It remained stiff. A long flat surface. It took time to clear the muck off by hand, but beneath was a sheet of metal.

  Despite her suspicions of Sterling attempting to fool her into the bog, he had actually been correct. This was the entrance into the tunnel system.

  “I demand an apology,” Sterling said indignantly. “Believing I would result to trickery and deception for a simple lark? Such things are beneath one of my stature.”

  Mitsuko flicked her muddy hands at him and then pried up the metal with her sword. There was a lot of resistance with the surrounding area still covered in bog gunk. Her first sword broke. As did her second. But on her third attempt, she managed to leverage the metal up enough to jab the sword under it and push the metal aside. And from there, she slipped inside with ease, Sterling hopping down beside her.

  She reflected there had been a time not very long ago when she would have been much more cautious about jumping into a secret dark tunnel without the ability to see the bottom. Now though, if she broke a leg in a fall, it was insignificant damage. The unknown was substantially less scary when you had power. And when you couldn’t permanently die.

  However, the lighting in the tunnel remained an issue. A triangle of light spilled down from the uncovered hole above. But that wasn’t enough to work with.

  Sterling’s black fur blended into the shadows, only his glowing green eyes visible.

  “I don’t suppose you have a solution for this?” Mitsuko asked.

  “Are you asking as one of your questions?”

  “Forget it.” Mitsuko reached out and felt the wall. Unlike the metal trapdoor above, this was cool stone.

  Preparing herself for a long trek in complete darkness, Mitsuko took a step forward. And another. Then the entire tunnel lit up. Ancient lanterns lined the stone wall, all of which emitted a warm orange light. Clearly they were enchanted to activate upon a person’s arrival.

  Mitsuko whirled on the cat. “Would you have seriously stolen one of my questions for this?”

  “You covered my fur in filth.”

  As they walked down the tunnel, Mitsuko marveled at the lanterns hanging from the walls. The seemingly endless tunnel. The silent ambiance of the environment around her. She felt a shiver down her spine and her heart quickened in excitement. Not a soul had touched this tunnel in centuries. She alone knew of its existence. Not for the first time since entering the Prismatic Archipelago, she felt a deep sense of appreciation and wonder. She felt profoundly privileged to see these sights so few others had witnessed. It resonated with her core.

  They encountered the first blockage after a long stroll. A collapsed wall had buried a portion of the tunnel in dirt. Mitsuko set a hand on the soil and focused. Rather than immediately attempt to Mend the broken wall and remove the dirt, she cast Retrospection to see if she could watch the events as they played out. Sadly, whenever it had happened, it was much further back than her Retrospection spell currently had the capacity to reach. All she saw was dirt in the dark.

  She switched to Mend. Nothing. Scrunching her brow in focus, she pushed. It felt akin to what she’d rewound the clock tower. It brought her to her limits, but the dirt did finally stir. It rolled backwards, pushing into the wall into place. Stones, buried moments earlier, fit themselves back into the wall.

  Mitsuko released the spell and took a moment to catch her breath.

  “Well done,” Sterling complimented. “That was at least three centuries you pushed back to. Thankfully nothing else occurred between that time so the target remained entirely stationary throughout your spell. Otherwise you might not have made it.”

  “Thanks,” Mitsuko said, still gasping for air. Then they continued on.

  Luckily the next cave-in they encountered still left enough room for Mitsuko to climb over it, so her spell proved unnecessary. She wasn’t sure just how many of those spells she’d be able to cast in a single day. Especially if there would be a fight at the end of this tunnel. But thankfully, all things considered, they had surprisingly little blocking them as they walked.

  “We’ve almost arrived,” Sterling announced suddenly. “I feel it prudent to alert you, so as to not have you stumble into the enemy’s hands unprepared.”

  Mitsuko jolted to a stop. Then she took a deep breath. This next part was her big gamble. She decided to take a seat on the stoney floor and prepare herself mentally.

  Sterling sat on his haunches beside her. “Meditation? I assume this is part of your scheme?”

  “Give me a moment. I believe this will give us better access to what’s ahead.”

  Then she cast Mend Self - Aging.

  15 more chapters on my !!