The Blue Rock And I The Other Rock Arc Part Three

 The Layer Of The Red Rock

We entered a lift. It was bigger than any lift that I had ever seen. It was made of steel and the buttons were made of metal with a red ring of light around them. Yukio pressed the button to the lowest level and we descended. I could feel my heartbeat increase as I started to feel scared and claustrophobic. I found myself starting to sweat. My mind went over all that I had been through in those labs. I tried to divert my mind to something else yet I could not. I could feel my breathing increase as I thought for one moment that this could all be a trap to lure me back and if this was true then I had fallen right into it.

Then I felt Uncle Haru place a hand on my shoulder. He rubbed his thumb on my back. This helped calm me down. I was able to push my thoughts aside as we reached the bottom. When the doors opened the first thing that met my eye was the red crystal walls. This told me that this was nor a trap and just how long the red rock had been here for. Even though it was beautiful to look at, I knew with my experience with Stellam, just how dangerous it was.

Yet this gave me the advantage of already knowing what to do, the moment that I walked out I made sure not to touch it until the moment that I should. As I walked on I saw that there were a great deal of rooms that were eclipsed with the red rock.

"How much of this place has been eclipsed by the red rock?"

"About two miles." Said Cho. 

"We were able to find out that the type of mud that is around us was a lot easier to convert to the material the rock is made of." Mara told her, looping her arm in my left. "So I should hardly be surprised that your rock would eclipse the mud too."

I nodded.

I did not know that!

"And what about metal?"

"No, metal is twice as hard to convert. A rock needs to be where it is for decades before it can convert metal."

I nodded.

So that means that Stellam must have been there for over two decades. I wonder how many times and how long mum and Aunt Blue had been in there?

"Tell me, mum and Aunt went in and out of Stellam so how am I any different?"

"You are the youngest to get out and you did take down the witches spell on it. Also you are the only known second generation that has been in and out of the blue rock." Uncle Haru explained.

Good to know! I thought as I nodded. As I walked on I started to feel ill. Scared that I would be forced to go back, I quickly covered it up. I then felt my body start to burn and I looked around to the others only to see that they were not feeling thus. This told me that this had something to do with Stellam. Was it trying to stop me from entering the red rock? Or was it the other rock trying to stop me from entering it? Whichever the case I could not say.

We soon came to a set of stairs. I found, as we descended, my head started to ache. I, again, covered it up. I did all that I could to focus on walking down the stairs and getting to the bottom. I then felt my legs start to ache too. Yet it took all my focus on ensuring that I reached the bottom without touching the rock. The moment that I reached the bottom I felt slightly relieved.

Yet I could not key this weaken me as I forced myself on. I could feel my sweating increase asI walked on. I knew that I needed a real break yet I found my legs walking on. I looked at them with shock as I realised that they were moving on their own! I soon knew better as I remembered having a summable though less nauseating experience when I fell into a trance when Stellam called me. However I frowned as I knew that this made no sense. After all that would mean that I should be touching the red rock however I made an effort to do no such thing! I looked down as my fever grew. Seeing that my shoes had not been converted. This meant that I had to look elsewhere. Then my eyes moved to my left hand. Only to see that it's palm was fixed firmly onto the side of the wall! I tried to go over all the moments, trying to find out the exact moment that I had touched the red rock wall. That was when I found it,  it was the moment that I had felt ill!

Hold on, wasn't Mara looping my arm a moment ago?

I looked around for her, yet I could not find her. I looked over to Uncle Haru, who was already touching the wall. I then looked at his face to find that even he was confused. Even Yukio was confused too! Then it dawned upon me, if Stellam could create human looking avatars then so could Inanis. If that was the case then it could very well be the case that Inanis has been posing as its own followers for years! The look on Yukio's face confirmed my theory. Then my body seized up and my Uncle moved on ahead.

Then Charly walked up behind me.

"No, no, no that just will not do. My god demands you most of all. Now, Stellam, I know that you are listening and are trying to protect the girl." She said, pulling out a knife and pressing it under my chin. "So if you continue to resist I will not hesitate! Or would you like to lose the only one that you have ever cared about for a long time?"

Suddenly I started to walk faster and I could feel the pounding of my heart in my head as Charly pointed the blade at my throat. I bit my lip as I knew that if Stellam took a step out of line I would be powerless as she would slit my throat. I knew that I was not only going in but if Stellam tried to protect me from this other rock then I would die. Despite this I had to swallow my pride and allow it. As I walked on, Charly took the pendent with a chip of Stellam on and she did this slowly. I looked at it dangling. 

"Please put that back on me."

"No,  I think that it will stay here with me."

"Why? You have no need for it!"

"You are right. I do not. But you do."

"Yes. It is my only link to Stellam. So I would like it for comfort after all I am scared. If I had it I would feel a little braver."

She hesitated.

"You said it yourself. There are people that we have to get out. You have Stellam so why hold onto that? What use would that have for you. I have my incentive to leave and my incentive to get out with Alexander. After all, you are my only way home."

She let out a sigh and smiled at me. He then put it back on my neck.

"Thank you." I said as I joined Uncle Haru at the last door between us and Inanis. Yukio gripped the handle and opened it.