Chapter 34 - How To Find Gates?

"Why?" Abasi asked, utterly curious. It was not like Amanda to be interested in other worlds all of a sudden.

In previous missions, she would defeat any opponents and surrender horrors in his care. It was always he, the master of time and space that brought terrors back to their origin.

Amanda had to make Abasi believe in what she would say, thus there was no other way, but to partially tell the truth. She cleared her throat and said, "I encountered a red-skinned creature this morning as I head out for my early morning walk - At Trinity Bay! Can you believe that? The most peaceful place on earth!"

"Red-skinned? And why are you telling me just now?" He asked. "Shouldn't that kind of report have come sooner?"

With her palms up, she said, "Hey! Relax. I had an encounter with a human where I was unable to flee from his side."

She said another partial truth.

"They were more of orange-red really, but yeah, redder than orange. It was tall - twice the human size, with very muscular cheekbones that were ready to pop out of its face!" She further described the Oscorians from the encounter, more than a month had passed.

She pointed a finger at Abasi and said, "It was like the face of the devil - very flared nose and the head - my god the head was like the brain itself only it was hard." She shrugged and asked, "Am I making sense? Have you come across such a creature?"

Abasi did not answer, but he walked towards Amanda and asked, "Where is it now? I assume you have taken cared of it."

Amanda let out a heavy sigh and said, "When I came across it, the thing attacked me outright - I don't know why. I thrust a stone at him and he died, but it was because... someone was arriving in that very same spot where I killed the creature that I toasted it!"

"Toasted! And Dusted!"

Everything that Amanda said so far was partly true. Thus, she did not stumble on words, merely narrating a past experience like it was recent.

"Actually, Amanda. It is not a surprise that Trinity Bay has gates opened to other worlds, because many not like ours prefer to come out in a not so crowded place. Like here, for example," Abasi said, referring to a volcano submerged in the sea.

Scratching her head, Amanda said, "So ummm... That was why I was asking. I literally had no chance to survey the area because like I said, someone passed by - someone I knew and I had to accompany that same person and not look like a weirdo."

"I'm just concerned because there may be others like that thing - I don't even know what that creature is called - "

"Oscorians, I believe. By your description, it would seem like the devils of Pelagy," Answered Abasi.

"Pela - what?" She pretended not to know.

"Pelagy," repeated Abasi.

"What kind of a world has three syllables? My God! Anyway, so - how many worlds are there?" She asked, not wanting to give away her knowledge of its existence.

"There are plenty, Amanda, but as of recently, there are many who came from Pelagy to our world. Some with no intention to harm." Abasi was already two feet from her when he said, "However, if Oscorians opened a gate to Trinity Bay, then it is tragic. They are murderous with no conscience. It must be closed. Do you need help in finding the gate?"

"Why certainly! That would be a lot faster because I don't know anything - "

"Then I can close the gate immediately - "

"Perhaps I can do it! I'd hate to bother you!" She cut off his thoughts. How could she allow him to close the gate when Christopher intended to return for her?

She looked around the volcanic crater and said, "You have a lot of work to do and then there is sending us between time and space - you have a lot on your plate."

"Perhaps you can just give me clues about where to find it? Or How to find it?" She asked with a frown.

"Look, finding the gate is difficult, sometimes even for me. However, gates are usually in secret caves, underground basements - somewhere that cannot be seen by common people, sometimes even under the sea," narrated Abasi.

"Remember the mermaid?" He said with his brow raised. "Yep, the gate to her world was under a lake!"

"Interesting," she said. "Are you able to find these gates through your powers?"

"I can feel it when it is close to me, but literally search from the sky - no. I could never find all these open gates and close them. Like what you have seen me do, I can open gates at my will instead and return creatures to their original world," he said.

"From time to time, however, I come across gates and I close them. Every time I get a chance, I close them. For now, Amanda, what you need to do is to check for any dangers that there may be in Trinity Bay. When there is another sighting of an Oscorian, let me know and we will look for the gates together."

"I know that you consider Trinity Bay your home and you look after it."

She nodded in agreement and said, "Yes, that's right. That's right. I just want Trinity Bay to be completely safe."

"Look, Amanda. I came here for a very important mission and since you are here. You should just help me instead," Abasi told.

'Shoot.' She complained silently, but upfront she smiled and said, "Of course! What can I do to help?"

"Last night, a meteor came from the sky and it was said to contain a powerful sword from a Venusian King. I need your help to find it," Abasi said. He had been at the crater for nearly an hour and he decided the heat was just too much for him to continue exploring.

He put an arm around Amanda and said, "I've checked nearly everywhere except for the center-most part of the crater - the steaming lake."

"Are you kidding me right now? There is bound to be lava underneath that lake? What if it erupts and I die?!"

"Amanda, you can burn for a week and not die, I doubt lava could kill you."