Chapter 16 The Cave

Waking up was a pleasant experience for once.

Usually when I wake up I would be all groggy, barely cognizant of the world.

It was not pleasant always waking up feeling like a tired mess.

Today was different. I still woke up groggy but next to me was a source of warmth.

It was comforting, it made me want to go straight back to sleep in that warmth while cuddling it.

However I had things I needed to do today so no matter how comfortable it was I needed to get out of bed.

Opening my eyes, they were met with cloudy purple eyes.

It was only then that I remembered what I did last night.

It was wildly out of character for me to let my guard down so much. My guard was down enough for this girl, Aoif to worm her way into my bed

Not that anything untoward happened just that usually I would not let anyone near my bed new or not

Looking back on the events of yesterday my trust greatly increased after the accidental use of my new skill, dream.

Finishing with my internal monologue I greeted Aoif.

"Good morning, Tama should be preparing breakfast around now you can join me if you would like to"

Yawning, Aoif sleepily replied, "yeah that would be nice but for now…"

Finished saying her price she drags me into her arms hugging me tight.

…

"Good morning My lord, breakfast is ready" Tama greets me with Delta trailing behind her

"There is enough for the both of you if you would like to eat breakfast with Aoif.

Getting up and parting from Aoif I headed to the bathroom to do my daily routine.

After getting done with that I went to the kitchen where I saw Delta and Tama both eating in silence.

"Where is Aoif?" I ask Delta.

"She left for the bathroom" Delta succinctly replies.

"Tama that cave that frightened you before, do you still remember the location of it?"

"Yes, may I ask why My Lord,"

"You may…" I respond before continuing, "With Delta's considerable firepower I would like you to explore the cave but if you or Delta experience any considerable danger I want you to come back immediately and report your findings."

After addressing Tama I turn to Delta.

"Of course this all hinges on whether you, Delta, are fine with parting with Aoif for the day to do this."

"If Aoif is fine then I am too" Delta replies in her blunt way.

Aoif chooses this moment to enter the room

"You will go with Tama to investigate, I too am quite curious what awaits you there, be sure to record your findings."

"I will"

With that Tama and Delta both leave to their mission both having finished eating.

…

"It's here" Tama says

I nod feeling the ominous aura coming from the cave.

It felt dangerous and that was saying something.

I am a tier 3 bordering tier 2 existence.

With support and preparation I could even kill or seriously injure a mid tier 2 creature.

"Careful" I say to the kitsune beside me

"I will" she replies

Entering the cave was anticlimactic there was no attack, no traps, and no sign of anything appearing.

Reaching the end of the cave was a short affair, nothing blocked us at all yet still the aura of danger never left.

At the end of the cave lied a pillar

On the pillar was an open book.

The weird thing about the book was that it looked like it was bound for 100's of pages but when I went closer to take a better look there was only one page actually bound in the book.

The page depicted a scene of war.

What looked like thousands of unidentifiable creatures lay strewn about in the background each of varying sizes; some might have been as big as a town while others were so small I had to squint to see them.

All these creatures were dead while an unidentifiable male stood alive holding two objects.

In one hand was some high tech cube while in the other was what looked like to be the complete book of what she was looking at.

"Should we take this back, It is most likely boobytraped?" Tama asks

Nodding to her question I step over to go grab it before Tama stops me.

"I can use a solid illusion to grab it for us and to also check for traps, no need for either of us to be exposed to danger."

I nodded again expressing consent to the plan.

Almost instantaneously a copy of the Kitsune is created, none of the normal signs of an illusion shows up on my sensors.

It has a heat signature, the ground and air are both affected by it.

Even if it fooled me it shouldn't have been able to fool my sensors.

For all intents and purposes the Illusion was real.

While I was busy scanning the Illusion Tama piloted it to head up the altar.

Weirdly enough nothing happened on the way there.

It was only when the illusion had touched the book that it was dispelled.

Fortunately or unfortunately depending on how you look at it the Illusion had knocked the book over.

The book seemed to be the power source of a seal the pillar held.

The pillar was most likely enchanted to keep whatever was sealed there in and the only thing keeping outsiders out was the aura that was being exuded by the pillar.

Its intensity was large enough that it would have killed lesser beings.

The downside to this discovery was that whatever was sealed there was being unsealed by the very second.

Vicious booms could be heard from under where the pillar had been.

"Tama you pick up the book and see if you can analyze it for any clues on what was sealed." I ordered the kitsune while I took out my stock of explosives.