Kindred Connection

Chapter 17 - Out Of Time

Evan & Nea rush through deep into the empty cave until they hit the end of the road. Evan knows that they do not have much time to spend until the soldiers all pile in and overrun them. At the end of the cave is a strange ancient stone tablet which Nea points out. Evan breathes a sigh of relief.

"YES! Finally! Quickly! Do whatever you need to do!" Evan instructs.

Evan gently kneels so Nea can get off his back. Nea begins to walk over to the tablet as well as to take off the amulet from around her neck. She stands face to face with the stone tablet and examines its features carefully. Eventually, she taps the amulet onto the surface of the tablet to see if anything happens, but nothing happens. She slowly turns around to Evan and looks up at him with a blank face. She lets out a confused sound.

"Err..." Quietly Nea muttered.

Evan understands by the tone of her voice that she has no idea what to do. Evan's eyes enlarge and his hands clench up.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO!? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!" Evan blurted out, panicking.

Echoes can be heard further up the cave as soldiers start making their way into the entrance.

"WE'RE GOING TO DIE! AHHHH! I didn't even... get to fall in love yet. My mother is going to go crazy too!" Evan shrieks.

Evan decides to try to help Nea out and comes over to analyze the tablet for himself.

"Surely... SURELY! There's something here, right?" Evan's thoughts are disorganized as he begins desperately searching the tablet for anything he can see to power the tablet up. Footsteps can be heard much louder and clearer now as the soldiers have almost arrived. After some time, Evan loses all faith and gives up on trying anymore. He sits on the ground and turns to face the way the soldiers will arrive. He starts sobbing to himself.

"All my life... In prison... Or ending up dead... THIS IS NOT RIGHT FOR SOMEONE OF MY YOUNG AGE! WAAAAAAH! What did I expect anyway? it's a dead-end down here." Evan snivels.

Then, Nea sees a slightly hidden opening within the tablet, which looks to be a perfect fit for the amulet. She glances at the amulet briefly and then back to the slot in the tablet. Knowing this is the only other physical remnant of her tribe she knows of, she hesitates for a moment. She then looks at the pitiful boy beside her before making up her mind as she gently places the amulet within the slot. The ancient stone tablet begins to power up as the intricate designs glow white. Evan can hear this and begins to turn around in amazement for a brief second.

"You... You did it! Now what?" questions Evan.

Evan freezes up as he realizes the soldiers are just a few seconds away. His expression drops, assuming the worst.

"Too late... we're out of time to figure the next step out." Evan sobbed.

Nea sees what looks to be a handprint light up on the stone tablet. She quickly places her hand upon the print mark. The stone begins making loud noises and lights flicker around everywhere. A sudden big beam of light from the stone reaches the top of the cave and all that can be heard now is a massive rumbling from below. The stone is now fully activated as it shoots a beam of light down to the center of the Earth.

"D-Did we do it?" prays Evan. A soldier appears when everything goes silent again in the room. Evan gulps. "Yep... dead."

As the soldiers are charging and are moments away from grabbing the pair of them, Nea's hand starts to get absorbed into the tablet. Realizing what happened before, she knows that Evan might not be able to come with her. She quickly turns around to try and grab Evan before she disappears. As the other half of her body is being absorbed, she uses her spare hand to grab a hold of Evan's trouser leg. To Evan's surprise, he turns to see her being absorbed and can't help but see her hand on his leg. He is then also dragged into the tablet with Nea as the amulet disappears from its slot.