Corrupted Timelines

Puzzles and Pieces

Group A, consisting of Amelia, Kiara, and Ina, all walked towards their side of the Hatchery. Most of the buildings near the temporal shield had been destroyed or badly damaged by the fire blast from earlier. Kiara didn't really like to look at them.

They soon developed a system of searching the buildings. Amelia would enter first while Destabilized. She would quickly determine whether the building was safe or not and call out for the other girls. A couple buildings had fire traps hidden in them, so it was necessary.

One building stood out to them as they approached.

"That's an interesting symbol on the front," Ina commented. Just above the front door a symbol was carved into the building. It was intricate with hundreds of lines pointing off towards the right before sweeping back to the left.

"It almost looks like it's cut in half, though," Amelia wondered aloud. Kiara nodded.

"I would say it is. I think it was the symbol of this place," she said, looking around at the rest of the Hatchery.

"I'll tell the other two about it," Ina said before bringing the phone to her ear. "Yeah, we found an interesting symbol... What? You found one, too? Does it look like... Yeah, a bunch of small curving lines. Ours is on the right. Alright. Got it." Ina hung up the phone and put it back away.

"What did she say?" Amelia asked quickly.

"They found one similar, but it is on the left. A complete mirror to ours," Ina explained. Kiara nodded rapidly.

"That must be the other half!" she exclaimed.

"Let's see what it has in store for us then," Amelia said with a shrug, Destabilizing herself and entering the building. She returned a minute later and said it was clear. The group wandered around the first and only floor, investigating every nook and cranny they could find.

"This looks familiar..." Ina mumbled, "Hey Kiara?" she called for the Phoenix. Kiara walked over a moment later. Ina pointed at a crack in the wall. It was too perfect to be a random crack, though.

Kiara drew her sword from her belt and placed it into the crack and ignited it. Fire slipped into the wall and spread through unseen channels within. The room they were in became illuminated in a brilliant orange glow. Amelia quickly entered the room, as well.

"I'll assume this is a good thing?" she asked, judging by the amazed expressions on her friends' faces. They both slowly nodded, making Amelia laugh to herself quietly.

The flames spread all the way around the room until they gathered into a single spot on the floor. That section suddenly shifted, rotating several times before dropping down to reveal a hidden passageway.

Ina picked up the phone again and called Calliope. She opened her mouth to say something when the Reaper picked up, but she didn't say anything before putting the phone back down. She looked at the other two and shrugged.

"They already found it and are working on getting Gura's water magic to act like fire," she said, "Calli doesn't want to be interrupted."

"Once we go down there, we aren't going to be able to contact anyone. No signal will reach us down there." Amelia sounded slightly worried. Kiara patted her lightly on the back.

"We'll be fine, as long as we have each other's backs!" she said, trying to soothe away Amelia's worry. With a deep breath, the time traveler tried her best to push those thoughts away.

The hidden space that had opened reassembled a hole in the floor rather than an actual pathway. Since Phoenixes could fly, it made sense. Unfortunately for Amelia, this meant hitching a ride on Ina's tentacles, as she was slowly lowered down into the dark abyss.