Hao. The Awakening of the Chosen (Finish)

Chapter 10.4

"Viktor found himself in a difficult situation; confronting the sage and attempting to defeat him would give him an advantage in attacking the palace, but it could also lead to his capture, completely cancelling the initial plan.I tried to slide past his legs towards the house's door, but his legs closed abruptly, trapping my neck. I felt a hand grab my hair."Hello," I timidly greeted."Good afternoon, but look who we have here, if it isn't Viktor, the youngest son of Halfonso," the man said."Leave me alone," I warned the men as the officers approached me to examine me closely."Calm down, kid, we're friends. We come on behalf of your father. I'm the sage Axiom, and they are Aurora and Nexus. We've come to help you find the staff. You gave us quite a scare; we thought you had been captured," Axiom said."Aren't all sages corrupt?" I asked."Well, it seems not," Axiom chuckled. "Well, we must get to work; there's no time to waste. Do you know where your father's plans are?" Axiom asked."I know they're in the vault, but I don't know how to access it," I said."I'll take care of that, don't worry," the sage assured me.Axiom let me go and helped me up. He asked me how I had managed to evade the shield. As I didn't fully trust him, I told him there was a secret tunnel. He accepted my answer but didn't insist.Together, we searched for the door for several hours, moving furniture, charging stations, even starting to remove ceiling panels, but nothing; we couldn't find the way out.At one point, while removing another ceiling panel, I remembered my mother used to come to my room and say that Orca was very special, reaching into the fish tank, touching Orca. It seemed like a strange gesture to me, but now I understood. I repeated the gesture, and I saw Orca move to the bottom of the tank and touch a button, which caused a staircase to unfold in the living room. Everyone was thrilled; we quickly climbed up to the vault, and indeed, all of my parents' documents were there, including a map indicating where the relic was supposed to be.Studying the map closely, I could see how the path crossed very dangerous places such as the hidden realm of the Night Whisperers, the living smoky forest, or even the Death Pit. I had to speak with the group immediately; the plans had drastically changed. Axiom promised me official suits the next day, so Group One no longer had any task, and Group Three could begin the journey.Axiom, Aurora, and Nexus bid an excited farewell. I asked them not to remove the shield in case the sages came to attack me; they agreed and closed the door. I ran up to my room and without showering or having dinner, I went to sleep.The next morning, I woke up happy. Despite the changed plans, things were going well, and I liked that. I grabbed the backpack with all my gadgets and trinkets and left the house. Upon closing the door, I realized I hadn't taken the map, so I went back in and grabbed it. This time, I made sure I didn't leave anything behind upon closing the door.I blended in with the crowd walking the streets until I reached Lua's house, where they were already inside having breakfast, eagerly waiting to begin. Upon arrival, I announced changes to the plan. I told them what had happened the night before. They understood immediately. I told them Group One was now useless, and we needed to eliminate it, so Group One would join Group Three and Group Two. Lua's parents willingly joined Group Two, while Álvaro joined Group Three. Over the past few weeks, my relationship with Álvaro had plummeted into the abyss, but I still trusted him.We gathered supplies, and Group Three was ready to embark on the adventure. We said goodbye to the second group and entered one of the city's secret tunnels. If any guard saw us leaving the dome, we could consider ourselves exiled, so we had to be very stealthy. The tunnel had a not-so-high water level, a couple of centimeters, but enough to wet our feet if we didn't wear the boots I had crafted for the occasion.Upon exiting the tunnel, we found ourselves in the desert area, where minerals were extracted centuries ago to build the dome. Now, there was nothing left, not even a living being. I distributed breathing masks and radiation filters to each one of us. If, at any moment, any of our suits were damaged, even just a scratch, radiation would seep through, slowly killing the wearer. That terrified me internally. When we were kids, they told us dying from radiation was one of the worst sensations. Lua's mother, Sonsoles, checked our suits one by one to ensure they were intact.After the check, we began walking; the gravity inside the dome was artificial, but outside, the gravity was different. We made great leaps while walking. This helped us move swiftly. We were in an eagle formation, with Sonsoles at the front, leading, and right behind her was Lua's father, Mauricio. We walked or hopped for about half a sun approximately. We got tired and stopped to take a break and clean our dust and sand filters.In the distance, we could see the desert coming to an end and the more exciting part beginning, navigating the Night Whisperers, a tribe that, although primitive, outnumbered our army, the Antlers, making it tricky to consider attacking them. After the break, we continued our march, scaling several sand dunes, and accidentally, Álvaro stepped into quicksand. It seemed like he was doomed to sink due to the speed at which the sand was swallowing him, but Mauricio saved him, grabbing his arm and, after several efforts, managed to pull him out. The march continued.We reached the Forbidden Valley, the supposed residence area of the Night Whisperers, but at first glance, there seemed to be nothing there, not even a simple hut, just mountains. I encouraged them to keep walking; I had a plan to deal with the sages, which could either go very well or fail miserably, leading to all of us being annihilated.I was looking back to see if anyone was following us when, at one point, I slipped down a hill. When I reached the bottom, I startled, scared, checking my suit for any scratches. Fortunately, the suit remained perfectly sealed. The problem was that, making so much noise, a patrol of the Night Whisperers intercepted us, aiming energy rifles at us. "