Hunter's Return

Chapter 4: It could be a Sign

Marie's POV

It was a...

...

...

Machine.

Those type of machines that were incredibly confusing to see where all the wiring goes and strange and weirded out of its shape or functions.

"WELCOME MARIE!" Ranie exclaimed.

"What is this?" I curiously asked.

"It's like an power extractor sort of thing. But I haven't found out what type of power it extracts."

The machine was not large in size. It had a really small glass room with a glass door. There were also 4 pipes going from the glass room to a small black box. Then another pipe was attached to the box leading to some chemistry stuff.

"How do you know this information?"

"I come down here every Friday after school but now I can go whenever I want because it's summer."

"Wait, how did you even find this tree in the first place?"

"Eh, I was just wandering in the forest"

(Ranie's flashback)

I was wandering around the forest and I decided to take a rest.

I leaned on a branch and to my surprise, it went down.

I fell to the ground as a door appeared at the side of that trunk.

I quickly jumped up on my feet and poked my head through the opening to see a long, dim stairwell, going deep down.

I was curious to find out what was at the bottom so I went down, carefully.

It was a really dark way down. Good thing there were candles to light the way a bit. There were also bookshelves, which were obviously full of books.

Something shimmering on a shelf caught my eye. I gestured closer to it to find a silver key. I grabbed it and held it in my hand.

So after a while, a very long while, I reached the bottom of the stairwell.

I was faced with a door which was  locked.

I took out the silver key and tried to open the door. To my surprise, it fit perfectly. I opened the door a little and peeked through to see machinery.

The machine was not complete. I knew that because I saw a shadow, working on it.

The shadow seemed... Very familiar. I didn't know why.

Then I heard it laugh. A very sinister laugh.

A shadow laughing? That was weird.

Then it suddenly stopped. It looked like the shadow was... Looking at me?

I gently closed the door and quickly ran away.

(Back to present)

"Do you even know who own this?" I objected.

"I dunno... But the shadow... It was so familiar..."

I saw deep concentration on Ranie's face then suddenly after a while, she started to sweat, a lot.

"Let's get out of here Marie, NOW!" She yelled as she shoved me out the door.

"Why are we leaving so soon?" I asked the panting fox as we ran up the stairs.

Ranie didn't respond. I don't know why.

"Ugh, why didn't I notice that before," she mumbled.

Finally, we reached the surface.

Ranie pulled down the branch and it closed the door on the trunk.

"Why? What's wrong Ranie?"

"Well... It's.... It's..."

"It's what?"

"It's not a what, it's a who."

"A who? Who is it?"