The Pillar Of Nebuwah

The First Attack

"Run..." said Jenifer as she noticed the Nerezza which was right beside me. John quickly took hold of my hand and took off at a great speed.

Christopher was right behind us , followed by Jason with Silvia and Dan following suit.

"Can't we use the fire stone to light up another branch ?" Silvia asked , panting due to run. I was tired too , my lungs were burning and my throat felt dry but I forced myself to keep going.

"No , you can't ! A fire stone only work once , so do all the Iridasian stones. Once used they only glow and unfortunately we only brought one fire stone with us !" Jennifer answered, as she ran as fast as she could. She was right behind Silvia trying to catch up with us.

Suddenly,  my hands hit a hard surface. It felt damp but strong enough to hold itself still. I could feel little roots sticking out of it.

"We're trapped . It's a wall, a dead end." John said taking the words out of my  mouth. He felt for a trapdoor or a mechanism to lead us ahead but it was in vain.

"They've  caught upto us !" Christopher warned. For the first time, I saw fear etched in his crystal,  deep blue eyes. In most situations,  it was Christopher who had been calm and had been our support structure but now seeing him afraid just made us feel that our situation was hopeless. 

"Okay," said Jenifer taking charge ,"Silvia , Esther and I will try and look for a way out while you four Jason, Christopher,  John and Daniel try and keep the Nerezza off. We'll try and figure a way out."

I handed Jason my sword even though he was equipped with one. He gave me a confused look at first and refused to take the sword but I insisted.

"Esther , I already have one." He protested against taking my sword.

"I assure you this will come in handy. I may not be wise but I am smart enough to know battle strategies." I said as I walked away from him. He gave a retiring sigh and walked  upto John who gave me the you-and-I-talk-after-this look. I just rolled my eyes in response to his over protective gesture.

"Now we look for an outlet to this trapped cage." Jenifer said feeling the tunnel. She seemed frusterated at this point while Silvia was surprisingly very quiet.

"How will they ever fight the Nerezza with no light ?" Silvia whispered loud enough for the three of us to hear. Her voice was surprisingly gentler.

"You can't fight the Nerezza. They turn into creatures that fear or turn into handsome young men and women. Fighting them in your mind is much harder than in reality." I replied to her , but for the first time without any hint of anger. Perhaps, it was this moment of helplessness that unified our feelings. This unification lead us being sympathetic towards one another.

"These stupid creatures , can't they possibly pick a more convenient time to chase us." Jenifer muttered under her breath, still searching for an outlet.

"I agree." I said stomping my foot on the ground to search for perhaps an underground outlet. Jenifer turned towards me and gave an agreeing smile, it felt good to know that I wasn't the only one to have strong opinion against these creatures.

My hands could feel nothing but hard ground. It seemed as though we were trapped but I wouldn't believe it because I knew if I did I would give up. That's thing about doubts, you know , they are like little boulders that block the ray of hope within us. But if we continue to follow the light, I'm sure we'd find our way to reality , our hope will be reality. And it did become reality.

Silvia heaved a heavy sigh and bent backwards to stretch her back. She looked up and stared at the mud ceiling for a long time. When I did notice her staring at the ceiling, I waved my hands in front of her to drag her back to reality.

"What are you staring at ? Get back to work." I told her , sternly.

"No , look !" She said pointing towards the ceiling. My gaze followed her thin finger only to find it pointing at a round manhole opening. It looked very old and rusty with age. It's borders were made of gold and inscriptions of silver.

My eyes were adjusted to the dark but not well enough for me to see in detail. My hands tried to reach high up to touch the lid but unfortunately I couldn't reach.

"What are you looking at ?" Jenifer asked , her piercing grey eyes looking at me with a  questioning  look on her face. She dusted her hands and followed my gaze which was fixed on the lid. 

Her eyes widened when she realised that we had finally found an opening to the outside of the tunnel. Her eyes looked at me for confirmation to which I nodded in delight.

"Have you found an outlet ?" John asked , panting , his hands were giving away to Nerezza who was fighting against him.

"We have , just hold on till we open it." I replied. With the help of Jenifer and a very complaining Silvia,  I was hoisted up.

"Give me the fire stone ." I said, because my eyes could make out the inscriptions on the lid. This wasn't an ordinary lid, this lid could oy be opened if the correct inscriptions were put in the right place.

"I thought it didn't work." Silvia said with a huff as she stretched her hand to take hold of John's bag and opens the pocket to find the box where he kept the fire stone which she handed to me at once.

"Well , atleast it glows and something us better than nothing." I replied to her complaint.

Taking hold of the glowing stone , I used it as a lamp to see the inscriptions. I was surprised to find the Lostoringian flag embedded on it in silver with the following inscriptions.

The lid had four slabs , each with a different inscription. The first slab had the image of a mighty lion holding a flag with a crown adorning it's mighty mane. I touched it gently only to find that this slab could be moved .

It was the Lion of Judah. But what was a Lostoringian symbol doing on an Aramandan tunnel ?

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