Chapter 221 - Scrolls

After what feels like a solid hour, we finally come to a dark room that instantly comes to light when the old man releases his power into the wall. The walls are made of crude stone with large, black drawings of monsters. 

"What is that?" I say coming to a stop in the middle of the room. The old man turns to me before looking at the wall saying "Those my dear... are the Unspeakables. These are the creatures you will have to find and seal back." 

I look at the sheer size of them and swallow hard before saying "Are they this size or have they been blown up..." The old man gives me a knowing smile before saying "That was drawn to their exact sizes but this was done so long ago... things could have changed by now. Over here is where I keep all the scrolls from that time."

All three of us walk over to the large shelf with numerous scrolls on each shelf. "Which one do we need to read?" I ask feeling overwhelmed. The old man frowns at me and says "I would ȧssume the first one." 

My eyes widen as I turn to him with a look of disbelief and ask "You want us to read every single one of these!? We'd be down here for days!" The old man shrugs his shoulders and says "This is everything on them. If you want to defeat an enemy, shouldn't you know everything you can about them?"

I open my mouth to say something before freezing. What he says makes sense but... Bai Lei picks up a scroll and says "Although I do agree with you old man... we are trying to eliminate as many deaths as possible. The longer we stay down here reading, the longer they have to kill more innocent people."  

The old man sighs and says "Fine, you can probably read just these and be okay." He walks over to the bookcase and starts grabbing scrolls. Once his arms are completely full, he turns around and shoves them into Guozhi's arms.

Guozhi struggles to hold them all as he asks "Why are you giving them all to me!?" The old man hooks a finger over to Bai Lei and I saying "She's a woman and he's a Deity." Then he quickly walks over to a large metal door with ancient-looking writing all over it. 

He pauses before the door and slowly turns back to us asking "Are you sure they've really been released?" Bai Lei and I both turn to Guozhi who nods and says "Without a doubt." The old man wears a grave look as he turns back around and grabs the door.

He slides a bar over before sliding a large bar down into the ground. He then takes a deep breath and pushes the door open. The large door makes an awful creaking noise before everything becomes quiet again. 

Bai Lei and I glance at each other before walking over to the door. Guozhi places all the scrolls on the one table in the room before slowly walking over to the open door. The old man stands before the old door with clenched fists, breathing deeply as he stares into the pitch-black room.

"Is this where they were kept?" I ask with a voice bȧrėly above a whisper. The old man slowly nods his head and takes a deep breath before walking in. The three of us look to each other before stepping into the pitch-black room as well.

When the old man says something in another language, large writings along the walls begin to glow an eerie green color. When I glance around the large... cave? I suck in at what I see. Large claw marks show where they've tried to tear their way out but was unsuccessful.

About three large skeletons, I ȧssume it's theirs, is left lying around, half-buried in the hard ground. I slowly turn around to get a better look before looking up. There... the large hole that now showed a view of the night sky. 

"How could they survive so long down here... were they... were they eating each other?" I ask in a soft unsure voice. The old man shakes his head and says "I honestly don't know... every full moon I'd come down to the other room just to check and every time I tapped on the door, I would hear them move."  

I walk over to the closest wall as Bai Lei stays close by my side. I look at the strange glowing words and ask "What language is this? Is this the same language you were speaking earlier?" The old man nods his head and says "Correct. It was a language used to seal these monsters away but no one knows what the language actually is."

I frown at his words and turn around to look at him as I say "Then how do you use it?" The old man sighs and says "I just repeat the words I was taught... you see, the scrolls tell of a person who came from another world. This was their language... they helped us seal the beasts and even told us how to keep them trapped." 

My heart skips a beat as Guozhi and Bai lei both turn to look at me. I shake my head and shrug letting them both know I didn't know anything either. I frown in thought before turning to the old man and asking "Then... is this person or their descendants still around?" 

The old man rubs his bald head as he says "No, not that I'm aware of. I was told the woman went back to her world... OH! I was told that if anything were to happen, I was to... crap... let me find the scroll."

The old man rushes out of the cave-like chamber and goes straight back to the scrolls on the shelf. I feel myself smiling a little as I turn back to look at the strange words again. The eerie green glow was making everything in here green, Including my hair but I can't help but feel that the writing is slightly familiar.  

I step back a few steps and tilt my head to the side as I continue looking at the writing. Bai Lei stands beside me and asks "What's wrong?" I bite my lip and say "I can't help but feel this is somewhat familiar... like I've seen it somewhere before."

Bai Lei's eyebrows shoot up as he turns to look at the wall and ask "Can you read it?" I shake my head no and say "No... it is written really big though... maybe if I back up some more." I say stepping back a few more feet.

"Is it normal to have a bunch of people from other worlds coming to this world?" I ask with my head sideways. Guozhi walks over and looks at me with a weird look before turning his head to the side to look at the wall as well. 

Bai Lei watches both of us as he says "You were the first that I knew of... I have not heard of anyone else coming to this world." Guozhi continues to stare at the wall as he says "Did you do one of your weird sleepwalking things and do this?" 

I shake my head and say "I know for a fact this wasn't done by me but... I feel like if seen this writing before..." The old man suddenly calls out "Ah hah! I found the scroll on the mysterious woman. Let me read it and see what it says."

Guozhi forgoes the writings on the wall and walks over to the old man with the scrolls. Bai Lei continues to stay by my side as he softly says "It's okay, don't worry about it too much." But that's just it... it's bothering me because I feel like I recognize it somehow.

It's right there on the tip of my brain... suddenly, it clicks. "Latin..." I breathe out in a surprised whisper. Bai Lei frowns at me and asks "What?" I begin looking around the room with large eyes as I'm finally able to recognize the writing.

"It's in Latin... the words are all written in Latin," I say making the old man and Guozhi look to me with surprise. Bai Lei places a hand on my lower back and says "I ȧssume that's a language from your old world, right? Can you read it?" 

I shake my head no as I say "When I was in college, I took a Latin course but failed miserably. I can, however, recognize the words and letters. What is this doing here... See this here" I point at one large letter and say "This is an 'S' ..." 

"Man... I really wish I had paid better attention in college." I say looking at everything with awe. The old man then says "Yes, I have it here that the woman was able to speak our language and many others. She suddenly appeared one day and stopped an attack on a small village. Our people begged for her help and she agreed if we gave her some herbs. After that, she created this place and sealed them all away."

The old man gets excited as he says "It says here that we can summon her if we need her help with them again!" He grabs the scroll and does a little happy dance as he says "We shall call her and ask for her help again!" 

I nervously look over to Bai Lei and he gives me a half-shrug as the old man says "Let's prepare to welcome her back!" But my brain was still stuck on the word 'Summon'...