Chương 62: The Bell in the Stone

Leo did not look back. The forest had already disappeared behind the first rise in the road, yet he could still feel the weight of what had happened there, not as fear but as an irritation that refused to settle.

He had left Velaris because he wanted distance from the strange organization surrounding the silver-threaded stones, and now, barely a day later, he had encountered another group carrying the same objects, another hidden location, and a creature beneath the earth that had spoken of doors and keys as though the two words belonged to a language older than the people using them. It was becoming difficult to pretend the incidents were unrelated. That did not mean he intended to investigate them.

There was a difference between recognizing a pattern and allowing the pattern to dictate where you walked. The road climbed gradually through a region of dry woodland, and by late afternoon the last signs of the river had vanished. The air had become warmer, carrying the dusty smell of stone and grass rather than water. Leo slowed when he reached a fork. The left road was wider and clearly maintained. The right was little more than a trail.

A wooden sign stood between them, its paint faded almost completely from years of rain and sunlight. EAST — MERCHANT ROAD SOUTH — HILL COUNTRY Leo studied the sign. He had planned to continue east. Instead, he turned south. Not because of the stone. Not because of the organization. He simply wanted a place where he could rest without being surrounded by merchants, travelers, or soldiers. The hill country would be quieter. That was all. At least, that was what he told himself. The road narrowed quickly.

By sunset, Leo reached the first abandoned farm. The house had been empty for years. Its roof had partially collapsed, the windows were broken, and weeds had grown through the floorboards. An old well stood behind it, covered by a thick wooden lid. Leo checked the building before entering. Nothing. No tracks. No insects larger than they should be. No hidden weapons. He chose the room with the least damage, removed his cloak, and sat beside the broken window.

For the first time since leaving Velaris, he allowed himself to relax. His injuries were minor, but the fight in the forest had reminded him of something he had nearly forgotten. Traveling alone was not the same as being careless. He examined the cut along his arm. The wound had stopped bleeding. He tore a clean strip from his shirt and wrapped it tightly. Then he reached into his pack. There were two medium-grade mana stones left. He placed one in his palm. The stone was cool. Leo closed his eyes.

Mana entered his body. Slowly. He guided it through the pathways he had constructed over the years, filtering the foreign energy before allowing it to settle into his core. The process was no longer as painful as it had once been. It was still unpleasant. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. Magic and Internal Energy did not naturally belong together.

The two systems moved differently, reacted differently, and seemed to resist one another whenever he tried to force them into the same circulation. But Leo had learned patience. He had learned that strength did not always come from forcing something to obey. Sometimes it came from teaching opposing things how to coexist. The mana stone gradually dimmed. Leo opened his eyes. A faint sound came from outside. He stopped. Not footsteps. A bell. One clear note. Then silence. Leo remained seated.

Another note came several seconds later. This time it was closer. He stood. The bell rang again. Three times. Leo looked toward the old well. The wooden cover had moved. Only slightly. Perhaps the wind. Except there was no wind. He walked outside. Moonlight covered the farmyard in pale silver. The well stood exactly as he had left it. Leo approached. He placed one hand on the wooden cover. Cold. He lifted it. Darkness waited below. The well was dry. Completely dry. At the bottom lay a small stone.

Silver lines covered its surface. Leo stared at it. He had not seen it earlier. The bell rang again. This time, it came from the stone. Leo crouched. He did not touch it. The silver lines moved. Very slowly. They formed a pattern. A circle. Then another. Then a third inside the second. Leo recognized the structure. Not the exact symbol. The principle. It was similar to the network beneath the capital. His expression became serious. The stone suddenly emitted a faint pulse. Something answered from far away.

Leo felt it through his Internal Energy. Not a voice. A direction. East. He withdrew his hand. The pulse stopped. For several seconds, he remained crouched beside the well, staring into the darkness. Then he laughed quietly. Not because anything was funny. Because the situation had become absurd.

"I really should have kept walking." A voice answered from behind him.

"That would have been wiser." Leo turned. A woman stood at the edge of the farmyard. She was perhaps thirty years old, dressed in a long gray traveling coat with a bow strapped across her back. Her dark hair was tied behind her neck, and a thin scar ran from beneath her left eye toward her jaw. She had no visible weapon in her hands. That made her more dangerous, not less. Leo rose.

"You've been following me."

"Since the forest."

"Why?"

"I wanted to know whether you would touch the stone."

"I didn't."

"I noticed." Her eyes moved toward the well.

"You know what it is."

"No."

"Then you recognize what it isn't." Leo considered her. She had spoken carefully. That usually meant she knew more than she intended to reveal.

"Who are you?"

"My name is Mira."

"Family name?" She smiled.

"You're not the only person who doesn't give strangers everything." Leo leaned against the well.

"What do you want?"

"Nothing from you."

"Then why follow me?"

"Because the people carrying those stones have been killing villages for months." Her voice had changed. The calmness remained, but something underneath it had hardened.

"My brother disappeared three months ago," she continued.

"He was following one of their caravans." Leo said nothing. Mira looked at him.

"You were in Velaris."

"Yes."

"You fought them."

"Yes."

"You destroyed one of their stones."

"Not exactly."

"What happened?"

"I found something beneath the forest." Mira's expression changed.

"What?"

"A creature." Her face lost some of its color.

"What kind?"

"I don't know."

"What did it say?" Leo studied her.

"Why does that matter?"

"Because there are places where the stones have been found before." She took a small object from inside her coat. A piece of black metal. Silver thread ran through its center.

"It happened in my brother's village first." Leo looked at the object.

"Then the forest."

"Then Velaris."

"Then the capital." Mira nodded. Leo's gaze sharpened.

"You know about the capital."

"I know something happened beneath it."

"Who are you working for?"

"No one."

"That's unlikely."

"Most people who investigate things like this work for someone. I don't." She stepped closer.

"I work for myself." Leo almost smiled.

"That's usually what people say before asking me to join them."

"I won't."

"Good." Mira looked toward the road.

"There is a city three days south of here." Leo waited.

"Blackridge." The name meant nothing to him.

"There is an old archive beneath the city," she continued.

"The archive contains records from before the current kingdoms were established."

"How old?"

"At least eight hundred years." Leo looked at the stone in the well.

"And you think the stones are mentioned there."

"I know they are."

"Then why haven't you gone?" Mira's expression became distant.

"Because the archive is guarded."

"By soldiers?"

"No."

"Then what?" She looked at him.

"People who don't want anyone reading what's inside." Leo was silent. The answer was vague enough to be suspicious and specific enough to be useful. He turned away.

"I won't help you."

"I didn't ask." That made him pause. Mira continued, "You are going east. Blackridge is south. Our paths will separate tomorrow." Leo glanced back.

"Then why tell me?"

"Because if you ever decide to understand those stones, you'll need somewhere to start." She turned.

"One more thing." Leo waited.

"The bell." He looked toward the well.

"What about it?"

"Don't ring it."

"I didn't."

"You don't understand." Mira's voice had become unusually serious.

"The bell isn't calling something." She looked toward the darkness beyond the farm.

"It's telling something that you're here." Then she walked away. Leo watched until the darkness swallowed her. He did not follow. He returned to the well. The stone remained at the bottom. Silent. Still. He stared at it for a long time. Then he covered the well. He went back inside the abandoned house, sat beside the broken window, and watched the moon move across the sky. Blackridge. The archive. The stones. The organization. The creature beneath the forest. All of it was beginning to form a shape.

But Leo had learned long ago that a shape was not necessarily an answer. Sometimes it was only the outline of a trap. He closed his eyes. Tomorrow, he would continue east. For now, that decision was enough. Yet sometime after midnight, while Leo slept, the old bell rang once more. Far beneath the abandoned farm, something answered. And this time, the sound did not come from the stone. It came from beneath the earth. End of Chapter 62