Chapter 15 - Crater Woods

Two days ago, in the early afternoon on the outskirts of Crater Woods.

A brief note on the chronicles on the Crater Woods exploration:

It was I, Mingmei, who wrote this chapter on our exploration into the Crater Woods as requested by my friend, Eunshi. That means it is going to be my words that would walk you, the readers, through our succeeding adventures until we left Crater Woods. This will be the first time for me to write a journal or a chronicle of anything since my sister's death—she's the real writer in our group. She started reading poetry long before she could properly write mystic runes—I didn't read poetry until after my twelfth winter. Therefore, I request for your understanding in advance and perhaps forgiveness if what I write falls short of what you expect.

"We reached the edge of Crater Woods shortly before lunchtime thanks to an enhancement scroll that Eunshi used. The scroll allowed us to travel fast for a couple of hours without getting tired. We traveled as if we each rode on a mature tanti—a breed of horse that is used primarily for racing. Unfortunately, Eunshi did not have the time nor the resources to extract the eizou on the scroll so that we could study it for future use even without a similar scroll. It is the nature of scrolls that they are vaporized once the power that they carry is activated or used. A dusty trek across the vast desert lands of the kingdom and the Crater Woods finally stood before us. We immediately realized that the mystical means of travel that brought us to the Crater Woods in a fraction of the time was not the most magical encounter that we had that day. It was at that moment when we were face to face with the majesty and beauty of Crater Woods that we realized that this is more magical than Eunshi's scroll. The words that described the magnificence of the Crater Woods—from the journals of people that frequented the woods—did not give it half the justice that it deserved. The Crater Woods was majestic, awe-inspiring, and above all, it was unrealistically beautiful. Its beauty was unlike anything that can be seen anywhere in our kingdom. We felt like insects compared to the giant dammara trees that grew exclusively in Crater Woods. These trees can grow to a height in excess of two-hundred feet, and with the arrival of the rainy season, their leaves have become dark green and will soon turn brown and fall during winter.

"Allow me to provide some background about the Crater Woods and why we all found it the single most beautiful natural location in our entire kingdom. However, in order to properly introduce the wonder of the Crater Woods, it is necessary to provide a brief background of our kingdom as well.

"Our kingdom sits in a vast area of The Old Orient where the land is mostly dry, hard, and sandy. The clayish topsoil is mixed with crushed rock and this makes it hard to grow crops in most areas unless you spend time developing a water supply system for your land. The lands close to water sources, however, are extremely fertile because the rivers that run through the lands of our kingdom come from the wall of volcanoes from the west that separates us from the lands known as the Goruumshimi. And the dissolved volcanic material that is mixed with the water of the rivers somehow makes the land very fertile.

"The land of Crater Woods is unique because the source of water comes from underground—even closer to the volcanic source. It is said that in ancient times, a small meteor crashed at the center of the land—a group of hills—of Crater Woods. The impact of the meteor broke through the layers of rock that kept a mighty underground river inaccessible from the surface. The hole in the ground from the meteor's impact created a small pool of water where the waters of the underground river leaked to the surface and made the land around it, very fertile. It is said that this underground river is similar to the rivers above-ground���its source comes from the volcanic wall on the borders of Goruumshimi. This was before civilization flourished in the continent of the Old Orient, and thus, the fertile land around the crater was claimed by nature instead of by civilization. Trees, plants, and animals of Crater Woods grew and flourished untouched before civilization became advanced enough to understand the value of fertile lands near sources of water. The surrounding land around the impact was then known as the Crater Hills. The hills themselves were not created by the impact, they were there before the meteor came, but calling them Crater Hills because of the impact that transformed the land around them seemed appropriate.

"This was one of the reasons why our group decided that it was important to investigate the Crater Woods—especially near the center of the woods; the Crater Hills; the Crater Woods fit perfectly into the pattern that we recognized from the map inside the Negation Chamber. The abductions all happened near a source of water and a source of water that was large enough to sustain the Crater Woods can be found flowing underneath it. If the underground water system of the Crater Woods and the capital is somehow connected, then the abductors could be traveling underground using the underground rivers to and from the capital, and the victims could be hidden somewhere in a cavern within the Crater Hills. If not, then their lair could probably be accessed from inside the woods or the hills.

"'Mingmei, we're going in,' Eunshi said as they started to walk into the woods. It was a signal to me that I should stop writing and follow them. I decided to document our adventure as it happened because I want the documentation as accurate and complete as possible. Luckily, I have the perfect zhougeru-based solution for that.

"Ianme walked in front of our group followed closely by Lynn. He has a skill that is important for leading our group through the woods. Even though Ianme's clan is primarily in charge of preserving the culture of the kingdom—in paintings, sculptures, and other various artworks or relics—the members of their clan are all trained with the skill of tracking. A useful skill when they are tracking the whereabouts of art thieves or when they are tracking the location of a lost work of art. However, it is also highly useful when you want to look out for fresh tracks or marks on the ground that would give us a clue whether or not someone recently entered the woods—or whether they were carrying anyone with them when they passed.

"'Move a little slower, Ianme,' Lynn suggested. 'I'm trying to make sure that we are not walking into any snares or traps. If we're headed to a possible entrance to the secret lair of the abductors, we should expect snares or traps scattered about,' she explained, almost whispering. Ianme nodded at her suggestion and slowed his pace to half of what it was before.

"'It's a good thing that Anika's group has Izrik and we have Lynn,' Khyn commented from the rear. I moved to the middle of the group, Eunshi walked behind me and Khyn covered our hind position. 'Having someone who can find and disable traps on both groups is important when going into locations like these woods. Although they would've been better off if they had Ianme with them. He's the only tracker in our group,' he added with a tone of regret. Ianme provided us with the advantage of being able to look for tracks left by abductors, but since Anika's group was—hopefully—following our path and looking for us, it would serve them better if they had a tracker with them like Ianme.

"'Why not just use an eizou to spring all the traps at the same time?' Ianme asked suddenly. 'It would save us time walking slowly, looking for them one by one, and then disarming them. Moreover, springing them all at the same time would ensure that you don't miss anything,' Ianme suggested impatiently when we had to stop for the fourth time when Lynn found another trap.

"'There are two purposes to traps laid out around a lair. Traps weaken the intruders and inform the guardians of the lair that intruders are within the perimeter,' Lynn explained as she disarmed the trap. 'We're expecting that a large organization or possibly a major syndicate is behind these abductions, right? We wouldn't want to let them know we're coming because they will have the advantage of numbers and familiarity with the terrain,' Lynn continued. She then sighed in relief after she completed disarming the trap.

"'What is it?' I asked in a soft voice. 'You look worried.' Lynn still had a calm countenance about her, but she had a certain subtle way that told me every time if she was worried about something. And since she decided to keep that worry to herself, it alarmed me even more. Ianme shrugged at Lynn's explanation but eventually nodded his agreement. Eunshi glanced back at Lynn and me for a moment and then walked forward albeit slowly. It meant that she also sensed Lynn's apprehension.

"'Ok, I guess, that was a bad idea,' Ianme declared as he started to walk forward once more at his usual slow pace.

"'Each of the traps I've disarmed so far was loaded with an eizou that is unknown to me,' Lynn replied directly into my thoughts. It reminded me that I have not reactivated our mental link when we started moving into the Crater Woods. I was so focused on recording our journey into the woods through a scrying zhougeru—I was basically spying on us, recording our movement and conversation—that I forgot to activate the basic enchantments that I always have with me.

"I reactivated my mental connection with Lynn and Eunshi. I was surprised that I can maintain four active zhougeru at the same time—two for communications, one for defense, and one for spying on our group. I did daily exercises at home to train myself in handling several active zhougeru at the same time since Mingmai died, but I have never tried the exercises under stressful situations like carrying a load, walking, or under dangerous situations. I began to wonder how many zhougeru I can manage to maintain at the same time while casting eizou for combat as well. 'That could mean we are in the right direction, but that also means that we're about to face an organization with a potentially more powerful eizou-jin than us,' I replied. Lynn and I both stared at Eunshi as I spoke directly into Lynn's mind so that Eunshi could hear what I said in her mind as well.

"'Do we need to wait for the others?' Eunshi asked directly into my mind and Lynn's.

"'Let's verify first,' Lynn suggested. 'The Crater Woods is also known for poaching and illegally harvesting the sap of the giant dammara trees. Liam's clan is supposed to monitor these poachers because only Ianme's clan is allowed to harvest that sap legally. They use it as a special ingredient for the varnish that they use to preserve artworks. And it should be harvested only during winter to preserve the health of the trees,' Lynn explained patiently. She stopped once more and started to disarm another trap.

"'Anika's group should be able to recognize these traps and the eizou used then,' I said with a sigh. 'Meaning they should be safe even if we do not disarm everything,' I added.

"'I am surprised that you worry for Liam's safety,' Eunshi teased then giggled. Khyn and Ianme paused and stared at Eunshi who giggled on her own, a contrast to Lynn who looked serious as she disarmed another trap. They both turned to me and saw another contrasting expression as I watched the four of them with a blank face.

"'Why are you giggling,' Ianme asked Eunshi 'and why is your face red?' he asked as he pointed at me.

"'Don't make me laugh!' Lynn exclaimed with a broad smile on her face. She stared at the sky and took a deep breath.

"'Did you trigger the trap?' Khyn asked.

"'No. I disarmed it at the same time that I couldn't hold back my laughter anymore,' Lynn replied while still giggling.

"'Does your clan have outposts here for when you gather sap?' I asked to change the topic.

"'We do, but not inside the woods. The cabins are outside the woods. They'd be hard to maintain when not in use if you built them inside the woods,' Ianme explained after he gave it a brief thought. 'We should've stopped by one of them before we entered. There might be a map where the locations of these traps are marked,' Ianme suddenly said. He then turned to Lynn if she was okay with the idea.

"'Did you hear that?' Lynn whispered, ignoring Ianme's question. She was frozen in place and she was straining her senses to pick up the sound that she heard. We turned to Eunshi and she slowly pointed to a boulder around twelve feet high that was ten meters northwest of Ianme's location.

"Ianme quickly moved his left hand to the twin butterfly sword on his back and then signaled with his right hand that he would be moving around the boulder from the right. The position of his left hand allowed him to conceal his left hand and sword with a short cloak that covered most of the left side of his torso including his left arm. When used properly, he could attack before his opponent knew where the attack would come from—and this is usually a fatal attack unless you can defend against it. Lynn signaled him to wait and he stopped moving halfway to the right side of the boulder. Lynn slowly bent down and picked a small rock then threw it to the left side of the boulder. The sound startled whatever it was that was hiding behind the boulder and it suddenly came out and ran away towards Ianme's direction.

"It was a small deer and Ianme relaxed and laughed as he watched the deer run farther away from our group.

"We slowly moved towards the boulder at our usual progress. Lynn found one more trap and we had to stop once more and waited for her to disarm the trap. I stood close to the boulder and decided to inspect it more closely while Lynn disarmed the trap. The boulder was smooth and was easily twelve feet high and seven feet wide, but what struck me was that the boulder was completely free of moss. The rest of the stones and boulders that we've passed by so far was almost entirely covered with moss ad fungus. Even the forest floor had a thin layer of carpet-like moss under the usual layer of dead leaves and branches.

"'Eunshi, what type of rocks do moss avoid?' I asked and Eunshi fixed her eyes on me while she seemed to be thinking of the answer to my question.

"'That is normally Anika's specialty, but I guess there should be none. Why?' Eunshi replied.

"'This boulder—where the deer was hiding—has a remarkable absence of moss growing anywhere on its surface,' I explained. Khyn and Ianme both stared at me with jaws agape in surprise.

"'So, it takes a huge boulder to make you speak more than a few words?' Ianme commented. He bent his head sideways to the left.

"'We'd make sure that Liam knows about this,' Khyn said seriously with the same surprised look. 'I'd suggest to him to carry around huge boulders with him all the time as a good conversation starter with you,' he said jokingly but with a serious face.

"'That's because moss is everywhere on this woodland which should be natural because there's a rich source of water and moisture at its center. And that lack of moss means two things that may or may not be relevant to our investigation,' I explained patiently.

"'Either that boulder has not been there long enough for moss to grow on it,' Khyn said as he walked closer to the boulder to inspect it as well. He looked surprised when he found that it really did not have any moss growth on it.

"'Or it is made of a material that moss doesn't like,' Eunshi added. 'Honestly, the second is less likely because moss grows even on metal, but considering the circumstances of the first, I like the second explanation better,' she explained with a worried look.

"'Because the first scenario suggested that someone or something in these woods is strong enough to throw boulders of that size,' Lynn said as she straightened herself from the trap. 'Or someone from outside these woods is strong enough to throw a boulder of that size into the Crater Woods fairly recently.'