Empirica #11

The night was not so easy for everyone to sleep due to the Slinky Vines occasionally dropping down and heading in their direction but they had finally managed to get through it by finding a place where they would be unable to reach.

The vines only became loose once they had fully curled up and reached a certain length but there would be occasions where they were knocked loose by a strong wind.

The night passed by and the new day came, everyone woke up and started to take some more photos before preparing to leave.

The journey down was just as dangerous and they could not approach it without preparation and enough rest.

Just as they were preparing to leave, Sunila had saw that Alyssia had stopped in place. "Are you not coming?"

Alyssia calmly shook her head and turned away to walk towards the stone tiles which were piled up. "Sunila do you happen to know the meaning behind this?"

Sunila thought carefully before answering. "Is it not just the current number of people who have made it up here?"

Alyssia knelt before it and had her hands together as if she was praying to the stones. "Some cultures lay stone piles for the dead. Some leave a stone behind on a pile as a form of symbolism as if to say 'I was here'. Others use it as a form of artistic expression or to help navigate a landscape by marking the right way. Others say that stacked rocks mean strength. Others just do it as a form of spiritual practice to achieve focus and balance with nature."

Sunila did not see where the rambling was going next. "And?"

Alyssia went on to explain. "There would be those that came up here and felt a sense of achievement then added to the pile but is that really the purpose? What about the first person to come here? What did they lay it down for? The same reason or was there another?"

Yvie poked her head out behind Sunila and asked. "Big sis Alyssia is praying? How unlike her.. hmm.."

Those that were making their way down had returned and were curious.

Alyssia was never religious or offered any form of prayer so her actions were very strange so they were naturally curious why she was doing it.

Jester was the first one to become aware of what was happening. "You would not just make this show for nothing right? You must have found something."

Alyssia showed a small smile which showed that he was right. "Mm."

As she had climbed to her feet, her hand was no longer in a praying position and one of them had suddenly raised upward then chopped down towards the tiles.

It happened so quickly that nobody could catch every single movement she made and her hand had chopped down and split every tile with ease. "Yvie you can dig here."

Alyssia did not notice right away when it was darker but once the sun had risen she had been able to get a better look at it.

The placement was not in a place where everyone that climbed up could see right away and Alyssia had only come across it by chance.

If it was right in the open then she would have walked past it many times and not noticed anything strange.

When she had seen it again in the daylight, Alyssia was able to examine it more thoroughly and come up with her own theories based on what she knew from her previous world.

One use was used in both worlds and it was the most obvious one which she had overlooked.

It was a marking for something being buried.

If her theory was correct then it could either be a place of burial or a place that had something valuable buried underneath.

Her observation had picked up on something below but she did not know what it was yet and she wished to let the others get an attempt on finding it.

They had all failed the opportunity that had been given to them so Alyssia would not hold back in claiming anything that would catch her eyes before anyone else could.

Yvie had dug into the ground and pulled out a couple of small boxes of different sizes which had been placed together. "There must be some good stuff in here!"

Alyssia broke the lock on them with ease due to them being greatly weakened over the many years they had been underneath the ground.

Once they had been opened, everyone began coughing as the insides were exposed and the accumulated dust had been released from within.

The insides were shown and many eyes had widened in surprise as there was a lot of jewellery and gems which glittered brightly under the sun.

There were a couple of high quality weapons in the longer boxes while a smaller box contained a small fruit which had spirals on it.

The fruit was a pale blue colour and had pink spirals while it was shaped like a berry.

"We finally encountered another one after so long!"

"So lucky!"

Alyssia quickly closed the box and carried it in her arms. "I will take this and some of the jewellery. You guys can pick from the rest. Share it out fairly."

She had a bad premonition that it would be eaten by someone by accident or perhaps it was just her feeling that was because of what happened to the two Devil Fruits she had encountered in the past.

The moment that they appeared nearby they had been eaten by a nearby slave which was Jester and a cat on board her own ship which was Li.

Once they had packed up what they could carry back down with them, Alyssia had packed the rest and they made their way down the mountain.

They encountered some similar dangers along the way but they all had Alyssia to aid them when they were in trouble.

They had passed the test and survived so giving them a little assistance back down was the least she could do.