Plague Doctor

It was not easy to be placed with a responsibility to make a decision that would have long-lasting consequences. In the past, Captain Yu had made many inexplicable decisions but, in the end, they’d turn out to be the correct one…

“Listen to the captain!” Feng Peiqian eventually chose to believe in Yu Chi. Furthermore, based on her observation so far, Gu Jun did not give off the presence of a cultist. Chen Ziyuan and the other Chinese agents stopped but the Australian agents did not. Since Mysterium had managed an international relationship that Phecda could not, the Australian agents knew how to sign the Branching Seal. Due to Captain Yu’s words, they decided on signing the seal instead of using the firearms. Like the ancient seal, the Branching Seal would only work on dark forces. This attack would prove Gu Jun’s real identity!

They moved so fast that Feng Peiqian was unable to stop them. Yu Chi jumped to block before Gu Jun but the mental imprint phased through him and hit Gu Jun squarely. However, the result surprised even Feng Peiqian and Peter Bower. The seals dissolved into the glow of the door and caused it to burn brighter. The door instantly grew to about 10 metres tall. The glow materialized into corporeality. It looked like an arch made from stone. The stone was carved with strange lines. It shattered through dimensional limitation to appear before them, radiating an indescribable presence. There was a buzz and a mental shockwave froze all of them into place.

Peter Bower and his team wanted to raise their rifles to ward against possible danger that could come out from the door but they realized they were unable to move… Their hearts tightened. ‘Are we going to die here?’

“Look, the Branching Seal does not cause any damage, instead it has helped with the materialization of the door!” Yu Chi shouted excitedly. He knew the reason behind this but he could not reveal it so his words sounded as incomprehensible as ever. “We are doing the right thing then. This world is in danger. No, these worlds are in danger!”

When Gu Jun recovered and opened his eyes, his mental store was already half exhausted. If not for the ancient seals levelled at him, the exhaustion would be greater. The door was now open but it would only remain open for a short period of time. He knew that instinctually.

“Leave them be, Captain Yu!” Gu Jun pulled Yu Chi and leaped into the open door of light… The sub worlds were coinciding. The Phecda World was already feeling its impact, soon the tragedy would befall Mysterium World too. As the signal said, ‘time is running out’. At this juncture, they had no choice, they had to venture to Pnakotus.

Feng Peiqian wanted to scream something but the words were stuck in her throat. When the sound escaped her lips, the door of light already dissipated into prickles of radiance. Everyone regained their mobility. They looked around with befuddlement. Nothing happened to them but something huge definitely had transpired here. And where did the duo go?

“Headquarters, please come in!” Peter Bower used the satellite phone to contact the Australian Safety Bureau and reported everything in a hurry. The headquarters responded with an immediate reinforcement to seal up the area.

“We really have no idea what happened.” That was all Feng Peiqian and her team could say. The Australian Safety Bureau’s people soon arrived in helicopters and cars. They cordoned off this place as well as the locations that the disappeared duo had visited that day. They looked everywhere but they failed to find any door or even the stone that Gu Jun once held. Mysterium was equally stumped. Yu Chi was Mysterium’s agent but he was supposed to be on permanent duty leave due to his conditions so they too had no idea what was on his mind.

…

The moment Gu Jun pulled Yu Chi into the door of light, they were engulfed by millions of illusions. He seemed to be soaring through a city and plummeted through the blurry grey sky at an incredible speed. The city was built on top of a barren land. The stone buildings had tall serrated stone walls, grotesque gardens and unusual statues… Some of the buildings were so wide they stretched down the horizon, others were so tall they literally reached into the clouds. Gu Jun had seen many majestic architectures in his life but the constructions before him resembled none of the architectural styles that he was familiar with. It was unlike the spires at Dylath-Leen, it did not bear any resemblance to the architecture of the foreign civilization and naturally it did not share any similarity to human buildings either.

This was the creation of another civilization, a forgotten civilization. Perhaps… the Yith mentioned by the witch…

“Ah…” An overload of information assaulted Gu Jun. He was like a boat being rocked about in a sensory storm. He could feel his soul distorting from the onslaught of new information. The feeling of convolution aggravated as he laid eyes on the mystifying carving on the stone buildings. Ancient Seal, he saw several large boulders carved with the ancient seal placed before the entrance of a large building. These boulders were wards against dark forces. Even if the whole city collapsed, no demonic influence would corrupt this substantial construction. The building had a rounded dome, endless circular windows and stone pillars that stretched high into the sky…

Suddenly the recognition dawned on Gu Jun. He had been inside this building before, it was that library!

When he first returned from Dreamlands with the 3 sacred relics of City of Kindles, he encountered an illusory majestic library in the channel. A shadow greeted him between the bookshelves and it was the shadow who warned him of the danger imminent to Phecda. Later, when he first used the Pnakotic Manuscript to try to manufacture the rationality assessment stone, he returned to this library a second time. And now he had ventured to this place through the door of light.

Suddenly, the vision before his eyes changed. The ground beneath his feet solidified. He had landed on firm ground. With a thud, Yu Chi landed beside him. The man groaned in pain. They were on a spacious stone platform. Behind them was a wall and before them, two stone staircases led upwards. A row of lamps lined with walls on both sides. There was no wick or oil inside them but the lamps were burning. This was the product of some kind of unknown technology.

“Captain Yu, I believe we’ve arrived.” Gu Jun was excited. The Pnakotus Library, and they were at its entrance. This place had aided him many times in the past so Gu Jun believed they were at the right place.

Yu Chi quickly climbed up from the ground. His enthusiasm was palpable. “Are we still on Earth? Or this is some kind of abnormal space…” Yu Chi was almost mad with excitement. He yearned to touch the stone walls. As an archaeologist, this kind of ancient relic was what dreams were made of.

“They are both possible.” Gu Jun said when he saw something and frowned. They were the only two persons on the stone platform but behind them, there were three shadows.