Chapter 18: The Moth Stone

“I know exactly what this stone is,” Miss. Ravana explained to him. “I’m simply wondering if you know what it is?” She asked.

“You know what it is, Miss. Ravana?” the young man asked.

She nodded. Even going as far as smirking as she nodded.

“Then, you have to tell me everything about it. Please.”

“Everything will be revealed to you. In time. But first, we have to move on,” she said, smirking at him again before marching forward. She confidently walked closer to the crater in the middle of the field. Trees never seemed so frightening as they were now. The creepy tree branches appeared to be staring at them as they ventured onto the field. It was no longer the evening. It was now nightime. Santos, or rather Gray Gear, didn’t see the time pass by as they explored the dark wilderness of Point Pleasure. It was not past midnight and the crescent moon was shining bright into the sky. Ravana was much faster than he was. By a long shot.

“Where are we going this time?” he demanded to her.

“Where everything began. Follow me. Hurry up,” she said.

“Where everything began? The crater?” he theorized. He attempted his best to catch up with her. Ravana was so tall, especially her sexy legs, that she constantly made big steps. Making it that much harder for the young man to keep up with her. Quite frankly, causing it to be nearly impossible. He had to run to barely keep up with her.

“Wow. You no longer seemed too worried about the burglars. You are finally following without mentioning them now that you have your wallet back,” Ravana handed it back to him, as well as the red stone. The two made it to the crater. The young man followed her into a hole within the crater. It was the entrance to a cavern.

“Don’t worry. We are still going after them. It’s unacceptable that they raised your home. I want to know why they did this. But yeah… I’m feeling much better now since I have the stone back. Hey, why are we going into this hole in the ground?” he questioned her.

“Just follow me. Okay?” she didn’t ask him twice. He did follow her deep down into the cave. It was dark here, but as soon as they entered, the stone‒the moth stone he held in his hands began glowing a bright, ruby red colour. It was illuminating their way.

“The stone? Miss. Ravana, take a look at this. It’s glowing.”

“As I expected it would do. This all makes sense now.”

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“What does?” the young man demanded of her. He didn’t understand why it was glowing.

“First off: What name should I call you now, buddy? Still going with Santos or by the name on your cards: ‘Gray Gear’?” she asked him as she led him into some kind of underground passage, which was connected to the crater, where Miss. Ravana explained it was the crashed landing site that saw her birth into this world. Ours.

“Gray Gear,” he went on to tell her. “Gray is my real name.”

“What was: ‘Santos’ all about, then?” she questioned him.

“It’s a long story. I’d prefer not to get into that right now.”

“Anyway… The moth stone you are holding in your hands is glowing because it is near the site where I was born years ago. In this case, right underneath it, as you already know,” she explained.

“The site where you were born? I thought you said you fell from the sky? Like a fallen angel or something like that…'' he told her.

“That’s exactly what I mean. Falling from the sky, falling from Heaven, was my rebirth,” she carefully explained to him.

“This is extraordinary. But then, what are we doing here?”

“We are looking for something that I left behind… A long time ago… Ah! There it is. Light your moth stone on that wall over there if you wouldn’t mind,” she pointed at a specific direction.

“Okay. But I don’t believe there is anything over there‒” however, Gray was quickly interrupted by the discovery of a sculpture at the end of the tunnel. It was a beautiful statue. It was nine feet tall.

“‒You were saying?” Ravana asked him as he was interrupted. It was the statue of something Gray saw in his dreams before. It was the statue of a creature. A monster. A winged insect, or some kind of bird with big eyes. He didn’t know what to make of it. But it was exactly what he saw in his dreams and read in his books. Exactly the image he showed to the cute waitress in the diner earlier.

“This is another thing I saw in my dreams before. I read about this thing. What the hell is it? I need to know what‒” then, suddenly interrupting him again, the moth stone in his hands began glowing brighter. Almost as if it was reacting to the statue. “‒What is going on with the stone this time?” The next moment, the statue of the bird-like creature suddenly began moving by itself. It was alive. Both Gray and Ravana were shocked by this. They stepped back from it. The animated sculpture descended off its pedestal and marched toward them. It was menacing. “What the hell? This thing is alive?” Gray shouted within the underground tunnel in pure terror.

“This isn’t supposed to be happening…” Ravana worried.

“What do we do now?” he asked as the two tried to go back up, but couldn’t because the violent animated statue suddenly jumped in front of them and blocked their way. They were trapped in here together. Having to confront the creature.

“We are stuck in here with him,” Gray said.

“We are…” Ravana bit her lower lip. Then, the moth stone began glowing even more than before. Not only that, it began changing. It transformed itself into something else entirely. It grew and changed into a glowing gauntlet of the same ruby red colour as the stone was. The same moth stone was still there too. It was on the gauntlet. It felt as if Gray had just been given a weapon.

“What is it?” Gray asked.

“I can’t believe it…” Miss. Ravana was in awe.

The animated sculpture came closer to them. Menacing to attack them for real this time.