Bergoth Lumens

Bergoth became excited and searched for his friend's number and dialed. His eyes narrowed when he noticed the connecting sign flashed on the screen, "What in the world is he doing? Why isn't he answering the call?"

He tapped his fingers on his table rhythmically, his gaze never leaving the Arithmos until the other line was connected, and exclaimed without waiting for his greetings, "Where are you right now?! Tell me about the relic!"

The person on the other line chuckled when he heard Bergoth's bellows. "Okay, Ice Berg. Calm down, or we're not going anywhere -"

"Eric! Stop teasing me already and tell me about the relic!"

"Fine! Sheesh..." Eric paused for a few seconds and continued, "I think we should meet, you know. I hate reporting juicy news over the phone. And the camera's not working..."

"No! Please don't leave me hanging right now?! You know very well that these would mess up my mind until I hear them. So please, spill it."

"Department of Archaeology. Room 104. 1 PM," Eric ignored Bergoth's pleading and added, "Oh, Erica's here. Gotta go. Bye, Ice Berg."

Bergoth heard the disconnecting sound and grumbled, "Ugh! He'd just wanna see how I react, that fucking brother of his sister!" Helpless, he checked the time and snorted when he saw that it was still 9 AM. "Four more hours to go."

Inhale. Exhale. Repeat.

Unbeknownst to all, Bergoth knew he had less control over his emotions, especially on things that mattered to him. His cold demeanor was just a facade because he wanted to avoid small talk with strangers. It was not a surprise for him when he acted that way when Eric baited him with news about a relic. Sometimes, he hated his only friend because he knew how to tick him off.

Bergoth expelled the lingering thoughts out of his mind and rummaged into his suitcase. There was a blue pen, which he placed inside a mug. He arranged the set of newly bought Porrean history books atop the table when he noticed an old one sandwiched between the two thicker ones. He took it out and stared at the book cover with a simple tree picture. Indeed, he knew what it was - The Tale of the God of Mischief.

A scene of Granny reading books for him before sleeping flashed inside his mind. A smile formed on his lips while his hands flipped the pages and skimmed through them until he reached the folded part, cleared his throat, and read out, "The God of Mischief, he hears your plea. In exchange for something, you get what you see. Eternity, past and present, Mischief hates the Tree. When the right time comes, the seven will set Him free."

Bergoth remembered the first time he read those words, describing it as a cheap poem to his granny. To be more apt, he uttered, "A cheap poem by a poor poet who knows no rhyme." He wondered why Granny hit his butt with a stick, but he did not relent.

A cheap poem is a cheap poem no matter what happens.

Bergoth returned the book inside and closed the suitcase. Waiting for a few hours would make him restless, so he opened his memo and did what he had to do - prepare his lesson plan for the next semester. He encoded them in his Arithmos until he felt his stomach grumble. True enough, it was noon. He wondered whether he had canus blood because his body suffered hunger pangs at an exact time every day, regardless if he had eaten previously or was fasting.

He took a call and ordered food online, and the lunch arrived fifteen minutes later. The aroma of fried cromur wafted as soon as he opened the lunch box, making him hungrier. According to the Animal Encyclopedia, cromur was a variety of birds that clucked loudly as soon as it sensed danger. Hence, they were the farmers' favorite to keep as an alarm against predators. But for him, the type of cromurs he liked the most were the fried ones.

He took a big chunk of leg and gobbled it until only the bones were left. Soon, he finished eating and threw the remains into the recycling bin. He did not wait anymore and went to the Department of Archaeology, several buildings away from the Department of History.

============================

Eric Mitchell

"Have you eaten lunch?" Eric asked the blond girl beside him while wiping the grease off the table. "Better check the vouchers if you're hungry; the promos are up for grab."

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

The girl shrugged her shoulders, took a stub from her thigh pocket, and said, "Nope. I'm on a diet. Anyway, I have a stub for free food at McShell Restaurant. Besides, I still have a pictorial later, and as a hopeful celebrity, I need a flat stomach, or news of me being pregnant will spread online." She glanced at the stub and continued, "What a weird promo. It says it's available only at 8 PM. I'll wait until later."

"Have an extra stub for me?" Eric got interested when he heard that it was free food.

The girl shook her head. "I tried getting another one, but that waitress stopped me."

Eric chuckled, "So, your celebrity charm didn't work out well?" He saw Erica pouting as she tinkered with her phone. "I guess it's a yes."

Erica Mitchell was his twin sister. They both looked alike - blond hair, high cheekbones, heart-shaped face, long-legged, and pale skin. Even their attitudes were similar. Both were outgoing, sociable, adventurous, and friendly. Only their interests clashed because she was into stardom, and he did not want to be in the limelight. But he knew Erica was heartbroken right now, for she did not pass her audition yesterday.

"Hey, look at me." When Eric was sure he got her attention, he added, "Just heard from the grapevine about your audition. As your older brother - "

"You're just a few seconds older than me, for Boone's sake!"

Eric raised his hands, "Okay, okay. As your brother, I gotta say, fuck those casting directors who can't see a gem when it's before them."

"Hah! Then what kind of a gem am I then?"

"Uh...stint?"

"Hey, those are for pots used in the sanitorium!"

Eric realized his mistake after opening his mouth. Bergoth was with him at the hospital yesterday, and Bergoth gave him a brief science about stints, a reddish metal commonly found in caves and had disinfectant properties. According to him, the manufacturers used them as equipment materials that needed frequent sterilization. Such a blunder, he thought while giving her a sorry look and remarked, "It's flint, not stint."

Erica nodded. "That's better. Look, even my necklace is flint."

"I know; it's a true beauty." Eric was happy he avoided a trap he made for himself and opened his Arithmos. He was about to clean his inbox when he heard the door open. Sure enough, it was Bergoth.

Bergoth avoided a few cluttered chairs and saw Erica smirking while watching something on her phone. When their eyes met, he nodded and greeted, "Hello, Eric's sister," and passed a nearby aisle and took a seat beside Eric's table before asking, "Now, can you tell me more about the relic?"

Eric laughed. "After I finished deleting my emails."

"Nope. If you don't want me to tell Erica about Jane, you better spill the beans right now."

Eric saw his sister's inquiring gaze a few meters away from them and stopped teasing his friend. "Okay, stop being hyper-reactive, for Boone's sake. Sheesh. Anyway, what do you wanna know?"

"Everything."

"Even my favorite pasta?"

"Jane..."

"Well, I just got a report from the head."

"Mister Bortel?"

Eric nodded. "Yup, the head of the Department of Archaeology. They acted like they were cromurs in the presence of a kartuleon. Or the other way around. Anyway, the office's a mess right now because of the relic. I was doing something good with Jane in my sweet dreams when I woke up because of a stupid phone call. Heard right from the grecor's mouth that someone delivered the relic inside the department."

"Who delivered it?"

"Kramer's team."

Bergoth was unsure, so he asked, "Kramer Gaston? That scum?"

"I'll have to ignore the scum word, and yes, he's Kramer Gaston, your rival in collecting relics." Eric stopped for a few seconds to delete some of his emails and said, "their team just finished their spelunking trip at Derrom when a floor caved in. Saw some of the pictures he took; it left me breathless. They say it's related to Boone himself. Hey, look at your nostrils getting wider. You're getting excited, haha!"

Bergoth pinched his nose and snorted while Eric was laughing his head off. "Come on, stop it, man. What happened next?"

Eric wiped the tears off his eyes, giving a soft chuckle from time to time as he tried speaking but to no avail. When he saw his friend's gaze getting icier, he bit his lips to control his laughter and said, "They claimed it was a Boone's site. And I have to agree with them because of the mark on its base."

"Neo Orbital?"

"Yes, the one that gives light to our world."

"So, it's a Boone's relic..."

"I must say so." Eric moved closely at him and almost whispered, "There are rumors."

"What kind?"

"Strange kinds."

"Stranger than stranger things?"

Eric gave him a blank look and answered, "Yes. You see, Kramer was in a group of twenty before they entered the ruins. Guess what happened?"

"Just Kramer survived?"

"Uh, it's less strange than that. You see, only seven exited."

"Where's the rest of them?"

Eric shrugged his shoulders. "Disappeared. No news until now. Not sure if they're just lost or...."

"What about you? What do you think happened to them?"

"I'm afraid they're deader than the dead skeleton."

"Well, you're just being negative."

"It's just an opinion. After all, the other thirteen can't disappear like a bubble. Maybe someone or something ate the rest."

"Now, you're just being morbid."

Eric swayed his finger, "That's not all. After them, a search and rescue team went inside to look for the remaining thirteen. Guess what happened?|

"Uh...seven made it out?"

Eric did an okay sign and agreed, "Correct. Fifteen people, but only seven made it out. The rest, only Boone knows what happened to them. Then another group followed, and this time, it was a group of fifty. The same result, seven were able to see the light again. As for the rest, I don't know. Mister Bortel wasn't satisfied with the results, believing more in his ideas that they were just lost. Yeah, that's what he said. They're simply lost. To justify what he said, he sent a hundred experienced adventurers to rescue them but true enough, only seven got the key to the living world. The ninety-three? Who knows..."

Bergoth felt goosebumps on his skin. "So, that was the last team, right?"

Eric shook his head. "Nope. They did a simple experiment to verify if their guess was right. Mister Bortel was generous enough to hire another seven teams, each having seven members. They entered the ruin one team at a time. They only let the next team in if the first team got out. This time, nobody disappeared. But there's something weird about it."

"What's weird?"

"They never found the area where Kramer got the relic."

"True...that's weird. And all of that happened in a span of seven hours?"

"Somehow, or someway, it did happen." Eric closed his Arithmos when he was done cleaning his inbox, and continued, "And his other partner, I think Sue's her name. She found a book scribbled with scrawny figures. No one knows what it is. Donatello got badly injured due to a falling stalactite. He almost bled to death, but hey, they got a red crystal nearby, and boom, he got healed like some lizardo in steroids. Jerric became a clairvoyant while the other three got superpowers of some sort. Kramer even claimed he saw a huge tree totem inside. Too bad, only Kramer's team got good results while the rest got none."

Eric noticed that Bergoth was in deep thoughts as if he was about to make a life and death choice. He chuckled when he saw his friend's nostrils widening and asked, "What's with you? I - "

In an instant, the lights went out.