Hidden truth

     I was still a little freaked out by what AMPHIS had said he had seen, even as I left the walkway and went up to the cliff mine. He had seen a figure standing there, their face obscured by a helm, which was pulled to one side, revealing SERVERE's face... I've never seen SERVERE, so I wouldn't be able to verify the description he gave. The way he described his face though seemed to click with the others, as there was a noticeable change in mood when he described the figure. I can only assume now that the others were in a similar place as AMPHIS; trying to make sense of the situation, battling against individual parts of themselves! The logical side of them wants to deny it, putting it down to stress, or working conditions, whereas another part of them wants to believe that AMPHIS did actually see SERVERE, as there is the chance he is still alive! It would mean that every original member of the Lone 7 still lived, but me, Joe and Amie couldn't empathise with that... We hadn't known him.

"Do you think AMPHIS is telling the truth...? Do you really think... Well... Do you think SERVERE is alive...?"

Me and UOPETA didn't say anything. There was no right answer to that question... On the one hand, yes, because we want to believe that SERVERE is still alive. But no on the other because it doesn't make any sense! Eventually, UOPETA spoke what I had been thinking ever since talk of the remains of the person had been brought up.

"I don't know... Those human remains you found Syeonyx. Are you sure they were SERVERE's...? Was there anything there to indicate who it actually was?"

There was nothing there except the remains of dead person. I couldn't tell whether it was SERVERE or not; there was no form of identification, or anything nearby to suggest their identity. I had assumed it was SERVERE based on what I had read in his diary, and the fact that it seemed this person was protecting the entrance to the hidden library... Then again... If it was SERVERE, and HoN Co. got to him, then surely they would have found the hidden library too! Why else would SERVERE have been found down there...? Unless... Unless SERVERE had tried to make it look as though he had become trapped, thus concealing his true purpose of being down there. Maybe HoN Co. only saw the small passage-facing bookshelf, and assumed they had either cornered SERVERE down there, or that he was only trying to protect that!

"What did the diary say? Did it detail anything useful...?"

Not really. It seemed to be the last written words from a few days leading up to his death. He had mentioned the sounds of helicopters, or planes or something, and said that HoN Co. had found him... He stated that the Solus stone was safe and secure, and that they would never find it.

"Well luckily they didn't. They obviously didn't gain access into the hidden library... Or even if they did, they obviously didn't find what they were looking for... Good job you got to it when you did, otherwise things could be a lot different by now..."

That was true. The Solus stone was invaluable to allow us getting this far. Without it, or worse, with it in the hands of HoN Co.! It wasn't worth thinking about it... We made our way down to the chamber again, and started work extracting iron, as though nothing had happened...

     After an hour or so, we had managed to find so much iron, we had ended up branching out into three separate sub mineshafts! All the while we were working, I couldn't get the thoughts of what AMPHIS had said out of my head... He seemed convinced that someone was down here, whom he had assigned an identity to, as SERVERE... What would make him think that unless there was actually an element of truth behind it... Was it possible that there had actually been someone down here, who AMPHIS had followed...? Was it SERVERE...? In the end, I had stopped working, and was standing there thinking about it for a good few minutes! In the end, it had begun to bug me so much, I felt like investigating! Attaching the pickaxe to the clips on the back of my armour, I backtracked out of the small niche I had made, and began to head back towards the main chamber near the wooden shelter. From there, I followed the path we had chased AMPHIS down, as best I could. It didn't help that at the time, we were running at quite a pace, and remembering my way through wasn't a high priority either. However, when the area ahead began to grow darker, I knew I was getting close. A few minutes later, I rounded a corner, and faced the same lava pool that AMPHIS had stood before, mere hours ago... AMPHIS had said that the person he was chasing had disappeared here... From the heat of the lava, I could definitely say with 100 per cent accuracy that they hadn't dived into the lava! That left one of two possibilities; either AMPHIS had imagined seeing someone... Or, there was a hidden access route the person had dived down. But from where I stood, I couldn't see any way around. The lava pool provided sufficient light to see around, but the actual surrounding area was small and closed in. There were no niches or tunnels for this phantom to travel down... I spent a few moments looking around; with each minute that passed, the belief that AMPHIS had seen someone depleted a little. After some time of searching, to no avail, my hopes were depleted, and I resigned myself to the possibility that AMPHIS probably imagined it...

As I turned to go however, I noticed something set into the wall quite high up. It was a small piece of stone, set into the wall, like a tiny extruding notch. This wasn't unusual in itself, but the fact that it was almost perfectly square in shape made me consider the possibility of it being something of interest. Getting into a position where I could see better, I reached up, and tried to grab the item from the wall, but it held fast... Confused, I pushed it this time, hoping it would yield to a little pressure. Oddly enough, the small square piece of stone receded in a little, and a portion of the stone wall before me moved to one side. I jumped back, ready in case I was ambushed, but instead, the portion of the wall that had moved aside slowly slid back into place... Odd... It seemed to be on a timer... Reaching up again, I pressed the button once more, and watched as the portion of the wall slid effortlessly into the main wall. Releasing my finger once more, I watched as it repeated the same action. Had I found a secret pathway...? Had AMPHIS actually been telling the truth? I ran back to the chamber and through the tunnels to UOPETA and THEROS. They needed to know about this, and I wasn't progressing any further without assistance!

Syeonyx signing off