THE LAST KEEPER

Chapter 329. INTO THE ABYSS

Sagiri landed at the edge of the abyss with the pool under.

He did not even hear a sound, but soon Koru was beside him. The man moved even more silently than Nvaru. Even Salka could be envious. He did not even make a sound when he landed. It was as if he were light as a feather.

"You’d better start running. I have something bothering me from this pool." Sagiri said.

"So you have heard it too." The man spoke, coming to stand behind Sagiri.

"It is the reason I came. Seems I have killed two birds with one stone. I had a feeling you were here, but I was going to flatten the south until they gave you up." Sagiri said, and Koru sighed.

"Here I thought you were coming for me," Koru said as if it were a sorry attempt at humour. Silence prevailed as whatever was in the pool called and screamed into Sagiri’s bones.

"I have always felt something deep in that pool ever since I was imprisoned here. Its soft humming was comforting, but recently it has been stirring rather violently. Even the pool is not peaceful. Every year, they always come down here and try to find something. Perhaps the archive could know. You must have something to do with its stirring. Something is calling for you." Koru said, looking at Sagiri expectantly.

"I should take a swim and jog my mind. It has the memory of this fortress. It should have something in the pool and that annoying scream." Sagiri said, crouching low at the edge of the abyss.

"You can’t!!" Koru suddenly snapped.

"Well, I am good at swimming. And I can’t go into the pool. These screams are driving me mad." Sagiri said, tilting his head slightly to look at the man beside him. This was the first time his voice had sounded anything but indifferent, and that had to count as a warning.

"You can’t. Every few years, they bring people here and force them to swim, and when they do, they don’t come back." Koru said, and Sagiri paused.

So someone knew about a thing deep in the pool?

Interesting!

"Oh," Sagiri said, turning to look at the pool again.

"I don’t know anything about swimming, but I don’t think you should swim in a pool that swallows but doesn’t vomit anyone," Koru said, looking into the abyss.

"How long have people been coming here to take an eternal swim, or should I say, being forced to commit suicide?" Sagiri asked.

"I don’t know much about time down here, but I’d say roughly seven years," Koru said.

"Oh," Sagiri said again. His voice echoed silently in the silent underground.

Interesting indeed.

"I am the best swimmer, and I have survived many hell pools before. That reminds me. I have not been able to touch the bottom of the Galka endless pool." Sagiri said his interest piqued.

"Don’t tell me..." Koru said, and Sagiri almost saw him move, but he had let his intention leak. To stop him at any coast. Sagiri moved within the archive, disappearing from where two sand palms had landed faster than light. They could have crippled him for sure. If Sagiri had not moved within the archive, he could have been hit.

"If I hadn’t been trained by the most silent shadow and deadliest man of the north that I know of. That hit could have crippled me for a few hours." Sagiri said, his lips lifting in an amused smile. He had landed fifty feet away. His hand skidded on the floor of the ground as he came to a stop before standing to his feet.

"If your sandshade doesn’t stop you from making stupid decisions, I won’t allow you," Koru said, his face hardening. He meant to stop Sagiri at all costs.

"Perhaps you could have stopped me a few years back. Now...."

"Oh?" Koru cut him off.

Sagiri did not even finish talking before Koru disappeared out of Sagiri’s line of sight. Sagiri had never seen anyone move that fast or just disappear. This was bad.

Sagiri pushed the archive and moved randomly.

The second he moved, Koru landed on the same spot.

"What were you saying again?" Koru said, and Sagiri could sense his pride below the calmness.

Sagiri landed on a cell above, holding himself suspended upside down by the archive.

"I stand corrected. Here I thought you were a week-old man trapped in this place. My sandshade does indeed have a lot to learn." Sagiri said. This situation kept getting interesting and more interesting.

"You flatter me. That cell could indeed not hold me if I wished to leave. But I hate running. You, on the other hand, can beat me. But not right have activated the echo’s eye and the archive, yes, but the two are killing you. Haven’t you wondered why your strength drains quickly the stronger you get? The echo consumes its vessel while the archive controls it. Don’t get it twisted thinking you’re in control." Sagiri’s eyes narrowed.

What was the old man yapping about?

"What are you talking about, old man?" Sagiri said.

"The archive was never meant to be put inside a person. When the holder was destroyed, the echo archive was put in you. You are a holder now. You are a holder. Yet you were never meant to be. If you didn’t have a keeper’s blood running in you. You would have died the moment the archive activated and the moment the echo eye activated." Koru said.

Silence prevailed as Sagiri placed his hand on his chin, trying to think about his doomed fate.

"Seems I am a dead man walking. Why not let me take this swim? I am dead anyway. If I die no one loses. Tagayia wins. Ngaru wins, and everyone is happy." Sagiri said.

"You stupid child." Koru cursed. "Since you have come to this. I can’t do anything but teach you to be stronger so you are not a puppet. If the echo archive takes control, then everyone is dead.

"So it’s a win-win situation?" Sagiri asked.

"You are more stupid than I thought," Koru said.

"And I hope you know you can’t stop me. Let me take this swim, and then I will let you whip me into shape. What do you say?" Sagiri said with a smile, even though there was nothing to smile about. He could not dwell on his misfortunes now, could he? His fate was already bad. It could not possibly get any worse.

"You..."

Sagiri did not give Koru time to reply before he was pushed forward with force like a blade tearing through the air. He smiled as he floated on top of the archive and gave Koru a wide smile.

"Watch my back!" Sagiri said as he plummeted into the abyss.

Koru’s eyes widened as he watched Sagiri fall fast.