I don't like surprises...

     We sat in the chamber, waiting for UOPETA to contact us, but until then, we had to lay low. We had only destroyed a standard portal, but it was still part of HoN Co.'s plan, and they wouldn't take too kindly to our kind of "operation". The Solus stone had regained it's intensity again, and was casting its usual dim, yellow light around the room. If we had decided to go back to the surface and wait, we would be a considerably bigger target, but down here, although creepy, it was safer. Myself and THEROS were talking about the whole portal business, and HoN Co. in general, whilst snacking on a few bits of meat and some cookies we had taken with us. Eventually, the course of the conversation took us down the route of the conducting tower.

"When do you think we'll need to go back there?"

I didn't know... UOPETA had mentioned going after a few more secondary portals had been taken out, to see if they had made any impact on the state of the primary portals. And maybe to retrieve some more data about how primary portals can become inactive. He thought it was when either a single linked secondary portal was destroyed, or a specific number, or all of them. Well, if a primary portal needed so many secondary portals to come online in the first place, surely taking one secondary portal out that was linked to it would be enough...

"No... I meant... I meant when are we going to destroy the master portal? How long until it becomes vulnerable?"

Once again I didn't know... I shrugged and just said presumably when all of the primary portals were deactivated, which meant probably quite a few secondary portals would need to be destroyed... My answer didn't seem to cheer up THEROS much, but what did he expect... We were facing a powerful enemy who could essentially control hordes of suicidal explosive creatures, and who would stop at nothing to finish their plans! They had killed, and will continue to kill innocent miners unless we put a stop to it! At that moment, a hiss of static erupted from the radio, followed by UOPETA's voice:

"I found the next one. There'll be a surprise waiting for at this one! Don't worry, it's a nice surprise... Head "South" to the end of the island... You can't miss it!"

"It's about time. This place is giving me the creeps, even with the portal gone!"

We stood up and left the chamber, heading back to the surface. Looks like we were heading North!

     After getting back to the shore, considerably wetter than before, we set off along the coast, carefully avoiding detection from the conducting tower. We were very close to it, within a few hundred metres or so, and any slip-up would easily be seen. It meant putting the Solus stone away in case it was spotted in the darkness. Thankfully mine and THEROS's armour was dark enough to be practically invisible against the shadows, so we would never be seen! Continuing in the opposite direction UOPETA told us, we made our way to the Eastern most point of the North side. Presumably this is where UOPETA meant by "end of the island"... As we continued, I kept a look out for Creepers and guards, expecting anything! UOPETA had never mentioned if it was a standard portal or a secondary portal, nor did he say whether it was active or not... Once we got to the end of the island at the Northern most point, we looked around for it. It was very low, almost at sea level, so it couldn't be located behind any cliffs. THEROS found a few points of interest, but after further investigation, we hadn't found anything.

"Are you sure this is where UOPETA meant?"

I took the map from THEROS and studied it. I pointed to the place we were at; Eastern most point of the North end of the map. That was what I would class as the end of the island. As I walked towards the coastline, I stumbled, nearly falling into a small hole. I hadn't noticed it before; the canopy of the trees had cast enough shadow to prevent the moon light getting to it, but now I could see it, it seemed as good a place as any. Bending down, I squinted into the hole, noticing it was about head height, and had water filled about a third of the way. Could this be it?

     I lowered myself into the hole, squinting into the darkness. I couldn't see a thing! I suppose as I was underground... I called up to THEROS and he passed me a couple of torches, which I lit and embedded into the soft mud walls. Then I saw it! Well, it was odd; it was the only part of the room that, despite the abundance of light, still remained dark. And there was only one thing I knew that did that! I called back up the THEROS to come and join me down in the hole...

"Is it there? Is it active?"

It wasn't active, but it was a secondary portal; it had the distinctive appendages sticking out on either side. This was odd; this was the first portal we had found that was semi-submerged underwater! We had found one half buried in sand, but never water! There was a splash behind me, and THEROS exclaimed "AHA" as he approached it. Digging into his bag, he took out the Solus stone, and then realised his error.

"Balls... It's the old fashioned manual way..."

He sighed, putting the Solus stone back, and throwing the bag over to me. I passed him the pickaxe, and I waited as he destroyed the first half of the portal. After what seemed like a long time, it was my turn, and the pickaxe was passed to me, and I waded over. At this point I let my mind wander. It was a tedious job, and concentrating made it worse. After what still seemed like an endlessly long time, the remains of the portal splashed into the water. I put the pickaxe back onto my back and sighed. Another one down. I don't know why - I still can't figure out the reason - but at that moment I stooped down and picked a chunk of obsidian from the water and held it in my hand... I stood there staring at it, before putting it into my pocket before wading back over to THEROS.

"Right, now how do we get out?"

Good question! I took the pickaxe from my back, hoping to use it as some form of grapple, but before I could, a face appeared at the entrance, making us both jump!

"Surprise!"

It was UOPETA!

"Need a hand?"

One by one, UOPETA helped us out of the hole until we both stood beside him, sopping wet!

"Part 2 of the surprise: we're off to the conducting tower! Check on the status of those primary portals! Get some more information for OROTHO and AMPHIS!"

Why hadn't he mentioned this before? If he had told us that, we could have met him there... Then it dawned on me... About the same time UOPETA informed us of the reason:

"If someone is listening in on our communications, then the last thing we want to tell them is that we're heading over to them! They would be ready for us and we wouldn't stand a chance!"

It was what I had realised a little too late. He had a point. We had to be careful about EVERYTHING we said over the radio. One wrong word, and we could end up nose to tip with the end of a guard's sword!

"Right then, let's be off! you two will be dry by the time we get there so don't worry about leaving a trail. Hope you still have your blow pipes!"

I tapped my pocket and THEROS nodded. UOPETA began to lead the way and we followed close behind. Back again as a trio! This was how I liked it!

Syeonyx signing off