"I've stuck to translating the books with the red covers as they all seem to contain information about the portals. I've found quite a few more more coordinates that THEROS can add to the map, and judging by the number of books with red covers left, we've got some while to go too" It's a good job I'm going with you!"
Well that was good to hear! We needed as many leads as we could gather about the portals to prevent HoN Co. establishing any more of a head start. Taking my breakfast to the table, I sat down and we started talking about HoN Co. and the damage we had done so far. All we had to do was knock out enough secondary and standard portals that were linked to deactivate all of the primary portals within the chamber. That would leave the master portal vulnerable to attack. It seemed that AMPHIS had had an idea about how we could destroy the master portal, and it seemed good enough to me.
"Once we're confident that all of the primary portals are offline, we bring the tower crashing down on top of it! Enough TNT beneath the tower within the chamber would do enough damage to seriously reduce its integrity, and providing enough power to bring the foundations down, along with the tower! We would be burying it as well, making it virtually impossible to salvage!"
It seemed an ideal method to me; crack open the shell with TNT and squish the insides with the tower... So to speak... However, it would definitely be worth checking it with OROTHO and COLUS first to ensure that we were allowed to do it, and that it was achievable. Even Amie could give us an insight into how we could accomplish this.
"Actually, that's another thing that's been bugging me. We've all been told to seek different names to hide our identities. Even Amie was, and yet she's still using her real name. How come?"
According to COLUS, Amie wanted to retain her real name for reasons pertaining to "retainment of personality, independence and reasons of personal revenge...". She wanted HoN Co. to know that she was partly responsible for their demise when we eventually crushed them, and I didn't blame her! I still had my original name, but I was never impressed upon by COLUS to change it. I don't know why, but I got the feeling my name had already been accepted by COLUS, but I couldn't understand why...
"I reckon Joe, OROTHO and Amie will have finished the security door by about now. I never saw them come back, but I can only assume so. Want to go and have a look?"
I did indeed, but for reasons involving safety, I determined that it would be easier to check when everyone else was already awake. Besides, we would have to leave that way to head towards the East in search of SERVERE's house. We couldn't use the cliff mine entrance or the base hatch because of the lockdown COLUS had initiated. We could check it out then.
All nine of us walked towards the end of the tunnel, towards the new security door. Partly to see the new door itself and how it operates, but mainly to see me, THEROS, AMPHIS and UOPETA off as we head towards SERVERE's house. With all of us there, the distance between the base and the tower didn't seem that long, but we all knew that it was. The tunnel only made it faster because there was no need to constantly check out the area ahead, and keep stopping. Reaching the end of the tunnel, we could see the end blocked up, so it was obviously effective. Climbing the stairs, I passed a lever to my right, which OROTHO rushed forward and flicked before I got the chance.
"Voila!"
Large chunks of stone slowly and silently moved aside, and another large one settled into the ground, throwing dust and dirt everywhere. Once it had stopped, I emerged and looked back down into the tunnel; it looked perfect! AMPHIS, THEROS and UOPETA joined me before COLUS came out to give us a final pep talk.
"Right, now when you get there, try not to draw attention to yourselves. We need to do as much damage to HoN Co. whilst they still believe we're in hiding. By the time you get to the house it'll be getting close to night, so start a fresh tomorrow. Don't do anything I wouldn't do, and... Good luck!"
Shaking COLUS by the hand, each of us in turn, we watched as he descended back into the tunnel, and OROTHO flicked the lever. The stones moved back into place, making it virtually impossible to tell an entrance was hidden there at all!
"Right then! Let's get this show on the road! On the map I've drawn out our route. It's not the most direct, but remember we have to avoid the tower, the entrance to the base, Syeonyx's house, and we cannot go by boat as we would be too exposed. It's going to take some time, but it's better than nothing."
With the route firmly known, we all set off towards the East; the looming tower gradually retreating behind the treeline as we progressed ever forwards.
We had been walking for a few hours now, and in the spirit of things, UOPETA had decided against resting to eat. This wasn't much of an issue for me or THEROS as we were used to it. AMPHIS however was not, and it was visible on his face that he was beginning to struggle. I could see why UOPETA wanted to get there are quickly as possible; with HoN CO. being a major security risk, we couldn't really afford to give them the chance to find us, so constantly moving seemed a good option. However, everyone had their limits, even if UOPETA's were considerably higher than most others. We eventually stopped though, close to a location that we had been to quite a few times before, myself especially. Sitting beneath a tree, we ate and drank what little we had brought with us, favouring the "traveling light" option.
"How far have we come then?"
"We're about half way there... Still some distance to go though, and we've got to go past Syeonyx's house."
"It feels like we should be closer than that... We've been walking for ages!"
"Well unfortunately SERVERE was smart to create his outpost far away to prevent any leads being tracked to us. It worked, and for that we have to thank him."
We sat in silence for the remainder of the rest, whilst we finished off our food, and got ready to had out again. Moving through the trees, the sandy shore came into view, along with the little stretch across the water that we were going to have to cross.
Crossing over to the other side, we continued along the Northern edge of the coast whilst progressing East. We would do this for some time until we reached the stone beach and would then begin to head North inland towards SERVERE's house. As we continued, I became curious as to what THEROS had marked on the map already.
"What, the new map? Take a look. There are only a few I've plotted so far, with quite a few left to go. But AMPHIS has quite a lot more to go as well. That's what that bag full of books is for. It's been weighing him down, so that's likely why he's so tired. that, and he's not used to the distances we've walked so far and that we've got left to go..."
Looking at AMPHIS, it was visible that he was straining whilst trying to maintain a strong outlook. He had even stopped talking to Hermes and Chiron, who had been following him, whilst partly playing around. Going up to him, I offered to carry the bag of books.
"What? No, it's okay. I need to get used to being more active anyway..."
The wince on his face made it even more obvious that he was struggling, and I forced him to stop, and took the bag from his shoulder.
"Thanks, Syeonyx..."
I just smiled at him warmly, and watched as he walked further ahead behind UOPETA, rubbing his shoulder. I waited for THEROS to catch up to me before continuing myself, and he just looked at me and laughed.
"You know, if the world was filled with people like you, we wouldn't be in this position."
I laughed as well, joking that if the world was like me, we wouldn't have progressed so far technologically, having a go at my own lack of self confidence at certain times. Repositioning the bag, I asked THEROS if I could see the map, and after fishing it out of his bag, he handed it to me. We had a long way to go... Especially as this was only a minute portion of the portals located...
We had once again reached another location that I was familiar with; the place I had found when first trying to find SERVERE's house. The two pools and overhanging cliff I had scaled to get a better look at my surroundings. We were getting close now, and it felt good that we could soon rest. The sun was drooping into the Western sky, casting rays of orange, bathing the land around is in an eerie glow. UOPETA decided that now would be a good time to stop again, obviously thinking about AMPHIS's welfare this time. Dropping the bag of books to the floor, I scaled a small hill and looked out over the pool of water. We were close.
Syeonyx signing off
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