Chapter 17: Black Pillar

Roger and Leon walked out of town together. They saw a flock of adventurers and other people rushing towards the location to see what was happening.

"How long before they send men from home to check this out?" Leon asked.

"Word should have reached the manor by now, and some men should have been delegated, so a few minutes at best," Roger replied.

"So what do you think it will be?" Leon asked.

"Not sure. A lot of strange things happen all the time, and only an expert might be able to offer a proper explanation as to what is happening."

As they spoke, they covered the distance, and soon, at the edge of the forest, a pillar could be seen. It was not a round pillar, but rather a four-sided pillar that seemed carved out roughly from some black stone.

It slanted to the side as if someone had stuck it there like that, but it would have been impossible for anyone to do that because of the fact that this pillar stood at a staggering twenty feet tall and was pretty wide. It looked far too heavy to be moved or carried.

"Whoa, when he said big, I was not expecting this big," Leon pointed out.

"Yeah, this is definitely cause for alarm," Roger said.

A lot of people had gathered around, and so they could not get close enough to see it properly, but from where they stood, they could see some markings on this pillar, looking like ancient engravings.

"I want to get a closer look," Leon said.

"Well, then we would have to push through all these people," Roger said.

A few seconds later, they heard the sounds of hooves approaching. Everyone turned around to see what was going on.

Men in full armor from the Belmont house rode out, over twenty of them on their horses. They arrived at the scene, and people immediately cleared the way for them. The men rode by until they saw Roger and Leon standing to the side as well. Their leader immediately halted his horse, and so did his followers.

He dropped down immediately and bent a knee.

"Sir Roger and young master Leon, I did not expect to see you here."

"Yeah, we are also checking out what is going on, no real biggie," Leon replied casually and then started walking forward to the pillar. Since the knights from Belmont had cleared up the route for him, he was going to take it. Roger nodded at the knight and then turned to follow Leon.

The knight got onto his horse and rode behind the two of them.

Every person watched the scene in either some form of confusion or shock. They murmured among themselves if Leon was the son of the count.

Leon walked closer to the pillar, expecting to see it up close, but as he got closer, something sudden appeared.

[4 yrs: 11months: 6days]

There was a timer, and it appeared to him. The timer floating in the air made him stop abruptly. He looked at it with utter confusion.

"Master Leon, is there an issue?" Roger asked.

Leon looked at Roger and then looked back at the timer.

’He can’t see it? Why can’t he? Why am I seeing a timer?’ Leon began to think to himself.

He took a step back, and the timer vanished.

"It was nothing," he said to Roger and walked closer. He kept an eye on Roger to see if there would be any change in reaction when he got closer as well, but Roger had none. It was either that he did not see it or was really good at hiding it.

He could believe that was the case for Roger, but it was definitely not the case for all the townsfolk that were here.

’Why am I the only one that can see this? Does this have some sort of meaning? What will happen when the timer hits zero five years from now?’

His mind began to run wild as he tried to figure out what the heck was going on. Roger and the knights got closer to the pillar, and they began to probe and touch. They used their swords and spears, trying to see if there was some reaction, but this pillar felt entirely like a normal rock.

They could not sense mana or anything from it. All indications pointed to the fact that it was completely normal, but they knew this was not normal. Such a rock could not just shoot out of nowhere.

Leon, on the other hand, knew for certain that the pillar was not normal and that something was bound to happen in five years from now.

He stepped closer and touched the rock. Nothing happened. He had expected some sort of reaction or something, but there was nothing at all.

’What is it? Why is it showing me this timer and doing nothing? What am I meant to prepare for five years from now?’ He screamed in his mind as he tried to find some sort of answer, but no matter what he thought, he could not figure out the answer. He tried to recall the memories of the story, but there was no record of something like this ever happening.

While he was busy running through his mind, he looked past the rock and into the forest, and there he saw a small figure. It looked like a little girl of his age with red glowing eyes.

’Someone is there,’ he thought, but in the span of a blink, she noticed that he had seen her and very quickly vanished from there.

’She vanished.’

He knew for certain that he had seen this girl, and now she had vanished from here. Today was turning into an unexpectedly wacky day, and he was standing at the center with confusion.

He looked at Roger.

"Let’s head back. I want to check out something in the library. Maybe there is some information there."

He made sure to make a mental note of at least half the total markings on the pillar, so that if he came across anyone, he would be able to use it and get information.