Under the Veil of Night

"Shall we get in?"

"Yes!"

From the faint light, they could see that they were standing in front of a tunnel. It was uncertain how long the tunnel was, but they knew that it should be heading towards the mountain's stomach.

Kevin stepped forward, slowly making his move. His body was tense as he made sure that he would be able to sense everything around him perfectly. This was the only way he could make sure he wouldn't trip. In the darkness, it was hard to perfectly know what was in front of him.

"Kevin, we won't be brought directly to face the magma, right?" Kanae asked worriedly.

Kevin's eyes flashed for a moment. He had just remembered that they were heading towards the middle of a mountain. Normal mountains would have magma in the middle, so it wouldn't be weird if they encountered one. But….

"This is not an active mountain, at this height there shouldn't be any," Kevin replied mildly.

"Really?"

Kevin nodded his head. He had learned before that most of the mountains in this area were inactive. Some people planned to use them as recreation areas, but it was said that the areas were too undeveloped. There were not many people who wanted to bet on something that they couldn't be certain, especially at the scale this big.

"There's a curve not far ahead," Kevin narrowed his eyes in hope of seeing things better. Unfortunately, he couldn't see too much in this place.

Kanae moved her hand and gripped Kevin's hand slowly. She could sense the man before she tensed up slightly before covering her hand with his. The difference in size was apparent as she could sense his warmth covering her hand entirely.

Knock! Knock

"The stone is hard," Kevin knocked the wall to test their sturdiness. From the sound, it didn't seem like the wall had a hole.

"I can smell fresh air," Kanae murmured. It should be winter, so the air felt chilly. However, the fresh air that brushed her cheek felt fresh. It was neither hot nor cold, but warm and fresh.

Kevin nodded his head. "Let's speed up a bit."

The two of them walked forward with their fingers interlocked together. After a few more turns, they could see light from the other side of the tunnel. Slowly, they made their way toward the source of light.

"It's really bright," Kanae commented. She blinked her eyes a few times to adjust herself.

Kevin narrowed his eyes when he had grown accustomed. Disbelief flashed in his eyes as he stared forward. What he saw inside was something that they would never believe exists in a place like this.

In front of them was a garden filled with numerous trees. There were many kinds of plant's type around them as if this was a botanical garden specializing in breeding them. The 'sky' of this place was completely white, which was the result of some special material that lit up when it was dark. As a result, this place was bright with a lot of color on the plant.

"It's unbelievable," Kanae murmured. She could faintly sense some kind of wind flew around her. The warm wind that she felt came from this place.

Kevin nodded his head. He looked at the grassy ground and stepped on them slowly. Making his way to the garden, he came to see that there were much more plants inside. Even though there were no visible large animals, he could see several small animals such as insects around.

In the middle of the garden, a lake was formed. The water was extremely clear, allowing them to see what was inside the lake. There were no fish around, but there were thick rows of grass around the lake.

"There's a rock over here," Kanae pointed to the strange rock with the shape of a cube and a small bowl on top of it not far from them. It was placed near the lake with some water on the bowl of the rock.

Kevin glanced over and walked slowly. Just when they were standing close to the rock, it shone brightly.

"What's that?"

Kanae covered her eyes as the light was simply too blinding. She stepped back as she felt Kevin grab her arm to reassure her. Opening her eyes slowly, she was stunned to see a woman floating on the water surface. Her body was partially invisible, allowing them to see the trees behind her.

The woman's feature was top-notch. With her smooth skin, exceptional features, and enchanting smile, it would be easy for her to steal numerous men's hearts. She wore a light blue dress that covered most of her body.

The woman was looking at them with a smile on her exquisite face. "Welcome here, people of the future."

"People of the future?" Kanae was stunned to hear the phrase. Did this charming woman come from the past?

Kevin's gaze was fixated on the woman's face. "She's one of the thirteen founders of this city."

"How do you know?"

"Their faces are painted by some excellent artists. It's easy to find their pictures on the internet," Kevin replied. He found out about them because he was doing his history homework in the past.

"I think I skipped their information," Kanae scratched her head. At that time, the technology was rather low in quality. There were not many people who managed to paint picture correctly based on the real object. As the result, they have to be satisfied with some pictures.

The woman opened her mouth again. "I was one of the 12 first people who come to stay in this place. We are all refugees from different places that come here because of coincidence. During a chase, we meet with each other and hide into this place. This is the place where the city was first built."

"Can we ask her some questions?" Kanae asked curiously.

"This is just my projection that I leave behind using my power because there is part of our lives that was lost in time. No, not lost in time, but unable to be told because all of us are dead at the same time."

"Dead at the same time?"

Kevin nodded his head. "The twelves of them died at the very same day. No one knows the reason because there are not many records, but there's one person who disappeared."

"This woman?"

"I believe so," Kevin replied. If that was true, he had just encountered the missing part of the history that was originally lost in time.

The woman looked troubled. "I want to make sure that I'm still alive in the future, but I guess my power is not that incredible."

Kanae and Kevin: "…" It's already incredible enough that you can speak to us centuries after your death.

"I'll continue the story," the woman opened her mouth again. "As we seek refuge, we come across this small garden. There's nothing much in this place aside from the lake. After we take a bath in the lake or drink it, we realize that something inside our body changed. The change is not something that logical reason could comprehend.

Some of us have more strength, some of us can read other people's minds, and many others. We believed that the water in the lake caused evolution to happen to our cell, allowing us to become far stronger than before. But of course, it was nothing but my conjecture alone.

Using our ability, we start to build a city. Because we are all refugees, we decide to change our surname to something completely different. We all decide to make sure that our surname will point to this place, so we make it represent 'storm, sky, and dawn' because this place could only be reached if one pay attention to the light."

The woman stopped for a moment. Her eyes flashed with sadness as she lowered her head.. "The city developed very well, but then some unexpected things happened."