Serit’s steps echoed in the big empty room. They walked next to the wall, looking circumspectly all around as if the empty space could hide some secret corners.


    “That’s the thing you were talking about?” they said, pointing at the triangular piece of metal. “I’ve never seen a material like that.”


    “Any idea about what it might be?”


    Serit knelt beside the object. It was huge when compared to them, to the point they couldn’t cover it completely even if they laid down on top of it. When they passed a hand on the surface, the metal vibrated with a low hum.


    They lowered on their fours to look under the small cavity created by the curving shape of the object.


    “Already checked,” Saia commented. “There’s nothing there.”


    Serit sat on their talons, looking around the room with an inquisitive gaze, their fear apparently forgotten.


    “The walls are perfect,” they said. “But the floor is damaged.”


    Saia observed it: the hard plaques of metal that covered it curved around the object to form a shallow bowl. Serit touched them with the tip of their fingers.


    “What does it mean?” Saia asked.


    “I don’t know.”


    While Serit examined the object, Saia perceived a movement in the general area of the room. It was a monk wearing leather reinforcements over her chest, abdomen and joints. She had a stuffed hat that made the back of her head look like a loaf of bread. She was holding a tube of metal encased and intersected by what looked like the twisted roots of a tree. Saia assumed it was dead wood until she noticed the viss moving inside it.


    “Someone’s coming here,” she said.


    Serit dropped down to hide behind the triangular object.


    “You’re sending them away, right?”


    “No.”


    “Putting them to sleep?”


    “No. It’s a chance to know what this place is. You could pretend to be a monk and ask her what they’re doing here.”


    “Are you insane? I’m not even dressed like a monk.”


    “But they don’t think it’s possible for outsiders to enter here. Look at the lock. If you act like you know what you’re doing…”


    “I won’t do anything of the sort. Talk to her yourself.”


    “Would you answer to a voice that comes out of nothing?”


    “What does it matter? Can’t you force her?”


    “Sure. Then the monks will alert Beramas as soon as they can.”


    The monk had almost reached the vestibule. There was no way to fix the lock, so Saia pushed the metal door open before the monk could see it. She stopped for a moment, as if taken aback.


    “Hello?” she called, entering the room. “Someone in here?”


    “Come on,” Saia told Serit.


    They furiously shook their head, crouched behind the piece of metal.


    The monk waited a bit, then closed the door. Saia pressed it against the frame with her winds. She produced the sound of a lock popping into place.


    “I’m going to find the idiot who left it open and make them regret they joined us,” the monk mumbled, her words amplified by the empty space of the room.


    “What’s your plan, then?” Saia asked Serit. “Wait until she leaves?”


    They glared at the ceiling, but she knew it was meant for her.


    “Alright, my old shiny friend,” the monk said, raising the tool in her hands until the extremity of it was pointed at the triangular object. “Let’s see how you’re going to survive this.”


    She pulled one of the roots near the end of the tube. The viss of the plant started flowing faster, from the wood to the metal and back. The roots moved to the side, revealing a pattern on top of the metal tube. The monk put a hand on top of it and pushed out her own viss. The flux of viss from the plant seemed to increase, as if it was being generated from nothing. The roots at the center of the tube grabbed each other, forming an irregular ball, or a very tight pattern.


    “What is she doing?” Serit whispered, almost without emitting a sound.


    Saia thought about the words of the monk. They didn’t expect the metal to survive.


    “Stand,” she said. “Whatever she’s doing, it’s better if you don’t stay here.”


    “If this is a way to trick me into…”


    “Stand.”


    The urgency in her voice seemed to convince them. They rose from the floor until their head was over the border of the triangular object.


    The monk’s face drained of blood when she saw them. She pulled some of the roots, but the flux of viss didn’t slow down. She aimed the end of the tube a bit higher.


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    “Run!” she yelled.


    Serit obeyed. They had barely left the cover of the piece of metal when the sphere of roots was shot out, tracing an arc toward the metal object. The monk stepped back and crouched next to the door, eyes closed, covering her head with both arms. Saia considered moving the ball out of the way, but it could have been even more dangerous, for all she knew. So she pushed Serit, using her winds to both propel them forward and stop their fall. Once they had landed next to the monk, she raised a barrier of wind in front of them both.


    An explosion of light erased the room from her view. She expected the sound to be so intense it would hurt, but nothing came. Winds erupted from the explosion, pressing against her barrier, violent enough to slam someone against the wall and kill them. They were followed by an intense rumbling that reminded her of the first earthquake she’d ever felt at the mountain.


    When the trembling ended and the light faded, Saia expected to find the room completely destroyed. The metal triangle was still there, in the same shape as when they’d found it. The floor seemed to curve a bit more, even if it was difficult to tell. The rock underneath was still maintaining its shape, but it was crisscrossed by cracks. Saia wondered how the rest of the structure managed to survive, if the monks were causing those explosions multiple times every day. Or maybe they worked differently from normal explosions.


    She let the barrier dissolve when the monk raised her head.


    “Who are you?” she yelled at Serit. “What in the world were you doing there?”


    “Sorry,” they just whispered. They were so shaken they couldn’t stand without leaning against the wall.


    “Everybody knows it’s dangerous to enter this room, even the gray idiots up there.”


    Serit recoiled. Saia wanted to push them to ask more questions, but they didn’t seem to be capable of talking at the moment.


    her, though.


    “


    was a second entrance. Next time, she’d have to go alone.