The Discovery of Manipo (Part 8)

The Spatial Siblings

Benign chills were replaced with spine-tingling chills as I began to take in my new surroundings. I was in a hallway that bordered on pitch-black. To my left was a staircase, and at the end of the hallway, something was there, but the darkness made it elusive. And even though the temperature had dropped significantly, an even colder draft swept over me, nearly causing ice to form at the tips of my body hair. The direction it came from was to my left, along with a person wrapped up in cool-looking snow gear, pun attended. They emerged from another space with snow as the backdrop.

"I see you made it just in the nick of time," the person now standing before me had said. Their voice sounded light. Female?" I had thought. I couldn't tell with their facial covering. And their snow gear had caught my attention, too.

"Yeah. A second more, and I would've been feeling the pressure," said another person, clearly male, standing on my right. They must've been the ones who transported me into this space. And once more, their snow gear caught my eye.

You see, I'm usually the type of person who overlooks details. I just considered a lot of things to not be worth remembering due to ignorance of how significant things can be. In this case, the snow gear had my attention. I may not have even associated the stranger's attire with snow gear if not for their jackets having zippers. Otherwise, I would've just thought they were wearing some sort of ninja attire. When I thought about it, I realized that their wardrobe was similar to the ones worn by the people in the underground chamber during the fight between Eric and Drew. It's hard for me to describe but picture a bunch of white pieces of torn clothing woven together in style. You can even substitute the pieces of clothing for bandages.

Now shaking even more, the temperature in the room had suddenly dropped. While my denim jeans, undershirt, low-sleeved brown suede sweatshirt, beanie hat, and dress sneakers were enough for the fall weather I left behind, I could definitely use an overshirt or three and a coat for good measure.

Though I probably should've said something, my current company had noticed my predicament with the words, "Sorry, mate," coming from the one I believed to be a guy. He fidgeted around his bandages until his right hand emerged with a light source that was foreign to me. It was bright and shaped light a candle made of crystals. He raises it up high as far as he can stretch. In a moment, the light brightens, the entire hallway is lit, and the candle-like instrument disappears.

It was a strange moment for me. I was impressed for sure but also flabbergasted. It was one thing to just generate light from an unknown source, but to get that light to produce heat instantaneously is something unfathomable, I think. Then again, my knowledge of applied sciences is very limited - of science in general, actually. I don't even know how my abilities are even possible. I know that they work.

"Impressive, right?" said the girl.

"Yeah," I replied, as if it weren't obvious. My attitude caught her off guard. Can't say I blame her. I wasn't sure where it was coming from, either.

I felt like I should've apologized, but the guy interrupted the awkward moment with urgency. Apparently, there wasn't enough time to dawdle. That place was going to be infiltrated at any moment. So, the two strangers began walking down the hall, and I followed, confused.

"So, can any of you tell me what is going on?" I had asked.

"I wish we could explain it to you fully, but we don't have that time. All you need to know is that I'm Matt, and this is my sister, Kim. We've been tasked to ensure you make it to the other side of the wall ahead."

Thanks to the light, I could finally see the end of the hallway. There was an oval-shaped door with what appeared to be a metal-like substance made of pure gold. Upon closer examination, though probably worth its weight in gold, I could tell it wasn't gold. Its hue was much darker, but it still glistened fiercely.

"You will need to age this door in order to get through," Kim said while removing her facial covering. I had felt my heart pound as her physical identity was unveiled. I desired her pulchritude to be breathtaking, and she wasn't disappointed. Though somewhat younger than me, I supposed, the light illuminated her vanilla-chocolate skin and made her eyes protuberate, revealing a stunning brown iris.

"She's beautiful, isn't she?" Matt had asked. The tone in his voice suggested he was being sarcastic but also threatening. Couldn't blame him for that. I'd probably be the same way if I had a sister.

To keep things escalating, even though I continued to blush and feel embarrassed, I had asked, "Wouldn't it be easier to transport me through space?"

"No," Kim responded.

"What you're looking at is a time chamber that can only be accessed by those who can manipulate time. Neither one of us will be able to unlock it. And neither one of us is allowed to enter," said Matt.

"So, I just age the door until it breaks?" I had asked, still doubting myself.

"No," Kim began. "You just have to age the latch. The actual door was forged from a rare element foreign to the periodic table. It's called liferock (lif-a-rock), and as the name suggests, it will last forever or at least as long as Yahweh's will allows it.

Liferock? An elemental material that lasts forever? I thought that was so cool, but I didn't linger on the matter. I was too anxious to get to the other side of the door. Answers to questions I'd been waiting to ask were finally within reach.

As far as I knew, the latch, made of silver, was on the right side. I approached and began the aging process. I wasn't going as fast as I usually did. I feared showing weakness, especially in front of the pretty girl. So, I put my mind on edge, which was clearly the best decision I could've made at that moment, right? No. Of course it wasn't. What had I been thinking? It obviously would've been better if I had sped things along. I was trying too hard not to look bad, only to look worse. I decided not to look back at the siblings to save myself from further embarrassment.

Eventually, I aged the latch to the point of non-existence. The door opened with a hissing sound, and I reluctantly stepped through. Upon entering, I wondered how the door was going to close behind me, but an unfamiliar voice said, "Don't worry about that. It'll close itself."

Startled and excited, I turned to face the direction of the voice, expecting to see my father. Instead, it was just Drew but older.