The statues still remained unmoved and the array seemed to be luring him to light it up. Well, that, he was going to. He looked at the four faces of the array then closed his eyes. He did not need to memorize it like he always did.
With the mind's eye, he just had to use it to visualize the whole array and it would all fall into place. He was in the seventh stage and that was the prerequisite. But it appeared he had miscalculated.
There was a limit to how far he could see with his mind's eye. His limit was around ten meters and that was when it was stretched so thin. He could barely perceive details more than six meters away from him.
Well, that was not going to stop him though. Had he not spent all this time probably a year already memorizing these patterns? He would rather kick himself on the foot if he had not memorized almost the whole of it by now.
He focused on the core which was around one and a half meters wide. The core was entirely different and it barely looked like an array as it appeared to be just a smoothed out raised dome-like surface.
But looking at it with the mind's eye, he could tell why it was the core. There were numerous numbers of A and B lines and the X lines just appeared to belike the nerves in a human body. Memorizing it all would take forever and it was probably impossible.
He took in a deep breath as he placed his hand at the core. It took longer than expected for the palm pattern to connect and this went ahead to show just the complexity of the core. When the connection was made though, Lyren instantly felt turmoil coming along.
The first tug was all he needed in order to know that his channel was going to have it rough once more. The core felt like a dried up river that had suddenly been assaulted by the very mountain water it needed.
It sucked in Elyria feeding its thirsty river beds before even letting a single drop of energy leak. Before the core could even glow, Lyren had already depleted half of his reserves. This was not to mention just the pain that came with the rapid sanction force. Lyren thought that he was going to get used to it but it did not appear like so.
Every now and then, he was going to be required to draw more and more energy and the channel was always going to be in strife. He looked at the barely glowing core with his mind's eyes and he felt like shedding real tears. Just how long had it taken him to accumulate this Elyria yet this array was shamelessly taking it all?
This went on until he felt the last of the energy in the core world get sucked out and only his core remained. He sighed as it was only now that the core seemed to start glowing properly. It was a different glow though.
It started golden but as time passed, it started turning to a deep red which came as a shock because the first time he had accidentally lit it, it was golden. But he did not have the luxury to wallow in his misfortune as his core was also sucked dry.
The array's core was just about to peak its glow and it needed just a small bit of Elyria for it to finally glow. He watched as his hard work seemed to want to disappear into the drain.He waited for the pattern to release the connection but that did not happen.
He looked at the palm pattern and saw that it was glowing even further. He could not help but get alarmed because he was sure there was no more energy in him. Then there was a huge tug that seemed to tug even at his heart as the core of the array finally glowed fully and the connection was released.
Lyren was alarmed. It was somehow familiar. He had felt it before. The first time when the pattern had drawn energy from him, when his reserves were dry. He could not help but raise a brow but he later put it at the back of his mind not bothering to think about it anymore.
He stood up as he watched the bright red core finally glowing. This was all he was required to light up and the whole array would be functional. He stood up proudly as he watched eight channels branch away from the core, each headed towards the fourth row's arrays of each face.
When they connected, it was as though they were connected to a high-pressure pump and there was a tug at the patterns that was clearly visible as the fourth row's arrays of each face were lit up. Lyren finally opened his eyes as he looked at the spectacular sight that awaited him. He was rightfully proud as he watched the whole array finally light up.
The glow spread out lighting up the dusk surroundings. The statues seemed to be clearer with a golden twinge on them. He watched as the sixteen patterns of the first row of each face started to glow.
And again, he heard it. The doors' hinges screeching from a distance and the loud bang that symbolized the opening of the doors he did not know about.
He felt his heart racing as he knew that that was probably the way out. He thought that that was all but he could not be any more mistaken than that.
He looked around and new arrays appeared at the spots that did not have arrays filling them. He looked with his mind's eye and that was when he saw the numerous amounts of X lines that were buried below the concrete floor.
The number seemed to scream at him that he could not see them all even if he tried. That was a result of a slight pain that came from his trying to see all the X lines. When the whole array fully lit up, the core maintained a reddish-golden glow and then,
DONG!
DONG!
DONG!
There came three loud rings that seemed to echo all over the place. They sent reverberations and shockwaves through the air consecutively hitting Lyren on the chest.
This came as a surprise to Lyren and even he was frightened by the unexpected ringing of an ancient bell. He tried to calm himself hoping that he had not triggered something dangerous.
Then it happened.
A golden fluidlike glow started seeping from the ground and he saw a sight that he dreaded. He was reminded of the first time when he came here and the statues had started flying towards each other as though time was being rewound.
He had ended up seeing the majesty of the hall which he was not ready for then. But was he now?
He could not help but feel goosebumps rising as he saw the core he was standing on start changing its structure from the roughly smoothed out concreted to a smooth one that kept changing until it started turning to marble…