Chapter 62: Chapter 62

THE NEXT LEVEL

The Next Level

The Tundra, Arctica

Floor pulled the SUV into Mikko's driveway and stopped a few metres from the door. "Hopefully, this doesn't take long," she said as the three girls climbed out of the car.

"You stay here and don't move," Tarja said toDesiderius.

Desiderius sighed. "It's not like I have any other choice, is it?"

"I think your thinking," Floor commented.

Desiderius just buried his hands in his face.

Floor, Tarja, and Kendra made their way up to Mikko's house. Tarja nodded at Floor, who knocked on the door. They stepped back and waited.

Tarja frowned. Normally, Mikko answered the door right away. She pulled her gun out of her back pocket and motioned for the other two to do the same.

"Now?" Floor mouthed.

Tarja took a deep and nodded.

Floor kicked in the front door and the girls entered the house. Tarja pointed her gun in every corner and ever room, but there was nothing.

"Mikko," Floor hissed. "Come out, you snake."

Tarja paused. She heard movement to her left. She pointed her gun in that direction.

"Please, don't shoot," Mikko whimpered.

Tarja frowned, but didn't lower her weapon. Mikko was backed into a corner, his eyes were wide with fear. Floor yanked him out and into the light.

"That thing was just here," Mikko whispered. "It looked like a snake, but it wasn't."

Floor looked around the room. "Where is it?"

"I don't know," Mikko muttered. "I came in here to hide and I haven't seen it since."

"When was that?" Tarja asked. Her eyes kept darting around the room.

"A few hours ago, I think," Mikko said. He shook his head. "I really don't remember."

!

Floor could hear the ice crunch under her feet, which was kind of an odd thing for her. She could have sworn that they had been walking on dirt up until now. The new woman just struck her as being completely odd, almost on the borderline of being completely mental.

The kept on pushing their way through the path. Well, that was until they found those markings on the wall. That must had been what caused them to be now walking on ice instead of the dirt. She really hadn't even felt the world change-hadn't even know they had went through something until she saw it right before her very own eyes.

The wind kept pulling at them. The wind was something that Floor still didn't understand. It just seemed to guide them to wherever it was that they were going. She still didn't know why Ajatar was letting them get this close. Maybe she did actually want to see how dared to enter her hideout and just wanted to see how they would go.

The path kept getting longer and longer. All around them, Floor could make out markings. They seemed to be telling a story of some kind. It was almost like they were trying to tell the story of Ajatar. She could see images of men, who seemed to be looking at a woman with great love. In each picture, the woman and man were different, but there was no denying their love for each other. The only thing that the images seemed to have in common was the fact that there was at least always one snake located near the humans.

Floor kept waiting for the newcomer to say something about the images, but she kept on walking like there was nothing wrong or nothing on the walls. She seemed not to be bothered by anything, almost like she was a goddess herself. Surely…No, it was just an impossible thought. There was no way that the newcomer could be Ajatar herself. She just seemed too nice and too calm to be the devil herself. It just didn't seem possible. However, stranger things had had before. It was nice to think that maybe they were going to have something there to help them, but at the same time, Floor just couldn't bear to let her guard down. So many things had gone wrong for that.

They rounded another corner, only to be face to face with yet another never ending tunnel. Floor wanted to groan. There surely had to be an end to this madness at some point.

Unless it was Ajatar's goal to have them wonder around until their feet fell off.

That was until they found themselves in front of another large looking cave. Floor frowned. Who had ever heard of a cave within a cave? The entire group came to a halt, just simply staring at it. This would was getting stranger and stranger with each passing second.

It was a rather large and commanding entrance. The mouth was lined with rock that was almost in the shape of spikes. Floor was pretty sure that one would probably poke through her skin. Beyond the spiky rocks, there was nothing but darkness. Floor shifted her weight around. Maybe they were supposed to enter this cave; the power did seem to be calling them into the cave. They would never come this way had it not been for the wind-at least, Floor was assuming that the others had been following the wind with her.

The dull rumble of thunder echoed overhead. Floor turned around, watching in both horror and wonder as a bolt of jagged lightening made its way across the top of the cave. Just as quickly as the lightening had come, it disappeared into the background.

The others drew their guns as they crept through the cave. Floor found herself staying close to Tarja and Kendra, just like they had always done in their Hunts. Only this time, they really didn't know what they were fighting up against.

The darkness made it impossible to see anything. Floor looked around, but couldn't see a thing. Their footsteps echoed in the darkness, mixed with the sounds of Markus's sword bumping against the side of the cave. He was probably using it as guide along the walls. Floor did have to admit that it was a good idea. The air was colder, not nearly as cold as it had been upwards, but still enough to almost stop you. There was a smell lingering. Floor couldn't quiet put her finger on it, but it was there. It was like nothing she had ever smelled before. It was ancient and just seemed to have a sense of power lingering to it. It rose above the normal cave smells of salt, stone, and dampness.

She kept looking around. If only she could see what was in front of her…If only she could see what was coming at her. Was this how a blind person always felt? If it was, she hoped she never went blind. She couldn't live like this.

She jumped when a warm hand touched her. "What?"

"We're starting to turn, just wanted to make sure you knew," Kendra's voice said in the darkness. Floor turned in that direction, following the sounds of her footsteps-or so she hoped.

After what seemed like a lifetime, Floor could feel her vision starting to adjust to the darkness. She could see some of the cave's grooves and see just how high the cave actually was. It went several hundred feet above their heads. As more and more of it came into view, she could see that ice dotted the ceiling.

The ice was not a sheet of ice, but millions of tiny, little dots. They shimmered and looked more like little stars than ice. They seemed to pulse, putting off more light one minute than the next. They seemed to shine the brightest whenever the pasted beneath them.

"What is this?" Aatu asked with a frown.

Raakel stared up at the ice, which seemed to be doing some kind of a dance now that they were stopped beneath them. "I think Ajatar is lighting the way for us." She stared for a bit longer. "She knows we're here and still coming. I think she's trying to get us to keep coming."

Floor really didn't care why there was ice once again. It was at least keeping them out of the darkness and was letting them see what was now in front of them.

Time seemed to pass; she couldn't tell if it was minutes or hours. At some point, she felt a faint cold breeze brush against her face. It was far different than the wind. Maybe they were about the end of the caves. She didn't know which was worse: knowing that they were almost out or not knowing what was in front of them. The wind kept picking up as they turned around the final corner, finding themselves staring at an exit.

Floor stared out at the snow. While it was snowing as hard as it had been on the boat, it was still snowing pretty good, enough to make travel difficult. Beyond the snow, the world just seemed to glitter.

She looked around at the untouched world. Probably no human had walked on this ground, maybe not even a living being.

Raakel held out a hand over the snow, not moving for several minutes. She shuddered, just a little bit. Floor could feel the power coming off the snow. It almost knocked her to her knees. She couldn't even begin to imagine what Raakel felt off of the snow. She wanted to go through, but she was afraid of what would happen, afraid it would crush her very soul.

Raakel stood there with her eyes closed. Then, she slowly opened them, turning and staring at them. "It's okay." She stepped out onto the snow. "There's nothing here. It's just a bunch of power."

Floor didn't know if she wanted to step onto the snow. The others slowly stared walking forward and none of them seemed to have any trouble.

Her boots sank into the untouched snow. It did actually feel wrong to tracking up something as beautiful and untouched as this land. Yes, it was beautiful, there was no getting past that. A forest seemed to appear out of nowhere; its trees towered around them, but not in a threatening way.

"It's back," Eelis breathed.

Floor stared up at the sky. Sure enough, the moon was out in full force. The wolves could now Change. Maybe they were going to be okay. She found herself smiling. It was a sign of hope and good will. She just knew it. There was no way that Ajatar was going to bring them down now.

The fresh snow didn't make any sounds as they walked. Floor actually found it kind of difficult to walk as the snow just kept coming piling into her boots. Fresh, little snowflakes fell down from the sky, landing ever so gently and easily on the ground around them.

The moon shone bright above them, providing them with just enough light to see just where they were going. The shadows seemed to linger in the background, but didn't come out where the moon light's was. Floor smiled. This was probably how life was supposed to be. The monsters were not supposed to come out at them. The evils of the world were supposed to stay away and be someone else's probably. Maybe it was kind of childish thinking, but she didn't care. The world wasn't supposed to be evil. There was supposed to be some good to it.

The group came to a halt in the middle of the field.

"We need to find shelter," Tarja said. "It's probably going to get dark soon and I don't want to find out what's out there."

Atau nodded. "I haven't seen anything, but we should probably keep an eye out for some."

Floor looked around. There were plenty of trees, but she wasn't sure what good they would do if another storm came up or if the Rogue came back.

The newcomer looked around at them with a big smile on her face. "I just want you need." She started walking forward. "Come on. I need you to trust me."

Floor looked at the others. It really didn't seem like they had another other choice, but to follow her. So far she hadn't really given them any reason to doubt her, but, yet, there was still no reason for them to trust her.

Sighing, Floor started to follow the woman with the others. At least, if this did turn out to be a mistake, they would all be in this together.

"Look," Vuokko whispered, pointing straight ahead.

Floor, like the others, followed Vuokko's pointing finger. There in the distance, just under the horizon, was a green mist. It was very similar to the mist that they had seen over Kitee's church. It glittered in the sky, making it almost seem like there was a million stars instead of just mist. The green light danced with a slight mixture of dim yellow lights. Silence filled the air. Floor just stared at it. She had never seen anything like this and believed she probably never would. It was just simply amazing.

"Man," Aku muttered, blinking.

She just shook her head. None of this should even be possible. It shouldn't be here. It shouldn't be this simple. Floor fully believed that the mist was almost guiding them to Ajatar. It didn't seem fully possible, but it was the most likely of all the cases.

Floor looked over at the newcomer, who was almost staring in wonder. She didn't seem as shocked as the others, but she still seemed to be lost. If Floor didn't know any better, she could have sworn that her eyes were filling up with tears. Maybe she fully believed that this was going to be the end.

They kept making their way across the untouched land, toward the mist. A pulse lingered between them, making it fully seem like this was going to be their chance. This was going to be their chance to end it all. The snow crunched ever so gently under their boots, making it seem like the snow was only whispering. Floor found herself shaking from the cold. The wind was pushing them forward again.

Floor kept looking over her shoulder, wondering if something was going to come at them. There was no way that the Rouge was completely gone. She didn't fully believe it. Something as powerful as that did not simply disappear without a reason. It just simply did not happen.

She kept on going, walking almost dead even with the rest of the group. They were all walking in a straight, silent line. None of them could bring themselves to say a word.

Every once in awhile, Floor could see something making its way across her vision. She couldn't make out for sure what it was, but it just seemed to flicker. It hovered amongst the trees at the edge of the field. She couldn't tell if it was just a shape or an actual figure.

Ah, there it was again! She turned to tell Tarja, but by the time she had turned her head, it was gone. "There's something watching us," Floor whispered.

Tarja frowned, looking around. "Like what?"

"I can't tell," Floor answered. She turned once again back to the forest and sure enough, there was something there.