The kids stared, open mouthed, amazed. None of them had ever seen anything like this. It was a huge underground cavern, with several different areas ranging from a sort of pavilion on a massive spire of rock to numerous shadowy areas. While they were gaping at the view, Master Chavez had started down the stairs cut into the rock.
"Judging by the architecture, this place must be ancient." Gabe said.
"You mean like a hundred years old?" asked Allie.
Ray chuckled at this. "More like a thousand, Allie."
"Try ten thousand." Master Chavez intervened. "Come." The kids started down the stairs. As they went Ray's cell phone beeped. He pulled it out and saw he had gotten a text from his mom.
"Sorry… Mom…" he texted back, "gonna be… late—Whoa!" What appeared to be a flying yellow basketball came up to him. It shone a light onto his phone, then at his face. Guiltily Ray smiled and put his phone away, and the sphere flew away, up to the pavilion he had seen earlier. There was a flash of light and for a moment he saw an older man looking at him disapprovingly. Ray decided it would be best to stick with Chavez and the others, and hurried after them.
"Am I crazy or do these markings indicate some kind of chronology?" Gabe was saying as he caught up. Gabe was looking at the pictures on the ceiling of the area they had just entered.
"The history of our order," said Master Chavez. "And the secret history of our world." He proceeded to tell the kids about the history of creatures, the Veil, and the Duel Masters.
"And, we come in where?" Allie asked at the end.
"I invited you here to see if you are worthy of joining us." Chavez answered.
Next he took them down a wide path that appeared to be the backbone of the temple. It was bordered on both sides by thirty-foot high statues. They passed one that looked like the man they had met in the construction site earlier that day.
"He looks familiar." Allie commented.
Master Chavez stopped, looking up at the statue. "The Choten. He was once one of us. He abandoned our ways to enslave creatures for his own gain. His statue remains as a reminder that no one is beyond corruption."
"Guess there's bullies everywhere." Gabe commented.
Master Chavez led them into a large room with five huge bookshelves, each with a different symbol on it. Water ran down the two in the middle, one with a blue wave symbol and the other with a red flame. The water formed a sort of small river that snaked around the room.
Gabe was immediately impressed. "A library!" he said.
"Unlike any other in the world." A woman wearing blue with short pink hair had come down the steps between two of the shelves.
"This is Master Nadia," Chavez introduced her. "She oversees our… collection."
"I am the keeper of the Order's history and knowledge," she said in a slight Russian accent. She turned to Chavez. "I wasn't aware that we had begun giving tours to children."
"They're older that Michaela was when she started."
"Michaela is a special case."
"Who's Michaela?" Allie asked.
"She's Master Nadia's personal student." Master Chavez replied.
Meanwhile, Gabe had gone over to a pedestal with several things that looked like books on it. He picked on up that appeared to be made of gold.
"These books are exquisite! But… I can't seem to get this open—"
"Not books," Nadia said, taking the not-a-book out of his hands. "Tablets. Upon which information is inscribed about the thousands of creatures that reside across the Veil."
"Details about their weapons and powers," Chavez added, "Strengths and weaknesses."
"The tablets not only enable us to summon creatures, but also teach us better how to use them."
"Knowledge is power." Gabe said.
"And this knowledge," Nadia said, "is priceless."
"Hey," said Chavez. "Where is Michaela?"
"Late, as per usual." Nadia answered.
As if on cue, a girl a year or two older that the kids ran in.
"Sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry!" she said.
Nadia sighed. "What was it this time?"
"Essence Elf, not too bad," The girl, who was apparently Michaela, said. Then she blushed a little. "But I sort of crashed my bike again."
Nadia made and irritated noise. "How many times have I told you you would get here sooner if you left that bike of yours at home?"
"I was running late this morning, I had to ride my bike." She turned. She was tall, and wore dark jeans, battered sneakers, and a blue sweatshirt over a green t-shirt. Her hair was a pretty shade of brown, perpetually falling out of a low ponytail, and her eyes were a bright blue-grey. "Hey, Master Chavez."
"Hello, Michaela." He replied.
Then Michaela seemed to see Ray, Allie, and Gabe for the first time. "New kids?" she asked. She grinned. "Hey, they're younger than me! That's a first." She waved at them. "Hey, I'm Michaela, library assistant and bike-crasher extraordinaire."
Master Nadia interrupted. "You're with Master Jaha in the main hall," she said. Michaela nodded, flashed the kids a smile, then ran out, pulling on one of the black fingerless gloves everyone seemed to have.
There was a quiet moment in the library. Then Allie spotted something in the waterway and knelt to see what it was.
"Whoa, what kind of fish are these?" she asked, poking her finger into the water. One of the "fish" touched her, giving her a shock. "Ow!" she yelped, yanking her hand away from the water.
Chavez smiled. "The kind you do not want to touch."
Ray had in the meantime seen something on the bookshelf marked with a tree. One of the tablets was… glowing. He went to investigate and pulled the glowing tablet off the shelf.
"Tatsurion?" he read. Just then Nadia came up behind him and pushed the tablet back onto the shelf.
"Tablets here represent creatures far beyond your… skills."
"But… got it. Sorry."
They walked down to the main part of the library, where Master Chavez was holding three tablets.
"Study these. Learn the creatures' names and powers." He said, handing Gabe a gold tablet, Ray a wooden one, and Allie a blue one. "You'll be studying them later."
