Tom and Sarah silently watched outside the window of the vehicle. They went on an unknown destination. They approached a forest or something that had more trees than usual. They made no comment. They were in the car for half an hour already.

"When are we there?" Sarah grunted as she observed the two members of the cult.

"Soon," the man who drove told her.

The other one glanced at them, "This is a secret location. You won't be able to find it on your own."

"This is where we came from," the driver added, "And you will know why we exist soon. Still, it's the Matriarch duty to reveal everything to you three."

"Where is Kaz?"

"On his way. I heard that Khybon was difficult to transport," the man chuckled.

The two had no idea how they could transport a creature too big to fit in a car or a van. They pushed that aside when the car suddenly turned to the right. They saw they were on an unused road. They felt the bumps the car rolled on.

"W-where is it?" Tom asked.

"We are soon here," the driver replied, before he chuckled a bit.

The other one took out a small switch. The passenger pressed on it.

The two teenagers held their hands together as they watched the ground raised a bit as it revealed a secret passage. The car drove down there.

Chapter 17: The Cult Duty

Tom and Sarah saw they were a bit in the darkness. The light of the car shined forward as they followed an underground secret road.

It wasn't long before they reached their destinations. The car stopped on a platform.

"You can come out. We wait for your friend and we will go down," the driver said as he went out.

The other one followed him.

The teenagers did the same and looked around. They couldn't see anything. They waited.

It wasn't too long before another car came.

"I will destroy you for this!" Khybon furiously yelled.

The two didn't feel like laughing right now. They were in a bad situation. Still, a creature with them gave a bit of safety to them.

As for the Underworlder, he was attached on the roof of the white car. His weight didn't damage the vehicle. His legs wiggled a bit in the air as he continued to send dead threat and insults.

Eventually, the member of the cult went out of the car and released the creature.

Kaz came out and rushed by the side of his friends, "Tom! Sarah! What's going on? We were taken away by them and-" he noticed someone is missing, "And where is Peyton?"

"You will never do something like that again on me!" Khybon yelled furiously as he joined the others. He watched the humans and his eyes noticed that one of the four was missing too.

"A creature called Titanium came and kidnapped Peyton. He teleported away with the Telebracer," Tom replied.

The Underworlder frowned, "Telebracers doesn't work here."

"And how did Khybon ended up like that?" Sarah asked as she pointed at him.

"He refused to leave me alone with those cultists, so he," he pointed to the cultist in question, "had no choice, but to allow him to come. Khybon ended up attach on the roof of the car because he was too big. It seems."

They had no idea if it was true or not.

The three members of the cult walked to the side as the platform activated.

Kaz adjusted his glasses, "Anyway, those creatures are very dangerous if they can just port here. How did the pass Chaotic?"

"We don't know," Tom and Sarah grunted in frustration. They were powerless.

"You will get your answers soon," one member of the cult warned them. He let out a small smile, "And more than you can expect."

Once the member of the cult spoke, they noticed that the platform was still descending. It hit the three teenagers that they might discovered something surreal. Mostly for Kaz, as Tom and Sarah saw something else that felt like a dream.

Eventually, they noticed that a small city was up ahead. They could see the structures up ahead.

"They are a secret society," Kaz whispered as he watched the city up ahead.

They could see the buildings that had the form of rectangles, like some of the tall buildings they could see in their town or home. Still, they were some large areas that looked like arenas. They could see light floating in the air.

"W-" Tom noticed something at the horizon and pointed at it, "Look!"

They could see from afar the structure that saw last year on Chaotic. They could see the large portal with a bit of light that came from it. Not only that, but a few cars and other vehicles that floated in the air. They got a feeling that they were in Chaotic once more, but it was the Earth.

"What's going on?" Sarah turned towards them.

"The Matriarch will answer you. However, know that we were here before you founded Summervale and Grandfield," he told them the hometown of the three teenagers.

"Another secret of the Cothica," Khybon whispered as he watched everything. He could see the floating battlegears, like those machines that were in Chaotic, "Some humans are Underworlders too?"

"No," one of the cultists replied.

"We're down," another one said when the platform stopped dropping. He walked forward, "Follow me."

Sarah grabbed the hand of Tom. They followed the man as they walked through the street.

"We are going to the Records," the man said as he glanced at them, "This is where the matriarch is waiting for us, with the Records of the world and its history. There is a lot to learn about humanities past. With the Metalist showing up and getting your friend, it is time to take actions once more."

With those cryptic words the man remained silent to any questions the teenagers and the creature had.

The humans who lived in the underground city gave a quick glance to the creature and the teenagers. They seemed to know the reason of their presence.

The teenagers were intimidated by the short glances of the cultists and also the strange city that they never knew existed.

Tom knew his parents would be worried sick that he disappeared just after Peyton. He focused on what was up ahead. They reached the Records building. He raised his head. A structure built on silver and golden light that went through tubes as if it was blood circulating in the veins of the structure.

The door was much taller and larger than the teens expected. It seemed to allow creatures from Perim to go inside. Not only that, the door looked really old. As if it came from ancient times and manifested in the present. The door opened.

They walked inside. They marched through something that looked like a library. They were many bookshelves, but they were covered by something that seemed to protect them. The books looked like they were made recently, giving a different vibe than the structure.

Kaz adjusted his glasses as they kept marching forward to another door. He didn't look at the people who read some texts from holographic screens. Parents with their kids that taught them something.

"Are they even going to school?" Sarah whispered.

"No idea," Tom replied.

Khybon looked around, "This place looks defenceless, but…" he added nothing else. He had a feeling there was more to this place than it first appeared.

None of the three replied to his comment. They looked around and bit closer, but nothing stood out.

They reached the room and the door opened. The man told them, "Go inside. I will leave you with the Matriarch."

The three teenagers and the Underworlder walked through the door.

An old woman waited for them. She saw on a white chair, with a walking cane that rested against it. She was an old Caucasian woman with her face covered with wrinkle, long gray hair and pale green eyes. She wore a white robe with golden stripes with a white hood. She walked with a brown cane with silver stones on it.

Four chairs were put in front of her for them to sit down. One was bigger than the others.

"Please. Sit down," she invited them. She pointed at the chairs.

The four obeyed, but Khybon grunted as he carefully observed the old lady for anything suspicious. He would have a lot to report to Chaor.

"Tell us what you know. What is going on? Who are you?" Sarah demanded.

The old lady chuckled for a few seconds, before she waved her hand, "Calm down young lady. You will get wrinkles early if you act like this. I know what I'm talking about."

The blond teen gazed at the side as her head turned a bit red in embarrassment.

"Please. Tell us," Tom decided to ask more politely, "That creature took Peyton and he might be in danger. It's not his code, but the real him."

"Very well. I invited you to reveal everything after all. First, what do you know of the Cothica?"

"The Cothica is the sacred land that every tribe tried to find. We found it now. It's here," Khybon replied before the humans could.

The three teenagers rolled their eyes, "No."

The creature crossed his arms, "I am tired of everyone denying it. This is the Cothica," he didn't care for their answer.

"Why are you asking us that?" Sarah asked a bit suspiciously.

"In here, there are many things that has been recorded. The long history of humanity, the far past and what we could do. The portal that you saw, it is a connection to Perim," the Matriarch didn't explain more about the portal, "We have the knowledge to make such a thing, a knowledge that was lost long ago."

"Like how you kept the light underground," Kaz whispered quietly. He looked around more carefully. He couldn't find anything else to say. The cult seemed technologically more advanced than the rest of the world.

Tom began to have an idea where this was going. The mention of the Cothica told him that maybe something big was about to come, "You ask this because you know where it is… right?"

The old lady giggled, "Yes. You call us as part of a cultist group. You are both right and wrong. We are the guardians…" she didn't finish that sentence and let the suspense on.

Khybon grunted, "Tell us now!"

The Matriarch nodded, "We are the Guardians of the Cothica. We exist to prot-"

"Are you serious?" Sarah interrupted her.

"Yes. We exist to continue the duty of our ancestors. To protect the Cothica from wrong hands."

"So… the Cothica isn't a land?" Khybon tried his question.

Kaz went on, "If you are protecting it, tell us what this is? Is it something those creatures wants to obtain."

"You mean that Titanium guy?" Tom asked.

"Yes. I never saw one of them and from what I heard. We are brought here when that Titanium showed up," the orange hair boy concluded as he made sure his glasses were in place.

The old lady nodded, "Indeed. The Metalist showed up here, when he shouldn't. They have no right to come back here."

"Okay and- Wait. Come back?" Sarah asked.

The others gave her their full attention.

"Yes. This is a long history and I will tell you very soon. However, I will confirm you two things. It's about the Cothica. Once you know it, you will know why we brought you here quickly and why the Metalist shouldn't come back to this world," she cleaned her throat. She went on, "The Cothica is a land."

"There is a portal that led to it?" Kaz asked.

She nodded negatively, "The Cothica is the ancient name of the Earth. It was once known as the Cothica," she answered.

The three humans were flabbergasted by that revelation. Meanwhile, Khybon pointed his finger at them and loudly said, "Ha! We were right all along!"

The three teenagers were still uncertain if it was the true. Their brain couldn't accept it. That was until the old woman showed them an old book. They quickly looked inside. They could read the words. An old and untouched book made of strange paper that was never used on the surface. A strange paper on which an old ink wrote clearly the old name of the planet: Cothica.

And there was so much they had to hear and accept. It would be a long and hard process.

AC: This is the end of the first part of this info dump.

Next: Humans And Metalists.

Both Titanium and the Matriarch told the four the old history of their kind and how the present came to be.