So you're telling me, what? That some Scholar from the Glaion Palace wants to explore what, exactly?" General Baptiste responded, a heavy clink of his mug on the rough hewn field table.
"Yes, Professor Aimé wants to explore the Skjalich ruins to the west. Just at the base of the Vilothric mountain range. That shrine buried in the Tephra layer of stratus along the Galus peninsula. I" The Courtier began, but was cut off with a fluid motion of the General.
"I need no introduction to that cursed place. Do you have any idea what kind of risk that ruin is?" Baptiste growled, striding close to the Courtier. Bearing over the thin framed man. "We are currently at war with the Kingdom of Renard. Some pomp from that Guild of arcane nutcases wants me to expend even a single regiment to go explore a buried ruin?"
To most, the General's bulk and imposing height would have intimidated even the most battle hardened veteran. To the Courtier, this was nothing more than showboating, an attempt to show power where no authority existed. The Courtier reached up and patted the General on the cheek, with a cocky smile, and responded. "Yes, by the order of the King. He heard the request from Professor Aimé, and was intrigued at the proposition. Your orders are to ready a Squad of thirty hand picked scouts, rangers and knights to accompany the Professor."
"HE WHAT?" The general attempted to bellow, but was silenced by the Courtier placing a finger on his lips. Igniting a fury in the General's eyes, he continued.
"You are to set off at dawn at the southern gates of Glaion in three days' time. Your mission is to assist the Professor with his study of the ruin, he is talented with a Domain of Earth, for that reason we are not sending an excavation crew with your party. Please prepare at least thirty days worth of rations and supplies, the professor will be supplying all arcane abilities, you are to guard him with extreme prejudice. The mission is an exploratory one, we do not expect any hostilities or combatants to a reasonable certainty. Though there is always the risk, therefore the orders you are being given." The Courtier told the General without ever breaking character. His smile reeked of a political maneuver layered in malice.
***
The rain pelted the party as they made their way through the Ancient Forest at the base of the mountains. The wind howled through the branches of the massive pine boughs, creaking and moaning as they swayed in the storm. Accompanied by the heavy metal shod boots of the Squad leading the way. The thick mud of the ill tended to roadway clung to everything as they made their way past the last town they would see for quite some time.
Briardale nothing but a hazy glow in the distance behind them. The Squad already wishing to be anywhere else, the feeling of tense apprehension dense in the air. General Baptiste had personally joined the expedition, not trusting what the Courtier had to say on the matter. If he were to send his men on a mission such as this to a cursed shrine, he would be remiss if he would be sending them on a fool's errand.
The sound of hoofbeats broke through the din of the storm. Baptiste looked up from the rim of his soaked traveling hood to see one of his scouts returning, grabbing his attention immediately. "Report, soldier." He ordered the man. Professor Aimé had pulled out a notebook ready to write in, not caring that the pages were now soaked to the spine in the rain.
"Figures moving through the wood. Humanoid, hiding from sight. When attempting the pursuit of one of them, we trapped it between a rock face and us, the figure was nowhere to be found. We never even saw any footprints. As if we had just chased a ghost." The Scout said, breathless and pale.
"Where is Ranger Jaque?" The General asked.
"I don't know. He was right behind me, then he wasn't."
"For those we leave behind"
***
They made camp outside Skjalich, a fireless camp for the moment as the storm wouldn't allow them to set up something more comfortable. The looming stone structure of the weather smoothed and cracked stone doors to the building being their only protection from the gale. Their tents snapping loudly, echoing off that same stone they sought protection from. Aimé sat in front of the doors sketching away, capturing the odd runes and barely legible words still chiseled into the smooth rock.
General Baptiste swaggered up to the Professor. The rain stinging his eyes, peering over his shoulder to read his notes. "Odd structures seem to share the base root of the Common tongue. Various other similarities to Caliphiti and Gnomish text. Strange smears left of the seam of the doors, unknown substance, though clearly old."
Baptiste walked over to the monolithic doors. "Tell me Professor, why is this place so special that it requires a military escort and protection? As for those odd smears on the seam of the door, it's blood." Baptiste said, running his hand over the curiosity.
"Blood? But, it's ancient. The only thing about it is that it's a brown stain, how do you know it's blood?" Aimé responded, closing the notebook.
"Blood fades to this same color as time goes on, under the right conditions it can last for decades. Though, please answer my question. I need something to tell my men why this is worth it, seeing as we already lost a veteran ranger to this." The General sighed, turning his attention back to the Scholar. The man was thin, this long blonde beard heavy with the rain. His eyes dark so much to be black, his pale complexion nearly glowed in the darkening evening light.
"Well, for one there have been numerous missing persons reports over the course of history. I had plotted out the reports that have been given, many having a commonality. They happened in this region, when hunted down, nothing ever comes up. As with our unfortunate ranger, no trails, no clues, they simply vanish. As for the main reason, I have a suspicion that this place holds some unique information that may or may not give us an edge in the war with the Kingdom of Renard." Aimé said walking up the door, placing his hand on the smooth stone.
The General leaned his back against the stone, watching his men work in the camp. Securing supplies with oiled cloth to protect them from the rain, the pairs of soldiers patrolling the perimeter of the camp. Others preparing blades with oiled rags, testing the draw on bows.
"Child. Shadow touched being"
The entire camp stopped, the voice being heard by them all. A shiver ran up the General's spine as he looked over to Aimé staring back at him with an odd smile. "What the hell was that?"
"A common phenomena so I'm told. Strange voices, disembodied and sonorous."
"Sonorous my ass, Aimé. What is this place?" The General asked, knowing full well the rest of the troops could hear him.
"Well let's find out shall we?" The stone doors opened as an arc of power left the Professor's hand. The air rushed into the dark cavern. Aimé placed his hand to the ground, closing his eyes for a moment, before the dirt and ashy understrata evaporated away. Revealing a broad staircase descending into the darkness, runes glowing softly along every surface.
Though upon closer inspection, the stairs were stained with innumerable footprints, the same faded brown as the ones on the doors. The General hesitated, the runes eerie, the stains, the legends and now this voice? "Just what am I walking into?" He thought to himself.
***
The caverns never seemed to have any kind of cycle to them. The dim glow of the runes along the walls shined at the same level at all times. The storm a long forgotten memory of the surface as they descended into the ruin, not a rumble, not a sound could be heard. Well, that is to say anything except the low hum of some long off tone somewhere deeper into the ruin. The professor didn't even comment on it as it was first noticed. He only went on to scribble down every single rune he didn't recognise. A sense of timelessness being felt in the still air.
"What are these?" A Knight asked the professor, pointing at a set of rune structures foreign to him.
"Ah, well these here are runes of protection, well more specifically laid in a way so that they may as well read: 'Shield from outside, all shall be stilled'." He spoke as he ran his hand over the rune structure, his eyes shifting in the dim light.
The troops set up camp at each time of each day. The General's pocket watch, their only notion of the passing of time, the troops being nervous and uncomfortable with the aspect of timelessness. Many of their complaints being heard, but after a short amount of time being ordered to stop. The General couldn't do anything about their circumstance, this place was strange. The soft droning of the hum that echoed on eternally keeping them awake no matter how tired they were.
Occasionally they would wake to the sound of the alarm of the Watch. Shadowy amorphous figures standing over the sleeping men. Their eyes being bright points of light, while everything else about them was hazy and indistinct. More than once a soldier was able to drive a knife or sword into them, a pointless gesture as they cocked their heads and vanished.
After the third or fourth day, they began finding more rooms rather than the endless hallway they were forced to traverse. One room they had Aimé unseal from its hinges, had contained innumerable machines and odd artifacts. "What are these?" One soldier asked the professor.
The room in question was lined with archways that held runes of sound and dreams along their rims. Their purpose unknown, though clearly in the same style of construction as the Portal Nexus in the Cities of Huron and Glaion built by the Wayfarers guild. The artifact that was held up to the Professor looked as if it was an abacus, though it had a set of scales attached to it. "It would seem that the denizens of Skjalich were fond of complex mathematics. I wish I could read what was written on the scrolls left about here. But, at least to me, this room seems like it was used for research and measurement."
He pointed over to the notches along each of the portal frames. "There, they have the same set of markings along them. All of them, almost as if they were measuring something."
This constant exploration set the troops mind at least a little bit, it still unnerved them to be in this ruin. Surrounded by things they didn't understand, machines and contraptions that lost all meaning to them. To walk the halls of a fallen much more advanced civilization than the one that existed now.
The next night, as the camp was huddled down for the 'night' only a pair of troops awake to keep watch. The hum in the ruin changed pitch, a shift in tempo. As if someone was singing, now clearly being a woman's voice.
"How far have you traveled? Come, sit and tell me your stories."
***
In another one of these sealed rooms days later, the Professor took a turn. The room in question had been filled with maps and tables brimming with figurines. "Now that is a battlemap if I had ever seen one." Baptiste commented. "What were they fighting? They have a front on nearly every hill and dale, each shoreline a proverbial wall of ships. How big was this civilization, Professor?"
Turning to the General, he spoke in the same lilting way as the humming in the air. "Well, they certainly seem to have been across the entire continent, now aren't they? Though these names are unfamiliar to me, I don't understand."
"If this is meant to be the mainland Continent, then these maps must be eons old. Mountains where there should be none, I mean look. Here, where the Galus peninsula sits, at the base of the mountains where we are, this used to be a massive valley. You said geologically, a main component to the peninsula is ash. Are we in a buried city? How did it fill with ash?" The General asked, pouring over more of the maps.
"Why yes. The Namixian Empire was vast and all encompassing." He responded, though his voice changed. Something in the way he said it, Baptiste tried to put it out of his mind.
"Namixian. Where do you see that name?" A knight asked as he paged through some of the other maps. Passing one to the General. "Here, it would seem that a massive city sat here spanning all the way from bluffs along the eastern coast all the way to this ruin. It has a label on it, but I don't know what it says."
"It says The Citadel." The Professor said, without even looking over to them.
"I thought you said you couldn't read these?" Baptiste slowly turned to the Professor, wishing he hadn't. All around the man were those shadows again, placing their hands on his face, pulling at his hands. Baptiste blinked and they were gone.
"Hmm? Oh no, I never said that. It's all in Elder Fae, ancient in dialect, but readable. It's fascinating to see the roots of our own language printed here." Aimé said, as if he hadn't just completely contradicted himself.
***
The troops fell into a much more cheery atmosphere. The feeling of apprehension slowly fading with the smell of fresh air filling the long hallway as Aimé unsealed various vents leading to the outside. When the squad had reached another blocked door barring any continuation through the ruin, they had stopped to admire the mural still vibrant in color. It depicted a quartet of what they assumed were the gods of this fallen place. A woman breathing clouds into the sky, a finger pointed toward the heavens. Another winged woman with brilliant butterfly wings igniting the sun. A giant, resting deep in the seas, hands planted firm into the earth. A blind folded woman holding a set of scales with pointed ears and smoke for hair.
"Professor, what is this plaque at the bottom? I can only understand a few of the runes." A ranger had asked, brushing the dust off the still untarnished brass.
Bending down, holding a lantern to it, he ran his finger along with the runes, backtracking as needed. "The Mother in which breathed her life into us, her children the rose to grow. A song on the winds she breathes, a music ever constant. Our Warmth for which we see the beauty in the world they had built, skin to grant our shoulders. Our Fae minded Queen, the scales of power in which logic and reason with ever present. Our Father, who anchors us to the earth, souls given peace. Our Quartet driven symphony."
"Hmm, they all seem to be working toward something. But, what? Their world seems half finished, as if they were in the middle of creating it when this was made." Aimé absently commented.
"Elucidation in observation"
The squad jumped as the voice echoed next to them. A shadowy figure walking up the mural, placing its hand on it, vanishing. The thunderous crack as the mural slid off to the side, opening their passage. Just beyond was a grand cathedral, its walls lit with glowing torches. Though, the grandeur and beauty of it usurped by the thousands of skeletons littering the floor.
Warped and twisted frames, interspersed by frames that seem hale and healthy. Bones of unknown species, skulls of odd shape, bodies with long tails and light frames. Aimé sank to his knees, holding his head to his hands. Tears streaking down his face. The General placing his hand on the man's shoulder, thinking the Scholar was unfamiliar with death, spoke. "It's going to be alright, whatever happened here, happened long ago."
Aimé spoke with that woman's voice, the one who had been humming this entire time. "No no no, this wasn't supposed to happen. The Shadows, they, they weren't supposed to be here. Children. My children...what have I done?"
The General quickly snatched his hand away from Aimé. His frame visibly shrinking as if he hadn't eaten in weeks. His eyes sank into his skull as their light began to fade. The healer of the squad ran up to him, pushing the General aside, poured power into his body. The healer broke out in a cold sweat from the exertion of the act, the veins in his neck bulging as if he was mid-fight. He dropped from the effort, out cold. HIs own eyes sunked, his uniform hung loosly from his shrinking muscle mass.
Baptiste called a brief retreat while Aimé still knelt at the atrium of that necropolis. The woman's voice still babbling out of his mouth, the General noted that the humming had stopped. The sudden loss of the song felt as if he lost something important to him. It's source though, he couldn't identify.
The troops refused to walk past the Scholar to delve deeper into the ruin, at least until the General knocked out the scholar with the flat of his blade. The woman's voice ceasing altogether, putting the men's minds at ease. Gathering up their fallen healer as well as hoisting the Professor onto his shoulder, he ordered them through the graveyard of unknown species.
Along the floor and columns more modern script was written in eons old blood. Lining every surface the bones could reach, an unnerving feeling about them. "Where is she?". "They took her." "The cradle empty". "Shadows at the door". "They're in here with us". "We are them". "Skies broken, Citadel fallen". "Where is Vilorlith?" "The Queen took them away." "Where is Syn? Kyln?" "WE ARE ALONE."
He ordered his men to not disturb any of the bones, lest they make whatever that haunted this place irritable. As they walked through the boneyard, they noted many of them carried symbols of the four gods on the mural outside. Their very bones were etched with the same symbols, runes of power, runes of might and divinity. Until they came to a small door, fit for only a single file march. "I wonder what those words mean above the door. I can understand some of it, but not enough for it to make sense." The General commented trying to put his own mind at ease.
“The Forgeroom” A small voice said in the back of his mind.
The room they entered held only four thrones. A massive Portal array in the middle, long dead flowers hung on the walls. Looking around, they noted more bones along the walls holding halberds and still glowing swords. Standing guard around vacant portal frames, some type of control panels for each array. The Squad entered what seemed to be the end of ruins, nothing left beyond this point. The epicenter of their journey.
Then the singing started again, at full force. Coming from the mouths of the bones around them. Joined by a women sitting at the head throne of the room, ethereal and opaque. Her patina of copper green skin and long ears twitched as the Squad turned to face her. Her eyes as if the night sky existed in them, her sweet smile putting them at ease. "For those we have lost, for the aberrations we have made. My sweet shadow touched children, I am sorry I failed you. We all are, for my dear sister couldn't save you from the world in which you live. This wasn't what we had wanted."
The portal in the center of the room began to shimmer. A reflection of the night skies echoed in its watery surface, a placidness seen only on the still waters of a mountain lake. Her eyes are a perfect reflection, as if she were the one to create them all. The formless shadows rising from the bones lining the chamber, kneeling to this woman. She never felt threatening to Baptiste and it terrified him. Horrified and exhilarated, in awe and shock. Though, he had never felt more at peace.
She sprouted a tail for each member of the Squad, wrapping them in a tender welcoming embrace. All feelings of worry and fear were erased from our minds as she continued to speak. "A world in which we lost, a world that was meant to be your home, our gift to our children. Taken by darkness and Shadow."
***
"Explain to me, General, why you were the only one to return. With nothing more than the Professor's notebook, and nothing else."
"They simply wished to remain with the Great Mother."
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