"Though the modern populace has all but forgotten it, there was an order over 20 thousand years ago, made by The Dark Goddess, which dictated that a person's remaining natural lifespan shall be added to the one who caused their death. It is said that she did this to inspire murderous tendencies in humans, yet, ironically, this order seemingly caused it to be almost entirely eliminated - outside of war - within a few hundred years. The history is complex, and only the highest Magicks make any particular effort to study or remember it, with their endless boredom after having mastered all knowledge within their craft. As such, the countless and conflicting theories behind why earlier humans decided to all but cease their murderous tendencies, despite crime having been considerably easier to conceal at this time period are largely unimportant to this brief, but know that not all divine orders are yet known." The commander paused, a Lesser One robotically brought the memory stone to the injection device, and the commander continued, now with his hand on the button. "For those of you who have not experienced a memory injector, this may be disorienting at first, you will be in the memories of Kahns Huem between the dates of May 17th at eleven-hundred to his death on May 18th at O-Two-Hundred in 3…' here my vision began to blur, I faded, time stretched. "two…" The commander's voice seemed to draw on for a lifetime, yet my thoughts were far too sluggish, so I could not make use of this eternal moment to plan or even think in the slightest "1 …" I heard an intense shriek and a tunnel of light, followed by darkness.
. . .
"Commander..? Commander!" I was broken from my thoughts by my lieutenant commander, she was reporting on the status of the excavation.
I paused a moment, looking over the sprawling landscape that stretched so far beneath me. After a moment, I justified her with a response, "Look, do you see that tree?"
"What about it, sir?" she said, clearly irked by my lack of direct response, yet remaining deferential.
"It rises so far beyond the rest, it likely has the strongest and denser wood and the purest mana of any for thousands of miles." I still had not looked away from it, something about it grasped my attention, though I knew not what, exactly. It certainly was awe-inspiring, it was larger by multiple kilometers than any of the other trees in the area, rising above them like some kind of ancient guardian god. "How do you think it got that way?"
"It… grew that way?" she seemed deeply confused at the sudden philosophical line of conversation.
I smiled slightly, before turning to her with a stern expression "It built a strong base, slowly drew in the surrounding ether, then built and refined itself, layer by layer, bolstering its solidity slowly. It knew that growth was not a race, but a work of art, It built itself slowly, and thus, when the harsh winds came and the others fell, it remained. In other words, lieutenant, it got there by having some damn patience." I chuckled slightly at the last bit, failing to mask my lack of austerity.
She sighed slightly and shook her head, before lightly smiling, "My apologies, sir, I did not mean to rush you."
"Forgiven. Now, what do we usually do when we come across a sealed cavern which may contain artifacts?" I intended to give her the freedom to proceed on her own, but I needed to make sure she knew what she was doing first.
"We report to HQ and have an inspector check the cave?" she responded, somewhat unsure of herself.
"Under normal circumstances, yes, However." I gestured towards her at the last word to indicate she should finish my thought.
"However, the background radiation from the forest is too dense, so we don't have communication with HQ."
"And?"
"And we are hundreds of thousands of klicks away from a viable communications post."
"Good, so how do we proceed?" I continued
"I- I'm not sure, sir."
"What do we do once we have the go-ahead?"
"We dig a small hole into the cavern to avoid mana barriers, then pump oxygen and nitrogen in to create a viable atmosphere and flush any hazardous gas, before waiting for a specialist arrive," she said with notably more confidence, "is that what we should do...?" The end of her remark was said while realizing her mistake, we could not wait for a barrier specialist, that would
"No." I paused for a moment to survey our camp, "Who is on our team that could survey the cavern for mana barriers?"
"Oh!" she clearly had a moment of realization, "Isn't Amir an ex c-mag?"
"Specializing in mine disarming." I explained, nodding, "I'm sure you understand, so I'll leave you free to execute, fetch me before drilling, I'd like to talk to Amir post-inspection."
"Of course, sir!" she quickly left, and I was finally free for a moment.
I decided to head back to my office and take a lunch break, as I shouldn't be bothered again for at least a few hours. While I was eating, I strategized on how to proceed on the mission with minimal loss of life based on the information I had. I reached into my drawer and began unfolding m strategic map of the area. We were dispatched here to — THOUGHT RECORDING CENSORED, CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION. MOVING TO NEXT INCONSPICUOUS MOMENT –
-OMMANDER, WE HAVE AN EMERGENCY, THERE WAS SOMETHING IN THERE!!" Delta Lee barged into my office, clearly distressed. He rambled on unintelligibly for a couple of seconds despite my attempted protests before I cut in.
"LEE!" once he was silent I calmly continued, "I can't understand a damn word of what you're saying, WHAT thing was in where?" I punctuated this sentence clearly with some anger.
As the Delta began to speak, Amir entered the room and silenced him, somewhat exasperatedly, with, "Quiet, I told you I would personally report to avoid ambiguity, it's not as urgent as you seem to think," after which he addressed me, "I'm sorry sir, as for your question, we found a lifeform within the cavern, though we are quite certain it has been sealed for at least 6,500 years."
I furrowed my brow and leaned back slightly in thought, "That certainly is disconcerting, but could it not be some kind of tar bat? Or perhaps a stasis pig who had some food source?"
Amir nodded in agreement, though somewhat hesitantly, "Yes, that is why I was trying to tell the delta to relax, paired with the complete seal of the cavern, the only issue with those particular animals is that the lifeform is around 350 pounds, far too large for a stasis pig of that timeframe, and a tar bat would have died of the extreme mana radiation of the cavern."
"What period did you say this cavern was sealed in?" I pondered on the species I knew of, contemplating the potential dangers and what to equip my men with.
"That's just the thing, I don't know, I believe it was sealed at least 6.500 years ago, but the latent mana radiation seems to be vitality-based, so it could be as old as 17,000 years…" he seemed to have a thought at the end of his sentence, and trailed off.
"Well if it's vitality-based I think we can clear it with some requirements of at least a tier 2 core to enter, or do you have further insight?" I questioned Amir just in case, not expecting a response, but he seemed to become worried for a moment.
Hesitantly, he said, "I would suggest increasing that to a tier-3 core, with weapons, just in case…"
"In case of what? We don't have a whole lot of tier-3s to spare."
"Just a feeling… you don't have to take the suggestion, but it would be a safer bet."
"You know what, if this is some kind of elemental ancient I'd like to see it, I'll go personally with the other rankers, we'll take you in as our defuser, if you think you're up to it." He was the only person possible for the task, but with his status as a Magick, I couldn't as easily order him as I could my other subordinates, especially considering the liability of Magick itself.
"Of course sir, I'm honored you would personally assist the expedition, it assures me greatly of the success of this expedition." From here I had the Delta exit and fetch the first lieutenant, who had evidently been waiting outside the entire time.
"Yes, sir?" she entered and saluted, clearly relieved to be in an air-conditioned room.
"First of all, allow me to thank you for following protocol, which both Delta Lee and Magick Clark have forgotten entirely," I said, somewhat mischievously. Amir dips his heap apologetically as I continue, "The Rankers are going to enter the cavern with Amir, as we believe there may be some form of life-form within."
She appeared puzzled, "what kind of life form could justify a tier-9 core transcendent such as yourself, if I may ask, sir?"
"A 350-pound beast who has lived for over 6,000 years might," I said, raising an eyebrow slightly.
"You sure it's not just a really fat sleeper p-?" she revoked somewhat indecorously, then seemed to catch herself, "A- are you certain it isn't simply an overfed stasis pig?" at this I couldn't help but lightly chuckle.
"It could be- if it were from within the last thousand years, that is, but stasis pigs weren't bred commercially until about 1200 C.X. In the time which this was sealed, they would only have gotten to around 112 lbs even if morbidly obese, I have hopes to behold in person an ancient elemental, likely a nature spirit." she seemed satisfied with this explanation.
"Shall we go prepare the second lieutenant and weaponry?" Amir said after a slight pause, the first lieutenant and I nodded. I signaled for the first lieutenant to locate the second, while Amir and I moved to the barracks.
"What circle are you, Amir?" I queried, with intent to conserve our radiation shielding for the primary goal.
"Only first, but I have an enchanted 2nd core which should provide enough resistance to the environmental radiation, I specialize in adaptives and buffs, too, so I shouldn't experience any backflow," he replied, noticing my contemplative glances at the shielding.
"Good, I'll gear us with with basic combat armor in case of weapon based traps, and let everyone personalize from there." I pressed the standard armor button on the armor wall and took my set as soon as the corresponding tile rotated to dispense it, then began looking through my personal weapons closet. A series of blades, guns, and various other weaponry began to hover inside a large metal locker, with a wave of my hand the array of weapons spun, displaying each weapon. I decided 'Ripper', a custom-built melee weapon loosely based around a saber, should be enough. it was a beautiful blade, metallic black with a diamond grid pattern to improve force distribution, though it was severely dulled to prevent shattering of the blade when it is charged with aura, as a fine edge may not be able to withstand it, even in black mithril; any flaw would be caught in the flow of aura and eventually, it would cause a full shattering. In place of an edge, the blade had a small wire running across the front, which would produce a dense, razor-sharp cutting edge when charged. Another key design difference was the weight of the blade, it was around 4 feet long, and around 17 kilograms, it was so much heavier than average because my priority is often crowd control when in melee range, the weight will cause very quick explosions of flesh and at times even deadly debris particles, not to mention I have no issue moving it no slower than I would other sword, though I may begin to slow down closer to 30-40 kilos. In my admiring of the blade, I must have zoned out for a moment, because the first and second lieutenants had entered and were equipping themselves with their armor, as well as a few weapons -sidearms, mostly -and were conversing enthusiastically of the possible bonus implicit from a cavern like this in a low murmur. I quickly pulled on my armor and charged the shield batteries with my own aura, before securing my sheathe to my waist and double-checking all the straps.
"Showing off, sir?" The second jested, as he placed his shield apparatus in the charging machine, raising an eyebrow.
I chuckled lightly, "Once you gain a personal color it becomes far more efficient to charge it yourself, it gives you a bit more control, plus my aura is far more dense than the standard generators churn out."
"You mean if he gains a personal color, right, captain?" Amir chuckled lightly to mitigate the hostility of the sentence, "even among the elite, few can surpass a middle density 5th core, let alone develop their own aura signature."
"I said when because I meant when, I don't promote a lieutenant lightly, nor would I leave them without guidance," I replied.
"You think we'll get to that level, captain?" the first lieutenant spoke up, "I mean, don't get me wrong, I want to, but I'm no transcendent…" she stated, clearly confused and somewhat flattered at my remark.
"How old are you two?" I asked.
"22, sir," said the first lieutenant, now visibly interested in the line of conversation.
"I'm 24, sir," the second Lieutenant replied, still very confused.
"And how old do you think I am, and answer honestly, there's no bad answer here," I pried.
Only the second lieutenant answered this time, "Well you look to be in your late 20's or early 30's, but you're transcendent, so maybe around 57?"
"I am 92. It took me almost 26 years just to get to 6th tier, and another 10 to develop my own color, after that I was able to get through the next 3 tiers in only 9 years, all of this was considered record-breaking at the time. You two are already at around 4th tier in your early 20s, at this rate, you may well outpace my growth. On top of that, I personally invested in you, that should tell you how much potential you truly have." With this everyone seemed placated, so I looked around, and, seeing everyone was in gear, spoke, "I suppose we can deploy now, if everyone is ready?" After seeing everyone nod in affirmation, I took the drilling apparatus and exited the building, walking toward the excavation site with the team closely following behind.
Upon arrival, I motioned for the area to be cleared and called for one of the researchers to place guards at the entrance to ensure no trap summons escaped, with the dual purpose of preventing any unsuspecting soldier from wandering into the cavern. I placed the drilling apparatus- a small triangular device glowing softly red- against the stone wall, guided by Amir, and pressed in the top, causing metal arms to extend and anchor it into the wall, the device then switched from red to green, to indicate it was ready to drill. I again pressed in the top, and an intense mechanical whirring paired with the crunching of stone began. I stepped to the side as the stream of material poured out of the back of the device.
As the apparatus drilled on, Amir pulled me to the side, clearly wanting to discuss something away from the noise of the drill, and possibly away from the ears of the lieutenants.
"Hey, sorry if I came off as a bit of an asshole earlier, I was just trying to joke around a little bit, I don't know, I think I might've come off wrong, I've got a weird feeling about this, y'know?" Amir said, clearly trying to read my reaction as he spoke, bowing his head subconsciously.
I softened my demeanor slightly as he finished to alleviate the tension slightly, "Easy, Magick, I know. [1]I only gave you the lecture because I wanted them to know they have the potential to one day do great things, that they have a future. Do you see the determination in their eyes now? That is the gaze of someone with a purpose, and with belief." As I finished my sentence, I had a thought, "More importantly, what are you worried about in this expedition? If there's a safety concern, you can tell me, even if it's unlikely." Although I was sure he was only nervous to impress his high-ranking peers, I thought it would be prudent to confirm, in case there truly was something deeper.
"Well, it is unlikely, very unlikely, actually, but I've been thinking about it, and what's in the cavern might not be an elemental," he glanced around as he spoke, as if to ensure no one was listening, and continued, "if it's older than 17,000 years, there's a possibility that it's a humanoid of some sort; an elf, daemon, the like, and they probably won't be too happy when they find out what happened in the age of purification. Scratch that- if they've been locked in a cave for thousands of years, there's no chance they're sane in the first place." he was agitated as he finished his thought.
"That is worrisome, especially considering they would have had thousands of years to cultivate, self temper, or formulate, in order to grow in power, however, I sincerely doubt a living humanoid would be sealed, these sites were often used as burial chambers. If anything, we may encounter some kind of curse, that's what I'd focus on if I were you. If it makes you feel better, though, I will make sure to be on guard, I'll even have you buff me when we enter a danger zone, and I'll use the latent mana to stim-break, sound good?"
Amir was visibly relieved, "That sounds good, I'm sure with that we'll be able to at least escape and regroup if the worst comes to worst."
With that, we headed back to the excavation site of the cavern, which had finished drilling the inlet and outlet holes and was now being flushed with a viable atmosphere by the second lieutenant.
"How long do we have? I'd like to enter by 1700," I directed at the first lieutenant, who was idly watching the air quality panel.
She seemed to be shaken out of a daydream, and looked at the panel again before speaking, "Perfect timing, commander, we're cleared to cut out an entrance." As she finished, Amir spoke up.
"There's actually a ready-made door under the rock, I found it on inspection, here, I'll mark out the cleave lines with some chalk," he said, quickly locating the chalk and drawing a large jagged arch in straight lines on the stone wall around the inlet hole, "Should I go get the saw?"
I held up a hand and drew my blade, "That won't be necessary," I said as I charged my sword with aura, causing a fine yellow edge to form. I cut each line as precisely as I could, but I did deviate slightly from the top lines, as my control was lessened. Should I begin training my high angle overhead cuts? I can't see much of a use for them outside of this specific and likely non-recurring situation, but they may serve as a new stimulus to boost my training a small amount, and I wouldn't be embarrassed by accidentally deviating those multiple millimeters again. I stepped back to allow the large stone wall to wall, finding that it was over 2 feet thick, further cementing the age of the cavern, after the larger piece fell, a few smaller pieces fell, revealing a large archway. Around the arch were a series of glowing blue runes, their forms strange, and alien, yet somehow familiar all the same...
"Amir, translation?" I looked to him for an explanation, but he appeared as confused as I.
"These runes are… unfamiliar to me, sir. I know almost every historical runic of this area dating back thousands of years from my studies of magic, but…" He trailed off, but the meaning was clear; he had no clue what they meant. "Since they're glowing, I assume they're Magick, I don't especially want to get cursed, so I'm going to try to decipher the language right here, if that's alright with you, sir." He said the last part as more of an afterthought, likely knowing my answer already.
"Of course, if you are able, that is," I replied.
"Yes, it seems to be a base language that the others diverged from, similar to how English, Spanish, French, German, etcetera all are considered to have originated in Latin. It shares a lot of properties with Tisfaltii, which I am very familiar with. I'm sure I can work out the alphabet and rules pretty quickly with what we have here," He explained, largely thinking out loud, as he examined the wall.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
I decided to check on Amir's progress around 1640. I approached him, and saw that his brow was deeply furrowed.
"I take it you're not done?" I asked, hoping to be proven wrong, so we could be out of the cave before nightfall.
"I am, actually, and I would have been done sooner, but the message itself is confusing, so I thought I must have gotten the language wrong and decided to start over, but I returned with the same results, different formulas to check, new sentance structure ideas, et cetera..."
"And the message was?" I said, growing slightly impatient.
"Oh, of course, sorry," he said, then walked over to the arch, beckoning me and the lieutenants to follow, "The first line says 'research and formation' and the second seems to be 'abandon all hope, ye who enter here' but this one is mirrored, almost as if written from the inside… I don't know what this means at all honestly."
"They probably just kept important secrets there and wanted to scare off people like us so it would remain a secret, though I'm sure it's not especially relevant this many years later." The first lieutenant stated in hopes of alleviating Amir's confusion.
"Likely," Amir shrugged and gestured to the handles, which had a bar between them, and some writing on them, "Shall we enter?"
I gestured for the first lieutenant to open the door. She took the bar from between the handles and began to pull on them, yet somehow they would not budge. I saw Amir smiling slightly and understood exactly what was happening.
"Damn, heavy doors," she said, huffing slightly.
I had to suppress a smile as I spoke, "It's alright, not all of our talents lie in strength," as I finished I winked at Amir to ensure he would play along, "Second Lieutenant, you try pulling it open."
As the second lieutenant huffed with all his immense might, sending minor cracks in the stone ast his feet, and failed to open the door I couldn't help but look at Amir and smirk, which itself sent Amir into an uncontrollable cackle. As his laughter died down, the second lieutenant angrily turned to Amir.
"Is it that funny? Well, maybe you should try it then, Amir!" he slightly sneered at the last bit, clearly frustrated by the lack of response by the door to his usually quite impressive strength, meanwhile the first lieutenant looked to me for clarity, obviously entirely lost as to why this situation was so funny to me.
"Captain? Your permission to proceed?" Amir turned to me, a shit-eating grin plastered on his usually solemn face.
"Show them how it's done, Amir," I said, likely with an equally immature grin.
Amir walked to the door, rolled up his sleeves and flexed his surprisingly robust arms as if about to perform an awesome feat of strength, then gently pushed the seemingly perfectly oiled door open with one hand. The first lieutenant immediately face-palmed, giggling slightly at her own stupidity, while the second lieutenant seemed too shocked to speak, standing dumbfounded as Amir brushed past him.
"The handles said 'push'" he declared, causing a minor fit of laughter from the first lieutenant and a deep sigh from the second.
"Alright, alright everyone, shall we enter?" I interjected as the laughter began to die down. A string of 'yes, sir's' followed, so I entered the doors with Amir to my right, and the two lieutenants following closely behind.
As I stepped into the looming darkness, the chill of the air enveloped me, passing over my skin as if I had walked through a thin curtain of water. My own footsteps, tapping on the smooth stone floor, echoed into my ears in two distinct clunks, seemingly modulated by a spacious, yet largely empty room. Following were Amir's lighter footfalls, then those of the first and second lieutenants. The surroundings were already silent save for the sounds of the four of us, the darkness stretching on ahead indefinitely. I stepped further into the oppressive darkness, the slight click of my mounted light activating seeming loud as a hammer in the dead of night. The surroundings now illuminated, I was able to make out the general shape of the submerged structure. The room we were in was a grand entrance, in front there were around 30 paces to a descending flight of stairs, marked by a gargantuan archway- likely around 20 meters in height, and at least 7 meters wide. To each side of this arch were opposing staircases leading upwards, with the left ascending clockwise and the right ascending counterclockwise, yet strangely both terminated in a wall rather than leading to any meaningful outlet. Throughout the entrance area were interspersed small tables and accompanying seating, likely with the intent of a break area or waiting room for clients.
The team spread out to clear the room, then upon completion, converged on the second lieutenant, as he had stopped at a table around half way into the room on the far left. As I approached the table, I noticed the gleam of metal, and, upon further inspection, made it out as armor.
"Report." I commanded the second lieutenant.
"Armored human remains, sir," the Second lieutenant dutifully continued, "Seems to have died in battle."
"Then why aren't there more?" The first lieutenant had arrived at the table and was evidently as perplexed as the rest of us.
"Unimportant. Amir, will it animate?" I broke the line of questioning, as it was irrelevant to our mission, we would leave the theorizing to the historians.
Amir's hand glowed a dim blue for a moment as he waved it over the armored skeleton. "No Mana traces, sir. It's safe to proceed."
I paused for a moment, appreciating the intricate carvings on the edge of the table; they seemed to be depicting some kind of battle between a giant and a hydra, neither ever truly won, the giant killed the hydra in the end, but was mortally wounded, and died of the hydra's poison.
Now that I took a moment to look, the tables weren't the only intricate design of the building, every wall had some kind of symbol, some looking vaguely magical, but had clearly been inactive for at least a few decades. I suppose everything withers with time... I thought to myself, taking note of the shattered pieces of what once must have been grandiose and beautiful chandelier.
We were now standing in front of the arch. Closer now, I noticed a soft orange glow emanating from it, forming a thin veil of soft, yet contained, warm light. I gestured to Amir, intending to command him to examine the cause for it, but realized he was already a few steps ahead into the arch.
"Just lighting, it seems, sir," Amir called from ahead, noticing the silence abounding from the absence of his comrades.
As I passed through the eerie veil, I felt the light flow over my skin as if alive, crawling down my spine and enveloping my flesh. The atmosphere beyond felt somehow… heavier.
"Is this the cutoff?" I asked Amir, assuming the feeling to be mana intoxication.
"Yes, sir," Amir paused, sluggishly blinking, "Though it feels somewhat… odd. Usually vitality mana will cause a high adaptation curve, not a low, but I feel almost mana-drunk, as you may with dark-type, water-type, or…" he trailed off, clearly with no desire to state the other Mana archetype that could cause drunkenness.
"We can pause a moment, but we need to move on, try to acclimate quickly." I looked at the lieutenants to see how they were faring, while the first lieutenant had acclimated, the second was clearly having trouble, so I stepped in, "try to empty yourself of all your aura, then draw in the surroundings as if you were practicing aura-circulation, you'll have to be more careful with your neural channels than usual, since the concentration is so high."
"Yes, sir," the second lieutenant sat down next to Amir as he said this.
"Sir, why are we mana-drunk on vitality mana?" the second lieutenant asked, seeming surprisingly worried.
"Likely because it isn't basic background-radiation, like we assumed. It may be emanating from a spell or relic, maybe even an entity of some kind," I responded, wishing I had an expert mage to explain to me, as even I didn't know for certain.
I decided to scout ahead a small amount , the floor was stone brick now, the walls a black tiling with red and purple accent patterns at around shoulder height, the hallway went on a ways, with small doorways sparsely spaced along the sides. Eventually, the path turned to the left, and I lost sight of where it led.
I returned to find the second lieutenant and Amir finished with their acclimation, surveying their surroundings while awaiting my return. I gestured for them to follow and we walked on in silence. Our footsteps, despite now being a group, purveyed a distinct loneliness, each footfall echoing distinctly, and far away. The deep, ancestral recesses of my mind were recoiling, begging me to move towards safety, to return to the well-lit and sufficiently enclosed. In comparison, I was calm enough, despite feeling slightly as if I were a small mouse in the palace of some great king -though- this place felt less like a palace and more like a lair, the color and design radiating a distinct feeling -fear, perhaps? Evil? No, I knew the feeling, not fear, not a rollercoaster or a high cliff, not a shark or a spider, this, this was dread. It felt as if the architects wanted anyone inside to be deeply afraid, or -perhaps -they themselves were deeply afraid of something when creating it, and this fear seeped through their pens, through their paper, and began to irradiate every brick placed, every decoration hung, even - no - especially the cold, carved stone of the ground. Their fear shone through work, tainting it with a sinful, rotten aura, one of pure fear, and bitter hatred.
"Amir, I forgot earlier, but could you cast a physicality buff now?" I said suddenly, thinking back to our earlier conversation outside the cavern.
"I would love to," Amir said, seeming somehow relieved by this request. As he finished his statement, he began to chant in Runic, seemingly the form he just learned at the door of the cavern, which was immensely impressive to me.
"You sure picked that up fast," I said as he finished, a sudden immense strength and focus bursting from every fiber of my being.
"As I was examining the language, I theorized it would be a slight improvement to my chosen tongue, but…" Amir paused for a moment, examining my form with a furrowed brow, "this is a whole new level of buff, I only meant to boost your physical strength, but it seems like I misinterpreted the purpose of their strength rune, because not only has your muscle size increased by around 1.5 times, permanently, but your neural output has been temporarily almost tripled. I wonder why this language ever died..."
"Permanently?" I asked, confused by the intensity of the buff, "how much mana did you have to use for that?" I worried that he wouldn't have enough to perform his lifesaving duties for the remainder of the expedition.
"All of it, sir," Amir said, looking over his shoulder at the hallway in a sudden bout of paranoia, "But it instantly replenished from the background radiation of the hallway, my mental fatigue from mana-control would kill me long before I even scratched the surface of this mana pocket." I nodded as he finished, accepting the explanation, then took a deep breath in, sucking in as much Aura as possible, before saturating my body, circulatory system, and nerves with it, feeling an immense rush of energy as I began to circulate and absorb it, unlike almost any I had had before.
As I adapted to the energy, I felt strange, as though the mana I had absorbed was.. sullied, somehow; that it was not for me to hold. The darkness swirled around me for a moment, the floor shifted, but then all was still; I had changed, adapted. Now I could see the room with ease, I could see each wall though only one was lit, the latent mana reverberated endlessly, and I felt it all. I walked on, bolstered yet still somehow deeply unsettled, I was no longer a rabbit, but perhaps a bull, to a pack of immense wolves.
We turned the corner, and two things immediately became painstakingly obvious, the first was a deep humming sound. It started long before we had turned the corner, but we had just begun to notice it, it was naught but an indistinguishable string of soft murmurs, yet it had an uncanny sound to it, somehow. If it was music, we should be too far away to possibly tell, yet... it had a peculiar melodic nature to it I could not deny. Perhaps it was simply the flow of air through the exit hole- that should have been nearby now- a soft blow across the bottle that was this cavern. The second thing we noticed, upon a quick sweep of the room, was a vast and weighty sea of bones.
"Was this used as a crypt, perhaps?" someone asked shakily behind me. I didn't turn to look. It may have been Amir. The answer to the question was clear.
"I think you know," I replied solemnly. This was not a simple crypt, the corpses were far too broken, and their notably impressive armor was still upon them. These were not respected warriors, laid to rest in their armor, but soldiers, scattered haphazardly across the ground, yet the expensive armor lay upon them.
"They died here." The first lieutenant spoke, her words hiding beneath a shaky whisper in hopes of safety from whatever hunted them.
"No one ever got to leave, or the armor'd at least be gone," I continued. To whatever happened here, there were no survivors, no one to come back years later and reclaim the treasures, no one to accidentally leak the site of this mass death site. In the end, dead men tell no tales.
As we continued down the clear path; A raised walkway cleared of corpses- seemingly intentionally- the sound became more clear, it was now very clearly a voice, humming- or perhaps singing- a tune of some sort. Chills traversed my skin, I kept walking on. The rest followed.
The humming became more clear as we descended another flight of stairs, the hall seemed smaller now, and there was a thick Iron door at the end, a series of thick locks located on the outside, as if to keep something immense inside. The door stood ajar.
Words became clear, they were foreign, yet familiar, I had heard similar ones spoken not so long before. I looked at Amir, he looked at me, then spoke, shudderingly, dread in his eyes.
"Something about darkness d-dying and giving way to light, or... about a land of darkness where one goes to die…" He responded to the implicit question in my gaze. when he said the latter portion, his yes opened wide, and he looked at the door intently.
When we got to the door, the humming stopped, I pulled it open. The darkness was thick, thick enough I was certain I would be able to touch it, were I to try, swallowed any light we directed towards it. We stood there for a moment, poised, afraid to go on, yet determined not to retreat; then, A figure appeared.
We all took a step back involuntarily as this figure seemed to simply coalesce from the darkness, shimmering an inky black, slowly taking on form. The figure was large, gargantuan, even. Too large to be one of us- yet distinctly formed of flesh, walking on legs, moving human arms, and looking at us with human eyes. We were collectively unable to even breathe for a moment, the sheer shock painted in painstaking detail on each of our faces, the pressure refusing us even our breath.
The figure spoke a language I had never heard, yet understood perfectly, his tone somber and cold.
[1] Now is a good time to explain for anyone who hasn't put it together, Magick is the title for those who use mana, it is also the study of its rules, behaviors, etc. formulation is the form of cultivation which magicks practice, though it is considered seperate from cultivation because it uses a different energy and performs entirely differently than qi. There is also Aura, again, a different energy, but much more similar to qi than not, the main differences are in how it is trained and what it can do.