It was only a few minutes before we caught up to the others, but when we got there, we found them having a brief discussion and gesturing to the large, sealed door towering behind them at the foot of the mountain.
"What is that?" Ed asked with his jaw speeding toward the ground. "That is something we were hoping you could help with, actually," Mom said, jutting her thumb over her shoulder. "Me?" Ed's face paled. Mom nodded, prompting me to give him an encouraging push. "You'll be fine," I muttered, trailing behind him as we approached the others.
When we got closer, I noticed there was writing wrapped around a square slab of stone in a language I couldn't recognize at all. At the center of the slab, there was a fist-sized mana stone that looked dormant and dull, though it still held a small amount of its turquoise coloring.
Ed inspected it for a few moments, placing a hand on his chin and leaning toward the writing, while Mom stood directly behind him in a similar pose. "Do you recognize it at all? I can only read some of the words, but I don't recognize these ones," she said, pointing to a small cluster on the top-right corner.
"I can hardly read it myself, but I do recognize it. This is Markuss' writing," he said with a serious look in his eye. "Meliss' father? What in the deepest mine was that lunatic doing out here?" Balgrim's eyes widened as he took a half-step forward.
Athar didn't flinch, and he sounded just like he did when I offered him the Thran's head, I noted.
"I don't know, but I recognize the shorthand he used in the notes he left behind for her. I can't fully understand it, but from what I gather, it says something about blood of my blood, and curse of my curse," Ed replied cryptically.
"Hmm. Well, if I knew Markuss as much as I think I did, the curse of my curse part would likely be referring to his never-ending pursuit of knowledge. The blood of my blood could mean only someone of dwarven lineage, or perhaps his bloodline could open this," Balgrim replied, twirling a finger through his long beard.
"Well then, I think we just found our volunteer," Mom said with a wolfish grin. "Bah, of course you'd have me try it," Balgrim huffed. "Do you see anyone else cursed with the pursuit of knowledge or dwarven descent here? Didn't think so," Athar chimed in with a scoff. "F-Fair point, but being a dwarf isn't a curse," Balgrim admitted begrudgingly. "Never said it was," Athar shrugged indifferently.
Balgrim moved up to the slab and placed his hand over the dull stone, pushing some of his mana into it. Within a heartbeat of him doing so, it lit up like all the others we'd seen throughout Narin.
"Hah! It worked!" Balgrim exclaimed, visibly pleased with himself as the doors began to rumble. When we didn't quite share his enthusiasm, he turned back around and cleared his throat. "Well, then. Shall we delve into the depths of the mountain?" he asked, with an oddly bright smile.
Something's off, Athar sent me, prompting me to analyze the tone Balgrim had just used. Knowing his apprehension toward using mental communication, my guard was immediately up as we followed him in. I had to give Ed and the others as subtle a nod as I could, letting them know that we were probably walking into a trap. There isn't much we can do for now, so just play along, I sent back.
We could kill him here and be done with it, Ysevel sent with a mental shrug, making Athar and I stare at her with crooked eyebrows. What? You can't tell me you haven't already considered that possibility, she sent as she uncrossed her arms and cocked her head. I think Kalia's rubbing off on you a bit too much, I sent back with a chuckle as I shook my head. Is that a bad thing? Kalia chimed in with a tilted head. Nope, not at all, I smiled nervously before turning to see what lay behind the doors.
As we crossed the threshold, nearly a hundred mana-lanterns illuminated our path, revealing the actual size of what we had just walked into. A massive hall of black stone that could only have been carved by an incredibly talented druid or powerful craftsmen. The turquoise lights bathed the path before us, revealing a long, straight path to the heart of the mountain.
"This is incredible. I never would have thought something like this could have existed here," Ysevel said, pretending she hadn't noticed Balgrim's darkened expression. "Indeed! This place must be from around the time of the Great Partition, though how it wasn't in any of those records is beyond me," Balgrim said, immediately shifting his behavior to match hers as we continued down the hallway.
Devyr and Kalia were practically unfazed by the incredible architecture, given that their homeland had substantially larger structures made of pure kataki. Still, they did have mixed emotions about it, though it was difficult to parse between their feelings and mine due to the situation.
We continued down the hall for nearly fifteen minutes before we reached a new area. Before us lay something not even Kalia could hide her awe from. As we entered it, more of the same mana lanterns began revealing our surroundings, spiraling almost to the very top of the mountain from the inside.
It was an abandoned city carved directly into the stone and forgotten by time. Each building, while very reminiscent of those in Narin, had little more than the bones that held them aloft remaining, as many of the walls had crumbled or fallen. Before us was a crossroads containing dozens, if not hundreds, of paths to take that likely led to different sections of the abandoned city.
"What is this place?" Mom asked with visible astonishment. "I-I… I don't know. I can't even begin to fathom how long this must have been here, though perhaps Calduran might know," Balgrim replied with an almost dream-like tone to his voice.
"Shit. It'll take us years to figure out where this creature is," Mom spat, frustratedly. No, it won't, Kalia said, looking over the edge of the crossroads that revealed an almost bottomless chasm. "You think it's down there?" I asked, and she nodded in response.
"But how do we get down there? The roads leading that way are all destroyed," Irun pointed to the far side of the chasm. "I can think of one way, but Balgrim isn't going to like it at all," Mom said with a grin. "Ooooh, no! No, no, fuckity-fuck no!" Balgrim said, raising his hands defensively as she approached him. "C'mere!" she laughed manically, grabbing him by the nape and speeding off over the edge to the far side of the chasm.
We could only watch and stifle a laugh as we watched her bounce from side to side, all the while Balgrim's screams reverberated throughout the dead city. "Well, that answers that question," Ed chuckled with tears in his eyes, breathing heavily as if it had been the first time he'd laughed like that in a while.
"Do you think you can do it?" I asked between my own chuckles. Even though we were all sure something was up with the druid, it certainly eased our tension with that small stint of comic relief. Ed's chuckle halted immediately, as an evident chill ran down his spine.
"I-I'm not sure. I don't think I can, honestly. She's a fucking monster," he admitted. "I'll take him, then," Kalia said aloud now that Balgrim wasn't present. "W-Wait, whaaaaat?" his voice immediately grew distant as both he and Kalia disappeared in the blink of an eye.
"Guess it's our turn," Ysevel gave me a wry smile. "Oh? Is this a race?" Athar asked, prompting us all to share a look. Even Devyr was giddy with excitement at the prospect of a race, but I don't think any of us needed to really say anything. "Ready? Go!" I shouted, leaping headlong into the chasm.
Of course, Devyr beat us all to the bottom.
"How the fuck are you that fast?" Irun asked with bated breath. It was much deeper than I think any of us had expected, but since both Mom and Kalia had made it seem like it was nothing to them, I realized there was still a sizable gap between us.
Devyr, keeping up the charade now that Balgrim was around, shrugged and stifled a giggle. "Yeah, I guess that's fair," Athar said, having interpreted something Irun hadn't. "One day, Devyr. One day," Irun balled his fist and raised it to chest height. While I couldn't see her expression, the amount of time I'd spent understanding her through mine and Kalia's connection told me she would be waiting for him to catch up.
After gathering ourselves, we took a moment to look around and see if there were any signs of the creature. Over here, Kalia sent us a wave. Thankfully, the few mana lanterns that remained unbroken by time were illuminating yet another hall just ahead of us, but as we walked, I could tell Athar was beginning to grow restless.
"You feel it, too, huh?" I asked him, getting little more than a silent nod. "Stay focused. There are many worse things than me in the depths of the realm," Mom said with a warning yet commanding tone.
As we continued in silence to carefully listen for any sign of danger, we continued the intermittent pulses of mana to search the area. Within a few moments, however, Kalia raised a fist to halt us and stared up at a mural. This is the story of my people, but why is it here? Kalia sent us with a mixture of both awe and frustration. Without a word, Mom summoned a dimmed sphere of directional light that was just enough to illuminate it.
The mural depicted the numerous battles that took place over the ages, along with all the bloodshed that ensued. "A-Are those… dragons?" I asked, looking up at a piece of the mural that was falling to pieces. All I could really see was what I thought was a wing, but I couldn't be sure.
"They are. They fought side by side with the inhabitants of this realm for many years," Ysevel said distantly, like she was lost in thought, though her words left me speechless. "I wonder if there are any left," Athar said idly, prompting Ysevel to chuckle. "Careful what you wish for. They're not known to have the best of tempers," she said with a chuckle.
How the hell would she know that? I wondered, not letting that thought slip out.