[Story] Miles deep and miles away

[ISAWHIM]

Continued...

With the gate locked, I unrolled another portal scroll and read the enchantment aloud. The scroll instantly ignited into flames and created a portal back to town in front of us. Now, I could get that good night’s sleep that I needed so bad. The portal continued to stay open after we passed through and arrived at the edge of town. There was a realistic fear that the portal might close after seeing it fail in the lower chamber. The glow of the portal illuminated the path to the tavern under the blanket of the freshly darkened sky. Though it was nearly noon, a storm had shadowed the sun’s rays.

The tavern owner set us up with a free room, since we were partly responsible for the additional business he had been getting. The room was the only one left, and it was just large enough to fit both me and my pet. A small detour would have to be made before we crashed for the day, as there was not enough room for our supplies to join us. The inn next door would be our first stop, as they gave us the best offering of food in exchange for our potions. The rest of the small collection will be exchanged for gold at the general trade-post. I think she gives me the best deals because she has thing for me. Then again, perhaps that is just part of her tactic to get first pick of my collected goods.

Now that our packs are empty, and our bellies and pockets are full, we head back to the tavern to clear our heads. The storm has not cast one single drop yet, so the tavern has not consumed many towns-folk. There should not be too much disturbance while we enter our slumber, but the same could not be said if we had come back a little later in the day. The door to the tiny room is shut and my pet takes his usual position, sleeping at the foot of the make-shift bed, on the floor. This big beefy lynx is really just an overgrown cat that can't seem to purr, but it can surely growl!

Nearly half a day later, apparently sleep was needed badly, we both awoke to the sound of a brawl in the tavern. Though everyone outside our room was tired and drunk, we were sober and well rested, ready for some community serving. After quickly getting dressed, we exited the room and walked down the hall. Plaster, my lynx, let out a completely unrestricted and powerful roar that would have made the devil stop and look. Silence, followed by carefully executed slow exits of the drunken patrons, left only the three of us in the tavern. A smile and a nod from the tavern owner followed by a, "Good morning to you too Plaster! Now I know how he got his name. I have never seen so many red faces turn that shade of white so fast!"

He gave my pet a bowl of fresh water and then he joined me while I extended a hand, helping clean the mess from the brawl. "I hope they didn't disturb your sleep?", said the tavern owner. I replied, "No, we were well rested. They did us a favor, and kept us from over-sleeping." The owner continued, "Thank-you for your help. You know that isn't needed." I just smiled and nodded back to him, while continuing to help him get things back into order. He looked like he could use a good rest too. I was not going to keep him from that, due to a bunch of ale-sponges with short tempers. Once we finished, I set a few gold coins on the bar. I told him it was for the water. It could have been used to purchase water for a year, but I really had no use for half the gold I had collected over the past few months, so it was not a loss to me or my pet.

To be continued...

[GetaVe]

So you went with the cat eh? Nice name

It is nice to see some interaction with the towns people above. What class of hero is he by the way? (I probably just forgot.. )

[Teldurn]

This is a fantastic story, I really liked reading it.

Keep it up, hopefully more chapters to come!

[ISAWHIM]

Thank-you Teldurn,
I am trying to add more every day. I already have several chapters finished in my head. It is only a matter of filling-in my own blanks, and laying out the format now. (Time is not on my side here, due to work.)

So you went with the cat eh? Nice name

It is nice to see some interaction with the towns people above. What class of hero is he by the way? (I probably just forgot.. )

I figured that, in the name of irony, a cat was more appropriate.

I think I may be leading towards the fighter guy... Mostly for reasons of future events in my head. (Besides, I am most familiar with that style of character.)

[ISAWHIM]

Continued...

Though it was early in the morning, almost three o-clock now, we needed to visit Vasman the ember scholar. He seemed to have a greater understanding that he only shared as riddles, if he volunteered to share anything at all. Though a great deal of his studies was from collections of other peoples knowledge, he had the unique ability to confirm most accounts with the crystals I had collected for him. History has recorded many truths buried between the lies of time. This new information might help us understand what we are dealing with, at the deeper levels.

Vasman had digested the information I had collected, but didn't have much to offer at the moment. He was going to have to consult some older archives in his library before more conclusions could be drawn. His interest was peaked enough to ask if he could venture down into this area with me. Though he would not admit it, I believe he feared the creatures and only asked to join me because I informed him that this area seemed devoid of any life, and was secured. When I mentioned the untouched room with the paintings initially, his body language showed that he was slightly discomforted and almost scared.

Once we teleported back down to the battle room, we were greeted by an unusual situation. One of the goblin creatures seemed to be trying to get the gate open. Perhaps he was drawn to the magic energy of the portal. Our arrival seemed to startle him, more than his presence had initially startled us. Once the portal collapsed, Vasman directed me to unlock the gate, but additionally instructed me to not harm the creature. I told him to charm my pet, as he would surely interfere with whatever plans he had for this creature once the gate was opened.

With my pet subdued by Vasman, they waited near the mouth of the corridor that led to the untraveled room. I drew one of my swords as a precaution, while I unlocked the gate. Once unlocked, I joined them by the corridor entrance. It was not long before the goblin had opened the gate and began to approach us with caution. He was not as aggressive and seemed to be expressing caution with his slow actions. He could have bombarded us with any number of enchanted attacks, but he seemed more focused on the tunnel which was to our side.

Without warning, the creature took one last step towards the corridor and began to scream like a human. Both my swords were instantly drawn, and Vasman even raised his wand, but neither of us moved. Our eyes frantically searched for the presence of another being other than the ones we saw here. Eventually, both our brains realized this was the creature making the sound. He fell to the ground, wailing and kicking and clawing at the solid stone floor. His body began to drag itself into the direction of the corridor. Claws dug new scratches into the ground, and the serrated ground wore through the creatures finger-tips as his nails wore away in the process.

Unseen forces began to lift the creature into the air as it continued to suck him slowly into the corridore entrance. No longer able to reach the walls or the ground, flailing arms splattered blood drops in every direction. The screams only faded when the creature ran out of breath, but they persistently sounded more and more human as he was pulled deeper. Within a few more moments in time, the creature stopped moving, and began to deteriorate into particles of dust. The dust continued to travel out of sight, leaving behind nothing that indicated any life just entered the corridor. Small glittering fragments could be seen drifting slowly down to the ground, under the disappearing particle trail.

Without having said a word, Vasman already explained so much to me, through demonstration. Though, by the look on his face, even he seemed to have learned something. I was afraid to break the silence, but the charm spell had worn-off, and Plaster broke it for me. He followed the silence-breaker by pinning down Vasman to the floor. Even to this event, Vasman's focus was undrawn from the events which just unfolded before him. He lay on the ground, peering down the corridor, as if he was expecting to see something more happen, or unhappen. Plaster, having made his point, joined me by my side. I reached a hand down to Vasman and asked, "So, are you ready to head down the corridor with us?"

To be continued...

[ISAWHIM]

Continued...

Vasman stood, with the help of my offering hand, and refused to release his grip. He looked down the corridor as he said, "I must tell you something before we descend, but please, lock the gate first." When I had locked and closed the gate, he continued to tell me everything he knew about what just happened, and what he was expecting below...

Vasman continued to say...

Years ago, before the mines were discovered here, I was given a book believed to be lore of ancient times. The person who was in possession of the book could not translate it, but said his great grand-father knew the stories within. The man was in desperate need of some money, so I offered him what I could. He said that he had tried to sell the book to shops in several towns, and they refused to give him a second look. I told him that I wanted to hear what he knew of the stories, so that it might help me translate the book in the future, in exchange for the additional gratuity I had extended him. I didn't think the book was anything special until he began telling me what he could remember of the stories his grand-father told.

When he was finished telling me all he could remember, I was sure that this was more than lore, but unsure of its actual importance. Until now, I had not even realized it was connected to the ember. Back then, ember was called cold-ash, in the book. This cold-ash crystals and minerals resembled glowing coal ashes, but did not generate heat, and ultimately led to the cold deaths of thousands who harvested it for its powers. The ember, when it was known as cold-ash, was originally used for lighting the caverns where miners were already harvesting iron and copper. The effects were discovered by accident, as miners were exposed longer and longer to the ember.

Within a short time, everyone knew how to harvest the power in the ember. Once they discovered the ruins, as we had, the book became more cryptic. It began to mention evils, demons, creatures, and lost civilizations. The writing seemed to exaggerate what I knew as reality, even accounting for all the magic I know myself. Stories soon turned into gospel preaching about falling into the fate of the cold-ash, and turning into cold-ash as punishment for this mortal crime that was created by the demons. It talked about a group of saviors who had slain thousands of creatures, immune to the effects of the cold-ash.

These saviors vowed to cleanse the world of the evils, led by instructions they had stolen from the creators. They gave little information about the creators, but noted that they were the result of everything that the cold-ash was not. The saviors originally intended to starve the creators by building gates at the source of their powers, since that was responsible for the turning of humans into cold-ash creatures. This corridor is the edge of the power which is responsible for consuming the turned souls and feeding the creators below. However, this plan failed. The starving creators seemed to be turning twice as many humans into cold-ash creatures, and killing the creatures only delayed the inevitable. Each creature that had been killed, came back twice as powerful.

Eventually, as the story goes, they opened the gates and began to force as many creatures into the gated corridor room as possible. Hundreds of thousands of souls were consumed, and eventually the entrances to all the mines collapsed, trapping the savior's miles under the earth for eternity. The cold-ash crystals and minerals stopped working, and were destroyed and forgotten, until the last few years. This is our ember, our cold-ash, another new generation of death for our civilization. You must be one of the saviors, immune to the effects of the ember. This must be why you were able to get this far without turning into one of the creatures. This is not a place for me. I can go down to the room below, but I cannot stay here or go any further than that room, or I will not be of any use to you, or us.

I just wanted you to hear that before we go deeper. If something does happen to me, you will have enough to continue on the correct path. If nothing happens to me down here, in the room ahead, I will do my best to assist you from above. I can get word out to the right people, to help locate those other saviors and stop bringing innocent people here as food for the creators. I doubt that you alone, can get what is need from the creators. It was not believed to be important, as they thought they had the answer. Unfortunately, they just sealed their fate, and ours. We will not make that same mistake. We are already one step ahead of them, being armed with the knowledge in this book.

Vasman heads to the corridor and looks back as an invitation for us to follow him...

To be continued...

[GetaVe]

Just wanted to quickly say that I will be reading all the new pages tomorrow at work (not that that is the best place to read but I hate working... LOL).

Man, I am following your liiiliiil page and yesterday there were 2 pages, I refresh tonight and BAM 5 pages. Woo!

Will comment more after I read tomorrow.

[ISAWHIM]

Continued...

We followed him down the corridor, helping him collect some samples along the way. The ashes had formed the smooth floor of the cavern, solidified by the fungus that fed slowly on them. Each few hundred feet, we collected more samples, taking note of the thinning layers. Our torches would begin to sparkle like a fuse when we placed them near the ground to inspect with better clarity. The fungus seemed to be unlike normal fungus, consuming bad air and releasing fresh air. Only the coolness of the air which surrounded us could not be explained. Most of the other caverns down here were warm and well lit by the combination of ember and phosphorous minerals that lined the walls.

Two hours later, we came to the large room at the other end of the corridor. I headed back to the center and placed a torch in the same hole as before. Vasman focused on the paintings along the outter walls, between each of the eight exits. Plaster, once again, decided to take a nap. After two hours of walking slow, and nothing to fight, he was surely bored. I decided to inspect the floors again, to see if there was more than just the glossy tiles that were revealed by our foot-prints. Starting near the torch, I used my foot to brush aside the centuries of collected dust and fungus.

Markings and seams, where the marble tiles changed colors, indicated that there was more to uncover here. There was nothing here that I could read or identify, but it did look like some form of instruction or guide. Vasman was nearly half way around the room when he called me over to join him at one of the painted sections. As I approached him, a faint screaming could be heard coming from one of the other corridors which were unexplored. This was ignored by me, as I had a good idea what it was from, but the occurrence was recorded in his notes.

Vasman was standing in front of a painting of an orb and a large gem. The orb was connected to the gem with waves of energy. Around the large gem was a bunch of smaller gems, connected to the large gem by smaller waves of energy. On the top of painting was a town filled with people. Vasman said that this is how the ember works. Energy is harvested by the smaller scattered crystals, from the earth. This energy feeds the larger crystal, and that is balanced by the orb below, powering the orb.

The next painting had a line separating the large gem and the orb. The energy changed colors as it passed through this line, and the painting indicated that the energy which was once gathered from the earth, was now pointing up to the town. The people in the town were shown digging holes and holding pieces of these smaller gems that were releasing energy that pointed down at the earth. He told me that this is how it began for every civilization that was here before Torchlight.

Continuing on to the next painting, this was more familiar to me. It showed the bubbles of caverns under the earth, and humans and creatures within. Ember gems were covering the surface of the town, with lots of energy pointing back to the large gem under the earth. There were few indications of any crystals under the earth, and now many holes leading to the caverns. This room was not in the painting, and only the orb was still shown below the line.

With each painting, more of the story unfolded. The ember seems to like a bee, harvesting nectar for the larger hive below. The energy stays contained below the surface when that line is not there, and pushes up into our grasp when the line appears. This negative force repels it into our reach, and once reached, it draws on our life for energy. Nothing indicates why it does this, nor does it mention the creators, only the creatures. Eventually, it shows all the ember coming back under the ground, and all the creatures trapped and consumed by this room.

Once consumed, the line disappears and the holes on the surface disappear. The ember that is not returned, is shown without energy waves, and people are shown as normal again. This must have been the reason that the saviors had ultimately resorted to the fate which was written in the book. They saw this, and tried to prevent it. If this is the same fate we will have before us, the town of Torchlight will not survive. There are not enough people in Torchlight to allow the fate happen. Vasman adds, "Not yet. This just started."

To be continued...

[ISAWHIM]

Continued...

Once he had finished recording what he needed, we headed back to the gate room. Our conversation continued as we walked back. He wanted me to keep the gate open, for fear of aggravating the situation beyond any possible control. I was also asked to explore the other areas, to see if one of them led to the creators. He didn't think it would be that easy to find them, and expected that there was some other way to reach them. The markings on the floor would most likely reveal more in time, as we both naturally assumed. Finding the creators, and any other recorded information was critical to any success at this point. There was too little to work with at the moment, though there was a lot to decipher into a real history of events.

Vasman was given the key to the gate, and he disappeared through a portal, headed back to town. Plaster and I, once again, descended back to the grand picture room. Each passage through this corridor seemed to take less time. Now our only decision is to determine which entrance to try first. Each one seemed as ordinary as the next, except for one. Two entrances away from the one we exited, was a corridor which had a rough floor. There was still a presence of dust debris on the ground, but not much. Fungus was also not as abundant, so this would be a torch-lit journey. Without the glow of the fungus to outline any possible creature’s silhouette, I was not going to take a chance whistling in the dark.

The path was more jagged and had more of a downward direction, which was both a blessing and a curse at the same time. Plaster was not having as difficult of a time as I was, with his contour conforming paws. My boots were getting wedged into crevasses and sliding on unsecured footings. Almost no dust debris could be seen now, and not one single fungus patch was near. Ahead, the corridor began to widen and take a more man-made shape of a hall. The floor looked as if it would possibly be faster to travel soon. In this whole travel-time, not one scream was heard. This may not be a path to the creators, but it sure didn't feel like a path to any of the creatures either.

Only a few minutes down this man-made section of the corridor, and things began to change dramatically. The temperature rose to a more comfortable level, a non-fungus ambient glow made the torch light useless, and a deep calming feeling rattled within. The walls held the ambient glow, with the light colored stone surfaces which were smooth to the touch, but not polished. The high-arched ceilings seemed to offer a naturally visual and mental invitation to continue, resembling a religious cathedral in design. Even the floor, though it was darker and hard, seemed to comfort each step as if it were a field of low growing grasses.

Almost forgetting to try, I pulled out a portal scroll. There was no rush to get to town, but I was instructed to try my magic, to see when it would work after heading down any other corridor. The scroll failed but the ember gem in the fire-wand, which did not work, was glowing an unusual color. This may be where the ambient light was coming from in the walls. There may not have been enough magic power for the ember to work as magic, but it still functioned as a good light source. Ahead, that light could be seen brighter, so I expected magic would begin working again soon.

The hall began to narrow, layered in steps that reached up the walls and across the cathedral ceiling. Each step formed a new level that extended for several feet, before it rose to the next platform. The narrowing hall reduced to an opening the size of a doorway, but without any obvious door present. The solid wall behind, offered no sign of mobility or collapse. This was the perfect location to try using another portal, and the fire-wand. I was over two hours away from the grand picture room, which was one hour further than the gate room was from that location.

I read the portal scroll, and the scroll disappeared into a ball of flames, as it always does once used. However, I could not say that "nothing" happened, as something did happen. There was no town portal, or any portal, but there was something unexplainable happening. Deep inside my body, and apparently in Plasters body, something could be felt. Plaster looked up at me, bringing notice that I had done something that he could also feel. Though it didn't feel bad, I was not going to risk endangering ourselves to further scroll experimentation.

I was hesitant to try the fire-wand, knowing that the feeling of the portal somehow ended up inside us. Though the portal might feel pleasant inside us, or whatever that was, I was unsure if the fire-wand might have a similar reaction. The last thing I wanted was a fire-ball to burn me from the inside-out, but I promised to test the magic, and justified it in the name of hope. With a steady hand, and unsure thoughts, I triggered the wand. Again, something happened, but it was not the internal fire-ball I anticipated as the adverse effect. This feeling was inside, but seemed to be more chilling, without being painfully chilling. This was a failed attempt, all the same, and that ended my experimentation for the day.

To be continued...

[ISAWHIM]

Continued...

Just to be sure that I had not missed anything, a walk around the door-shaped area and some wall tapping with the end of my sword was done. Everything seemed as solid as it looked and there was nothing to indicate that anything unobvious might exist. There were no markings, no foot-prints, no scuff-marks, no hollows, no levers, and obviously no functional magic. Wait, I almost forgot to try an enchantment magic spell. The series of thoughts that flashed through my head, at the idea of trying a summon-creature spell, was more disturbing than the fire-ball. The last thing that I wanted the summon-creature spell to do, was work, but be inside me when it did work.

For a safe measure, I decided to try a heal-all spell. If the portal or fire-ball magic did cause any internal harm, this would at-least heal that. I turned to Plaster and asked, are you ready boy? The words rolled off my tongue and echoed down the hall...

...

...

Vasman's voice could be heard faintly in the distance. "Can you hear me? What happened? Come on, take a sip of this." I felt something press against my lips, and tried to consume what was being given to me. My body felt consumed in a blanket of hot needles, yet it was numb and cold. The unrecognized and distant voice continued to have a one way conversation with me, "I am so sorry. I should have had you come up with me. Where is Plaster? Did he come up with you?" My eyes opened and they were greeted by Vasman who was holding me upright, trying to get me to drink some potion. My lips still hurt, but I could feel them taking the nectar into my mouth and swallowing it. His voice now seemed to be present to his position, no longer sounding like it was off in the distance.

I raised a hand and helped him feed the rest of the potion to me, by tipping it up more. The questions stopped, as he must now see that my eyes surely say I am not in a position to answer a thousand questions. My body went through some strange feelings as I regained consciousness to my surroundings. Attempting to stand, I gracefully returned back into the feeble arms of Vasman. He seemed to be observing me now, like an alchemist observes rats eating an unknown substance, to see if it has negative reactions. My condition was rapidly improving, and the last thing I remembered him asking me was about Plaster.

I cried out to Plaster, as if he was around the corner. I was unsure where he was, as we were both in the cavern below, in the glowing hall without a door. Vasman replied to my cry, "He is not here, you arrived in town alone. You collapsed out-side the tavern. What happened down there?" My eyes drifted around the room, trying to make sense of my lost time and my new location. The questions were being processed randomly in my disoriented head. I told Vasman that I tried to do a portal and it failed, and also a fire-ball. Both could be felt inside my body, but they were not a portal and a fire-ball inside my body, just energy or something.

When I told him about the heal-all spell, he seemed only partly puzzled. He said he had an idea what might have happened, but we needed to find Plaster first. I agreed, and put all my effort towards standing up, to begin the search. I wavered and nearly fell down, but I was standing. Vasman told me to use my healing spell on myself, now that I was not in the neutral-zone below. The spell worked instantly, and a little faster than normal, bringing me back to nearly instant full recovery. This observation also didn't seem to stump Vasman, and he commented that he expected that something like this might happen. He just didn't expect it to be so dramatic and potentially dangerous and rewarding at the same time.

We headed out the door, and were greeted by Plaster, who seemed a little confused but unharmed. Vasman was a little confused though. I told him that I did the same heal-all enchantment spell, just in case Plaster was near-by. The lack of mud on Plasters paws indicated he was farther than they thought. He must have still been down in the chamber. The ground out here was all covered in mud from the rain last night. There was a trail going from the tavern to the front door here, where I was dragged by Vasman and the tavern owner. However, there was not one single paw-print outside the door, except for the ones where Plaster stood now.

"Get inside, both of you, I have more to tell you.", said Vasman.

Vasman continued...

Remember all those stones I had you retrieve for me? I had sent others to get those same stones, only two were ever retrieved by anyone other than you. The two gentlemen who did retrieve them, I have not seen since. Originally I thought they had run-off with the last stone I sent them to get, but then you returned the next two stones, which were the two I sent them down to retrieve. I suspect that they were turned, and I expected a similar fate for you. Nothing I could have said would have stopped you from going down there, everyone has a reason that they use to justify going down there, and you were no exception. Well, you were no exception until you found that room.

Those stones were part of a larger crystal, as are the smaller and more common ember crystals and minerals we are finding. Unlike the embers, these other crystals are part of a collection. Each crystal has unique properties, when paired with a special orb. Without the orb, the crystals are unfocused and unfiltered. The powers they emanate seem to accelerate the powers of any embers near-by. Sine you are one of the people immune to the effects, you were able to retrieve the crystals without turning down there. I have the crystals contained within a special silence, reflect, and defense orb, but that only allows me to contain the power by severing the crystals link to the embers.

The book talks briefly about these crystals, but only mentions of some of them. The book is not from Torchlight. The book comes from a town miles away. The events in the book, and the room itself, suggests that there could be more of these things all over the world, all built the same, with the same effects. The paintings on the wall suggest that this is not the only location of ember also. However, the book and the wall paintings both show exactly the same fates. Though the room with the paintings looks to be almost eight-thousand years old, the book looks like it is only four-thousand years old.

The chamber below describes a larger crystal and giant orbs that both repel and attract at the same time. The orb was originally created to filter out bad energy distributing good energy, while it suppressed bad energy below. The ember was the collector of all energy, and the large crystal was the distributor of this original mixture of good and bad collected energy. Because more people lived longer, due to this abundant good energy near the orb, population near the orb grew out of control. Those on the edges were having more energy drained and dyeing faster, and began to turn into creatures.

The smaller crystals and orbs became prized by those who could not be near the larger orb, but those people were quickly turning into creatures as population continued to explode near the large orb. This caused an endless expanding cycle that caused those immune to the effects of both the small and large orbs to provoke wars. The people, who were nearly immortal to harmful magic and most natural events, were only susceptible to powers held by others near orbs of opposite powers, and also to physical death. The people immune to the effects of ember used this knowledge to wage wars, demanding a treaty from all who possessed the orbs.

This treaty proposed resolution to return the world back to the way it was, before the orbs were created. They wanted everyone to return back to normal. However, that was not possible, as the orbs existences themselves, were the reason things went out of control. If the orbs were destroyed, nothing would suppress any effects of the ember. The ember would reach-out for energy, like a lode-stone without a matching pair or iron-core to bond with. In effect, draining everyone of all energy, and turning everyone into creatures on the surface. The powers of the orb could not be put back into the large gems.

A second proposal was suggested, to dig-up the gems and place them into the orbs. The idea being that the positive and negative separated forces would now be within one another, or around one another. Like wrapping a lode-stone within an iron ball, containing all the energy. However, it was not the large crystal that contained the energy; it was just the collector and an emitter of the harvested energy. Every small element of ember would have had to been collected, and added into the orb. The orb was not that large, and it would have been physically impossible to dig-up all the dangerous life-absorbing and creature-turning gems.

The third proposal was the final one used. They were going to move the orb below the large gem, contained under the ground, so it pulled all the energy away from the surface. Moving it just far enough that the attraction of positive and negative would remain strong enough to stop its destructive forces above. They would keep the large crystal supported, so it would continue to harvest the bad energy, while keeping that bad energy suppressed below the earth, just above the good energy in the orbs. Moving it lower would cause any embers forces near the surface to reach-up through the surface, making it more dangerous than before, as there would be no more good energy left to counteract the bad energy.

This is where the problem gets worse. This balance has a neutral place between the large crystal and the orb. The room with the paintings is directly between both of them. The earth was opened to help ensure that the bad energy freely flows down to the orb. However, this balance of push and pull, keeping the bad energy below the ground seems to fail when there is not enough energy being sent below. Since the energy is not reaching the surface, it is not stealing enough of our energy. This causes the force to weaken, and now the reach of the ember rises above the surface, causing people to have an uncontrolled urge to collect ember.

The ember begins to release energy to those closest, while it absorbs from those farther away. This is where our magic is coming from now. This causes more people to seek it out, bringing them deeper into the caves. However, now they begin to turn, being closely surrounded by all this negative energy. Others come, and fall into the same fate, for years, filling the caves with turned creatures. They become the final required energy needed to refill the orb with enough power to pull the ember forces back under the ground. Once balance has been restored, there is enough energy underground to keep balance for thousands of years. The surface holes close, ember fails to do magic, and the creatures slowly become consumed as they venture into, or are forced down into the gate rooms.

The creators themselves, if they still exist, are still slowly feeding from and draining the orbs. They may be the original creators that the paintings show, or they could be the saviors that the book talked about. Once trapped, and all creatures were consumed, the saviors had to go somewhere, and they didn't come out. If they did stay, they could only have survived by the power of the orbs. If the ember forces we have on the surface here are the negatives of the orbs forces, that would make all the magic as you use, useless and backwards to some extent.

I believe this is why you were stunned when you tried to use the heal-all magic, which still didn't work to its full power, or you might have killed yourself instantly. The fire-wand seemed to cause a mild ice-shield inside you, and the portal... well, I am not sure what the portal was doing to you. Perhaps it was just teleporting you slowly, and that feeling was what you would feel in a normal teleport, if it wasn't done so fast up here. I will have to investigate this further, along with you, this time. I seem to also be immune to the effects of the ember, as I have handled every crystal you returned me, prior to them being contained.

I do not believe we will find the original orbs used to focus and filter the crystals, but we might be able to find information on them in the other caverns. In time, all who are immune, and called to the ember, will join us. As for the ones who are not immune and still come, there is nothing we can do. They will turn in time. It is better for all of us that they don’t turn until they are below, where they will not harm others. For now, we need some rest. Poor Plaster still looks confused, and I am sure your head is hurting form listening to me talk all afternoon.

Vasman reaches over to his notes, and closes them, heading off to his room.

To be continued...

[Loki]

Did you start this in November?

http://www.nanowrimo.org/

[ISAWHIM]

Did you start this in November?
http://www.nanowrimo.org/

Yes, the date on the first post (Nov, 3), is when I started this. Just before the first patch was completed.

NOTE: I am going to reform the last entry, that is why it is not on the website yet. I just quickly wrote it, so that I had notes to follow. That section will be drawn-out, being discovered later-on and clarified. (I realize it seems hard to follow the way I originally wrote it.)

[ISAWHIM]

Continued...

After a long night of sleep, we all headed off to the town of Ruse, where the book was originally obtained. The man who sold the book was no longer here, nor was anyone else. This town had long been abandoned, decayed ruins being the only sign that a town once existed here. There was not enough left of the ruins to search for clues, but there were signs which indicated that this was previously a mining town too. Empty carts and iron-banded barrels lay rotten between the foundations of buildings. Scavengers or residents had emptied this town of any valuables, including the book which led us here. Centuries of life once thrived in this location, yet it remained unoccupied at the moment.

Plaster stopped and went into sonar mode while we were headed down the overgrown remains of a main street. His head sat motionless while his ears twisted and turned in every direction. He heard something of interest and was trying to get a location to match the sound direction. When Plaster crouched down, his head and ears turned to match one fixed direction. I signaled to Vasman for silence. My swords were slowly drawn as I took a fighting stance by my pet's side. I could not see it, but I knew Plasters tail was darting back and forth in attack mode, ready to pounce at something unseen that was headed towards us.

Parting the tall overgrowth ahead was a scrawny woman with a back-pack. Pans and utensils hung from her belt that contoured her bony figure which was wrapped in tattered cloth. My swords returned to their mounts, and Plaster rose with little caution given to the approaching woman. She greeted us with a friendly hello, and introduced herself. Nora told us that she had lived here most of her life. She found this place when she was exploring as a child, and eventually came to live here. She was obviously not in the best of health, lacking the full figure of every other woman her age, but she said she had never been sick and rarely ever hungry. Vasman pointed out that she was wearing two rings and a necklace which contained pieces of glowing ember.

When we asked her about the jewelry, she said she found them in the ruins as a child. That is why she kept coming back, and eventually moved here. The jewelry could be used to find other gems, which she would sell in towns for food. Though she did not eat very much, she did still eat. In the years she had been here, collecting and selling embers for food, the supply of ember slowly disappeared. That is how she found us. Our armor and amulets also contained ember, and she thought her jewels were directing her to another ruin treasure. We offered her food, but not our embers. She even allowed Vasman to inspect her embers, to see if they were the same as ours. Suspecting that these were some of the original cold-ash gems from the book, they might have a different composition than our ember.

There was little difference between the ember we had, and the gems which were in her jewelry. Vasman was able to learn a new spell from the energy that her jewelry was emitting. This should be able to help us a little in our quests. The spell gives us the ability to detect the presence of mounted embers. Something her gems do naturally, yet as with all spells, this only helps a fraction of what any ember can offer. She said that it has been a while since the jewelry had helped her, thinking that it might have broken, until we arrived. We asked if she knew of any caves or mines near here, and she pointed to the direction which she had come from. We were invited to join her, to see her home, which she had made from the caves. Being the only thing in the town which was still of sound structure, it was only natural to occupy it.

The entrance to the mine was decorated in flowers and vines, intricately woven to form an arched hallway entrance. It was obvious that she had lived here long enough to guide the slow growing plants into the shape she desired. Had she not kept this growth away from the entrance, it would have never been found. From the outside, it was difficult to tell that this hallway led anywhere at all. Once inside the actual cave, we were invited to sit around a large stone filled with tiny fragments of lightly glowing ember. The furniture was old and bound by pieces of other old furniture which was used to keep it in repair. Once near the stone, it began to illuminate brighter and fill us with rejuvenating warmth. The stone had obviously been lodged here by the original miners, but had no function other than what it was doing now.

Vasman continued to ask her for any details she could provide about this town, but there was little she could offer. The town was in ruins when she found it, and had not changed much in the past thirty years that she had lived here. There were no valuables, other than the necklace and rings that she found buried among the rubble. The few things which were not rotten were removed by previous occupants before the town was deserted. Only this cave, which was found with the help of the jewelry, and a bunch of the scattered gems had remained. This cave had no other exits, only the one which they entered from, and that offered no comfort to Vasman or me. We were hoping for something more than this.

Now we had to be heading back to town, as this only added lost time to our journey ahead. We gave Nora the rest of the food we had, and some town-portal scrolls. She said she would contact us if anything was found which might be of use to us. We headed back out to the town ruins for one final look around before we departed. Nora stayed in the cave and continued on with her daily duties. Plaster and Vasman headed in opposite directions, so that we might cover more ground faster. The town was large, but you could easily see most of it through the low overgrowth. Only six main streets which ran side by side were not as overgrown as the rest of the town.

Reaching the ends of the streets, we regrouped by Plaster. He was closest to the direction we had to travel, to get home. I reached Plaster first, but Vasman stopped before he got to us. He was looking down the street which I had just walked. His head sat at a slight angle, as if he saw something out of place. We walked over to greet him, to see what he sees. Looking hard, I tried to see what he was seeing, but didn't have any luck identifying anything unusual. I whispered to him, "What do you see?" He replied, "Look at the entrance to the cave. Notice anything strange about it?" Looking again, I did see that the vine entrance was a little off-center, and it went up the hill a little. Usually the entrances are slightly downward as they end-up deep within the earth. They would not have built a mine entrance up a hill, only to go back down. At the least, it would have been flattened to lay rails for carts.

To be continued...

[SantaPenguin]

Nice work Jason! keep it comin`.

It's nice to see fan art emerging for this cool little game, especially literature, since it's the most interesting!

Now that i've read YOUR short story....

will you read mine?

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=6955

[ISAWHIM]

Nice work Jason! keep it comin`.

It's nice to see fan art emerging for this cool little game, especially literature, since it's the most interesting!

Now that i've read YOUR short story....

will you read mine?

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=6955

Mind if I link it on my website? (Might as well start a collection. Reading now.)

[SantaPenguin]

Nice work Jason! keep it comin`.

It's nice to see fan art emerging for this cool little game, especially literature, since it's the most interesting!

Now that i've read YOUR short story....

will you read mine?

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=6955

Mind if I link it on my website? (Might as well start a collection. Reading now.)

i can give you the thing in a the format i wrote it. Somehow it lost the indents and the organization i had it in when i wrote it. But you can go ahead and link it as long as you give credit.

[ISAWHIM]

We headed back down the path of the street and called out to Nora. She was surprised to see us back so soon. We asked her if we could take a look through some of the overgrowth of vines, on the side of her home. In all essence, this was her home, claimed over time. We told her that we thought the mines may be located on the side, possibly covered over before she came and found the side-cave. She looked a little puzzled, but understood our request. We told her that we would not harm her entrance to her house in any way. She agreed, and followed us as we inspected with our swords and magic. She was curious to know if there was a whole series of mines that my contained more crystals. The same crystals she had found scattered and buried all over the town.

Though my sword was nearly three feet long, six feet of reach in my extended hand, I could not offer much discovery through the dense overgrowth. Vasman seemed to have better luck with his improvised magic spell which was casting a blast of air through the plants. It would bounce off the harder walls, pushing the plants back towards us to indicate a wall was behind them. Even Nora offered some help with her jewelry. It was her discovery which led us to search over by the far end of this steep hill. She had detected a few gems on the ground, just below the surface. Obviously these too, had been discarded from one of the loads exiting the mines at one point in time.

One blast of air through the vines had shattered several old planks into pieces. The vines fell inward as they gripped tightly onto the heavy wood. The planks had been used to cover the mine’s entrance centuries ago. It was going to be difficult to chop through all these vines, to get access to the mines, which may not even lead into the depths below. The book said that the mines had collapsed, but if they opened-up in Torchlight, they may have also opened here as well. Nora again offered some assistance to us. She expressed concern, hearing us talk about destroying all these beautiful plants that formed the structure which surrounded her home. She said she was more than willing to help us create an entrance to the mines, which resembled the entrance to her home. She used the excuse that this entrance could be used to conceal the actual entrance from others finding it. This way, if this was just another cave, it could still be covered and forgotten again.

We agreed, and she led them a few paces back, near the entrance to her home. The vines were not as dense here, and they could get between the stone the hanging vines. It did not take long to push and weave the loosened vines into a hallway that led directly to the mines. The air-blasts had delicately separated the grip of the vines from the stone. Many of the runners were used to weave them into place. From the outside, you could not tell that there was any type of access behind this growth. Inside, the hallway ended at the entrance to the mine, where the vines were still draped over from the heavy shattered chunks of wood. Each piece of wood was cut from the vine, and used to help support the vines away from the stone above the entrance.

Nora told Vasman that her jewelry was detecting all sorts of things ahead in the mine. Vasman told Nora that she might not want to go deeper with us, as the mines in Torchlight were full of creatures. Nora, who was not really able to do much to defend herself, didn't resist the offer to wait at the entrance. Torches were lit, and the entrance begun to offer little sparkles from the tiny crystals that remained in the ore which formed the walls of the cave. We could imagine that Nora's eyes were wide and her thoughts already racing to go just a few steps inside, as we walked out of view. Again, this is one of those things that just can't be stopped. Lucky for her, she seemed to be immune to the effects of turning. However, she was hardly a warrior that could defend herself from the turned, if they were encountered in her journey for more.

Plaster took a position between Vasman and I, as we walked deeper into the mine. We listened intently for any sounds that might alert us to a pending battle, but after an hour of traveling down into the lowest depths, not one creature could be found. Portals were abundant, connecting one blistered area to the next, but these ruins seemed forgotten, unlike the active ruins found under torchlight. The ember must not be strong enough to call anyone down here. Nora did remove almost all the surface crystals, and there was almost no-one around these ruins for miles. Even if it did call anyone, the entrance had been hidden, well, this entrance had been hidden.

It was apparent that whoever was down here last, had gutted the ruins, as the town had been gutted. Perhaps the saviors in the book were the last ones who ever ventured down here. It did say that they had driven all the creatures into the neutral zone, through the gates. If the orb had been force-fed all that energy, it is possible that it was now beyond the point of starving and near death. These caves were not as complex as the ones in Torchlight, and they don't seem as if they could have held enough of the creatures to feed off of. Once we find the neutral chamber, we may gain more insight to what happened after the mines collapsed. Without a large reserve of life above, feeding the crystals below, the orb may not need as much power to maintain the balance required to suppress the ember madness.

Vasman stopped, holding a hand low with an open palm, suggesting that we stop too. I did not hear anything, but still stood in silence looking for any motion up ahead. He told us to wait here, but watch his back as he headed towards the crumbled remains of an old statue down the corridor. His wand was raised high, glowing and ready for casting. Without warning, a mimic revealed itself. It had mimicked a statue, one that Vasman had seen some ways back. The creature was easily defeated, perhaps too drained of its energy after years of being drained by the ember itself. My experience has shown that this creature will come back in time, stronger than before, once defeated. Without any life above, or other turned creatures here below, this might not happen. However, it is better to assume that it will.

We continued until we came across the gate room. Just as our gate had been opened, so was this one. Beyond this room was a corridor just like the one in the mines under Torchlight. With our pace quickened, we headed to the expected neutral room below, with the paintings. Within minutes, we were greeted by something which we were not expecting. The room was glowing, up in the vaulted ceiling, a giant crystal seemed to be supported by a thin column that protruded from the center of the room. The floor of the room was no longer a floor, as it was in the room under Torchlight. The floor seemed to have formed a spiral staircase which traveled down around the raised column that touched the crystal above. Only three other exits could be seen around the perimeter of the room. One of those, I suspected was similar to the dead-end which was also in the room under Torchlight.

Vasman asked, "Should we go down, or check-out the other two exits?" I knew he wanted to go down, so I gestured to the stairs below, while drawing my swords from their mounts. Plaster had no opinion, but after another long journey without any fighting, I am sure he would have also suggested that we should head down the stairs. The only part of the floor that remained was the edge along the perimeter, giving them access to the two other corridors and the stairs down, which were on the other side of the large room. These stairs which were formed from the lowering floor, led to a large corridor that continued to spiral downward around the core pillar. Not one creature, savior, or creator could be seen or heard, but the low humming of a strong magical orb could be heard as we traveled deeper.

Having traveled down several thousand feet, the corridor began to show signs of being crafted, rather than having just been carved from the earth. Rough steps turned into long slabs of crafted glossy marble, like the floors in the neutral room above. Walls contained fluted columns of glowing stone, similar to the dead-end room I had found under Torchlight. The ceiling, though still rough, began to take an arched form that was uniform across the width of the corridor. Chilling thoughts came to my mind, as I remembered trying to use my magic, which ended-up doing more harm than help. I brought this to the attention of Vasman, as we continued. He simply told me not to use any magic down here. He didn't anticipate that we would need it, from the stories within the book.

He went on to explain that the book said the saviors had no problem stealing the plans from the creators. They described the creators as crippled and defenseless against physical persuasion. They had magic, but it could only offer them defense against other magic. He hoped that the saviors took the plans back down with them, joining the creators, and falling to the same fate as the creators themselves. The lack of bodies on the way down here, suggested that they were still down here. However, it is doubtful that they are still alive, and if they are, they would be just as crippled after four thousand years. I understood that, after seeing how time had taken its toll on the mimic. They are usually a real tough creature to defeat when they are healthy.

We came upon some tall carved windows on the inner edge of the spiraled halls. Through the window we could see a blue orb in the distance, and the unfinished remains of what would have been a town surrounding it. This path seemed to form the outer walls of a giant arch. Like a snail's shell, connecting the top to the bottom. It was too dark to see how much further we had to travel, but that was a clue that we still had much further to travel. This was obviously not a commonly traveled area by anyone. Perhaps this was the only way to get the original town's people down here eight-thousand years ago, when they moved the orb down here. Though, it does not look like they got that far. If they did, something obviously happened to them since then.

We passed a few balconies which gave a better view of the city below the orb. The orb seemed to be supported from above, not below. Vasman explained that the attraction of the orb to the large crystal above would be responsible for its need to be supported from above, down here. If the orb was above ground, it would have been supported from below, as it pulled towards the crystal below. A platform rose up to the orb, but was offering no support. We both assumed that the creators that the book talked about were located there, to stay close to the orb. We continued down, stopping for a moment at every balcony, to look for signs of life below. Nothing was seen until we arrived at the end of the corridor.

Reaching the end of the corridor, we were greeted by a man in a long white gown. His form was like that of Nora's, thin and lacking in natural form of someone his age. With an old dialect almost forgotten, he introduced himself as Gourad. Vasman quickly interrupted Gourad's introduction by asking, "Gourad of Ruse?" Stunned by Vasmans's quick reply, and even confused, Gourad asked, "Ruse, it is still there? They remember us?" Vasman reached into his pack and removed the book of lore that had led us here. Gourad's eyes and fingers eagerly flipped through the book, to see what was written. His face showed signs of joy, then confusion, then near anger as he progressed through the book. He dropped the book on the ground, and asked that we follow him. Obviously, he was upset at the ending of the story, or perhaps he was reminded of the actions that they had forgotten over the centuries.

He refused to speak to us after dropping the book. We had no choice but to follow him, if we were going to get any kind of resolution to this mystery. Leading us to the center of town, he pointed up a spiral staircase which wrapped around the center platform under the orb. He told us not to show the book to them, but said nothing more. Could he be talking about the creators, or the other saviors? We headed up, and Gourad returned to his post as town greeter. What seemed like a ghost town, his job might have been punishment, not one of true necessity. Hopefully all this would become clear once we have a chat with the people at the top of these stairs.

[ISAWHIM]

Continued...

Plaster trailed behind us as we headed up the stairs. The view from the center of the city was amazing as we neared the top. Even the unfinished buildings looked like they could be lived-in without discomfort. The giant blue orb supported above, as if it was an alien sun. Plaster's impatient growls kept us moving up the stairs at a steady pace. We were not here to enjoy the views. However, it could not be ignored from our position as we ascended the stairs. This wonder was built to be seen, even if it could only be seen by the creators.

Once we reached the top, we headed towards the center of the room. Markings on the floor suggested that this is where we should be situated. Like a king’s chamber, there were tall chairs all around this main room’s perimeter facing towards the center. Only two chairs were occupied, on opposite sides of the room. Unsure which person to face, we greeted both in turn, offering our names and where we were from. This felt appropriate to the situation at hand. The younger looking person pointed at Vasman and gestured for him to come closer.

Vasman approached the man and paused at his feet. The man reached out a hand, turned his palm up to the ceiling, and created a small grape-sized orb. He gestured for Vasman to consume the orb as if it were food. Vasman didn't hesitate to consume it, knowing that it must be of importance to continue. There was an immediate and unspoken trust between those two, which I would never have. Vasman's body began to glow with a pale yellow light, mostly around his head.

The man who gave him the orb began to speak in a tongue which I had never heard. Though he was the younger of the two by looks, he was surely the eldest in time. Vasman listened intently for three hours before the man paused. Without filling me in on the details, Vasman simply replied, "Yes.", to the man. The conversation turned back to the man speaking again, with Vasman listening intently before they both turned to look at me. Though I had heard what was said, I was unsure what they wanted from me. Vasman quickly intervened and said, "He wants to know if you are willing to help save him, in exchange for knowledge and a gift."

I waited for a signal from Vasman, but it was apparent that this was a question posed to test my own desires. I rightfully replied, "I need to speak with Vasman before I can reply." The glow around Vasman faded, and he fell out of his trance. Vasman approached me and I asked him what was going on. He asked me, through you, if I was willing to help him in exchange for knowledge and a gift. Vasman said, "Sorry, that was me asking, not him. Let me fill you in on the situation. We do want to help them, but you will see that after I explain what he said."

Vasman continued to say...

His name is Ina, and he was sent here to keep the orb alive, so it balanced out the evils in the embers above. Each of these chambers, there are hundreds of them, have an orb and an orb creator. He is not the original creator of the orb, just one of the creators in time. He has been here for over six-thousand years. The original creator had been down here for two-thousand years, after having ruled above for four-thousand years before the move. When the orbs were moved down here, after the wars, they built the town below to house everyone who originally lived in the town above the surface.

However, his town was completely destroyed by creatures that came once the orb was moved underground. Only the two creators who were originally left to tend the orb as it moved, unable to leave its side, had survived. The saviors in the book were all here at one point in time, and agreed to help restore balance, but many have passed-away over time. The orb is failing to sustain all these lives, without life living above. When the saviors came here to help, they originally deceived the creators, after they agreed to help. Instead of helping, they built gates around neutral zones, stopping all organic energy from feeding the orb. This killed the original creator, leaving only Ina to sustain the orbs power.

This triggered the ultimate destruction of the town above. With no energy coming to sustain the orb and the creator, the power of the ember rose into the town. The savior’s returned to the surface, but found that all the defenseless people were being slaughtered by the creatures, and being turned into creatures. They rushed back down and opened the gates, doing as the creators originally asked. They pushed all the creatures into the neutral zone to be consumed for orb energy. The balance returned, but it was too late. The town had been destroyed and no-one ever settled there again.

The saviors had no chance to return after the mines closed, and now, the two saviors that still remain cannot leave the proximity of the orb. Over time, the weakest an eldest of the saviors had died as the orb failed to sustain them. Soon, the orb will fail to sustain the three remaining people. The creator and two of the original saviors depend on our help to survive. The mines have been open for the past three decades, but no-one has come until now.

They need us to find links to other mines, and direct some creatures into the neutral area. They are not asking us to make human sacrifices, or to bring innocent people here to become turned. There is one other entrance to the mine, which seems to be blocked at the moment, near the neutral area. Plenty of creatures are there within the mine, already turned, but trapped out of reach. They want us to kill all the creatures, and then open a special portal that only creatures can use to get them into the neutral zone. Killing them will make them stronger, consuming more of the bad ember energy and making them give the orb more good energy.

Once that chamber is empty, that should give them enough energy to maintain the orb for another four-thousand years. Now that there are only three people left to feed, it may last even longer. However, they are too weak, and confined below the neutral area. For doing this task, he has offered to show us how to create the filtering orbs for the ember amplifiers. He is also going to give us a chamber-stone, used by the original creators to move from chamber to chamber, before we became so dependent on the orbs.

The two remaining saviors will be the next in line to replace the creator, once he can no longer keep the orb alive. The orbs work by giving life and taking energy. However, they require a host, which they support and that also supports them, as they also require the ember and life around the ember. At the time when the original creators decided to split the good from the bad in the ember, it seemed like a good idea. They were not entirely sure how it worked. Once everyone made it common practice, the orbs were created all over the world. Until the wars began, that is when they saw the irreversible damage they had done.

He also said that he knows a few more locations that the chamber-stone can lead them. Besides leading back here under Ruse, there was also Torchlight, Morak, Heil, and Olis. Torchlight was originally a city called Wurth. Morak was a large city of magicians, one of the first cities with an orb, and one of the first cities to be put underground. The entire city made it underground safely, so the city above might still be there, and large. Heil was one of the last cities to be moved underground. Little is known about that place. Olis was never a city, but it was a location of the last discovered focusing crystal. The treaties demanded that an orb chamber be built, but he was unsure if it was ever populated with an orb and a creator.

Vasman waited for a reply from me...

I replied, "Yes, we can do this. I am sure this will help give us an upper-hand at Torchlight too." Vasman returned to Ina and consumed another mind-orb, to continue the conversation with him. Again, Vasman turned to me and asked the same question as before, to which I replied with a firm, "Yes." Another brief lecture from Ina to Vasman, and we were then sent on our way. Vasman stopped to speak with Gourad before we left, but Gourad was unwilling to talk. In a sign of good faith, Vasman reached into his pack and removed the book of lore. He set it on the ground, opened it up and creased the pages so they stood away from the dense covers. Then he lowered his torch to the pages, setting it ablaze. Before walking away, he said, "My town will remember you better."


To be continued...

[ISAWHIM]

Continued...

As we started to walk away, Gourad shouted, "Wait, please, take this. It will show you how powerfull the orb is getting. We originally created it with bad intentions, to see when we had extinguished the orb. That crystal can be used to see the power of any one of these orbs. All you need to do is cast a silence orb around the gem, after casting a reflect orb inside the chamber orb that you want to monitor. I... We regret having those deceptive actions in our past. We were told the creators were witches, using tricks to steal our souls. We didn't realize they were the reason our lives were actually peaceful. We could have saved so many more lives, our families, if we had just followed the instructions within the paintings on the walls. I wish the entrance down here was never left open."

Vasman replied, "Wait, you didn't open the floor entrance?"

Gourad continued, "No. This was the third room we found, but it was the only one open. We first came down here to find the two creators sitting up in the platform, after exploring the city below. We found plans for the city, for the other chambers, for the orbs mounts, and other documents. However, we could not read them, so they were taken to someone who could translate them. He guided our actions, and now we know his truth. He is the one who told those stories written in that book. They are not our stories, they are his. His intentions became our intentions, until we talked with the creators. He filled our heads with lies and used the powers of the ember against us. When we saw the destruction above, we returned to the creators for help, but we had already killed one, and the other was near death. We all swore to help restore what we had destroyed, but this was all we could do."

After a pause, Gourad added, "Ordrak was the wizard’s name. He is the one who caused all this trouble for us. He had all the original documents, and the real translations."

I followed Gourad’s final statement by saying, "I have already killed Ordrak. He was within the mines under our town, not too far from yours. He had taken the form of a dragon, turned to the ember. Perhaps his knowledge of the chambers is what made him settle in a place that didn't have a chamber. His knowledge was not enough to save him from my blades."

Gourad reminded me, "He is not truly dead until the chamber consumes him. He will arise like the others, each time more powerful than the next. You will see him again, I am sure."

To be continued...