Light at the End of the Tunnel
Circa 1100 years ago:
Jael Condor was riding his cart towards the farm he inhabited with his wife and son. It was a nice, quiet evening. There was practically no wind in the air, yet the air felt fresh as the temperature fell. The sun was quickly disappearing behind the horizon, and the clear sky showed no indication of clouds, though some stars were already visible. Even the mosquitoes were absent, like they had thought to spend the evening on something more pleasant than getting swatted at. The barrel of ale he was quickly emptying only added to the wonderful evening... Right up to the point where the old mule pulling his cart jarred to a stop, causing Jael to nearly choke on his drink and almost fall to the ground. The animal was wildly looking around, apparently having smelled something that it didn't like, and didn't know where to locate. Jael quickly put the tankard down and tried to calm the old Bess, as he called the mule, and noticed something on the side of the road, good hundred feet ahead of him. A lumbering shadow, easily towering over any man, emerged from the thick forest. It was a huge bear.
Jael could swear it was the very same bear that had passed his farm a good ten years ago, but this realization was overwritten by the sight of a large sack that was suspended on top of the animal. It was easily the size of the bear and looked rather bulky, like it was loaded with bricks. It also looked like it had been stitched together from several sheets of cloth of varying colors. The bear just glanced in his direction before crossing the road and quickly making it's way back to the concealment of the forest. After it had gone, Jael took the barrel he had been busily emptying just a moment ago and sniffed it suspiciously. Even he couldn't believe this one, and after what had happened in the bar the last time... So he took the barrel and promptly emptied it to the side of the road and continued his way, convincing himself that he'd been seeing things, and that old Bess was just getting old...
Meanwhile, Ursus was busily making his way through the forest, towards the mana saturation. He was still too far from the tower location to make a portal. The makeshift sack filled to brim with books of all sorts that he had been ordered to obtain. He had to hurry as Master would enter his sleep any day now, and Ursus had been commanded to return before that happens. Too bad that he had been exceedingly far away, and after his previous backpack had broken down midway, he had just grabbed whatever he could, stitching them together and ending up with this cumbersome thing.
He reached the vicinity of the tower and quickly switched form. The sack had been sized for his bear form, but his human form was large enough, though only barely, to wear it as well. Ursus had a pair of silver bracelets that allowed him to summon a portal that would allow passage to the tower and back, they were simple silver bracelets with a door engraving on them. He tapped the bracelets together twice and the portal appeared in front of him. He stepped through the portal into the ground floor of the tower. Though 'ground' might not have been the most appropriate term, considering that the entire structure was several hundred feet underground. He looked around, nothing had changed, this part of the tower held only two purposes, and that was the stairs going up to the study, and the stairs going down to the dungeons. He would need to ask the Master why he simply hadn't build a regular house with a dungeon instead. He could hear the approaching steps of his Master descending the stairs above.
“Ur-chan!” Iris yelled, landing right on top of the sack Ursus was still carrying, causing him to tumble backwards a bit before regaining his balance.
“Urgh... Hey brat, now that you're here, why don't you carry the sack up to the study” He replied as he let go of the sack, unceremoniously letting it and Iris crash to the floor.
Ursus turned from the now rambling Iris and looked at their Master, who had just reached the ground floor.
“I see that you're still awake, Master.” He said, nodding in greeting.
FOR NOW... Master replied, nodding in return. He then turned to the sack and still rambling Iris and recited a few arcane words, causing purple sigils to quickly wrap around the sack, slowly lifting it from the ground and up towards the study.
IRIS, TAKE THE SACK UP TO THE STUDY AND LEAVE IT AS IT IS, I SHALL GO THROUGH THE CONTENTS SHORTLY. The moment Iris heard her name, she calmed down, piped her acknowledgement and quickly grabbed the rising sack and began prodding and pulling it along the stairs. She cast a menacing glance at Ursus while going, he shrugged at her in return.
“So, was there a particular reason I was to return before you entered your... hibernation?” He asked.
TWO REASONS IN FACT, FIRST ONE IS THAT I DO NOT KNOW HOW MY SLEEP WILL AFFECT THE CONNECTION BETWEEN US, SO I WISH FOR YOU TO SPEND THE FIRST YEAR OR TWO HERE TO OBSERVE ANY CHANGE, AS WELL AS THE PEAK POINT OF THE SEAL, FROM AROUND 40 YEARS AFTER I HAVE FALLEN ASLEEP AND CONTINUING THE NEXT 20 YEARS FROM THERE. Ursus quirked an eyebrow at this.
“That's a long time to wait.” He replied.
AND ARE YOU IN A HURRY TO GO SOMEWHERE? AS I UNDERSTAND, YOU HAVE AS MUCH TIME AS I DO. 20 YEARS WILL PASS FASTER THAN YOU WOULD BELIEVE.
“Very well, Master.” He answered, wondering how he'll be able to hold to his sanity during such a long confinement with the little tower manifestation. His life would require some holding as well, considering how the last argument had ended. It was the first time he had really testified the monstrous strength that was hidden inside that small frame Iris possessed. He didn't recall that day very well, but he knew it had ended with him careening across the dungeons, hurled by an enraged Iris. Master told him that he had travelled a good two hundred feet before hitting, and going through, a 200 year old birch tree. He was cut from his reminiscing by Master speaking again.
SECONDLY, I HAVE MORE SUITABLE REPLACEMENTS FOR THE BRACERS. He said as he took a pair of bracers, nearly identical to his current ones, except these held a picture of a hammer on one side, and a picture of a hand on the other. Ursus gave his current bracers back to Master in return. He put the new bracers on, they didn't have any latches or opening mechanisms. They just seemed to know when he tried to put them on or take them off, and gave way. He looked at them.
“So how are these different from those, besides the decorations?” He said. Noting that the ones he had given back had already disappeared into the mysterious folds of the robe Master always wore.
YES, THE EXPLANATION IS BOTH LONG AND COMPLICATED, SO HEED WELL... During the next few moments, Ursus' eyes almost dropped out of their sockets in astonishment...
...But Time decided to skip a bit, like a mischievous child who offered you candy but at the last moment ate it herself...
Circa 1000 years ago:
Davrams eyes flared to life, and he was eager to continue his experiments. He got up from his chair.
“Good morning, Master!” Iris announced happily.
“Mmph.” Ursus said.
AND TO YOU TOO, IRIS, URSUS. Davram began walking towards the door.
I TAKE IT THAT NOTHING OF INTEREST HAPPENED? He asked while walking.
“No master.” Iris said while following him.
“Mmhp.” Ursus retorted. Davram realized something and stopped.
URSUS, WHY ARE YOU HANGING FROM THE ROOF? He inquired from the familiar hanging upside down by his feet. The rope holding him didn't seem to be attached to anything in particular, it just seemed to be holding onto the smooth roof of the room. He was also gagged and bound.
“MMHph!” Was his reply.
I SEE, AND WHY DID SHE HANG YOU FROM THERE?
“mmhp, hmph...”
A LITTLE FLAT CHESTED IMP? Iris visibly gringed at this. Davram tilted his head for a moment, while considering what this curious adjective meant. Little was depicting enough, and true. Flat chested was certainly accurate, but an Imp? It generally referred to a little winged being from a lower plane... He turned his gaze at Iris, who seemed to be somewhat embarrassed by it. Certainly, Iris was small, and had a flat chest, but she did have the form of a child, it would only be weird if she had the shapes and size of a woman. He pondered for a few seconds about this and then raised an admonishing finger at Iris.
IRIS, I KNOW THAT YOU DO NOT LIKE TO BE CALLED NAMES, BUT IMPS ARE THE MOST PLEASANT DENIZENS OF THE LOWER PLANES. I DO NOT THINK THAT BEING CALLED ONE IS REALLY ENOUGH CAUSE TO BIND URSUS LIKE THAT. He told to his small servant. Iris looked at him for a moment with wide eyes as she processed what he had just said.
“I didn't get angry about... I mean... Oh Nevermind!” She said, still clearly frustrated.
NOW, HOW LONG HAS URSUS HANGED UP THERE? Davram questioned. Ursus did look rather uncomfortable, hanging around like that.
“About an hour, Master.” She answered.
THEN LETTING HIM DOWN WOULD BE PRUDENT, WE WOULD NOT WANT HIM RECEIVING ANY PERMANENT DAMAGE FROM BLOOD CLOTTING TO HIS BRAIN. Iris looked thoughtful for a moment, as if debating whether or not she wanted permanent damage to occur, she then apparently came to a conclusion.
“...Very well, Master.” She snapped her fingers and Ursus fell to the floor with a heavy thud and a muffled grunt, as whatever had held the rope to the roof disappeared. Iris quickly undid the ropes holding his hands behind him. Ursus then quickly removed rest of the restraints. He had a somewhat insulted look on his face.
“You'd make a wonderful school bully...” He commented as he got up, nursing the part of his head that had hit the ground first.
“It's your own fault for calling me that... that thing!” Iris retorted. She was tapping her foot to the floor while scowling at Ursus.
“Mind you, I called you that because you thought it fun to surprise me by chugging a damn tree on me.” He responded, looking offended.
“I told you that was an accident!” Iris yelled.
“And I'm telling you that you don't throw trees at people 'by accident'... Especially when you're giggling like a depraved lunatic immediately afterwards.” The two continued this argument while they were descending the steps to the ground floor.
Davram sighed, it might take a long time for these to to get along, and until then things would be rather cumbersome. He could always just tell them to get along, but he strongly doubted that it would resolve anything.
“BAKA!” Iris screamed behind him. Then Ursus was thrown past him at great speed and down towards the ground floor. Davram looked down to where Ursus landed, and noted that he was still alright, if bruised. Davram sighed again and hoped that they would make up soon, before something important broke down around here...
And then Time jumped, like a cosmic golf ball hit by an equally cosmic golf club. And like most golf balls, it too landed right next to the target instead of in it...
15 years ago:
Sergeant Eric Lynswell was sitting in his chair at the guardpost, at the entrance to a research facility that was located near a small village in a remote corner of TSAB space. The research lab wasn't a large building if you compared it to your regular facility, it had 3 floors above ground, and 3 underground. And you could walk around it in ten, maybe fifteen minutes. He yawned once and took a more comfortable position. He was a laid back person, even though he was titled 'sergeant'. He had been promoted due to his time in service instead of any real military prestige. His brown military suit was spotless, but following his personality, it was slightly loose and disheveled, giving him a look like he had just been napping somewhere. Which wouldn't be too far from the truth, as the village nearby had only recently been re-inhabited after it had been deserted several centuries ago, and no one really visited this place except the regular material shipments needed by the research lab, and a little girl. He gave ample opportunities to nap, and he gladly used them. He took a better position on his seat in the guardhouse, and closed his eyes.
But then he heard little footsteps approaching along the road and opened his eyes. Well, there she was, the little golden haired bundle of joy. No one really minded her around the lab, they knew she was well mannered, if rather curious... But what can you expect from a seven year old? She stopped next to him.
“Good evening, Mr. Lynswill.” She said while bowing. He nodded to her.
“And a good evening to you, Alicia. Mrs. Testarossa should be in B1, overseeing the sorting of the new shipment that arrived.”
“Ah, thank you.” She bowed to him again and ran inside as he opened the door. Honestly, such a nice girl. He closed the door, sat down and took a more comfortable position on the chair and continued napping.
Alicia made her way through the entrance hall, greeting people as she went. She knew the topside floors from memory, as well as the first underground floor, but she'd never been below that yet. No one paid much attention to her, as everyone was already used to her wandering the building, and they were also very busy with the newest shipment. She stopped from time to time in order to gape at many of the things people were hurriedly carrying around, while trying to stay out of the way. Eventually she found her mother, who was wearing a white lab coat and holding a checklist, while going through the items and materials in front of her. She also gave orders to the other people present whenever she finished checking something and they scrambled to carry those items away. Alicia walked next to her.
“Mother.” Precia looked startled for a moment, as she turned to Alicia, then her face mellowed to a big smile.
“Alicia!” She said as she kneeled down and hugged her daughter.
“My, what are you doing here?”
“I came to see you.” said Alicia while hugging her mother back.
“Thank you, Alicia, but I'm afraid that I'm terribly busy right now, and on duty for another hour. So could you wait for that?”
“Can I look around? I promise I won't be in the way.” She asked hopefully. The facility was, after all, a place filled with weird and interesting sights and sounds. Her mother chuckled lightly at this.
“Yes you can, honey. Just remember, don't interrupt anyone and stay out of the way.” Alicia beamed at her mother.
“Yes, mother!” And she walked off, carefully avoiding everyone and everything that moved. Precia followed her with her gaze for a while before standing up. Almost as on cue, a young man in a white coat walked to her. He had short, disheveled blond hair, blue eyes. Usually he also had a friendly smile though now he was wearing a worried frown.
“Mrs. Testarossa, are you sure about these materials? As I understand, they're not from our usual contractors.” He pointed at the last pieces that were being hauled away. Precia sighed, she had gone through this conversation with the last three lab personnel that had come to speak with her.
“Yes, Alphonse, and we will double check those materials before putting them into any use. The new providers were recommended by an affiliate, and they certainly are cheaper than the usual provider, even though they can obtain the materials at less frequent intervals.” Alphonse was clearly satisfied with this explanation.
“Alright. Also, someone named Mr. Scaglietti sent a message that he would like to visit again, soon. He asked that if you could contact him for the exact time.” Precia sighed at this. Scaglietti was... difficult... to associate with. He was brilliant, but there was something a bit unsettling about him. More than a bit, actually.
“I'll see what I can do.” She wondered if the man knew what was being researched in the lowest two levels of the building. According to him, he was only interested in the familiar research projects being conducted in the upper floors, since they apparently touched his own research subject, but still... She turned to the materials that were being taken downstairs into the storage for the other research being done here: Production of usable energy from dimensional disturbances. She turned her attention back to the checklist...
Alicia waded around the first underground floor, watching as the researchers were hurriedly carrying materials and weird instruments around. She eventually drifted to the usually closed entrance to the second underground floor which was now wide open, while people were hurriedly moving stuff through it. She wasn't sure if she was allowed to go in there, but that didn't prevent her from peering in through the door.
“Ah, hi Alicia.” Someone said behind her. She turned to meet Alphonse. He was tall, though everyone around here was tall in her eyes. He had a short, disheveled blond hair and was wearing the same lab coat as everyone else. He was also smiling friendly, though Alicia didn't remember any instance where he hadn't been smiling. He also had a large amount of equipment in tow, suspended in mid air by suspension fields.
“Hello, Alphonse.” She replied, while bowing.
“Mrs. Testarossa will still be busy for a while, I'm afraid.” He said while smiling apologetically.
“I see...” She replied absentmindedly, having already returned to peering through the door into the large hall right behind it, where people were quickly hauling things through and from various doors.
“Would you like to see more of the second level?” He asked, causing Alicia to jump slightly.
“Umm, I wouldn't want to interrupt your work.” She said, glancing at the items floating behind Alphonse.
“Well, would you like to help me then?” She tipped her head to the side.
“Help?”
“Yes, help.” He turned around and took two of the smaller items he had been pulling along, and handed them to Alicia. Who took the items with a puzzled look on her face.
“Now, I'd like you to help me by carrying those, and since I just happen to be taking all of these to the second floor reactor, it seems that you just have to tag along, doesn't it?” He said with a grin on his face. Alicias face slowly brightened up, like sun coming out of the clouds. She bowed to Alphonse.
“Thank you!” She happily exclaimed. He chuckled to this.
“No no, thank you. Shall we?” He continued his walking, at a slower speed than earlier to allow the little ones slower pace. They passed several researchers who were rushing like it was the doomsday or something... well it was the next thing: last hour of work, and no one was permitted to leave until the work had been done. Some did cast admonishing glances at the duo probably due to the relatively slow pace they were advancing. Finally they got past the frenzied hall and into a hallway leading to the test reactor. The room housing the reactor was a large round room, with a control panel on the edge of the room, and some cabling running on the floor and roof. And of course, in the middle was the reactor.
The reactor looked like a plain pedestal on another, larger pedestal. No arcane runes, no glowing sigils, nothing of interest to the curious little girl. Alicia could not but feel a bit disappointed at the sight. There was a small pile of regular looking gray rocks of some type on the smaller pedestal. She could have swore something glittered in there as well. Alphonse led her to a controller.
“We leave these power conductors here, we'll install them tomorrow morning to better make use of the mana saturated ground of this area.” He explained. Alicia put the two conductors she was holding next to the others and turned to look at the rocks in the reactor.
“Umm, are those rocks special?” She asked, pointing at the reactor. Alphonse turned to look.
“Yes, they contain traces of some extremely rare elements, and we're trying to determine whether they could be harnessed for our research. This batch is most likely from our new providers, we'll see tomorrow how they hold to their promises.” He turned back to the items on the ground.
“Right, just give me a minute to shuffle these into some order. Feel free to look around, but be careful, there's strong shielding on the reactor, even if you can't see it.” He began inspecting the items on the ground. While Alicia went to take a closer look at the reactor. As she got near the bigger pedal, she began to see a soft glow manifest in front of her, warning about the wall she was about to hit. She slowed to a halt, and peered at the rocks. There it was again, a tiny glimmer in one of the rocks. Like a piece of metal protruding from within the rock. She leaned forward to see better, and hit her head on the shield, which let loose an cackling sound of electricity.
“Kya!” She yelped, slightly hurt and rather startled by the discharge.
“Alicia?!” Alphonse rose up behind the command panel, turned a bit too hastily and hit one of the buttons. The room sprang to life with loud humming and lights starting everywhere. Some sigils sprang to life on the pedestals as well.
“Oops.” Was all he said, quickly disengaging the system startup. The room died down again.
“There we go. Now, Alicia? Are you all right?” He said as he turned to look at the startled girl.
“Yes, I just touched... huh?” She interrupted herself when she heard a humming noise not present just a moment ago. She turned to watch into the reactor, and noticed that the glimmer was now a sparkle, and quickly becoming a rather bright light. Before she could say anything, a white spell circle appeared around the rocks, then another one flickered around the rocks for a second before disappearing and reappearing around Alicia. She felt like she was falling, and like something was drawing her down to aid gravity, and then she only saw a bright light...
Several hundred feet under that place, Davram awoke. He instantly knew something was very wrong. He looked at his phylactery and knew what. The seal was flickering, as if it didn't quite know what way to point. The flickering drew power away from the seal, awakening him. He got up and quickly walked under the phylactery. Something was coming.
IRIS. He said to the roof. Some runes pulsed in the walls in response.
GO TO THE GLOBE, QUICKLY. IF URSUS IS PRESENT, HAVE HIM ACCOMPANY YOU. YOU NEED TO PREVENT THE ESSENCE FROM EVAPORATING. The runes pulsed again. He nodded to himself and concentrated. Clearly, something had happened above that seemed to... confuse, for the lack of a better term, the seal to think it should be maintaining the seal from there, instead of the globe in the dungeons. That meant that it probably wasn't just a small bit of pure life force approaching, but a living beings full life force with soul and all. Davram didn't want to think what something like that would do to his phylactery if inserted through the seal.
He concentrated again on the approaching sphere... Yes, he still had a few minutes. The usual energy spheres that travelled within his tower didn't move very fast to begin with, and since the seal wasn't operating properly now, it would still take some time for it to arrive. He looked at the flickering seal. It could not be helped, he would have to tamper with it and hope that it would hold. He let go of his staff, which obediently remained upright next to him, and he reached towards the flickering white circles. One hand grabbed the receiving circle, the other the sender, and slowly purple runes appeared between them, connecting them. He remained there, waiting...
Back up in the reactor, a terrified Alphonse ran to Alicias immobile body. The white circle had flickered out around her after it had sent a white sphere down through the floor. Now it was busily trying to manifest around the other circle inside the reactor. As he got next to Alicia, the circle flickered to being around him.
“Oh no you don't!” He said as he slammed shields between him and the circle. The white circle didn't seem to mind it though, and was content to sticking around him. He released his shields cautiously, and when nothing happened, grabbed Alicia and ran away from the reactor. The circle disappeared after he got far enough. He turned his attention to the girl in his arms. To his horror, she didn't seem to be breathing, he tried for a pulse and found nothing. With a whole new level of terror dawning in his mind, he frantically began running towards the exit while cradling Alicia in his arms. His only thought was to find one of the doctors in the upper levels. There had to be something that could be done!
Behind him, the white circles hummed to themselves...
...Meanwhile, Iris and Ursus reached the globe of essence in the dungeons. Ursus realized first that the field holding the essence inside the circles was quickly disintegrating.
“Iris! The field's about to give, get me a rock that's at least your size.” He knew that she'd find it faster than he, and move it even faster. Iris immediately grew to giant size and trampled into the surrounding trees. Shortly a boulder several times Ursus' size landed next to him with a loud crash. He placed his hand on the stone and willed it to mold. Having a very strong affinity to earth allowed him to manipulate earth somewhat freely. This ability included earth, rocks and metals. To an extent, it also included jewels. He had honed this ability through his journeys, where it produced him much of the funds he needed.
Now he used this ability to quickly shape a large bowl into the exterior of the boulder, and broke it off. He placed it under the now leaking field and turned back to mold a quick lid. He covered the top globe with it and molded it solidly with the bowl. Although it only took him a minute or two, he was already sweating lightly. Solid rock didn't take such intricate shapes easily, and it was even worse when he did it in a hurry.
“There, that should hold the essence, now we just need to hope that Master can fix the situation.” He sat down next to the globe of rock, while the now normal sized Iris hopped onto the boulder she had just thrown. They waited in silence...
Davram felt it approaching, then it burst through the roof. A man sized ball of life, memories, soul, things that make a living being. It entered the circle, went across the bypass Davram had built and reached the other circle, and promptly got stuck. Davram let the his bypass disappear, then let go of the circles and carefully pulled the sphere down. He cast a little guidance spell on it and threw it through the floor.
IRIS, I SENT A SPHERE TO YOU, INSERT IT INTO THE ESSENCE. The walls pulsed again in acknowledgement. Suddenly he felt a draining sensation, and a strong one at that. He turned to see the circles extract a large sphere of magic, equal in size with the sphere that had arrived, which then seemed to try and make up for the other spheres sluggishness by shooting up with extreme speed. Davram followed it with his magic. It took about half a minute for it to reach it's goal, and the seal in front of him suddenly glowed very brightly once, calmed down, brightened again... and exploded with tremendous force...
...Alphonse reached the first underground floor and kept on running, but he was severly out of breath, his stamina was terrible to begin with, and he hadn't exercised in a long time. He almost got to the stairs leading to ground level, when he ran into Precia.
“Alphonse! Alicia?! What happened?!” She quickly grabbed the girl from him.
“An accident... at the reactor... something wrong... with the materials!” He panted in return. Precia looked at him in shock and opened her mouth to say something but was interrupted by a strong tremor from underground. Fearing the worst, Alphonse immediately put up shields to protect the woman and her daughter and looked behind him, towards the way he had came. The tremor quickly grew stronger and then, after a moments silence an explosion tore through the floor and walls infront of him. The explosion seemed to last forever, looking more like a beam than an explosion, and seemed to be going upwards, yet it still tore at his shields and as the explosion died out, he relaxed slightly, and immediately felt a strange tug. He looked down in the light of the diminishing flames to see a piece of the wall protruding from his chest. Infront, the floor ended about 10 feet from him, and he could see the clear sky outside. Whatever it had been, it had been exceedingly powerful, almost completely annihilating the inside of the lab. He turned to look at Precia, who was looking at him in wide eyed shock. She seemed uninjured, so he had at least succeeded in protecting her. He smiled at her encouragingly, and then his legs lost strength and he couldn't feel hitting the floor while his vision faded...
Precia watched in complete shock as the young man collapsed next to her. He had only some minutes ago left her with a large inventory in tow, telling her that she shouldn't worry about her daughter, smiling to her in his usually friendly manner, walking through the extremely busy research lab. Now his smile was frozen on his face, a piece of concrete piercing his chest and pointing out of his back. Shakily she turned her head to look around the obliterated research laboratory, seeing only still bodies of his fellow researchers everywhere. She looked at her daughter, who had been so happily come to see her at work, smiling like a small sun when she had been given permission to explore. Now, her body was already starting to grow cold in Precias trembling hands. She clutched Alicias body tightly, like somehow her own body warmth could bring the girl back.
Why? Why did this happen?!
A wail escaped her lips, followed by a flood of tears as she slowly realized that she had lost everything...
Eric Lynswell slowly crawled out of the toppled guardhouse he had been napping in to witness a scene of total destruction. The entire research lab had been ravaged by something throwing out windows, and even entire portions of the wall in places, and he could hear pieces of the building collapsing. He turned around to see pieces of the lab scattered all across the landscape, tossed there by the enormous blast. He crawled back into the guardhouse and found his comm, which luckily still worked, as a testament to the advance of technology. He quickly called for help. Though he knew there was little that could be done in face of such utter devastation...
Down at the tower Davram rose from the skeleton shaped dent he had once again created in the bookshelves. He stopped to think if this is what humans meant by history repeating itself. He then looked around. Most of the room was still in good shape, nothing was broken, but it was in a severe state of disorder, luckily his preservation spells had held and only a few books and tomes were damaged. He looked at this phylactery and felt a pang of anger. The seal was broken, completely. Only a few white runes were left of the three thousand year old seal, and even those quickly faded out of sight. A quick scan of the outside also revealed that the entire area around his tower was filled with small distortions, effectively confining him here. The portals bringing water in had also been severed by the distortions. He would have a lot to do, now that the seal was gone, but first he wanted to see what had been dropped into his lab. He headed towards the stairs.
Down at the now exposed essence pool, Ursus was rather confounded. The huge sphere that had landed did not yield a giant, not even a man (or woman), but a small child, a bit shorter than Iris. He had wrapped her naked form into his shirt and lifted her up when Iris suddenly clutched her head and grunted. She had then proceeded to do a very weird dance while clutching her head and grunting.
“What on earth are you doing?” He asked her.
“IT HURTS!” She yelled at him, and flinched immediately as if the yelling hurt more.
“What does?” He asked, confused.
“The huge explosion in the study! Let's see how YOU feel after we blow something up inside it!” She said as she slowly straightened herself and threw an angry glance to Ursus, who shrugged in return.
“So how's Master?” Ursus knew that he was alive, well as much as he could be anyway, since their connection had not disappeared. So he wasn't too worried. Iris looked concerned though.
“He's angry, his seal broke and I think he wants to see what caused it. And he'll be here any minute now.” They looked at the unconcious girl in Ursus' arms.
“Well I strongly doubt that she had anything to do besides being an unfortunate victim of whatever happened.” Ursus said. He didn't think that a child this small was capable of anything even remotely of this magnitude. Iris didn't look convinced though.
“Are you sure? Master might be thinking otherwise.” They looked again at the little girl, who was blissfully unconscious and unaware of the danger approaching. Ursus shrugged.
Then he felt master enter the dungeon. Which was peculiar, he'd never felt the Masters presence from this far, or in this fashion. It was oppressing, like something very angry and determined making it's way to you. For the first time, he felt a little afraid of the Master. When he emerged from the forest, Ursus felt very much afraid of him. Even though Master had no face to show emotions on, his eyes looked like distant supernovae, raging within his skull. He walked towards Iris and Ursus...
Davram hadn't been very good with emotions ever since he had become undead, they took time to manifest, and even longer to grow strong. So by the time he reached the dungeons, he was downright furious. He quickly stalked through the vegetation to the place the globe had been, and saw his servants. Ursus was cradling something small in his arms, wrapped in his shirt. Pangs of golden hair could be seen. A human, it seemed. Davrams advance was suddenly stopped by Iris standing before him.
IRIS, MOVE ASIDE. I WISH TO SEE OUR... GUEST. He turned his gaze to Iris.
“I-i-i'm sure that she had nothing to do with your seal breaking, master.” She objected. He turned his gaze to his small servant, who seemed to flinch when it focused on her.
DO I NEED TO ASK YOU AGAIN? Iris fled from his way and he continued towards Ursus, who seemed to be debating between showing the girl and hiding her.
“She's right you know, this little girl can't possibly have caused anything on a scale like that.” He tried to reason.
OF COURSE SHE DID NOT CHOOSE TO DO SOMETHING LIKE THIS! SHE WAS MOST LIKELY SACRIFICED, OR JUST HAPPENED TO BE A BYSTANDER IN AN ACCIDENT, AS UNLIKELY AS THAT SEEMS. Ursus calmed visibly at these words.
“So you're not going to hurt her then?” Iris piped from Davrams side. He looked at her clearly
HURT HER!? WHY WOULD I HURT HER? I AM ANGRY, NOT HOMICIDAL. NOW SHOW ME WHAT IT WAS THAT I GAINED IN RETURN FOR LOSING A MOST VALUABLE RESOURCE. Ursus showed him the girl, who was still unconcious.
“She was like this when I dug her out of the globe, and she hasn't woken since.” Davram would have quirked an eyebrow at this, if he had possessed any. The usual curiosity seemed to drain a bit of his anger.
THAT IS UNUSUAL, THE ESSENCE DOES NOT AFFECT THE STATE OF MIND OR BODY OF THE ONE ENTERED. ALLOW ME. Davram extended one skeletal hand and hovered it above the girls forehead. A few sigils flashed around her and disappeared quickly.
SHE IS NOT... WHOLE. THAT IS, HER BODY IS NOT FULLY FORMED AND SHE IS DYING BECAUSE OF IT. I WOULD RECKON IT HAS SOMETHING TO DO WITH WHAT HAPPENED ON THE SURFACE THAT SENT HER HERE. He explained while retracting his hand. Ursus seemed concerned.
“Can you do anything to save her?” He asked as Davram was turning from him. Davram stopped and looked at his familiar.
WE HAVE MORE PRESSING MATTERS NOW THAN A LITTLE GIRL. WITHOUT A SOURCE OF WATER AND THE DESTRUCTION OF THE GLOBE OF LIFE ESSENCE, WE MUST REDUCE THE POPULATION OF CREATURES PRESENT, AND STORE MORE OF THEM SINCE I CANNOT PRODUCE REPLACEMENTS AS EASILY ANYMORE. He started towards the remnants of the globe of essence.
BUT FOR NOW, PLACE HER IN STASIS AS WELL, I WILL SEE WHAT I CAN DO AFTER OUR WORK HERE IS FINISHED, THOUGH IT MIGHT TAKE QUITE SOME TIME. NOW GO. IRIS, COME. Iris ran to him while he inspected the remnants of the globe. He inspected the area, both magically and with his eyes. There was still some essence left, so perhaps all was not lost...
Meanwhile, Ursus quickly made his way to the lab at the center of the dungeons and took the door next to the stairs, first was the archives that were silently writing themselves, storing up information about how each creature was faring. And after another stairway was another great hall, filled with transparent boxes, each glowing with a dim green light. Each was holding an animal or creature of some sort. There were over three thousand animals and creatures stored in this place, and soon there would be many more, once the Master would begin his storage process. He walked to one of the smaller boxes near the entrance. It had been vacated recently for an experiment and didn't emit any glow. The boxes on either side held very peculiar spiders, and he stopped to take a closer look at one. it was perhaps the size of a dinner plate. It didn't have any eyes, but it did sport a long tail with a sharp looking spike at the end, he passingly wondered what these things ate, when all they had was a little suction cup looking thing on their stomach. He shrugged and turned to the empty box. He pushed his hands through the gel like wall and set the girl inside, once he pulled his hands free, the box seemed to harden and a green glow similar to the other cages started to glow inside. He then made his way to the door, leaving the little unconscious girl amongst the Masters creatures...
Authors note: Well, we're getting real close to present. I wanted to do the lab accident for a while now, but I'm really bad at making believable scenes like precias desperation there. Hope it didn't disappoint anyone. And to anyone wondering about the title of this chapter, check the chorus of Metallicas No Leaf Clover. Simple google should find enough info, as should a quick youtube search. Anyway, see you in the next chapter!