"We've done did found all sorts of things - we've found tablets, we've found scrolls, n' we've even found ourselves this... well... Bhennie, 'm I okay tuh tell her about the thing?"

Bhennie just whistled and clicked his tongue.

"The thing?" Kahli asked incredulously.

"Oh, come one, Bhennie, I gotta tell her about the thing!"

Bhennie sighed. "Fine, Clehtus. But 'f she makes me regret this, well n' I'll skin you alive, Clehtus. Remember that, okay?"

Clehtus shuddered, and yet, his resolve was solid. He turned to Kahli. "So, well, we found something at about the center of these ruins that, for lack of a better turn of phrasing, defies all present day understandings of science, of physics, n' all those other doohickeys as well. It's, well, it's a real, full-fledged anomaly."

Kahli felt tingles down her spine. Nervousness. The last time she remembered somebody talking about anomalies was back at the F.I.N.G.E.R. facility, and it was almost a blanket statement for anything strange. At the same time, she associated that phrase with F.I.N.G.E.R. Were Bhennie and Clehtus F.I.N.G.E.R. members? They weren't in skin tight unitards or anything, but then again, maybe they were in deep cover or something. Deep cover as scientists studying anomalies? It seemed kind of a ridiculously heinous idea at best. But Kahli still had her guard up, in the back of her mind. She figured there was no harm in that, at least.

"Now when you say anomaly, do you-"

But Clehtus interrupted her before she even had a second to finish the thought. He explained that the anomaly that he and Bhennie had observed was visually represented as a small, crystalline obelisk stuck in the center of a large mural i what appeared to be the absolute center of the ruins. This obelisk seemed to generate and then distribute small speckles of light across the room in a kaleidoscoping fashion. On its own, this wasn't really strange as much as it was pretty. However, what Clehtus and Bhennie had also gathered from this encounter and observation was that, the closer they got to the obelisk, the fuzzier everything got. It was almost like being slowly submerged in a deep, cold water, and hearing your ears pop and then, once under, muffle into oblivion. This was the same with vision, and, most strikingly of all, it indeed was the same with cognition and consciousness itself. The affect of these noticed experiences, which seemed to repeat themselves in step whenever the obelisk was approached, made it incredibly difficult to study and indeed even to perceive. It was like, Clehtus went on to explain, static noise invaded his brainwaves more and more as he approached the obelisk, and with that, reality itself seemed to bend and curl and change.

What this did, was make Kahli shiver with fear. Had she not been wearing the Necklace of Wokefulness, she may have even been at risk for fainting - that being said, of course, she was fine, physically at least. Mentally, her thoughts were spiralling. Her memories of Old Snow Mountain - of the strange peculiarity she'd experienced there, of the jittering and the fading in and out of her own perception as if it was suddenly being pressed against by some sort of fogged up mirror, riled around in her mind like a whirlpool of fear, uncertainty, and doubt. And she felt incredibly uncomfortable. She didn't know how to proceed in her questioning, she didn't know how to process this information. She didn't think that these two plant elementals were F.I.N.G.E.R. agents with holier-than-thou delusions of grandeur and trigger happy lacks of discipline. No, she thought that these two fellows had actually happened upon something incredibly significant - but something that she was almost too far removed from to truly understand. And yet, she felt a terrible, wretched yearning to do just that. Kahli needed to know what it was that was happening in the center of these ruins. She needed to understand what it was that these ruins really were. What were they ruins of? Someone had to be aware, and yet - possibly no one was.

She asked the plant elementals, thinking they ought to know. After all, they'd gotten clearance from the Upper Echelon. That had to mean something, didn't it?

Well, Bhennie explained, just because the Upper Echelon approved something that they deemed was important enough for the oedification of greater Nomachiato as a whole, didn't mean that they necessarily had an oniscient understanding of it. Regardless of their status and power, the Upper Echelon consisted of, at the end of the day, tauman beings. This frustrated Kahli, but she also admitted it made a lot of sense.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

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"Froufrou, I got to tell you, it's a relief to not have to talk to those plant elementals any more. First, they drew me in with their ghost story, but then they just kept going on and on about science and physics and soon enough I started spacing out. I'm just glad they gave us directions to this strange obelisk they kept talking about, and also this nifty spare lantern."

Froufrou squelched.

"Yes, well, I too would love it if Unit 5a23 and Sahdi showed up. But, once again, I have no other idea where they could be. It's not like we captured a tamaven or anything to torture answers out of. Which, and I know this sounds a little dark, but it was a huge mistake. Please, Froufroum, remind me to capture one of my enemies next time they pull something like this. It's no fun to just suddely lose two companions and a water dragon in one fell swoop. Ideally, I'd like them all back, but at the very least it'd be nice to know whether they're dead or not. Theseosus' pincers, I sure do hope they're not dead yet."

Froufrou squelched in a manner that made it adundantly clear that not only did she not think that Unit 5a23 or Sahdi were dead - all based on hunch, of course.

Or was it? Froufrou soon started squelching to an almost intolerable degree.

"What? Theseosus' pincers, Froufrou, what is it? That really does smell dreadful."

Froufrou gestured a tendril out towards the floor of the ruin. Kahli held up her lantern to it, and she gasped.

"A piece of half eaten toast? By the power of Theseosus, this must be a sign! A sign left by none other than Unit 5a23, unless Bhennie and Clehtus got hungry."

Froufrou squelched in frustration.

"Oh, actually, that's a good point, Froufrou - how would those silly plant elementals have made toast like this, anyway? No, it really must've been Unit 5a23. Oh, Froufrou, you're great. If only it was always this easy to understand you."

Froufrou squelched half heartedly, and in her mind she was wondering with not a little bit of frustration how much else Kahli would pick up from her, if she would just listen.

Regardless, they were quickly approaching the center of the ruins, per the plant elementals' instruction. If Kahli was interpreting everythig correctly, they only had about five paces left, the they'd need to take a left, then, they'd reach the obelisk.

She was almost shaking with anticipation. What was she soon to behold?

And then, a terrible hissing rung through her ears.

[You are stunned]

Kahli dropped to her knees, feeling terribly paralyzed! Had she been trapped and tricked by the plant elementals, after all? Did they, too, have some sort of powerful, lying based [skill]?

Suddenly, with a crackle and a slam and a crack, Kahli moved her eyes - just her eyes - Theseosus' pincers, was this another Consumer gripping her in its clutches? - and she noticed that a large boulder was rolling her way! It was running from the wall across the hall, down a steep slope. It seemed to surely be enough to pummel her to death, if she was unable to move out of the way. How ironic - a big rock getting ready to slam into a tauman with a [skill] that allowed them to summon up big rocks.

Froufrou squelched and hopped to attention, summoning up a rock under one of her tendrils.

"Froufrou! I forgot you were able to share my [skills]!" Kahli watched with glee as Froufrou set the rock soaring far away fro the other rock, but then sighed as it smashed into the nearby ruin wall. "Sorry, Froufrou, it does take a little practice to get right!"

Then, Kahli had a thought. If Froufrou used her [skills], her [skill] also granted her the ability to use Froufrou's. Right? To test this out in full, Kahli went ahead and tried to use [Putrify]. Sure enough, a large, green ball shot out from her body and slammed into the rock - this didn't stop its acceleration, however it was slowed do to all the mushy, green goo. Kahli noted that her [Putrify] attack was much larger than Frourfrou's - that must've been a bit of an added benefit.

Regardless, the boulder was still rolling their way, and was getting too close for comfort. Kahi tried her last ditch effort. She tried to parry the rock away the only way she could think of it - with her big left foot.

With a short twitch of the knee and a reflexive punt, Kahli did just that - and sent the boulder soaring off and slamming into a statue of a non-Theseosian deity in the process. This only sweetened the deal, Kahli figured.

[You are no longer stunned]

"Whew." Kahli sighed in relief. If only she knew why the boulder had run after her in the first place! She glanced down at her feet ad sighed, noticing immediately that the walkway was teeming with pressure sensors. Of course the plant elemetals had failed to mentio that, for whatever reason.

Carefully stepping forth, making certain to never again touch a pressure sensor, Kahli soon turned and then she saw it in the distace.

The glowing blue obelisk. It almost seemed to be calling to her.

Kahli was, at once, tantalized and terrified.