[Mori,

As you have guessed, the guardians you have been battling are the creations of a god opposing us. The god in question, Ei’vit’net the Great God of the Resting Laurels, places these reliquaries in often forgotten places to assist him in when his current peak in power ends. While the rewards are great, the risk easily matches. If you want to plunder the reliquary, then you may, but if you decide not to, then we will take care of it ourselves.

Sincerely, Kel’rk’ath]

*=====*

Mori spent a long while staring at the message in front of her, contemplating after she stopped their march into the potentially dangerous ‘reliquary.’ She stared at the empty pedestals, five in all, obviously once the homes of the five Magnum Opus Guardians they had fought. She realized that the statues were only meant to be the first line of defense of the reliquary, and if they were having so much trouble it might be a bad idea to plunge into the place. For a moment, she stared at the dark wood door before looking back, “Alright, like I said, this place is the work of a god and is probably more dangerous than the things we just fought. Do you guys think you’re up to conquering this place?” she asked.

Looking around, she could understand the answers of her death knights from the looks on their faces. Idle and Meg were showing looks of concern, Fury and Ally were showing excitement, and Pride, Jel, and Tisi were all showing looks of curiosity.

She made sure to look at each death knight’s expression once more before making her choice, “Alright, looks like it’s five to two for you guys. We’re going in. I’m leaving the wyrms out here so they don’t get in our way.” she said resolutely. She led them up to the door and placed her hands on it, pushing forward. Another system message appeared just as the door swung open.

[Mori,

Alright, you made your choice. We wish you the best of luck, so get in there and put on a good show! Don’t worry about getting back on time, I’ll send a note to little Fara if you get home late.

Sincerely, Sa’ar’kik]

The hallway beyond the door, taller than twice any of their height, was as beautiful as how the place was described. In front of them, a marble hallway lined with glowing gem lamps and murals they could hardly imagine the meaning of. Scenes of battles long forgotten but yet to happen seemed to circle around them and dance in their vision. Images took their minds and showed amazing scenes of wonder and mundanity and power and weakness. Soon, simple beats flew across their vision. Ancient beasts struck down. Heroes risen. Devils slain. Snakes coiled around the legs of greater men, only to sink their venomous fangs into their feet. With a growl and a use of [Psychic Flail], she banished the intrusive images from her mind. She then Connected with her death knights, only to find their souls surrounded by a similar miasma of images. Like with her own mind, she tore through the illusions like light through darkness, clearing the minds of her death knights in short order despite some emotions bleeding over from both sides.

Pride growled when his mind cleared, “Do not be distracted,” he said to the other death knights, “We could get ourselves killed if we do.”

“Thanks, Pride. Next you’ll tell us not to hold guns by the long end or else we won’t be able to hit what we’re aiming at,” Ally mocked.

Pride growled at her before Idle stepped between them, “Alright, you two, calm down now. None of us want to lose focus in the middle of a fight. We can all agree on that, right?” she asked, ignoring the looks of annoyance on either of their faces, “Mistress, do you know if that will happen again?” Idle asked.

Mori nodded, “It’s always happening,” she said, voice strained, “I’m keeping them away from you with [Psychic Flail], but it takes a lot of concentration, even with [Enhanced Mind VI]. My point is, I won’t be able to give you guys as much help as I did before. Oh, and if there is any emotional bleed through it, try to ignore it.”

They all nodded, turning to each other, before a new formation was decided upon. Mori would be in the middle-back, with Idle in front of her and Pride and Jel behind her. Meg, Ally, and Tisi would walk in front of Idle while Fury stood in front, as per his request. They began walking through the hallway. All the while, Mori frantically pushed the intrusive images from the minds of her undead as it closed in like a creeping fog. As she pushed them away again and again, she began to be able to see the images that forced themselves upon her undead’s minds.

A giant standing tall over the body of a dragon, drinking blood from its heart. She threw the image away. A man standing over the butchered body of his wife as she stood right behind him laughing. She pushed it back. A beast being impaled on a thousand spikes beneath a false floor. She was about to push it away before she realized where the spikes were, “Fury, watch your feet!” she shouted ahead. The death knight pulled back from his next step just in time to see the tile he stepped off vanish into thin air. Below, nothing awaited but a maw of steel-tipped, stone spikes.

Fury widened his eyes and stepped back another step, breathing hard despite him not needing to, “Damn… thank you, mistress,” he said, “How did you know that?”

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Mori looked at the spike pit, still pushing against the creeping images, and sighed, “Looks like the god of this place likes to play games. It was one of the images… That just makes me think he’ll start throwing in false alarms just to mess with us. Idle, can you hear them?”

The death knight gave Mori an odd look, shaking her head, “I don’t think so. I could almost hear the hollow floor, but I doubt I could tell before it’s too late.”

Mori nodded as she stared into a lamp hanging from the wall, “Alright, we’ll do this: we go very slowly while I try to read for any other tricks in the images.” They all nodded, walking around the maw-like pit and forward once more at half their normal speed. Mori turned her attention back to the images that assaulted the minds of her death knights, feeling herself become just a bit better at keeping her emotions from bleeding over. A young bug-like creature devouring the body of its mother. She blew it back. An undead army wreaking havoc on the home of its master. She batted it away. An arrow piercing the hearts of a queen. She cast it out. A poisoned dart laying a god low. Mori wasted no time in ducking down, pulling the death knights in the dart’s path down with her. The dart impaled the wall behind them, turning the white stone black in an instant. Then, the wall flashed with a white light and regained its pure color.

“W-What was that!?” Jel asked as she stared at the wall turning black.

Idle looked at the dart as it fell to the floor, its poison gone from its tip, “Dunno, but whatever it is, I don’t think we would have survived that.”

Mori nodded, “I wholeheartedly agree. The vision did show that poison killing gods, so I doubt we would have had a better time of it,” she stated, eliciting a shiver from the death knights, “Either way, let’s keep moving. If my hunch is right, the third one will be the one where the walls lie.” They all nodded, moving forward while Mori contended with illusions once more, feeling her skill rise just a smidge. A man standing at the edge of oblivion. She flung it back. A metal beast holding a single flower in a field of green. She kicked it away. An axe falling from the ceiling and cleaving a roach in two. She whipped her new stone staff up to the ceiling as a massive log affixed to a pair of chains dropped and began to swing in their direction. “Jump!” she shouted. At her warning, they leapt into the air and over the log. She followed them, dodging out of its range. A resounding crack echoed off of the walls and she turned to see Jel fallen over, her back leg broken in half, the other half dangling from the rest of her leg. Hardly thinking, Mori rushed forward and pulled Jel forward and out of the log’s range. Staring at the log as it lost momentum and began to reach the bottom of its swing arc, she patted Jel on her head, “You okay?” she asked.

The pyrausta nodded stiffly, “I… I-I am… t-thank you, mistress…” she stuttered out.

Mori smiled, rubbing the back of her head soothingly. Jel seemed to enjoy her touch but still wasted no time in healing her leg. After a few minutes, the leg was healed and Jel stood, “T-Thank you very much, m-mistress…”

Mori giggled at the nervous death knight and gave a smile, “I care about you all, after all, and I doubt the others would like such intimate affection,” she giggled, “Besides, you’re all like my children, in a way, so it’s not like it’s that weird.”

Jel looked at Mori for a moment before straining a smile, “Mistress… I was not c-critiquing your actions…”

“And I wasn’t saying you were,” Mori replied, “Why?”

Jel smiled sheepishly, “You j-just… sound defensive.”

Idle nodded, “You do sound defensive,” she stated, helping Mori to her feet, “Either way, we should get moving, mistress.”

Mori nodded, ignoring her death knights’ jabs at her actions, “Agreed, we should. Let’s go.” Once more, they walked forward while Mori defended against the illusions. Before she was able to renew her study of the images, they abruptly cut out. Focusing her mind back to reality, she was met by a massive circular room with murals of many different achievements lining the walls. In the center, a large orrery of glass and metal and a dozen planets slowly spun over a gently pouring fountain. There were five other doors, each flanked on each side by two guardians. Mori held them back, slowly examining the room before her gaze landed on the orrery in the center, the sun piece seemingly brightening and fading as if breathing. She tentatively reached out with [Psychic Conduit] and widened her eye flames when she felt it snap together.

For a moment, she and whatever was in the orrery stayed silent, a gentle flow of surprise trickling through the Connection. Then, it spoke in a thousand voices, [Free us.] Suddenly, the guardians all burst forth with their painfully slow speeds.

Mori swore, “Dammit! Be ready for these things!” she shouted, preparing her staff and gauntlet. The other death knights did the same, readying against the new threat. All at once, ten white mana slashes cut at their heads. They ducked, letting every slash go over their heads.

“Anyone got a plan?” Ally asked, “We can’t exactly do anything with these rifles.”

“I do not think they are very smart,” Pride cut in, “What if they do not try to avoid hitting their allies when using that slash?”

They looked between each other and, without a better plan, nodded, “Alright,” Mori said, “Try to get them to hit each other and I’ll see if I can shatter one!” she shouted.

They all nodded, charging between the guardians and avoiding the slow slashes while Mori sent her mana to a certain rune at the top of the staff. A gale of cold wind erupted from the staff and bore down on the closest statue, freezing the surface. She did not stop, continuing her freezing until she could tell the statue was completely frozen. Then, a slash of mana cut through the statue and shattered it. She looked to the side, seeing Ally dodging and weaving through the group of statues, enticing the emotionless statues to send blades of energy at each other, carving deep grooves into their stone surfaces. Just as she was about to begin freezing the next statue, she heard another thousand whispers from the orrery, [Power from appearance. Ruin appearance.] it said. Mori looked at the fixture for a moment before shrugging and simply freezing the surface of the nearest statue. With a mighty swing of the staff, she broke the ice and the stone began to crack. After a moment, the light in the statue faded, going entirely dark.

“Their skin!” Mori shouted, “Destroy their skin!” They all looked at her for a moment before nodding. The room suddenly burst into a flurry of activity. The statues were burned, shot, and scratched for minutes on end until they fell. They all ended up looking ruined, just as the orrery said. For a moment, they all looked around, ensuring they were safe. Seeing nothing else coming to attack them, Mori stepped forward towards the orrery, “What are you?”