(#!$# %%!% @^*#^ @!@ &#!^% %( %# $($%(%#^ %#^*^#
-!((
*=====*
A long, oppressive silence stretched out as Mori stared at the orrery. Just when she was beginning to worry whether or not it heard her, she felt the words if thousands push through her head, [We are those that the Great God of the Resting Laurels finds inconvenient, but useful. The ones that he will need one day, but today is not that day. Please… Free us.] they said.
Her death knights were giving her odd looks, reminding her that they could not hear the orrery. She contemplated tying them into the conversation, but belatedly realized that she did not know how to do such a thing. With a sigh, she looked at the gathered undead. Some of them had broken arms or legs, some had cut flesh, while only Idle was missing a body part; Jel was dutifully mending it back onto the stump with whatever mana she had learned to use, showing it possible to reattach limbs. Mori turned her attention back to the orrery in the center of the room, “I don’t know how… rude this is to ask,” she said to the fixture, “But how can I trust you? You’re basically the only intelligent thing in this entire reliquary that I’ve seen so far, sure, but that god of yours likes his little tricks. I don’t think putting an intelligent creation in the middle of his reliquary and making it act like a gaggle of sealed souls is outside his wheelhouse.”
There was another prolonged silence before a weary sigh was sent over the Connection, along with emotions of understanding, [We understand your mistrust. If you do not trust us, then allow us to provide you with information.]
Mori raised half her brow, “And what kind of information could you provide?” she asked.
[We can tell you where the real treasure of this reliquary is,] they said, [Each of the doors here are simple caches of resources. They are not very important in the grand scheme of things; even when the Great God falls from his current height, such things are beneath his consideration. There is, however, something else here.] they explained, [Whenever the Great God reaches a height, his saints or even himself may forge powerful relics befitting the name of their homes. Three such relics are within this reliquary.]
Mori’s eye-flames narrowed, “And you want me to free you in exchange for these relics,” Mori finished, feeling an uneasy feeling grow in her non-existent gut. “That’s what you want, isn’t it?”
Some amount of elation was passed across the Connection, [Indeed.] they said, [We want to be free from this coffin we call home. Free us, and we will tell you how to obtain the powerful relics. We believe it is a good deal for you, but we are at your mercy…] they said pitifully, but Mori could sense the playfulness in their words.
She turned to her death knights, “You guys get the picture?” she asked. They nodded, “Then what do you all think?”
The first to step forward was Idle, “It would be safer to avoid them, mistress,” she said, “The odds that it does… something to us is higher than zero. I don’t like it.”
Fury scoffed, “Come on, don’t be so scared. It’s stuck in a piece of glass, what can it do?”
“That, Fury, is hardly a ‘piece of glass,’” Pride cut in, “It is a heavily enchanted piece of runework that, if I am right, extends beyond the surface of the was created with the specific runic system in mind.”
“W-What he means to s-say is that i-it was made to be e-enchanted. They s-somehow were able to m-make a three-dimensional e-enchantment,” Jel clarified.
“So?” Fury asked, “I mean, if it doesn’t want to fight, then we get some fancy stuff and we don’t fight. Cool. If we do fight, we get experience and we know to look out for relics. Also cool. What’s the problem here?”
Meg elbowed Fury in the ribs, “Oh, I don’t know, maybe the fact that something powerful enough to, one, survive without a physical body, and two, need such a complicated thing to contain it could kick our asses if we let it loose?”
“Stop being such a prude, Meg,” Ally cut in, “I’m with Fury on this one.”
Tisi rolled her eyes, “As much as I would like to play the contrarian,” she said, “I agree.” They all went wide-eyed, shocked at the prospect of Tisi agreeing with Fury, let alone Ally, on anything, much to Mori’s amusement, “I believe it has no reason to fight with us. It is powerful enough to either be impossible to kill or be useful to a god. What would it need from a lich that, no offense, mistress, is not important to the grand schemes of the gods’ lives?”
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
“None taken,” Mori replied. They all looked at each other, shrugged, and agreed with Tisi; Mori could argue against Tisi’s point, but hers was a compelling one and Mori wanted to make a choice sooner rather than later. She turned to the orrery, “Alright, we’ll get you out of there. But…” she trailed off.
[You do not know how?] they asked in amusement, [This ‘cage,’ as your minion called it, relies on the spinning of the orrery and the flowing of the water. In all honesty, you will need to enter the secret part of the reliquary if you are to free us, as it is likely where you may stop it. Unless you have a method of breaking an artefact created by one of the great gods at the height of his power, of course. It is fine if you do not have one, most do not either.]
Mori gave a bemused look, “Alright, so how do we get there?”
[Look at the tiles of the floor,] they said. Mori did as instructed, noticing how the floor had layering rings of tiles. With her enhanced sight, she was even able to notice small, almost invisible lines that ran through each tile. [You have noticed it, then. As you likely have guessed, you must make each line connect from the center cage to the outer wall. It is not hard, simply difficult to spot in the overdesigned mess that Ei’vit’net calls art.] they assured.
Mori gave a final tentative look at the orrery’s sun and began to line up the tiles with the help of her death knights. As the things in the orrery said, the ‘puzzle’ was not difficult to solve, the only difficulty being the effort needed to move the guardian statues out of the room and into the entry hallway. After ten minutes, the floors were lined up and mana began to flow from the orrery and through the tiles. It rushed forward, running through the winding lines at high speeds and reaching the far wall within seconds. Then came the rumbling that shook the whole room as the middle half of the sliding tiles sunk into the floor one by one, turning into a staircase.
They looked at the newly-revealed staircase as the orrery spoke to Mori, [There will be guardians down below as well, though they do seem a bit… lesser, than we know of. Ei’vit’net most likely has some sort of mana supply that ensures that the prison will always spin, so it should not be hard to disable. We wish you the best of luck. For your sake, and ours.] The Connection was suddenly torn roughly, feeling like a pinch on her soul compared to the feeling of death.
Mori looked between her death knights and sighed, “Alright, let’s get this over with; who’d of thought our first task would lead to us getting the artefacts of a god?” she wondered aloud. Some of the undead chuckled, but the others simply kept vigilant against the staircase. As they descended the bare, marble staircase, they began to hear running water flowing and dripping. Once they finally reached the bottom, a wide, arched room met them. Like the rest of the reliquary, the room was made of marble, but the aqueducts that ran to and from the central pillar were different from normal. As well as the aqueducts, slowly spinning gears ran along the walls and into the ceiling, moving at the same speed as the spinning orrery.
“Huh,” Idle said, “I thought gears and cogs were the clock god’s shtick?”
Pride shrugged, “I am not very knowledgeable about the gods. Tisi?”
She nodded, “Well, the reason the people use clockwork machinery is because it is seen as a way to steal power from the clock goddess, Idle.”
She shrugged, “Sorry,” she halfheartedly said.
“Where’d you learn that?” Mori asked, glancing at Tisi.
The orcish zombie smiled, “We have to make ourselves useful while you play with magic, mistress. I spent my time learning as much as possible from Zubov. Using Aerolat as a translator,” she finished before Mori could ask.
The lich nodded, “Alright, that’s fair. Well, this is easy, all things considered. Let’s see here…” she trailed off, aiming her new staff up at the ceiling. She shot a gust of icy wind at the gears, freezing them in place and breaking a few. Seeing the gears taken care of, Mori turned her attention to the aqueducts, launching a boosted firestorm at it. Steam and smoke and dust poured from the falling structure, covering the room in a screen. To the undead, the obstruction was nothing, but Mori guessed that it may impair the guardians if they were lucky.
As soon as the aqueduct fell, a thundering crack came from the stairwell, echoing down to them. “It seems to have gotten free, mistress,” Pride observed. None of the undead had a witty rebuttal as they watched the ceiling in anticipation. After a dozen minutes without any sign of an eldritch horror, they breathed a sigh of relief.
“Damn,” Fury said to the side, “I wanted to fight it.” He received a smack on the back of his head for his words. Just then, they heard a thud from beyond the cloud. Whipping around, they noticed another stone guardian, attempting to sneak up on them. Instead of being in a human shape, the statue was a mix between a bird and an octopus, to Mori’s eye-flames. They were bemused nonetheless, unleashing an onslaught against the offending statue.
“Okay, I don’t think they can see through this,” Mori said as she finished the statue off, “Can you guys see anything else?” she asked. Idle immediately pointed to the side, pointing at a statue that was attempting to sneak up on them as its brethren did. It was also the victim of a barrage. As their spells and bullets landed, it kicked up more dust that had rested on the ground, making more clouds of cover. Once again, a statue attempted to sneak up on them only to be instantly assaulted by fire, light, and bullets. After the process being repeated nearly a dozen times, no more statues crept in the shadows, leaving them free from enemies. “I think that’s all of them,” Mori commented, “Let’s go.” They walked deeper into the room, rounding a corner and stepping into another room. It was decorated by dozens of paintings, all in the same style, that fit with each other like jigsaw pieces. In the center of the room, sitting on pedestals, were three items, each contained in a single glass case. The first was an ornately carved, silver armband. The next was a bronze circlet with a massive ruby in the middle. The last was a golden necklace with a single, perfectly preserved, reptilian eye in the middle. Each hummed with mana, and Mori looked at them carefully. She examined each, but stopped when she noticed something strange.
The eye was staring at her.