==A pocket dimension, somewhere in space, U.S.A.Yr. 2016==
“Do you know of a.. female..” the researcher began; making gestures that reference an accentuated female figure, “of this height..” he makes his hands into corners, and brings them downward, closing in until they touch at the middle of his chest, “triangle ears here,” he opens and flattens his hands as he then puts them up on his head, high above his own ears, “and here?” he shifts them down just above his own – which were a bit pointed themselves.
The pale, rugged-looking guards that spoke an unknown language standing before him had a spark of recognition, and so then pondered and exchanged looks and murmurs for a minute before they quieted, and seemed to have decided on something. They looked to him and his younger assistant, and one of the two men made a simple command and gesture as they turned to move away. Just about anyone could tell it meant “come with me.”
And so they went.
The place was a well-carved out cave with various symbols lining the wall’s design, and lit up by some interesting blueish white, glowing copper lanterns. Symbols and drawings gradually became more numerous as if to tell a story, but the researchers would have to translate later. Luckily, they were recording all of this to dissect later. A hidden resident of this cave wasn't sure how to feel about them, though.
The stone above and under them began to vibrate which made them stop in their tracks. The guard immediately put his hands on the closest wall, and the only word the researchers could interpret similar to their own was “cavveros” which they assumed meant “cave” or “cavern”. It sounded like the man was pleading something, as if this had happened before or the cave was somehow alive. Whatever the case, the vibrating ceased, and an ominous sound similar to a voice was heard all around them.
The guard hardly looked in any other direction, but laid his neck on a part of the wall that looked like a smooth lump of some glass gemstone, and he replied, seeming now to perhaps use “cavveros” as more of a name. The second “voice” made a more satisfying hum, and whatever was there was now moving away, and small cracks they hadn't noticed before were now sealing themselves up.
The guard stepped away from the wall, looking a little shaken, but somehow not sweating. After taking a quick breath to relax, he commanded them to continue on, same as before. This time, however, he was walking at an angle, but moving in the same direction as before; glancing back at them here and there.
“Ok,” Norniss’s assistant said softly after a moment. “That was freaky. Think it’s their ruler?”
The guard looked back, wondering if they were trying to talk to him. Seeing the younger foreigner looking up at the older one, he realized they weren't, and this was just a conversation between them. He knew it was likely about what just happened, and he wished he could explain, but he didn't speak their language. He had hopes that a certain superior of his and the strange woman they're looking for, however, could.
“I think it might be.” Norniss answered his assistant. “It must've been some sort of higher command or guard. I suppose they aren't fond of outsiders.”
“Makes sense with this being a pocket dimension. If the theory is correct about the purpose of this being meant as a safe place from a destroyed home – based on all the debris and radioactive traces – I’d be scared of outsiders too. I just hope they haven't killed the lieutenant for that, though; she was one of our best healers, and is very passive.”
“Let’s hope. A being powerful enough to see us through stone, make a cave collapse, potentially made the caves themselves, and have a form of their voice be heard in all directions at once? Even our Mages would get chills from that… At the very least, the ghostly people seem to recognize Amyki’s general shape.”
Suddenly, the guard leading them stopped and turned to look at them with surprise. Both Norniss and his assistant stopped just after, nearly bumping into him. They were now stunned silent, hoping they didn’t say anything offensive.
The guard’s expression shifted to curiosity. “A.. Amyki?” He repeated.
The two researchers’ hearts filled with hope. “Yes!” Norniss excitedly affirmed. “Amyki!” He then repeated the gestures of the shaped figure he made before. “Amyki!”
The guard’s expression gained a new spark of recognition, and called the previous command twice more, as if to say “Come, come!” and began faster down the cave which was getting to a larger and more elaborate part. The two followed suit.
“Isn’t that her nickname?” the assistant quietly asked.
“Yes, but they recognize it so I’ll take it.”
It didn’t take long at all from that point on to come into a giant cavern beautifully lit with crystals, gold, and gemstones. Before them at the mouth was a large field of stalagmites; beyond that was a small wall of pure crystalline marking the border of a village of stone, ghostly figures, and colorful lights. Deeper into the great cavern, it appeared to evolve into a city. Soft hums rang through, bouncing off the prisms and creating a silent chorus of a spiritual ambience.
They were led through the main streets of where the pale, glowing citizens lived. Each paused their businesses to look warily at the foreigners that were strange to them. Some also whispered amongst each other; clearly trying to make sense of what they're all witnessing.
As they pass, the explorers start to notice all the diversity among the ghostly natives. A wide range of skin tone, opacity, and physical attributes such as gills, fins, longer leg proportions, sharper eyes, bigger ears, skin patterns, scars, and other things were all visible in ways that distinguish a few varying species and races apart from another – similarly to back home, and they found this odd, but were not about to judge.
‘Perhaps whatever deity or deities were in charge of their design,’ the two theorized in their heads, ‘had similar inspirations! This could make for some revolutionary findings in regards to our ties to the cosmos! It will have to wait for another decade or two, however… judging by the cautious eyes, we won't be welcome to advance much for a long time…’
Norniss, himself, then wondered: ‘Or.. could they be more worried about their leader's judgment of us.? If he would encourage us to cause them harm or ask if we would.? Or maybe them being punished of simply bringing outsiders in. Oh, I pray Amyki is alright after all this time if that is the case… she would be LIVID about such tyranny, and she looks so much different than anyone else here, that she would either be taken very seriously, or not at all. At least she’d be able to close this language barrier rather quickly…’
Despite the anxiety in the air, they both were in awe of every archway and string of decorations they passed that connected similar tall buildings together. There were illustrations and designs of various natural elements such as fire, water, and air intertwining into beautiful designs, and lastly, there was a statue depicting a man and woman embracing and sheltering their son.
Beyond it, their attention came upon an opening with a much taller ceiling and what appeared to be a sort of small palace carved in stone and beautifully decorated with various metals, gems, and even foliage. Stairs led up to the main entrance which was accompanied by a couple guards, small waterfalls, and the palace base was lined with gardens of glowing flora and fungi. Truly, a beautiful sight to behold and explore more in the future.
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Soon as they were halfway up the steps, something cracked and was crawling out of the stone ground behind them. The guards already at the entrance hardly flinched, and the pair’s guide also seemed calmer than before, but still whipped his head around just as quickly, and came between them and the creature. It came out so strangely, like slime, but then turned to normal flesh and bone and pulled itself out.
The foreigners were horrified, but the common folk didn’t seem alarmed. Was this normal here? The final form of the creature was tall, bulky, and humanoid, though devoid of eyes. It had long ears pointing down behind it, a mouth that seemed as if it was structured to never fully close, and a ragged knitted cloth giving it some modesty. A strained wheeze came from its crooked, jagged teeth-filled mouth, like the creature is in pain — followed by something in the people's language.
‘It has complex sapience?!’ The foreigners thought.
The guide bowed respectfully with perhaps a nervous but sincere greeting. Instinctively, the researchers copied his body language, hoping to not seem rude. When they stood, the creature stepped to the researchers, hunched over and… trying to smell them? They did not dare move a muscle, however.
A moment later, it stood another step back and tilting his head. Finally, it spoke again, and, much to their shock: “I.. speak.. small. Listen.. better.”
“You.. who taught you our language? The one we are here for?”
“..Yes… but… small.” the creature reaches and points a bony finger beyond them. “Inside.. higher.. Hadierokye.. speak more.”
“You are not who reigns here?”
“No. I.. protect.”
“Aahhh, understood.”
And with that, the ghostly guide asked the creature a question that got gently rejected, and then the creature insisted on them all continuing forward. The two researchers could sense the creature still did not trust them, and — as suspicious of a sort of trap it made them, — they knew well, as established before, it would likely not take kindly to foreigners standing against it. On top of possessing the power to manipulate the cavern, they would be very easily executed. So all they can do now is pray it isn't a trap.
“Of all the highly advanced equipment we have,” Norniss thought, “nothing can save us from a guardian who can, theoretically, MANIPULATE AN ENTIRE MOUNTAIN TO CRUSH US.”
The assistant had an equally noteworthy thought. “If the guardian is that powerful… How much more powerful is the ruler?! Hadierokye? No, we mustn't panic, Amyki must be alive and well if they care enough to learn her name and language. And they know we’re here for her.”
It wasn't long before they were led into a moderately sized throne room with a long, deep purple carpet, luminous yellow crystals giving light from the ceiling, and cushions of varying colors and designs decorated the center of a raised platform that was otherwise empty, save for two individuals next to the cushions. The first was a tanned, solid, highly masculine figure who looked like no one else at first glance, as he was far from ghostly. After some careful observation, though, both researchers realized he might be the same man that was in the statue. Maybe he has a wife and child who helped him found the establishment? Perhaps the civilization down here was relatively new since his lack of aging in appearance suggested it hasn’t been much more than a decade or two since the statue was made. They left room in their minds for other possibilities should they be given more context.
The second figure was another ghostly person, and having a conversation with the man about something. The man had already noticed the party with the foreigners, but wished to finish up the business he had with the second individual who soon bowed thankfully and left, being off-put only by the researchers.
The more saturated man bore light brown, tired eyes, though his hair of a slightly darker brown showed little signs of graying from age or stress. There were various scars — likely from battle — visible on any skin that was exposed wherever his royal garb wasn’t. Arms, chest, neck, face, the lower outside of his thighs, and then all from the knees, downward. The garb was quite a simple design; mostly white with accents of grey and red, and a few gold jewelry pieces such as necklaces, rings, earrings, and bangles – though, most care went into the design of the head piece, it seemed. The gold in it was molded into curly vines with leaves and flowers, and the centers of the flowers were multi-colored jewels.
Now that they could have his full attention, the man — assumed to be Hadierokye — came to stand before them in front of the pile of cushions, arms crossed. The ghostly man that had been guiding them stepped to the side and knelt, addressing him by name to confirm this was indeed the man the creature pointed to.
Hadierokye thanked and dismissed the man. Once it was then just the researchers, him, and the creature, he spoke. “The guardian reported of you to me.. very short time ago.” His accent was VERY heavy, but they could understand him clear enough.”
“Wow, that was.. fast.” Norniss said in awe. “A-And I see their word was true; you do speak our language better.” He complimented. “Oh, uhm, – I am Professor Norniss,” he bowed, “and this is an assisting companion I brought with me, Lisal. —” He looked to the assistant as they bowed as well. “We are scientists and explorers from far outside of this little world, on an expedition to find out how this was made, what happened to another one of our companions that disappeared here on a solo mission, and, if possible, bring her and some other things – material or otherwise – back for study. Now knowing there is plenty of similarly intelligent life here, making friendly relations would also be a desired goal.”
Hadiero had proudly smiled slightly at the positive comments, but both he and the creature tensed a bit when it was said the origin of this pocket in space was desired. Lisal noticed both, but though he couldn’t think of how that could be such a sensitive subject, he didn’t press.
Hadier spoke after a nod and a second to think. “I see… Ehhh, your companion, Amyki– as I here you confirmed she was called — is alive and well; and I have assistant that is very fond of her. This mean he speak your language better than I. I send him to get her after I was reported of you. They will arrive in short time.”
“Oh! Wonderful! And uh.. ghat’s.. actually her nickname that is a short version of her full first name. We normally just call her ‘Lieutenant’ which is her rank title.”
“Ah. I will tell you she was not welcomed at first. As you have seen, we are all very wary and distrusting of.. unknown lifes.”
“Yes, it is very clear. We understand, but we are also very thankful for your guardian giving us mercy. If it is not too much to request… What allowed her to be welcome?”
“She found and healed my assistant who was in very bad condition, despite knowing nothing about him; only him having fatal… medical complications. We have good healing ability here, but there was.. very disfiguring.. accident, and full stabilizing him was impossible. We still work on improving his condition, but he is forever stable.”
“Oh my.” Norniss noticed Hadierokye mostly knew the most scientific terminology the best. “If I may, it sounds like you are very well educated in some scientific fields such as medicine.”
“Yes, but I have many skills and study many things. It is among things I am in high lead rank for.”
“Ah. So is the society here in hierarchy that is power based?”
“I.. suppose that is accurate. Above these caves, however, it.. is.. also.. forced control.”
“Oh no… so… down here is a sort of safe place?”
“Almost. Only reason surface rulers not come down here is fact of everyone here being a soul of person that died above and have no value to them anymore.”
“Ah, I see. That explains the ghostly appearances. I suppose trying our luck above will have to wait until a much later time in the future. There are many powerful individuals where we are from, but they’re job is like your guardian; to protect their home and people.”
“Yes, your Luitenant told of your Mage Guardians. Their power is strangely similar to some gods of the planet before this smaller world. Only other fact of the history I will give is that this was created to escape its sudden destruction. You will be safer not knowing anything else.”
This confirmed their theory of why it was made, but the answer to how is still a mystery. “I suppose I’ll have to take your word for it. Out of respect, we will not push you for further details.”
“Thank you.”