Chapter 86 - Another hole

“You’ve made that joke before, you know,” Mayry said with a teasing grin.

Mason raised a hand to his chest in mock outrage. “What? No, I haven’t! I would never reuse a joke!”

“Yep, you have! Right after we found that hole in the ground Aiden was in.”

He looked thoughtful for a second before smacking himself on the forehead. “Holy crap… you’re right. Shit. I need new material.”

“Yeah, you really do.” She pointed to the ladder with a forced, stern expression. “Now get in the hole.”

He gave a mock salute, “Yes, ma’am,” and descended the ladder.

As he disappeared into the darkness, his voice echoed up, “Nothing has attacked me yet, so it’s probably safe for you to come down.”

“Do you see anything?” Mayry called after him.

“Mayry, it’s pitch black down here! No, I don’t see anything. If only one of us had some sort of ability to produce fire that could provide some light,” he muttered sarcastically from below.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m coming, I’m coming,” she shouted back. With a flick of her wrist, she summoned a ball of normal, non-demonic fire to her hand. Just as she was about to descend, she hesitated and added, “Hey, wait a second! Your mana gives off light, doesn’t it?”

There was a long moment of silence pause, and then, all at once, the darkness lit up with the bluish glow of Mason’s mana. It emitted a bit of light but not enough that Mayry would be comfortable walking around down there. Holding her summoned ball of fire in one hand, she managed to shimmy down the ladder until she was standing next to Mason.

Now that the place was somewhat lit, they could see that they were in a huge cavernous space that looked to be carved out of the ground.

They stood side by side, taking in the massive underground cavern. The rough stone walls were covered in a thin layer of moss, and the air was dry and smelled of dust and decay. The floor was littered with debris—broken crates, scraps of cloth, and the remnants of what seemed to be old machinery, long since rusted away. Mason walked over to the machinery, wanting to take a closer look. Try as he might, he was unable to make heads nor tails of any of it and got the feeling that even if it had all been brand new, he’d still have no idea. It was very odd to finally be confronted with technology in this world, only for it to be completely foreign to him.

He spun around sharply as Mayry, who had been standing nearby, gasped. Nothing immediately jumped out at him as a potential threat, so he looked at Mayry in confusion to see that she was staring at something Mason had initially missed. The ancient remains of what he assumed was a human were sat in a corner against a wall, it was essentially just a pile of bones and tattered fabric. “Are you okay?” He asked, concerned, something so small wouldn’t have usually have made her so much as blink.

“I’m fine; it just startled me, is all.” She replied unconvincingly.

He was about to push a little but decided to drop it until after they’d left and were somewhere safer. He knew he needed to really talk with her about what had happened, but he was hoping it could wait a few hours.

He bent down and took a closer look at the body. Just to be safe, he reached out and gave it a hard poke, just to make certain it wasn’t about to come alive and try and eat them. The moment he came into contact with the bone, it turned to dust. “All safe.” He said, smiling up at Mayry. “Hmm,” he added as an afterthought. “Dya reckon whoever this was had anything on them when they died?

She thought about it for a moment before scrunching up her face, “There is only one way to find out, and you can believe me when I say I’m not doing it.”

He scoffed and grimaced as he reached his hand into the remains; his fingers immediately touched something hard. He grabbed onto it and pulled out a pristine-looking book. It looked like a notebook or journal. On the front was a handwritten title, written over and over again so many times that, in places, the pen seemed to have pierced through the thick leather cover and onto the first page.

The truth about the Gods

He flicked through it and saw that it was filled with information about the gods. It started in neat cursive handwriting, but page by page, it slowly devolved into a madman’s frantic scribbled—words written in a dark, crusty brown that could only be blood, symbols scratched in the margins, and chaotic diagrams that would take a platoon of scientists to make any sense of. Flicking back to the first page, he began to read.

From what I have gathered from my delves into the lost libraries of Dvelmbry, the 5 and the 10 were peaceful for aeons before the fall. Petty squabbles over power happened but were rare. I have recorded everything I have managed to learn to the best of my ability in hopes that one day, we may be guided by the 5 and the 10 once more, and may they help me leave this hell.

The 10 Minor Gods

The minor gods are not just representations of their domains; they are the forces themselves. The Goddess Knowledge is the embodiment of knowledge, as Time is the embodiment of Time, each drawing power from and embodying the essence of their nature.

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The 5 Major Gods:

The major gods are similar to the minor gods in that they also embody that which they govern. The most significant difference is the size and scope of what falls within their domains. Often, much of a minor god’s domain will also fall within the domain of a major god. The most interesting example of this is Balance, whose domain includes that of both Chaos and Order.

Putting the book away for a moment, he asked, “Mayry, are you seeing-“ Before he could finish his sentence, she grabbed the book and started flicking through it, only glancing at each page before moving on to the next one.

Having not grown up in this world, he wasn’t sure how big of a deal the book was, but seeing as Mayry was ignoring him, he assumed it was quite a big one.

“Mayry, Mayry, Mayry, Mayry.” After a gentle nudge, she seemed to snap out of her reverie.

“Oh, yes. Um, sorry. Wow …if any of this is true, then it’s information that hasn’t been known for a really long time. Most people only really know about Chaos as Chaos magical is still something people use and experience every day. Some worship other deities, but… “ She trailed off as she started reading again. He gave her a few seconds and cleared his voice. Her only reaction was to hold up one finger and keep reading.

A few more seconds passed, and she finally closed the book. She turned it over in her hands and examined it. “It’s spotless. For the body to be in that condition, it must have been down here for hundreds of years… and yet the book is completely clean. No rot, no mould, nothing.”

Mason cut in, jokingly saying. “Well, that’s magic for ya. That-“

Mayry spoke over him, glaring at him for cutting her off. “That’s the thing, I can’t feel a single bit of magic on it.” She books the book down and looks at him, confounded. “To my magic sense, this is a completely normal book.”

“Well, that’s impossible; there must be something on it; let me use identify,” Mason muttered,

He reached for the book and used his ability. He was surprised when not only did no notifications show up, but an intense pain shot through his head and made his eyes blur. He staggered backwards and grabbed his head.

Mayry was by his side in an instant, ready to catch him if he fell. “What is it? What happened?”

He let out a long groan and rubbed his head. “I’m fine. That just really hurt.” He said through the pain to reassure her.

She looked confused, “It hurt?” she put a hand on his shoulder, glanced at the book and added, “Did it work though?”

The pain faded, and he answered, “No, I got nothing from that but a horrid headache. There is absolutely no way this is just a normal book.”

He summoned his dagger and scratched away at the thick leather cover, at first lightly, but then harder and harder as he saw he wasn’t leaving any mark. A few moments went by, and Mayry watched as Mason’s face grew redder as his efforts grew. He finally gave up and threw the book to Mayry. “Nothing, not even a scratch. I know I’m still kinda new to this, but if that isn’t magical, then I think I need to start working out. ”

Mayry let out a small chuckle as she stared at the enigma that was the strange book. Seeing her start to zone out, he spoke up. “I think maybe we should read through it more when we’re somewhere a bit safer.”

She didn’t respond, her gaze still fixed on the book. He was about to try again when something metallic caught his eye in the firelight—a ring. Hesitant to use Identify again, he weighed the risk but ultimately decided it was probably worth it.

Item - Ring of Elders

Simple in design but incredibly rare, this combination of advanced technology and magic is given to the elders of Ganehfrel and acts as a symbol of their power and authority.

This is a Ganehfelian artefact and can only be used by System users.

Effect: As well as its use for showing high status, it is also a powerful ward breaker and is able to open almost any lock, magical or mundane.

He knelt and picked up the ring. As the Identify had said, it was a very simple design: just a silver band with various runes carved onto it.

“Holy crap, this guy must have been a Ganehfrelian elder.” He called over to Mayry, who had taken a few steps away in order to explore more of the cave.

“Oh yeah? How’d you figure?” As she replied, she turned to look at him, only to see him knelt down, holding a ring up for her to see. Her eyes widened, her face went bright pink, and she took on an air of extreme panic. “Mason! What the hell are you doing?! Now? You’re doing this now!?”

Mason liked to think that he was a pretty intelligent guy. Add to that his Intelligence stat, and he theoretically should be well-prepared to respond in pretty much any circumstance. Despite all that, it took him several seconds to put together in his mind why Mayry was suddenly freaking out. He looked at the ring in his hand and then back to her; he repeated the motion several times before it clicked. “Oh no, no, no, no, no. This isn’t- I’m not- not that I wouldn’t, but -you know - I didn’t think-“

By this point, Mayry had calmed down and figured out what had happened; now, she was just enjoying watching Mason squirm.

She smirked at him, and he relaxed. He had also gone bright pink and was avoiding eye contact his her. “You found a ring?” she asked.

“Yeah…” He replied sheepishly.

She elbowed him in his side, which seemed to break the tension between them. He explained what the description of the ring said and how he assumed that it meant the dead body was that of an elder.

“I think you’re probably right.” She said after listening to his reasoning. “But if that’s true, how did he end up down here.”

“I don’t know, maybe he got trapped or something. I mean, he did write a book; he probably mentions it.”

They searched the area thoroughly, finding little of interest beyond boxes of decaying food and a few far less interesting books. The ring and the book were exciting finds, but both had hoped for something more to make their hours in this foul place feel worthwhile."

As their light began to reveal the far walls of the cavern, it began to seem like they had found everything worth finding. The ring and the book were great finds, but they had both been hoping to stumble upon something that would make the last few hours seem more worth the lousy experience.

In the furthest corner of the space, very easy to miss, was a table. They got closer and saw that on the table lay a sword. The moment Mason laid eyes on it, he found that he could not look away. It wasn’t a magical effect; as far as he could tell, it was more that the sword called to him.

The blade was as dark as the shadows around it. Its hilt was crafted from dark wood and intricately carved to resemble a grotesque, twisted face.

Besides the sword, there was a folded note. Ignoring the note, Mason reached for the weapon. He slashed it through the air a few times and gave an approving grunt.

Mayry, who had been watching, shook her head and picked up the note. “Err, Mason? I think you should probably put that down.”