The words meant nothing to him, but he suspected they did mean something. Why else have such strange words right at the walk up to this place? The columns at the front seemed more for show, like a nobleman's house, so not completely unheard of. But, the amount of white and gold decorations was odd to him. Nobles were always big on colors and shades, but this seemed to be the exact opposite.
"Well, this is boring," Pyra declares, her eyes roaming around the center room, and flames still dancing, "I had been expecting an attack..." Trailing off as if disappointed in the reality. Though Yana still looked around with more than just eyes.
"There is a lot of mana around, but it's not normal mana...maybe more of the System influence?" He muttered to himself as he flicked fingers through the ghostly figures.
"Maybe lets try to figure out if there is something beyond this place, so we don't get caught by the likely people chasing us?" Marshal chimes in, earning a glare from the other two, "What? Sure we are fast, but I know people can match us if not exceed us." The other two gave nods before walking through the crowd. The members of which were dressed like the ancient royalty of the kingdoms, or he assumed they did.
Stories from his life were still trickling through the fog the System had been. He remembered some vague descriptions of the ancient royals when they came through the door. It's one of the most common stories told around the campfire of Beastkin villages and towns. A memory passed down from when they went from friend to foe.
"I don't like how it went from hordes of beasties into this unsettling place." Marshall said, his voice gaining an odd quality as he passed some strange box with a cone on it. It made him shudder slightly and pick up his pace.
"This place wasn't recorded in the books I read on the place either," Yana noted, holding a spinning ball of twisting spell script, "Certainly a lot of System corruption on the mana in here." Pyra let a tongue of flame lash against a wall just for it it repair quickly after.
"Do you think that the amount of corruption could be tracked?" She asked looking at the wall restore. Yana blinked at her and smiled.
"That was just what I was thinking about." His hands lifting up to spread the dense ball of script into a few spinning circles and orbs, "Let's seek."
----
Remus and Rasputin stared at one another with the large black box standing between them. Neither wanted to make the first move, and the box was in the line of fire for the both of them anyhow.
"Perhaps, we set a truce for now?" Rasputin asks, his hands glowing with Skills and the enchantments of his gear.
"That's fair, turn off your spells and we can shake on it." Remus responds, a slight edge to his tone.
"You first, mutt." Rasputin retorts.
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"Ungrateful, ass."
"Takes one to know one, pup."
"I have half a mind--"
"Well, it's good to know you at least have half."
"Fuck you!"
Silence, and then laughter echoes in the twisting tunnels. The two older men suddenly feeling like the whole standoff was pointless for a second, and then a flicker at the corner of the chamber. A tangle of brambles followed by several elemental spears explode the general location of such movement.
"Well, it good to know your instincts aren't as old as you look." Remus finally says after a few seconds. Rasputin grunts and shakes his hands free of arcane powers.
"We are both here to follow that group and find out what they are doing. Even if we have different intentions, those can be shelved for now." He straightens his robes before picking up the box. Remus nods at him, and steps up to keep pace.
"I remember following you down a long time ago," Rasputin suddenly says, breaking the long silence as they walk. Only the many monsters making sounds as they died in various ways.
"Almost 300 years ago..." Remus responds a wistful tone to his voice, "A better and worst time for both of us."
"Truly, some of the best times for research." Rasputin agrees, "Now its all politics and having to be seen by the right people." Remus just glared over at him and Rasputin laughs.
"Yes, yes I know that your people have had it worse, but I have done what I can and where I can. You know that." Remus looks away. He does know that, and even when the Felbeasts were yet unnamed. It was well known that the College didn't discriminate with race. If you had talent then you were used. As simple as that.
"You know," Rasputin said, his tone suspiciously light, "I never did get a good answer from you about WHY you started that gang." Remus sighs and rubs his eyes.
"Because of the mission."
"The mission to open the Door and kick all of us out?" Rasputin said, eyebrow raised. Remus nods in confirmation.
"Even if some are willing to be better, the fact is that it's too deeply ingrained in society to hate." He continues, a speech long recited coming to the fore, "Slow change will do nothing at this point, but foster hate for the change. Both sides will see it as too little, too late, and tensions will continue to rise until something boils over. EVEN in the outcome that reconciliation happens, there will always be bad blood on both sides."
"So, you are saying that gradual changes aren't the best ones? That only a sudden shift will allow for peace?" Remus knew that tone well, the devil's advocate. An odd name for position but something that held over from long ago.
"No, it's still going to cause problems, but it will force both groups to focus on themselves first. Then, maybe, reintroduction is possible. Humans are just too used to owning someone and my kind are too used to being slaves."
"So, you cause chaos to try and uncover what? A secret that everyone has been seeking for over a thousand years? The ancient kings put it away for a reason." Remus grimaced at those words. It was true that the myths of the humans talked about something they ran away from, and locked the Door behind them to avoid it coming here. Yet, they came from somewhere else, and it had been so very long.
"I believe the secret was in the hands of the Dungeons due to where they began. They are the closest servants of the System, and the ancient kings sealed the door on a problem that is well and truly over." Rasputin grins at him.
"How do you know that it is safe to return us to that ancient place? And why would we know that the Realm is safe and as wonderful as it is?"
"Rasputin, I grow tired of this. We could talk circles around this for a long time." Remus' spell crashing into a swarm of strange, translucent beetles, "And while we have a lot of time, I don't want to argue with you further." Rasputin snapped a finger releasing a wave of fire down the tunnel, and unearthly screams carried up to them.
"Fine, but I feel like you got too caught up with your ambitions, never the less." He sighs and looks into the massive chamber before them.
"Centipedes" They both say with a pained sigh, while a faint gray glow emanates from the box.