This cavern was perhaps the most important place in the nano-universe of Nul. Well, considering how small Nul actually was, this cavern didn't have much competition, but it was great nonetheless. The team realized the latter after they shook the water out of their ears, they then caught up with its magnificence.
The structures that they had noticed while they were in the water tube, weren't just mere houses, or multi-selection taverns, no, the structures looked holy! They represented the best that mana had to offer, and their purity ascended all bounds!
The team were visitors here so they wouldn't know too much about its importance to begin with, but the aura here was just too strong, they could all sense that this was the place where they needed to be. If this cavern couldn't remove the bracket on their mana quality, then nothing would!
They spotted a structure which seemed like it was the most important, it caught their attention immediately. It featured a long, upwards staircase, and even though they couldn't see what was on top of the staircase, they assumed that it was something very important.
“When we were floating down the tube, I saw a big orb up there, well, it looked like an orb.” Arvena pointed out, she got the team excited about it. “I don't know what it is for, but it looks important enough, and also, we can make a stand there if anyone tries to attack us. If that orb is important enough, then we can threaten to destroy it or something.”
“I don't think we're capable of destroying anything here,” Skendus pointed out, “We're dealing with powerful people, Arvena, so please let's try and avoid conflict.”
Multiple good points were being made, but their perspectives had a couple of flaws in them. Being the genius that he was, Tim took the good of both of their ideas, and created the best idea of all, though it also sounded like the dumbest thing they've ever heard.
“Their kids are more vulnerable, erg, mortal? If we have to threaten them with something, we might as well threaten their kids, so Skendus, I need you to figure out where their kids exactly are. Can you still hear them?” He pitched.
“I can,” Skendus answered, he was shocked that the other pitched such a brute idea, it was sudden, and he felt that he had to fight against it, so he said. “Let’s hold on to that option, we're not in danger yet.”
The team made it up the staircase, and found something marvelous there on top of it. There was an orb here right enough, it was covered in these polished, green and blue colors to the point where it looked like a giant marble. It was interesting to view it with that perspective, because one would never see a twenty-foot wide marble/orb on any other occasion, this was a rare sight, and they were nervous about it.
The orb was surrounded by three other, smaller stone sculptures. These three sculptures did not represent any man or beast, no, but they were these simple, gray pyramids instead. In hindsight they didn't seem so important, especially since they were on the ground and looked like weird spikes for that matter, but Tim picked up on their presence, and he understood that these pyramids could bear countless symbolic values! If he was lucky enough to decode those values, then he figured that the reward would be great!
“What would pyramids be doing all the way here? It's gonna be hard for me to ignore them, they’re engulfed between universes for fuck's sake!” He thought, though he didn't want to make too many assumptions yet, because he figured that Arvena knew something about these three-foot wide pyramids.
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Tim waited for her input, but she ignored them completely, she only focused on the orb, which was a bit infuriating. He didn’t know what to think about these gray pyramids now.
“By the gods… I'm so close to a heart attack!” Arvena mumbled, “This is it, this is where all the mana is pouring from! I felt it from all the way up there, even while we were digging!”
With something like that said out loud, it was easy to grab everyone's attention. The team considered Arvena a bit of a loose cannon, so they were getting nervous of the idea of her being so close to such great amounts of mana! They weren’t as strong as her, but even they could sense that this orb was powerful, and this made their situation all the more concerning.
“Okay, so we found this holy site that you've been rambling about. What do we do now?” Tim asked, he wanted to snap her out of her trance-like state.
“I…” Arvena mumbled, she didn’t have an answer to give them. “I removed one bracket of mine back home, at the library, but this orb is beyond me. I never dealt with an orb before, I wouldn't have ever guessed that they were so… powerful!”
This was not something that the team wanted to hear. They have been through countless challenges just to get here, and now it would appear that Arvena didn't even know what she was doing. By all means, she likely didn’t even know that there was an orb down here, and this was infuriating, because apart from being their guide, she was the one who stubbornly insisted on bringing them into this nano universe in the first place. She shouldn't have the luxury to be under-informed, no, so they really started looking at her as their enemy!
There were a lot of cruel things that the team could say or decide on right now, but before they could've done anything, they were suddenly interrupted by someone. It was a resident!
“I see you found our orb,” The resident said, and grabbed everyone's attention immediately, as he seemingly appeared out of nowhere. Even Arvena snapped out of her trance-like state.
This resident was a goblin without a doubt, but he wasn’t an aqus goblin, no. He was buff, pale, four feet tall, and had more hair than the average goblin, so plenty of ladies may consider him their dream man, especially since he also had a more defined jawline. Only Skendus could meet him eye-to-eye, height-wise, but Skendus was likely far less powerful in comparison, so it was best if he and the rest avoided fights of any sorts!
Being the most cool-headed, Skendus took over the conversation, and spoke on behalf of the group. “Hello! We found the orb, yes, but we don't know how to use it. Is this where we can remove the bracket off of our mana quality? It’d be great if it was.”
“That's exactly what it's for, but this orb is far more efficient at removing brackets, multiple of them even, greater than anything else I know of.” The resident goblin followed along, “It's not a substitute, it's not a weak alternative, but it's the real thing, so getting down here is probably the smartest thing you folks ever did… but it could also be the dumbest.”
“We don't want any trouble…” Skendus stated, half nervously.
“It is not me that you should fear, rat. The holy three are yet to shine in your presence, so, the four of you may not be worthy of the orb's contents. With that said, I suggest caution, as your end will be quick if you choose to engage with the orb by yourselves, without supervision.” The resident added.
“It sounds like you're hoarding the orb here, guy. Supervision is another word for ‘controlled failure’ - You want us to fail.” Arvena interrupted, “And do not call my friend a rat, when you're hiding underground like cockroaches, sandwiched between universes, you're a coward, a big one. Tell us how to activate the orb now, we don't need your supervision!”
“Fine, it is not up to me to evaluate you anyway. You reject my supervision, so you can all die for all I care, I am not responsible for what may follow.” The resident said, and then waved his arm towards the group, as he blasted a wave of blue rays towards them.
“Seek the blessing of the holy three, that's all I can say.” He added, and the team disappeared out of thin air just seconds later!