Chapter 26
Treasure Trove [https://i.imgur.com/goBT8eO.png]
A young Fallen Eldritch Priest ran through the dark city. It was the time of shadows in the city and all the Priests were in their caves deep in slumber.
Yet this particular Priest had no time for rest as he had his quest to finish. He was running through with all his arms carrying him forward through the tunnels, through the caves, through the darkness. His only companion was a small orb of Moonlight spell he weaved beforehand. Moonlight spell for the young Priest was so intimately familiar that he didn’t even have to think about it as his Moon core fed mana into the spell on its own accord. Priest spent all his attention in order to move to his final destination.
After a short travel, he was finally standing in front of a cave no different than any other in the Undermoon temple. It stood in the midst of other similar caves and was separated by Moonfabric from the rest of the city, signifying that the cave was already taken. Cave had its inhabitants, but the young Priest didn’t care about rules of privacy and punishment for breaking them.
“Big brother?” Priest shouted with his mental voice as he ran to the living wing of his big brother's dwelling.
Two moon paths ago Fallen Eldritch Priests of Undermoon temple surfaced. It was the only time when fog retreated from the ground and magnificent Moon Mothers showed themselves in all their beauty. It was a feast and a celebration. It was the time to praise the Moon Mothers and harness their power.
And two moon paths ago their celebration was interrupted. No one, who survived, knew what attacked them, but nevertheless, in the middle of their most sacred ritual, a foe emerged. An enemy attacked them and in the battle of magic, thousands of Fallen Eldritch Priests fell from the backlash of their own sorcery. It was the inherent danger of casting spells with the powerful moon mana from their moon cores.
Moon mana resonates with itself as no other type of mana does. Spellcasters can throw spells together and not worry about the harmony of different magic weaves. Spells weaved from the moon mana always amplify other spells weaved from the same origin, from the same source.
It was their biggest strength and at the same time their biggest weakness. No Eldritch in the Fallen strata could face the attack of Fallen Eldritch Priests. Their spells support one another making their attacks crush through everything and everyone on their way. And yet this time it was their downfall. Priests drunk from the ambient essence didn’t think straight and unleashed all their magic at the same time. Uncontrollable magical reaction killed, oh, so many of them.
But the young Priest didn’t care about any of them. They were his brothers, but he had countless more of them. What he cared about was his teacher. Magic Swordsman of Moon Mothers. Blade who protects. Sword of the Undermoon temple. A great elder of brotherhood under the gaze of Moon Mothers.
His mentor and closest friend.
The explosion took place right over the place where he should have emerged from his tunnel.
“Big brother?” Priest called for his mentor as he rushed through the empty rooms of the living quarters, but the only response was the cold silence of the red walls around him.
“Little brothers?” Priest called for his younger brothers who studied under his mentor, and again he was met with silence.
Young Priest rushed back to the entrance junction and ran to the artifact room. As soon as he reached it, he understood that something was off. Order in the workshop of his mentor was broken. Power cores were not where they were supposed to be, and tools and artifacts were all in the wrong spots in a mess.
His mentor would blow up in anger if he would saw his workshop in such disarray.
The young Priest didn’t stop and run through the room towards the tunnel room. He entered it and his heart skipped a beat.
Blood pooled on the ground in the middle of the room. Dark red blood on the bright red floor made him feel sick. Young Priest felt like in a dram. In a nightmare.
There was blood, but bodies were nowhere to be seen. Young Priest made himself observe the room and his gaze stopped at the tool locker at the far end of the room. From the cranny of the locker doors small crimson droplets dripped down to the ground and pooled right under it.
Young Priest approached it with shaky hands. Step by step he came closer to the locket and dreading what he would see he pried open the locker.
Mutilated corpses of his little brothers fell out of it. He looked and the unrecognizable bloody remains under his hands with a blank stare. Pain hit him like a thunderbolt. He fell down to the ground and collapsed, screaming in grief and anger.
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“Ahaghhahhahahhthth!” a painful scream of agony sounded through the room as he hugged the bloody remains of his dead kin.
Young Priest greaved the deaths of them.
His heart was breaking apart from the feelings he felt. It turned dark.
And then he heard sounds. Blasts resounded from the corridor walls and reached his magical senses. Whoever did this, was attacking constructs defending the vault of his mentor.
Young Priest picked himself up with determination and hate.
He moved towards the sounds with slow steps. His eyes burned in a furry and his hands were trembling.
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Mad Dogs entered and carefully approached the vault doors looking around for any possible booby traps or ambushes. Nothing of sort followed. They reached the doors with no more obstacles in their way.
“How do we open the doors?” Jack asked the rest of them.
Linus stepped forwards with a cheeky smile. He reached for his belt purse and brought out a blue shining cube from it. He stepped to the doors and placed the cube in the square hole right in the middle.
Doors popped open with a bang and Linus turned around to face his team with a proud smile.
“Do you always carry Eldritch door keys with yourself?” Orla asked.
“Just found it under my pillow in the master bedroom,” Linus smiled at her, “I didn’t notice that I was sleeping on a hard rock cube. Imagine my neck pain in the morning?”
“Luck has turned its bright side to us again,” Jack said happily, ”Let’s go!”
They entered the room so well guarded one after another and stopped in their tracks. They expected many things from the mysterious room behind constructs, but not what they saw in reality.
“It’s…” Linus was in shock.
“What is all of this?” Orla didn’t understand what she was looking at.
“It is a trophy room,” only Jack was able to appreciate the splendor in front of them, “Owner of this cave is a great man, that’s for sure.”
In front of them was laid out a long and dark gallery. On sides of it, there were what they could describe only as trophies. Eldritch monsters of all kinds were frozen in blue magical arrays. Monsters were clearly dead as some were missing heads and others most of their bodies, and yet the owner of this cave brought all of those corpses back here and froze them in this sadistic display of art and power.
Mad Dog could see all kinds of Eldritch monsters adorning the trophy hall. Large hundred-legged spiders with humanoid bodies, Shelled tortoise creatures with a beak and feathery wings, twisted creatures similar to animals of the human world, and some which didn’t hold a similarity of no creatures they have seen in their wake.
They went through the hall in a slow walk and viewed all the scary Eldritch plane fauna displayed on the sides.
“Magnificent!” Jack said in awe.
The rest of the Dogs didn’t say a word to that.
At the end of the gallery was a marble altar with a single shining blue orb on it. Orb emanated an intangible sense of power and pulled the humans towards it. Linus was the first to recognize what was the purpose of the orb. He had never seen one of these orbs, all he knew about them came from the stories his mother told him when he was young.
“It is the core orb!” Linus said carefully observing the beautiful orb laying on the altar.
“What is the core orb?” Jack asked.
“By consuming them mages get the power of elements. It is a rarity sought by the Great families and orders of the Empire, allowing for a mortal to weave mana into the spells. You can sometimes find them in the most dangerous and mana-rich regions. They take centuries to fully form. Core orb will transform your natural mana pool with one with an affinity.”
“I thought adept and random mage classes do that. Cast spells and stuff.” Jack said.
“Mage title is something more special than a simple class. Classes can only give perks and stats. Adepts get some perks they can use with mana, but they can’t weave mana strands to their liking like mage can. Spells are not granted, they are learned. Any human possessing a mana core is a mage.”
“What is the point?”
“There is no limit to what can you do with a mana core. The only limits are your knowledge of mana weaves, the strength of your mind, and your personal mana capacity. Nobles with mana cores often focus on Intelligence-based classes to support their mana cores, not the other way around.”
“I see. So that is a very important ball.”
“Indeed. Water affinity should be a dark blue, I have never heard of an orb in such a turquoise blue color. It will pay more gold talons than we weigh together.”
Jack grabbed the core without a warning and threw it up in the air toward Linus. Linus' eyes almost fell out of their sockets as he dropped his spear and shield to catch the precious orb.
“What are you doing?” Linus exclaimed.
“No need to waste our time. Eat it up, Linus.” Jack said.
“You are giving it to me?”
“Who else? Didn’t brag about your mana pool earlier? You will be able to use it a lot better than any of us.”
Linus looked at the rest of the Dogs and Zaun, and Orla both nodded at him with smiles. Zaun put up his thumb signaling for him to go ahead.
Linus' eyes became watery as he looked at his comrades and then back down at the precious treasure in his hands. He had never even hoped for this moment to come, and yet it came seemingly out of nowhere.
“Thank you! I will not disappoint!”
Do you wish to absorbe the core orb?