Success precipitated celebrations. Whatever celebrations were to be had however for successfully slaying the queen, had to wait for now. There was still important work to be done today such as seizing the central pillar. Given its immense importance, Kiran found himself meeting with Frederek to begin the process of taking control of the central pillar.
Gaining control of the central pillar would act as a bargaining chip and a mechanism to use against whatever regime tried to seize control of the city. With the queen dead, those who seek power would inevitably rise up to assume control. If the coalition however controlled the most important component to whether humanity can even live within this domain, then they could ensure not only their own safety, but also have the power to exert their own influence and push for reforms that would direct things in a more positive direction not just for themselves or humanity, but also for the familiars who were seen as nothing more than a pest meant to be purged and obliterated.
All they had to do to enact this grand vision, was to seize the central pillar.
Kiran wandered through the underground depths of Liall managing to not be harassed by anyone since he and several others all traveled as a group that included himself, Abigail, Frederek, and Noreko. If anyone were to mess with them, they would be having a pretty bad day.
The journey to reach the chambers beneath the pillar wasn’t as unpleasant this time around thankfully. Although traveling up the inclining mined-out cave wasn’t a pleasant experience. He managed it fine however while making sure Noreko could keep up with them all. He was fairly certain that the sorcerer wouldn’t manage it without those enhancement spells he cast over himself every few minutes to give him a much-needed boost.
Eventually all four of them entered the chambers that they had gone searching through the other day.
“So this is it, eh?” Abigail said observing the green energy running across the surfaces of the small room they were in. It glowed with enough intensity that everyone’s skin appeared somewhat green due to it.
He found Abigail—who was noticeably shorter than everyone else—somewhat amusing appearance-wise as she wore her leather armor with bits of plate armor on her shoulders. She also had separate scabbards on both sides of her body with the look of someone eager to use them. Considering her usual somewhat aggressive temperament, he figured that intense anger of hers would aid in any potential fighting if they encountered any.
Frederek kept a great axe propped up on his shoulder as they began walking through the long hallway. They remembered the general route leading to the main chamber, but in case they didn’t remember, the green arcane energy flowing through the purposeful crevices in the ground would direct them in the right direction.
“How much further is it?” Abigail said in a tired voice.
“Patience Abigail,” Frederek muttered aloud. “We’ll be there soon.”
“We better be. I feel like I’ve been trekking all day already.” She lifted a finger and pressed it towards her lips making an inquisitive sound. “I have an idea. Why don’t you carry me Frederek?”
Both Frederek and Abigail walked beside each other in front of Kiran and Noreko who walked beside each other. Frederek turned his head to look down at her. “You really want me to carry you?”
“Sure I do. That other free big arm of yours shouldn’t have a problem at all.”
“Maybe I would if you were in your familiar form.”
“Aw, come on. That’s just a silly excuse. You know you’d like to carry little ol’ me no matter what form I take.”
For whatever reason he felt like Abigail must’ve had potentially romantic feelings towards Frederek. She never talked this way towards him or anyone else besides Frederek from what he had seen from her so far.
It was an interesting sight to behold. He hadn’t seen a familiar show such an interest in a human before. He wasn’t all that knowledgeable on such relations and whether they had ever been commonplace. In this domain, or city rather, it was undoubtedly taboo.
She poked his arm causing him to grumble to himself. “Come on. My feet are killing me Frederek!”
“I told you to get a better pair of boots.”
“I couldn’t afford to get any and the coalition didn’t have any spare ones to hand over to me.”
“You should’ve had plenty of money saved up to afford a good pair.”
“I’m a little short of money right now actually.”
“What?” Frederek appeared dismayed by that comment of hers. “What’d you spend it all on then?”
“Um, I’d rather not say.”
Kiran imagined everyone’s eyebrows raising all at once. He wasn’t aware of how much a coalition faction leader like herself would earn compared to a grunt like him. He wasn’t paid all that often. Just a little bit of change whenever they were able to divvy it out to everyone. The coalition had tons of people in it despite only ever seeing a small fraction of it himself. The coalition would end up destitute if they just handed each and every one of them a heavy bag of coin. To prevent that, they could only give so much every other week which was normally enough to pay for necessary things such as food. Most of the time he pocketed the money and just ate whatever they served for free. Although he had been spending a lot of time recently at Rinas’s mansion so he never had to go a day without a good meal. That day would soon come to an end though especially once Lar recovered and they lived at a more permanent location.
He had been saving with the intent to get himself his own place in Liall. That way they didn’t have to stay at Juna’s residence every now and then or sleep with dozens of others at one of the coalition’s many locations. Considering the relatively high prices in a lot of areas in the city, he thought he might have to end up getting them a place in one of the run-down areas. The only place he wouldn’t consider living in was the underground. It just wasn’t the kind of environment he wanted to be in for too long. For Frederek, the depths were perfect. For Kiran, it was amusing and nothing more than that.
They turned right down another long hall. They had been walking for roughly half an hour and their journey was far from over.
“I never really imagined this place would be this expansive,” Abigail said. “Do you think it goes throughout the entirety of this city?”
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“I don’t know,” Frederek said. “Yorais might know.”
He doubted that they would extend that far considering how large Liall truly was. If it were a small city, perhaps, but that simply wasn’t the case. Liall was truly massive and he didn’t think it likely that these secretive chambers would extend all throughout the city. If they did, then he couldn’t even imagine how long it must’ve taken to construct it. And to make matters worse, the ones who made this place were all killed if their knowledge of the subject was correct. Assuming it was true, the queen really was willing to do truly grotesque things if she deemed it necessary. It certainly worked for her for a while, but it inevitably came to an end by forcing his and others hands.
Their passage came to an abrupt stop eventually. The same closed wall that they had run across previously appeared. Since Noreko had recreated this particular ward along the wall, he was able to remove it much more quickly this time around. The ward rippled out of existence and the wall began to go up into the tall ceiling.
The main chamber with the altar appeared once more welcoming them in to seize control of it.
His body began to feel the energy that existed within this chamber. It exuded off the surfaces of the floors and ceiling full of arcane symbols that overlapped one another. The green energy flowing through the surfaces were a bit brighter here as well compared to the hallways.
Everyone stood still once they got close enough to the altar. Noreko stretched out his right arm and began muttering words under his breath. Several differently colored wards appeared over the altar. One was gold, red, and white each layering themselves over one another.
“This may take me a little while to unfurl,” Noreko said cracking his knuckles.
These wards were apparently quite powerful. He had said it himself that he needed to consult some arcane knowledge in some obscure texts to ensure he could break through them. If anyone could do it, Noreko would be the person since he was quite the powerful sorcerer from what he knew of him.
Since they weren’t expected to do much else, Kiran, Abigail, and Frederek stood around facing each other. Abigail gave him a nasty glare while Frederek looked around.
For some reason, whenever he thought to dare look Abigail directly in the eyes, it appeared that hers were locked to him at all times. He thought maybe if he looked away for enough time, she would too eventually but it never appeared to happen. She just kept staring at him for some reason making him feel a little uncomfortable.
“Is there something wrong?” he eventually decided to ask as she kept her eyes locked onto him.
“Oh nothing. Just staring at that stupid face of yours.”
“You think my face is stupid?”
“I sure do. Have you seen it recently?”
Now that he thought about it, he couldn’t quite remember the last time he looked at a reflection of himself.
He decided to make a game out of it so he lifted a finger to his chin furrowing his brows. “I think you’re just jealous.”
“Jealous?” She scoffed.
“Sure I do. You just can’t stand the fact that my face is more immaculate than yours.” If she was going to play by fire, he would too. But in a fun sort of way, not at all in a malicious manner.
She turned up her nose at him. “Hmph!”
Noreko’s muttering stopped. “Can you all quieten down for me? I’m struggling to focus here.”
“Sorry,” Kiran said for not just himself but for Abigail as well. She may have a fierce gaze towards me most of the time, but I think I can pierce through that fury of hers and break through to her. He had done it with others, particularly Silvy, so he imagined he could get past this feisty barrier Abigail kept up at all times around him and most others. She certainly had the capacity for it since she treated Frederek kindly proving that she was capable of other emotions besides anger.
In the meantime, Kiran and Abigail’s silly antics towards one another needed to pause at least for now so Noreko could focus. The last thing they needed was for him to struggle more with his task. If they couldn’t break through the wards, they weren’t going to be able to ever swap out the crystals that would gain them a connection to the central pillar for themselves.
Silence or rather, mostly silence occupied the space until a loud snap occurred. The white ward intermixed with the other two disappeared leaving just two more wards to break through.
The wards ran across the altar and several feet away from the altar itself on the floor in a circular pattern. They moved around with energetic ripples. The golden one had much more furious ripples as that was the one Noreko must’ve been specifically trying to break next. Tiny wisps of energy lifted off the ward into the air disappearing seconds later as more and more of them lifted off the ward.
They chose to not bother breaking these particular wards previously when they came here since Noreko thought it might alert the queen. Since she was no longer around, they didn’t have to worry about alerting her anymore.
Soon after the white ward broke, the golden one broke apart leaving just the red one. As the sorcerer focused on it next, the ripples coursed throughout it differently than the others. It appeared more chaotic and stubborn to outside manipulation.
A part of him was somewhat curious to know what might occur if he were to step onto it. Something bad would happen he imagined. Especially with this red one that had a sinister glow to it. A black aura pulsed within it as well compared to the other two that didn’t have this unique characteristic.
Noreko stopped for a moment. The ward calmed down and stayed completely red as he unfocused on it. “I believe I’ll be able to break this ward in a moment, but breaking it will activate something.”
“What will it activate?” Frederek asked.
The sorcerer answered simply. “Something dangerous.”
Well, that’s not exactly good. So many things could be considered dangerous. What danger would this thing activate?
Kiran knew he would soon find out as the sorcerer focused back on that ward. It fought hard to maintain itself. Cracks formed along the geometrical ward that ran all over the altar and the nearby floor around it.
And then all of a sudden, a giant crack formed straight through the ward causing one half to go dark and the other to maintain itself. The last half soon disappeared as Noreko managed to fully break it.
For a moment there was a calm silence giving off the impression that whatever danger may come to them, would not reveal itself.
However, it became clear that something began to rustle beneath their feet.
The subtle vibrations could’ve gone easily unnoticed had he not been preparing himself for practically anything. After a dozen seconds, the vibrations intensified. The ground itself began to shake more violently and circular cavities in the ground began to appear as they opened up for something.
There were at least four of these openings at opposing ends of the circular main chamber. Kiran summoned a sword gripping it tightly as the grip fully formed in his hand. He breathed in deeply preparing for whatever was coming to greet them.
Four wide stone statues that wielded different kinds of weapons appeared as they came up from the open cavities. Each were at least ten feet tall and much wider than Frederek making them imposing foes.
Though these statuesque figures were made out of stone, they showed some amount of intelligence. The one statuesque being with a spear motioned it into a fighting stance as it eyed them menacingly.
They said seizing the pillar wouldn’t be easy. I suppose they were in fact correct. It’s a good thing there are four of us and four of them making this an even affair.