Unsealing the Past (1/2)
After several minutes, the two high humans finally succeed in opening the great door. With a loud bang, an enchanted bar falls off the front of the gate, and the doors swing open with an ominous creak.
What immediately enters their view is a foyer twice as large as the other foyer – the one at the outer palace. Yet, this place isn't at all what anyone was expecting.
Instead of ornate furnishings and rich velvet carpets, the floor is barren grey, and every corner is filled with dust. Parts of the roof are broken down, the walls are covered in thick vines, and random weeds are sprouting from the cracks between the tiles.
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It takes them nearly a minute to walk through the foyer. While they're walking, they see many halls to the sides, branching out and snaking deeper into the palace. Up ahead, though, is a pair of double doors about as tall as the main gate.
Once they reach the double doors, the brown-haired High Human waves his hand, and the doors swing open.
The sight that greets them is just as dismal as the foyer, though given the rotting remains of some of the furniture, Lyr can guess what this room was used for.
Lining the center walkway are countless longtables – all collapsed and in piles of their own rot, and there are countless braziers scattered periodically between tables.
More than likely, this was a dining hall.
"Interesting," Miss Yesee mumbles just loud enough for Lyr to hear her.
"What?" Lyr asks curiously.
Yesee points her little hand to a glowing run hanging on the ceiling. "That's a customizable spatial enchantment. This room can expand and shrink at will."
Lyr nods his head. "That makes sense." He points at the braziers. "Those are traditional Brancotte cooking braziers. The ancient people would keep their food warm on these during large parties."
He then points back at the glyph on the ceiling. "This was a dining hall. Having a spell like that would be very useful, since you could have almost any number of guests dining in on one night."
While Yesee and Lyr are jabbering away, Lena notices that the two aliens are… oddly subdued here. More specifically, they're far more sullen and depressed looking than they were on the trip up here.
What Lena doesn't know is that this dining hall is where all the Valor Hall soldiers gathered to dine together. There were feasts, songs, dances, and stories told in this room.
Plus given that this is the only room in the Valor Hall big enough to accommodate the entire Arkin army, this is the room where the majority of their social gatherings were held.
Hence, it's fair to say that this room holds many dear memories for these 2 Arkin. They haven't been here in tens of thousands of years… Coming here now and seeing that it's become a dusty, forbidding place…
…They can't help but feel a little melancholy.
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Once they get to the far end of the dining hall, they see a simple stone throne erect on a slightly raised dais.
Behind the simple throne is another large, open archway leading into an open field. Peering through, Lyr can barely make out a garden full of tombstones and weapons embedded in the ground.
Looking up, Lyr can see that there are more words carved above the archway. "Foes Welcome."
Lyr almost asks, "Why isn't the throne more fancy looking? That's uncharacteristic of royalty." However, when he sees the person sitting on the throne, all questions disappear from his mind.
There, sitting on the throne, is a lone, armored figure wearing the same silver and black armor as the two High Human soldiers. On his lap is a longsword with a long tassel at the hilt that's tied in strange, archaic braids.
The man's hair is pale white, and it's so long that it hangs all the way down to the floor. The man's skin is wrinkled, pale, and spotted, and his face looks weathered and scarred.
Most importantly, the man is lacking any pointed ears, and he doesn't look like an ethereal beauty, like the other inhabitants of the fortress.
From all appearances, he looks like a normal human man.
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'Who is that?' the three humans want to ask. However, everyone can sense the serious aura in the room, and they all keep their mouths shut.
Wordlessly, the two High Humans stand up straight and clasp their right fists over their hearts in an old fashioned Brancotte solute.
There, the two strange creatures stand at perfect attention – unmoving, and patiently waiting for… something to happen.
After a few moments, there is movement on the stone throne.
First, a finger twitch. Then, a subtle exhale.
It's not immediately obvious that this "general" has woken up, though the signs are there. It seems that whatever spell's overtaken him is taking a while to come off.
Finally, the man's eyes shoot open. When he sharply inhales a breath of air, he suddenly starts coughing violently.
He's not sick or anything, though. There was simply so much dust on his body that breathing in nearly choked him.
Suddenly, and without warning, a powerful burst of Spiritual Aura immediately explodes out of the man.
Lena and Lyr reel back and cower in fright. They don't know what this "general" is doing. Is he attacking them? Is this just a result of his seal coming undone?
On the other hand, Yesee is a mage, so she's far more sensitive to magic than her two companions. Thus, she knows what just happened.
In reality, this ancient man's burst of power was only his Spirit moving in anger and confusion. Spirit magic had always been one of the least understood arts in Lareen, and she really had no idea that someone could have a Spiritual Aura this strong.
Seriously? Isn't it a little unrealistic for a man to nearly kill someone just by FEELING a little too hard?
While the humans are recovering from the shock, the two "Brancotte" soldiers rush forward and start blowing the dust away from their general and brushing the cobwebs off of him.
The "alien's" general doesn't berate them. In fact, he hardly reacts. Instead, he looks down at his emaciated limbs and old, wrinkled skin.
Master Haalfrin sighs in resignation. He then looks up and stares at the ruined hall around him.
The brown-haired High Human starts sweating nervously. He then bows and says hastily,
General Haalfrin gives a tired, subtle smile.
The High Human called "Tal" points at Lyr.
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(A/N: Brancotte tongue in " ". Lareen tongue in < >.)
The general turns his old head over to the 3 guests, and he quickly gets his first impression of them.
The man in the middle seems to be dressed in a foreign blue tunic. Other than his strange clothing and small goatee, the man looks and feels utterly unremarkable.
The other two people are women – both of them are in their 50s, though one of them looks like a pre-teen girl due to her status as a 1st Gate mage.
Frankly, staring at these 2 female soldiers, Haalfrin is making the same mistake that his subordinates were; he really doesn't think that they're soldiers. They can't be, right?
They aren't wearing armor, and they don't have a whiff of Death Aura on them. Maybe they're just civilians who accidentally stumbled through the World Gate?
With this in mind, Haalfrin suddenly doesn't feel like he should be so harsh to them.
'Mind as well just ask them a few questions, then let them go,' he thinks.
"Um, sir?" Captain Tal says to his general, "Those two women are soldiers."
Haalfrin flinches in surprise. "What?" he blurts out.
'Did people learn how to erase Death Aura from their Spirits?' Haalfrin thinks. 'In that case, I should be a little more careful with how I answer these people. I don't know how powerful their country is, and I shouldn't give away TOO much…'
'…Though,' he finishes his thought, 'I shouldn't be TOO withdrawn when I talk to them. It's important to at least get to know each other to prevent further complications…'