Chapter 45: A rock, a ring, and the treasure of the fallen kingdoms
-Swiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiish...
Winds gently glided through the different floors of the keep, cleaning the uppermost layer of dust present on the glass displays storing the precious objects.
A floating display of words was present below these items, explaining the origin and importance that they carried.
The words that were used to describe some of these items were not in the common text either: some were described in High Elvish, while some came from the regional languages of faraway islands.
Not only the continent ruled by the empire, there were several items in this treasury that predated the empire, the Sungrade, even the known history of mankind.
"Wow." In the eyes of a researcher and academic individual like him, all the items in this place were relics that one cannot put a certain value on.
"This is crazy." He picked up a small dagger with blue carvings on it. The text on this dagger was in Old Viskari, a language very few might know in current times, but he had the opportunity of studying under someone who was obsessed with this particular ancient text.
"We had things like these?"
Written on this relic of a dagger was the ancient song of fire and rain, the prophecy that depicted the end of the world and birth of a dragon that would create the world anew.
"Just... wow."
Prism could not believe it even though he was seeing it himself.
A thousand year old dagger, a three hundred year old bow used by the Sungrade patriarch of that time, magic archives filled with ancient spells lost to the new world... this place was far beyond what one might get to see even after two lifetimes.
"Zeeeeeeee..."
And if the items weren’t enough, the ones who maintained this treasury were high-level spirits, ones who freely roamed around the place as if it were their playground.
"Vihihihi~!"
Accompanying the spirits, there were some <Fay Creatures> as well: beings that could travel between the physical world and the world of spirits.
Finding the Fay was one of the most difficult tasks even for a beast ecologist, but they lived here, in this treasury.
"How can one choose one thing from here? Anything, for that matter." He knew taking away something from this place would be close to a crime.
Not only were there countless options to choose from, he did not feel like taking away anything from here at all.
"What do I do here?" He was confused and simply wandered on the highest floor that he could go to right now.
The endless treasury was still shrouded in a magical darkness that blocked him from going any further than the highest floor available to him.
"Haaaa..."
He felt helpless, and simply kept walking forward.
"Chirp~!"
On the other hand, the little white bird that was running around the treasury had found salvation in the lowest floor where the miscellaneous items were kept.
"Chirp chirp chirp~!"
Most of these miscellaneous items were natural minerals containing Mana, ones similar to the Mana ores that had a glow of their own.
"Chirp~!"
They were similar, but at the same time, nothing like the common Mana ore found in the places like the cradles.
These ancient ores were resources that could go for hundreds, perhaps thousands of gold. Just finding one could buy you a house in a big city.
The amount of these rare materials present here could make anyone a rich lord overnight. But then again, these things weren’t something the family was selling outside.
These rare ores also represented something for the family, and they were going to use it only when they needed it.
Still...
"Chirp?" There were things among these miscellaneous ores that the family had yet to apprise.
"Chirp!"
One of these things that caught his mythical eyes happened to be a fist sized rock just as big as the little bird.
"Chirp! Chirp!"
He was so happy to see it that he started jumping around it, happily singing in his melodious voice.
To any other eye, it would only seem like a rock with half of its surface covered in gray stone and the other half exposing the inner, amber-like gold crystal.
It was kept with the other, similar looking yellow stones, but this thing was different from anything present here.
"Chirp~!" And the first one to make his choice of the reward knew instantly that this thing right here, was the only thing he wanted to take back with him.
"Have you chosen already?" Nyx grabbed the ore with his claws and flew back to the elder, placing the ore before him with a bright expression.
"Chirp~!"
Seeing the creature evoked many emotions in the elder’s heart, however, he simply nodded at him and looked at the candle beside him.
"There’s still some time left. Perhaps you can also help your fellow companions." The elder took the ore and placed it aside for the bird.
"Chirp~!"
However, while he was doing that and suggesting the bird to help his companions, the little white thing had already run off to somewhere else, his chirping sound echoing throughout the chambers.
"Meow..." On a different side, the big gray kitten, the mystique beast, was just as confused as her master.
Though she wasn’t fascinated by the things present in this treasury like him, or was excited by all the ’food’ present here, she was certainly looking at certain things that caught her eye.
’Hmmm...’
As a mystique beast, she could feel the powers of other mystiques. She could tell which items were used by those mystiques and people who commanded them, and she also had a certain ’sense’ for what the hidden powers of these items could be.
’There are so many deep worlds here, meow.’
For mystiques like her, their powers were a representation of a certain world that they contained.
The residue from these worlds remained on the items, and she could see the shadows they left behind. Furthermore, she could feel their depths.
There were things in this place that called out to her, to her world.
Some wanted to become a part of her world while some wanted to devour it completely. She wasn’t simply walking in a treasury, resisting these worlds used quite a bit of her strength.
"Meow."
She knew she wouldn’t have survived here by herself. And so, she was thankful that she had a partner that bore most of the burden placed on her world.
’Hmmm? What’s that?’ Thanks to Prism, she was fine even after enduring all the fragmented worlds. And after looking around for a long time, she came to face a strange looking necklace sitting on a high pedestal.
-Ooooooooooooooooong.
The explanation on the floating words before the pedestal thus read:
[*
In the stories of old when the world was one: there were six thrones of old gods of old names of old blood, of strong.
<The Six> is what we called them, The Six were their armies.
Dividing the world amongst them, into six were divided the lands; fought there was a war of domain six, a kingsland against another, bloodred eyes of theirs fixed.
Power drove them mad, blood was their water. Rain their swords and ice was their fire.
Old and infant, women and babe, the slaughter that’s the demon.
The world was burnt and heaven doomed, the hell was land and the Man was doomed.
Ashes, ashes, water burned. Cries and tears, no joy nor blood.
Came crying the divine, saw the domain of the men.
Went crying the divine, no king nor land.
Memories gone, armies gone; gone were the men, and gone were the gods.
Remained in this land, was but the man.
The divine were gone. Gone was old blood they shed.
*]
<Written in High Viskari, discovered in the ancient runes of Vishkerion.>
[[Title: A relic of the fallen kingdom.]]
Not gold nor silver, the necklace was made of copper.
Its design was similar to a choker, in fact, it seemed like a collar that would go on the neck of a being that wasn’t human.
On this choker, aside from the inscriptions that were from the old Viskari language, there were hieroglyphs depicting a certain story undeciphered by the modern experts.
Translating the text alone was difficult enough for them. So, it was going to take a little longer before they knew what the coded story on this truly was.
"Meow..."
But, those words and interpretations were for the humans who saw the relic. For a mystique like her that saw the world inside the necklace, none of it truly mattered.
’It’s so pretty...’
She knew she was going to take this necklace with her.
She didn’t know what she would do with it, but the relic was calling to her. She didn’t know how that happened, but like her master said, the thing that they were supposed to find here, could also find them first.
And this, perhaps, was just the thing he was talking about.
"Meow~."
She was happy, so she went to the elder and brought him to this necklace.
"Meow!"
When the two stood before it, she pointed at the pedestal with a bright expression. However, the elder, stunned and confused, paused for a moment.
"Are you sure about this, Miss?"
He asked her once again just to confirm if she was making some impulsive decision, however, the kitten replied with the same brightness as before.
"Meow~!"
The elder looked at her for a moment longer, almost making the kitten uncomfortable.
"Very well then." Then, without touching the necklace, he lifted it with the energy string he had used outside once again, and carefully placed the necklace around the kitten’s neck.
-Oooooooooooong!
At the same time, a strange blue light was born from the necklace... one that died a few seconds later.
"Meow?"
Felix didn’t understand what had just happened, but the elder was stunned.
"Viiihihihihi!"
The spirits and Fay that maintained this place were also stunned by this and gathered around the elder as they started chatting amongst themselves.
"No. There’s no need to make a fuss."
However, the elder simply whispered a few things to them before the creatures vanished, leaving with a last look at the kitten and the simple necklace that now adorned her neck.
"Shall we go back to the front now, Miss? It seems like your time here has almost come to a close."
The elder did not know what the rock the white bird chose truly was, but this necklace was considered to be a cursed object that pushed anyone who touched it to the brink of death.
Hundreds who had touched it directly had met a tragic fate, but a young mystique was left unharmed.
He did not understand what this meant, but he knew it wasn’t anything small.
"Young master? Did you find anything good?" When he returned to the front beside the candle with crimson fire that had almost burnt out, he found both Prism and his little white bird standing before it.
Nyx was showing off his amazing find to his master while Sam smiled at the little bird, looking pretty calm compared to the spiritual creatures that had just gone off to report to the elders and the patriarch.
"Ah, Elder Frey." Prism had a certain ring in his hand that the Sungrade elder recognised instantly.
When Sam greeted Felix and touched her pretty necklace, he was unharmed as well, confirming the thoughts of the old elder.
"Seems like another family heirloom has found its new owner." The ring wasn’t unknown to the elder like the little bird’s rock or cursed like the copper necklace.
On the other hand, it was a relic he recognised very well.
"That seems to be the case, elder Frey."
Prism did not know if it was a calling or just a random selection, but, this ring was pretty useful to him.
It had great utility so, if seen logically, this was the best choice he could have made right now.
But, the value of that relic went beyond what was written on the description.
"Good."
-Shrrrrsss.
The crimson fire on the candle finally died with those final words from the elder.
And, so did their time in this treasure trove full of secrets and mysteries...
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