Chapter 298: The Master’s Sanctum Part 4

Ah, and this dark bit of history is finally brought to light. We, meaning the Gods, knew about this already, but it was a secret we agreed was better kept for the time being. A new race in its formative decades, centuries, and even thousands of years can be fragile, and we did not want to have others see them with more prejudice than a literal giant would see anyway. Imagine if you were the product of hundreds or thousands of deaths? Specifically you. None of your ancestors. It'd put a stain on your mental well-being.

Now, it's time for these five to decide what to do with this information.

Mulsfar.

That word stared at them in inky black from the pale page. This was their home. Their origin. This was where these giants had come from. The kind and massive Orfal, and all the rest, had descended from these four rogue experiments.

Bren was staring at Ann, a look of shock stretching his face. “Did… did you just say what I believe I heard?”

“Mulsfar,” Ann repeated, hardly believing her own voice. “Were… weren’t all of these races other than human because of early Warping?”

“Some are older,” Bren muttered. “Some like the Dragons, yes. We thought that the Mulsfar were like them, descendants of ancient beasts or something of the like that hid in the mountains or literally inside of them until the Return. The Mulsfar themselves are unclear as to their origins, since their people are so solitary and rarely keep written records. This… this is one of the most historically significant discoveries I have heard of! Aside from you, Annita.” Bren took the book gently. He studied the page closely. “Hm. Yes. This is genuine. I… I need to get back to Indelholm. We need to get back to Foothill’s Rest and at least tell Sigrid. They deserve to know their origins.”

“Ye sure about that?” Kat asked, interrupting his excitement. She looked worried in the dim light. Her brow was knitted, and her lips drawn thin. “Would ye want tae know that yer race started from… this?” She gestured to everything around them. “Aye, we started as the horrific monstrosities made from feckin’ hundreds o’ humans an’ now we’re our own thing! Not monsters anymore!”

Bren made to respond, but checked himself. He stood there for a few minutes while the rest considered Kat’s words.

Ann was split on the decision. Yeah, knowing the origin of the race was a massive deal. How would she feel about knowing her origins were from the pain and tragedy of hundreds, if not thousands, of lives? It made her skin crawl. Problem was, the Mulsfar were so far descended from those of their ancient kin that it was irrelevant at this point. They were a free people that seemed to be doing well for themselves in their own ways. Would this even actually change anything?

“I say we talk to bigger people,” Rosalyn said. “Like, professors and scholars and all of that who aren’t us. Too big of a decision for five of us to make. I don’t like it.”

Lucia shook her head. “Can’t. If share, gets out. No other way. Right now, we know. No one else. Can bury forever. Can release for everyone. Big responsibility. Say share. Is origin, not current. Not how more are made. Problem not relevant.”

“I guess,” Kat groaned noncommittally.

“Let’s just put the book down, and keep going,” Ann sighed. “What were the rest?”

She flipped through a few more journals. They were written about most of Anthony’s work. Lots of notes on how his magic affected bodies and materials. He’d tried to re-create plastics and synthetic rubbers, but had found it impossible. Even something as simple as a ball would need to be made out of natural materials like pig hide and stuff from a rubber tree. He could create gems to a certain point, but anything too big would fall apart on him. At most, he could get pebble-sized stuff.

“Yeah, nothing we’re gonna find here,” Ann said after the fifth book. With her being the only one who could read any of this, though Bren was picking up some things at a surprising rate, it was grinding their expedition to a halt. They’d been at this for a couple of hours now, and Minnie was waiting for them. Ann felt the drain of being in a high-tension environment for so long. She wanted to get it all over with. A possible fight with Anthony’s ghost and then the ritual. Once those were done, they’d be out.

“Think I’m changin’ me mind,” Kat said. “Let’s take the journal. Tell the book types what ye found.”

“Are you certain?” Bren asked.

Kat nodded firmly. “Aye. If we were goin’ tae keep it a secret, we’d ‘ave tae wreck this place an’ caves entirely. We can’t do tha’. Physically, I mean. It’s gonna be found out eventually. Better tae get ahead o’ things. ‘Sides, not like it really changes shite now. Just some ol’ history that we make sure stays buried here. Let’s find this bastard’s bones an’ burn ‘em.”

“Alright,” Ann said, taking the journal with the origins of an entire race. She handed it to Bren. “You’re our resident historian. Better for you to hold on to.”

“I accept this with great pleasure,” Bren said with a broad grin.

“Alright, next room, or do we have anything else we want to say to Nancy before we leave?”

Kat turned to the skeleton. “Ye had terrible taste, an’ made the world worse fer it. Rot in one o’ the Hells, ye cunt.”

Ann clapped her hands. “Well said! Alright, next room.”

There wasn’t even a door between the two rooms. It was just an arch that had a curtain hanging over the entrance. Ann wouldn’t have been surprised if it was beads, but either Nancy had an influence on his decoration, or Anthony had figured out how to be somewhat proper by making the hotel as nice as he had.

Beyond it was the bedroom. It wasn’t a sprawling room. It wasn’t small, but Ann had started to expect some level of grandeur. A bed was set against the far wall. The thing was a massive wooden four-poster affair complete with black curtains for that slim privacy they provided so long as the occupants kept quiet. Thick carpet covered the empty space around it, rich and dark red. To their left, an armoire stood with its doors hanging off its hinges like broken wings.

Nancy clearly had a spot here as well. There was a frankly ridiculous vanity set up on the other side of the room. Four mirrors and an array of brushes were present. For everything that Anthony could make, it didn’t seem like he’d figured out makeup, but she had some rudimentary lipstick and powder of some sort. It was mostly white. Ann assumed the worst: that this was a byproduct of her husband’s work.

While all of this was still intact, the rest of the room was chaos. Black spikes of stone reached from the floor and ceiling, all aimed at the entrance. A block split in half by some mighty blow and pitted by multiple impacts on its surface, stood to the side of the bed as well.

Weapons drawn, the group moved out to check all corners.

“It looks like someone really got into a fight. There’re bloodstains on these spikes,” Rosalyn said, looking at one a bit too closely for Ann’s comfort. “Bet there are more in the carpet, but the colour’s hiding them.”

Lucia nodded, adjusting her grip on Fillianore. “Intruders?”

“Or someone wantin’ tae put an end tae this bastard,” Kat growled.

“Same. No smell. No rot. Hear?”

“No,” Bren said. “I do not hear anything moving.”

Ann reached the block, the shield created against whoever had come for Anthony. Peeking her head over the top, she saw bones. Anthony, she assumed, lay there with his skull shattered into shards. His ribcage was caved in, spine snapped in three places, and pelvis crushed.

“Jesus fuck,” Ann breathed. “Found him!”

A cascade of footsteps joined her as Ann moved around the obstacle. Anthony’s clothes didn’t seem to have decayed in the same way that his body had. Scraps of fabric still clung to his body; whatever magic he’d put into the garment likely preserving it against the ravages of time. His fingers were a mess of bones and rings of all types. Lying under his body, peeking out from the side of his robes, was a pair of fuzzy pink slippers.

“Seems like someone got to him before we did,” Rosalyn said quietly. “They were thorough, too. Really broke him down. Crushed his heart, destroyed his head, broke the rest of his limbs, kinda surprised they didn’t do anything about the rings since those look valuable. Maybe they didn’t trust them.”

“But not finish the job?” Kat asked, making space so Lucia could get a better look, circling around to rest on the barrier. “All o’ the shite below us?”

“We won’t know unless they left a message. Fat chance on that,” Ann grunted as she stood. “Maybe they just couldn’t.”

“Maybe hotel sinking. No time,” Lucia said. Her eyes weren’t on the skeleton, but the wall across from them. A wall that had a natural surface instead of the usual smoothness. The edges were irregular, and there was no rubble inside. “Blasted. Powerful mage. Entered, broke in, came upward, killed Nancy, fought Anthony, won, escaped.”

“Shit, if he had a dead man’s switch on the hotel sinking, then he probably had one on the traps,” Ann gasped. “That’s gotta be why everything went off and no one’s in here.”

“Annita, I believe I found our controls,” Bren called.

Ann walked over to where he was standing in front of the broken armoire. Hidden behind the clothes was a panel that had been cracked and torn apart, with splinters everywhere. They revealed a set of gemstones set into the wall behind the heavy furniture. Each one had a corresponding room. Even the long-term stays.

“How complicated would this enchantment be?” Ann asked. She didn’t dare touch anything here, just in case.

Bren cupped his chin, scratching at the stubble growing in. “Complicated for us, but likely not very difficult for Anthony. If we were to extrapolate his material mastery to running magical currents, he could likely set this up without much problem aside from the gemstones.”

“It’s crazy how different things were compared to now,” Ann voiced her thoughts. “If the moon wasn’t blown up yet, then these guys could do whatever they wanted pretty much, right?”

“Correct.”

“Unlimited magical power, and he used it for this.” Ann threw her hands wide with exasperation. The thought hadn’t left Ann’s mind since the start of this building. It was fucking awful. “I’m glad the Gods put limiters on people.”

“Doesn’t stop the bad actors from using their abilities in bad ways,” Rosalyn reminded her while still studying the corpse. “Plenty of people using magic to hurt or kill others. Hells, Flesh Shapers still exist. Sure, some of them use it for medical purposes, but others use it for war or other awful stuff. They’re a really rare Path, though, so you have a better chance of lightning hitting you than meeting one. Even less of a chance of meeting a bad one. It’s the way of the world.”

“Glad about that. Don’t like the idea,” Ann said. “So, you think we’re alright to move his bones, or do we want to do a practice ritual with him and Nancy before the main event? I say practice. I don’t wanna fuck up an even more hostile version of this whole thing.”

“Practice,” Kat said. “Ye’re right that we get one shot at this. No fuckin’ it up, or we’re gonna die. Better tae move Nancy’s bones in here, though. Don’t like the idea o’ movin’ him.”

Rosalyn cocked her head, looking up at kat from her crouched position. “Why? Scared of his ghost coming back?”

“I… er, no?”

Ann’s ears perked up at that one. “Wait. You know ghosts exist and can be not creepy like the ones downstairs, and you’re still scared of them?”

“Nae, not scared, just… respectful o’ the dead,” Kat stammered. Her cheeks gave away the truth of her lie, turning a rosy red.

Ann felt an excitement that she hadn’t felt in a few hours perk up her ears. Her tail started to swish behind her as her full attention turned on Kat. “You are! Oh my Gods! Kat! How bad were those last few floors?”

Kat pouted, averting her gaze. “Weren’t too bad.”

Ann walked over and pulled her into a big hug. The princess’s armour dug into her arms, but Ann just squeezed tighter. “You’re so brave! Kat, you should have told us. I would have kept you safe from all of that.”

“Wasn’t the point. Not yer job,” Kat grumbled from the depths of Ann’s arms.

“Did you know about this, Bren?” Ann asked, stroking her girlfriend’s long ears comfortingly.

“Yes. It has been some time since it was last relevant. It was your great grandfather’s crypt the last time it was relevant, yes?” Bren didn’t even look away from the set of crystals, still taking some notes. Wendyl would likely appreciate those, even if the use was less than pleasant.

“Aye,” Kat mumbled. “Couldn’t look at ‘im. ‘Ad tae ‘ave Ma talk fer me.”

“Your great-grandfather’s a ghost?” Ann asked gently.

“Aye. Keeps ‘imself down in the crypts. He’s nice, just can’t really deal wit’ how he is. Kinda gotta not look, but we’ve talked a couple o’ times.”

Ann had a flash of a little Katlyn sitting in some torch-lit tunnel where her family was interred. Her great-grandfather, before her family was even royalty, hovering there in a spectral preservation of his former self. Little Kat facing back up the hall from whence she came, eyes fixed on a distant point. The ghost would be watching her patiently as she tried to pick up the courage to speak her mind. Ann could practically see the little blue eyes glaring down the hallway, angry at herself for the trembling in the knees hugged against her chest.

“Wanna go visit him next time we’re back in the capital?” Ann asked quietly.

Kat nodded against her hands as she brushed the princess’s complicated braids back into place.

“Let’s do it. Introduce Rosalyn, too. Would he like that?”

“Think he would,” Kat said.

“It’s a date, then.” Ann smiled, kissing the top of her head. “Feeling a little better?”

“Nae,” Kat groused. “Not until we’re outta ‘ere. Thanks, though.”

“It’s all right, princess,” Ann cooed, but she let her go. Only action was going to get them out of this. “Let’s bust this ghost.”

Rosalyn giggled. “That sounds so dumb.”

“Hey!” Ann rounded on her. “Do not talk shit about the best ghost movie! That was pure cinema.”

Rosalyn looked surprised, then broke into another laugh, the sound filling the morbid halls with just a little bit of warmth. “Tell me about it later. Maybe it’ll be a spooky story for Kat around the campfire!”

“Nah, it’s funny,” Ann reassured a now nervous-looking Kat. “So, Bren, what do we need?”

“There was chalk downstairs that I requisitioned for such a circumstance. Lucia, take this piece and fill it in as I tell you, please. Together, we will make this much quicker.”

“Wait,” Ann said, a sudden thought hitting her. “Will exorcising him fuck this whole place up? Like, his ghost might be powering everything?”

Bren didn’t pause as he and Lucia tore up a section of carpet and got to work on half of a circle each. “No. That is thankfully not how magic of this type works. It is bound into the stone and siphoned from the aether all around us. I doubt Anthony even knew what he was doing. When he created that dead-man’s switch, the power for the spells was offloaded from his own being. Speaking honestly, he was lucky this area is rich enough with magic to sustain most of his work. Less fortunate for us, yes, but fortune is interpretive.”

The circle complete, the pair began to fill it in. At the centre was the frilly heart symbol that gently glowed on Ann’s gauntlets. From there, runes spiralled out in six rings overlapping with the centre and each other. The two bonded people were working in near-perfect coordination, but Lucia did have to stop and redo a few of the runes as she went. It was an impressive feat that Ann was enjoying watching.

“So, what else do you need?” she asked.

“Well, there are variations of this ritual, and we will be avoiding the more scandalous versions. For this, we need to invoke Orenous in her entirety. Love and intent must be made clear here. Goddess of the Mind, as she is, I suggest we use a form of written and thought out prose. A poem.”

“A love poem?” Ann asked with a poorly hidden chuckle. “Yeah, think that can work. You think it’ll work for the big one downstairs?”

“Hardly. I believe we will need some physicality for that magnitude,” Bren said. He finished a rune that looked suspiciously like a boner with a flourish.

Ann squinted at the phallic shape, but chose not to question it. If this was the Orenous she knew, there were also hidden vaginas, boobs, and butts in there somewhere. “Neat. Think we should just do dancing for that. Nice slow dancing if possible?”

“We may need to split up slightly for that. I suggest you and Rosalyn perform that one,” Bren said distractedly. “If anything seeks to interrupt the ritual or comes awake, we will need some of us to combat the threats.”

Ann and Kat nodded together as they continued to watch.

“You ok with that, princess?”

Kat blushed. “Aye. We’ll dance later.”

“Or you can swap places should a tank not be needed,” Bren continued. “This will take some time. Annita will be the only one who needs to be involved the entire time, due to her divine sponsorship.”

“Let’s focus on the here and now,” Ann groaned. She was going to be exhausted after this, and not in the fun way. Better to get it over quickly.