“This is beyond bizarre,” Quin said as the three walked through the dark corridors, watching the images on the walls using the light from a burning torch. No man had carved these, but the attention to details gave them an illusion that someone did.
“I was half doubting it before,” Clay said. “But I believe it now. The birth of this battlefield is nothing short of miraculous.”
“The realm of death is an enigma,” Thorin said under his breath, his eyes glazing over as the memories of his recent demise overwhelmed him.
“Which level of burial do you think the battlefield would give us if we died here?” Clay asked.
“I want a general’s burial at least,” Quin said.
“That’s probably reserved for middle-stage Magus,” Clay said. “Maybe even a late-stage Magus.”
“I’m pretty close to middle-stage,” Quin said. “I can get this treatment, I think.”
“I’d rather not be buried at all,” Thorin said. “I’ve had enough of dying. Once in a lifetime is plenty.”
“Hmm, say, what if we die inside the relic site?” Quin asked. “Would the battlefield overwrite the previous site and create a new one for us? Or would we get a different site? Or would we not get one at all? Pick your guesses.”
“It would be the third,” Thorin said. “From the perspective of the battlefield, we’re robbers breaking into the sacred tombs. In Adarow, that’s a crime punishable by amputation. Since it learned the culture of that kingdom, there’s no way it’ll honor us with a new site, let alone overwrite the previous one.”
“That would mean the battlefield has sentience,” Clay said, narrowing his eyes as they reached the massive stone gates at the end of the corridor.
“Or it works on limited consciousness with a set of instinctually defined rules,” Thorin said. “Not unlike a rabbit that breeds like no tomorrow, or even Fenrir, who never forgets to mark his territory.”
“Forget it, we can think about it all in our leisure time. Let’s open this door and get the loot,” Clay said.
“Hope there’s an inception spell in here,” Thorin said. The rumbling of the towering doors drowned his voice as they pushed against them.
A small chamber sprawled beyond the gates. It housed a sarcophagus and a statue standing behind it. The remains of the Magus lay in the coffin while the statue wore the treasures. It rested its palms on the pommel of a black greatsword whose tip touched the ground. It wore an orange and a white glove that locked its wrists. A hexagonal wooden token dangled by its waist. And a set of throwing knives snuggled neatly in their sheaths on its thighs. The battlefield had chosen the Magus’s used mana-artifacts to adorn his statue. The rest of his things must still be in the storage bags, they hoped.
“Death had put you to rest, but we dared to disturb your sleep,” Thorin prayed. “Please forgive us. I hope when we leave, you can go back to an eternity of peace again.”
He joined his hands and bowed to the coffin. After a prayer for the dead, he stepped up to check their loot. A puff of musty and rotten stench assaulted them once they pried the coffin open. But nothing could stop the sparkle in their eyes that showed their excitement.
There was a storage bag, and it even looked expensive. Clay scanned it first then handed it to Quin with a wide grin. Thorin was last but his expectations soared after seeing his brothers’ reactions. He poked Quin when he was taking too long and snatched it away. Indeed, the storage bag didn’t disappoint, even for the rare item they’d hoped for. There were booster rings, packed ingredients and materials, books on spells and Potioneering, and even vials of potions. Most of all, though, the bag carried a small stack of spellcards that all read in bold letters—
“Finally,” Thorin said with a smile. They’d tried a lot of relics. This was the first one that had the inception spell. With so many of those spellcards, either this Magus was a recruiter for a guild, or he was transporting supplies for his House. The lack of mana shards in the bag supported those points. Why he came to the battlefield and died with such baggage, though, was a mystery he took to his grave.
“We still need a crystal ball to test Byram, but that’s the easy part,” Clay said.
“What if he can't become a Magus though?” Quin asked. “What then?”
“Nothing then. He’ll remain a mortal,” Thorin said.
“You said that with a straight face,” Quin murmured.
“How else would I say it?” Thorin retorted. “It is what it is. No use beating ourselves over that. If he can become a Magus, he’ll become a proper member of our team. If not, we have to settle him down somewhere where he can live peacefully.”
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“He’ll be sad if that happens,” Quin said. “It would’ve been better if he never met us and continued living his peaceful life.”
“What’s done is done,” Clay said. “He’s a grown man. He makes his own decisions. He decided to stay with us, so let’s respect that, regardless of the outcome.”
“Let’s check the artifacts,” Thorin said, looking at the statue that captured the Magus’s past better than the decayed pieces of skeleton.
They inspected the statue and took off the artifacts it wore after confirming it was safe. Quin held the greatsword and swung it to check the balance. His restless smile was enough to prove his likeness for it. At last, he also had an artifact to his name.
? Thorin studied the gloves, while Clay checked the token and the knives.
Identify.
Most Artificers had the habit of engraving details of their creations in the core of the artifacts. All the artifacts here followed that rule. So, Thorin’s
[Item Name: Blackstone Greatsword]
[Description: Made entirely of hardened black silver. Swing it around and it will hack flesh like butter and shatter bones like bread.]
[Item Name: Frost-Flame Gloves]
[Description: Gloves that amplify the heat of fire and the cold of ice. It can burn the ice and freeze fire.]
[Item Name: Skullcracker Token]
[Description: A wooden token that can control a pellet to smash skulls. Duck if you’re in its way.]
[Item Name: Wind Knives]
[Description: A set of throwing knives forged with wind crystals. They fly fast and stab hard, nothing stops them.]
In a pleasant coincidence, three of the four artifacts matched the Aether brothers’ combat style. This Magus must be a hybrid class. Quin got his greatsword, and Thorin wore the chilled and warm gloves on his hands. Their threads adjusted their size, puffing sparks and frost, and fitted his hands snugly once he left his mana’s mark on them. While Clay tinkered around with the token. Its effect overlapped with his
spell, but it had something extra that he wanted to explore. The pellet that the tokens shot would return on command. Clay had wanted this spell for ages now.
“I think I can pry out the structure that lets it do that,” Clay said. “I should be able to create a spell based on it. I can also use these knives with my spells.”
“Try them back in the safe zone,” Thorin said, eyeing the whole chamber. They had gained everything that the chamber and the Magus had to offer. Nothing of value remained here anymore. “Let’s head out now.”
……
“How do we go about it?” Quin asked, standing before the line that marked the beginning of the inner circle. The mana almost doubled in density just a few steps beyond, but the mist darkened and deepened with it as well. Once they entered, their perception would suffer.
“I’ll scout ahead,” Clay said but Thorin stopped him.
“Let my Ghosts give it a try first,” Thorin said. “They should have a better instinct of threat and can blend in better.”
“Mind the territories when you move them,” Clay said, nodding. “The undead in the inner circle are far more rigid about it. They won't tolerate any invasion.”
“What’s the point of all this,” Quin grumbled. “We have to fight and kill them anyway, just like how we did in the outer circle. Aren’t we looking for treasures for your cradle? We can't do that by sneaking around.”
“Don’t underestimate the inner circle. Even if we fight them, we’ll do it on our own terms. Let’s try not to get ambushed,” Thorin said, sending Enya in. She was weaker than Vraak and had a better chance of moving undetected. Even if some powerful undead noticed her, she might get to live based on the undead’s unwillingness to hunt such a weak creature.
And thus, under the concerned gaze of her master and his brothers, she hovered into the inner circle. Her snowy figure blurred against the dark and the dense mist, but her connection to Thorin remained strong. He knew her condition and her reaction to her surroundings. But before long, the stable feedback from her shuddered and fluctuated.
Thorin only felt apprehension from her. She had stepped into a territory that could smother her if she took another inch forward. Though he expected it, the extent of her perception surprised him. Still, he put the thought at the back of his mind for now. While he could, he commanded her to back off and change direction, marking this territory as the red zone.
She did that. Yet, within minutes, she fell into the same situation. And another red zone appeared on the map in Thorin’s mind.
He frowned as he ordered her to back off again. But despite his furrowed brows, such occurrences gave him an optimistic idea.
It took her minutes between the two red zones…
The thought ran in his head. He needed to confirm it, however. Therefore, he led Enya around the outskirts of the inner circle and sketched a rough map in his head after getting her reaction. Some gave him a red-level threat, some were orange, while a decent chunk was only yellow. He marked them as such. The difference in their numbers helped create a stable and balanced areas despite the volatile nature of these territories.
Thorin repeated the process until he was sure of the accuracy of his speculations. Even Vraak went in on his command, as he confirmed that Enya’s perception wasn’t unique to her, and they went further from the outskirts to verify his doubts. When he confirmed it all, he called them back with a confident smirk.
?