Mschuleft
----
Talos knelt at the gathering of stone and bones, examining it closely. He spoke quietly while picking up a skull from the pile.
"Bones laid symmetrically, similar to the last one. Must be a shrine, then. If the Orcs revere this place, it could explain their absence," he continued to no one in particular. He found it strangely unsettling that, for the entirety of their journey through the badlands, Orc campfires could be seen dotting the entire landscape until they reached the swamps surrounding Mschuleft. The nights were suddenly devoid of firelight, only the busy night sky sharing its brilliance.
Talos pushed himself to his feet, looking over at Alanna. She would have been perusing his thoughts, of course, so he didn't need to explain his theory to her further. She wore a large, pale white woven shirt, the length settling on her thighs. He had let her borrow it after her latest complaint on the state of her blouse, which was now discarded.
Alanna had proven herself to him over the past couple days. When an Orc patrol decided to make camp not fifty yards from theirs, she had forced them to quickly move on with a controlled group enchantment. When he stupidly twisted his ankle descending from a granite pillar, she successfully not only hid the pain, but fixed the bone itself with her restoration magic. Talos noted that, when given space and time, Alanna worked her magic with skill. Alanna, still looking at the makeshift shrine, smiled as she read his experienced review of her abilities.
He nodded his head towards the southeast, signaling the continuation of their trek through the marshes.
Their surroundings, originally a welcome change to the landscape, unsettled him. Marshes he had traveled through in the past were alive with the sounds of various birds and frogs, feeling alive in their songs. Here, on the other hand, the humid air hung heavily over them with a silence usually reserved for temples. Mist rose around them from the interlocking streams, the interspersed, improbable trees smelling of rot and death. He felt Alanna piercing his thoughts.
"A funny thing, constructing a city in such a location," Talos mused, attempting to get their minds off of the environment.
"If the stories are to be believed, Mschuleft was constructed with the greatest magics of their time," Alanna replied matter-of-factly, "Kings seek out a single conjurer to construct a citadel. This city employed a whole cadre of them, transmuters too, to build their paradise."
Talos looked around, smirking, "They didn't do a very good job."
Alanna audibly sighed, "You know that the stories of course later end in a magical cataclysm, destroying the city? Well, no one really knows
what
that cataclysm was, even today."
"Or no one admitted to it," Talos interjected.
"Or no one admitted to it." She repeated, agreeing with him. Alanna gripped his arm as she stepped over a fallen tree trunk.
"The way I see it," Talos continued, "nature took back her domain. This city is proof of the arrogance of man in their eternal war against the natural order," smiling at her as she released his arm, "and man will someday try again. Always do."
The first stone buildings were now appearing in the fog in front of them. Collapsed and in disrepair, Talos noted the intricacy of the carved stone ahead of him, carvings depicting all manner of ancient story. It was the sign of a civilization long passed, one that found great pride in constructing with form over function. He wondered when humans would fall back into that trap. From his brief visits to elven cities, the elves had never lost that mindset.
"Say, Alanna. How come you mages don't simply teleport here? Grab the tomes, teleport out, all without those lost weeks in the wastes," Talos asked unrespectfully. He had been acquaintances with one sorceress who 'traveled' with him for a year, merely teleporting herself from location to location while he trekked the old fashioned way. She had constantly complained on his slothfulness, consistently offering to teleport him as well. Talos had always declined. He didn't trust it.
Alanna, answering like she was speaking to a child, replied, "Because the ancient
sorceresses
here placed a strong ward preventing that very thing from occuring," she stated, "Not to mention, a
sorceress
needs a powerful mental image of the location she's teleporting to. If no one has been here in several lifetimes, how're they going to portal here exactly?" Alanna hated the way Talos used the word 'mage', as if slighting her and her sisters.
Talos hadn't known or considered that second fact. He held his tongue with his next question, wondering why they didn't at least teleport close-by when he heard Alanna exclaim, "There it is!"
She was pointing at a large domed structure, a corner of which was sinking into the marsh below. She skipped over to the ruined building, Talos picking up his own pace behind her. He read the bold, capital letters of the ancients above the main entrance, proclaiming the complex as the 'ACADEMIA EX MSCHVLEFT'. Alanna stopped just outside, grinning ear-to-ear, her eyes scanning the building as Talos took the lead. He stepped up the thick stairs to the building's opening, flanked by intricate columns.
The marble double doors of the college had seen better days. Talos pulled the right door outwards, the slab settling in the open position due to the unnatural slant of the structure. He noted the left door lying on the floor to his side as he scanned the room before him. Marble statues, some fallen to the floor, dotted the circumference large circular area. It was dim, but not dark as small openings in the stone brought in an appropriate amount of light. He stepped inside, Alanna rushing past him giggling with her torch already lit.
"
Do try to be careful,"
Talos thought, wondering if she was still bothering to read him.
--
The sun was falling over Mschuleft, coloring the eternal haze in warm pinks and purples. Talos had, by now, walked the perimeter of the ancient college twice, noting three smaller entrances besides the main gate up front. He examined each of the statues, artful imitations of kings, sorceresses, and the gods. Talos had never been a godly man and didn't recognize many of the names, but found amusement when he came across a statue of a beautiful woman with the sheathed cock of a dog. He bet that there was a good story behind that one.
He had continued to explore the passageways and side rooms of the crumbling building, finding little of interest to him. Part of him wished he could share in the enthusiasm of his young companion. It's not that he found magic uninteresting, far from it; Talos certainly respected the powers of an experienced sorceress. But when you're told from a young age that, due to your gender you're not allowed or simply capable of doing something, it kind of shuts you off from it.
He didn't immediately catch the irony of his thoughts, then smirked when he did.
"
Well, at least I can always be Emperor,"
he mused to himself sarcastically.
He passed by the library, peeping in from the doorway to see Alanna surrounded by stacks of dusty tomes. He doubted he'd be able to help her do whatever it is that she was doing, and figured she'd ask if he could. He stepped quietly into the room, attempting not to disturb her, and walked along rows of tattered books and scrolls. Talos noted their awful condition and wondered why the mages bothered casting an anti-teleportation ward on the entire city, but didn't bother casting a preservation spell on the books. He then wondered if a preservation spell even existed.
"Ugh!" Alanna groaned loudly from a couple rows down. Talos took it as an invitation and walked over to her, not hiding his footsteps this time.
"Four books... four relevant books in all of this! And I can barely read the text to know if they're even worthwhile!" she exclaimed, obviously stressed out. Talos walked over and put his hand on her shoulder in an attempt to be comforting, keeping quiet to let her complain.
"Look at all of this... all of this knowledge,
gone!
" she groaned again in defeat, her head falling back to rest on his leg. He kept quiet for a couple moments in sympathy, then grinned.
"I'll be right back," he said mysteriously, shutting his mind from her just in case. Alanna watched him walk away, her sea blue eyes squinting with anger.
--
Fifteen minutes later, Talos had reentered the library. Alanna looked up at him from her place on the floor, squinted eyes quickly widening in surprise.
Talos was holding a bottle of wine, his smirk impossible to hide. He had picked this bottle up in the borderlands when he realized he'd likely be traveling with the girl, noticing that she enjoyed this vintage when they first met back in the tavern. He removed the block on his mind when she saw him.
"Aww, Talos!" she exclaimed, picking herself up onto her feet. She giggled like a young girl again, "You didn't!"
"I did. Normally I'd never waste the space, but..."
"You knew I liked it. Thank you!" Her empath abilities made finishing his sentences a simple prospect, though she tried to avoid it most of the time.
