Closed Stirring Sands (Serapis) III

[Desiderata]

Serapis' first attempt to coax the gate open met with abject failure, all the more frustrating because he could not be sure why. Whatever locking mechanism was within this door was totally opaque to this approach- though something shifted within the door, it completely failed to actually shift the lock. Several minutes of work trying to manipulate the door from within did not even give him any real idea of what the lock was like. Hell, for all he knew it was somehow lens-based like everything else here.

Still, he'd come prepared for this outcome, and his second working met with more success. As sweat slicked the Jin'Norai's brow, his power slowly compressed the form of the gate, preserving whatever delicate mechanism had sought to bar him. Obnoxiously, even with the gate having shrunk down to a size where it could block his bypass no more, he still couldn't see how the blazes it had worked. Well, that would be the work for some happy graduate student.

The doorway, as he'd expected, barred yet another stairwell, more steps spiraling down into the duat. These were a commonplace fixture both in the buildings of the Mirage Kingdoms and more modern constructions; anywhere the earth was thin enough to support a pathway to the amduat, it made sense to build it. After all, you could have communal buildings, storage, even secondary houses down there, safe from the ravages of the desert and time, and while the poor might have to rush to whatever natural caverns or community portals had been dug to huddle below, the powerful always ensured their own safety and comfort in such situations.

...until, of course, all those proud mages' dooms had come at once.

The mage descended into what should have been darkness, but it was all the opposite. The walls grew brighter and brighter as he closed in on the source of the Luxium powering this tower and its wards. Possibilities danced before him. A battery for metaphor? A rift between the earth and the sky? Some kind of... mirror contraption?

At last, he turned the last bend in the stairs, and an unexpected possibility presented itself.



Down in the cavern below the tower were hundreds of lenses, arrayed in intricate, insane, absurd matrices, the like of which Serapis could not have hoped to piece together even if he had spent a decade studying it. And there, near the center of it all, resting partially inside one of the lenses- was a Jin'Norai child. It wasn't at all obvious what they were doing there. They didn't glow, no waves of Metaphor radiated off of them. Serapis couldn't even tell if the child was dead, or sleeping, or some secret third thing.

But somehow, as the image bounced from lens to lens it was reflected, and refracted, building upon itself, until at last as it reached the apex of this chamber... there was Luxium.

 

[Serapis]

༺ ☾ Winter 75 year 125 of the third age ☼ ༻

<notes>

Serapis would leave the door tiny– it now fit in the palm of his hand– and anchor the Periphery onto it before placing it in his pack. Having decided not to mess with it further, he would have to hand it off to the right hands personally– once the Periphery dispels, it will return to its original state. That, and removing it entirely would make passage easier for any members of his crew that would soon path down this way.

Anticipation built as he descended the stairs and the sight at the tower's depths did not disappoint. The astonishing array of lenses was a creation more elaborate than anything he'd witnessed prior; so dazzled by it was he that his gaze immediately shot upwards towards the concentrated Luxium at the apex of the array. Unfortunately, he couldn't stare at it for too long, bright as it was.

Gradually, he'd shift his focus downwards, tracing the refracted light as it descended from lens to lens. The child at the room's center was surprising, twisting his wonderment with shades of confusion and concern. How had a mortal lived locked down here for so long? How had the child subsisted? How had they not aged? Those questions and more floated to mind as soon as he'd clapped eyes upon them, though he didn’t have to wonder all too long. When looked upon with the eyes of a Mystic, the Metaphors possessed by the child’s body painted a clear enough picture– Saol, indicating that they were, indeed, alive; Luxium, as implied by the fact that it was possible to reflect and refract it enough to create this array; Ardor, likely the source of the child’s stasis. It was easy enough to assume Abation’s spellwork given the fact that Ardor was a rare Metaphor to manifest naturally in children– they were, generally, lacking in the life experiences that’d compel a soul to embody its principles…and he doubted the child possessed the relevant Arcana themselves.

What the Astronomer Royal had accomplished was as brilliant as it was sad, for it required a soul in stasis to maintain– this was, arguably, a fate crueler than death, as the child had been robbed not only of the ability to live their life, but also of the opportunity to rise to Aarda and reincarnate anew. And though the professor considered Syphoning away the Ardor that held the child in place, he hesitated– what if the dissolution of the Luxium aura caused the entire tower to crumble under the weight of the sands above, burying their exit in rubble and destroying the Astronomer’s research? Then there were the logistics of transporting the child whether awake or not. And would it not be better to show his colleagues and betters from Bastion the device fully functional before removing the child from their position? Should he do so now, they’d likely insist on placing the child back in the center later on simply to see it work. There was the fleeting, selfish desire to kill the child and consume their brain, absorbing the first-hand knowledge of a time long since passed for himself…but he really ought to refrain, shouldn’t he? Not only was that in itself an act of cruelty, but also it carried the same concerns regarding collapse and would disable him from demonstrating the efficacy of the lens array to anyone if the child were dead.

Much as it pained him to do so, he would turn to leave. Yes– surely it was better to leave as much untouched as possible and that waking the child ought to be done once Terrari had arrived to whisk away the sand surrounding the tower itself along with individuals more qualified for the examination and transport of the lenses and child which resided within. That choice being made, he would climb the stairs to the top of the crumbling tower and then make another Periphery within which he would travel upwards to the surface.

Regardless of what exactly his porters were doing upon his emergence, Serapis would call to them: “A discovery of grand scale lies below– my apologies for disappearing for so long, I simply got carried away.”

The facets of his Periphery would glimmer in the sunlight, as if reflecting his excitement. “It’s the personal tower of an Astronomer Royal of Semitupe; the man’s interest in Luxium bordered on insanity but they bore fruit perfectly preserved beneath the sands. If no one here has Terra, then we’ll need to send word back to Bastion that this place needs to be unearthed with great haste.”

: Spell Reserves

1x Expert Exodus - Periphery, center of it ‘Stuck’ to Serapis so it moves with him; ‘Push’ Thaumaturgy to keep the sand out/away from him.
2x Journeyman Exodus - Pocket Dimension Portal (for chair)
1x Expert Exodus/3x Sovereignty - Liminality
1x Expert Exodus/3x Sovereignty - Thaumaturgy, Shrink
1x Expert Exodus - Periphery, same as the first in order to transport himself out of the tower (original one is still on the shrunken door)

Spell Reserves: 2.11
-0.33
-0.22
-0.28
-0.28
-0.33
Remaining: 0.67

 

[Desiderata]

Unfortunately, it was indeed the case that none of Serapis' retinue had Terra- and no surprise, really. Porters with earth magic were, of course, those in the highest possible demand, for they could take the place of a hundred other laborers. Well-regarded as Faluo and his cunning lieutenant were, they certainly couldn't afford that kind of help. Nor could Serapis hope to lure such people away from the professors better-established in their fields.

Nevertheless, they were professionals, and understood well what Serapis was saying- that to obtain the treasures in the tower, they were going to need to secure the site and unearth the whole blasted structure. Groans and sighs alike echoed across Serapis' camp, but they began to move at once, hefting boxes and pitching tents. Faluo approached, cautiously.

"Ah, my master- you say that a grand discovery awaits us below? I had no doubts, none at all, for your scholarship was masterly..."

If not interrupted, the portly chief of porters could be trusted to continue like that for an hour. Thankfully, his protegee was less interested in currying favor with the professor and more interested in figuring out how best to secure the site so that opportunists couldn't swoop in.

"There's loot inside, yeah, boss?" Rami chirped, ignoring the ruddy indignation spreading across Faluo's face, "Give the word and we'll secure the dig, put up tents in a ring around it, so's nobody will try sneaking in after hours."

It was a good idea, albeit a temporary one. They had enough porters at the site to lock it down for a few weeks, probably. Enough time to get a real labor team in from Bastion, hopefully. But Serapis was probably going to have to go back himself to convey the depth of his discovery; he could hardly expect Faluo or Rami to be believed in such matters.

But there was no doubt, no doubt at all, that this dig would earn his promotion. There was enough material in that tower for ten--no, twenty!--students to write their thesis on it. Once the dig was established, the machine of lenses and light was fully catalogued and the artifacts were extracted, he would probably be called upon to give lectures on the matter to his colleagues. The kinds of lectures people actually wanted to attend!

 

[Serapis]

༺ ☾ Winter 75 year 125 of the third age ☼ ༻

<notes>

“Grand is an understatement– I’ve never come across another site so well-preserved,” Serapis responded, his features alight with a sort of uncharacteristic glee. The professor was usually a man of more muted mannerisms even at his happiest, but evidently, the Luxium aura below had left an effect on him that’d yet to fade away completely, its hope granting his positive emotions a snowball effect.

To Rami, he’d nod. “Aye, secure it; I’ll return to Bastion to give my preliminary report and then return, hopefully, with mages to unearth the tower below. Would that we could do it ourselves, but there really isn’t any other way to transfer people and goods in and out of the buried structure without doing away with the sand.”

Provided the porters would do as they promised and kept the site secure in his absence, Serapis wasn’t too terribly bothered by the realization that the only person presently capable of convincing his peers at Bastion that Terra’s spellwork was truly a necessity was himself (perhaps other mages could work in a pinch, Terra was just by far the most direct when it came to moving sand). Really, he was just anxious at the amount of time travel could take, the potential for delays back at Bastion or the like. With that being the case and provided nobody objected, he would move to depart on whichever of the pack animals was quickest, bringing along with him basic survival necessities. While he did consider using some of his own Arcana to close the distance quicker, caution won within, and so he would abstain, opting to save what remained of his reserves on the chance he might be met with some hazard during his journey.

: Spell Reserves

1x Expert Exodus - Periphery, center of it ‘Stuck’ to Serapis so it moves with him; ‘Push’ Thaumaturgy to keep the sand out/away from him.
2x Journeyman Exodus - Pocket Dimension Portal (for chair)
1x Expert Exodus/3x Sovereignty - Liminality
1x Expert Exodus/3x Sovereignty - Thaumaturgy, Shrink
1x Expert Exodus - Periphery, same as the first in order to transport himself out of the tower (original one is still on the shrunken door)

Spell Reserves: 2.11
-0.33
-0.22
-0.28
-0.28
-0.33
Remaining: 0.67

 

[Desiderata]

Thankfully, fortune--or the many capricious spirits of the desert which held that role in Arcanis--was with Serapis. The weather was as clear as he could wish for, without even a token sandstorm, and he found the wind at his back for the entire trek west. It took him only a few days of hard travel to reach the artificial oases which marked the multitude of estates surrounding Bast proper, and from there only a few more hours before he found himself standing within the gates of the city.

His arrival caused something of a stir, for the disappearance of his caravan could mean only two things- utter disaster, or incredible fortune. The watchmen had been told to keep an eye out for him, as they spied upon the comings and goings of all the scholars of Arcanis. Everyone in the Academy had bribed the city guard to keep track of one of their fellows from time to time, and anyone who was known to be setting out on an archeological trip was doubtless being spied upon. Still, given the speed of his trip, Serapis could be reasonably sure that nobody in Bastion yet knew what he had found.

But that would change shortly.

Within the Department of Natural History, reports on new and ongoing dig sites were generally made to Senior Lecturer Stross, a cheerful elf who kept the wheels of bureaucracy greased with careful attention and minimal bribery and kept his researchers marching in line by ensuring that everyone always felt they were on his side. As Serapis expected, once he applied for a meeting with Stross' secretary, he was scheduled the same day. Doubtless half the Department had heard that he had returned alone, and they were all yearning to discover why.

The Senior Lecturer's offices were near the back of the Department's floor, with a glorious view of the Hollow Sea from thousands of meters up. As a Senior Lecturer, Stross' apartments were well-appointed, gilt and red silk enough to shame the throne room of a sultan. He displayed a hundred artifacts around the room, statues and brass sculptures, frescos and carefully-restored wall scrolls. (Unusually, Stross' tastes in artifacts ran towards those of Volkish persuasion, which meant he had a much easier time picking up curiosities than those who were looking for remnants of the Mirage Kingdoms. As a result, the many gilt plinths and pillars in Stross' cavernous office featured bone fetishes, feather art, and paintings on tanned hide.)

But when at last Serapis reached Stross' desk, he found a particularly unfortunate possibility had, indeed, come to pass. For while the Senior Lecturer did indeed sit behind his desk, another one of Serapis' colleagues sat in front of it already.

"Here's Dr. Serapis." said Alcam Fawzy, the Chair of the Department of Natural History, "Back already from his hunt in the waste of the singing towers."

Stross cleared his throat, not looking directly at his boss. "Well, please, sit down. Dr. Fawzy and I were just reminiscing about the big discoveries at Semitupe, oh, fifty years ago now. I never went, but he was there, you know, when they first uncovered the mummified remains of King Laerthon..."

"I don't imagine the doctor is concerned with the recent past, Alfon. Serapis, what have you found for us?"

This was a risk, now. Stross was an easy-going but effective bureaucrat who could get Serapis the team he needed quickly, and who wouldn't try too hard to steal any of the credit. The Chair, on the other hand, was a ruthless bastard of a professor who took perverse joy in showing off his authority by snubbing his underlings. If he could seize upon a reason to steal Serapis' find, he would.

 

[Vicissitude]

༺ ☾ Winter 75 year 125 of the third age ☼ ༻

<notes>

By nature, Serapis was not a person prone to superstitious belief. That said, when one is raised in Arcanis, one always ends up that way to some degree or another. In addition to the Rakshasa, the deserts seemed to attract both elemental spirits and Djinn in higher number than he’d heard could be found elsewhere. Of course, there were endless postulations as to why, but nothing really concrete had ever been solidified. As such, he couldn’t help but to believe that at least some of them had to have been on his side during his travels back, for the trip was unusually smooth throughout– even a portion thereof he’d had to cut through that had always been considered to be largely inhospitable wasteland.

Nevertheless, upon his return, he tried to keep his face shrouded. For though the man had become reliant on his Fathom to gauge social nuances (he was never good at this on his own), he was well aware of the scrutiny any potentially prosperous dig was under. The longer he could delay the inevitable gossip, the better.

When expressing his desire to meet with Senior Lecturer Stross to his secretary, Serapis was delicate with his words. He would say that the matter concerned his expedition and stressed that it was important, but remained tight-lipped regarding the nature of such ‘importance.’ Though he believed the secretary to be trustworthy to a degree (largely because he questioned why Stross would employ somebody who wasn’t), he was somewhat paranoid about the possibility of anyone overhearing. And while he was given a fortunately fast appointment, every second he had to wait was spent in a state of anxious anticipation whilst he tried to stay out of sight from those who might spread word of his return.

Still, finally starting along the path through the Department of Natural History to the Senior Lecturer’s office was exhilarating– that is, until such exhilaration halted, calcifying as he entered the office and set eyes upon not one but two figures awaiting him at the head of the room. Normally, he’d be distracted by the many artifacts in Stross’ collection and take the time to look them over, because although Volkish artifacts weren’t quite his personal tastes, they still had plenty of aspects that could catch his interest. These circumstances, however, certainly were far from normal and then there was the new, multifaceted concern regarding exactly how and why Dr. Alcam Fawzy was also present. Nevertheless, he didn’t let much more than the passing widening of the eyes indicate anything beyond his surprise to see two people instead of the one he’d actually asked to see as he made his way across the room.

A cordial smile would be given while the other two spoke and Serapis moved to sit down. Normally, he wouldn’t have minded listening to Stross ramble, but again…this wasn’t a casual meeting.

“Good to see you both,” a lie, but given with the smoothness standard to pleasantries, “...but to the point: I’ve run into a bit of a roadblock.

Shortly after arriving at the site that’d evoked my interest, I set eyes upon a spire emerging from the earth– one of those meant to designate important buildings. Curious as this was and being the only mage of note present, I chose to perform a cursory examination of what lay beneath utilizing a Periphery to sink myself into the sands. My initial hunch was correct– the spire had marked the presence of a larger structure that’d been buried.

Using the Periphery to keep the sand and stone at bay, I surveyed the structure and realised that it had indeed gone unnoticed, possibly due to its lack of connection to the greater duat. Despite the weight of earth and time, there are parts that are remarkably well-preserved, which I believe could hold value to painting a more accurate picture of Semitupe during its prime.

To that end, I have returned to request magical assistance in its excavation so that I may safely continue my exploration thereof– the Periphery is effective for my cursory examination, though relying on it would be remarkably inefficient and poses significant risk of harm to myself, the building, or anything else that might be moved in or out on the chance something might disrupt it. Further, I believe that a manual excavation would be both monumentally time-consuming on top of posing potential risks to the structure itself, as its overall integrity is as yet unknown.

Terrari would be ideal, for they would be able to intuitively discern the stone composing the structure from the sands that’d buried it, thus ensuring its continued preservation. I understand this request is sudden and substantial, but I believe great care should be taken to preserve any remnants of our history, especially those that have weathered the trials of time so well.”

The summary and request that followed were given formally, though remnants of his excitement still flickered behind his eyes. Serapis had calmed himself for the purpose of this conversation by way of his own Fathom, for he had little desire for nonverbal cues to speak louder than his words. Had this been Stross alone, he would’ve given more detail to stress urgency, but such as it was, he did not trust Fawzy given his reputation for questionable ethics. Still, the professor worried that even with the abridged version he’d possibly said too much. Granted, if he’d said any less, he struggled to believe his request would have come across as reasonable at all.

: Spell Reserves

1x Expert Exodus - Periphery, center of it ‘Stuck’ to Serapis so it moves with him; ‘Push’ Thaumaturgy to keep the sand out/away from him.
2x Journeyman Exodus - Pocket Dimension Portal (for chair)
1x Expert Exodus/3x Sovereignty - Liminality
1x Expert Exodus/3x Sovereignty - Thaumaturgy, Shrink
1x Expert Exodus - Periphery, same as the first in order to transport himself out of the tower (original one is still on the shrunken door)
1x Apprentice Empath - self cast; imposing a calming effect.

Spell Reserves: 2.11
-0.33
-0.22
-0.28
-0.28
-0.33
-0.04
Remaining: 0.63