“No…let him cower away. As long as he is away from Sol City, we can wait for another day to confront him.” the former commander assured his hot-headed friend.
“You’re right. Let’s go see what Voyse was after in that shop.” Asher said, turning towards the shop the assassin had recently left.
**********
Draven slowly walked into the main chamber of the central castle at Tier Bastion. He, along with a few other of his men, had been navigating the castle’s interior for some time now, trying to get a good idea of the place. Finally they had reached the main chamber, which was the largest room in the entire complex. Huge pillars lined the room, making the men seem diminutive compared to the rest of the room. Through the entire castle, they had found little to no trace of life forms. It was as if the place was completely cleaned out before it crashed to the ground years and years ago. Either that, or someone took everything.
Whatever the reason, it didn’t matter to Draven. He walked all the way to the end of the main chamber, reaching two huge doors. With a wave of his hand, Draven sent the doors blasting open with neutral energy.
The next room was a wide hallway. As Draven stepped into the hallway, he noticed something written upon the wall. He moved in closer to exam it. Upon the wall was pictures of strange beings, along with some form of writing. Draven brushed the dust from the wall to get a better look at the details. The pictures depicted short, skinny humanoids with no facial features other than two narrow eyes. They wore unusual jackets marked with some form of writing. The void adept grumbled as he tried to read the writing, but to no avail.
“Bah…I can’t read this nonsense. Lyx, what do you make of this?” Draven asked, turning to face his second in command.
Lyx was a tall man, standing over 6 feet high. Yet he was skinny and handsome, defying his cruel manner. On his belt were strapped two large shuriken, highly unusual weapons for surface dwellers, for it was more likely to see such a weapon in the hands of a wind adept of Cloud City. He had raven black hair, much like Draven’s, but it was cut short and spiked. His eyes were a crystal blue, which seemed to contradict every other part of his body. He, too, was a void adept, and one of the best. Second only to Draven himself.
“I cannot say, sir. It makes little sense to me as well.” the tall man replied. “It is not a language known to me.”
“Hmm, just as I thought. Well, if it is of any importance, I’m sure it will come into play sooner or later. Let’s just continue.” Draven said, waving away the pictures on the wall.
“Yes, of course, sir.” Lyx said, bowing slightly.
Draven made it to the end of the hallway only to find two more huge doors, these having a massive picture drawn on it. It depicted six of the featureless beings standing in a circle, and in the middle stood a large figure that seemed much like the others, but the jacket it wore was smaller, along with many straps and flowing strands of cloth. The most noticeable thing, however, was the sharp grin placed across its face. Upon further notice, Draven spotted a 7th of the featureless beings, this one standing behind the rest, its head looking upward. This made little sense to Draven, but he hardly cared. With a shrug, he flung those doors open with a burst of energy. What he found in the next room stunned them all. Thrown all across the room, which was quite large, were skeletons upon skeletons of human beings, it seemed. Most were wearing armor, but a few were dressed in simple servant robes. Draven bent down to check the armor of one skeleton.
“So, the legends are true…” He said, standing back up and observing the entire room. “This certainly did come from Altem Tier.”
“How can you tell, sir?” Lyx asked, stepping up to stand beside his leader.
“Look at the emblem of their armor. Clearly, that is the sign of Altem Tier.” Draven explained, pointing out a crested emblem on the shoulder armor of one skeleton.
“I see, so the legends of this place falling from the sky hundreds of years ago is true?” Lyx asked, looking at the other skeletons.
“It would seem that way. Quickly, get some men in here to clear this up. I want it all gone before this evening.” Draven ordered, stepping around the skeletons to the staircase at the other side of the room.
He came upon the second floor of the room to find more skeletons, and double doors that probably led to the main tower. With a grin, the void leader opened the doors and found exactly what he had hoped. Stairs…
“Lyx, you come with me. The rest of you get to work on these bodies.” Draven said as he began to ascend the stairwell.
Lyx gave another bow and fell into tow.
**********
Asher and Omurai found themselves staring at the heart of Sol City. Right in the center was a huge beam of light, showing the trail that would magically lift you to the Cloud City above.
“That’s were my home is…” Omurai said, a smile on his face.
“You know we can’t go there now.” Asher said calmly.
“Yes, I know. Perhaps when we catch that assassin and get some pocket change we’ll come back here to visit.” Omurai responded, still smiling.
“Yes, perhaps.” Asher said quietly, suddenly thinking of his own homeland. “So, we leave now?”
“Indeed. We’ve got all the supplies that we’ll need. Time to set out once again.” Omurai declared.
“Right then, let’s get to it.” Asher agreed.
The two set off towards the northern exit. Slowly, Omurai turned back to the glowing pillar of magic and frowned. “Home…” He mouthed quietly, his thoughts flying back to the memories of his family he left behind not so long ago. Little did he know, his companion was thinking the same thing, simply another spot in the world.
**********