The Second Cataclysm (IC)

[Olthar]

Shortly after Samantha entered the room, the door opened once again, and Professor Driftwood walked in. He wore his standard purple robes and hat but had a large, tan bag hanging from his shoulders. He looked around, seemingly trying to determine that he was, in fact, in the right place. Once satisfied, he loudly cleared his throat to draw attention to himself, which even roused Professor Hastings from her half-slumber.

"Good morning students!" he greeted in a low, booming voice, "I see you're all ready for today's research trip! Good! I'm glad you're all just as enthusiastic as I am for this wonderful experience! It is a rare opportunity to visit these ruins as there are none else like them in the whole kingdom! Ah, I envy you the gift of experiencing them for the first time. The discovery! The adventure! Why, when you get to be my age, there's little left in the world that's new and interesting. I still remember the first time I--"

The professor was interrupted in his meandering by a loud cough coming from the opposite side of the room and a cold glare from Professor Hastings telling him to get on with it.

"A-hem. Yes. Excuse me," Driftwood responded before continuing, "Is everyone here? Hmm, yes. Seems so. Well then, Professor Hastings, if you will."

Gesturing at his colleague, Professor Driftwood gave over control of the room and stood quietly. The young Professor Hastings stood up from her seat and began walking towards the center room, letting out a small yawn.

"Okay everyone, go stand on Telepad 11. That's the red one for those who can't count," she said, her condescension a result of her fatigue.

The students and Professor Driftwood all began walking towards the specified telepad when Hastings noticed Anastasia's hat was sticking out of her pocket rather than atop her head.

"Miss Allencroft," she spoke up, clearly irritable, "students are required to wear their hats at all times, especially when not on campus."

While Professor Hastings glared at the girl, Professor Driftwood chimed in an addendum, "Oh, yes. These hats are symbols of our school and signal to all who see us that we are associated with the prestigious Sir Whifflebottom's Academy of Arts and Magic! You want people to know of your accomplishment in being accepted, right?"

Once everyone stood upon the dais of Telepad 11, Professor Hastings stepped onto it and began shaping the elemental aether the permeated the space between matter. As she moved her arms in precise, yet smooth motions, the paint on the dais began to glow brightly, and the air began to feel warm and tingly. Everyone began to feel like their bodies were being stretched and torn, with the pain and discomfort mounting until suddenly it was gone.

In a flash, the mages found themselves standing in a huge chamber, almost the size of the Academy's dining hall. The stonework was ancient and weathered, with only shallow grooves indicating that the walls were once ornately decorated. Many of the pillars were crumbling, and some were supported by metal beams placed there by a previous exploration team. There were three exits from the room. The first was a large set of double doors behind them that lead to the mountaintop outside. These, however, were barred to prevent looters and other unwanted intruders. The other two were smaller passages on either side of the room. The wall directly in front of them was filled with a giant mural, though the paint was all but gone. The main image was unidentifiable, but the text on the sides was still legible. The first to speak was Professor Hastings who seemed entirely unfazed by the rough experience of teleporting.

"Have fun," she stated, her voice dripping with sarcasm, "Unfortunately, not all of us get to have a vacation, so I have to go back and teach my class. I'll return in eight hours to pick you up, so you'd all better be ready."

With that, she summoned a burst of air around her and knocked everyone off the dais rather than waiting for them to walk off themselves. Afterwards, she reactivated the telepad and disappeared in a flash of light. Professor Driftwood stood up and began brushing the dust off of himself, chuckling lightly.

"Always so impatient," he said to himself before turning to his students, "Welcome to the Fotia Ruins! We first found this place more than four decades ago, and it has been of chief interest ever since! As you may know, its origin is a complete mystery to us! We fo not know who built it or even when, and the text on the walls has, so far, escaped all attempts at translation!

"Still, this is a fascinating place with much to teach us! It may be thousands or more years old, but there is still much magic here! Most curiously, the walls and floors have all been affected by an unknown enchantment that makes them immune to geokinesis! We didn't even know that was possible, and we still haven't even scratched the surface in understanding how it works! And there are still rooms we haven't uncovered! Just imagine what else we can learn from this place about ancient magic! Why, the possibilities are endless!

"And that, my young pupils, is why we're here: I want each of you to study this ruin closely and look for something that no one else has seen before! Do be careful, however! There was a minor earthquake in these mountains last week, and no one has yet been through to inspect the integrity of the structure. Areas may be dangerous, so stay alert! But remember to enjoy yourselves, too! This may be schoolwork, but it's still a great adventure!"

With that, Professor Driftwood set down his pack and began digging through it, pulling out tools and papers and muttering to himself.

[The Verdantderm Lands]

Tripetta

Picking herself after Professor Hastings explosive departure, Tripetta quickly began copying the, as yet, untranslated inscriptions and art on the chamber wall. This was going to take some time.

"What does this mean?" asked Tripetta, to no one in particular.

After filling the first two pages, Teipetta stopped to consider the script in which it was written. Were these letters made from sticks lines? Maybe the script evolved from hand-signs? Snail tracks?

By my ancestor's Elemental Spirits, thought Tripetta, I wish I had some inkling of what this all means. And this faded illustration.... With her imagination, she tried extending the lines that were visible into the blank spaces. No luck. Maybe someone with a degree in art composition and history might be helpful?

Tripetta looked about at her study group members and asked, "Has anyone ever seen anything like this?"

Then she conjured a tiny soft breeze to help dry the ink on the pages she'd just written and drawn on.

[Olthar]

Tripetta

As she examined the text, Tripetta noticed that the letters were made with straight lines and sharp angles. There were no rounded or curved lines anywhere. The letters were also quite complex individually with few repetitions among the entire text. The words were short, usually only two to four letters long, and a few were just one letter.

The mural was all but gone, and little could be gleaned from it. There were some remnants of black paint near the top, and what looked like small, faded people in the bottom left corner. The rest was completely erased by the cruel hand of time.

[The Verdantderm Lands]

Tripetta

As she examined the text, Tripetta noticed that the letters were made with straight lines and sharp angles. There were no rounded or curved lines anywhere. The letters were also quite complex individually with few repetitions among the entire text. The words were short, usually only two to four letters long, and a few were just one letter.

The mural was all but gone, and little could be gleaned from it. There were some remnants of black paint near the top, and what looked like small, faded people in the bottom left corner. The rest was completely erased by the cruel hand of time.

Tripetta

The ink dried by her magical breeze spell, Tripetta closed her study diary to walk up to the mural for a closer examination of what was left of the mural, the faded people in the bottom left corner. What were they doing, if anything, in response to the action that had happened in the mural's center? Maybe if she played with the color spectrum a bit, more of the action might be revealed?

Using her Light Element magic, Tripetta made her finger glow a soft red color and used it to illuminate the lower left corner of the mural. After that, she'd move to the higher color frequencies: orange, yellow, green, blue, violet, indigo and ultraviolet. What were those people in the mural doing?

[Olthar]

Tripetta

When projecting light of the warm colors, the figures disappeared, faded into the light. However, when Tripetta got to blue, the contrast accentuated the bit of remaining mural and made it slightly more visible. There were three people standing or maybe walking, but they were too small and the paint too faded to see any further details.

[Zarkenis Ultima]

"I see." Samantha said as one of the girls in the gathering near Jeremiah spoke up, a tall one with short black hair, slightly tanned skin and no hat whom she recognized as a student who was often involved in quarrels and had gotten in trouble several times for speaking up against Professor Hastings. The rumors that reached her regarding the supposed troublemaker were everything but flattering, and yet, for someone with a fairly tarnished reputation, the girl came across as fairly polite, if a little aloof; one who focused on projecting a certain image tended to start noticing other such false images, and the smile on her face was not entirely sincere. Still, Sam couldn't sense any malice from the other girl, who soon introduced herself as Anastasia of House Allencroft. Another blue-blood. Another person around whom she was to keep her guard up.

"I'm Samantha, of house Schwarzenberg. A pleasure to meet you, Anastasia." The shorter girl said after a brief pause, not long enough to be uncomfortable. Before she could say anything more or turn to look at the other students gathered nearby, the door opened and in walked the man everyone had been waiting for, Professor Driftwood, who cleared his throat in order to draw everyone's attention. Samantha turned to look at him and listened to his words with a smile on her face, quite fond of the kind old sorcerer and his stories, though it was obvious that not everyone felt the same way. Professor Hastings soon took over, walking to the center of the room, and Sam observed her with some admiration. Even if the teletheurgist was sleepy and disgruntled, it was hard not to admire someone that talented, beautiful and ambitious, though her expression quickly soured as she heard Hastings address the students with her usual arrogance.

With due haste, the girl made her way to the telepad, noticing the scolding Anastasia received while walking there. Then, the teleportation process began, and the pain began, along with the feeling of her body being warped in an unnatural manner. This was the first time she had ever teleported, and the alien sensation frightened her, almost driving her to panic as it continued to rise. Feeling cornered, the girl took refuge in the school's reputation: surely one of the teachers of such a prestigious academy, and one widely regarded as a brilliant mage, wouldn't endanger them. Surely her fears were unfounded. And what would others think of the scion of the Baron of Schattenstadt if she was scared about something as widely used in the magocentric Altomura as teleportation? Such a silly thing was sure to earn her father no small amount of scorn.

As suddenly as the pain had arrived, it was gone, and the students were in a huge chamber alongside their two professors, instead of room 44. As soon as the teleportation had concluded, Samantha let out a sigh of relief and put on a neutral expression, hoping the others had been too distracted by the sensation to notice her. The harsh method Hastings used to push everyone off the dais took her by surprise, but the girl managed to react in time to cast a weak levitation spell on herself to cushion her fall, glaring at the professor, though she did not seem to take notice and quickly left the same way she had come.

Samantha stood up and dusted herself off with a grumble, annoyed at the harsh treatment, though her grievances were quickly forgotten as she listened to Professor Mortimer with fascination, hearing what the old man had to say about the Fotia Ruins. The fact that no one knew where the ruins had come from was incredible in its own right, and the realization that she had a chance, however slim, of discovering something that no one else had seen there before was certainly exciting. Perhaps such a discovery would constitute the first step towards the restoration of House Schwarzenberg's name!

As the old professor finished speaking, the aspiring psychotheurgist produced a writing implement from her satchel and opened her leather-bound diary to-

Oh? The girl thought with some surprise, noticing the writing already inside the book. She quickly ascertained that it was a volume on the properties of sounds and not her diary, which prompted her to place it back inside her satchel and look through it in order to find the book she was looking for, soon retrieving it from inside the leather satchel. With that done, she swiftly jotted down the basics and some scant details of what she saw at the main chamber of the Fotia Ruins; perhaps it would have been more convenient to be more meticulous in her record, but her eagerness to continue exploring the ancient site barred her from this.

The girl finished writing down her first impressions and closed the diary before glancing around to survey her options. More prominent were the mural in front of her and the hallways to either side of it. She was certain that information could potentially be gleamed from studying the nearby pillars, the barred doors or perhaps even the dais, but the exits seemed most promising, and she figured that if her first choice turned out to bear no fruit, she could always return later and see what she could find out. Thus, after standing by for a moment, glancing between the two corridors and deliberating which one to follow, Samantha began heading down the one to the left of the mural.

[The Twelve Isles]

Anastasia reluctantly placed her hat on her head after the scolding from Hastings, though it was a little crumpled after spending so long in her pocket. Its brim was upturned awkwardly, and the pointed top lilted a little to the left. It made her look like an old mage from a story book. All she would need now was a hunched back and a magical staff. She felt goofy, as she always did with the hat on, but didn't take it off either, preferring to not push her luck as she filed onto the dais with her class. Professor Hastings insulted the class, as was her tradition, and without much pomp or ceremony began to process of teleportation. Anastasia had teleported once, when she was young, when her father had had to meet with the Fitzroy's to discuss the matter of Mulmurth pirates raiding Altmoran shipping and what was to be done. She remembered it feeling strange, and not liking it, but had forgotten about the feeling itself. It was one she did not particularly appreciate, and wished there was some other way to go. She grimaced and clenched a fist as the feelings of burning and stretching went through her, and let out a pained breath of air as soon as the feeling stopped.

The first thing she noticed was the air. It was cool, and dry. Anastasia opened her eye's, and glanced around, and was suddenly and unceremoniously tossed from the dais by blast of air that kicked the entire class off, leaving only Professor Hastings. Anastasia fell, and stuck her arms out behind her to cast an air spell. She did not stop herself from falling, but did break her fall with a cushion of air, that ruffled her clothes and knocked her hat from her head again as she fell onto her back. She lay there a moment, before rolling over onto her side and propping herself up on her right elbow. With her left hand she picked up her hat again, before sitting upright and dusting it off. Professor Hastings left without so much as an apology, just another little thing to add to Anastasia's reasons for disliking the woman. Still, what was done was done, and so she chose to tuck that little kernel of distaste away for future thoughts, and pushed herself upright. She turned, and studied the room, placing her hat back on her head and pushing it up so it wouldn't hang in her eyes.

It was a little chilly, and Siona wrapped her cloak closer around herself, and listened in to Professor Driftwood. He seemed even more excited to be here than the students did, and this was his - well, who knew how many times he had been here. Anastasia smiled at that. Driftwood always seemed to have a way of projecting both years of wisdom and experience, as well as maintaining a childlike optimism. It made Anastasia feel like there was always a little good in the world, so long as there was someone like Professor Driftwood in it.

As Anastasia perused the wall's and carvings, she spotted Tripetta looking over a mural. Remembering the agreement to try and form a study group, Anastasia ambled her way over and stood next to Tripetta. They made an odd pair, one tall for a girl, and the other short for a girl. Well, really, short for someone in general, no matter how you worded it. "It look's like their all walking somewhere," said Anastasia. "Or, maybe like their dancing? I don't know, but it seems a bit like its ritual in some way."

To help, Anastasia held up her own hand, and cast a blue light of her own. She created a little ball, which she tossed lightly up into the air so that it would illuminate more of the mural and with more brightness. With her hand now free, she cast a second blue light with her finger, holding it up to the mural so she could look closer at it as well, and see things more up close.

[Olthar]

Samantha

As the young heiress walked through the left door, she'd find herself in a long hallway that turned to the right, heading deeper into the mountainside. The walls appeared like they were once just as ornately decorated as the large antechamber but had been weathered with age. However, perhaps due to being deeper in the ruin, these were a bit better preserved, and some of the paint was still visible. It seemed like the hallway used to be filled with bright a bright orange color with accents in reds, yellows, and purples. Remnants of murals spot the upper halves of the walls, but the images they once depicted have long since been lost.

The sides of the hallway were lined with many empty doorways. From the grooves and indents, it seemed like they once contained wooden doors that had long since rotted away. There were three rooms on the left and two on the right before the turn.

This hallway seemed to have been hit quite hard by the earthquake, and parts of the walls and ceiling had collapsed, leaving piles of rubble strewn across the floor.

Anastasia

The additional blue light upon the mural revealed no new information. The paint wasn't just faded, it was simply gone. The wall was now just a plain slab of grey rock.

[Saint Ryvern]

Jacek Koloman

Since he had asked his question about the ruins, Jacek had been overwhelmed by the ungodsly flood of activity that swept over his group. Anastasia didn't have any idea about the ruins they were visiting, understandably so, as none of them had received any pre-travel briefing from Professor Driftwood. Hugh responded much in the same way, though there was considerable pain in his eyes as he mentioned his mother. Something like an edge when he talked about her, about the stories she used to tell him, something that should've been joyful, but that held a great deal of pain for the young nobleman. Perhaps there was a softer man hidden beneath the giant bearskin covering, a protective shield meant to keep the world away and his feelings inside. Jacek felt a pang of sympathy for Hugh, wincing slightly, but visibly, when Tripetta asked him to share some of his mother's stories. Surely she must recognize the pain in his eyes when he mentions her, the Liechenvelden thinks, why would you ask him to elaborate on such a painful subject?

However, before he could respond to Tripetta, Hugh's inquiry about the location of the rest of the class was swiftly answered, as others started to pour into the room. Some them approached the already existing group, making any attempt at continuous conversation hazardous. Interrupted briefly by Korsten's unappealing, but oddly sentimental description of his homeland, the new flow of students brought Jeremiah to their group. Unintentionally, this also brought a subtle smell of fish and the sea to the group, perhaps carried on the boy's navy uniform or it might have been embedded in his skin and hair. Jacek did not know much about the seafaring student, but he could tell that he had spent many hours away from the shore by his scent and the ruggedness of his outfit. Personally, Jacek was terrified of the sea, but he admired those who chose to brave it regularly. Jacek also noticed Cadus near the edge of the group, looking amicable, but remaining silent. Another face without a name or any pertinent information in his mind, but the heavily fortified student might be someone worth interacting with in the future.

Their gathering was audibly joined by another girl, someone without an Altomuran accent, a pleasant surprise to Jacek's foreign-tamed ears. Unfortunately, she seemed to be from Frinweld, not his parent's land, but it was nice enough to here an accent besides the extremely polished version of Altomuran that most of the upper class students at Sir Whifflebottom's spoke. With a sharp ear tuned to differing accents Jacek resolved to ask the girl about it later. The foreigner was familiar with the sea-smelling fellow, she called him "Jacky," clearly a nickname.

Finally, before the feelings of apprehension and nervousness reached a boiling point, Professor Driftwood burst into the room, rousing Professor Hastings from her arrogant slumber. Jacek had no strong feelings about the young professor, he had no positive or negative impressions of her at this point. He was glad to see Professor Driftwood though, and eagerly drank in the elderly educator's words until he was interrupted by the younger staff member. With the group, Jacek proceeded to Telepad 11, giving a sympathetic smile to Anastasia after she was chastised for her hat, though she should have known better. Suddenly, Jacek felt as if a giant had torn his limbs off before hastily sewing them back onto his body. Luckily, he remained standing when they landed in the giant room, but he swooned back and forth, grabbing at his head with his eyes lolling about. He did not understand why anybody would want to do that regularly, much more study it, and he dreaded thinking about how he would have to do it again in eight hours. Knocked out of his stupor, literally knocked out of it when Professor Hastings blew him and his classmates off the dais, Jacek stood up, dusting himself off.

Carefully, he took mental notes of Professor Driftwood's comments on the ruins, taking particular interest in their resistance to geokinesis and the potential perils of traveling within the ruins themselves. Exploration offered limitless possibilities, at least those able to stand within the bounds of an eight hour visit to one of the most mysterious sites in Altomura. He watched as Tripetta and Anastasia found themselves fascinated with the large faded mural, though Jacek was more interested in other areas of the ruins. Seeing the faux foreigner, Samantha, heading to the left, Jacek makes his way towards that tunnel as well.

"Was that a Frinweldian accent I detected earlier?" Jacek says loud enough for Samantha to realize he's talking to her, attempting to start up a conversation, once he's a few feet behind her. "It's nice to hear another accent here," he says as his rural Liechenvelden accent covers all his words quite noticeably. "I'm Jacek Koloman," he says with a tone of finality, holding out a hand to her.

Marveling at the space he has followed Samantha into, Jacek notes the pesky piles of rubble lining the hallway. Curious about the effects of geokinesis on rocks detached from the ruins themselves, perhaps from the walls of the tunnels, he makes a small effort to move one of the piles into the main room. He moves his arms in a series of direct, almost violently obvious motions, as he accesses his connection to the earth, hoping he can help by clearing out some of the rubble.

[Olthar]

Jacek

As the young lad attempted to reach out towards the earth, he'd feel a discomforting emptiness, like he was floating in a barren void. The rubble in front of him, the walls around him, even the floor under him all escaped detection, like they didn't even exist. It was a feeling of total loneliness and isolation.

[Esternial]

After formally introducing herself to the others, Elune didn't say much more while the others conversed. It wasn't that she didn't have anything to say per-se, but she considered herself a much better listener than a talker. Of course, that's what she told herself to justify quietly listening to everyone else talk, her posture betraying her discomfort. She was rarely around this many people, and it was hard to keep track of everything. Books were straightforward. People were...complicated.

Not everyone was a stranger, but to most of them she had only exchanged a handful of word - exclusively functional. Though deep down she still considered small talk as horribly tedious, every now and then she made a conscious effort to engage in normal social behavior. This was not one such times. So, she listened, sticking close to Jacek through no conscious effort of her own. It was only until Professor Driftwood barged in that she realized it, and promptly edged away to a more acceptable distance.

The Professor's excitement was somewhat contagious. Her expectations of this field trip had been fairly low, partially because she forgot about it, but now she was feeling a lot more optimistic. Not all knowledge could be found in books after all. As they all positioned themselves on the telepad, she took a good look at her fellow students and smiled, only a little.

That smile was promptly warped off her face, and suddenly she found herself standing in a strange and foreign environment. Her lips were firmly pressed together, her hands clenched into fists and the tips of her feet slightly elevated as she pressed her heels into the ground. What. Before she could process what had just happened, a blast of air swept her off her feet and cast her down onto the ground, face first.

Elune let out a soft, high-pitched groan and listened to part of the Professor's animated speech while she rolled onto her back. An enchantment that nullified a class of magic? That alone fascinated her.

Though she didn't expect much, she closed her eyes and attempted to attune herself to her environment. She searched, for the vaguest trace of a mineral in her vicinity, perhaps beyond the walls that were impervious to manipulation. Whatever the mystery was, Elune found herself getting sidetracked by the enchanted walls - and didn't even notice she was still on the ground, a drop of blood dripping down the side of her forehead.

[The World Capitalist Confederation]

Korsten

Korsten examines the ruins, stones and everything he could extremely closely, cross-referencing everything with books he had read.

[Olthar]

Elune

When Elune attuned to the elemental earth, she'd feel the same emptiness and isolation as Jacek, as if she were alone on a vast expanse of nothingness. There was, however, a small island of rock she could cling to: the dais that the group arrived on. It, unlike everything else in the ruin, was regular stone, likely moved here from the mountain outside. However, it still felt a little...off, almost fuzzy and indistinct, like trying to see through a fog.

[Zarkenis Ultima]

Samantha observed her surroundings with fascination and a keen eye as she advanced through the hallway to the left of the mural at the end of the entry hall. She noticed that the walls there were far better conserved than those at the entrance, likely due to being less exposed to the elements, and the rich colors that filled it suggested that this had once been a place of importance for whatever civilization had erected it, though its glory was long faded now. The grandeur of the colorful murals had given in to the test of time, and only cold stone and scattered pieces of a puzzle remained. Such a shame... One day in the future, will others explore the Altomuran halls and palaces the way we are exploring this place today? Will they be as bare as the walls around me?

The gloomy reflection that emerged from a moment of lucidity was far from enough to put a dent on the girl's enthusiasm, however, and she quickly opened up her journal to write down her impressions on the hallway before heading down one of the empty doorways around her. Before she got started on that task, however, she heard footsteps behind her, and then a voice asking her a question. Samantha whipped around to look at whoever was addressing her and quickly noticed it was one of the students from the group earlier, a tall boy with light blonde hair who introduced himself as Jacek Koloman. Nodding at the boy and putting on a friendly smile, she closed her diary and reached out to shake his hand.

"A pleasure to meet you, Jacek. You might've heard me introducing myself to Anastasia earlier, I'm Samantha Schwarzenberg." She spoke politely with the same accent that had caught the boy's attention. "And yes, you're right there. You see, my family lived in Frinweld before coming to Altomura several generations ago. We make sure to learn our ancestral language, hence the accent." She explained.

Jacek then began using the harsh motions associated with geokinesis, though he did not seem to achieve much. Professor Driftwood's words echoed in Samantha's head as she watched him, remembering that the old man had stated the ruins were impervious to earth magic.

"This place is fascinating, isn't it?" The young noblewoman said as she began recording her impressions on the current area. "Just think about it: a place in Altomura that nobody knows anything about. The possibilities are endless!" She stated, her excitement showing. "It may be silly, wishful thinking, but I sure hope I can discover something interesting today."

Finished with her journal for now, she decided to explore the first of the five rooms she could access from the corridor she was in. "I'm going to take a look here, feel free to come along." She told the boy with a smile before advancing. Not that he needed her permission to explore that room if he wanted to, but she thought it would be polite to extend the invitation - two heads could perhaps discover what a single one might not, and in any case, she enjoyed the company.

[Kassaran]

As he stood enjoying the interactions between his classmates, his eyes searched their faces, their reactions, looking to try and perceive if he could, some sort of familiarity about them beyond the simple circumstantial acquaintance he'd had with each. It was a scholarly camaraderie which had brought them all here likely, and while his pack, and the blanket rolled up atop it betrayed his interest in finding a nice sunny spot to sleep in, he wasn't also going to let the research opportunity go to waste. A girl joined the group, his mind relieved in the knowledge that he was indeed not the last to be entering the room. His eyes wandered across the crowd before the arrival of a certain professor brought all to pay him attention.

Driftwood was a strange fellow, the spirit of a true academic flowed strongly through him, with good humors to tie up the rough edges and a kind face to ease the sight of a lifelong pursuant of magic to the abandon of perhaps much else. A look of momentary searching crossed his face as sharp eyes scanned the room. It was a practiced move of the teacher's, he'd seen the look before in class and he smiled slightly, his right eyebrow crawling up his forehead with a slight arch. The sound of the man composing himself, a guttural noise that seemed to rouse the ever-so-unlikable Professor Hastings from her enviable rest, brought all remaining eyes in the room to him. Cadus' second eyebrow joined the other as he cast an appraising look about the room, listening to the Professor speak in his characteristically thunder-timbre'd voice.

Perhaps in the classroom, it seemed indeed a bit much for the violet-clothed wizard, but the presence of such a large room made him finally seem truly well and worth the title of a magic professor of the highest calibers. To the eye of Cadus, whom had seen magic now being practiced at various levels, he knew that Driftwood, while far from the seat of most powerful war magus out there, perhaps had some hidden secrets that he'd avoid revealing if he could get away with it. That would be an interesting nut to crack, so-to-speak.

The exchanges occurred between his teacher and the rude prodigy of the school, a sorceress whom controlled a great many powers and was going to be their method of transportation to the remote castle and keep they were to visit. Letting himself be herded upon the stone dais as many of the other students had been, his fear welled within him as the pain began to come. While before he'd been hardly scared or terrified of falling from trees, or being attacked by wild animals, this was an experience he well-and-truly hated. His mind seemed to becomme hazy as he tried to blink away slight tears welling within his eyes as his body felt stretched by the teleportation spell. The pain slowly began to increase as he elected to simply shut his eyes and grit his teeth as the intense searing pain he felt across himself grew, and grew, until it quickly subsided.

Opening his eyes and blinking away tears which had gathered at the corners of his eyes, a natural reaction perhaps to the pain he'd felt, he listened to the professor give her own little introduction to the ruin and when they were to leave. Eight hours they were to be given. Two hours to explore, research, and look around, followed by four hours of napping in the sunniest nook or cranny he found, and then whatever time remaining to be spent eating his small meal he'd brought along with him and heading back to the grand hall. Before he could even react though to the professor, a gust of wind picked him up and seemed to launch him off the pad, his body impacting the floor solidly as he felt his tailbone take a solid hit.

That was going to smart later, he ruefully thought to himself as he glared at Professor Hastings making a Hasty retreat to the academy. The words of the Professor echoed his own sentiments as Driftwood stood and dusted himself off. Grabbing his hat off the floor near him, he settled it back down atop his head. Letting an errant hand run across the extent of his face, rubbing away whatever remained of the expression of pain he'd held before, he let his fingers wind through his ponytail, only to wince in pain as he caught a knot. Removing his hand quickly, with the impression of one whom had just burned it atop a stove, he looked about, attempting to determine if anyone had seen him do so.

The close of Professor Driftwood's speech had seemed to drag the interest of the fellow students away from their peers and into the great hall and beyond. His challenge to the students though went yet unspoken as the class of academics knew their implied task. Sure, there'd been decades, if not centuries worth of research done on the subject of the castle, but it only took one person in the right place at the right time to crack even the hardest puzzles. Straightening himself out, and lofting his heavy staff atop his shoulders as he looked around, he caught sight of someone nearby. The familiar color of her hair and the markings along her neck reminded him that she was the girl from earlier. Lifting his pack, he caught sight of a small droplet of something running down across her alabaster forehead.

Well, if ever you were going to make friends, may as well be with the one who reminded you to go on this trip.

A matter-of-fact statement that instilled some fear of dread with the young man's mind as he took several steps towards the girl, and then held out his hand, gesturing towards her forehead," You want me to take care of that for you?"

[Reverend Norv]

"Hugh," Tripetta asked, "would you tell us some of what you learned from your mother's stories? Even if they're folklore, there's likely at least a grain of truth in them."

An innocuous enough question. For a moment, Hugh almost tried to answer. And then, inevitably, the words died in his mouth when he remembered: the warm furs of his childhood bed, the softness of his mother's dress when he laid his head in her lap, the way she made sparks dance on her fingers in all the colors of the rainbow when she told her tales. Try as he might, Hugh couldn't find it in himself to give those relics away.

"No," he said quietly. "No, those stories aren't mine to tell." He managed a smile, but it didn't reach his eyes. "Probably just old wives' tales anyway."

Meanwhile, the rest of the class filtered in. There was a red-haired young man in a naval uniform: a Fisherwright of Fifedaighnn, Hugh remembered. The family's company had helped to sponsor his father's doomed colony. The Fisherwright was followed by a thin boy whose face was half-covered by shaggy brown hair; Hugh remembered that his name was Cadum or Cadlew or some such thing. Finally, Hugh recognized Samantha Schwarzenberg: the suddenly and conveniently discovered heir to that declining house had been a popular topic of conversation among Altomura's nobles when Hugh had first returned home from Dinica. Samantha managed to sneak up behind the Fisherwright - Jeremiah, that was his name - and throw her arms around him with the familiarity of an old friend.

In the face of the new arrivals, Anastasia plowed stubbornly on with her introductions. Hugh felt suddenly too tired to emulate her. He simply nodded his greetings instead, and was saved from further conversation by the arrival of Mortimer Driftwood. The professor charged into the chamber, hauling with him a traveler's pack quite similar to the one that hung from Hugh's shoulder. Driftwood's deep voice boomed with enthusiasm as he launched into a soliloquy about the beauty of their destination and the joys of youth. As all eyes turned toward the old man, Hugh felt something unclench in his chest; he took a deep, surreptitious breath, and allowed himself to smile as Driftwood rambled on.

A pointed cough from Caroline Hastings' perch at the back of the room soon interrupted her colleague's monologue. Hastings directed the class to one of the platforms. Hugh packed himself in with his classmates, positioning himself toward the edge of the dais in order to crowd as few of them as possible. Hastings also scolded Anastasia for not wearing her hat. Hugh let out a soft, disbelieving chuff of laughter under his breath. I find her pettiness offensive, he realized. Childishness is a luxury that does not mix with power.

Still: Hastings was an extraordinary magician. Hugh watched attentively as she moved her hands through graceful arcs. He felt the hair on his forearms stand on end under his leather coat, and then he felt - tension, in his joints, like a fever. Tension that built into discomfort, and then pain. Hugh closed his eyes and breathed deep, in and out. It's like being on the rack. The scar on his back stretched, and for a moment Hugh could feel the axe again, could feel the heat of the burning cabins on his face -

- and then the air around him was cool instead, and damp, and the pain was gone. Hugh gritted his teeth, and let out a long breath through his nose, and opened his eyes. He was standing on an identical stone dais in an enormous vaulted chamber lined with crumbling pillars. Age seeped from every pore of the masonry: Hugh noted faint grooves showing where ornaments had once hung, and a vast and faded mural filled the wall in front of him. The nobleman glanced around and saw two side passages leading away from the chamber, and a massive door behind him around which a few rays of daylight seeped into the room. The door, Hugh noted with a flicker of concern, was barred.

Even after all he'd seen and done and learned, Hugh Fitzroy still couldn't keep the smile off his face. To close your eyes at one end of the kingdom, and open them again at the other. The wonder of it. He had never been so delighted by his family's traditional field of study.

Caroline Hastings' voice shocked Hugh out of his reverie. "Have fun," she sneered. "Unfortunately, not all of us get to have a vacation, so I have to go back and teach my class. I'll return in eight hours to pick you up, so you'd all better be ready." And then, before Hugh could move, he felt a blast of wind strike him full in the chest like the blow of a warhammer, and his feet left the ground. Nearby, he saw Elune Ambrosius flung headlong to the floor. Hugh, while taken equally by surprise, was better prepared. As his back hit the ground he slapped the stone beneath him with both forearms: an instinct imprinted by countless hours of sword training, designed to let a man control the energy of his fall. Above him, Hugh saw Hastings move her arms again, and then she was gone in a flash of light, leaving nothing but motes swimming on Hugh's retinas.

With a grunt, the young man grabbed his knees and hauled himself to a sitting position. Nearby, Driftwood dusted himself off. "Always so impatient," the professor remarked.

"That's one word for it," Hugh muttered. He glanced at Elune; the girl rolled onto her back, and Hugh saw a trace of blood on her forehead. The nobleman clambered to his feet, and offered Elune his right hand. With his left, he pointed at his own brow. "Looks like you've banged yourself up a bit," he murmured. Nearby, the lad with the shaggy brown hair - Cadus, that's his name, definitely Cadus - also approached and asked to help.

Meanwhile, Hugh listened with half his attention while Driftwood continued his lecture. Evidently the Fortia Ruins had been discovered forty years ago, but they were perhaps millennia old. No one knew who had built them, or when, or what the inscriptions on their walls meant. The site wasn't even fully explored: there were still undiscovered rooms. All that anyone did know was that the ruins were immune to geokinesis - which was not supposed to be possible. Driftwood, evidently, found this terribly exciting.

Hugh did not. He remembered reading philosophy in the sweltering heat of the Dinican summer: how magic was the fundamental essence of all things, the organizing system that undergirded the world. For magic simply not to work - that was a basic challenge to the laws of the universe. It's like saying that, in one specific spot, things fall up instead of down. Some rules have to apply everywhere, or else they're not rules at all.

Hugh glanced around the chamber, and felt a chill run down his spine. Well, apparently not.

The students' assignment, Driftwood explained, was to find something in the ruin that no one had ever seen before. He also warned the class that a recent earthquake had left some areas of the site dangerously unstable. The old man didn't seem much troubled by that fact either: "This may be schoolwork," he concluded, "but it's still a great adventure!"

A great adventure. Hugh's father had said the same thing about his expedition. Once again, Hugh looked around the chamber, and felt his heart sink. If these ruins really are immune to geokinesis, then if we're trapped by a cave-in, we'll have no way to move the rubble. He glanced over his shoulder. Even the door to the outside is sealed. One bad rockslide, and this place could become our tomb.

None of the other students seemed to share Hugh's concerns. As soon as Driftwood fell silent, they scattered around the chamber. Samantha headed off down one of the side passages, followed by Jacek. Tripetta made a beeline for the large mural, and began copying the script engraved around it. She raised a hand, and light suddenly bathed the wall in all the colors of the rainbow: red and green and blue and purple, all in swift succession. "Has anyone ever seen anything like this?" Tripetta asked.

Anastasia walked over to the mural as well; like Tripetta, she raised one hand and let light pour forth to illuminate the faded, painted figures. "It looks like they're all walking somewhere," the girl observed. "Or, maybe like they're dancing? I don't know, but it seems a bit like it's ritual in some way."

Hugh strode up behind the two girls and studied the mural as well for a moment. Then he shook his head. "Looks like the paint's past saving to me." He shrugged one shoulder beneath his fur cloak. "Besides, the assignment was to find something that no one has ever seen before. I think that rules out anything in the same room as the telepad we came in through." Hugh nodded after Jacek and Samantha. "Let's catch up with them. If nothing else, we shouldn't split up too much. The structure is unstable, remember? Safer to stick together."

With that, Hugh set off down the hallway to the left of the mural. He soon saw Jacek and Samantha speaking quietly in the shadows ahead. More introductions, Hugh realized with wry amusement. Naturally. On the walls of the corridors, more faded murals stared down at the young man: orange changed slowly into red and yellow and purple. Like a sunset, Hugh thought - and he longed, sharp and sudden and bitter, for the beauty of dusk on the Dinican coast.

Focus. Hugh glanced around the corridor again, and noticed doorways on each side of it, opening onto shadowy rooms beyond. He noticed too, with a twinge of discomfort that was rapidly becoming unpleasantly familiar, the piles of rubble dotting the floor where stone had been shaken loose from the walls and ceiling.

"Right." Hugh's voice was steady and confident enough to surprise even him. "Morning, Jacek, Samantha. We'll be done here faster if we cooperate, so here's what I propose." Hugh gestured at the rooms that branched off the hallway. "I see five doors here: three on the left, two on the right. As the gods would have it, there are five of us. Tripetta, Anastasia, and I will check out the rooms on the left; you two take the ones on the right - I can see that you were headed for one of those already. If we find anything interesting, we'll all share it together." Hugh offered a tight smile. "Let's take a look, shall we?"

[Olthar]

Samantha

Entering through the first doorway on the right, Samantha found herself in a small, square room roughly 15 feet by 15 feet in size and with the same faded decor and coloration as the hallway. There was nothing in this room from when it was originally used and no way to indicate what it was originally used for. There were, however, a few crates and barrels stacked in the center of the room that contained dried food and basic supplies, likely left here by a previous exploration team. This room seemed in decent condition and was untouched by the earthquake, though, there was a large chunk of pillar serving as a makeshift table on the left side of the room. One wonders how it was moved in here without geokinesis, though. Scholars aren't typically known for their physical strength. There were a few scattered papers on the pillar table that seemed to contain notes about the ruin.

Glancing over them, Samantha didn't learn much about the ruin that she didn't already know. There was, however, a map sketched on one of the pages. It seemed like the Academy really hadn't been able to explore much as the map was quite small. In this section of the ruin, the hallway continued back a ways deeper into the mountain with six more rooms, three on each side, but then ended with a large door that, so far, has not been opened. Following through the door on the other side of the entry, there was another hallway the same size as this one and ending in an equally unopened door, though instead of small, square rooms, it had larger, rectangular rooms, four in total. None of these fifteen rooms had been labeled, indicating that their purpose was likely unknown. There was also a question mark drawn over where the large mural was in the antechamber. Though, there was no comment on the map explaining what the mark meant.


Hugh

Hugh took the first doorway on the left and found a room that was nearly identical to the one Samantha found. Though, instead of crates of supplies, this room contained five bedrolls and an oil lamp. There was also no chunk of pillar, though a small section of the ceiling in the back right corner had crumbled slightly. Near one of the bedrolls, there was a pack left by a previous explorer which contained a set of blue robes and hat, the designated outfit of the graduate students as well as a couple pairs of lady's undergarments. The pack had bits of rubble and dust on it, indicating that it had been sitting there since before the ceiling broke up in earthquake.

[The Verdantderm Lands]

Tripetta

Tripetta turned to Anastasia and frowned, saying, "I don't know how, but I suspect that something other than time has removed nearly every trace of paint from the mural. I don't even think 'black light' will reveal anything. That's a shame, but whoever was here before us probably tried light spectrums. There's nothing left of the paint, not the pigment nor the glue.... I think someone would need to see into the past...."

"Still," said Tripetta to Anastasia, "while the odds are against us, with genius like ours, there's still a chance we could find something interesting. Maybe Professor Driftwood put something here to see how good we are?"

Tripetta smiled and winked at the taller girl.

Just then, Hugh strode up behind them. He studied the mural as well for a moment and then shook his head. "Looks like the paint's past saving to me," he opined and shrugged one shoulder beneath his fur cloak. "Besides, the assignment was to find something that no one has ever seen before. I think that rules out anything in the same room as the telepad we came in through." Hugh nodded after Jacek and Samantha. "Let's catch up with them. If nothing else, we shouldn't split up too much. The structure is unstable, remember? Safer to stick together."

That made sense to Tripetta and she nodded the affirmative.

They made their way to the room to the left where they met up with Jacek and Samantha. Samantha was another girl, like Tripetta, who had air and light magic. Tripetta thought that was well, because she was more than a little concerned about not being able to breathe or see when poking about enclosed and darkened places.

Oh, Tripetta had almost forgotten. She said to the others there, "Does anyone have any comments on the first room, the writing and what was left of the mural? Anastasia said that the figures in the corner might be dancing and I really couldn't tell if they were looking to the center or looking away."

Catching a glimpse of the map that had been found, Tripetta commented and asked, "Wonderful, a map! So we're not tripping over each other, maybe we should each explore a room and meet up at the door at the end of the hall?"

[Esternial]

It was feeling unlike any that Elune had ever experienced, as frightening as it was fascinating. For a moment, she lingered in the vast void that stretched out before her. It was a strange feeling. Though her body felt the ground beneath it, one of her senses was telling her it was simply not there. It vaguely reminded her of those times when she would be lost in thought, going up or down a flight of stairs and accidentally taking one step too many. Her mind expected another step, but reality was uncompromising.

It humbled her, to a degree. Someone attuned to magic could all too often come to depend on it more than some of their other senses, limited as they are. Every sense could be misdirected or blinded, even one's magical ability.

Though fascinating, the sensation was gradually making Elune nauseous. It wasn't until then that she noticed something within the emptiness - the dais.

As she opened her eyes, Elune slowly moved her arms around, touching the ground to calm an unconscious concern. She then realized she had been lying on the ground for some time now, and two students had stepped up to help her up. Gratefully she accepted, latching on to their hands. As both of them gripped on and pulled her up, she noticed a stark difference between the two young men.

Hugh had a strong grip. His hands were rough, tempered through work and combat. His appearance betrayed as much. The young man seemed to be carrying a weight on his shoulder, though, and that isn't solely referring to the bearskin cloak. On the other hand (ha), Cadus seemed much gentler. Elune knew his favored element was water - the element of the healer.

"Oh" She reached for her forehead and rubbed off some of the blood onto her hand. "Thank you." She smiled sheepishly at the two.

Elune needed a moment to recollect her thoughts. While some of the student filtered out of the central room into the corridors, several stayed put. Perhaps it was a lack of initiative or indecisiveness, but whatever it was, Elune wasn't keen on staying idle for too long. As she waited for Cadus to mend her wound, she addressed anyone that was willing to listen.

"There's something strange about this platform." She approached the dais and placed her hand onto it, trying to see or sense anything that could give her even the slightest clue.

[Zarkenis Ultima]

Samantha walked into the first room after hearing out and agreeing to the proposal of Hugh Fitzroy, a nobleman far higher up in the pecking order of Altomuran nobility than her own father, the Baron. From the other side of the kingdom, too. And he's practically my age! I wonder, if my father succumbs to some unknown blight, will I have to bear the weight of the coronet too? She mused. He had seen the young Marquis around since coming to Sir Whifflebottom's, as they were in the same class, but she had made sure to avoid the young man when possible; if his standing within the kingdom wasn't intimidating enough, he was also rather imposing physically, causing the meek heiress to shy away from him, fearing for her own ability to maintain her composure in front of a presence like that. He seems nice enough... I wonder just how unfounded those fears were?

Any further thoughts on such things would have to wait, as the heiress ceased to concern herself with social matters and instead began focusing on the area around her. Unfortunately, it seemed, there wasn't much information to be gleamed from the architecture itself, as the room, shaped like a square, was almost completely bare: only the deteriorated paint that still clung to the enigmatic stone walls was native to the building, and the rest appeared to have been moved into the room by the research team that had first stumbled upon the ruins.

No, that's impossible, isn't it? These things couldn't have been sitting there for over forty years. She quickly corrected herself. Glancing over the containers in the middle of the small room, she noticed they were filled with dried fruit and seeds, strips of jerky and other preserved foods, perfect for long journeys. No, definitely not... Not more than a year, likely just a few months. She concluded. Feeling a sudden emptiness in her stomach, she stared longingly at the jerky for a moment before shaking her head. In her excitement she had neglected to pack something for lunch, unaware that she'd be spending eight hours in the ruin, but she did not want to resort to taking from what the previous team left behind. Not yet anyways. If it comes to that, I'll ask someone versed in fire to purify it later.

Turning away from the crates and barrels nearby, the girl set her attention on the improvised table in the center of the room. Knowing what Driftwood had told her, and remembering how little Jacek's geokinetic exercise accomplished earlier, she raised an eyebrow. I wonder how they brought it here... I suppose a group large enough could've brought it here if they could get a good grip on it, or perhaps they used specialized machinery? Though that sounds like a hassle just to make a table. Maybe an automaton, if there was an animatheurgist among them... She mused, lightly trying to push the pillar away with her foot in a casual attempt to ascertain its weight, evidently failing to move it. Or perhaps, if a mage was skilled enough in...

She grew intrigued by the thought, but did nothing just yet. I'll try it later. For now, what do we have here? She thought as she instead began examining the papers on top of the 'table'. Not wanting to miss some important detail, Samantha carefully read over each page, though it quickly became evident that they were simply detailing what Driftwood had already told his students, albeit in a slightly more technical, specific language. She grew a little frustrated by this, having hoped to find some hint to lead her to the secrets that this ancient keep held, yet finding nothing. Nothing, at least, until she came across a map. A small one, clearly incomplete, but a map nonetheless, a head start, if nothing else. With renewed excitement, she quickly studied it, somewhat disappointed to see how little had been discovered, though this also fanned her hopes that, perhaps, she could discover something that no one else had seen before. Opening up her diary once again, she scrawled a few notes on the current page and then began copying the map on the next one.

She did not notice, but a wide smile had appeared on her face as she worked and remained with her when she closed the book, placing it and her quill back in her satchel. She was eager to share what she found with the others, as she assumed that Hugh's proposal meant she was now a part of their small study group, but before that could happen, there was one last thing she had to test. Arranging the scattered papers into a neat pile, she placed them on top of an unopened barrel nearby and then faced the broken pillar. The heiress then took a deep breath and focused, before beginning to move her arms in the fluid, oscillating and almost playful manner that characterized the use of aerokinesis.

The exact means through which the pillar was moved was not something she could ascertain easily, even if this worked. But if she could indeed lift or at least move the pillar with her aerokinesis, then she would have discovered an important means of moving things made with the same logic-defying rocks as the rest of the ruin, something that geokinesis could not accomplish.

[Constaniana]

Samantha had indeed startled Jacky. Stealth was not something he was terribly skilled with, and his time at the school had not yet sharpened his awareness in that regard. The only snappy reply the sailor managed to think up was rolling his eyes with a slight chuckle, trying to act like it wasn't a big deal. Besides, the conversation moved on again, with more introductions culminating in the arrival of Professor Driftwood and the group's movement over to the teleportation pad. Teleportation was an unpleasant experience, and the stretching, tearing feeling made seasickness seem trivial. Getting knocked onto the ground by Professor Hastings wasn't that painful either, but Jeremiah still found it terribly rude. In the navy one would never get away with behaviour like that just for being tired. He suppressed his annoyance to listen to Driftwood's brief presentation on the ruins. Jeremiah was curious about how the old man seemed most unfazed by the pain of teleporting. Was it a specifically trained skill, or did one grow numb to that effect simply through time?

Fisherwright walked around the large opening chamber for a little while, getting a closer look at the grooves in the wall. It wasn't much of a fruitful exercise, and his mind began to wander. When he came to the great doors he paused for a few moments to think about whether to try opening them. To him it seemed it would be easier to figure out what this place was in ancient days if he could see what surrounded its outside. Were there crumbling fortifications? Lots of smaller ruins, meaning this was in a lost city? Eventually Jacky abandoned the idea. Keeping track of where the students were and have them return to the telepad in eight hours would be a nightmare if they started running around outside. Jeremiah turned around and walked back to the mural, noticing by now most of his classmates had gone off down the hall to the left. He heard Samantha's voice and thought about following them just for that. They got along well, and he thought her eyes were pretty. Eh, too many cooks in the kitchen that way now, the lad thought, and he turned to the right of the mural. He didn't hear anyone down in that direction, so he went off to the right of the mural, going into the first big room on his left.

[Reverend Norv]

Hugh's classmates seemed to accept his proposal with neither discontent nor real enthusiasm; Samantha moved to investigate one of the rooms, while Tripetta continued to ask about the mural in the main chamber. She wondered which direction the mural's figures had been looking. Hugh just shook his head. "I couldn't make out any figures at all," he replied ruefully. "And I'm pretty sure we're not going to notice anything about the mural that previous teams haven't already seen."

Which made it that much more interesting, Hugh suddenly realized, that Tripetta was so determined to understand the mural in the first place. She must know it's irrelevant to our assignment. So the only reason for her to be so focused on it is because she actually wants to understand, not just to complete the task we've been given. A swift smile flashed across Hugh's face as he turned to investigate the room nearest him. She's trying to figure out the mural because she wants to know the answers for their own sake, not for any more immediate or practical reason. The girl's a natural scholar, that's all.

The room that Hugh entered was small, the size of a peasant's cottage, and built of the same smooth stone as the rest of the ruin. Hugh could make out faded murals on the walls here, too, but very little else: there was hardly any natural light this far into the ruin. The young man held his left hand palm up, and then - tendons knotting in his forearm with the isometric tension of pyromantic gestures - flipped his hand palm-down. A blue-white flame blossomed above the back of Hugh's palm, crucible-hot, and bathed the chamber with an eerie pale light.

In the unnatural illumination of the flame, Hugh could see five bedrolls opened up on the stone floor. Near one of the bedrolls sat an oil lamp; Hugh carefully extended one finger toward it, and the lamp burst to life in a flash of warm yellow fire. Hugh flipped his left hand palm-up again, and relaxed the tension in his wrist, and the blue flame hovering above his hand died in a wisp of fine white smoke. He glanced at the lamp, and his brow furrowed as he processed the implications of its presence. Whoever was here left perfectly good oil in their lamp. And they left their bedrolls. Hugh cast a long look around the room. Which either means that they left in a hurry - or that they didn't leave at all.

Hugh's bright blue gaze alighted on a pack that sat near one of the bedrolls. The young noblemen knelt and brushed a fine layer of stone dust off the pack's cover, then carefully opened it. Squinting in the dim golden light of the oil lamp, Hugh reached into the pack and withdrew the first item his leather-gloved fingers touched.

It was a pointed hat. The dark blue wool looked green in the lamp's yellow light, but Hugh still recognized it for what it was. After all, he saw those hats every day at the Academy.

"Excousia guard us," Hugh breathed. He looked from the hat to the pack, and picked up a fine piece of rubble that was sitting on top of the latter. He glanced at a pile of identical rubble in the corner of the room, where the chamber's ceiling had partially collapsed.

We're not the first students to come here. The last group came here before the earthquake. Their clothes and bedrolls were still sitting here when the quake hit.

Which meant that Hugh had been right in his original deduction. Either the students left right before the quake hit, abandoning their gear in the rush to get out. Or -

Hugh forced himself to finish the thought. Or they didn't leave at all. The young man ran his fingers through his dark red hair. And Driftwood didn't tell us any of this.

Hugh balled up the hat and stuffed it into the leather coat that he wore beneath his fur cloak. He planted his palms on his knees and stood. So what in all the hells do I do now? Just complete the assignment, knowing that the last group of students to come here might have been buried alive in these ruins?

The answer struck him like a crossbow bolt, terrifying in its simplicity. Yes. Because the only way out of here is the telepad, and none of us knows how to make it work. We've stuck here anyway until Hastings comes back to get us out.

"Gods damn it all," Hugh spat.

He turned on his heel and walked back out into the hallway. Tripetta and Samantha were in the next room down the hallway; Tripetta was inspecting a parchment that Samantha had evidently discovered, while Samantha seemed to be trying to use aerokinesis to move a crumbling pillar. Hugh nodded in greeting as he approached. "Well," he remarked grimly, "I've found something, though it raises more questions than answers. How about you two?"

[Olthar]

Elune

Approaching the dais, Elune attempted to reach out to it with her earth senses once again, this time to more fully understand it. Like before, it was the only rock in the room she could detect, and, like before, she had trouble feeling it. After a few moments, and a couple more attempts, she started to realize that there was nothing wrong with the dais, itself. It was just normal stone. However, whatever it was in this place that served to hide the rest of the rock was somehow interfering with her senses. It was like having a cold and trying to smell through a stuffy nose. She could sense the dais, but it was coming in weaker than it should have.


Samantha

Channeling the magic of the air through rhythmic breathing and graceful motions of her body, Samantha attempted to generate a burst of wind to lift the pillar. With the full force of of her aerokinetic abilities, she blasted the pillar in an upward angle. The papers flew all over the place in a chaotic mess, and, while it didn't lift off the ground, the pillar did slam against the wall. The collision created a loud crashing noise that echoed through the ruin and shook the walls and ceiling, loosing some bits of rubble that fell around the room.


Jeremiah

Heading to through the doorway on the right side of the entrance, Jeremiah found himself in a hallway that was almost a mirror opposite of the one on the left. It boasted the same faded orange walls with traces of red, yellow, and purple the same weathered carvings and the same all-but-gone murals on the upper halves. There were only three significant differences. Instead of the hallway turning right, this one turned left, so that they both headed deeper into the mountain. There were also fewer doorways; Jeremiah could only see two in this section of the hall, one on either side. Finally, there were no major piles of rubble that he could see.

Entering into the room on his left, the boy would see very little. The room was rectangular, wider than it was deep, and the walls had the same consistent decoration. There was, however, nothing actually in the room. It was entirely empty. Though, there was some peculiar damage on the stone floor, scrape marks near the walls, as if heavy furniture had been moved around in here at one point.

[Constaniana]

Jeremiah walked into the room and peeked around. He frowned when he saw how desolate it was, but decided to spare a few moments to inspect the odd spot on the floor. For what purpose, he wasn't sure. Jacky didn't think fire, water, or wood would be of any help in examining it. Well, I can always come back to this room after looking everywhere else to try figuring this spot out, I suppose, he thought, and went back into the hallway. The sailor was about to examine the room on the opposite side when he heard a loud crash. By Okeanos! The place is sinking! He stepped back into the hallway again, looking around quickly, Not sinking. Breaking, that's the word. You're in a bloody building on top of a mountain, Jacky. Jiings, good thing I'm only thinking to myself. Better go see how the rest of the crew is. Jeremiah ran back the way he came, saw that nothing seemed damaged in the first room, and continued into the other hallway until he found the little study group.

"Are you lot alright? What was that din?" asked Jeremiah.

[The Verdantderm Lands]

Tripetta

Samantha's attempt at moving the pillar in the room met only with limited success. The loose papers in the room flew all about!

Tripetta immediately set about collecting them. Perhaps it might be best if I held onto these and kept them folded in my study diary, she thought. Yes, they'd be much safer there and wouldn't get lost and if anyone came looking for them, then I'd give them back.

"Maybe we might be more successful by putting our wind magick together?" remarked the smaller girl. "One of us could concentrate on lift while the other gently pushed the pillar."

From another room, seemingly to no one in particular, Tripetta was quite surprised at Hugh's interjection, "Gods damn it all." He spat that words out as if there were something awful tasting in his mouth.

Hugh walked back into the hallway and nodded a greeting as he approached. "Well," he remarked grimly, "I've found something, though it raises more questions than answers. How about you two?"

From the blown papers she'd tucked into her study diary, Tripetta produced the map that Samantha had found. "From the map that Samantha found, it doesn't look as if there's been a lot of exploring beyond what we're seeing now." Then the little teenager asked, "What did you find, Hugh?"