Archaic Oddities

Saif headed eastward. He wanted to get a better idea of what the rest of the Thicket holds. Although it was harder to walk in the dark with just the moonlight and no companion to carry a lantern, it was much easier because nothing went out of its way to attack him. He walked for hours on end without spotting a living creature, not even a bug.

Somewhere along a forgotten path in the northeast, he found a group of monsters casually camping directly in the middle of the road. Some green and blue leathery monsters roasted fish on the open flames, while different slimes bounced around a nearly invisible monster playing an instrument. They paid him no mind as he walked through them, Instinct not even twitching at the sight of them.

Eventually, after straying far enough from the path, he started to find some natural mineral deposits as he got closer to the side of the mountain, as well as more monster camps to guard them.

Then came the whispers. Dull and muted at first, growing louder as he got closer to their source, then duller again as he passed them. He played a game of hot and cold, following the whispers to a cave jutting out from the mountainside, its entrance blocked off by an intentionally placed boulder and tied back rope. A sign warned people of what was inside. Saif still couldn’t read.

So he got close, pressing up his ear to the entrance, hearing quiet confusion and pleas for help from beyond. There were so many whispers. Hundreds of thousands of creatures were behind this boulder that had no way out. Instinct twitched, he had to oblige.

He sliced off the rope and, without much strength, kicked the boulder away.

An outpouring of bugs escaped the cave, each one thanking him, celebrating their freedom, complaining to him about how they got there. They were ants, beetles, bees, butterflies, worms, grasshoppers, dragonflies, and many, many, many more. They warned him not to trust the fae, and not to keep his back turned around any creature with only two legs.

The bugs returned to the forest. Instinct recalled the Avians, and Saif wondered if maybe this is why they were starving. Was someone trying to get rid of all the bugs? Who? Why? What kind of plot was this serving?

Saif investigated the cave. It was dark and damp, but otherwise barren. The remains of a long-cold fireplace and some cloth proved that someone was here at one point. Saif wondered what the bugs survived on, with no vegetation or sign of life around. Then he found the bones. Saif left the cave. He continued to circle around the danger zone, following the mountain until he was doused in mist. Looks like he found the waterfall.

Strange, he thought, how did he not hear a waterfall this tall and wide earlier? Why can’t he hear it now?

Analyzing the water wasn’t very helpful. The part of the waterfall where the fallen water landed on the soft ground and created a pool was large. The plunge-pool spanned far ahead of him, beyond what he could see where he stood.

Saif followed the circumference of the plunge-pool to where the river resumed. It split into two paths, one headed south towards Brightside and the ocean. The other was a marvel of nature. The stream was perfectly still.

Looking between the gushing waterfall and the unmoving stream a couple of times, Saif decided to kick a rock in.

It entered the water without splash nor a sound. Saif clicked his pincers by his ears a few times to make sure it really was this quiet and not him going deaf. He checked the map, confirming that he was at the same disappearing stream that led into the center.

Well, Saif had no choice but to follow it.

As he creeped closer towards the center, the forest changed. What little moonlight that reached him earlier was completely gone now, leaving him to walk through the ominous darkness with only his own night-vision to guide him. The air was moist, wetting him like dew on a leaf. The sneezy smell from the Magikos village was back, along with the familiar earthy scent of forest.

Saif found the remains of an ancient road, cracked and overgrown with vegetation. Better than nothing, he thought, following the path. It led him to a sort of temple. A grandiose, circular building that emitted wave after wave of uncomfortable air and sneezy scent in his direction. Saif remained unphased. As he got closer, he found a person sleeping on the side of the path. They didn’t look like they’d been there for long. They weren’t breathing.

Saif drew the nail, Instinct exchanged it for the sword.

It was when he reached the temple’s massive doors that Saif realized why the air was wet. It was with rain, the sky had darkened with rain clouds currently frozen in place. He glanced at the air above, with a bit of focus, he could start to see the individual rain drops. They weren’t frozen in place-

Everything was frozen in time.

Saif gripped his sword tighter, stepping inside the temple.

He kicked aside the heavy doors, breathing in the dry and dusty air. It smelled like an abandoned library near the desert. The walls and floors were in various states of disrepair. The heavy silence was broken by a steady, rhythmic ticking sound, keeping him company. Saif walked though the temple, the pressure inside his head increasing as he went deeper underground, walking down long sets of stairs only to be faced with another set of doors.

Kicking them open was a mistake. Saif interrupted what clearly looked like a religious service. A grand chandelier dangled up above, appearing small with how tall the ceilings were. One person, an elderly man by the looks of his sprawling grey beard, stared him down from a raised platform at the far end of the massive room. Hundreds of heads turned to face him, most of which were Magikos, but included dozens of the other races as well.

“A new member,” the elder beckoned him to walk forward. Saif kept his sword drawn as he did, eyeing each of the members of the temple as he passed, committing their faces to memory.

He reached the platform. The elder was seated on a throne-like chair. Saif could barely see a door behind it. He tried to walk past, but was stopped by the elder reaching out to grab him.

Saif barely dodged out of the way.

“You cannot be a member. Perhaps too young, perhaps a fool.” The elder laughed at his own mockery. “Leave us to our worship. Return when your mind is more powerful.”

He stood, ready to preach to the mass once more.

Saif refused, turning his sword. The elder took notice. “You are a fool. A non-believer and a fool! Seize him!”

The worshipers rushed him, Saif barely managed to get away. He weaved through the people, trying his hardest to escape their reach without causing them harm. The sneezy scent from earlier returned to full force. It pinched his face and overwhelmed his senses. Saif ducked out of the way of a hand, only to land into a vine’s reach. It curled around him, tightening to the point of suffocation.

Saif had to slice the vines off to escape, but despite his speed, it still gave them enough time to reach him.

The crowd swarmed Saif, encasing him in their numbers. Saif dashed between their legs, barely avoiding being stomped on. He climbed a rock and bounced lightly over a metal, crashing into the wall on the other side of the room, but they were catching up. Fast.
The wall crumbled between his pincers as he tried to get a grip, so he climbed the curtains instead. Rising up, up, up, high above the worshipers and the elder, Saif took a breath.

The air was different up here, he noted, free from that strange scent, lighter than it was with everyone down below. Wait, the air! That’s it! The sneezy scent was some sort of magic. It had to be what trapped all these worshipers. He had to stop it.

Saif swung the curtains back, sending dust flying through the air as though it hadn’t been touched in a million years. The elder screamed, demanding he be seized, but Saif was too fast. He slammed himself into the crumbling wall, no window there to break.

What? Saif leaped onto the chandelier to swing to the other wall, trying again but still, no windows. Right! They were underground! What now?

A few bird people, Avians, flew up to meet him, rushing to catch him in their beaks. What little fresh air up here might have worked for Saif, but it wasn’t enough for the others. Saif noted the one with a red smattering of blood right in the center of its forehead.

With renewed vigor, Saif swung back to the chandelier, intending to try to make it to the wall with the stairs. Instead, the chandelier dropped. Saif paused, the chandelier dropped once more, threatening to land on the bodies of all the mindless worshipers below.

Instinct told him to swing. Saif leaned back just enough to dodge a peck from the parent Avian, but the chandelier dropped even more in the process. Quick on his legs, Saif swung the light fixture back and forth, back and forth, sending it hurling through the air. The Avians backed away, instinct to keep safe overriding the command.

“FOOLS!” The elder cried, “ALL OF YOU, MINDLESS FOOLS! ONLY I HAVE THE BRAINS WORTHY OF ADMIRATION. HEAD MY WORDS, PEASANTS, FOR I AM-”
The chandelier gave out with a booming crack, breaking the ceiling above and hurling directly towards the elder.

After the sandstorm’s worth of dust had finally settled, Saif could see the aftermath. The podium was no more, and the way to the door behind it was open. Some of the worshipers were starting to return to themselves, the haze over their eyes dissipating. Others had disappeared, having crumpled to dust along with the rest of the room.

Saif hoped they could finally rest.

He helped the survivors escape the temple, pointing them towards the stairs. When everyone that could leave was gone, he investigated the new set of doors. To his surprise, a key was already placed in the padlock and turned. All he had to do was take it off and open the doors. He wondered if someone had made it this far before him.

The door behind the podium creaked open.

“Oh… you’re not supposed to be here.”