The Vessel of Souls

The Vodu hills have the most expansive network of caves on Veshoa. Many have yet to be discovered and explored. Recently, a landslide revealed a massive opening to a cave. It didn't take long for an expedition to form to search it. Not long into the expedition, they found themselves blocked by an unnatural stone wall. Carved symbols of an unknown language covered it. With no way to get past it, they were forced to return home. Since then, a few others have tried to bypass the wall to no avail. Eventually, the Seekers were called upon to try and investigate it.

A traveler arrived at the mouth of the cave. He wore a large hat and carried a golden walking stick. Before going inside, he searched around outside the cave for anything interesting. halfway buried in the dirt, he found a shard of metal with an inscription. It only contained the word 'death'. The traveler thought nothing of it and stored it away in a box. As he was preparing to enter the cave, another traveler appeared.

She had long black hair reaching down to her waist. Extravagant golden bracelets with many symbols adorned each of her arms. Most of her body was concealed with a deep blue mantle. On her shoulder, she wore a large leather satchel. Her brown eyes surveyed the area until landing on the other traveler. Even with the large hat covering his face, she knew who it was. 

"Sojou!" She ran over and hugged him. 

Sojou struggled out of her strong grip. "Nice to see you again too, Yusivel." 

"I feel like it's been ages since we last met." 

"Yeah, it's been almost a year. What brings you over here?" 

Yusivel tilted her head with a confused look. "Someone requested that I come here to investigate this cave..." she trailed off for a moment. "Wait, why are you here?" 

"I was just passing through and heard about this cave. So I thought I'd come to check it out." 

Yusivel smiled and shook her head. "You never change. Always going wherever the wind takes you."

"You should try it sometime." 

"No thanks. The wind never seems to blow me in a good direction." 

"I think you're just too afraid to leave the ground." 

"Oh, whatever. let's focus on the matter at hand, shall we?"

"So, what's the deal with this cave?" 

"There's some kind of wall blocking passage to the rest of the cave. They sent for me so I could decipher the ancient symbols on it and find a way through." 

"Sounds pretty difficult. Are you sure you can handle all that?" Sojou said in a sarcastic tone. 

"I don't recall anyone asking for you to be here. You can leave now if you want." 

"Sorry. What I meant to say was that you're very talented and smart."

"That's better. Now, let's go." 

The two of them ventured into the cave. Since it went straight back for a bit, the sunlight was enough for them to see their way. However, after making a few turns, they could hardly even see each other.

Yusivel opened her bag. "Just a second, I'm getting something to brighten things up." 

"Don't worry, I got this," Sojou said as he tapped his hat. After a moment, the hat began to glow until it was bright enough to light the surrounding area. 

Yusivel stared at it in astonishment. "That is-" 

Sojou interrupted, "Amazing, right?"

"-so stupid," she finished. 

"It functions like a normal hat, but it can also provide light while keeping your hands free. What's there not to like?" 

"I think you're the only person who would like a light-up hat."

"You can't deny that it gives off more than enough light for the both of us." 

"Sure, but I also can't deny that it's lame." 

"You're just jealous." 

"Believe me, I'd rather use just about any other light source than wearing that." 

"I'm thankful that people are born with bad taste. It makes me appreciate my good taste even more." 

"Alright enough about the dumb hat. We're here." 

Their path was blocked by a wall constructed from large stones. Sojou stood back so the light would allow Yusivel to read the inscriptions. She took her time scanning over each line of symbols. When she was finished, she turned back to Sojou. 

"So?" 

Yusivel sighed. "This 'wall' isn't a wall at all. It's a door. Furthermore, all of these symbols on here are just the instructions for opening it." 

"Good work." 

"Well, now we can leave, and I'll go back and tell the explorers how to open it."

"Surely you can't be serious. We have to open it and go inside." 

"No. I was only tasked with figuring out how to open it." 

"Forget your tasks for a moment and think about what you want to do. Not very many people get the privilege of discovering something for the first time, you know."

Yusivel thought for a bit. "Fine, we'll go inside, but only for a peek." She pushed in several parts of the wall in a specific order. The wall parted, leaving enough room for a person to squeeze through. While Yusivel was still thinking about going in, Sojou took off his hat and slipped inside. With her source of light now gone, Yusivel was quick to rejoin him. 

Past the wall, a passage was carved out into a rectangular shape. It made walking through it much easier. The two of them looked at the shapes and symbols painted on the walls as they went by. Towards the beginning, most of the shapes resembled things in nature, such as animals and plants. Further on, the symbols became more focused on humans and buildings. Near the end of the passage, the shapes almost covered the entire wall. They all depicted bones and skulls. 

Yusivel turned around. "I think we've seen enough now. We should head back." 

"I didn't take you as the type that got afraid of paintings." 

"It's not so much fear as it is an instinct. I can feel something off about this place." 

"I think that's just a fancy way of saying that you're scared." 

Yusivel sighed in defeat. "I'm totally going to regret this." 

"Well, I'm definitely going to regret not going. So, I think we're even."

The two of them walked through an entryway to another part of the cave. It had a similar rectangular shape, but larger.  The walls were white and they weren't quite as clear-cut as the previous ones. Sojou noticed something off about the walls and got a closer look. 

"I think you should see this Yusivel." 

Yusivel came closer. "What is-" Her eyes widened as she realized what the walls were made of. Countless human bones covered the wall from top to bottom. They looked as if they had just been thrown on there haphazardly. It was the same for the other walls too. The farther they went, the more bones they saw. Every turn lead to another wall of bone. 

"How can there be so many?" Yusivel said in disbelief. 

"This must've been an ancient burial ground. These bones probably built up from hundreds, if not thousands of years."

"But why? Why would they go to all the trouble to construct this place when they could just bury people in the ground?" 

"Who knows. Maybe it was part of some religion or something." 

"I think there might be a more sinister reason for this." 

"I wouldn't be surprised. Even if it started as something pure, when people do something for that long it's bound to turn dark at one point or another." 

"I hate that I'm saying this, but the only way to find out is to go deeper." 

"Now you're thinking like a true adventurer." 

"Only because your bad influence is rubbing off on me."

"I think you're just starting to realize that I'm the better Seeker." 

"Maybe you would be if you actually responded to requests. Where the people need you." 

"No one ever really needs me. Since they've sent a request, someone else will know that they need help. Rather than help those that have already made their need apparent, I help those who may never receive help otherwise." 

"I think you just don't like following orders." 

"Well, yeah. But, it doesn't make my way of doing things any worse." 

They arrived at a different section of the cave. The ceiling was like that of a large dome. More ornate bones were arranged into patterns along the walls. Smooth black stone served as the floor. In the center was a table which was made of bone. On the table was an intricately designed vase made of gold. Yusivel was intrigued by the vase and reached out to grab it. 

"Don't touch that!" Sojou yelled as he pulled her back. 

"What the big deal?"

"Look at it closely. There's faint energy coming from it." 

Yusivel focused on the vase and noticed a dim glow was coming from it. "Is it the Essence?" 

"It seems very similar, but something's different." Sojou set down his box and reached inside. He pulled out a potted plant that was still alive. He carefully set the plant next to the vase and backed away. After a moment, the plant began to wither. The vase's glow turned brighter and red.

"It's as if it's draining the Essence from that plant." 

"The energy coming off of it is Essence, just stolen from somewhere else." 

"Why would they need something to take Essence from living things?" 

"I think they probably used it when the area around them started to run out of Essence. After they couldn't charge their various tools, they turned to alternative methods." 

"Then, all these bones..." 

"Most likely all used as sacrifices. The Essence of one living being is nothing compared to an entire environment filled with it, after all." 

"After they used up all the Essence in the area, everything around them must've died. They must've needed the stolen Essence to survive." 

"With all these bodies, they were probably doing more than surviving." 

While they talked, the vase began to glow violently. A red liquid filled it and began to pour-over. Sojou and Yusivel stood on a raised platform as the floor was coated in red. 

"What is this?" Yusivel asked, disgusted.

"I have no idea. But, I don't think touching it would be a very good idea." 

"Hey! I don't just go around touching everything I see."

Sojou shrugged. "My experience says otherwise." 

Before Yusivel could respond, the liquid stopped flowing from the vase. The two travelers watched it in silence. Moving like it had a mind of its own, the liquid began to float. It raised off the ground and started to collect in the center of the room. Eventually, the liquid had formed a massive red ball suspended in the air. 

The ball started to stretch and morph. The outside took the form of many skulls swirling about chaotically. Sojou and Yusivel slowly started making their way to the exit. Right as they moved, the skulls all turned to face them. The skull's mouths opened and let out a chilling screech as they started to move toward the pair. 

"I think it's floating closer to us," Yusivel said, a little panicked. 

"We need to get out of here." 

"What about the vase? Are we just going to leave it here?" 

Sojou looked at the mass of skulls looming over the vase. "If you want to take your chances with that thing, be my guest." 

Yusivel looked up at the skulls. "On second thought, I think the vase isn't worth the effort." 

"Thought so. Now, run!" 

Once they ran away, the ball of skulls sped up as well. It pursued them through the cave, not being impeded by the smaller passageways. At the rate it was going, it would catch them before they reached the exit. 

Yusivel quickly threw down her bag and opened it. "Get inside!" She said as she motioned for Sojou to jump into it. 

"There's no way I'm fitting into that." 

"Just trust me." 

Sojou jumped into the bag. Instead of his foot hitting the bottom of the bag, it kept falling. His whole body fell through the bag and into a small room. Before he could get his bearings, Yusivel came crashing down on top of him. 

"Sorry, I'm not used to having visitors in here." 

Sojou looked around. "What is this place?"

"This is my bag or the inside of it at least. It's a separated space that I can use to store all sorts of things." 

"And will it hide us from that thing?"

"As far as I know, this space is completely cut off from the rest of the world when the bag is closed. There shouldn't be a way for anything to find us in here." 

"So what's the plan then? Sit in here and wait for it to go away?" 

"Do you have a better solution?" 

"Nope. That should work if that thing is trying to track us down. We're fairly close to the exit, so, we need to run away fight after that thing appears." 

"Ok." 

They waited around in the bag room for quite a while until coming out to see if it was safe. Sojou popped his head out and confirmed that the monster was nowhere to be seen. He quickly climbed out and helped Yusivel up. They ran for the door and never looked back. Once they reached the door, they promptly closed it behind them. 

Yusivel breathed a sigh of relief. "We're finally out of there." 

"Hopefully that door holds whatever that was inside." 

"Hopefully." 

"What are you going to tell the people that wanted in the cave?" 

"I think I'm just going to tell them that there's no way past that wall." 

"That's probably for the best."