Breim 603: Puzzles and Secrets

Ozzer | Guide

Small hooves clicked across the polished stone floors of the palace. This was nothing out of the norm. As a guide he was here every month. Well, maybe not quite here. He looked up. He was not familiar with this exact part of the palace. Typically he was never far from the receiving room, where someone would stamp his certificate, but this part of the palace didn't seem too different. Just more doors hiding more secrets.

He looked down at the secret that had brought him here - this thing. It wasn't a secret in that no one knew he had it, no, but it seemed to hold a secret. Ever since he had found it a few months ago it had sat heavy in his saddlebag and in his mind. There was something about it that had kept him from getting rid of it, and the same feeling that kept him from asking around about it. It didn't seem like the kind of thing just anybody should be discussing. But that was why he had finally come to the palace.

Over the past few weeks a feeling of unease had been growing in his belly. He hadn't been sure what it was at first, and still wasn't entirely sure. But after a while he had begun to realize it wasn't in his gut at all, but in his hooves. His tremor sense was picking up small vibrations - or, he had thought they were small. He had thought it was a small, constant fissure growing through the ground. But as it slowly grew in intensity he realized it was quite large, just very far away. But growing nearer. There were even tremors large enough to be felt by others (Daisuke had been quick to alert him to the quake, briefly excited that he had suddenly developed tremor sense like his father), though really they were still small quakes in relativity. Ozzer wasn't sure what it meant - he had never felt such a widespread shifting of the earth, and it was almost overwhelming enough for him to block out his tremor sense. But it was worrisome enough that he simply pushed it back, allowing it to be felt, but only just enough that he could monitor it. But the growing unrest from the earth and the artifact had finally pushed him to seek some answers.

He had met Daigorou half a year ago, when the High King himself had called on them to help escort him to the Temple of Argus. The stallion, though not much older than Ozzer himself, had seemed wise beyond his years, and a trusted confidant of Hajime. As a professor, perhaps he would have some idea what this artifact was and bring Ozzer's questions to rest. If nothing else, it would be nice to finally talk to someone about it.

"The library," the Watch member that was leading the donkey through the palace announced, motioning towards two large doors.

Ozzer hadn't seen many libraries, but if he had tried to imagine a library door they'd look like this. Somehow both simple and ornate, giving off a feeling of age that mimicked the books it held. He nodded to the watch as thanks, tucked the artifact back into one of his bags, and pushed through the doors.

The smell was musty, and, yes, old. He looked around briefly, offhandedly taking in the sight of all the books, before settling his eyes on the table around which were gathered a few equine. One he did not know, but there was Diogo. He bowed to them, the greeting slightly over-formal given the setting and in case the pegasus was a royal. "I hope Argus has seen you well, Diogorou."


(Post 1: 619 words)

In the dim light of the room his blue teke was nearly invisible as he unbuckled his saddlebag, and withdrew the artifact. He set it gently on the table between him and the scholars. For a brief moment he simply stared at it. There was something so ancient and mysterious about it that he often found himself doing this while resting at night. It held some kind of answer, but what was the question? He looked up, studying Dio's face for any sign of immediate recognition. But would a quick answer - to find that it was something simple, like a key to a palace closet, be a let down or a relief?

"I found this some months ago while," he hesitated briefly. He wasn't so sure he wanted to go through an explanation of the whole adventure with the kirin and the hidden room. "... leading a group through the Labyrinth. It was in an unmarked cave, just sitting on a pedestal." He gently flipped the relic over, showing off the carvings on both sides of the object. "There were runes like these written on the cavern walls." Now he rummaged through his pack, giving the others time to look the object over before finally pulling out his journal. He flipped it open to a page, on which were sketched some similar runes. "I don't think these are exact, and it definitely isn't everything that was written on the walls, but it was all I could remember. The cavern collapsed behind us, so there is no chance to go back."

"Yes, we might find something quicker if we all help," he said in response to Little Bird. He did not want to rush them, but something about this seemed time sensitive to him. Was it just the unsettling in his stomach from the rumblings of the ground, or was the artifact weighing on his conscience? He gently pulled a book from the stack as much to distract himself as to assist. So caught up in thought, he hadn't noticed the apprentice's absence, or when the young pegasus called Dio over to the shelf.

Flipping slowly through the pages Ozzer's eyes scanned back and forth. It wasn't that he was illiterate - his mom had made sure to teach him the basics of readings and writing - but many of these words surpassed his understanding. (The thought briefly dragged his mind away to Daisuke. It was one of the areas in which he worried about his parenting abilities. Life in the tunnels did not provide the foal with much of the tutoring that most Briemians received in foalhood, and he was far behind his peers. But he could at least read, and his attendance at one of Nariah's public schools was the one good thing about leaving him with a trusted family while he attended to important business such as this.) Thankfully he wasn't really having to read anything. The runes were alien enough to seem like pictures, and so it would make them easy to spot among all of the text. But it didn't seem to matter, because he was not finding it anywhere in this book. He closed the book, laid it to the side, and grabbed another off the pile.

"If you," he directed to the group at large, "do not wish to follow that is alright. I can't say where it leads, but I feel that this object and this tunnel are somehow connected. Whether Kin has anything to do with that or not... I don't know. But I want to find out." His teke gently grabbed the artifact off of the table and tucked it back into his saddlebag. "If you do wish to come, perhaps, Dio, you could read us passages from that book about the city as we walk, as long as someone holds a light for him." He waited only briefly for their answer. He was going, no matter what, and after one last quick glance around he started towards the tunnel, calling back over his shoulder. "Bring lanterns for your own benefit. There is nothing dangerous that I can sense in the tunnel, but I do not know how far it will go."

---

Ozzer can not say how long they traveled. The tunnel was completely dark - darker than any he had been in. There were none of the glowing gemstones along the path to light their way, and even stranger, no skylights. He got the sense that there were vents somewhere, or else the tunnel would have been oppressively stuffy and would lack enough oxygen for them to continue on for so long, but they certainly never showed any light through them. There also didn't seem to be any off-shooting tunnels. A straight shot. Simply a passageway from one point to another. Never before had he felt so much the effects of an equine-made tunnel, but it certainly lacked any of the livelihood of the natural tunnels. No gems. No stalactites or stalagmites. Vents too small to see but large enough to let in a life-sustaining supply of air. It was just very, very dark, with lots, and lots of cobwebs.

The lanterns cast their shadows all against the tunnel walls and floor, and twice into small caverns. They rested in these open spaces, before continuing on.

The other three Breimians took turns reading passages from the book about Kin, the voices quiet but echoing through the tunnel until the words seemed to bounce off of their ears. Every now and then they would pause to discuss what had just been read, but Ozzer remained largely silent. He tried often to figure out where they were, but he had lost sense of direction pretty early on. Now all he could tell was when the floor rose and fell imperceptibly beneath their hooves. He felt like they were at a lower elevation than they had been when they started, but couldn't say for sure. Each one of them would, occasionally, try to guess what might be at the end of the journey for them, but it was impossible.

When they finally turned a corner for the lantern to show a dead end Ozzer frowned. Nothing? He stepped closer to the opposite wall to inspect it. They traveled all this way for nothing? He frowned harder. "This can't be right," he whispered, sour disappointment creeping into his belly. He knew they hadn't missed any other passages simply because there hadn't been any. If he had been doing this in the darkness he would have thought it possible that there had been, but with the lanterns there was no way they'd missed one. Was he missing something now, or was this really just a dead end? An unfinished tunnel, possibly? That answer was no more preferable.

He turned to the others. "I... I don't know," he said in response to an unasked question. "I apologize for bringing you here."

Ozzer closed his eyes in tiredness and disappointment, and was surprised at just how dark it became behind his lids as the lanterns were dimmed. Only when Little Bird spoke up did he open his eyes. Daigorou had already offered the idea that they might find something, but honestly the donkey had not expected to. It was just a blank wall, after all. Then again, he supposed, he should have been more open minded. He had found the artifact in a tunnel behind a disappearing wall. Such things shouldn't really surprise him anymore. At that thought he squinted at the wall, before giving it a slight, discreet touch with his teke. Solid. No disappearing wall here.

He turned to join the others in examining the Outsider's finding. He expected to find just a small chip or crevice, some natural break in the rock. But as he peered around the roan's shoulder he saw that the hole was perfectly smooth. He frowned at it. It was certainly equine-made. But why...

A keyhole. It was shaped like a keyhole.

"A key!" he suddenly brayed. His voice echoed off the stone around them. His teke threw open the saddlebag, and pulled out the artifact. Did it seem heavier?

He looked around at the others in turn. "I think it's a key," he said, this time quieter. A smile broke out on his face, but as he turned back to the keyhole he couldn't help but swallow hard. What if he was wrong?

What if he was right?

What would be behind the wall? A monster, trapped for centuries? More kirins? Just more dark tunnels? His blessing couldn't detect any vibrations around them that might give away the answer.

"If something starts to happen, don't hesitate to run," Ozzer offered. He paused just a second longer before slowly pushing the artifact into the hole. It was a perfect fit. A small click like the one back in the library popped somewhere along the blank wall before it too began to shift. Ozzer stepped back, body tense and braced for whatever might be behind the door.

But as the rock slid out of the way a recently familiar smell hit his nostrils. Books. Old books. For a second he was really worried they had traveled in one large circle back to the palace library, but as the dust settled from the door he saw this was certainly not the case. It was a library, but not one he'd ever seen. He expected no one had.

While he wasn't a huge literary fanatic, he couldn't help but gape at the room that lay before them. The ceiling stretched so far above them that it was almost lost to the darkness. The room was full of stonework, and woodwork, and metalwork the likes of which he had never seen. It was all so eloquent, and soft light lanterns, all full of differently colored glow stones, were lit around the vast room. But if the structure itself was magnificent, what it held was ten times so. Ozzer had never even imagined so many books. He wouldn't doubt that this library held more books than all of Hireath combined. Scrolls, and tomes, and pamphlets, and little novels covered every shelf and surface. They were piled higher than him, and staircases spiraled around the walls to allow access to the more elevated sections. Runes, just like those on the key, were etched into much of the building itself, and written across many of the books. Many were written in the common tongue, and still more seemed to be written in other foreign alphabets.

Ozzer's hoof tapped lightly onto the floor as he stepped inside. The sound was light and clear, and he looked down to realize it was made entirely of a polished gem mosaic. He breathed in softly, before turning his head slowly to the others, "Have you ever heard of such a place in all of your studies?"

It was breathtaking, and Ozzer wanted to explore... but something stopped him. "There is no one else here." It came as a whisper. No other presence that he could feel. And yet... nothing was covered in dust. No lanterns were out. Though he was overcome with awe, the hair on his shoulders was beginning to stand on end. It just seemed so strange.


(Post 7: 721 words)