"SEAL IT! SEAL IT!" one of the soldiers roars with all he has while his fellows fill the tunnel with weapons fire. Hugging the rocky wall closely, I wait for the noise of mechanical locks to hiss and we walk out into the open, the noise not even gone. I glance at the two who probably could've handled this and wonder why they didn't.
"I should be able to kick this in." Nin remarks and the Grandguard raises her hand. She looks to me and then focuses on my hands. She approaches the vault-like door and runs a hand across it, her magic melting it superficially.
"No, I want the Ravineer to have some use. Your magic is dependent on metal, is it not?" she goes and I nod quickly when she focuses on me once again.
"I-It is, yeah." I answer, walking up to the door while she mocks a bow on the way out of mine. Taking in a deep breath, I inspect the thick bastion that barely muffles the noise of weapons and men moving around behind it. Going down onto a knee, I run a hand along what appears to be one of the securing bars of the door. I start to apply my magic to see if I can affect it.
I smile a little.
"About bloody time my magic is good for something..." I mutter, thinking back to all the times so far since I started training with Liadanann that my magic has been dull. I need metal to work my magic properly and I can only carry so much of it in vials and pouches. My hand glows with patchy light and the hinges and securement erode. The door suddenly drops down onto the bottom edge, the top bars unable to hold its weight.
"This should be fun." Nin remarks before I dive out of the way. The tunnel shakes from the force of his step and the door caves in around him. The block of metal rockets into the room and guns fire. The Grandguard cackles like the madwoman she is and she brings in the sort of pitch-blackness that is natural for a cave. Seigunfrei offers me his hand and I get up.
Liadanann goes in ahead of us with her magic active and we find a safe spot to huddle down in. Seigunfrei gives us a pat and joins the fray and I spot a heavy weapon or something that's being ignored. Gulping and tightening my staff grip, I start to focus my power through it and fire off an orb of power that recoils me to the wall. Falling down with a grunt, I look up just in time to watch the structural supports brown and collapse.
For some of those soldiers, it seems to be more of a hindrance than a death sentence. They turn on us, weapons cocking and showering us with rock shards and pellets. Rolling along, I get back down by Liadanann and shake her attention the right way. She puts up a shield to block the middle and we slam our backs against it.
"Our sides..." I point out with clenched teeth and she starts to hyperventilate.
"MY SIDE AND YOURS!" she screams and points, rushing out to knock down the soldier trying to flank us from her side. Twisting like a machine, I fire off a gust of my magic, tearing apart a couple of suits of armour and weapons. One man pulls a crumbling blade, only a shave near the hilt left and he charges. Not knowing anything else, I twist my staff upside down and ram his gut in with the grounding spike.
Pushing on, I do the twisted thing and abuse his body for greater magic power. Reaching out to the rust littering the floor, I shape it into a collection of bolts, my free fingers pinched like I would a slingshot. I let go and with a thwip, a handful of men collapse without noise, many small rivers of blood coming down. A witch screams and goes flying, the impact on the rock seemingly killing her.
"Is... Is that all of them...?" Liadanann asks as we go to hide behind some cover again.
"I think!?" I almost cry. My eyes lock onto the battle raging on the other side of the chamber. Those three are just tearing them all up and that darkness following the Grandguard. It only lights up to show the outline of her dark-fire. Streaks of purple more akin to glowsticks at a nighttime party.
Looking away for the moment, I grab Liadanann by the shoulder and tug her to follow. A quiet pathway opens up and I frown at the sudden shift from natural rock to machined walls and welded panels. I knock a single crooked finger on the dull steel and we pass on into a chamber of sorts. Liadanann goes quiet and is suddenly curious about everything.
"What?" I go, unsure as to why she's suddenly like this. I join her by some of the storage crates and she tries to tear one open. I offer my magic and weaken the lock and she throws the lid away. A tapestry in her hands but a moment after.
"It can't be..." she breathes and I look at the imagery, taking clear note of how the figures on the torn-up cloth are like her. Red-skinned, crests on the forehead, bright green eyes, tails and raptor claws for feet. She puts it down and I repeat the process of breaking locks and seals. Items of all kinds, these men have been picking this place clean.
I spot a tablet on a table and head over to it, setting aside my staff. Engaging with the material-shifting magic, I quickly read through the contents of the tablet. Turning around, I flinch away, Liadanann right up against me. Her eyes shift towards the tablet and I hand it to her.
"Seems to be that this ancient weapons site is some kind of command bunker. The internal-magic dating seems to put this place as being as old as the Dietic Seperation, the time period before the Pre-Flood Ancient Jhermonikra." I explain, my eyes widening at just how old this actually seems to put Liadanann. I know I said I was stating a minimum with her age when I figured things out but this is...
It's genuinely absurd.
The way the Time of Liquid Mountains played out means we'll never have a clear understanding or timeframe of how long ago. This facility, all of this is so old that it was around during the time of the legendary heroes who inherited the power of gods. Men like Thunder. The Age of Demigods.
Things we only know about because of the Great Libraries of the Three Arks.
"I need to find the others... I need to make them listen. They need to be careful...!" Liadanann panics, rushing off back towards the sound of gunfire. I reach out for her, ready to call her back but her strength is too much and my grip slips. Sighing and shaking my head, I look back to this trove of items and pick one up. Just appears to be some cutlery and other knick knacks they've gathered.
Spotting a larger container, I approach it and dangle the lock in my palm. Hmm-ing in thought, I start to apply arcane pressure and shed it of the chains keeping it secure. Taking the door's handle, I pull the heavy thing open and whistle at the effort. My focus shifts to the device inside and I step back.
"What the... What in the name of the gods is this thing?" I question, staring at the crimson-painted machine, deathly limp in its confinement. I reach forward to touch it and a door suddenly crashes open on my right. A man in a full suit of armour with a thick sword steps out, his chest heaving with urgency. I shuffle away slightly and his blade rises.
"FOR CODE AND HONOUR!" he cries, charging me down with his blade in a safe position. I try to get some magic up and am instead met with a gauntlet to the face. Noisily, I crash and roll, barely getting up before he thrusts down. Free of my staff, I run about aimlessly, doing my best to mind his attempts to corner me.
Slipping my hand across a light, I cut a pole free and hold it up in imitation of his sword. I just need to keep this up, wait for someone else to come. I have no armour, no strength of flesh, just this pole that I might be able to conduct magic through. Runes on the man's armour light up and he blitzes right up close.
Catching on his side, I am barreled out of the way and his magic blade emits some kind of force. The wall he impaled suddenly craters under that magic. Blinking a little, I rush back to my staff and bring up my defensive magic. He pierces it but nets his blade, my magic eating away at it like bugs on a leaf.
With a snarl, his mailed hand slips across the magic, freeing his ruined edge of it. He flicks his hand clean and we start to circle each other. I react a little too much to his sudden twitches and we prepare to attack. My staff erupts with a blast and his crossguard glows, a thrusting beam intercepting it.
The colliding arcane powers detonate and throw us both back. Shaking my head clear and rubbing the sore spot on the back of it. I groan uncomfortably at the red on my palm. A mechanical whirr stops us from carrying on.
A red foot stomps out into the open, body sparking uncontrollably.
"Danger. Danger. Hostile elements detected. Warning. System failure imminent. Rebooting magic to prayer cannon. Eliminate human intruders. In God's good name!" it blurts out in what must be Liadanann's birth tongue. The armoured man dodges to the side, barely avoiding the green energy shooting out. Whatever that stuff is, it's not wind magic. It's alien, terrifyingly so almost.
More shots are fired off and I take the moment to run away to hide. I narrowly avoid a shot coming for me, skidding to a halt and falling onto my arse. Glancing at what happened, I stare at the massive, chest-sized hole. I can barely get a read on how powerful this magic is and it just tore apart solid rock.
Breathing a sigh of relief, I watch the machine focus its attention on the armoured man. He backs off, diving through that doorway just in time and locking it back up. The machine stomps around and shuffles like a living corpse. The eyes brighten and the weapon arm is thrown back up.
"Oh, of all the times for a knight to be a coward!" I snap, gripping my staff tightly and at least being thankful for it being a machine. Whatever targeting it has fails and the next shot goes wide, chunking a panel instead of me. Each step closer seems to solve this problem and I make a point of backing up. Charging my magic all the while.
One blast comes a little too close for comfort above my shoulder and I stare at the hole in my robes. My skin's on fire but not cut in the slightest, just barely. Shaking my focus back where it needs to be, I raise my staff and focus my magic. An orb forms, swirling and solid.
I fire.
The machine reels, head over heels and it falls to the ground. Spasming out while whatever powers it suddenly has nowhere to focus spark and pop. The rust spreads through it, slowly tearing it apart. For a short moment, that little patch of ground rains with rusty nuts and bolts.
I groan and sigh into a frustrated roar and approach the mess my two battles have made. I rub the back of my head again and frown at the still-flowing blood. Ickily, I wipe the dirty palm clean on my robes and head to the door that the man came out of. Cutting out another pipe, I force it into the handle and lock, hopefully blocking the door.
Looking back to the chamber where the others are, I mutter some profanity and head back to them. I'd rather not be on my own again when something like this happens. Being on my own right now, I've never been more acutely afraid of it. At least the Inter-House Talent Display has emergency recovery equipment!
Medical teams are on standby with plenty of healing magic at the ready!
It's just me and this dark, smokey cave right now... One wrong move and I am dead. Nin can keep me safe. He's got it on his mind anyway, no need to ask.
I sigh and shiver, rubbing my eyes a little, "Undwote, do me a favour and piss off. All seven of your mutty noses."