Acrisios stood silent for a long time, his thoughts running from one place to another, trying to piece out whatever information about this relic he could.
He thought about how to properly restrain this unruly beast. Thought about what Seal Runes could resist the power of Banishment and how he could use them for his own purposes.
But a single thought kept circling around his mind like a distant vulture waiting for the perfect moment to swoop down and feast upon a carcass.
Slight trepidation settled into his body as the thought of ultimately evacuating the castle and the Royal Capital took hold of his psyche. The worst thing was that Acrisios couldn't put this possibility into the recesses of his mind either. As a king and leader, he had to prepare for the worst while praying to the Gods above for the best.
Acrisios looked back at the sarcophagus' walls, and his eyes widened slightly.
The parts of the wall that had working runes, a sort of dark miasma, closely hugged the wall as if isolating the relic from the outside space. Here, one couldn't see the wall itself, just a projection of it.
The king's frown deepened, and he sent his senses closer to the wall.
It was hard to pull off as the Seal Runes, or the haze itself, was bouncing his senses away, but the same couldn't be said about the parts of the walls with inoperable Runes. It was like running one's fingers on a smooth wall before suddenly reaching a jagged hole. It was noticeable and glaring. And Acrisios could study the wall itself.
This raised another question. Acrisios stopped his senses and turned to Theodos, who was standing silently beside the king as if not knowing what to do with himself.
"Theodos," The king started as he formulated the question.
"Yes, Your Majesty." Theodos almost jumped out of his skin upon hearing Acrisios' deep voice. He straightened his posture and began looking around the room as if searching for whatever Acrisios had found.
"...Have we ever studied the sarcophagus?"
Theodos paused and stared at Acrisios' back, not knowing what the king meant by such a vague question. "Umm, yes... Yes, Your Majesty. We studied - and catalogued - as many Seal Runes as we could, but the number is too gre..."
Acrisios waved a hand, stopping the councilor from his tirade. "I meant the room itself. Have we ever studied its walls?"
Although Theodos was completely lost, he couldn't show such a disgraceful expression to his liege. Even so, he struggled to piece apart the meaning behind Acrisios' words. "Sire, we have not deemed it important enough to do so."
"Why is that?" Acrisios asked matter-of-factly.
"Umm, it is a room... Sire?"
Acrisios nodded to himself as if reaching a conclusion. "So. Based on what you told me, the researchers here didn't even think of studying the room where the relic was kept. They didn't think to examine the proprieties of the material the walls are made of or to see if there was a true way of accessing this "tomb."
"They simply saw the projection of a wall and assumed it was just that. A simple wall."
Although the councilor was taken aback by the king's vague questions, that didn't mean he was stupid. Theodos quickly picked up on the king's intent and frowned. "A projection, Your Majesty?"
Acrisios crossed his arms and pointed with his chin. "Check for yourself."
The man did as told and quickly ran his senses across the "walls," looking for this projection the king talked about. At first, he could sense nothing special, just a smooth, dark wall that repelled one's senses from reaching deeper.
But, as his senses crossed over the broken Seal Runes, a different picture was brought into view.
Theodos could perceive the wall behind the Runes. Could "feel" the wall's texture and temperature. The king's words circled around his mind, and he began thinking about the "real" entrance to this place.
The researchers named this place "the Sarcophagus" because they could see no other entrance to this place. The presence of an ancient skeleton in the corner of the room only served to consolidate that belief.
If Theodos thought further than that, it could make sense why the Maoruns failed to provide satisfactory seals or at least repair the old ones. By assuming all the magic traces cover all the walls equally, it was no wonder some runes simply refused to respond.
"Your Majesty, I will notify the responsible researchers about this information." He said, then hesitated. "My liege, shall we punish the lead researchers?"
Acrisios thought for a moment before slowly nodding. "We shall. Although nothing catastrophic has happened, such an oversight cannot happen again.
"They claim to be the best of their field, yet overlook the basics. And even if I am wrong, and the walls around us are made of common rock, such disregard for professionalism is something that must be punished."
Turning around to face his right-hand man, the king decreed his punishment. "All the lead researchers shall lose their positions, and all their works shall be taken down until a proper peer-review will be brought up. Make sure all the mages specializing in Sealing Magic don't overlook stuff like this in the future."
Theodos bowed deeply, fervently nodding under Acrisios' burning gaze. The man could retort nothing, couldn't change his liege's mind in any way. If this small and insignificant detail was missed, who could say what else the researchers had missed? Besides, in a complex system such as a Seal room, even the insignificant-most element could prove essential to its functionality.
"I will order their punishment right away, Your Majesty."
"Good." Acrisios nodded before his attention was caught by something else. A moment later, Theodos noticed it and turned to face the entrance as well.
Two Maorun Seal Masters entered the sarcophagus, huffing and puffing, followed closely by the Onyx Guard tasked with bringing them here.
Elder Ovas Maorun and a thin, small, boyish-looking man entered and bowed towards Acrisios.
The latter exasperatedly waved his hand, annoyed by these people's insistence on following proper etiquette no matter the circumstances.
These nobles could be a breath away from certain death, and they would still waste precious time with meaningless hand movements and pleasantries. "Stop and get to work. Theodos will fill you in."
The two Maorun nobles seemed offended, either by Acrisios' tone and words or by his unceremonious summoning, but frankly, Acrisios couldn't care less.
He was paying these wastes of space a lot of money, and his patience was running thin because of their ineptitude, so the least they could do was swallow some mild displeasure. What's worse is that he, as a king, now had to do their job in their stead, and that was something Acrisios couldn't accept under any circumstance.
He said nothing more and simply walked away from the sarcophagus, heading straight toward his office. It was time to make the Maoruns pay for his displeasure and wasted time.