Craig and Glowmyth scanned the inside of the hall, then slowly and carefully made their way in. There was no one present at the moment which put their hearts slightly at ease, however, the atmosphere brought forth by the elements of the room was unsettling.
Glowmyth had actually grabbed onto a portion of Craig's hair like a curtain as she stood on his shoulder with a look of horror on her face. "I don't like this place." She exclaimed softly.
Craig did a quick circle around the hall to ensure there really wasn't anyone present. He came across three tunnel openings in his search, each blocked by a locked steel gate. It was unknown where these tunnels led to but Craig surmised that one of them was the way out.
After verifying that no one was present he began studying the components within the large hall. Firstly, he walked over to the centre of the eight pedestals and looked into the well. It was deep, a drop of at least fifty metres before hitting the water below. The blue and sparkling water lit up the bottom of the well, making it seem as though an invaluable treasure was down there.
"Could this be the mana fount that you mentioned?" Craig asked.
"It could be. I've never seen a mana fount so I don't know what it's supposed to look like. Although, by the descriptions it shouldn't be this small. It's probably much wider at the bottom." Glowmyth speculated uncertainly.
Craig didn't know the answer either, so he cast his focus onto the next component; The pedestals. "These pedestals look really old."
Each pedestal was half a meter thick and about four metres tall. There were runes and strange calligraphy markings on the surface. The orbs on top of the pedestals were twice the size of an average melon. They hovered a few centimeters above the pedestal; spinning horizontally as they siphoned energy from the well.
It was also notable that the pedestals were made from quartz which was a crystal that was good at amplifying and transferring energy.
"It seems like these orbs channel mana from the well through some special means, probably an incantation. Then these pillars of quartz break down the energy before transferring it over to those cylinders." Craig walked over to one of the cylinders and placed his hand on the glass surface as he looked at the infant inside. "Who would experiment on infants in such a way. I thought the orcs were bad but it seems like the elves are nothing better." He frowned as he moved his gaze from cylinder to cylinder.
Glowmyth flew up from his shoulder and placed her little hands on the glass of the cylinder. "Do you think the elves are really the ones doing such a thing?"
"It's hard to say for sure." Craig replied with uncertainty. "But this is the elves' forbidden territory. Generally it should be impossible for someone else to be here unnoticed." He looked at a table that had a mixture of tools and documents on top of it. He walked over and ruffled through some of the documents, noticing that they were all written in Elvish Hand; Known as Dakatri.
"I think my my mana is recovering in here, but very slowly." Glowmyth suddenly said.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Shortly after her words, the sound of several footsteps softly echoed from one of the tunnels and grew louder by the second. Also the sound of keys jingling could be heard.
Craig and Glowmyth quickly dashed for the round entrance they used to come in. As they ran they heard the sound of keys being turned in a lock and the opening of a gate. The two of them made it out in the nick of time.
Inside the hall, two elven men walked In dressed in green suits with green long sleeved coats. A third man was also present, dressed in black elven armour.
"Did you see something move just now?" One of the men asked. His voice was was squeaky and sinister, even if he was simply asking a casual question. His eyes were sharp and cold and his face was scarred with a gruesome burn.
"I saw a shadow near the old entrance but it was probably just that Weaver snooping around." Another of the three replied. He looked quite similar to the first one who spoke, the only difference being having no scar on his face. His voice however was a lot more cordial and pleasing to hear.
As for the last of the three, he stood at the back of the other two with his arms behind his back. He had long blue hair and an amiable face, but his eyes were filled with cunningness. "I trust my trip here today won't be a waste like last time. If I don't have some results to report to his majesty then the two of you..." He then made a swipe across his neck with one of his hands before placing it back behind him.
The man with the scar smiled grimly before gesturing for the amiable looking man to follow him. They made their way over to a cylinder that was on the opposite side of the room to the old entrance.
Craig and Glowmyth were peeking into the room from the door's edge just like they had done before. They wanted to see and listen to who were the ones behind this atrocity.
"Just like I thought. It's actually the elves experimenting on their own kind." Craig whispered softly.
Glowmyth shook her head in disappointment.
"Well, Gulik, I don't have a lot of time so be quick about it." The amiable looking man exclaimed.
Gulik, who was the elf with the scar, pointed to the infant within the cylinder before them. "Specimen thirty thousand and seventy six has survived the initial dosage of the power serum after the last adjustment to the formula. The same goes for this one and this one." He pointed to two other cylinders. "The others however..." He paused. "Have failed and are on the verge of dying." As he said this his eyes grew moist as he involuntarily cried and trembled.
The elf without the scar knelt and clasped his hands. "Please Lord Erik don't kill us. We swear to get better results within the following month. We are this close to succeeding."
Erik ignored the looks of doom on the two men's faces and looked at the cylinders with the three successful doses and smiled. "Progress is good. That's all I ask for, progress. When you progress it means you're learning and you're doing things right. When you get stuck for too long it means you have failed." He cast his gaze at the two trembling men. "Ensure that the three of them survive the following doses or I'll have you replaced on my next visit."
The two men knew that his definition of replacement wasn't the regular one.
"It's crucial that we figure out how to steal the orc's bloodline before another cycle passes. Those bastards won't sit for much longer before declaring war and I hate to admit it but they're much more Powerful than us right now."
After saying this, he looked at one of the locked gates and asked. "What about the other two... Activities?"
"The spiders are a bit troublesome as their numbers are increasing constantly. A few have even escaped but everything is under control now." Gulik replied. "As for the other, Legolas?" He looked at his partner, suggesting to him to speak.
Legolas who was still kneeling took his time to stand up and began explaining. "We captured two more of them and have breakers working on them right now. But these dark elves are as stubborn as ever, unable to be tamed.
Erik frowned upon hearing these words.
Legolas shivered and quickly added. "However, there is one female who has made slight progress. It isn't much, but she's slightly less aggressive than before and even eats her food in a more refined manner."
Erik raised an eyebrow. "Is that so? Well that certainly sounds like progress to me." He smiled. "Everyone thinks they're incapable of being tamed but I don't think so. Hahaha hahaha hahaha ha." He laughed merrily as he turned around and exited the hall, leaving the two petrified elves behind.
Gulik sighed a breath of relief after Erik left. "This man is just too scary and unpredictable. Who's idea was it to give such a lunatic power."
"Um, the king?" Legolas replied.
Gulik cast him a cold glance. "I wasn't looking for an answer. Ever heard of a rhetorical question?" He tossed a pair of keys to Legolas. "Go feed the spiders!"
"But, that's your job. Why do I have to do it?"
"I need to go find the one that escaped yesterday. Unless you want to go down there after it?" Gulik said pointing at the old entrance.
Legolas quickly walked over to one of the locked gates. "I've always loved feeding my darlings." In no time he had vanished into the tunnel as if he were never present.
Gulik scoffed. "Hmph, Coward." Then he looked at the old entrance. "I hate going down there. What a pain." He removed his green coat and walked over to a large metal chest where he put on better wear and took some fighting equipment.
Craig had already hidden himself in a corner at the back of the rounded stone door, along with Glowmyth. Gulik passed by without ever considering the possibility that someone might be hiding in the darkness. He soon disappeared into the dark tunnel.
"Now's our chance." Craig immediately went into action and bolted into the room. He picked the bundle of keys that was lying on top of the chest and went straight for the open gate the three elves had come from. He didn't bother with anything else in that room.
Following the tunnel he came to a flight of stairs that spiralled upwards for a hundred or so metres.
"That's a lot of stepping." Craig muttered as he began climbing the flight of stairs. It took him nearly ten minutes to get to the top and by the time he did he was out of breath and balance. He could have arrived sooner but he did not want to run into Erik. "Dark secrets are truly hidden deep." He looked back at the descending stairs as he caught his breath.
"They certainly are." Glowmyth said as she cracked her neck side to side. "My mana is recovering much faster than inside of that chamber. It seems that the effects weaken the further you are away from that place."
Craig was overjoyed to hear Glowmyth's statement. He was wondering how he was going to conceal himself from the elves without Maeli's concealment spell. Luckily he had gotten another companion, but her magic was being drained constantly. Now that she was recovering, his only worry was whether or not she knew a concealment spell. "I've been meaning to ask but do you know any concealment spells? If the elves were to discover us coming from their deep dark secret it wouldn't do us any good."
"I do." Glowmyth replied. "In fact I can turn you completely invisible like I do myself." After saying this she vanished into thin air.
Craig wasn't too surprised as he already knew wisps were capable of such a feat. What surprised him was that she could apply it to him as well. With such a trick, wouldn't his mission be too easy?
"I should warn you though," Glowmyth said as she reappeared. "It would take a lot more mana to turn you invisible than myself. If my magic were to run out in an unfortunate place..."
Craig had already gotten the picture. "I only need to get out of their line of sight. Once there's no one around we should be fine without it."
"Okay, but I need to recover first before I can use it on you."
"Then let's find somewhere to hide till you recover enough mana." Craig looked at the long endless tunnel ahead of them. "Why is everything in this place so lengthy?" He exclaimed as he began walking forward.