As Rethys entered the workshop and its lights automatically activated, he saw the familiar sight of workbenches covered entirely in tools and paper notes, as well as shelves and drawers that seemed stocked with all sorts of magical materials, ranging from vials of liquids and powders to items wrapped in a strange runed cloth that Rethys guessed was enchanted.
Foreign and different as it was, however, the familiar sight still evoked in him a myriad of emotions, but he quickly stifled them, focusing on the task at hand.
As expected, the workshop looked strange to him, some things looked like clearly more primitive versions of ones his master possessed, while others conversely looked many times more intricate, and others still looked completely alien. However, every single item in this place did share one single aspect, all of them were fully intact, despite the supposed passage of time.
Carefully making his way around the expansive room, Rethys cautiously checked tool after tool, hoping to find any he could recognize, but more importantly the one the owners of this workshop once used to produce water, his main objective.
During his search he came across something strange that attracted his attention, a collection of objects that he recognized. It was an open box with two compartments, both full of charged etherstones, all glowing with different colors.
Quickly going through them, he found etherstones belonging to every element he knew of, and some he didn't recognize. Each collection of glowing beads, however, had its respective element labeled near it, and though the script was rough, Rethys could still understand it with some effort.
He first saw the bright blue hue of the Water element, the flickering red of Fire, the swirling gray of Air, and the calm orange of Earth, the four basic material elements. Next to those in the same compartment were shining yellow etherstones of the Light element, two separate clusters of pitch-black stones of the Darkness and Gravity elements, as well as a final purple bundle marked as the Space element. The first compartment contained the material elements.
Moving on to the second compartment, he saw etherstones now glowing with the intricate colors of the ethereal elements. He first saw the familiar green shades of the Life element, whom his master possessed, the bluish grey of the Mind element, the soft teal of Restoration, and the golden gleam of Creation.
He then saw the colors of elements he had never seen before, reddish-brown glowing stones marked as the element of Destruction; pinkish purple stones marked as the element of Malice; ones glowing with a sickly dark green of Corruption; stones gleaming with all possible colors at once marked as the element of Chaos; and the final collection of etherstones glowed with a pure bright white of Purity.
The sheer amount of ether contained in one chest astounded Rethys, and the lesson in elements was interesting, but what grabbed his attention the most were the etherstones of Restoration, the element of the healing he sorely needed.
Grabbing one of those stones carefully, he took a step back and sat down on one of the chairs around. He then undid the makeshift bandages around his shoulder, finding it in very rough shape, and pushed the glowing teal bead against his wound.
He expected the etherstone to begin healing his wound but remembered that he had to find a way to push the ether out of it first. At first, he began trying to will the ether out, much like he could instinctively command his own, but to no avail.
'How are etherstones used anyway?' He wondered as he attempted time and time again to get the stone to do... something.
He had seen his mentor do this many times before, guiding out the power it contained for use and then leaving it to naturally recharge, but it seemed that he was missing a crucial detail on how to perform this, or messing up the whole process even. Remembering where his attempts at infusion magic took him, he stopped trying.
He couldn't leave his wound as it was however and contemplated perhaps breaking the etherstone to release its insides. But that option felt more ridiculous by the second, and he was once again out of ideas.
He then thought of trying to push the ether inside the stone using his own, and through his fingers, began moving his ether of Origin towards it.
As the stone began taking a bluish hue, the ether of Restoration previously occupying it began to seep out of it and waft gently around the room. Placing the stone near to his wound, he continued the process and could see the teal ether heading towards his wound and healing it instead of drifting aimlessly across the air.
'It worked.' he sighed contentedly, the pain from his shoulder gradually lessening until the wound entirely disappeared, not leaving even scars.
As the healing magic within the glowing bead was used, the ether being released from it stopped being teal and instead took on a blue color. Looking at the etherstone in his hand, it was now glowing in blue instead, fully saturated with the ether of the Origin element.
He then realized that the way he used it was by forcing its power out, not depleting it and then having it naturally recharge, which was not good for sustainability since it now ceased to be a Restoration stone.
'What do I do with this now?' He wondered, having no use for an Origin stone himself but still feeling apprehensive about leaving it lying around.
He stuffed the Origin stone in one of his pockets before reaching out and grabbing the rest of the Restoration stones, putting them in his pouch. Now having an excellent, albeit finite, source of healing, he felt much better about his odds of survival in this hellish place. He also had to check if the voice could teach him how to use etherstones properly, lest he turned all of them into the Origin element irreparably.
Done with inspecting the coffer of etherstones, he decided to focus again on his original goal of finding around the workshop some source of water and perhaps some food.
He tried to use the Water element etherstones only to realize they did not contain actual water, only the ether of that element, which was useless to him. He thought of using one of them to attune to the element itself, supposedly becoming able to use it as well as his primary element, but once again his lack of magical knowledge left him with only guesses and assumptions.
He nonetheless took one of the Water stones before continuing with his search.
Eventually he came across a metal flask that looked to be made of silver and had embedded on its side a blue etherstone of Water along with small magic circles of enchantments. Surely enough as he unsealed it and emptied the liquid that it had contained for centuries now, it slowly refilled itself with new, fresh water.
Focusing his senses on it, Rethys checked the water and any ether permeating it for signs of anything out of place, and not finding any, then took a sip from the silver flask. Elation then overtook him as he drank the cool, refreshingly delicious water.
"Good!" He exclaimed.
With a source of water acquired, he began looking for anything resembling food. He rummaged through every container that didn't look too heavily enchanted, but in the end only found more and more magic ingredients.
He considered trying to eat some of the more edible-looking ones but promptly decided against it. He knew enough about materials to know that beyond the element of the ether contained and its purity, they also often conferred special effects, and he couldn't trust what he didn't know.
He initially expected some amount of food to have been stored in such a large workshop for the mages that would use it, but now realized that it was just wishful thinking. The more he thought about it the more things clicked into place; no mage in their right mind would use their equipment to store food instead of more materials, they were mages after all, and this obsession with work seemed universal.
He didn't lose heart however, as he could still come across something in any other labs or workshops he found. Even in the worst-case scenario, he'd still survive with the ancient mage's help, her proposition seeming less disgusting as his hunger intensified.
'I ate worse things before, it'll be fine.' He thought, intent on not ruining his good mood from finding the water canteen.
Continuing to scour the workshop for anything useful, he managed to notice some faint ether activity within the room, and tracking it led him to one of the magic circles dotting the room.
Crouching down, he found an exact replica of the magic installations contained in each of the burial rooms downstairs that seemed to bind the souls of the catacomb dwellers to Yvtar, except this one lacked a connection and was fading away. Rethys guessed that freeing whoever this magic circle had bound also prompted the circle itself to slowly lose cohesion.
He also noted this time the circle's element as that of Corruption, which sort of made sense considering it was responsible for the perversion of the natural order by trapping souls here.
'Not much else to see here.' He concluded.
As he rose to his feet and looked around the workshop, he realized that he had swept through everything accessible, leaving only heavily enchanted chests that he deemed unwise to tamper with, as well as barely understandable notes and records.
He did skim through most of the papers just in case, managing to find one journal that wasn't completely filled with useless magical notes. He also managed to find what seemed to be a map but was also far too convoluted to try and decipher on the spot. Grabbing both the journal and the map, he decided to try and make sense of them in the safety of the sealing chamber.
Combined with an extremely sharp knife he found in one of the drawers, the three items concluded his search of this workshop. Stuffing everything in a nice satchel he found lying around, he was now ready to leave with his loot.
As he turned to leave, he threw one final glance towards the ascending stairs at the opposite end of the large room. He thought of at least quickly checking the way upwards but decided to trust the ancient mage's words.
Rethys didn't miss how her intentions might be less than pure, but this was no place for uncertainties and second thoughts. He knew that she did not save him out of the goodness of her heart, but that was alright. He understood, after all, that there was no such thing as a free lunch.
But what truly complicated things is the nature of the ancient mage. His senses told him that she was fully human, her soul being identical to his own in nature, not twisted and tortured like the catacomb dwellers', which was reassuring. However, the sheer spectacle of the room imprisoning her was foreboding to say the least, and his lack of knowledge again left him unsure of how to proceed.
This was without considering the curse she engraved on him that isolated him from the Origin entity's control. He didn't doubt its function, since he could determine by himself his state with it, and could reliably guess what would happen without it, but it didn't stop him from thinking that the ancient mage could've taken the liberty of installing some things of her own into his body as well.
'Not much I could do about it, not now at least.' He concluded, as he already depended on her generous help far too much and couldn't afford to lose her favor.
Resolving to tread carefully around his sinister benefactor, he headed towards the workshop's exit.