"Curses!" Amias cursed silently as his heart pounded within his chest. Fatigue gripped him, but the young Lackborn had showcased an impressive burst of speed for the past fifteen minutes, sprinting through the underground ruins. He knew he wouldn't be able to outpace the trio of seasoned explorers chasing him for much longer.
Within the ancient subterranean labyrinth, Amias had no time to appreciate the enigmatic ruins that surrounded him. His focus remained fixed on a singular objective—a room. And there it was, as marked on the tattered map clutched tightly in his hand. The corridor he needed to reach stretched out before him, leading to a stone door at the end. Though he no longer worried about the pursuers, he couldn't afford to slow down. His plan hinged on what lay before that door.
With the last reserves of his stamina, Amias surged forward, his feet pounding against the cold, stone floor. As he raced down the long, enclosed hall, he cast a fleeting glance at the intricately designed pressure plates near the entrance. A smirk played on his lips.
"I'll entrust these to you, fools!~" Amias taunted, his voice carrying down the hall, his pursuers now closing in, mere ten meters away.
But Amias knew his advantage was short-lived. He may have been a Lackborn, a person devoid of innate magical abilities, but the explorers chasing him were not. Their command of magic meant that they could bridge the distance effortlessly.
Amias' agile frame danced nimbly through the perilous traps as he deliberately triggered them. Arrows whizzed past him, poison-tipped spears lunged from concealed alcoves from above and side-to-side, and battering rams swung from the ceiling in a relentless barrage. With acrobatic finesse, he leaped, slid, and ducked, evading the deadly mechanisms with a grace that left his pursuers stunned and off balance.
"Traps!" the elf mage among the pursuing party yelled in alarm.
Amias reached the door at the end of the hall, his heart still racing from the acrobatic evasion of the deadly traps. He knew he had to act quickly. Reaching into his belt-pouch, he retrieved a stick of dynamite, his last resort for escaping the relentless pursuit. With deft hands, he lit the fuse using the flint and steel of his dagger, the sparks casting eerie shadows on the ancient stone walls.
As the fuse sputtered to life, Amias assessed his surroundings. Most of the underground ruin was far too open for his plan to work, but this corridor was a rare exception. It led to several separated chambers, making it the perfect spot for his daring escape.
The explorers, still distracted by the traps and disoriented from the unexpected assault, began to back away cautiously from the narrow corridor. Amias couldn't resist a smirk.
"I guess this is goodbye, we had some fond times together!" He taunted, his voice laced with mischievous delight.
Amias took a precise throwing stance and hurled the stick of dynamite at the roof in the middle of the enclosed corridor, roughly five meters high. The explosive stick hurtled through the air, and in a brilliant, blinding blast, long, ancient carved stone pillars and the ornate roof above came tumbling down. The detonation was far larger than he had intended, sending shockwaves through the corridor.
The pursuing party, caught off guard once again, was thrown back to the entrance of the hall by the force of the blast. Meanwhile, Amias found himself unceremoniously flung through the now-open stone door. He crashed into the chamber beyond, disoriented and winded.
"Ow… shit… my back…" he panted, grimacing in pain. He had been through worse scrapes, but the plan had been riskier than he cared to admit. Yet, despite his discomfort, a glimmer of satisfaction and relief washed over him.
"It actually worked," he mused, his eyes scanning his surroundings.
Amias had successfully caved in the entrance, effectively sealing the explorers outside, but he now found himself trapped in an unfamiliar room with no apparent exit. In this ancient chamber, shrouded in darkness and echoes of the past, Amias would need to rely on his cunning and resourcefulness once more to uncover the secrets that lay hidden within.
Great he thought, realizing his entrapment from the rubble. Guess I'll cross that bridge when it comes, but the Veil comes first. As Amias pushed the slabbed stone door aside, he entered a dimly-lit room- A study… No. A library? Amias pondered while smirking. This was his element. He had always loved a good mystery. Will he find it here? He thought, the key to solving the Veil and what lies beyond its fog? Not much is known about the continent of Alre. Be it how it came to be or where life truly came from. Each of the races have their own creation mythos and various religions explaining what happened in the past. But none could explain what the Veil was. None of Amias' knowledge regarding current or past religions was relevant in the presence of the Veil. It was a thick, seemingly impenetrable black fog. It sits around 5,600 miles out at sea, cloaking something. A myriad of kingdoms, beastdoms, magedoms, republics and various countries attempted voyages into the Veil. None succeeded. Some returned, and some completely disappeared. Those that returned were maddened or in hysterics. Moreover, they had turned on some their allies on the return voyages, consumed by what was reported as 'rage'. "It has to be a property of the Veil…" Amias shook his head, shoving the thoughts of the failed voyages aside, and examined the chamber.
The room before Amias unfolded in a grandeur of knowledge. Its dimensions were impressive, measuring approximately 15 meters by 15 meters and soaring to a height of 10 meters. This rectangular chamber was adorned with towering bookshelves that reached to the heavens, their wooden frames groaning under the weight of countless tomes, scrolls, and ancient texts.
In the heart of the room stood an imposing podium, its surface worn smooth by the touch of countless scholars. Two grand staircases, one on each side of the chamber, led upward to a connecting floor that overlooked the sprawling ground level. From this elevated vantage point, one could behold the entire expanse of the vast library below.
Despite the room's vastness, it was shrouded in dim light, the feeble glow emanating from poorly maintained Sunstones. These naturally bright mineral stones, discovered deep within the earth, were prized for their luminous qualities but had clearly seen better days. Their soft radiance cast a subtle and inviting ambiance over the room's treasures.
Amias couldn't help but be captivated by the sheer scope of the collection surrounding him—a testament to the intellectual endeavours of countless generations. Yet, he knew all too well that he couldn't decipher much of these texts—a fact that vexed him, as it did many others. It was yet another puzzle that Amias was determined to solve in his quest for knowledge and understanding.
As he moved further into the room, his footsteps echoing softly in the hallowed space, Amias contemplated the mysteries that lay hidden within these ancient tomes and scrolls. He had come seeking answers, and this grand repository of wisdom held the potential to unveil secrets that would not only unlock the enigma of the Veil.
Amias strode purposefully towards the illuminated podium, its presence in the dimly lit room almost mystical. It seemed as if the feeble light that remained had converged to spotlight the podium, casting a luminous aura around it. His heart raced with anticipation as he approached.
However, what greeted him there was unexpected—an old, weathered book resting on the podium. He peered at it with a mixture of confusion and frustration, muttering to himself, "A book?" His gaze then shifted to the other object, a small polyhedral sphere roughly the size of an orange. The sphere's many facets were too numerous to count at a glance.
Amias picked up the book and examined its cover. The title came into view: 'Subverting Dense Mana Presence via Inorganic Golemancy.'
"What a load of bollocks!" he exclaimed in anguish, his expression growing slightly dimmer. He had hoped for something more relevant to his quest, and this book seemed unrelated to the mysteries of the Veil. Doubt crept into his mind as he wondered if this was yet another dead end in his relentless pursuit.
As he contemplated his disappointment, Amias glanced at the polyhedral sphere, nestled within a stone indent at the centre of the podium. He reached for it, lifting it from its resting place. As the sphere left its indent, a mechanical cacophony of gears and mechanisms resounded through the chamber, startling Amias.
But before he could react further, a sudden, searing sensation enveloped the middle of his back. A feeling of intense heat and warmth contrasted sharply with the cold air around him. Panic surged through his veins as he looked down at his chest, realizing he had been impaled from behind.
"I'm… I'm… going to die?" Amias' thoughts raced, and memories of his tumultuous life flashed before his eyes. He had endured eleven years of torture, betrayals, and life at the very bottom of society.
Since the age of fourteen, he had served as an errand boy for various groups of adventurers, often treated as little more than a mule, a chef, and a servant. Being a devoid of magic had earned him nothing but disdain and mistreatment. Yet, he willingly endured the stares, beatings, muggings, and constant struggle for survival, all in pursuit of the truth about the Veil.
Amias reached down to his chest, his right hand pulling out a broken amulet. It was a silvery, circular pendant bearing the image of Lumina, the largest of the three moons.
"I…" Blood sputtered from his mouth as he gasped for breath. "I couldn't do it," he murmured, his eyes locked on the amulet. "I couldn't… find you."
As darkness closed in around him, the enigma of the Veil remained just out of reach, a tantalizing secret that would forever remain hidden from his grasp... Or so Amias had thought. In that final moment, a bright, spectacular glow erupted from the polyhedral sphere - vice gripped in his left hand - its brilliance illuminating the chamber with an intensity that defied explanation.
The radiant light enveloped Amias' falling lifeless form, bathing him in its otherworldly radiance. It then expanded, flooding the surrounding chambers with its dazzling brilliance.
And as the room was consumed by this extraordinary illumination, the story of Amias, the young Lackborn who dared to defy fate and seek the truth of the Veil, took an unexpected turn. The answers he sought, the enigmatic secrets of the Veil, and the destiny that awaited him were all poised to be unveiled in a blaze of incandescent light.