Beastborne- Mark of the Founder

by James T Callum

  It was more than a little worrying.

  Ashera looked back at Hal, and he was thankful for the distraction. “Did it speak to you?”

  His brow furrowed. “No, did it talk to you?”

  The Sin Keeper shook her head. “Some legends say that the primordial elementals sometimes speak through such totems to chosen heroes. They imbue them with great strength and set them with the task of righting the balance. I guess neither of us is ‘chosen hero’ material.”

  Hal chuckled and pressed on, back through the winding tunnel that would lead them back to the intersection. “More’s the pity.”

  Ashera gently swatted his arm. “Do not say that, Hal. The world could always use more heroes.”

  Every crystal that Hal passed shattered into dust as they backtracked to the central chamber. If any crystal wasn’t already powder by the time Ashera stepped near it, they were after she passed. It was an interesting byproduct of their new gift.

  Nothing was going to stand in their way now.

  79

  Hal went down the middle path with Ashera while Elora and Mira – despite what she said about her resistance to fire - took a moment to recover from the sweltering, suffocating humidity.

  The largest crystals cracked and blasted to dust in their presence. An eager Vorax lapped up the dust they left behind, staining his purple tongue red like an overeager child dumping a packet of kool-aid mix into their mouth.

  The ominous vertical mouth of crystals resisted breaking at first but when Ashera joined Hal, their combined presence proved too great. The overlapping crystals shattered. The sound of breaking glass filled the tunnel as the cancerous stone rolled back like some great spasming intestine.

  His [Fragment of Flame] cooled rapidly in his palm while the stone shifted as if some vital strength was draining from it.

  The path ahead was clear, the tunnel widened so the two of them could walk abreast comfortably. It was straight enough to see a segment of a worked stone hallway in the distance.

  “What… did you two just do?” Elora asked, giving Hal then Ashera a firm once-over with her blue-gray eyes.

  “Noth said that the primordial flames had the capacity to cleanse corruption.” He held up the chip, flat on his opened palm. “I got this from the obelisk, it cools down every time the crystals are destroyed.”

  He was surprised at how well it worked.

  And he was happy that holding the hexagonal fragment didn’t kill him on the spot considering the corrupting nature of Beastborne. The pain he felt earlier was gone.

  Briefly, he wondered if the Beast was gone. Was he was free of Besal, cleansed of that corruption? Doubtful. Hal wasn’t that lucky.

  Serves him right, Hal thought. Payback sucks, doesn’t it Besal?

  Unsurprisingly, there was no answer.

  “Do you mind?” Elora asked. Hal shook his head and she plucked the thing from his hand, looking it over.

  After a while, Elora shrugged and handed it off to Ashera. The Sin Keeper looked up at him and produced an identical chip from her left palm. Each of them looked over the strange things, their identical glyphs shifting to each of their eyes.

  “Two is better than one, I guess,” Mira said, leaning over to look at them.

  Ashera handed Hal’s chip back to him. “Do you think it’s this chip or our interaction with the obelisk?”

  “Honestly? I don’t know. My best guess is somewhere in between. Some interaction of the obelisk and the gift it bestowed us.”

  With the strange chips in hand, they had no trouble reaching the small square room at the end of the hall. Its walls were worked in a similar manner to the rest of the Founder’s complex.

  But what drew all their attention was the massive vault door that took up the entire rear wall.

  It was unlike anything Hal had ever seen. And from the way each of his friends stood beside him, staring at the strange thing, he guessed he wasn’t the only one who thought so.

  Filled with gears, cogs, sprockets, chains, and hydraulic struts of bright gold, the entire door was a never-ending series of moving parts.

  “What the heck is that?” Mira asked, getting so close Hal was afraid one of the gears would gouge her.

  “It’s the Vault, clearly,” Elora said. “Only Rinbast would make something so ridiculous.” She turned to Hal. “The answer to clearing the Coffin District is in there, right?”

  “That’s what the shadows said,” Hal replied.

  The Ranger stepped back, taking Mira away and motioned for Hal to go on.

  Every so often the gears and chains would move, rearranging into a different shape. Beneath them, a heavy door of dull black metal could be seen.

  Standing in front of it, Hal felt himself being drawn into the pattern. Deeper and deeper it went as his gaze unfocused from each individual piece and the pattern consumed him.

  In the moving patterns, he saw vague hints calling back to the doodles he used to draw when he should’ve been paying attention back in college. The chains pulled taut to reveal geometric designs and he began to guess their shape before they fully formed.

  The Founder’s mark on his forearm burned so fiercely that he let out a shout. It felt like somebody pressed a white-hot branding iron to his skin.

  If his friends heard, they didn’t react or move to help him. And as he looked about at each of their faces his breath hitched in his throat. They were frozen. Not a one moved or blinked.

  Time stood still for them.

  The gears and chains rattled and clanked, rearranging themselves once more. Like a curtain of machinery, they rolled back revealing that black door again.

  Hal looked about for the Reaper, finally finding her near the ceiling. He shouldn’t have been surprised she was unaffected. “Can you get through?” Hal asked.

  In answer, the Reaper drifted forward and pressed her gauntleted hand to the black metal beneath the chains and machinery.

  Emblazoned on the wall was a larger-than-life replica of his mark. At its center was a golden handprint. As thick as he could be sometimes, even Hal could guess what the door wanted.

  He placed his hand upon the print, unsurprised when it was a perfect match.

  The golden Founder mark flared and then, for the first time ever, it guttered and went dark. In that instant, he felt a swooping sensation in his stomach like the drop in a rollercoaster. He understood then what was needed to open the door.

  Cold washed through him as his HP halved, then halved again and again until he was left in the double-digits.

  A payment of blood was required to gain entry.

  It was over before Hal could regret his decision. The wall vanished in the blink of an eye and he staggered forward into darkness. Weak and off-balance, Hal fell to his hands and knees.

  The [Fragment of Flame] dropped from his right hand and skittered across the floor. He reached for it weakly and put it away into his inventory for safe-keeping.

  It’s a good thing I can bolster my HP at will, he thought.

  Smirking to himself, he used Assimilation to recover his HP up to half by taking a large chunk out of SP and a quarter out of his more considerable MP. As he did, he felt a pang of loss for the Wortlings. He was glad the missing Wortling didn’t end up hunting them down.

  And in even better spirits knowing that he could plant two of them at a later date.

  Getting to his feet, he looked over his shoulder at the familiar black door now lacking the customary gears and chains. His friends were on the other side of the door.

  A quick glance around the room showed no immediate threats. Hal turned back to the door searching for a way out. He saw a single gold handle so heavily etched with runes that it looked like a fingerprint and guessed its purpose easily enough.

  He reached out for it, worried about those he left behind. The whole point of getting the party back together wasn’t to leave them behind again.

  “Hal,” Noth called, freezing his hand an inch from the handle.

&nb
sp; “You’re here,” he said, as much a question as a statement. He stared at the Reaper’s slender form. She was corporeal, and so was he. It felt stupid but he had to ask the obvious question. “Am I dead?”

  This was one of the few times both of them seemed to exist on the same plane of existence. Ever since his resurrection, their bond was one of corporeal and ethereal.

  “No,” she said, pacing the room. Her dark metal greaves echoed harshly off the stone walls. “This is something else. I don’t think your friends are even aware of your absence.”

  Hal looked back over his shoulder then gave the strange room a once-over. Strange only because it seemed more at home on Earth than Aldim. It looked like a high-end apartment, but so much was broken or shattered. It was absolutely trashed.

  Chairs were smashed to flinders. Bookshelves fit into the stone recesses along the walls were nothing more than blackened husks. Several walls sported blast marks. The floor glittered with broken glass.

  The room was flooded with light from several globules of pale amber light suspended high above their heads every ten feet. As Hal walked the room, the placement of the chairs, the remnants of tables, and the large amount of bookshelves painted a picture in his mind’s eye.

  “I think this was a study or personal library of some sort,” Hal said as he crouched by what seemed to be the remnants of a display case.

  In that pile of shattered glass and dark polished wood, his eye caught something. More than his eye, he felt a strong magical presence from his Perception. Careful not to cut himself, Hal shifted the refuse around to reveal the edge of a heavily folded map.

  You obtain a (Legendary) [Explorer’s Map].

  You have received your first Legendary quality item. Items of Legendary quality are impossible to fully destroy without specific rites and rituals. They also bind to their owner making them impossible to trade or sell once used.

  You have unlocked Exploration (Level 0).

  The Exploration skill allows you to discern differences in the environment and keep track of your position on your Explorer’s Map. The higher your Exploration skill, the more detailed and accurate your map will become.

  At low Levels the map will be vague and inaccurate, often with little more than the area’s name. As your skill progresses, the detail becomes greater and your position relative to your surroundings becomes clear.

  Before Hal could tuck it away, the [Explorer’s Map] vanished with a shimmer of blue light. Thinking about it made it reappear in his hands already unfolded.

  It vaguely reminded him of the Marauder’s Map, in that it was designed with lines of ink and altogether looked confusing to read. He couldn’t get a good sense of scale or proportion and expected that he wouldn’t.

  Not with his current Level 0 Exploration skill at least.

  The longer he stared at the map the more detailed it became until a pair of footprints appeared that he suspected were his own. The skill never said anything about being able to see other people’s positions.

  He looked up and focused on the room, the dimensions of it, and as he did the map reflected his thoughts. The inked walls became straighter and the proportions were reined in.

  Your Exploration has risen to Level 1.

  +10% Faster drawing speed (+10%).

  +3% Discoverable range (+3%).

  Eventually, the name of the room unfurled like a rolled out banner.

  The Infernal Study

  80

  “I was right,” Hal said, folding up the map after making sure no further revelations were forthcoming.

  Inspecting a pile of ash, Noth looked up at him curiously. “About?”

  Hal stood up, the map vanished into blue particles as he willed it away. “This room is called ‘The Infernal Study,’ whatever that means. It’s a study.”

  The Reaper looked around at the trashed room then back at Hal. “Strange you were able to find anything worth salvaging.” She moved off toward the far wall, an unadorned section of smooth stone that stood out only because it lacked damage.

  A pale glow within a charred bookshelf on his right caught his attention as he went to join the Reaper, his Perception picking up something else he would have missed.

  Really useful having good Perception.

  Among a pile of burned books was a single tome, charred around the edges but intact. Hal took it but then felt around the rough and blackened remains of the shelf on a hunch.

  Something about the shelf felt off to him. He used to like building false bottoms and secret hiding places – a byproduct of having nosey parents, just like his fascination with cryptography. If this was Rinbast’s study, what were the odds that he had the same inclinations?

  After a decent search of the surrounding shelves, his fingers felt a small catch. Not sure if I feel better or worse for guessing this would be here. When he flipped the catch, a plume of ash puffed into Hal’s face, blinding him. He coughed heavily, wiping his face with the tattered remains of his single sleeve.

  But it wasn’t a trap as he initially feared. He spat out the ash and blinked hard.

  When he regained his vision, Hal found a small cubby in the back of the shelf holding a single heavily carved brass cube. He grabbed it but had to reach in with both hands because its weight was many times higher than such a small fist-sized item should have been.

  Your Perception has risen to Level 15.

  +2% Perception highlight chance (+30%).

  +5% Awareness of magical items (+75%).

  +10% Danger sense (+30%).

  Your Investigation has risen to Level 10.

  +1% Investigation speed (+10%).

  +2% Investigation success (+20%).

  +5% Point of interest highlight chance (+10%).

  You have 1 Investigation Perk point awaiting assignment.

  You obtain a [Void Coffer].

  You obtain an [Alth’rasi Codex].

  Now wasn’t the time to go perusing his perks, so Hal left it for later.

  Seeing no way to open the cube, Hal pocketed it and opened the book. He flipped through a few of the weathered pages.

  The script was cramped and used up every possible inch of the paper, like the worst set of crib notes he’d ever seen. The symbols hurt his head to look at and he immediately remembered where he saw their like before. The fog-strewn maze.

  Those black tombstones that blocked their way, the same ones Nothricient couldn’t pass through came to mind. They had the same symbols that hurt to look at for any length of time.

  This was the second codex he found. And he knew they bore a striking similarity to one another. But his latest find seemed different, vaguely familiar as if Rinbast had tried to imitate the sigils in the [Unknown Codex].

  He shook the thoughts from his head, focusing on Noth instead.

  “What’ve you found?” Hal asked the Reaper, joining her at the wall.

  Focused on the strangely unblemished wall, she barely seemed to hear the question. Hal couldn’t shake the feeling that they were missing something. All this protection for a study? And then no protections in place for the items of value inside?

  It didn’t add up. The only thing standing out was the wall ahead of them.

  He was about to Mana Investiture to see if he could break through the wall but the Reaper was well ahead of him.

  Noth whipped out her black scythe and slashed in a cross against the wall. Hal braced himself, expecting a loud cacophonous racket of the metal grating against stone.

  But there was no noise.

  A hush descended on the chamber as the far wall rippled and wavered like the image of the reflected sky when a pebble is tossed into a still pond. The illusion faded and revealed a blank wall, with an ancient stone archway set into it.

  A heavy tapestry hung over the archway. The repeating pattern of the Founder’s mark was picked out in shining gold thread atop the black cloth.

  Noth reached out to brush it aside but couldn’t budge the cloth. She tried again, dismissing her
scythe as she yanked on a fold with both hands.

  It might as well have been solid metal for all it moved.

  Seeing the symbol made Hal wonder. His mark hadn’t returned. He was so used to seeing the projection of golden light that he wondered if the mark was still there. A part of him hoped it was gone for good.

  Hal stripped the broken bracer off his left arm. He looked at his mark. Black ink, nothing more.

  “Help me with this, Hal,” Noth said, still trying to pull the tapestry aside.

  “I don’t think I’ll be able to help much anymore,” he said, reaching out with his left arm to show her the dull plain mark. It was nothing more than a tattoo.

  When he touched the curtain, it moved as easily as any heavy cloth might. Noth shot him a superior look. The shimmering marks on the cloth vanished, draining their golden magic back into his Founder mark. By the time the cloth was moved aside - barely a few seconds - Hal’s mark was glowing once more. Though it was no longer lifted off his skin.

  Noth stood aside, deferring to Hal. “I am just a witness,” she said.

  Hal swallowed past the lump in his throat and passed through the archway. The temperature dipped precipitously. His breath came out in thick white puffs.

  For once, he wished his vision was limited by the light of the Guild badge he still wore. With his Shadesight, Hal could make out everything before him. And the sight chilled his blood.

  The room he stood within was spacious and wide. Exactly thirty-seven steps descended down to a strip of ancient stone that he knew was thirty-seven paces wide before another equal set of stairs rose to a massive gate that dominated the wall it was set within.

  As he stood there, the room began to shift and groan like a sleeping giant roused from its hibernation. Another step sprouted from the stone at his feet, making for thirty-eight steps. The strip of pitted stone at the bottom grew slightly, and the stairs going up to a black stone gate gained another step as well.