I wanted to at least devote some attention to this fic during my break from City Shadows, so yeah, hope you guys enjoy it!
Pine pushed open the large doors to the tomb as light from Garnett's fireball lit up the interior in an instant. The light flickered as the fireball danced in Garnett's palm as the phoenix and his brothers entered the tomb. One the floor in the center of the tomb was a large oval with a line cutting through it and there triangles along the edge within the circle.
"Tilasm," Garnett said to himself, examining the crest. "Now, if I were hiding pieces of a map, where would I hide them? Ghost, take care of the lights," he ordered, extinguishing the fireball in his hands as Ghost formed little balls of light in his palm and spread them out across the room.
"Shouldn't we check the box?" Pine suggested.
"It's called a coffin, Pine," Garnett corrected, growing impatient with his younger brother. "Besides that is far too obvious." Garnett strolled around the room, examining the walls, ceiling and floor at every corner, making sure to look for anything out of the ordinary. When he fully circled the room, he had found nothing, but returned his attention to the Tilasm crest on the floor in the center of the room. "Hmmm, maybe…" he muttered to himself. Garnett held out his hand and emitted a concentrated beam of pure heat energy, cutting around the oval edge of the crest. "Pine," he called his brother over, who lifted the slab of rock out of the ground. Ghost stepped in to where the slab once sat and brushed the dirt away until he found the top of a small box. He cleared the dirt away with his hands, dirtying his white gloves in the process, and dug the box out. He handed it to Garnett before wiping the dirt off his gloves. "Ah, this is what we are looking for," he said, holding out a blank, ripped piece of paper. The paper was a pale gold color and very dry, indicating that it had been there for quite some time.
"A blank piece of paper? That's what we're looking for?" Pine asked, examining the paper over Garnett's shoulder.
"No, you idiot!" Garnett scolded, smacking Pine over the head.
"Ow!" he whined.
"The map is enchanted, Arch's work no doubt. The pieces will not reveal their contents until all the pieces of the map have been gathered and reunited," he explained. "This is just the first piece," he said, carefully tucking the piece into his wrist band. "We have five more tombs to find."
"How do you know where they are? It's like you already knew this one was here!" Pine exclaimed, as he and Ghost followed after Garnett as they left the tomb.
"Hmph, that's not important," he answered. "What is important is getting this map in one piece and finally getting what's mine. I've been waiting years to see that Orb again."
"Another great mission guys! Shamrock, you're really holding up well in the field!" Hope complimented as Team Scales returned from their latest mission.
"Thank you, Hope!" Shamrock smiled.
"Oh and uh, I've been monitoring communications looking for anything about a phoenix, yeti and rainbow serpent like you asked," Hope whispered.
"And?" Azure asked and she and her sisters gathered around Hope.
"Well, there have been sighting of three individuals matching the descriptions you gave me. A pyrokinetic phoenix, cryokinetic yeti and photokinetic rainbow snake aren't exactly common. There were a few reports of them heading east, but that's really all I've got."
"Where were they last spotted?" Sapphire asked.
Hope pulled up a map on her computer screen and zoomed in on an area. "The last report was about two days ago and they were spotted here just off the Mobian Jungle. From the looks of it, they're heading towards the water. What's going on guys? Who are these people and why did you ask me to keep an eye out for them?"
"They are our brothers," Sapphire answered as Shamrock cast her eyes down sadly.
"Brothers? I didn't know you guys had brothers."
"We have six," Azure added.
"Wow, that's a big family!"
"Anyway, thank you for this Hope. We really appreciate it," said Sapphire, as the sisters returned to their rooms.
"It's been over three months and Garnett only resurfaces now? What do you think he's up to?" asked Azure.
"He doesn't do anything without a reason. If he wanted to attack us or our home, he would have already," noted Sapphire.
"Yeah and with Umber in charge now and everyone standing behind him, Garnett's not stupid enough to attack when he knows he's outnumbered and outmatched," said Azure.
"Precisely, so then what is he planning?" Sapphire asked herself as she began pacing.
"You don't think he's looking for 'it', do you?" Azure asked meekly.
"Azure, don't be silly. The Orb is just a myth and even if it did exist, it's long gone now."
"But what if it's not just a myth? I remember Garnett would spend hours just talking about the Orb. Even if it's not real, Garnett believes it is!" Azure argued.
"What does the Orb do?" asked Shamrock.
"Legends told of how it could grant those of Mythos blood immense power. It could turn them… us into something greater: Titans," Sapphire explained.
"But it disappeared after Mythos died. Nobody knows where it is," Azure added.
"Or that it even existed in the first place," Sapphire interjected.
"Ok fine! But even if you don't believe it's real, Garnett does! What if he does find something? We can't take that risk."
"You're right, but," Sapphire sighed, looking over to Shamrock with worried eyes. "Shamrock, you don't have to come with us for this one. You've been doing so well with your therapy and I don't want to risk sending you into a downward spiral."
"H-he's going to hurt a lot of people, isn't he?" Shamrock asked quietly as her sisters nodded. "Well, then it's our job to stop him. He's our brother and our responsibility!"
"Shamrock, are you sure?" Sapphire asked, placing a hand on her sister's shoulder tenderly.
"I am," she affirmed. "Part of therapy involves facing your fears, confronting your demons. I'm ready to face my demon," she said confidently.
"Ok, we'll have to clear some things with Commander Towers before we head out. Whatever Garnett's planning, it can't be good," Azure said.
"Raph, how's the transcription going?" Umber asked, entering the Archives with a plate of fruit and glass of water.
"Ugh, remind me why I'm the head Archivist? I've been writing and transcribing all day! I think my hand's about to fall off!" she complained. Umber couldn't blame her; they had found many caches of old books and documents on the surface and Raph's desk was pilled with papers and pens.
"Well, I brought you some lunch since you didn't show up for our lunch date," he casually mentioned.
"Oh ancestors! I can't believe I forgot about that! I'm so sorry, Umber!"
"It's fine, really. Although, my pride is a bit wounded."
"Here, I think I can fix that," Raph said, standing up out of her chair and moving over to him. She took his hands in hers and planted a kiss on his lips. "There, better?"
"Haha, much. So what are you working on right now?" he asked, as Raph led him back to her work desk.
"Well, she said, taking a bite out of an apple from the plate Umber brought her, "right now I'm transcribing one of the journals that the Tilasm twins found."
"Who's journal is it?" he asked, leaning in close over her shoulder.
"Well, based on what I've managed to translate so far and the obvious give away of the crest on the front, Nekros," she said, showing him the black X mark and white skull emblem on the cover of the journal. The journal was still weathered and in bad condition, but they could just make out the crest.
"Nekros? As in House of Nekros Nekros? Necromancy Nekros?"
"Is there any other?" Raph giggled.
"Wow, a journal from one of the founders. What does it say?" he asked.
"Well, I just finished reading a part of her journal where she wrote how she finally mastered her necromancy powers. It turns out the only reason she wanted to master her powers was so she could talk to her lover who died long ago."
"Whoa, that's really sad," Umber said sincerely.
"Yeah, but then it goes on and she decides to do something good with her powers now that she's mastered them. But this passage I came to here is a bit strange."
"What's strange about it?"
"Well, it starts talking about how Mythos wanted her help with something but then it just cuts off to her writing about testing out the Chain. It's like there's a passage missing," she noted.
"Hm, well it is possible. These documents are pretty old so it's entirely possible that some things just got lost."
"Well, you can pretty much say that about our entire history and culture. But hopefully, that's going to change," she said, turning back to her documents.
"You've got a lot of work to do, I won't keep you."
"Thanks, and I promise I won't forget our lunch date tomorrow!" she promised.
"Maybe we should install some sort of clock or bell tower, you know so everyone knows what time it is," Umber thought out loud.
"That's actually a really good idea! Maybe Anubis can help you with that," she suggested.
"Yeah, I'll go talk to him about it."
Garnett and his brothers came up to the edge of a cliff that overlooked the ocean. As the wind picked up, Pine spoke up, "So, where's the next tomb?"
"There," Garnett answered, pointing to the water below them.
"In the water?"
"Isn't that's where I'm pointing? Arch always liked putting things in the most difficult and troublesome places. Where better to place her tomb than at the bottom of the ocean?" Garnett asked out loud. "And since none of us control water and my fire is useless here, we'll need to find another way down there."
"Uh Garnett, how come nobody else has ever found these tombs before? Since they've been here for so long?"
"The structures that make up the tombs are indestructible. Only a recognized form of Mythsetian magic may open the tomb's doors. Nothing else will grant entry. We must hurry, I don't want our siblings to be catching on to what we're doing."
Hope you guys enjoyed it. More to come soon hopefully! *fingers crossed*
