"I wonder... is there any treasure left here? I mean the grimm would ward off looters." I reasoned as we checked another building.
"You want to go looking? Maybe Oobleck will let us keep a few pieces if we find enough." She smiled.
"That would be nice." I twirled my jacks in between my fingers, thinking of what sort of exotic jewelry we could find.
"Then what are we waiting for!" She grabbed my wrist and ran further into the ruins in a flash of red and black petals.
We had just made the biggest mistake of the entire mission.
Chapter 59: Ruined past
We wondered deeper in the ruins, taking out any grimm we came across. The ancient city loomed around us. Claw marks scarred the stone from the battle that had once raged here. A battle who's war continued to this day. The shadows that fell upon us blocked the sun from the cracked stones beneath our feet. "What happened here?" Kyoka asked.
"If I had to guess, what always happens on Remnant, a Grimm get through the defenses, and the ensuing panic lures in more and more as the attack became to much for the warriors." I said as I kneeled down and picked up a ancient sword, the handle scales long gone. and felt the bronze blade. It felt slightly warm to the touch. "Fire dust casting." I said.
"How can you tell?" She asked as I passed her the blade.
"It's still warm, and very little tarnishing as the fire Dust particles in it burned off the impurities and anything that could eat at the blade, but those same crystals gave it a extra function, focus your aura into your hand." I instructed.
She closed her eyes and seemed to concentrate as her hand gripped the metal, the blade burst into a ball of flame for a second before it calmed down. "It's just like a fairy tale." She slowly spun the blade in her hand.
"The dust in there is imbedded in the alloy, chances are it was melted down twice to remove all impurities before the casting." I said as the flames extinguished it's self. "The same concept is used with dust forged steel nowadays. I don't really think a sword is your style." I said as she handed me the weapon.
"Your gonna keep it?" She asked.
"Well It's a weapon." I said as we looked into a another house.
"Right. It's you I'm talking too." She just shook her head. "What's this?" she brushed the dust off of something.
"What's what?" I asked as I looked in the other corner.
"It's a gold necklace with sharks teeth." I turned to her.
"Really, this far in land?" I walked over to her.
"Not really our style." She said as she put it in a bag before I took a photo of where it was.
"Oobleck would like to study it though." I said.
"Yeah." she smiled as we left the house and moved further into the before finding a central square. A massive central tree cracked and pushed stones in front of a stone gate, bronze hinges hung in the breeze where a once mighty door stood, the entrance to a ruined castle. Several stone kiosks formed a circle on one side of the open area. It was silent aside for the sounds of Bakugo in the distance.
"What could have done that?" I asked, most of the structure was destroyed, in fact, aside claw marks on the stones, every other structure was intact.
"Grimm?" Kyoka asked.
"Grimm do cause damage, but never an entire castle, even the wyvern at Beacon didn't cause this kind of destruction." I spotted a sword on the ground, the area around it scorched black, even to this day. I looked through the gates again as Kyoka picked up the second blade, jumping as it zapped her at her first touch. She tried again and wrapped the blade in a extra sweater before putting it in her pack. "Kaminari would like that." I said with a smirk.
"Oh be quite." She rolled her eyes. "I'm getting my own souvenir."
"Sure." I looked back at the castle and slowly walked towards it. "The best stuff has to be in there right?"
"Probably, though we should call in, it's been a while." She said as I pulled out my scroll and dialed Oobleck.
"Miss. Rose, what can I do for you?" The doctor asked.
"We've found what looks like the castle, it looks like all the upper floors are gone, but the lower levels and ground floor seem to be sturdy." I told him.
"Amazing, tell me have you found any artifacts?" He asked.
"Two bronze swords and a shark tooth necklace." I said as I spun mine in my hand.
"Simply fantastic. Shark's teeth were considered magical in ancient times, tell me is it silver or bronze that hold them together?" He asked.
"Gold."
"Gold? But gold is way to rare in this region, unless it was brought from outside this kingdom, or we under estimated the reach of this kingdom. Did you..."
"Ruby, come look at this." I looked over at Kyoka, she was standing behind one of the stone kiosks, in her hands was gold necklaces, rings, set with gems and dust crystals.
"Gold," I gulped as I picked up a pair of rings. A ruby set in each gleamed like blood.
"More gold?" he asked.
"Yeah. Tell me what was the name of the city from the tale of The God King and the Dark Lady?" I asked.
"Helen, the most bountiful and beautiful city to ever stand." He said as he caught on to my train of thought.
"Where traders come with jars full of gold to trade." I went to another stand, more gold in a jar, and even more in the next, they all had literal fistfuls gold jewelry and coins hidden from the world, kept in clay jars with inlaid gold. I brushed the dirt off of the top of the stone counter, I found more gold that was trapped in the dirt, their wooden displays long gone with age. "It's all gold."
"Did... we just find a legendary lost city?" Kyoka asked as she did the same with another stand, her fingers getting tangled in wolf tooth necklaces.
"This is fantastic! Wait right there!" He hung up as I sat on the old stones.
"Heroes and legends, this is the city that saw them all." I mused. "I grew up with fairy tales about this place... who knew it really existed?"
"Just how much is there?" Kyoka asked.
"If these were just left here... the treasury must be filled to the brim." I looked at Kyoka. "The Armoury may be untouched. Who knows what they have hidden in there!" I started towards to the castle with a skip in my step.
"Hey Ruby, he said to wait, it could be dangerous." Kyoka called out.
"Remember who your with." I smiled back her.
"Well... Oh fine, just a quick look."
Ruby, this is a bad idea. Pyrrha said in my head.
'How often do you find legendary lost cities?' I asked her.
Don't you feel it? Something here is just... wrong.
We walked a few dozen feet into the ancient structure, the sounds of our boots filling the ruined hall, at the end of the hall as a skeleton, bones broken and thrown against a wall, in it's had a staff with a crystal glowing on the end. as we walked to wards it, I felt the entire structure shudder.
"Salem... is that you?" A deep voice rumbled from below us.
"Ruby... what roars like that?" Kyoka asked.
"Roars? I heard a man." I turned to Kyoka.
"Ruby? So your not Salem. Your food." The ground gave way beneath.
We fell into the darkness below Helen. In to the pits of the forgotten past.