I don't own 10-2
You are the Quarry
Chapter 5
This is most favourable. I can push my revenge ahead now.
I was awake early awake as usual. The team taking over my job had been briefed, and their skills were adequate. The trio who played a part in last night shenanigans handed in their reports on time as well. I added mine finished at 7:30 this morning and arrived at the praetors office 10:59 sharp. Well fashionably late is just so last year.
"Good morning yer Praetorship. I have the incident reports form last nights fiend attack." Straight to the point
"I told you I'd handle it" He sounded almost angry
"Its no problem" Smile for the quarry
"I see" He sounded defeated "Anyways" Here comes the comeback "I take it you've heard of the Via Infinito"
"Yes" I had, I know a lot
"Tell me what you know"
Great he wants a recital
I breathe in
"The Via Infinito is a dungeon within the very bowels of these halls" Pause gauge reaction. Minimal "It is split in to floors numbered zero to infinity but is roughly 100. The floors are called cloisters a word associated with the trials of the Summoner in each temple. Every so often there is a great cloister which can jump to every other great cloister. Each great cloister is said to house a fiend of incredible strength as you go down. Each cloister you have to traverse an area and tackle puzzles with increasing complexity to reach the end of the floor which gives you passage to the next." Pause he seems interested
"The Via Infinito itself is an anomaly with its floors shifting t random so you can be at the same point with a different task to complete. But although each floor is random. There seems to be a set of pre-designed layouts needing increasing skill to successfully traverse. They are simple as walking a path to having to use a series of switches to activate the exit.
"Recently the founder of New Yevon Lord Trema (Must be respectful) disappeared into this maze with a great many sphere supposedly housing a history of Spira. Lord Trema became an unsent and was defeated by the Gullwings. What happened is unknown. And apparently the accessory 'Charm Bangle' doesn't work which forces you to be on your guard at all times. However each floor has a platform which restores you HP and MP and lets you be returned to the entrance of this maze and can return you to the deepest cloister reached"
"Excellent, now I want you to starting at the bottom to search all the floors for any information on the location of the spheres. Your mastery of the time mage allows you to see memories am I correct?"
"Yes yer Praetorship"
"And I take it you understand the risk involved in this venture"
"I do" You're a little slow mate
"Of coarse I will not let you go in without adequate equipment" Whats he getting at?
"My crystal bangle and ribbon have served me well sir" Confidence...
"I am loaning you the Iron Duke, the most powerful and rarest accessory in the world"
"Ah thank you sir" I added the accessory to my wrist "How many spheres are you looking for?"
"According to the records 400 I know of but the records are poor" Hes not the greatest liar ever
"There may be more" Hes playing a game
"Yes" A consideration, he knows exactly how many more. It's a test
"Is that all then sir?" Hurry him along I want to get to work
"For now, this lift allows access to the entrance, press 4, 6, 1, 2 to reach the entrance room. Access the floor counter next to the teleporter to select which floor you want to go to. Report in the mornings at nine and leave at five I will be here. If there are any breakthroughs then exit and come straight here under the pretence of an appointment as you are doing some errand work and helping in the running I will see you as soon as possible. In the Via Infinito you are on your own so Good Luck"
"Thank you sir" I nodded curtly and pressed in the code he had given me, awful lot of fuss over the spheres. Probably political manuvering. He probably will keep close tabs on me. And Good Luck? I make my own thank you very much.
I travelled through each of the great cloister to lay groundwork to make my job here easier. Since the floors here are not fixed I'll have to use a spell to fix them so that I may have an easier time locating the spheres. I also believe it's the shifting that allows fiends into this place. As I lay the groundwork spells which I would weave into a master spell I can feel all of the warps and the power in the halls. Quite simple its not fixed in space and time. Well Infinity is a condition.
So hopefully this spell will remove it from space and time and fix the floors in place which'll stop fiends entering.
Trema was the first man to come here in centuries. And for a man of smarts he was simple, always with the prize in the safe. Second guessers put the prize in the box next to the safe; thinkers put the prize nowhere near the safe. Trema was vain and prideful; huge monster guards, Paragon for example, his ability to control fiends was unrivalled and possibly unique.
As I landed on floor Infinity, a highly creepy place I half expected Paragon to be lurking about. This is a somewhat creepy place all stonewashed hues and pyreflies. I pushed that away and pulled all of the spells together into one single spell that will hold its form. It'll feed of the energy it used to shift that now holds it in one form
Step one complete
Now to get down to some proper work.