Chapter 6: Descent
Disclaimer: I do not own Ragnarok Online or anything associated with it.
Elves. History suggests that before the human kingdom of Rune-Midgard was formed there was a thriving elvish kingdom on the main continent of the kingdom. Ancient elvish tomes have been found scattered around the kingdom and the Wizards' Tower in Geffen is built over ancient ruins that many believe to be elvish. Many of the sages residing in Yuno spend their entire lives deciphering elvish histories found in books. From the work of many scholars over many years, a speculated history of the elves has been composed. It is believed that the ancient elvish kingdom covered most of what is now the main continent of Rune-Midgard, and was based in what is today the city of Geffen. However, the demon lord Baphomet, upon entering the world, declared war on the elvish kingdom. Though the elves put up a tremendous fight and the demon army suffered many casualties in the process, Baphomet's infernal army ultimately laid waste to the elvish kingdom. However, before being driven into hiding by the demons, the elves managed to cast a powerful spell to temporarily seal Baphomet and the most powerful of his demons inside the ruins of Glast Heim. Few elves remain in the world today, and most remain in hiding. Some, though, travel the world and a few have even been known to settle in human cities.
Hero and Davon led their group to a small building near the river. The pair of guards standing at the entrance stood aside and allowed the group to enter the building. Inside the building was a hole leading into the ground with metal stairs descending out of sight. The two crusaders motioned for the group to follow them down the stairs. As they descended, Jela noticed that the stone steps he had been walking on had at some point become metal. No one spoke as they walked down the metal steps until they reached a metal ramp. As they descended the ramp, several members of the groups, who had never seen something like the culverts before, gasped in awe. The room they had entered was enormous; bigger than any room Aya, Jela, and most of the group had ever seen before. Tsunami, the assassin, and the two Crusaders were among the few who looked nonplussed at the sheer size of the room, and the group paused so that people could gape. Stretching out into the darkness, the room was a gigantic maze of metal platforms separated by water channels and connected by infrequently spaced metal bridges. Braziers placed on the platforms and the light shining from the surface through the surface door provided some illumination for the giant room, but overall the chamber seemed almost oppressively dark. Glancing around, Aya noted the forms of brown insects scurrying around on the platforms that made up the room. Hero and Davon stopped and turned to address the group once again.
"This is the top floor of the Culverts. The infestation problem isn't nearly as bad here as it is in the lower parts of the pipe network, so some of you younger people who don't have as much experience fighting monsters probably want to stay up here. Anyone who thinks they're strong enough is welcome to venture into the lower tunnels," Hero said to the group.
"We've sealed off most of the pipe networks to prevent the spread of the bugs, but a network has been left open on the far side of this room. That network will eventually take you down to one of the lowest levels of the Culverts, but if you're going I suggest you don't go alone. Barely any of the people who've gone into the lower levels have come back alive, and none of the ones that did went to the lowest level," said Davon as he gestured out into the darkness. "Anyway, you're free to come and go as you please. Just let us know if you find anything interesting." Davon finished speaking and the two crusaders walked off into the darkness toward where Davon had indicated the door to the lower levels lay.
The younger members of the group, such as the acolyte and the swordsman, immediately formed into a group and began debating whether to risk entering the open pipe network or to just stay on the upper level in safety. Without saying a word, the black-haired assassin woman walked off after Hero and Davon toward the lower levels. Tsunami turned to Aya.
"Well, time to get to work. It was nice talking to you and your boyfriend on the way here. See you around!" the wizard told them cheerfully as she turned and followed the crusaders and the assassin. Aya and Jela both went red, and Jela pretended he hadn't heard the wizard's statement. Tsunami walked away chuckling and, after their faces had turned back to normal colors, the thief and mage turned to each other.
"Let's follow them Jela!" said Aya, enthusiastically tugging on Jela's arm. "I'm sure we can handle a few bugs."
"Are you sure that's a good idea? We don't know what's down there..." replied Jela uncertainly.
"We'll be fine. You're here!" Aya exclaimed, continuing to pull Jela along.
"Fine, fine..." the thief conceded. As they walked towards the other end of the culverts, they quickly realized that moving around was more difficult than it had looked. They saw signs that there had once been several bridges connecting each platform to those around it, but obviously many of those bridges had rusted and fallen away. The result was that Aya and Jela had to take a long, circuitous path all the way around the platforms on their way to the path leading down. While they walked, they began to get an idea for how strong the thief bugs, as well as other creatures living within the Culverts, were.
"It didn't work!" Aya shouted as she attempted to cast Napalm Beat on a passing thief bug and watched as her spell seemed to pass right over the bug with no effect. Enraged, Aya lifted her staff and chanted a quick incantation. Several spears of ice materialized in the air around the thief bug, slammed into the insect, and exploded. Badly wounded but not quite dead, the bug growled and spun around to face the mage, intending to attack, when its life was ended by a quick thrust of Jela's dagger.
"I guess we know now that that spell doesn't work on these bugs," Jela said as Aya prodded the dead bug with her staff. "Looks like you're going to have to train some magic other than spirit spells."
"Yeah..." Aya said dejectedly. Working as a team, the two managed to make it to the other side of the Culverts fairly quickly and, after dispatching a pair of bats near the ramp leading down, Aya and Jela descended the ramp into the pipe line.
In a small workshop underneath the Yuno Sage Guild, the wizard Sigma practically slammed the ancient text he'd been working with on his sage friend Revaine's desk. He quickly flipped through the book and gestured to a particular page.
"I managed to get this book to open, and when I did I found this. The book is an old Elvish history book. I won't pretend to be fluent in Ancient Elven, but this one picture caught my eye. It gets me very worried about the situation in Prontera," said the wizard as he directed Revaine's attention to a large picture taking up nearly an entire page. The picture appeared to be a very large thief bug, but it had been colored gold by the elf who had written the book.
"It's just like the rumors from Prontera... A golden thief bug..." Revaine said as she stared at the picture. "If this is true, it could mean huge problems for Prontera."
"It isn't just this," said the wizard as he continued to flip through the book, pausing every time there was a picture. "Look at these. A king mummy, a queen bee, a huge wolf made out of ice. Where have you heard of things like this before?"
"These pictures all match rumors I've heard," the sage replied. "But no one's been able to prove any of these things exist." As Revaine spoke, Sigma swept the book off the desk and headed for the door.
"Come on, we've got to hurry to Prontera. We need to warn the Crusaders."
"Ok, just give me a second. I haven't traveled in a while, so I need to get a few things. I'll meet you outside the Guild in three minutes."
The wizard tucked the book into his robe and quickly walked out of the Sage Guild building. As he waited for Revaine, the wizard took a second to mutter a quick incantation. Four glowing balls of light appeared around the wizard's hand and hung suspended in the air. Sigma focused briefly on each of them, and as he did the orbs shot into the sky and out across Rune-Midgard. The sage, now carrying a large and heavy-looking blue book, ran up just as the glowing orbs disappeared over the horizon.
"What is that?" the wizard asked, glancing at the book Revaine was carrying.
"This is my weapon. Didn't I tell you how Sages are trained in the use of special magic books as their weapons?" the sage replied somewhat indignantly. Sigma chuckled and then spoke again.
"Well, let's hurry. Unless your "weapon" has a spell that'll put us halfway across the world in a second, we're going to need to get an acolyte and we need to do it soon." The two almost ran to the center of Juno and cornered the first acolyte they saw. After establishing that she could warp them to Prontera, Sigma practically threw a sack of money at her and, moments later, the wizard and the sage stepped through the glimmering blue gateway and out of the Sage City.
Deep beneath the fields of Prontera, Jela and Aya forged valiantly onward through the maze of pipes that made up the Prontera Culverts. As they worked their way deeper into the pipes, they noticed that many of the bugs they encountered were already dead, either charred beyond recognition or slashed into pieces by blades.
"Those other guys must already be ahead of us. We should try to find a path that they haven't taken so we can clear out more bugs," remarked Jela after they found a huge pile of frozen bugs with just one living one creeping around (which Aya finished with a fire spell). A few pipes later they discovered a four-way split in the pipelines. Within three of the pipes were signs that people had recently used the tunnels, but the fourth pipe, which led downward, held no signs of recent passage.
"Should we go down there?" asked Jela, indicating the unused passage.
"I dunno... Are you sure we're strong enough for this?" Aya responded uncertainly. "Maybe we should follow one of the others."
"But there won't be anything to fight in the other tunnels. We can take a bunch of bugs. Come on," said the thief. The two proceeded down the tunnel and into the darkness of the lower pipes.