"Here they come! Stop them from getting out and surrounding-!"
Ruby didn't bother letting Weiss finish, she knew that when outnumbered the best way to deal with an enemy was to bottleneck them. That was strategy one-o-one!
Without a second thought, the girl threw herself forward dodging past her teammates where as she ripped her scythe off her back, and slammed it into the first skeleton, cutting off its arm in a single strike!
"Oh yeah! How do you like that?!" Ruby called tauntingly, ripping her scythe back and readying herself for another swing, this time aiming to take off the things head.
However as she pulled it back, there was a sudden scream of surprise from behind, followed immediately by the back of her weapons hitting something, putting her off balance.
"Wha?!" The dark haired girl cried, looking back to see Weiss had been knocked prone, having been hit by Ruby's backswing, her rapier knocked from her hands while at the same time, putting the fighter off balance.
"Hey! Watch it! I'm fighting here!" Ruby cried angrily, regaining her balance and quickly trying to recover, this time swinging her weapon in an arching movement, aiming to bring it down onto the skeleton's head, cutting it in two.
But this time, she was greeted with a hiss, her weapon this time being paired out of its arc, knocking the girl off balance again and sending her crashing to the ground! Hitting her tailbone with a cry of pain.
"Watch where you're swinging!" An angry voice called, making the girl look up to see Blake glaring down at her, both blades drawn, standing right in the way of her attack, immediately infuriating the girl as she realized the Rogue was the reason for her failed attack.
"You got in my way!" The girl cried immediately, jumping to her feet and picking up her weapon. "I would have finished that guy if you hadn't sucker punched me! Low blow even for a rogue!"
Eyebrow twitching at this, Blake immediately took a step towards the girl, gesturing toward her scythe.
"A weapon that big isn't going to be useful in tight spaces! It would be better if I went in and dealt with the ones at the entrance and you cut up any that got past. It makes more sense to let me, the one with weapons designed for close range combat to handle the close range."
"Excuse you, but I think you're forgetting the obvious!" Weiss snapped, she too getting to her feet, snatching up her sword as she did. "In case you both can't read, skeletons are weak to magic! Therefore, it makes the most sense for me to deal with them while they're all crammed into this tiny corner and I can hit them all at once! Attacking with blades will only waste our time and-!"
"Oh shut up!" Ruby snapped, stomping her foot in frustration. "You couldn't even get out of the way of my backswing! I'm here to recover a box, now save a novice adventurer! You stay back and buff the party like a proper bard!"
"We're both novices!" Weiss shot back, sending an icy glare at Ruby. "And for your information you dunce, bards can do so much more than buff a party! Just because you're too narrow minded to see something doesn't mean it doesn't exist!"
"I'm not narrow minded!" Ruby yelled back. "And don't call me dunce! I'll have you know, I've been training in the woods since long before I got my license! Not whatever cushy training hall your parents-!"
But before she could finish, suddenly, a massive come of flames shot forth, blasting right past the girl and the elf, forcing them to roll backwards to avoid the blast as it shot into the passageway, scorching the skeletons at the entrance, turning them to dust with the incredible heat.
"Hey, if you two are done with your lover's spat, there's fightin to be done!" Yang cried, a massive grin across her face as the remnants of her attack trailed from her mouth in the form of steam. "Better clear the way, cause I'm coming in!"
With that, the blond barbarian let out a battle cry, charging in as the remaining Skeletons came charging from the dark hole.
Exchanging one last annoyed glare, Weiss and Ruby both immediately rolled to their feet, leaping up as they snatched up their weapons. Neither were quite done with the other, but unfortunately now the skeletons had escaped the staircase meaning they had to take them out quickly.
Taking a few steps back, Ruby glanced around to make sure this time nobody was in her way before she swung her scythe in a massive arch, slashing three of them as they ran at her, cutting clean through the first two spines and catching the last on her blade, letting her swing it up and around, dropping it down onto the floor, crushing it immediately under the weight of her weapon.
Seeing this, the five other skeletons let out a gurgling cry, charging her with their swords drawn, making the girl smirk.
Spinning her weapon around behind her, Ruby reached down under her cloak and ripped out a crossbow, quickly shooting one in the head, knocking it off and sending it tumbling to the floor where it was crushed by the other's feet.
With one more down, Ruby quickly put her bow back into its holster on her waist before swinging her scythe around, cutting off the legs of two before spinning it around, smashing one in the head crushing its skull before jumping back, dodging the swing from the last.
Having taken down seven opponents in rapid succession, Ruby felt pretty good right now. Daring a quick check, the young fighter glanced over at her teammates to see how they were faring.
After scanning the battlefield, she (not surprisingly.) couldn't find Blake anywhere, just various damaged skeletons toward the hallway to the fake throne room that seemed to be looking around confused. Meanwhile, Yang was still standing right at the entrance, gleefully batting down the undead with her axe, reducing them to dust as effortlessly as her breath attack head.
Weiss on the other hand, and much to Ruby's smug satisfaction, was having a much harder time dealing with the mass of bones.
She had backed into the corner of the room, fighting atop a some stairs that probably once held the throne, dueling two with her rapier, trying to keep them away as she lost ground, her piercing weapon rendered practically useless as her opponent's didn't bleed, and the many holes throughout their frame making just getting a stab in difficult for the elf.
Now, Ruby normally wasn't the kind of person who enjoyed watching another person struggling, but between the elf's attitude and some of the harsh comments she had made prior, she certainly wasn't in much of a hurry to rush in and help the girl.
And as she glided back effortlessly, the elf, sensing her gaze, looked up to see the girl, her eyes going wide as she looked at her, clearly shocked at how effortlessly the girl she had chastised had so easily taken care of nearly four times as many opponents as-.
"Look out!"
Immediately Ruby's eyes widened in surprise as the elf bellowed out a warning, catching her off guard and making her brain stop in its tracks. What was she talking-?
Suddenly, a hand shot up, grabbing the end of her scythe, immediately causing the girl to stumble, her balance thrown off by the sudden added weight.
Looking down, Ruby immediately let out a squeak of shock as she saw one of the skeletons from her first round, one she had cut in half but hadn't smashed, had dragged itself across the ground, closing the distance between from behind and her weapon.
Panicked, Ruby immediately tried to wrench her weapon free, kicking the creature's head, sending it flying off and into the nearby wall, smashing it to pieces. However, the undead monster remained unfazed, still clinging to her weapon holding it in place.
"Let go!" Ruby cried, this time kicking it arm, breaking it off letting her rip her weapon away, stumbling back as she tried to put distance between herself and the clinging bag bones.
But in doing so, she had sent herself hurling toward the advancing skeletons, putting herself well within the of their swords, and out of range of her scythe.
Something the mindless horde was quick to capitalize on.
Lashing out with their weapon, Ruby had just enough time to dodge the blade being thrust towards her face, escaping with just a scrape on her cheek as she used the pull of her weapon to smash the creature's neck off, sending its head crashing to the ground.
But before it had even hit the floor, Ruby immediately let out a cry of pain as cold steel was thrust through her side, making a clean stab into her stomach, blade sticking in her skin as the young girl stumbled back.
It was the headless one, the one she had shot off. Despite the injury, the undead had continued its charge, following its partners and attacking in unison with it, catching the girl off guard and landing a blow.
Staggering back, Ruby immediately tried to counter attack, swinging her scythe to crush the two adversaries! But as she did, two more skeletons leapt forward, landing right onto the metal of her weapon right below the blade, holding it down making it impossible for her to swing as they gripped the ground as tightly as the weapon!
"No!" Ruby cried, trying desperately to free her weapon. But she was too slow as the next second, a burning pain erupted from her side as the skeleton's blade found its mark, striking her right in the shoulder, sending her staggering back, her weapon slipping from her hand as she hit the ground, blood dripping from her wounds.
Crying out in pain, Ruby toppled to the ground, forcing the blade still in her stomach deeper into her gut, causing her to start coughing as she felt her entire body screaming in agony as she struggled to free herself from the steel.
But long before she could, she found the two headless skeletons bearing down on her, ripping their weapons out as they raised them high into the air, aiming to land a killing blow.
Fear quickly overtaking her, Ruby immediately scrambled back, trying to reach her fallen weapon. Only for the two skeletons on top of it to lunge for her, blades outstretched, keeping the girl back, trapping her between the four, circling her as they made light stabs, trying to force an opening to move in and finish the fight.
But before any of them could land the killing blow, there was movement from behind Ruby as the girl threw her hand up to shield her face, making her miss the grand entrance of Blake. Who seemingly appeared out of nowhere, bringing her twin blade down, cutting off the hands of the two standing skeletons before quickly grabbing Ruby and pulling her back, away from the other two legless opponents could stab the girl.
"Blake?!" Ruby cried in surprise, her eyes widening at her savior as they slid to a corner of the room, the Tabaxi taking a more defensive stance as she faced down her opponent.
"If you have the energy to thank me, get up and fight!" The girl replied, a nervous bead of sweat running down her face. "More are coming!"
Eyes widening at this statement, Ruby immediately jerked her head to look over at the staircase, her heart stopping as she saw the rogue was right as more Skeletons were crawling out of the passageway, like a seemingly endless wave of bodies down there that were being risen to fight off the intruders, something that definitely didn't seem normal.
"They been risen by a necromaner!" Weiss yelled from atop the podium where the throne was supposed to go, managing to pin the swords of her opponents with her at the same time, gracefully twisting them out of their hands before with a flick of her wrist, she sent them flying high into the air. "They've been placed here to act as sentries to guard whatever lies below! Most likely by the cult before they-ahhh!"
The young elf was cut off as one of the skeletons lashed out with their arm, striking her across the face, pointed finger bone ripping it open causing blood to leak out of her cheek as she tumbled back, hitting the wall on the far side.
"Damn it. There's to many of them." Yang snarled as she crushed one of the skeletons under her boot. Being the closest to the stairs, she was the one trying to keep them back, doing her best to beat them back down the tunnel so they couldn't attack her all at once.
Unfortunately, this made the blond a huge target, as every skeleton had to get through her before they could join the fight. And as a result, her hardened scales were carved in cuts and blemishes, leaking blood from each and every injury.
"We need to retreat." Blake cried as she cut down one of the advancing skeletons, cutting its arm off before booting it in the chest, snapping its spine as it was sent tumbling back. "If we don't get out of here, we're-! Ahh!"
The girl broke off with a scream as an arrow flew past the Dragonborn, scoring her in the shoulder causing her to stumble back, blood leaking from her injury as that arm fell to her side.
"Blake!" Ruby yelled, drawing the attention of the Dragonborn, who immediately made her eyes flashed red as she turned back to face the staircase, steam pouring from her mouth as she let out an angry roar.
"Stupid undead! Stay buried, why don't ya?!" She screamed before blowing out another blast of flames, sending it straight down the tunnel, roosting them with a blast so powerful, it sent the closest one tumbling back, causing the Dragonborn to grin cockily.
But her victory was short-lived.
The young woman's breath attack was cut off suddenly, as one of the skeletons had jumped off the podium, driving a spear into her back, piercing the scales and making her cry out in pain stumbling forward as more skeletons ran at her from all sides, blades pointed at the Dragonborn, including from down below.
Suddenly, a boom of thunder suddenly resounded through the area as lightning burst out from the throne's podium blasting the skeletons up there off, sending them crashing down to the ground several feet away, breaking apart as Weiss flew through the air, effortlessly closing the distance between herself and Yang, landing a powerful kick to the monster on her back, knocking it off before landing gracefully next to her, directing her sword towards the staircase.
Immediately, a second thunderous boom echoed out as lightning shot from the top of her blade, burning the advancing skeletons to ash as they were trapped in the tunnel.
"Hey brute! Cover my back! I'll take care of the ones down here!" Weiss yelled over her shoulder. "I'll bottleneck them here, destroy all the others then we can focus on-!"
But that was as far as she got as suddenly, from right beneath her own feet, a blade shot out, stabbing her through the foot, causing her to cry out, dropping to one knee.
"Weiss!" Yang cried, watching in horror as the girl was forced to use her own sword as a walking stick as she pulled her foot off the steel and tried to scramble away.
Unfortunately it was too late, smashing through the stone of the throne room, several boney hands shot out from the ground, ripping and tearing at the floor, peeling it away to reveal a mass of skeletons clawing themselves out from what looked like part of a collapsed structure's base.
"Shit!" Yang snarled, swinging her axe down, cutting off several hands off the mass as she looked down into the hole with an expression of utmost horror before immediately turning to the two farther away members of the party.
"The entire basement's collapsed!" She screamed. "And right now, the skeletons are staking themselves on top of each other! Using their own body mass as a pillar! We're surrounded!"
No sooner than the words left her mouth, suddenly the horrific sound of fingernails scraping against filled the air, drowning out everything else as what must have been fifty boney hands shot out from below the stone, their arms clawing at the rock in an attempt to break enough of it to squeeze through, letting what must be tens of thousands of skeletons surface. More than enough to overrun even an entire army!
"Time to go!" Ruby screamed as she slashed down two more, her adrenaline numbing her pain as she and Blake made a run for the hole in the wall they had come through. Behind them, Yang and Weiss used lightning and fire to blast a path through the skeletons and quickly followed their companions, the Dragonborn bringing up the rear to cover the elf.
But before they could reach it, a sudden screeching sound filled the air as more hands ripped through the floor, this time right in front of the hallway leading to the exit. Right on the path to their way out. This sounded different to the sound of the skeletons clawing at the stone, this sound closer to rock dragging against rock, like something massive was moving just below their feet.
Then, without much more warning, a massive stone blade shot out of the ground, blocking the only way out and bringing the four adventurers to a screeching halt.
"W-what is that?" Blake murmured as she stared up at the stone blade, her mouth hanging open as she lowered her arms, stuck into shock at the sheer madness going on around. A shock she only snapped out of when Ruby let out another scream.
"Doesn't matter right now! Run!" She yelled, grabbing the rogue by the hand and running in the opposite direction, practically bumping into Weiss and Yang as they found themselves in the center of the room.
Immediately, the four spun on their hell, turning to one of the windows toward the front of the building, hoping to throw themselves out that way, taking a few broken bones of the certain death that awaited them if they stayed.
But when they had darted for the hallway, the Skeletons had closed their ranks, now they had formed an impenetrable wall between them and any alternative escape routes, blocking them in from all sides.
"We're trapped!" Ruby cried, backing up as she leveled her weapon at the advancing horde.
"Yeah, thanks for the insight, genius!" Weiss snapped back, she too leveled her weapon at the undead soldier, keeping her remaining weight on her good foot. "Any other brilliant observation or can I die in peace without you being the last thing I hear!"
Scowling at the elf, Ruby bit back her retort about not being thrilled to die next to her, opting instead to start brainstorming why to get out of this mess before they all meet an untimely end at the hands of a paranoid bunch of lunatics and their ridiculous inventions!
But before she could think of anything, there was a rumble behind her.
"Look out!" Blake screamed as the stone blade came crashing down. Unfortunately, her warning was too late. And while she and Weiss were outside of the attack range, Ruby wasn't so lucky.
Splitting apart the entire castle, the stone blade swung down, slashing straight through the floor next to the red fighter, catching the girl in the shockwave as the entire floor of the throne room collapsed, send them, the skeletons, and several times worth of rocks and stones tumbling into the bit below, filling the air with their screams as they plummets to near certain death.
Or at least most of them did.
"La, la la, la la la."
A soft melody reached Ruby's ears, drawing her attention as she plummeted to her doom. Looking to her right she saw Weiss had pulled her lute from her back, striking a few cords as she let out a soft, but fast wordless song. Immediately creating sympathy between her voice and her instrument as her body seemed to glow, something that the other members of the party quickly joined in to their immense surprise.
But before they could ask, there was a sudden jolt as their descent started to slow, turning what was certain death into a soft ride down causing the team to look around confused.
"Umm. What's going on?" Yang asked as she looked around, her eyes wide as she looked at her glowing body. "Why aren't we falling? We didn't die, did we?"
"This is Feather Fall." Blake said, her own eyes wide in surprise. "A spell that slows the caster's choice of person or object. But I thought only Sorcerers and Wizards could cast it. I didn't think a Bard would have access to it."
"Essentially one like that." A certain Dragonborn added unhelpfully.
But as Blake and Yang continued their conversation, but Ruby found herself staring dumbfounded at the Bard as they slowly fell, eyes transfixed on the girl as she glowed in a radiant pale blue light, her long hair trailing back behind her as she sang softly, her voice magnified by the large empty chamber they were falling into.
Adding to her stunning appearance was the fact her eyes were closed, giving her an air of peace that, if Ruby was being brutally honest, she would never have dreamed of seeing on the sour girl's face. And when you added the way her magic made her body glow a giant blue with speckles of white that appeared and disappeared at will like stars in the sky, the young fighter could only think of a single word to describe the girl as she saw her now.
"Beautiful."
At this, while Ruby had meant only to think that, she had apparently failed as the elf's eyes shot open, the tranquility of the moment shattered as she rounded on the human, snapping at her as her cheeks turned red for the compliment.
"Never mind that, you dolt!" She yelled, breaking the others out of the trance. "Incase you haven't noticed, I've fixed one problem, but as you'll notice if you look down, we have another, much bigger one that isn't going to be solved with a single spell!"
At her warning, the three other members of the party looked down, immediately making their hearts jump into their throats at what they saw below them.
"Oh shit!" Yang cried at the army of skeletons crawling around on the floor. Many from the throne had been destroyed from the fall, but the one who had formed the massive pillars had climbed down one another to ambush the adventurers on the bottom floor, brandishing blades as they stared up at the slowly descending group.
"There's too many! We don't stand a chance." Blake said, her eyes wide as she scanned the area for a safe point to hold up, finding none. "We need to get out of here now! No way we can fight a couple hundred opponents at once!"
"But maybe we don't have too." Ruby murmured quietly, then she spun around to face Yang, her eyes wide as she let out a shout. "Yang, how long can you maintain your fire breath?!"
"Huh?" The Barbarian turned to the girl, her confusion slowing her reaction time. "Oh! Only a few seconds of sustained heat, but if I weaken the flames I could potentially maintain it for a couple minutes. But at those temperatures, it wouldn't incinerate bone."
"That's fine!" Ruby called back, plunging her hand into her backpack, rummaging around for a few seconds. "Just be ready to fire on my signal! I'm gonna give you a way to turn all of them to ash!"
Before the Dragonborn could ask, Ruby pulled out a large flask of lantern oil. Then, crossing her fingers and praying it would be enough, threw it into the air, letting it fly towards the center of the room above the Skeletons' head.
Spinning mid air, the girl whipped out her crossbow and loaded a bolt before taking aim. Squinting in the dark to see, she took a deep breath to steady her aim before pulling the trigger letting the projectile fly whistling through the air, hitting the flask and shattering it instantly, causing oil to rain down in a large area, covering several Skeletons.
"Ruby!"
Looking up, the young Fighter smiled as she saw her team had picked up on her plan, each of them pulling out their own oil and hurling towards a different group of the undead, aiming for the largest amount of spread they could get.
Seeing this, the young girl immediately loaded another bolt, firing it into each of the flasks, shattering them and drenching the skeletons under them in oil, completely covering the floor of the room with the liquid.
"Now!" Ruby screamed, making the Dragonborn grin.
"Oh hell YEAH!" Yang yelled. Immediately, the young woman's eyes flashed red as her body began to glow gold as her skates lit up as flames began to course through her body, her chest expanding as she took a deep breath before releasing a huge blast of fire, shooting down completely incinerating the skeletons at the point of impact and sending out sparks that ignited the oil, turning the entire floor into a burning inferno!
As smoke and heat began to rise, Ruby drew her scythe as she grabbed Weiss by the waist and dug it into the wall, slowing their descent until they came to a complete stop, hanging above the pit of flames.
Meanwhile, Blake had used the time after she had thrown her flask to tie a rope around her two blades, turning them into makeshift grapples which she immediately threw in two different directions. One she stuck into the wall, letting her momentum carry her to the side, eventually slowing her descent until she came to a complete stop.
The other however, she had thrown at an angle, letting it wrap around Yang's waist, catching the Dragonborn as well, letting her swing to the side with the Rogue. Bumping safely into the wall as she continued to spray fire from her mouth as she hung above the pit, watching the skeletons turn to ash.
And as her breath attack came to a close, the four adventurers were left hanging safely above the burning undead, watching them slowly disappear.
"Well, that was close." Ruby said, wiping some sweat from her brow. "Now we just wait for them to burn up. Then we continue with our quest."
"Seriously? You're still thinking about continuing?!" The Elf tucked under her arm snapped, glaring up at the girl who held her. "We almost died from those stupid undead! Which I remind you, was the first line of defense in this place! Something that is conveniently missing from that Wizard's notes! And while I may not be an expert on human cults, this seems a little beyond what a single doomsday organization should be able to do! Who knows what's waiting further below! This sentimental relic isn't worth getting killed over!"
"Don't really think that's an option anymore." Blake said from across the room, drawing the Elf's attention as she gestured to the room below them. "When…whatever caved in the floor, they took out the stairs as well. So technically, we don't have a way out even if we want to."
"Humph!" Weiss huffed, folding her arms and looking away, trying to appear dignified despite hanging from the air tucked under Ruby's arm, not having anything else to add to the conversation and choosing to go silent instead, letting Ruby let out a sigh of relief. As grateful as she was to the Elf for saving their lives, she was still somewhat terrified of the smaller girl.
"So, speaking of that, what even attacked us?" Ruby asked, quickly changing the conversation. "I mean, I'm no expert on ancient ruins, but if I didn't know any better, that looked like a weapon pulled from a statue. Like, what's even strong enough to do that?"
Looking over at the Fighter somewhat, Blake slowly shifted her position, letting her turn her rear towards a corner of the room, her tail flicking towards it before straightening out to point to something on the upper part wall.
"My guess would be that." She said, making Ruby turn and squint at what the Tabaxi was talking about. And while she couldn't see any details, she could just make out a shadowy shape of something massive either built into, or clinging to the wall.
"What is that?" Ruby asked, making the Dragonborn roll her eyes.
"Seriously? You don't know what that is? Look a bit closer, you dweeb. It's kinda hard not to." She said in a somewhat condescending manner, which was a bit irksome considering she was hanging by a rope wrapped around her waist.
"Hey! Not everyone has Darkvision!" Ruby shot back, her face turning slightly red from embarrassment. "I can't help I'm a pure human! That was literally up to my parents for falling in love with each other and..you know! Doing the deed! Not my fault my entire species is bori-!"
"La, la, La."
Before Ruby could finish, the soft voice of Weiss followed by a couple strokes of her lute drew her attention back down to the Elf, her eyes widening as four beautiful orbs of white light appeared around before they shot out, hovering high in the sky a few feet above them, illuminating the darker areas letting the human see what exactly they were talking about.
And what she saw made her jaw drop.
There, clinging onto the upper part of the wall was a huge stone statue.
It was humanoid, with two arms and two legs, but the head of a jackal with a broken wolf's tail attached to its rear, making it a clear depiction of Manta, a guardian of the sacred realm and one of the four divine beings of the Astral Realm, an entire that was most heavily involved with defense, protection, and divine intervention.
It had many different forms depending on the culture you found the depiction, but this one seemed to have been pulled from the Atlesian depiction as it carried an unnecessary and almost comically large number of weapons that nor entity, deity or not, could justifiably weld. Including a long, bladed polearm that it had drawn and held with one hand, one that was now dug into the floor as if it had just finished a swipe.
"That…a really weird spot for a statue." Ruby commented, staring at the stone figure. "I mean, doesn't Manta represent defenses? Shouldn't he be, I don't know, standing in front of a door or something, stopping people who want to get by? He won't be able to defend anything from way up there."
"I don't think he was built there." Blake said, her gaze fixed on something below the statue. And following her gaze, the others saw what she was referring too.
Running up the wall were several massive handprints, as if the statue had climbed up to that position from the ground, digging its huge fingers in as the wall had no handholds, scaling it with terrifying expertise like a monkey.
But what made their blood freeze in their bodies' was that the head of the statue was turned in such a manner to stare right at them. Its blank, unmoving eyes fixed on them in a way that definitely didn't look natural, mouthing hanging open in a deep snarl that even for a guardian deity of defense was far too unsettling for any stonecutter to make.
"W-what is that? Some kind of automaton?" Ruby breathed, her eyes fixed on the statue, a noticeable shake in her voice, something that the other members of the party both noticed and shared in, their own concern raising with their fears verbally expressed.
Well, all except one.
"Well let's find out!" Yang screamed, swinging on the rope as she turned toward the statue, pulling her axe back as she took aim, ignoring Blake's chastising yell as the Tabaxi felt her arm shift under the incredible weight of the Dragonborn's movement as she hurled her weapon straight into the statue's face, stabbing the blade right in between its eyes.
Immediately the whole party took a sharp breath, eyes wide as they watched some parts of the stone crumbling from where the axe was buried. Their eyes wide staring as they waited from the thing to come to life and kill them as they hung helplessly over a sea of flames.
But when a few seconds passed and nothing happened, they let out their breath, relief washing over them as they felt their hearts start to slow back toward something resembling a normal pace.
Well, all except one of them.
"Welp, that was a disappointment." Yang commented, shifting into a more relaxed position, grinning at the others. "Though I suppose it's probably for the best. After all, if that thing had come alive, we'd have a pretty ugly…face off!"
Yang's pun was met with a volley of groans and facepalms from her teammates, as well as a thrown rock by the dangling Elf who followed up with a series of insults spoken in the girl's native tongue, leaving the Dragonborn cackling as the flames below them reduced the skeletons to ash.
?
Alain Bobichy opened his eyes as a sound drew him out of his meditation. Slowly getting up on the altar where he had been kneeling, he looked back towards the entrance to the underground cathedral he sat in, looking over the many empty pews that stretched all the way to the back of the underground place of worship.
The room was dark, lit only by a few scattered touches with shadows dancing at the edges of the light. The eerie silence not even broken by the footsteps of the people above him.
In an environment like this, a normal human would have been practically blind, but to the old man, it was a simple utter a small spell to give his eyes Darkvision, letting hime search the room without any difficulty.
But even with his magic and hundreds of years of experience, he couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. In fact, as he scanned the area, he couldn't see anything that had even been moved since he had last held a meeting down here. Yet he knew a false alarm from a real one. So what had-?
"Hmm, hhm hmm."
Immediately the old man's head shut up, eyes widening in surprise as a humming sound echoed out from behind him, filling the chamber with its awful, terrifying melody. The tone was soft, light, jovial even. Yet what it signaled would still send a chill through even the most hardened adventurers' heart, making them throw down their weapons as they fled in fear from the source.
But even with knowing what followed that fateful sound was, the old man didn't react fearfully, simply lowering his hand and shaking it, letting out a soft chuckle as he did.
"Well, I guess I should have seen this coming." He said quietly to himself before turning around to face the source of the sound. "And to what do I owe the pleasure? Surely a man such as you has better things to be doing with his time than reminiscing with the old man he betrayed."
There, standing practically back to back with the old man was someone who definitely wasn't there before.
The person before him had the form of a human male in his forties, dressed in fine silks and jewels, with a royal red cape hanging from his back that had black velvet sown into the hem. Combine that with his short, well kept dark hair that lay flat against his head and high cheekbones, one could easily mistake this handsome man as nothing more than a rich noble, but his piercing red, soulless eyes told a very different story.
Sure, right now, they held something akin to amusement, but from his many encounters with the man before, the old Wizard knew far better. For no matter how good he got at pretending, he knew there's was no emotion this…thing could feel.
No emotion except sadistic joy at another's suffering.
"Come now old man, is that any way to treat an old friend?" The man asked, turning his head slightly to look at the doctor out of the corners of his eyes. "We haven't seen each since you transferred most of your soul into the strapping young man. Those given the similarity in your name, I suppose that must have been a gift from Fate himself. After all, I couldn't think of a more perfect vessel for you, doctor…"
The man paused here as he pressed his finger we childishly into his lower lip, eyes staring off into space as he thought.
"You know what, I honestly can't remember what this one's name is." He said, raising his arms and carelessly shrugging his shoulders as he closed his eyes. "So you I'm sure you won't mind if I call you by your original name, will you, Oz?"
The old man, Oz, said nothing, simply chuckling as he took a step forward, standing next to the man looking up at the three murals that cover the wall above the alter, eyes fixing on each one in turn. And while they were greatly faded, he could still remember each one with perfect clarity.
"What do you think? Time hasn't been kind to them, has it?" He asked, gesturing to the faded paintings. "I still remember the day it was painted, immortalizing our victories all those centuries ago. Hard to believe how much has changed since then."
At this, the man let out a snort, rolling his eyes as he too looked up at the paints.
"Oh please, we haven't changed, you did." He replied shortly. "I still remember all the times we went out into the world. Armies trembled at the mere mention of us, throwing down their weapons and pleading for mercy. Practically throwing their comrades at us in an attempt to save themselves. And now hardly anyone even remembers our names."
"As all history should. Nothing lasts forever, not even those who transcend time itself." Oz said without missing a beat, eyes fixing on the right most image, his mind immediately depicting the one who occupied it, or what she was at the time it had been painted. And how her complete change had set everything in motion, shattering what they had once been.
Following his gaze, the young man let out a chuckle, stuffing his hands into his pockets.
"Really? How long are you going to stay sentimental over that broken thing? She's not coming back." He taunted, not bothering to hide his smirk. "Might as well forget about her. Like she's done with you. Probably fucking herself silly now that she take any man she wants and throw them away once she's done."
Oz said nothing, not raising to the obvious bait being thrown his way. Instead shifting his gaze to the left most image, remembering the other man who had changed Remnant forever, the one who was almost indistinguishable from the man who now stood beside him, plotting and scheming his next horrible act, taking pure joy in watching others struggle in insurmountable pain.
But instead of being that up, the old man decided to poke somewhere else instead.
"You know you can't beat her. Neither of us can." He said calmly, not taking his eyes off the image. "For all my men and your tricks, neither of us can do anything but delay the inevitable. After all, she's entered a realm beyond us, outside of the reach of reason, or empathy. Or violence."
At this, the younger man turned towards Oz, a grin spreading across his face, tongue darting out to lick his lips hungrily as he locked eyes with the older man.
"Aww. But that's where you're wrong." He purred. "See, I recently came across a very rare specimen. One that could turn the tide of the entire war. One that you left slip through your fingers in your constant strain of inaction!"
"Don't mistake caution with inaction." Oz said, turning his attention back to the murals. "Though I might be actively engaging in war like you are, that doesn't mean I haven't been making my own plans. After all, a single spark can ignite a bright fire, giving the souls of even the most weary soldiers a semblance of hope to-."
At this, Oz turned to face the younger man, only for him to blink in surprise, breaking off mid sentence upon finding him gone. Disappearing without leaving a trace to prove he was ever there.
But then, a single light above him caught his attention. Looking up, he was just in time to reach out and catch a pure white feather floating down towards him, falling into the center of his open palm, as if perfectly planned to land there. And as it let out a few feeble sparks, a voice echoed through Oz's head.
"So you say, but know this. While you continue to dream of merely stopping Salem, know that I've moved onto bigger and better pray for my talents." The voice said, filling every inch of the old man's head. "And when the day comes, I shall achieve the dream you both were too scared to achieve! I shall walk among them and ask our questions, demanding our answers!"
At this, a sickening laughter echoed silently through Oz's mind, filling him with the feeling of joy at the smallest amount of pain he had managed to inflict on the older man, relishing his discomfort and hidden rattled emotional state before continuing to taunt him.
"But if you believe differently, by all means, continue chasing your fairytales. It'll make me look forward to taking the rest of your head. Hahaha!"
With that, the feather of light burst, immediately causing the old man to drop to his knees, a burning pain in the slash on his neck, cleaving him gasping for air as he came to rest on his hands and knees.
"Huff, huff. It seems this body is nearing its limit. This pain is getting unbearable." Oz murmured, reaching up and pressing his hand against his neck, panting from the effort. "Still, that doesn't matter. This old thing only has one more task left to do. After that, I can discard it and move on to phase two of my plan. I just need to hold out a little longer!"
Looking up, his eyes fixed on the center mural, the image of the regal looking man in it flashed through his mind causing him to grip at the air like he had done in the picture, holding his imaginary box, practically tasting the secrets it had hidden within.
"Just a little longer, then the secret of the Seasons will be mine!"