Troyes was not a large city, or even a medium-sized city, however, it was not small either. It was of a significant size, with several houses and varied businesses and a busy life, for its size. The main street was wide and tree-lined, and the city's buildings had a refined finish that combined several architectural styles.
Prosperity was evident, the streets were clean and well-kept, and the buildings were beautiful and organized. There was a port on the coast with several ships docked and stevedores loading and unloading cargo from them in a constant coming and going.
Ryker, Cana, and Lucy went straight to the hotel. It was a large, comfortable hotel in the city center. Ryker could tell that it could be a tourist attraction in itself, with its beautiful and luxurious architecture.
Without wasting any time, they just left their luggage in the room, with three large and comfortable beds this time, and went straight to meet Mr. Clément.
"We're looking for Mr. Clément. Could you tell us where we can find him? We're Fairy Tail mages he hired to solve some problem," Ryker asked the receptionist.
"Oh yes, yes. I know him, almost everyone in town knows him. He is one of, if not the, richest people in town. I believe you can find him at his office. It's a few blocks from here," the receptionist explained kindly and gave them the address.
They thanked him and left the hotel for Clément's office. Ryker, as always, admired the architecture and beauty of the city, a habit he had acquired because he was not used to seeing entire cities.
Soon they arrived at the address, a five-story baroque building, another architectural landmark of the city. They identified themselves at the reception desk and were instructed to enter. The receptionist informed them that Mr. Clément's office was on the top floor at the end of the corridor.
Nodding, they went upstairs and walked down the hall until they reached the office door. Lucy knocked on the door and they heard a voice asking them to come in. The office was large but not huge, comfortable with natural light coming in through the window. An elderly man in his 60s greeted them cheerfully.
"The Fairy Tail mages I called. I am very grateful for your presence," he said.
"Mr. Clément I imagine," Lucy said cordially.
"Myself," he replied with a smile. "Please sit down," he said and sat down in one of the armchairs. Lucy sat in another, leaving Ryker and Cana to sit on the couch.
"We're sorry for the delay, we got stuck in a city that was having trouble with a monster. We couldn't just stand by and leave them without help," Lucy said, apologizing for the delay.
"Don't worry about it. I'm glad you helped those people," Clément said without worrying.
"Thank you for this, Mr. Clément. My name is Lucy, this is Ryker and Cana," the blonde introduced them. Mr. Clément greeted them back.
"Lucy Heartfilia, I know you. Your family used to own half of Fiori," Clément said, turning to her and smiling amiably as he reminisced about the past.
Lucy blushed and became shy. "I don't think it was that much, but we had our possessions. One day I'll get them all back."
"Yes, yes. I hope you can, miss," Clément smiled.
"Well, we're here to talk about the dungeon," Ryker interrupted gruffly. "Can you give us any information?"
Clément looked at him a little surprised that he was so direct, but nodded. "The dungeon appeared a few months ago on one of my properties, after a heavy rain that brought down a hillside, revealing the entrance. However, it is sealed with some kind of magic that I do not know about. I tried everything, but I could not open the door, so I decided to call for specialized help.", he smiled.
"You said she showed up," Cana said confused.
"Exactly. Apparently the dungeon is under a hill. With that torrential rain, part of it collapsed, revealing the entrance."
"So we have no way of knowing how big the dungeon is, or how deep it goes," Ryker commented thoughtfully.
"From my experience in ancient temples I believe it must be full of traps and quite large. It must be a maze down there," commented Lucy.
Ryker turned to face her quizzically. "Have you ever been to a place like this?"
"It's a long story…", she said evasively.
"Is there anything else you can tell us about the dungeon?" Cana asked.
"Not much, I'm afraid. I tried to do some research on it. I was fascinated by it for a while, but obligations called me back, and I couldn't find anything useful about it, really. My investigative skills aren't the best, if you know what I mean. However, I can tell you that at the entrance to that place there are strange symbols."
"What kind of symbols?" Ryker asked promptly.
"I'm not sure. I've never seen anything like it. I don't think it's in any language that I've seen. I can speak a few languages and know a lot more. Businessmen's stuff. But something like what's stuck in that place… I can't say I've ever seen it in my travels around this world."
"Could it be some lost or ancient language?" Lucy wondered.
"Unfortunately I cannot answer that question, Miss," Clément lamented.
"It's okay, Mr. Clément, but you can just call me Lucy."
"As you wish, Lucy," smiled Clément. "And you, my young friends, can just call me Clément. No need for formalities."
"Whatever you say. Anyway, I don't think we can do anything around here, so I think it would be better if we could see this dungeon?" Ryker said seriously.
"Ah... yes, of course! My estate is no more than an hour, an hour and a half away from here," he looked out the window. "It's still early, we can go if you want."
Clément called for a carriage and they headed for his land. Almost an hour and a half after they had left, and had crossed the entire city and passed through rolling fields with woods in the background bordering the banks of rivers and streams, they came to what looked like a crumbling and unstable hillside. In the middle of it was what they could identify as a stone gateway and a heavy rock blocking the entrance. They approached it, guided by Clément.
As he had said, strange symbols adorned the portal, on the top and sides. No one could say what they meant.
At the top it was marked:
ᛗᚨᚾᛁᚹᚨᚾᛏᛁᛏᛒᚢᛏᚠᛖᚹᚷᛖᛏᛁᛏᛏᚺᛖᚲᚢᚱᛊᛖᛟᚢᛖᚱᛏᚨᚲᛖᛊᚺᛁᛗᚨᚾᛞᚠᚨᛚᛚᛊᛟᚾᚦᛟᛊᛖᚹᚺᛟᛏᚱᛁᛏᛟᛟᛒᛏᚨᛁᚾᛁᛏᛖᚾᛏᛖᚱᚨᛏᛁᛟᚢᚱᛟᚹᚾᚱᛁᛊᚲ ᛒᚢᛏᛒᛖᚹᚨᚱᚾᛖᛞᛏᚺᛖᛊᚺᚨᛞᛟᚹᚹᚨᛁᛏᛊᚠᛟᚱᛁᛟᚢ
On the sides:
ᛁᛟᚢᚺᚨᚢᛖᛗᛖᛏᛟᛞᚨᛁᚨᚾᛞᛏᛟᛗᛟᚱᚱᛟᚹᛁᛟᚢᚹᛁᛚᛚᚺᚨᚢᛖᛗᛖᛖᚢᛖᚾᛗᛟᚱᛖᚨᛊᛏᛁᛗᛖᚷᛟᛖᛊᛒᛁᛁ ᛗᚾᛟᛏᛖᛊᛁᛏᛟᚲᛖᛖᛈᛁᛞᛟᚾ ᛏᛟᚲᚲᚢᛈᛁᚨᚾᛁᛊᛈᚨᚲᛖᛒᚢᛏᛁ ᛗᚨᛚᚹᚨᛁᛊᛁᚾᛟᚾᛖᛈᛚᚨᚲᛖᛁᚨᛗᚹᚺᚨᛏᛁᛟᚢᛊᚨᚹᚾᛟᛏᚹᚺᚨᛏᛁᛟᚢᛊᛖᛖ
In the middle of the rock that blocked the entrance there was another inscription that was different from the others:
ངན་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་སྒོ་འདིའི་རྒྱབ་ན་ཡོད ། མུ་མཐུད་དུ་མ་འགྲོ ། འདི་ནི་ཁྱོད་ཀྱི་ཉེན་བརྡ་ཡིན ། འཆི་བ་ཁོ་ཚོར་སྒུག་ཡོད ། ཁོ་ཚོའི་མིག་ནས་ན་ཟུག ་དང་ཁྲག་བཞུར་བཞིན་ཡོད ། འཛམ་གླིང་འདི་སྐམ་ནས་ཤི་འགྲོ་གི་འདུག འདིར་འོད་མེད་པ་དང་རེ་བ་མེད ། མུན་ནག་གློད་ནས་འོད་ཟོས་པར་འགྱུར ། གསོན་པོ་ཡོད་པ་དེ་འཇིག་པར་འགྱུར ། ཤི་མི་ཐུབ་མཁན་ཚོར་འཆི་བ་ལས་ཀྱང ་སྡུག་པའི་ལས་དབང་འབྱུང་ངེས་ཡིན ། ཁོང་ཚོ་ངན་པའི་མདུན་དུ་སྐམ་ནས་དེས་ཁ ོང་ཚོ་ལ་དུས་ནམ་ཡང་དབང་བསྒྱུར་བྱེད། ཉེན་བརྡ་གཏོང་དགོས ། ནང་ལ་མ་ཡོང ་།
Lucy came closer and analyzed everything she could. She was surprised by the symbols marked on the rock, not identifying any of them at first glance. Ryker and Cana couldn't even tell what was written or what it meant. Clément looked at them and smiled discreetly at the confusion he could see forming on the wizards' faces.
"Do you have any idea what these symbols mean?" Clément asked.
"I've never seen anything like it!" Lucy exclaimed in amazement.
"You're well-versed in languages, Ryker. Don't you know what they mean?" Cana asked, there was a slight teasing tone in her voice.
"I know a few languages. Some better than others, but I have no idea what that means," he replied.
" Tsh ! You useless thing," Cana scoffed and Ryker looked at her indifferently. "Anyway, these symbols look like runes, like Freed and Levy's, don't they?"
Lucy looked at the writings more carefully and sighed, shaking her head. "They may be runes, but not like Levy's or Freed's . They're completely different."
"Well, you rewrote the book of E.N.D., so you can figure out what's written on that door," Cana said in support and confidence to her blonde friend. Ryker looked at them confused, wondering what E.N.D. was.
"I guess I can try…", the celestial mage replied with a slight, confident smile. "Clément, is there a library in Troyes that we can use?", she asked, turning to him.
"Oh, yes, we have a good one. If that's not enough, I have my own. My son is very interested in history, ancient languages, and things like that. I might have something useful," he replied cheerfully.
"Thank you, it will be a great help," Lucy said.
"Well, there's nothing we can do for now. At least until Lucy deciphers what's in that portal and figures out how to get in," Ryker commented. "I think we should head back to town and tomorrow we'll go to this library and see what we can find out."
"I agree," Cana said and shrugged.
"Wait just a second," Lucy said. Kneeling down, she took a small backpack off her back and from it she took out a pencil and a small notebook. "I'm going to write down these marks so we can analyze them calmly."
On the way back, the wizards were talking, discussing what all those inscriptions could be. Ryker and Cana were speculating more while Lucy was thoughtful. Clément just listened attentively to the wizards' conversation. He had no experience or knowledge on the subject, and just listened to what the others had to say.
"It could be some kind of message, some information about what's inside the dungeon," Cana commented in a serious tone.
"Maybe, the possibilities are very high," Ryker replied thoughtfully. "Or it could be some kind of warning, saying that we should not enter or open that place."
"You're too suspicious," Cana retorted. "Do you think there'll be some monster or curse that will destroy the world if we open that door?"
"Who knows!? I've seen a lot of things and I'm suspicious of any place being locked. Either way, there's something in there important enough that someone would leave that place locked. You don't lock anything if you don't have something valuable," Ryker replied. "What do you think, Lucy?"
The celestial mage looked at them and thought for a few moments. "I'm not sure about anything. I felt that there was magic in that door, something trying to stop us from opening it. So anything is possible and I think we should be careful. Other than that, I can't say anything else."
It was late afternoon when they returned to the city and Clément said goodbye to them, leaving them at the hotel.
After dinner, Cana and Lucy were the first to take a shower, Ryker was the last. In the last few days, he had been having constant headaches and his sleep was lighter than usual, although he was not having nightmares. Even so, without letting his companions find out, he was taking sleeping pills, antidepressants, painkillers and more. The symptoms started again with more force after he woke up at Alice's house, and since then he has been medicating himself without the others knowing.
Ryker wasn't proud of it and he didn't want Mira, especially, to find out. He didn't want to make her even more worried, after everything he had put her through, and besides, it wasn't as serious as it had been in the past. He could control himself, he could control the symptoms he was feeling. At that moment, what he wanted most was to focus on solving that mission and nothing else.
So he took a shower and went back to his room, sitting on his bed. Cana and Lucy were talking and laughing, very close to each other, as if they were hiding, or trying to hide, something from him. It could only be gossip, Ryker deduced.
"I hope you're talking about what we should do tomorrow," Ryker looked at the two friends whispering to each other.
"We're talking about women's issues. That's none of your business!" Cana retorted.
"You're very naughty, Cana," he glared at her.
"And you're boring!" she stuck her tongue out at him.
Lucy looked at the two of them and laughed. "We're just talking, Ryker. Nothing important, just hanging out."
"You two have been like this since we left that Griffin city."
"Owww! You're jealous," Cana teased him. "Don't worry, honey. Your ex-girlfriend here will never stop being your friend," she winked at him.
Ryker looked at her, uncomfortable, but already used to the brunette's jokes. "I'm not jealous, I'm just stating a fact. Besides, I have more interesting friends than you," he smiled victoriously at her.
Cana looked at him in astonishment and snorted. "Who would be more interesting than me?"
"If I start and list them you will be upset, besides it is an endless list," he smiled smugly.
"You idiot!"
Lucy laughed at the two friends teasing each other.
"Why don't we go out and explore the city a bit. It seems like there are a lot of interesting things to do," Lucy suggested.
"I accept!" Cana readily volunteered.
Ryker made a disgusted expression. "I'm not in the mood to go out," he replied.
"Come on Ryker, it'll be fun," Lucy insisted.
"I didn't say he was boring."
"Calm down, Cana," Lucy called her friend's attention. "You left the party early that day, I think it's cool that we can all do something together. I always do this with my teammates," she turned to Ryker.
Ryker sighed and shrugged. "I'm really not in the mood for this, but if you're so insistent that it'll keep me from listening to you about it for the rest of the mission, then I'll go out with you two," he replied.
"Hyup!" Lucy celebrated victoriously.
"Then get ready. We don't have time to waste," Cana got out of bed, practically ready, with the clothes she always wore. Lucy ran to the bathroom to get ready.
Ryker shrugged and decided to change his clothes right there, he started to undress in front of Cana.
"You pervert! Changing in front of me!" she exclaimed, crossing her arms and then putting her hands on her face, in a feigned act of embarrassment and shyness.
Ryker turned his face to her and smiled at the corner of his mouth. "Like you've never seen me naked."
"It's not the same. We're not together anymore, idiot!"
"Well, I don't care. I'll change right here," he said and continued undressing. Cana tried not to look, but every time she looked at him she blushed.
Sighing and shrugging, the brunette jumped up and hugged Ryker from behind, catching him off guard.
"You're not trying to provoke me into trying to have something with me, are you?"
"You wish you did, wouldn't you?" Ryker smiled. They had reached a point where it was almost impossible for him to get irritated by Cana's antics and teasing.
"Maybe…" she murmured softly and tightened her arms around him and rested her head on his right shoulder. Ryker tenderly stroked her arms, comforting her.
After a while, Lucy came out of the bathroom perfectly groomed and smelling nice.
"Did something happen?" the blonde asked, sensing a strange atmosphere between Ryker and Cana.
"Nothing much," Ryker replied.
"It's all, all right," Cana said.
Lucy shrugged and opened the bedroom door. "Can we go now?" she said and walked out into the hallway.
Ryker and Cana looked at each other and smiled at each other, leaving the room one after the other and closing the door behind them.