[Perceptors Ruin: Chamber of Flame]
The runes were dancing across his sight, relaying one message before dissipating into thin air. Something was trying to communicate with Leo, but that's what began puzzling him as soon as the sense of safety settled in.
It's not something new for undocumented phenomena to happen in this accursed forest, but he'd never heard of such magic before. To his limited knowledge there was no magic that could be cast in the Preceptors Forest - the Ivy sapped all the strength from any trespassing magi and grew stronger by using their lifeblood over the years, thus creating an invincible defense against magic.
Nethertheless Leo didn't know where he was, the air was significantly denser here than outside forcing him to audibly breathe his lungs out, but having gotten away from that beast was a blessing within itself so he didn't have much to complain about.
'I'm not numb anymore... and I'm sure that first hit rearranged all my bones – is this the afterlife?'
Questions, questions, questions, they were queueing up one after another and it just wouldn't stop there. I mean, what kind of reaction should he have? It's a miracle his brain didn't explode from all the action being fed to him.
'Luna!'
Time was of essence, Leo wished to cure Luna of her burdens, but finding the poison Ivy seemed like a fools errand at this point, and he'd much rather be by her side, hopefully intact.
Composing himself he jumps on his feet, examining the surroundings, not much of interest around, it was a dusted room filled to the brim with vines and weeds growing in between the cracked marble, whoever maintained the structure clearly did a terrible job.
One thing he did notice though, aside from the enormous grazed door and altar infront of course, was the lanterns flickering the room an ashen gold.
They weren't the kind you'd see in a dungeon or the kind you'd find in a fortress. These were decorated with elegant designs and crests going down them, the kind you'd see on the royal carriage, of which Leo had only seen once before when they came to pass judgement on the mayor for supposed treason.
It was a beautiful engraving detailed with the face of a woman clad in armour and her helmet adorned with feathers at its peak, in her right hand a longspear and in her left a greatshield peeking from the bottom, this was the ultimate symbol of the empire, wether it was war or peace, all would bow down before it.
Though the lanterns design was more akin to a dragon than the one he'd remembered, and that wasn't all, the draconic lanterns spewed out the light of flame from their mouths, something he'd never seen before.
'If this is the grave of one of those royals... I can't even imagine the lengths they'd go to keep it hidden.'
He may have been the trash of the streets, but even he knew this, disrespecting the monarchy was only second to regicide, and they made sure everyone knew that from the very depth of their souls, just seeing what happened to the mayor was warning enough for Leo, finding out what else they could do was not a card he could beat.
Runes appeared once again in the air, dancing impatiently. There was no message relayed, just a small azure trail spiralling, much like a guideline telling him where to go. It pointed directly at the top of the altar, and who was Leo to refuse its guidance.
Picking himself up with a freshly rejuvenated body he crept his way forward, nothing but flesh striking marble could be heard echoing across the room, its like he was in a barred off ocean - and the echo was loud, very loud.
'Well, here I am. You want a sacrifice now?'
Leo tried striking up a joke like the runes could hear him talk. Luna had given up everything for him, working day in and out as a mercenary, as a bar tender and even as a farmer, but even then, at most she'd scrape a half molded piece of bread for the two of them, jokes like that were simply an effective way of forgetting just how deep you'd sunken into the ocean tied with your hands behind your back.
Perhaps that's also what drove him so far into the forest despite the obvious danger, he wasnt even sure of it himself.
Enough of that though, Leo looked up to the wide flat-top altar and approached up the gilded steps.
The altar bolstered with some impressive craftsmanship,. Anyone could tell at a glance that its sculptor was stern of mind - every carving, every symbol and every corner was immaculate. He couldn't help but run his fingers across the spotless marble. It brought a refreshing tingle to his fingers, much like one you'd get from taking in a freshly bloomed flower.
As much as he'd loved to continue admiring the craftsmanship - never having had the privilege to lay hands on anything above third rate - leaving this place was his most urgent priority. At the very least it was strikingly obvious he'd have to operate the altar in order to open the door, but unlike his sister, he was utterly talentless.
In this world , magic was nothing short of extraordinary, effectively being a potentate imposing absolute rule over the universe and its subjects.
Leo relied on 'bottled' magic to make up for his wretched state. Such methods were frowned upon gravely - not because they were some forbidden art or because it was so effective it was terrifying, infact, it was the exact opposite.
It was a weak form of magic, made by weaklings, made for weaklings.
That's just the way he'd been born. He lacked an affinity in magic and thus missed on all its prospects. Of course, had he been a rich nobleman, things would've been vastly different - the natural limit could easily be surpassed by the resources available to a nobleman, something he of course did not have access to.
With his pouch eating the dirt somewhere in the forest along with his bottles and leaves, there didn't seem much that could be done now.
'I could try and gather magic through my bones, but at my current skill It'd take so long...'
Leo sighed his chest out at the journey ahead.
As long as the body willed it, anything could become a natural conductor of magic, including the body itself, but he didn't know how to properly execute a technique like that. His sister refused to teach him any magic, saying it was too dangerous and that he should aim to become a blacksmith instead.
The town he fared from being a large hub for the empires arms production it only made sense, he could get decent pay, live in slightly less misery and actually be respected by the warriors he'd forge weapons for.
The only magic he learned came from bar fights. Occasionally, hen the noblemen would descend and spend their wealth at the back of the slums, a grand brawl would break out between mages and warriors alike.
It wasn't much of a lesson, but it was still something he could pick up over the years by just observing. Though his skill wasn't exactly onpar with the flashy stuff being thrown around by the nobles.
'I'm not even sure it will work, this will just look stupid...'
Determination flamed through his eyes as he leaned his back against the door and slid down to the floor.
Leo's idea was this:
'If this is a tomb or some secret ruin then the lamps can't be regular — they have to be powered by a magic reservoir somewhere around, even if its not here the fact that it's an open flame means magic is flying through the air.'
Air was always filled with small magical particulates, all Leo had to do was cast a vortex that would suck in magic in its purest form and store it in his body.
To start with this kind of magic was incredibly inefficient, the only reason noblemen used it was because of the law, it strictly prohibited them from using anything considered lethal against the less fortunate folk, like those that would hang back in a rugged bar.
With a steady source of magic pinpointed the process would be much shorter now, still hours of gathering regardless but at least he wouldn't be stuck here for the next few weeks.
The technique was simple in theory.
"Squeeze your heart,
and let out a wave of blood,
through your veins,
then praise the king of the world!"
An emerald tinge radiated around his body as the chant was read out. Unlike his mimicry, a pure white blanket cast over the nobles that used the technique – a perfect display of the disparity between the two worlds, both in power and status.
Even then a mastered magi wouldn't require an incantation, but because fools were easy to impress, and fools also loved to impress, they would more often than not flaunt their deep knowledge of magic in silly ways like this.
Leo closed his eyes, it would take hours to fill up every symbol on the altar with magic. He wouldn't let something like that stop him though.
The emerald aura surrounding him seeped the granules from the air, absorbing it into Leo's body and sending trace amounts straight into the altar inner workings, perhaps it would've taken no longer than a few seconds had he still had his pouch, but that was no longer an option.
^^^
After an uncountable amount of time Leo had finally finished. The altar buzzed vigorously, lighting up and twisting around to reveal an opening in its roof. He wasnt particularly enthusiastic, it was something that would've taken a novice the flick of their wrist to do, whatever he'd find in the altar wouldn't be anything extravagant, not that he minded anyway.
He stood up from the ground and walked forward in a lightheaded manner, anticipating what he might find inside. And as expected, it wasn't anything too extraordinary, a long piece of silver metal with razors as its sides.
'Great so now I have a sword, and how exactly do I get out then?'
The sword was fairly slender, and its handle could barely be called a hilt - it was incredibly narrow and had no grip, it wasnt very amusing considering the craftsmanship of the altar itself.
'Can something like this even be called a sword? It looks like a washing pole with sharp edges...'
It was indeed bizzare, untill the runes appeared before him again, dancing and guiding him across the room to the door – where on closer inspection, Leo would find a small compartment that could fit the blade inside, like a keyhole.
He didn't hesitate to take it from its place and pierce the door right away if it meant leaving. Leo let out a relieved sigh:
"Gave me a real scare there, thought I'd have to face an army of monsters in this tiny space."
The whole chamber shook as the keyhole turned, the doors opened in a grand fashion without the use of magic, it was an elaborate system that seemed to have survived the ages as obvious by the mechanical sound smoothly turning somewhere behind the walls.
There was only one problem left now though, the doors led to nothing but a dark tunnel infront, and to make it worse, as soon as he took the sword back out – a sea of oil started flowing into the chamber behind from the pillars holding it up.
Before Leo could even think the draconic lamps burst open, setting light to the pouring oil and the whole chamber, signaling to him – there was no going back now, move forward or be burned looking back.
'Flame chamber? Who do I know that would make a grave out of flames and dragons...'
He looked back once more, gripped his sword tight and started walking forward into the unkown.
'The dragons are extinct and it doesn't look like this tomb is that old...'
It was no use thinking about it for now, his mission right now was simple.
It was to get out.