BabaVader
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Chapter 317 Boxed Secrets
🕑 Added 2023-06-30 17:54:25 +0000 UTCAuthor's note:
And here it is: the fruits of my labour! The sprint was successful, if not as much as I hoped. I got the next one half done. It took me a bit to edit this one, though, as you can tell. I'll finish the next chapter tomorrow before getting back to Pokémon. Then it's gonna be more Owl.
The Worm fanfic is gonna have the first bit up later today. I want to do one more pass through the first four chapters of that before putting it up so expect it in two hours or so...
Anyway, enjoy the chapter!
Cheers!
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Catori used the evening hours I spent resting to get a little more practice in with her new body. It was interesting to watch her from our soulscape once I let my bodies sleep. The viewpoint showed her hands moving around and the tip of her nose that came into view whenever she looked sideways without turning her head. I had almost forgotten that was something that happened for humans. Even the occasional strand of hair that got in the way. Whenever something like that happened, we shared a bit of amusement.
She was working together with Nymph and a few important-looking dwarves to prepare for the church delegation. I paid little attention to the goings-on and eventually decided to just get some proper rest for my part of our soul as well.
The next morning was clear with only a few smears of clouds in the sky. I poked Catori and she immediately was ready for me to set out so I slipped into the tawny owl. One of its wings hurt a little and there was a pile of fine dust around the cleansed area. Apparently, some tainted things had tried to get to it since I left it here. A few stretches fixed the sore spots so it could not have been too bad but I was most definitely not resting this far out again.
When I got back to the trapdoor, I found the area was cleansed far enough to disintegrate the wood into a slightly rougher pile of dust, similar to sand with a few larger pieces mixed in. I took my time scouting the area from above. When I could not find anything within ten minutes, I decided to drop towards my target.
Behind the trapdoor was a staircase leading into a cellar. That much was expected. A few steps down were cleansed as well but the last three were still tainted rock. I still hopped down carefully, listening for any potential threats.
Beyond the staircase was a slightly cramped room of around two by five metres with a few destitute pieces of furniture lining the walls and floor. It was impossible to make out what they had been before the taint. Deeper in, another door led to the left. It was broken into pieces that somehow still blocked most of the doorway. Another opening was in the back, though this one had a very familiar material blocking the entrance. Silverwood. A whole door made of silverwood. Just around it, a small area extended for maybe two centimetres where no taint had reached. There was a handle and a lock with no key inside. Hopefully it was still open.
I carefully made my way through the small room, avoiding contact with any and all tainted material. It took nearly two minutes to cross the five metres and when I finally reached the other side, I found myself stuck again. How was I supposed to open the door? The handle was nearly thirty centimetres above my head. The only option really was to sit on top of it and jump. Maybe a few well-timed wing beats might move it. Closer observation of the frame offered that the door opened to the outside so I had hope.
As I jumped up, I could feel a jolt of panic coming from Catori. She was probably worried I would crash into the tainted wall right next to the door. Or just brush it with a wing. Obviously, I was aware of that and had leaned to the side so I could stop myself on the silverwood. The handle had buckled a little but that was the only issue.
“Don’t do that! You’re scaring me!”, Catori sent.
“I’m fine. See?”
I made sure to look over my wing and show her no taint was growing on it.
“Still. At least warn me”, she moped.
“Right. Sorry. I might be rushing a little to get this done with.”
“I know you don’t want to stick with the bark-kin any longer. Getting this body tainted won’t help with that.”
I nodded.
“I’ll take it slow. I’m going to jump on the handle and try to open the door with a beat of my wings.”
“Okay. Be careful.”
I made sure to tilt my body so I could flap my wings without hitting the tainted walls of the chamber. That was easier said than done with how little space I had to manoeuvre. I tried a few test swings and then went for it.
With a push-and-pull of my knees, I put all of my weight on the handle and it clicked down. I flapped my wings and the door slid open just a tiny bit. A second push opened a small gap. That was already enough. I carefully jumped back down and proceeded to pull the door open all the way with my talons wrapped in silverwood.
Behind it was a small room covered in more of the material. It had barely enough space for a small shelf hung up on the wall and a bed underneath it. Even a rat would have found it difficult to slip around on the ground. The bed was normal wood, though it was rotten beyond repair. Mould and dirt covered the top and in between I saw a few bones. Human, or at least humanoid.
The shelf was fully intact, though, since it was built from metal, probably steel. On top of it sat a pile of mouldy dust that may have once been food, a few empty bottles of glass that were well crafted but covered in filth, and a silverwood box.
“So… I just thought”, Catori said, “These people used door handles and steel furniture and well-made glass bottles. They were pretty well developed, tech-wise.”
“Looks like it. Maybe not where the dwarves are at right now but close. Probably.”
I turned to the obvious object of interest. The silverwood box. It was rectangular, about thirty by twenty centimetres, and maybe fifteen centimetres tall. The craftsmanship was rather functional with a few gold inlays I recognized from some of my thaumaturgical research. The vis filters used in arcane alembics and similar items were using very similar patterns.
I jumped up and carefully pushed the box around. There was a large panel on the side but no key or lock. I could figure out how to open it once I was in a safer place.
“This might not work”, I mused, “Any better ideas?”
“Other than going back and getting some rope or another one of those bags? Nope.”
“I’ll try. If it breaks, we can just close the room and come back tomorrow.”
“Alright.”
I tried lifting the box and to my surprise, it was not too heavy. It weighed maybe half of the load of an Ethereal Bloom plus soil. I made sure I held it tightly and jumped off the shelf. My wings caught my fall and I managed to get the box on the ground without breaking it. Then it was just a matter of pushing it out into the hallway and over to the staircase. Thankfully, the silverwood was immune to corruption.
Getting up the stairs was a little more difficult but I still managed somehow. Mostly because only the first three were tainted and after that, I could jump up using my wings without worrying about hitting the walls. Finally, I was outside again.
“I’m not opening this here, right?”, I asked.
“You’re not. But you could close the door down there before leaving.”
“Right.”
After one last trip down into the cellar to close the grave, I tried to figure out how to carry the box while flying. I definitely did not want to have it slip out of my talons mid-air. That would be devastating. There was no easy way to hold onto it securely for long distances so I decided on a different course of action.
I activated [Distant Dreaming] and swapped from the tawny owl to the falcon. Locating a bag to carry the box in did not take long but flying it over took a while. It was late evening by the time I could start on my way back.
“Catori, can you take the falcon to safety?” I asked since she was still paying attention.
“Sure thing. I’ll stick close to you, just in case.”
Together we flew back through the night. Both bodies were a little exhausted from the day but we managed to stay safely in the air by utilizing a few practical currents keeping us up without too much work. Once we had finally returned to the safety of the silverwood forest, we settled in for the night and promptly fell asleep.
I woke up to a slightly strange feeling in my wings. My brain was moving slowly so it took a few minutes to realize I had strained a few muscles. Then I wondered why that happened when I did not even use my body yesterday. A squawk from my right made me look up blearily. There was the falcon body. It was moving around sluggishly and blinking. It was also just a little shorter than I was. Catori had used it last night.
I hooted a sigh.
Pushing [Distant Dreaming] to go back to my body helped a lot. No more pain or exhausted brain. I quickly contacted Catori’s side of our soul.
“Good morning”, I sent.
“Mornin’… What’s going on…”
“We went to sleep in the owl and falcon bodies. You’re still the falcon.”
“… oh. That makes way too much sense.”
I felt her shift from the slightly less exhausted bird into her seraphim body.
“So much better! Damn, that didn’t feel good at all.”
“Right? Let’s remember to swap back before falling asleep from exhaustion, next time.”
“Let’s. Anyway, what about our loot?”
“I’ll take a look.”
I jumped off the branch I was sitting on and made my way over to where the tawny owl had dropped the box last night. It was not too far and I quickly arrived. My vis sense told me a little more about the flow of energy inside the item. It was creating something like a locked circuit, primarily to prevent taint from invading it. The fact that it locked the box seemed almost like an afterthought.
I quickly managed to follow the flow and found it culminating in the small plate of gold where everything coalesced before returning to the cycle of vis. Simply pushing a bit of perditio would do nothing but strengthen the lock but by adding more ordo, I could slow down the energy bit by bit. After a few minutes, it stopped and there was a soft click. The lid jumped a tiny bit and I pushed it open with a talon. My eyes widened. Inside the box was a book. A simple leather tome laid on bare silverwood. And the title was in English.
Comments
Baba Vader
:P I'll get the next chapter out on Sunday at the latest.
t3chn0fr34q
thank you for the chapter. but i also wish that you lose the left sock of your favorite pair for that cliffhanger.
