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MAZE - Chapter 1056 - Behind the mountain
🕑 Added 2025-05-16 01:45:18 +0000 UTCEven though Hera couldn't exactly dive deep into Deakoshara, that didn't mean she couldn't do anything. In fact, once they arrived at the Naga homeland again, Nimbus quickly received the Royal Quest, which would allow him to explore the sky around the lake. He went off on his own, much like what happened a long time ago in the Abyssal Deep. And Hera just stayed behind, waiting for his return. Although this time, she didn't stay still. She kept following along with what was happening, using her treasure map and making sure that the Sentinel wasn't in any trouble. All thanks to her [Treasure Map] which updated in real time with his discoveries.
While at the same time, the rest of the Court along with the Empress, were all trying to figure out if the other doorway, the one leading to the Aerie of the First Flight, was all that existed in that mountain where it was located. There was a decent chance that they had been overlooking something this entire time due to the location where they were. After all, no one could move around properly in Deakoshara ever since they discovered the place. This was the first time where someone could travel the area without worrying about something, killing them before they could find anything.
But unfortunately, it didn't seem to be the case. They spent a good hour looking around just that area, only to have any attempt at a discovery come out blank. The mountain itself was just that, a massive mountain. Maybe there was some sort of valuable mineral inside it, but it wasn't something the empress could figure out on her own. The same could be said for the surrounding forest. And just beyond that mountain, she would reach one of the ends of this plateau. The edge of this gigantic crack in the arid desert. She couldn't find any cave or any sign of life. Aside from some vegetation here and there.
Once they were climbing down the mountain, using the Blade Accord as a way to glide down while between Filigree, Livy, Vulcan, and the Twins, they were able to jump back and forth to the areas of the mountain where they could carry the empress along. She even tried using the [Echolocation] effect of her Relic to see if there was anything at all that could help, but even then, that wasn't the case. All she could find were some small crevices and tiny holes caused by the rain. But they didn't lead to any larger tunnels. They just felt like veins on the mountain.
But the more interesting thing happened once Hera noticed Nimbus was flying around a specific part of the plateau over and over again. Not long after that, he quickly returned to the Empress ready to share what he had found using the [Treasure Map] as reference.
The entire layout of the plateau was there. It was just like what they were assuming it to be. A massive plateau that spread around 20 to 30 km squared. It would have been hard to tell the exact dimensions since the empress map didn't show that type of data and the shape of the plateau was very strange. It was thick near the lake while being narrow once it started reaching the doorways.
As a matter of fact, the mountain that took people to the Aerie of the First Flight connected to the same mountain that was behind the doorway leading to Zaxalam. It was a sort of mountain range, even though there were only two mountains. And one of them felt more like the edge of a bowl than an actual mountain. Just a very tall structure that stopped things from getting to the edge.
But behind that structure, facing the cliff that would lead to the desert down below, was a cave. One that Nimbus was able to recognize as having some sort of significance. Not because of its outside look, but because of what he could see when coming at it from the right angle. He noticed something unnatural on the side of the cave and tried to approach it. Then, he saw on the ceiling of that cave some markings that did not feel natural. The types of things that shouldn't be present in a formation created by the environment. They were some deep runes that seemed to be working to do something. Or at least used to be doing for something. They no longer functioned, and that was pretty obvious to anyone who was to try to check up on them. The Sentinel did try to approach and was able to even see an open door deeper inside the cave. Which is why he was sure this should be something important.
After a brief explanation, the Sentinel quickly picked Hera up as she dismissed the entire court and they flew towards that area. They were confident enough that nothing was going to attack them in the air to take the trip alone for the ride. That is because Nimbus was unable to find any signs of flying monsters in this plateau. Although, he did notice a couple of flying creatures in the distance once he was flying high enough. And that wasn't all.
From the highest point that the Sentinel was able to discern that they were two plateaus away from the ocean. If they continued heading towards the lake and beyond it, they would reach one of the cracks dropping down until the desert below and another large area. It was a large plateau while at the same time much smaller than the one they were right now. That mountain had some vegetation, but it was more rocky than the one they had been traveling through and beyond it, would be the ocean. Nimbus didn't say he could see anything particularly interesting in that new mountain but at the same time, he didn't even try checking things in the area. After all, that was not what the Royal Quest asked him to do. He was just to scout the plateau that they were located at. Which is exactly what he did.
While the Sentinel was carrying Hera towards the entrance of the cave, they had a brief conversation about the limits of their exploration. In all fairness, there was no real reason why they couldn't go to the plateau by the ocean. It was close enough that it wouldn't result in them spending days on end inside this room. Doing so would also give them a good sense of what to expect since they would be able to see the entire floor from there. Hera agreed that was a good option, and they decided to let that be the plan for the next day. If whatever was in the cave was not something that would take several nights to figure out.
Just a few minutes later, they arrived at the location the Sentinel discovered. From the outside, it was a plain cave on the side of a mountain. But not enough to be triggering any silent alarms in anyone's mind. It was completely possible that this was a natural formation but once they approached and the Sentinel landed inside the cave, which was really big, spanning at least 5 m tall at about 12 m or so across, they realized that this should not be here. The entire cave might have been a natural occurrence, but its current state was clearly man-made. Or in this case, Naga made.
Just a few meters beyond the entrance, there was a set of double doors that were open. More specifically, one of those doors was halfway open. As if whoever tried to pass by struggled to push the heavy stone door out of the way. But there were no markings or drawings that they could see on the flat stone walls. Maybe at one point they existed, but by now all the ink had been washed away.
To confirm that theory, Hera triggered her [Ophidianite Sight] and confirmed that there was a strange change in temperature on the stone. This was a telltale sign of Naga decorations. Because of their unique eyes, they would never leave drawings or paintings, just like the plain colors that one would see. There was always something that could only be seen through an infrared light. Or in this case, the infrared sight that Hera could do with her eyes, too.
Unfortunately, there wasn't any actual detail that she could make out. Just some splashes here and there showing that once upon a time, there was that type of thing here. She wasn't really sure why this happened. Maybe the structure was already created to be hard to see, or maybe it was just so ancient that any semblance of residue has been washed away through time. It could even be because of all the poison that continuously fell on the area. She could imagine the situation where if it was raining, and the wind blowing on the right angle, poison would fall closer door. Then once the sun came out and it start evaporating. Maybe that poison started to corrode the paint that was being used.
Hera did her best to try to find anything that could signal well anything. Any marking, any drawing, anything at all that could give her a hint of what was waiting inside. But there was nothing. This was too old and too battered by the elements to maintain any semblance of recognition for anything that she knew about the Naga.
Unsure what to expect, the empress called her entire court out, making sure to warn them not to touch anything before talking to her. The last thing they needed was to trigger some weird trap by accident. Taking a deep breath, they slowly crossed the passage. Passing by the half-open door. Livy, because of her size, even had to employ Shadow's help. Using [Shadowstep Strike] to teleport from one side of the door to the other. Otherwise they would have to push the structure and no one felt confident doing that would be a good idea. Not right now, at least.
The second part of the cave was much more well structured. As if it was carved by someone with intention. They slowly continued down this passage with Hera casting a light so everybody could see what was around them. Even though she was capable of seeing in the dark, it wasn't like Viper and Crimson who could actually see in pitch black darkness. For that reason, she wasn't going to gamble on their safety by testing a skill out.
After making another turn. This time to the left, which confirmed that this tunnel formed an S, they found another set of doors. This one were more well-kept than the ones outside. Hera could actually see at least the outline of the drawings present on it. They were supposed to be one snake coiled around a rod or a staff or something with a bubble tip. The snake would bite, eat, or lick this ball like protrusion. In a way, it reminded the empress of the famous doctor's symbol. The snake coiled around the staff. But this round shape was way too big. Instead of being just complimentary to the rest of the image, it seemed to be the main piece. But the colors and the details were long gone. Only the outline remained, even when using the infrared sight.
And that wasn't the only weird thing here. There was one more very important discovery they made in this tunnel. A few meters before this new set of doors, there was a skeleton. The skeleton of a Naga. With one arm in front of the other and both over its head. Almost as if it was trying to crawl on the ground. Around its left hand there was a golden medallion that also had been mostly destroyed. The object was still in one piece, but whatever was on top of it had been shaved out somehow. Considering their location, Hera wasn't entirely sure if pure wind was able to do something like that. But she couldn't help but wonder if several thousands of years of tiny dust particles rubbing against gold might be enough to shave off the more intricate and thin patterns. Leaving behind only a solid lump of metal.
But now came another problem. Should they open this door? And if they do, how? It was clear that there was some magic still on the doors and if they were going to enter it, they would have to figure out what that magic was. Would it be a trap? It could be something keeping it in place. One way or another, despite having found this place, they would need to be very careful moving forward, otherwise this mountain could become their grave.
Comments
aToTeT
something, killing <-extraneous comma life. Aside from <- Technically fine (though it leaves the latter a fragment), but it’s a very full stop for what could be a comma connecting two short sentences that have much to do with each other… … and the preceding sentence of the edge of the crack in the desert is very short as well (not the end of the world, but it feels like quite a long pause in breath for what it amounts to: a fragment)… And I could really just keep going I think, so I’ll stop. The whole latter half of the paragraph could do with a looksie… and there are quite a lot of short sentences in general on a quick examination down the page; many of them fragmentary. Great morphological technique in high stakes heart pounding circumstances… but these don’t feel like those, so it just reads… a bit choppy. Possibility: I’ve been neck deep in footnotes all day, with my toes dipped in fermented apple juice all night—could be I’m under the influence of my own editing process! Hope you’re having a lovely… whatever time of day you’re having!
