Tales from the Island of Theoí

Sanctum Part 2 -Ritual of fire

Creaking ropes pulled the net; dragging the two upwards along the rocky cliff face, Kip remained in the centre of the netting tucked in as much as possible and holding on tightly to every available point to grip the ropes. Jamison allowed his legs to hang over the side; watching as the ground beneath them slowly moved further and further away, eventually beginning to lose focus and he felt his body pulled through the sky. When they reached the top Felix and Tafe pulled them out roughly and allowed them to fall against the rocky floor; the air here was tighter and Kip gladly let himself sprawl onto the ground, glad for the feeling of familiarity that comes with being in control of your gravity. Jamison sat for a few seconds allowing his lungs to become accustomed to a colder more brittle air that flew around them rapidly, blowing hair and cloaks in a flutter of all directions. The rock wall was roughly sixty feet thick across the top and composed from dense magic infested stone; against the inner circle a large wooden system of ladders and staircases made up the guards routes and patrol walks. But sitting solidly in the centre where the guards centre building should have been; a large crater had sent spindles of cracks and lines of destruction up the edges of the walls. Quickly standing up and lowering his head Kip moved towards the pile of equipment that Sir Nide had been flinging onto her shoulder; ominously the Siscilla twins watched like hawks as he pattered his way along. Slinging his bag over his shoulder and picking up another cow hide of scrolls and writing equipment; Jamison silently shuffled over standing close to the edge but not as close as Tafe who looked down for a few moments. Moving towards the wooden labyrinth of tunnels, staircases and ladders Tafe inhaled the harsh air deeply, the large circle of destruction had completely annihilated the central building and sent splinters of wood into the surrounding structures. Leaning down by the inner wall he tugged on a splinter of wood as thick as his arm that was wedged into the rock; the splinter was hard stuck and refused to move an inch, he had never seen anything quite like this before. Slowly and darkly he turned back to the rest of the group that had seemed to hold their breath waiting for someone to tell them that what they were looking at wasn't an illusion.

"What. You know what we're doing, the job hasn't changed, now Felix if you need  to move down any level move with Deryll, Corke and Jamison you know what your doing, move along to section 12, and the rest of us... well we're gonna try and see what the hell happened here."

An eery silence followed Tafe's words and everyone stood still for a few moments, stuck in time, and their own thoughts of fear. Vance was the first to shrug it off giving Kip a hearty slap on the back that woke his mind up instantly; he bustled his way onwards pulling out a wide, jagged, short sword from the pile of supplies and sheafing it behind his waist.

"Come on boy, ain't nothing but dead angry spirits to be afraid of, and trust me your lady here ain't too scared of fighting them I bet ya."

Vance gestured to Sir Nide who winced slightly at the comment but then picked herself up from the floor and joined the group pushing on down the first ladder by the edge of the wall. Jamison watched as the group of five lowered themselves down and found himself left with Felix, Deryll and Corke. Jamison was not a fighter; far from it, he'd learned his skills of reading and writing from an interesting old man, Lewis Da'ar, but given Lewis' sudden disappearance (which wasn't unusual for the unusual man) Jamison his apprentice had been placed on the duty of recording the runes and mechanism systems of the old monoliths. Before a rune is activated; and especially one this old there is usually just the aura of magic without the definitive rune shown or the visibility of the magic used. Given that they were going to set the runes off this was the perfect chance to transcribe and document the runes used and understand more of this ancient magic. At first when the notice was given to Jamison he had been thrilled to take part in such a moment of history; but the more he had travelled, the more the feeling of being a fraud had grown on him. He had very limited knowledge and much less than five percent of what Lewis could have figured out; true he was the only apprentice and the next best thing but still the pressure of failure was immense and Jamison would have to focus on documentation rather than any comprehending skills.