Chapter 855 Paarah

Chapter 855 Paarah

Ilea didn’t touch the books on the table, in case they would instantly crumble. She perceived the upper level of what she now presumed to be a mansion within her dominion. Compared to the ground floor, she could only see a few dead, and the rot and fungus from below had not spread up here.

Most of this stuff is pretty well preserved, she thought, looking at the books and candles. She didn’t miss the runes carved into both the candlesticks and pens. Even the wooden table and the chairs had runes carved and set into them, either decorations or enchantments. Based on how they looked, Ilea assumed the latter.

She found perfectly preserved books in the shelves. Just like in the Azarinth temple. Taking one, she flipped it open and raised her brows. It was written in common.

An analysis of the Oracle and Monarch relationship in the context of Elven incursions during the second age of Blimwark

A collaborative effort between the Guild of Eyes and the Sylrivian Lodge

Chapter 1 – The Oracle

Despite the zealous vigor displayed by young and ancient male elves alike to protect the rule and sanctity of all Oracles, they repeatedly show ignorance to the nature and motives of their creators. Few can claim to have spoken to or been in the presence of an Oracle, but their influence and power is nonetheless proven and generally accepted.

The question remains as to what an Oracle truly is, and why the powerful Elven males, including their Monarchs, respect the wishes and boundaries set by the ancient beings of the Domains.

Ilea stopped herself and closed the book. She looked at the leather binding, fitted to the book perfectly, the letters printed and not written. All in Standard, coherent even to me. And the first two paragraphs reveal information that most people in the Plains wouldn’t know about.

She had come to check the place for the Druned, to now clear out the dungeon, and to find the crown they had mentioned. But now she kind of wanted to collect everything that she could find.

Elves, dwarves, Mava, and even Orcs, all working together with the Druned. Guess our little Accords thing wasn’t quite as original as some people believed.

She wondered if there was a Meadow here as well, or a similarly powerful being. Suppose then the city wouldn’t be in this state. Or a being like that has caused this.

Knowing how easily entire houses could be destroyed by powerful spells, Ilea started to store everything she could find in her domain. She mostly focused on books, documents, and anything enchanted that was small enough to store. She added the art pieces she found in the many rooms as well.

Some of the commodities were no longer in a useful state of course, either eaten away by bugs or decayed due to moisture, rot, or fungus. Checking some of the books and documents, Ilea did find that the people of Paarah were far less cryptic and paranoid than the Taleen. Most everything was written in common. She even found a storage ring in the mansion, the same tree she had seen on the double doors engraved into the ring.

Maybe they really do have a Meadow like thing.

Based on some of the sigils she found, Ilea deemed it more likely that the symbol belonged to the family that inhabited this place.

For now, she didn’t spend too much time looking through the documents and books, instead focusing on collecting what she could as she searched through the place.

Done with the mansion, she checked the streets below. Broad smooth roads including sidewalks. Lantern posts with still glowing blue light, though faint.

Don’t tell me they had cars as well, Ilea thought as she teleported out, crouching near the side of the house where a small patch of garden had likely once adorned it. Only dusty earth remained, dead and devoid of any insects.

She couldn’t see any cars along the road, but what she could see was more golems. Two were walking in the distance, coming closer at a leisurely pace. Another seemed to stand guard in front of a high reaching building. Ilea could see the distant dark ceiling of the underground cavern above. It didn’t provide nearly as much space as the cavern around Iz, but comparing the two felt wrong. The entire setup was different.

Where Iz was cluttered and filled with simple stone houses build close to each other, the surrounding streets of Paarah were spacious, the houses tall and well decorated. Despite the wear of time, many of the buildings still sported visible colors, be it shutters, roofs, doors, or even colored glass, though mostly shattered.

She could see the sewers too, too small to walk through but the runes she saw suggested some automated magical system to rid the city of their waste. Not even the Taleen had something so sophisticated.

I suppose we didn’t even have that on Earth, though some cities were close.

Ilea teleported into the opposite mansion, not about to let the two patrolling golems find her. They could wait for a while. Maybe I should take them out more quickly to prevent damage to the city.

Fighting in Tremor had felt like fighting in an ancient ruin. In Iz, it had been a necessity. Here, Ilea more and more felt like she had a responsibility to clear out the likely hostile golems without disturbing the rather well preserved city. Looking at the skulls of the dead, she did wonder if the golems were really responsible, or if perhaps some kind of blood ritual or curse had wiped everything out.

There’s too little damage.

Clearing out the next mansion, she didn’t find a single tree like symbol. Instead there was a crest like rune similar to the letter Y.

As she continued through the mansions, she avoided the silent warriors and any piles of rubble that suggested there was a golem hiding. Many of the streets were unoccupied. Some gardens were overgrowing, ivy and entire trees breaking through stone walls and even into the small sewer pipes.

Ilea collected everything she deemed worthy, her dominion and domain making the process simple enough, and she had space to spare. The same seemed to have been true for the citizens of Paarah, many of the homes offering one or more storage items. Ilea had collected ten of them already, some lying on tables next to pens or cups.

Some of the homes contained dead, others were empty, others yet were half destroyed with walls gone and roofs collapsed, impacts and burned sections visible. In those areas, Ilea occasionally found destroyed golems.

She didn’t know if the people of Paarah had the capability of fighting four mark golems, or if the golems were now at a higher level due to the city being a dungeon. Ilea still knew very little about how monsters and unthinking machines or golems were affected by these changes likely induced over centuries or millennia. She didn’t think anyone really knew, except perhaps beings like the Ascended or the Fae.

The mana density was high, though nothing she would see as particularly weird considering the golems she saw were all low level four marks. The area around the Meadow was far more dangerous, and even that Ilea hardly felt with her current levels, resistances, and spells.

Ilea decided to change one of her transfer locations to Paarah, switching her previous location south of the Foundation of Glass to one of the emptied mansions. Now that she had a mark on Evan, she really didn’t need another way to travel to the Isanna desert.

I should probably ask the Druned if I can share the things that I find here. They did mention that the knowledge of what is down here shall remain and die with them, but I mean they sent me here? Or did they expect me to die?

She decided asking the Druned wouldn’t hurt. Based on the similarity with the golems she saw in the streets, she assumed they were related, perhaps even the same.

Builders and warriors maybe? Mages and warriors?

She continued her search and scanned some of the documents before storing them.

The next building looked more like a natural rock formation. Windows, doors, and balconies had been added, though somehow it fit between the more square shaped buildings without issue.

In a dusty office with a large hearth, she found a set of letters that finally mentioned the Druned.

… fourteen Druned builders will be assigned to your latest project. If the enchantments work as you have advertised, I’m sure we can secure funding for additional help.

We’re happy to continue this relationship, Madame Cwaithan.

Ilea stored the letters and looked at the art piece on the wall depicting a single Mava with seven tails, her fur white as snow. She wore earrings and various bracelets around her arms and tails, silvery colors and red gems.

The Mistress of the House, I presume. Druned builders. I don’t think the golems in the streets are builders. With their axes, cannons, and armors.

Teleporting into the overgrown garden atop the stone structure, Ilea looked at the next building. She tilted her head to the side and smiled. It was circular, the walls round and leading to a central spiraling tower that pierced up towards the ceiling of the cavern, touching it even. All of it was obsidian, blue light slightly reflecting off its surface.

Now that she was at a somewhat elevated position, she could see more outliers among the nearby structures. A metal sphere surrounded by trees, a bunker like structure at the center of essentially a pool, an area that looked more akin to a public park, furniture strewn throughout.

Who the fuck planned this city?

She raised her brows, realizing the similarity between what she saw here and what she had seen in the Mava settlement. The inspiration of the Druned was obvious here, but far more restrained, and set within the confines of specified separated areas. A city with architectural marvels compared to a chaotic magical art project built in the middle of a desert. And still, Ilea could tell that most of this was build by the same beings.

And they left. Were they the ones to seal this place? Why?

Death sealed within. A silver crown on the first warrior.

Ilea decided her questions would be answered in time. For now, she focused on searching through the mansions and mapping out the city. One thing she noted was the absence of teleportation gates or something similar. Guess that made it difficult to escape as well, when all of them were getting killed.

In the obsidian tower, Ilea found a large map depicting the city. Including numbers and descriptions. The most interesting structure she saw on the map was the central palace. She saw no mentions of armories, vaults, or banks, nor did the people of Paarah use gold for internal trade it seemed.

Before storing the map, Ilea found another interesting location. The fountain square. According to the size on the map and the name, the next place Ilea would check out.

Ilea teleported to Myr Iva and went back to the Druned who had sent her, though by now she assumed they were all in the know. The only thing they initially shared with her was the fact that any remnants in the city would attack her, no matter what she did. She assumed that was the main reason why the city had been sealed from outside.

She waited while there was some discourse between them, the Druned now knowing that Ilea could easily teleport out of the city, with documents and artifacts.

After a full ten minutes of waiting, the Druned informed her that she was free to share what she had found, though they asked her to retrieve the crown before she did so, knowing they couldn’t stop her either way.

There was little reason for Ilea to refuse. She liked the stone golems, and they had allowed her to find the ancient city after all. So far she had found no indication that the people of Paarah had any knowledge or association with the Ascended, the city likely falling long before the Olym Arcena targeted Elos. Ilea was sure others would’ve known of or would’ve mentioned the city if it had still been a power at the time.

She returned to the city using her third tier of Transfer, and made her way to the fountain square, teleporting and sneaking through the empty houses and partially overgrown streets, most of it still bathed in faint blue light.

The square itself was enormous. A central circular section with various stone and metal fountainheads poking out from the dried out stone dominated the vast majority of the area. Benches and now overgrown gardens surrounded the center, with canals going out in every direction. If the basin had been filled with water, Ilea imagined it would look more like a lake than anything else.

The display of casual wealth was one thing, but with the canals, Ilea imagined the central fountain lake was integral to the sewage and water supply system, while providing a display of artistry and magical prowess.

Wish I could’ve seen it when it was running, she thought with a glance towards the ceiling. Of course this section of the cavern was higher, likely carved out to accommodate the water. How fucking strong were those pumps, or enchantments I suppose.

Ilea spread her wings and flew up above the empty basin. While it must’ve been impressive to see in its glory, she didn’t think a few added craters and piles of stone would substantially damage the structure. There was so much space after all. And thus she chose it as her arena.

The Paarah Warrior she had destroyed hadn’t provided any levels to her Classes, but there were plenty of them out there, and while not nearly in the same class as some of the recent monsters she had fought, they were still at a higher level than her.

I’m not going to search through an entire city by myself either. This place is fucking huge.

And if she wanted to provide a safe environment for others to scour through the many buildings, she would have to make it safe first.

As good an excuse as any, to brawl with a bunch of ancient stone warriors.

And some of them had cannons. She really wanted to see what they did.

Hmm, I mean they didn’t answer to my telepathy. Maybe if I send my intent directly?

She landed in the basin and charged up Monster Hunter. “Hello!” she shouted out, her voice imbued with the intent to greet anything in the vicinity. She couldn’t think of anything more friendly. If the golems attacked her regardless, she assumed they were stuck in some sort of defensive mode to protect the city from any intruders, or to straight up wipe out anything that wasn’t them.

She didn’t have to wait long, the first of the golems arriving mere seconds later. She could see at least five already, more likely on the way. Waving towards them, Ilea smiled when she saw a few of them readying their arm cannons. She watched from a distance when the first dull explosions resounded. “They’re actual cannons,” she said in an excited voice.

The projectiles reached her in moments, flying in a high arc above the fountain square before they came down towards her. Ilea watched the spheres of enchanted black rock come closer, a smile on her face as she spread out her arms to welcome them.

None struck her directly. They instead impacted the stone ground around her and exploded with deafening sound, shrapnel, and fire. She felt bits of hard stone strike her mantle from near the impact zones, heat and fire spreading all around.

The battle had begun, and her enemies had artillery.

She grinned and spread out her ash, ready to use her fires now that she had attracted so many of the warriors.

Another salvo set the world ablaze all around her, her first layer of armor battered and stripped in parts before it recovered. Any excess heat she could gather was gathered into her core, added to the growing heat within her. She very much welcomed the fires.

Kind of reminds me of my first Taleen dungeon. Many armed guardians rushing me with ranged variants at a distance. Well, the caliber they use is a little different, that is for sure, she thought when the first warrior rushed towards her with four axes at the ready. And I guess you can’t quite compare a tank to a foot soldier. I’d like to see this thing fight an Executioner.

More and more of the golems came to the square, many aiming their cannons while others started running her way with their heavy steps.

This is going to be chaos.

A grin spread on her face as her ash was set alight, the white flame of creation flaring up as she teleported to the first of her enemies.

This time, she didn’t hesitate to use her Fourth tier. The battle would be long regardless.