章 43: Magical Engraving

Roger looked at Lila for a few seconds without moving, his breath coming in short bursts as the adrenaline left his system.

His hand throbbed from the pain of striking the hard marble, and his eyebrows rose in confusion. Turning to glance at the engraving once more, he felt his anger returning, and quickly looked away, instead focusing on the smaller runes plastered across the rest of the white surface.

Having just experienced the effects of the large symbol, they seemed more ominous than before. The shadows of the room felt more oppressive, and the torchlight seemed more important, as if it was keeping the darkness at bay.

Lila watched him with perplexion.

"What's wrong? Why did you hit the tomb?"

Roger inhaled a few times, controlling his tempo to regulate his emotions, and gathered his thoughts.

"I… don't know. Looking at the marking just made me really angry for some reason."

He looked down at his free hand as it clenched and unclenched. His knuckles had turned red, and the skin was scraped, leaving white streaks.

'What happened to me?'

Lila's eyebrows knit together as she stepped past him and looked down at the large symbol. Roger held the torch out to help her see it but kept his gaze away.

It was an uncomfortable feeling to have emotions he didn't understand forced into his mind.

Minutes passed as she studied the details, but she showed no signs of the increasing tension and anger Roger had. Instead, she started to stand up straighter, pushing her shoulders back and appearing more confident than he could ever remember her being.

Unsure what to do, he tentatively reached out and tapped her on the shoulder, hoping to draw her attention.

"Hey Lila, what's up? Is it making you angry too?"

With more energy than he expected, she turned to face him with a wide smile.

"Angry? I've never felt happier in my life! I feel like I could take on the world right now! It's like this symbol is all I needed in my life to push beyond my boundaries and ascend to new heights!"

As if to punctuate the point, she splayed her arms out wide, and Vronti appeared in one of her hands.

"This feeling of power is amazing!"

Roger took a step back and slowly gripped the pommel of his sword, ready to draw it if Lila did anything unexpected.

'What is that carving doing to us? Why is it making me angry, and Lila confident?'

Unlike most things, Roger didn't even know how to begin theorizing about such a strange effect. There was no connecting information to work with.

The only thing he felt sure of was that it had to do with Avar and the person who the tomb was built for.

'I have to get her away from the coffin. That thing is dangerous, there's no telling what will happen if we stay near it.'

"Hey, why don't we explore the rest of the room? There could be more treasures here."

Lila looked confused at his request and began to turn back to the symbol.

"Why would we do that? The power we need is right here!"

Acting on instinct, Roger reached out and roughly yanked her away from the coffin, causing her to stumble into him. She dropped her artifact out of shock, the weapon vanishing in a flurry of sparkles. If it was before the System had rebuilt his body, they would have toppled down the stairs, but his new muscles allowed him to catch her easily, holding her away from the engraving's magic.

Lila tried to push off of him but he held her close, not allowing her to break out.

"Stop struggling! This is for your own good, that thing is clearly affecting your judgment!"

Roger began to pull her away from the object and down the marble stairs. With every step, she fought with less and less strength, eventually letting him drag her away.

Once they reached the bottom, he let her go, watching her closely in case she tried to climb back up.

Instead of doing that, Lila collapsed to the ground, falling to her knees and clutching her head. A few quivering groans escaped her.

Roger, surprised for the umpteenth time since entering the ruin, leaned down to try and figure out what was wrong.

"Are you in pain?"

His voice was genuine in his concern, but he kept himself ready to react.

There was no telling if Lila was trying to get him to lower his guard.

With a few long exhales, she looked up at him with wide eyes. Tears collected at their edges, glistening in the light of the torch.

"What… was that?"

The change in tone was so severe Roger had to take a moment to confirm it was still the same person he had seen just a minute ago.

'How did she go from so happy and confident to a broken mess so fast? What is happening here?'

Deciding to try and learn more, he responded to her, holding his hand out to pull her up.

"I don't know. I think that marking has some kind of power over emotions. Why it made you confident, and me angry, I have no clue. What did it feel like to you?"

Lila took his hand with grace, standing up with his help.

Her body trembled as she tried to explain what had happened.

"It was like I was someone else. The more I tried to figure out what I was looking at, the stronger I felt. A foreign energy took over my body, and I felt possessed, but when you pulled me away the presence never followed."

She wrapped her arms around her shoulders.

"I felt like I lost control of myself. It's something I hope I never feel again."

Roger listened intently, and couldn't help but draw a strange comparison.

'Isn't that similar to what I felt in my dream? A foreign presence tried to take me over, but unlike Lila, I couldn't just move away from the source. Is that why I just felt the emotion, and not the energy this time? I had already beaten it into submission?'

Another thought hit him.

'If I had left her there, and she continued to face the energy, would it take her over? Or would she beat it and evolve her ability like I did?'

A cruel part of him wanted to test it by pulling her back up to the coffin, but he ignored it. There was no reason to do something like that, especially when it could leave him alone in this place.

Magic was too unpredictable for him to take that risk.

Reaching out, he grabbed her shoulder and looked her in the eye.

"It's okay, we won't go back up there. Whatever it is, it's outside of our current skill level. Let's just explore the rest of the ruin and get out of here."

Nodding her agreement, the two walked around the raised platform and searched the rest of the room, Lila never moving more than a few feet away from him.

'A few weeks ago she wouldn't get within five feet of me, now she won't go further than five feet. How fast things can change.'

Despite his pride at her proximity, part of him couldn't help but acknowledge the fact it most likely wasn't something unique. Lila was young and scared, so it was only natural she would want to be near someone else who could help protect her.

'Although she is still the better fighter. Odds are it would be her protecting me.'

The thought wasn't a positive one, but it was true. Roger had only recently begun to train with a sword, while her artifact taught her everything she needed.

He had no illusions about beating her in a straight fight just yet.

Clearing the rest of the chamber, they found nothing else of importance, but there was another hallway leading in the same direction the other ones had. Figuring it was their best bet to find more unique things, they agreed to continue following it.

Roger quickly noticed the hallway was also made of marble, not reverting back to the usual stone, making him think they were on the right track to find ancient treasures.

At the end of this hallway, they found the entrance to another large room. Entering it cautiously, they found themselves at the foot of a staircase, but this one seemed far more grandiose than the one leading up to the coffin.

To make matters more intriguing, Roger noticed that the shadows above them were denser, making him think the ceiling was elevated.

'What would be the point of that?'

Sparing a moment to walk to the right and left, he quickly realized the stairs stretched far in both directions and seemed to be slightly curved as if they were shaped like a circle.

His curiosity getting the best of him, he gave Lila a quick glance before ascending. It was only after the first few steps that he paused, holding his hand out to signal a stop.

Squinting his eyes, he noticed movement just ahead of them, and wordlessly drew his sword, prompting Lila to do the same.

With his weapon in hand, he rose the next few flights and finally saw what was moving.

The staircase led into a thick, flowing mist.

コメント 0のコメント

投票

ギフトを贈る

Load failed, please RETRY