Cimmerian Halls [Nayru/Remus]

[Remus]

It was such a contrast. Her first attempt to open the doors compared to her second. Both images were almost haunting while lingering within his mind. Initially there had been bright light. Golden scales. Radiant hue. A warmth. Then, then blackening shades. The pulsating red underline as if her veins had become alive with magic. It was almost unsettling. It would've disturbed him further but he was well..Remus. A normal cognitively developed human would have become somewhat cautious, or suspicious to the slightest degree. The scruffy blue haired Etrurian priest however, felt any notion of unease slip away into the void at the sight of Nayru's smile, the sound of a feminine chuckle, and an earnest thanks. When someone like that thanked him, and made no negative intent visible, how could he hold even an inkling of distrust? Sure, the slight tingle and series of chills along his spine at the burning afterimage he briefly saw from the red abyssal hued veins upon her arms had not fully vanished; neither could he knowingly distrust her though. It was Nayru after-all.

He dismissed it. They had more pressing matters to attend to, and as she looked to admire her hand-y-work..heh he felt a smile widen on his mug while the priest moved through the vine covered stone floor to approach the female dragon. The priest nodded quietly with an approving look while he chimed in to her triumphant exclamation. "And look! You didn't actually punch the door open. So proud of you. Ahah! Another boon! This is the first adventure we've started together, where I haven't been nearly killed in some shape or form!! I like where this is going!" It was a grim jest, but a true one. Though the beginning of the trip had been a close call with death, he counted that like a separate journey. From their arrival to the opening of the doors, was a whole new adventure. Perhaps her wanton abandon for fear of death had bled onto the priest. Maybe his growing prowess of healing and barrier had given him a sense of invulnerability, or mayhap, just like the young dragon, he just did not fear for his own safety.

The priest gazed with anxious and hanging palpable anticipation as she peered to the open doors. Aside from the initial faint clusters of dirt and dust that had fallen off the doors from their opening, no stirring indicated anything within this old and ancient sanctum. Clearly though, he and Nayru had been expecting the same thing. She expected HORRIBLE abominations. He expected well...history. Ancient history. So when Nayru turned with a smile after creeping into the ruins to speak of ancient unknown knowledge and historical facts..he felt a slight thrill rush through him. The priest managed to squeeze through the door as well, without any real issue, only to step further into the cavernous like ruin along side the female dragon. Though..upon the mention of Torches...Remus was struck with a thought.

"I think I've got the light covered. Here let me try...this..."

The priest briefly channeled an internal focus. Calling lightly upon the spiritual powers within, drawing forth from the aether a sudden surge of light that imbued within the gem resting within his staff. The brilliant light shined forth, casting a slightly blueish hue to everything around them as the light pierced through the blue gem and began to illuminate all around them. It added an ambient eerie sense, but also provided enough light to at-least see the path ahead. That at-least, would allow them to see where they were going.

[Nayru Al-Saiduq]

Of course Remus would have a magic torch. Why wouldn't he? It was perfectly normal for human mages to only be able to do friggin' everything, OBVIOUSLY the soft-spoken healer would have deadly light magic and be able to illuminate his surroundings at will. Nayru snorted, vaguely amused at the thought. All raving against the inherent unfairness of the world aside though, she wasn't complaining, having a torch that walked itself was definitely a step up from carrying the damn thing herself. "Well, that's convenient." She didn't belabor the point further, it wasn't like Nayru held a grudge against Remus for it or anything, she was just a little salty.

Nonetheless it didn't last long, if only because Remus's laser light show revealed far more than just a minor storage room or antechamber. Ancient stone walls ascended into the darkness far above where the light dimmed and died, proving the doors had not just been for show, and before them lay countless murals, carvings, text in unknown tongues, crawling across the walls and mighty pillars. As she walked among the pillars, in some ways, it almost reminded her eerily of that strange dreamscape in which she had fought herself, back in the assault on the bandit fort on Sacae - huge pillars and stone walls seeped in darkness - though after a moment of 'oh god is this some huge backstory reveal' Nayru recognized the actual styles were different enough that there wasn't that much real overlap. Definitely a different language in the text, the pillars were narrower and straighter, and the floor was completely different.

And further beyond, in the depths of the antechamber, the floor itself seemed to give way into a yawning chasm to the abyss... or at least stairs down to the temple itself, further cementing her suspicion that this whole elaborate frontpiece was merely the prelude to a far greater complex underground. Even with Remus's light providing illumination, it was almost... easy to forget he was there, the vastness of their discovery nearly overwhelming Nayru. She had seen plenty of ruins before, but never one as almost flawlessly preserved as this, much less one that promised to be as large as this.

"It's... beautiful," Nayru breathed, running her fingers gently along one pillar as she passed it, stopping to stare at the nearby wall. "I've never seen such a well-preserved ruin... those on Elibe were often victim to the Scouring, and then again to landslides, collapses, or looters. This building might be thousands of years old, Remus. Older than your entire belief system, older than me, older than most dragons." She didn't know how old it was at a glance obviously, Nayru didn't have any dating magic, just a rough guess based on her experience with approximating eras. There could always be obfuscating factors though. Something this old, it was possible there was some even older magic bolstering it; some sort of preservation spell, geomancy, cleaning golems - hell, for all she knew it had literally been frozen in time and they were going to emerge from the front door in a few hours to find that 500 years had passed in Elibe.

Ehh. Probably not that last one. But the sheer - unknown factor was fascinating nonetheless. She actually, honestly, didn't know what to expect. Nayru couldn't help but revel in the feeling. She wasn't just experiencing something unexpected, but something truly new, even to her, even after all this time and all that spelunking. It had a magical sort of air to it. Even knowing that maybe it was just some old temple to a forgotten god that had no relation to actual history didn't deter her excitement in the least.

...But pragmatism was an important concern as well. The dragon allowed herself to wallow in the moment for a touch longer, then turned to Remus. "How long can you keep that light going? If the temple prime is large and complex enough, we may be down here for a few hours."

[Remus]

This was a first for the priest. Well, an unclear statement. This entire trip had been "first's" for him. He'd never tried to climb ANYTHING. Not even a tree. He'd never nearly fallen to his death. He'd never seen a giant horse-human-man. He'd never seen a doog that large. He'd never personally, first hand, been to a ruined location. He'd also never used his staff as a light source. Ohhhh boy. When Amelia learned of this little party trick, she'd be trying to have him as her personal lantern. Let alone the fact that if he could generate it through the blue gem, when it was red in it's natural state he could likely change the light to red. However, as tempting of a notion as that sounded at the present, he'd have hold off as they entered the main-...

Oh my..heavens above and below...

His breath left his lungs. Perhaps it was more apt to say it was stolen from them. He inhaled sharply, as Nayru began speaking and praising the location. His heart beat at a quickened pace from the fact that he was literally holding his breath. It was almost an anxious like sensation. The blue haired priest shifted his gaze to Nayru, and pivoted slightly with his staff being raised higher. The shadows danced along the walls as they were altered with growing sizes and shifting locations from the greater radius upon which his holy light shone. The mere idea..of such age. It baffled him. Thinking of something older than..Dragons or [/i]Elimine[/i]..was..mind numbing.

He didn't really know what to say. He was at a loss for both words and thought. He crept closer, foot-steps hesitant to ensure that he did not fall to an untimely doom. A soft blue glow circulated around Remus' skin still from the barrier he'd cast as he entered the ruins. Remus' shivered at the notion of a fall from such a height, before turning to gaze at Nayru while she quizzed his ability to maintain the light. A soft chuckle preceded his response.

"I believe I could maintain this for quite some time. It doesn't ebb my strength any, and I suspect that the ease of it combined with little strain to upkeep it would let me keep this going for a long time."

[Nayru Al-Saiduq]

The only downside of the... size of this place was that it suggested their journey to explore it would likely be circuitous at best. Nayru didn't mind the time spent exploring, but she had been quite serious in her estimate of several hours - and that was more just to casually visit most of it, not actually understand and study it, that would take weeks or months she suspected. They would not know for sure until they started moving though, it was possible that the temple wasn't as large as she had anticipated.

The dragon nodded simply to Remus's response, thankful to hear an affirmative answer. That would definitely simplify matters significantly, any light she could create was temporary at best and was exhausting to keep up - and tended to be attached to a lot of destructive magical essence. Not exactly the best way to light things up when investigating an almost perfectly preserved ancient building. "That's good to hear. Thanks, Remus. Should make this adventure a lot easier." It was partially her just trying to be supportive/polite, but also perfectly honest at the same time. Between the funky barrier magic he had used to protect them both back in the village in Bern to the light stuff he did now, and obviously the healing that his school of magic was known for, Remus was incredibly useful to have around on a purely practical level even ignoring the mental/emotional benefits.

"For now, let's just try going down. I'd like to see how deep this rabbit hole goes, and there may be a central chamber of some sort that would shine more light on the original purpose of the structure - worship, blood sacrifice, archival, storage, etcetera etcetera." She said it completely matter of fact and kept moving as she spoke and afterwards, strongly giving the impression that she didn't see any of it as being worth reacting to - just a normal list of tasks for an ol' fashioned temple. Needless to say Nayru wasn't actually on board with blood sacrifice, but not having actually been exposed to it herself, and having read about it and seen the altars atop which freshly beating torn out hearts had once been displayed to roaring crowds enough times, it was firmly lodged in the 'oh yeah that was history' part of her head.

Nayru wandered a bit closer to the descent in the back as she thought, inspecting it for a better idea of what to do next. While the depths of darkness seemed to stretch pretty far down indeed, there was a stairway of sorts descending into it, though until Remus got closer she wouldn't be able to tell exactly how things developed further down. There wasn't uh, much of a railing that she could see though. "Come, o light of my life, my darling pet torch, and let us see whence awaits us in yonder shadows!" Ok... so maybe she was being a LITTLE silly in her near-falsetto, but Nayru was having fun dammit and not even Remus could stop that. "Seriously though, watch your step. I don't think the guys who built this got the memo about building codes."

That all said, the stairs were pretty... wide. Like... way wider than normal human stairs, and they looked far sturdier to boot. Nowhere near transformed dragon size, though, so she didn't expect to see anything TOO huge down there. It was possible that they were just ceremonial and fancy to impress people, but for some reason, Nayru had a feeling there was a level of practicality attached to it as well.

[Remus]

It was strange. As the soft eerie blue light cast out in a dull glow that sent the entire globe like radius of space around them into a light aura filled state, the priest felt more focused on this fact than the ruins itself. At-least for the moment. The fact that he was the one generating this light. If he were to cease the flow of energy which lightly infused upwards into the staff which served as a beacon of holy illumination, they would be enveloped in a pitch of shadow. As his gaze began to crawl along the vast expanse that this deep dark place offered, he found himself lost more and more in the setting. He'd never been to such a place before. He'd never experienced such uncertainty in his environment. He'd been in unknown places before, but never a complex such as this.

He knew Nayru wouldn't lead him astray though. She hadn't yet. So the priest followed her. Nodding quietly to her layout of where they should next proceed. He couldn't precisely voice an opinion on the situation when he did not have much sense of direction to go. He was so far out of his element he'd merely throw all of his ducks into the basket of the brown haired female dragon leading his path. It was a good way to go.

The steps were large. Wide and sturdy. In most settings, he'd have felt uncertain. Shaky or even a bit anxious because of how great a descent there was should he fall. However there was no unsteady footing. No loose bits or broken steps. All of it was sturdy ancient wide stone steps. He even felt comfortable with it. This was a design clearly meant for either large individuals or more than one at a time. He heard Nayru chime in again as they began their descent.

Come, o light of my life, my darling pet torch, and let us see whence awaits us in yonder shadows!

The priest felt a well of laughter, if not a strange warmth build within. Her sense of humor had always evoked laughter from him, but it almost felt endearing as well. Chuckling, the blue haired priest hazzarded a gaze down to later paths while re-gripping his staff and adjusting it. Her previous words echoed in his mind. Ponderings, wonderings of what precisely the function of this large construct was. What might they find at the bottom of these stairs? The priest looked down below further before hearing Nayur's more clear warning, and trying to also focus on the steps before him. He still felt safe though, as the faint shimmer of his protective magics pulsated around him. The barrier spells he casted had become unyielding. Each one able to stop various types of blows with equal ease. That helped him feel far more secure, and he quietly inquired to his dracnoic comrade as they traversed into the deep dark below.

"What do you think was the reason of this place? Have you seen anything to give you ideas yet?"

[Nayru Al-Saiduq]

Remus was doing his best with the light and Nayru certainly wasn't going to diss that, but the cavern below was far too vast to be illuminated by a single man, and if there were torches or lights built into the temple, they had long since died. Or at least been turned off. Considering how well the temple seemed to be preserved, the latter might be more likely than the former. But she did wish that she could have seen it in its prime, the dragon couldn't help but think as they followed the stairs down, watching the left wall as the right fell away into the infinite emptiness of the abyss. In Remus's light she could see the walls stretching out below them though, far too flat to be natural. While it remained to be seen if the temple had simply been built over a natural fissure and terraformed to an unknown degree, or if ancient builders had actually carved out the massive expanse, it was clear that the architecture of this place was no less impressive than the front had appeared.

Interestingly the stairs didn't go down that far, simply leading to a railed-in walkway along the wall that appeared to lead to another doorway deeper into the complex. Rather than investigating immediately, Nayru leaned over the rail a bit, looking down in the dim light. She couldn't see things all the way down for obvious reasons, but she could make out what looked to be a very similar walkway further down, maybe fifty feet or so. The thought of trying to take a shortcut crossed her mind... but without wings, the dragoness was fairly sure that she would go splat about the same as any human, and Remus definitely would. And that was assuming they could even drop in such a way as to accurately aim their descent to the platform. Failing would leave them falling into the inky darkness far below, where Remus's light had no chance whatsoever of penetrating, possibly a fall of hundreds of feet. Hell, if this was a re-purposed natural cavern, it was even possible that the drop might be thousands of feet, ending only in jagged rocks and slicing edges.

...Nayru decided she didn't want to think about that too much. Remus's question was much safer. "Nothing solid," she answered simply, almost reflexively, as she continued to consider it. Tapping into the ongoing logic engines that had been considering that question and other similar ones. "I haven't seen enough of the complex to make any absolute judgement. I'd like to continue searching for writing... preferably something pictorial, information can often be gleaned from murals even without being able to read the language. Creation myths, end of the world prophecies, so on and so forth. We might find clues to put together."

"But this place is far too large. It would have taken enormous effort and significant resources to build it, even assuming it was simply based on an existing fissure. I hazard that it was either a major archive, or a place of worship to a major deity predating modern religion. As for who..." She shrugged, running her fingers across the stone railing, slowly walking down the pathway. "Well, that's why we're looking for fancy pictures. Maybe a sun god or goddess, creator goddess - they're usually female in mythology - might even be related to the Sacaen father sky/mother earth divide. Maybe it was an entire pantheon; if this was dedicated to a single deity, you'd think there would be more statues." She didn't know it was any of that of course, Nayru was just guessing at this point. It might even have been humans worshiping a very powerful dragon, maybe an earth dragon or something. She didn't voice that possibility though. Trying to keep her fedora from tipping too hard, she continued. "On a more practical level, it might at least help us understand what inspired these guys to start worshiping rocks... or rip a giant hole in the planet, depending on how construction went. Whatever the story is, apparently it was important enough to put some serious work into this place."

[Remus]

Remus kept his eyes fixated on on the walls and steps before them. Drifting along the steps they traversed, he tried to imagine what kind of figures they'd see. Was that a common thing? Older facilities and ruins like this after all, were not a common occurrence in Elibe. At-least in civilized Elibe. Because of such, he found it next to impossible to accurately imagine what precisely these "images" could be. Were they detailed? Basic? His gaze squarely located the wall to his left as he walked aside Nayru. It looked...old. Yet it had no chips. No signs of wear or tear. Even at these lower depths, they were perfectly preserved. Remus quickened his steps to move along-side Nayru, while his eyes continued to adjust to the darkened settings even with the light.

"Do you see these type of images often in Elibe's ruins? Ah..are they all..this...big? I mean..I'm taken aback because well..this place is monstrous! Easily larger than most of Etruria's largest cathedrals! Well..not all of them..some are like small towns...or feel like it..but this place is still absolutely enormous! Just imagining the time it took to make it and build it in it's entirety!"

He didn't know much about this, but admittedly he wasn't very knowledgeable. However Nayru's ruin-maniac nature rubbing off to him either way with him becoming excitable just as his mind ran rampant of what they could find. Imagining great crystals of energy within the center resting above huge open caverns. The large ornate possibilities upon chambers untouched otherwise. The previous point though, of prospective civilization made him curious. Who could still reside here? People? More dragons? What if it was like a city of dragons hidden from humanity? A place unknown to humans, at-least previously, that dragons used as a safe haven. Wouldn't that be something!

His inquisitive look drifted along the right wall as he noticed a series of panels. Etchings. The priests steps slowly slowed to a quiet halt as he looked over it. He tilted his head before pointing to it with parted lips exclaiming in soft curiosity.

" Nayru...look..."

Each panel took up a section of the wall. The first one was of a series of what looked like..lizard people? Dragons? It had to be dragons. They were in two rows along one half side of the panel. Humans lined one, and dragons, the other side. They did not seem to be definitively losing though, and he knew that dragons would likely lose. The priest looked to her quietly and tilted his head.

"Nayru..do you have any idea what these mean? It looks...strange."

[Nayru Al-Saiduq]

"No, I've never seen ruins this large. A few that - well. There's some pretty crazy stuff below Nabata." Probably the most memorable had been a massive tomb full of crap she couldn't even identify, but there had been one very large - and VERY decrepit - temple. "I found one especially large temple a long time ago, but it was much smaller than this, and the ravages of time were not kind to it - large portions blocked off entirely, walls crumbling... and the whole thing was a bit more fragile than I realized. Almost didn't get out at all. Turns out rock beats dragon 10 times out of 10 if you have enough of it." Ah, good times. Escaping from a collapsing temple after a string of bad luck and bad judgement had been a hell of an adrenaline rush, and until recently had been one of the few times she had actually genuinely needed to exert every bit of her strength she could to hold up one part of a collapsing roof while she struggled under it to a more stable room beyond.

As they approached the entrance to the corridor Remus noticed something while Nayru was fixated a bit too much on trying to make out anything in the endless darkness below - she thought she could make out SOMETHING nearer to the middle of the room, way the f**k down there, but Remus's comment drew her from that line of thought to focus more on what he was talking about. Turned out she had been wrong about the wall being pretty bare, or at least hadn't seen it further down, there were definitely drawings on the walls. Inscriptions. Carvings. Not simply the runes from before, but figures that resembled actual creatures. It was a start anyways!

The overall design was clear if she stepped back a bit - at least as far as one could given the railing separating her from a zillion foot fall. On one side, there were depictions of what was pretty clearly humans, many of them armed, facing to the right. Some were not armed but, as she inspected it, had swirls that Nayru suspected were meant to be magic - though to be honest it wasn't perfectly clear. But the idea of warriors and mages made sense. On the other - well, it wasn't hard to make out dragons. She had seen enough of them in Arcadia to recognize some of the phenotypes immediately. Stockier battering rams, slender winged creatures, the archetypal mix of brawn and wing that humans thought all dragons looked like - and in the... she supposed it was supposed to be skies above, some of the more flight-oriented dragon types. One that looked a lot like a wyvern as well, interestingly enough, though she suspected it was simply supposed to depict a smaller Air dragon. Or maybe not. Who knew?

"A war between human and dragon..." Her tone bordered on ethereal, far away, as Nayru thought about what it might or might not mean. "The Scouring comes to mind, but..." She bit her lip, trying to make sense of what seemed inherently nonsensical. "If it was about the Scouring, the dragons would be dead or dying. But they look fine here. They're just fighting. Maybe some old interracial skirmish?"

But that explanation didn't really make sense. Who would build some f***huge temple, literally the largest structure she had ever seen, just for some dinky ass skirmish? This place made Etrurian cathedrals look like a friggin' joke. If it was about an ancient human/dragon war on the island, there would be dragons here now - or the murals would show them dying. Probably. "But that doesn't make sense." Nayru stepped closer to the carvings, walking alongside it, touching a few of the images as she slowly passed them. "If it was about the Scouring, that would date this at roughly a millennium old... but why is it about the war, without showing what actually happened? It's like..." Something was bubbling in the back of her head, but she couldn't quite place it. Nayru did not care for that turn of events at all, but she couldn't really come up with an answer, either. "It's almost like they didn't know the ending. But how would they know of the Scouring, but not the full story? Like it or not, we all know what the ending was. It's called the Scouring, not 'that one war between dragons and humans and then everyone went home and was happy.'"

Nayru turned to Remus, perplexed. "There's been no contact with this place and Elibe... ever, as far as I know. And even if, let's say, some explorer's ship crash landed here on a trip from Elibe a few hundred years ago, he would know more about the Ending Winter than the Scouring proper anyways - and there sure as hell wouldn't be a bunch of dragons just casually chilling here." Right, it didn't make sense. "But what really bothers me is that..." She waved to the dragon murals she was standing next to. "These are all real dragon and manakete phenotypes. This isn't some second-hand story - whoever drew these knew what dragons looked like firsthand. There are details here that some dragons wouldn't even notice. They aren't all just - you know - the human stereotype of big bulky scaly winged dragon, yeah? This one," she pointed to one that looked almost eerily like Erim, "clearly depicts a manakete - the slender, almost snakelike body, large wings, clearly a mobility-heavy design. I won't say ALL manaketes are like that, but in draconic literature it's one of the more popular depictions, they don't have the same mythical durability and physical prowess of actual dragons."

"And this one," she pointed to what looked for all the world like a really big fluffy snake, "-I've never seen one, but I've read about them. They were termed an 'eastern' style, apparently native to Ilia a long time ago - no wings, either no limbs or only vestigial forearms. They supposedly swam through the air. Pretty much all manaketes too. I've literally seen a grand total of three mentions of them in all the human literature I've ever read, and two were about the same dragon. One of them even said she was probably just a rare mutation. Eastern manaketes are pretty much extinct. Hell, they went extinct in the Scouring and were rare as hell before that. They were apparently famous for their weather control, mostly Air, Lightning, and Ice elemental creatures, the only one I've ever seen mentioned in person was Ice. But they might as well have never existed for how uncommon they were even before the Scouring."

Turning back to Remus, she allowed herself an exasperated sigh. "Point is, these people knew more about dragons than any sort of story could ever convey. I've spent five hundred years learning about this stuff and I couldn't have done this. There's no way in hell that this was some bullshit second-hand story, these people were f**k**g experts on dragons. That pretty much rules out travelers. It also suggests that the guys living here didn't build about it after hearing about the Scouring, or it'd be a lot less specific. There's a possibility it was created by dragons driven out of Elibe, say if the Dragon Gate led here rather than another world, but... I think the scale would be different. Doors and stairs would have been bigger to allow transformed dragons for sure. Most draconic architecture accounts for both forms. And we would have seen dragons on the island if it was."

[Remus]

He couldn't truly fathom the number of times Nayru had gone to a ruin, of any kind. However if with hundreds of years of searching, and exploring, she hadn't ever stumbled upon anything quite this size, he could only imagine it had a monstrous significance. That or it was something of a much greater scale than as to have one singular purpose for being constructed. What else could it have been? They'd have to figure out their first purpose to know that. They'd figure it out though. They were the dynamic duo of Nayru the Ruin-Maniac Super-Dragon, and Remus, the Near-Fatal-Injury-Magnet and Walking-Torch extraordinaire! No ancient musty construct could contain secrets from them! Even if they had to spend, what he felt like was an ever shortening life span.

Seriously. Humans lived to be like..70 in Elibe. If they were lucky and didn't have famine, or disease, or sickness of any kind, or you know..the six hundred wars a year, killing them at a younger age. So he'd have...what..50 years to figure this out? Admittedly that felt short compared to Nayru's crazy long life-span. But...she'd said once she met Athos hadn't she? Did that mean humans could live longer? Forever maybe? Was he sustained by magic, or did he just eat all his vegetables when he was fighting dragons? The very idea of-oh right were reading things.


He shifted his focus back as Nayru continued to expound upon what the symbols meant. Though, the first thoughts that struck him as odd were soon echoed by her voice which had a faint echo to it into the distance from the absolute crushing silence this place brought with it's immense self. So. This place was made with at-least some intent relating to the scouring? Or dragons? Maybe people? No...he couldn't really connect the dots. Until Nayru explained the significance behind it. The timing it would have implied. He hadn't expected anything on Vinland to really know about the scouring. How would it have? It was an island so far away that it was only just discovered. This all was very puzzling..and strange..

These are all real dragon and manakete phenotypes. This isn't some second-hand story - whoever drew these knew what dragons looked like firsthand.

That drew his attention. He hadn't well..seen Nayru transform into a dragon. In-fact, the eerie pulsating demon-dragon-god hands she'd utilized earlier was the closest he'd seen. However he knew that all their artworks made them look fairly similar. Here...however..they were so..diverse. Even more so than individuals. It was almost mesmerizing to stare with a better look at the detail. The priest quietly stepped closer to the left wall with which was imbued these panels. Though his right hand kept his staff risen aloft, the light casting soft edges of shadow along parts of these rock etched designs, he could better examine them. His fingers met the rough carved images, brushing softly along the outlines of the different dragons. He drank this scene in. Burning into his memory as best he could the sheer scope of which their entire perception of draconic kind was..well..wrong. So very wrong. Most people were similar on a fundamental biological scale. Their outwards appearance varied in small aspects. Hair color. Eye color. Height. Weight. Jaw structure. Facial hair. Muscle tone. Skin color to a degree. However their "frame" was always the same. Two arms. Two legs. One head. No tail. No wings. These dragons..and manakete..they were diverse. Each one in noticeable ways unique so far beyond just what would be perceived as a humane difference.

He turned back to Nayru after what was seemingly an eternity to him of losing himself admiring the image; but was only a minute or two tops. Though Remus was still processing what Nayru was truly saying, as he shifted his staff to the side and gazed beyond the images, to where they were now...he couldn't shake one thought. Once they began walking he spoke aloud with his left hand clasping at the staff once more. His tone hesitant, and curious at the same time. "Nayru...what knows more about dragons than well...a dragon?"

[Nayru Al-Saiduq]

Nayru...what knows more about dragons than well...a dragon?

It was a small question, hardly a drop in the bucket compared to her long dissertation, but all the more jarringly piercing in its simplicity. The million gold question. Who, or what, would actually know that? Nayru didn't know. She couldn't know. It bothered her maybe a bit more than it should - but at the same time, she didn't think it was at all unreasonable to be bothered by it. If this was some ancient dragon temple, sure, have all the dragon crap you want, nothing weird about that. But this place didn't... taste like dragon. She had no way of KNOWING, but Nayru's gut was definitely telling her that dragons had not built this place. Just too many small clues and hints already.

"That's something I'd like to know as well, Remus." Her voice betrayed a little of her frustration at not knowing the answer, but far greater still was the sense of wonder to it. She was just as curious as Remus about it. "Perhaps it was just a dragon foreman... but then we again run into the question of where are the dragons? Hm. There are supposedly humans on the island, but... no offense, but this is beyond human construction. The doors alone are proof of that. They didn't have the same mechanisms as, say, a castle gate - I'm not sure that lever was even there to open the gate at all. The kind of strength it would take to open those gates, even split between multiple individuals... that's just not something reasonable for humanity."

"We haven't seen much evidence of any other races, though, so setting that aside... there are two main possibilities. One, an extremely long-lived group, or perhaps race. This construction clearly took a considerable amount of time, and yet so far has been very consistent in style and art. You don't see that as well with mortal workers with limited spans." It was possible of course - Etrurian cathedrals were the obvious counterpart to her argument. But erecting a cathedral was something different from boring a gigantic crevasse in the earth itself, or even just building around an existing one. "The other is that either a single group, or an entire culture, made a point of collecting and storing knowledge." She turned to Remus from her glances at the mural. "Much like what Etruria's libraries exist as - but on an infinitely greater scale. I know not what Kraft's purges have done to your archives, but when I last visited Etruria's libraries about forty years ago, they were woefully lacking in pre-Scouring knowledge and huge chunks of post-Scouring human history alike. A truly impressive achievement nonetheless, but the curse of human lifespans and memories, and the vastness of Elibe, makes it incredibly difficult to catalog huge quantities of knowledge across hundreds or thousands of years."

"Even the greatest draconic libraries I've seen were lacking in their own ways as well. It is a culture that values knowledge, but not to an obsession. This..." She swept her gaze across the imagery again, trying to make more sense of it. "This is an obsession." Harsh perhaps, but she thought it was accurate. "Well, it's just a theory, but I'd guess a group... or possibly even a society... dedicated to knowledge. I think this temple might have been their monument. I've never seen so much... information in one place. Even the doors were covered in those runes. I'm not sure how they found out about the Scouring, assuming that is what was depicted, but I get the feeling we're gonna find a lot more like that as we keep going. We might find some answers as we go."

Perking up a bit, she patted Remus on the back as she passed him, turning the corner at the end of the walkway into the dark passageway into the stone that drilled directly into the cliff face the walkway had been hanging alongside. She was pretty intrigued by that theory honestly. It relied a bit on some guesswork that might not pull through, but the idea of a temple of knowledge, rather than worship, was fascinating. And to Nayru, erstwhile historian of eternity, she couldn't think of a better dedication.

[Remus]

but... no offense, but this is beyond human construction. The doors alone are proof of that.

The blue haired priest chuckled at this observation. He thought back to the monstrous doors which were so heavy and great that they barely budged even for the might of a powerful battle hardened dragon. Even had their been human mechanisms worked within and along it to greatly reduce the force required to budge the mighty doors, it would've been so elaborate out of necessity given the door sizes that they would've been fairly overt. He flashed a grin to the brown haired dragon while he hastened to walk along side her. His tone much lighter in mood with his fearful caution slowly abating into the wind.

"I can't disagree there. Ah..and no offense taken. We like grand buildings and large doors..but I don't think we like them that much. "

He blinked in the dull setting before his gaze re-adjusted to the lessened light with him no longer holding the source of light as close to him, but more opposing the side of him and upwards. The scruffy haired Etrurian healer was more content to see what else this ancient place had for him. He tuned in though as Nayru spoke of prospective societies or another race entirely. Again, his lack of creativity showed here. He had a rampant imagination to be sure, but it was definitely limited to that which he already knew existed. It was hard to create something entirely from scratch. Goodness..how could any deity have done such! The sheer imagination they must have possessed. Remus pondered allowed once more.

"Well...Kraft's purge has left the archives...limited. I do not think they have destroyed the information however that they wish to hide. Almost every Etrurian of any scholarly nature has seemed to have a level respect for well..information itself. I would not put it past them to hide and horde this knowledge they deem forbidden or even blasphemous. I do not think they'd destroy it though. That does not change the fact though that it does in-fact leave their libraries fairly baron and vacant. I am sad when I think of this, but it is the truth of things. Ah..a dragon's library though. I can only imagine what that'd be like! If dragons can live for hundreds and hundreds of years, just think of the knowledge they've no doubt acquired! Er..well..I guess you don't have to think about it do you, Mrs. Dragon. Ahah."

He flashed a sheepish grin before he realized his stride had kept him slowly falling behind. Aside from his own protective barrier softly pulsating around him though as he moved through the dimly lit darkness, and that of the staff he held within firmly clutched fingers, he wasn't able to contribute much at the end of the day. They turned the corner, with Nayru leading by several steps now. Remus quietly broke into a jog to keep up. His foot-steps barely audible, yet echoed still some-how. No doubt from the cavernous setting. Remus banked the corner and came to an attempted floundering stop as he passed Nayru by a few feet. In the brief moments his eyes had to take in the new settings, he could see a series of steps once more. However these seemed differently worked. They ran the length of fifteen feet or so, before descending to an equally lengthen flight of stairs, and then back to a flat walk-way, and further on more steps.

Remus finally skid to a bounding halt about five feet from Nayru when his left foot stepped upon the square panel that looked like any other built into the tiling design. Except this one sank downwards slightly. The grinding of stone drew his notice, as the panel sank down three inches. Almost instantly, a red circle burst into existence within the four block square that the priests body inhabited. The nearly blinding light was far brighter than that which came from his staff, and he gazed almost instantly up to Nayru with a confused, and worried, look on his face. Both hands instinctively clutched his staff, as if for comfort. Those two seconds of lapsed space from the trigger to the glow were all he had before a thunderous force shook the tiles and a blast of magical energy exploded outwards into a blossoming burst. The brilliant white hot flames engulfed the priest as part of the explosion while he let out a strangled yelp and was launched away from Nayru and down the stairs. His concentration broken, the light from his staff faded and he winked into the thick shadows that resided once the idle red magical trap had been expended and faded from existence.

--

His world was currently a terrifying one. He had no sense of direction visually, but what he felt was up was almost certainty alternating swiftly as the priests body tumbled wildly down the stairs. He had not the time to register that his body had received no harm from the explosion, before he found himself trying to press palms fist against the ground in some semblance of attempt at gaining his bearings. His palm pressed to the ground, only to feel the weight of another tile sink inwards. This time, no light came forth. He had no time to exclaim before a large bladed pendulum came crashing down from what he assumed the beard of god himself, because at this point he knew some higher power had it out for him. This trap had already claimed a victim at some point it seemed, though he knew not what, for some form of liquid sloshed about within a confined space as it crashed against his body. He was dead. He knew it. He could not see the threat, but he could hear a great grinding as something swiftly pinned him to the wall. The meaty squish however must've been from what ever was upon the trap prior, for he felt no direct contact upon his skin. Minus the wall. The trap seemed content to hang there, but it was in that moment Remus saw it. His eyes instantly took to noticing what little they could see in the dark. A faint, very faint light. Even at the close proximity his eyes nearly failed to see it. As he squirmed, staff cradled between his arm pits, he tried to escape the pinning pressure of the trap weapon. A moment later, it's metal clicked against stone wall as the priest freed himself and lifted his wrist so his hand was very close to his face. Around his skin the small crumbling of his barrier spell, which had shielded him from both attacks, cascaded off like broken and discarded shards started to transpire.

Remus was stunned. Terrified even. However he was alive. In silence, the priest shuffled to rise. He couldn't see. Oh right. Light. I'm alive, so light.

The priest tapped his staff to the ground twice. A wooden "thwap thwap" echoing out, as the priests staff burst forth once more with lapis shaded light. This brought into light the great pendulum that had almost cleaved him in two, and the large unfortunate rat that must have triggered it some time recently. It also revealed that the priest was alive, and nearly unscathed. Save for the troublesome dust upon him and particles of dirt that he attempted to remove by brushing off and dusting off his robes and shoulders before trying to find Nayru. He was squinting though, with strained gaze to try and see Nayru. He spoke out in a raspy, and visibly shaken voice, while trying not to ponder his horrible luck too greatly!

"Ah..um..Na-Nayru? I'm oaky! Just..ah..sore. Are you okay? You didn't get hurt by anything did you?"

[Nayru Al-Saiduq]

She'd hardly even had time to really register that he had forged ahead of her, a stupid move that normally she would have gently reproached him for, before it all happened. Nayru's heart dropped precipitously as good ol' Remus disappeared in a wall of flame and force that sent him hurtling downwards and her staggering back in a combination of surprise and simple reaction to the sudden burst of force from the front. "Remus!" That face was going to live with her for a long time, the surprise and confusion etched onto his features as he tried to understand what was happening before disappearing into the darkness below.

She hadn't expected there to be traps here, not after everything previously had been untrapped and the door a far more practical barrier to entry, though that didn't stop her from taking the blame for it nonetheless. She didn't want to have to explain to Amelia and Owain why their big brother figure wasn't coming home, and more than that she didn't want to be responsible for it. Crossing her arms before her, Nayru jumped through the dying flame instinctively to try to follow him, but lost sight of the priest in the process. His light had gone out, which was... not good. The instant the fire was gone, they were in utter darkness, and while she had an approximate estimate of how long this particular landing continued for before descending into further stairs, she hadn't seen them at all.

So... less of a daring rescue and more of a gradual advance, one hand placed against the wall to gauge her position, hoping everything was alright. The thought of halfshifting slipped her mind momentarily, Nayru still not entirely used to being able to call on her power. It wouldn't have been a great solution anyways though, she wasn't very good at constant illumination so much as major bursts. She could hear the continued seemingly-random noises of Remus's journey downwards, but not actually SEE them, even when she crested the edge of the next set of stairs downward.

Thankfully the bright blue light of Remus's flared up after a few moments of assorted sounds, revealing a relatively unscathed priest, at least given the circumstances. The dragon allowed herself a drawn out sigh of relief and exasperation mixed into one perfect hybrid, almost as happy to see Remus alive as she sorta wanted to pimp slap him for running ahead of her. Needless to say, Nayru took the remaining stairs down much, much more carefully than Remus had, alert for the sound of grinding stone and motion that signaled another trap. Whether for good or ill, none came.

"...Remus, I swear to the Sky, the Earth, Elimine, and every other mythological and deific figure that has ever existed, if you JUST HAPPENED to trigger the only two active traps in this place..." It was strange to feel so numb, but at this point she couldn't even think of a finisher to that statement, casually inspecting the executioner's blade now resting on the stone to separate her and Remus. "This is why," she paused, grunting as she called on enough power for a partial shift, the sound of metal bending and tearing filling the silence as she broke the long pole holding the blade up and moved the now-defunct apparatus to lean against the wall, "I go first, alright?"

The truth was that she probably wouldn't have faired any better than him, worse even if she didn't have the presence of mind to act or react and shield herself, but Nayru wasn't really thinking about that. She was still stuck in the mindset of Remus=squishy=protect, and it wasn't like some silly logic or reason was going to fix that anytime in the near future. Moving forwards a few steps, she put both hands firmly on Remus's shoulders, not with a painfully strong grip but more than a gentle touch. "Are you sure you're alright, Remus? No injuries, no concussion? We can still back out of this if necessary." Needless to say Nayru wasn't particularly eager to leave when they had already had their appetites whetted so thoroughly by tantalizing possibility, but Remus's well-being was a higher priority... though by an admittedly smaller margin that was entirely acceptable by normal human standards.

[Remus]

...Remus, I swear to the Sky, the Earth, Elimine, and every other mythological and deific figure that has ever existed, if you JUST HAPPENED to trigger the only two active traps in this place...

The priest gazed to Nayru with a soft chuckle. His left hand laced through lapis hued strands of hair as he pressed his palm to the base of his neck and massaged it sheepishly. He felt like he was being scolded by his sister. Then again, to be fair, Nayru and Lillisette were so similar he was shocked they weren't secretly related. This would realistically either mean Lilly was a dragon, or his sister was a very very old human. Remus tilted his head while he gazed further around them, with Nayru taking a moment to remove the monstrous contraption from the bindings that allowed it to eventually be returned to it's locked in poise where it might find another victim. That her strength allowed her to disable the colossal pendulum was still awe-inspiring. Even if well..she'd done far greater already.

This got Remus pondering once more, even as Nayru started to approach him. Magic..and strength.

There had to be a way to replicate it beyond draconic exclusive means. The ability to imbue and infuse magical essence within the body and enhance it's capabilities. She did this..some how. He'd never asked before. Though he was tempted to now, he also had a suspicion that asking about magical powers was not the best of conversations when barely making it through a near death experience. This dawned another fact upon the priest. He'd almost died. Not once, but twice, he suspected. And yet....

He wasn't shaken. He was startled, surely. That however was not the same as him being in a shaken state. The priest had been almost killed so many times that the minor aches upon his back and sides, and knees, and neck, were like a drop of water within the ocean. Quietly, the priest tried to shelf this thought for later, for his priorities shifted as Nayru lightly clapped her hands on either of his shoulders. Though she did not add any great force to it, the weight of her gaze, more so than her hands pinning him in place. Her hands merely served as pseudo placement clamps which held him still. There was no squirming or shifting though, him simply gazing back at her while she asked him whether or not he could press on.

A perfectly "Remus" smile spread upon his lips as the priest answered by quietly taking a step back. He lifted his staff, and the focused light briefly faded as a brilliant radiance of blue permeated from his staff that imbued within the priest himself to heal the minor aches within his body. A second pulsating energy radiated out afterwards that engulfed both of them in the pristine glimmer of defensive magics in alternative succession; shielding Nayru before imbuing another barrier upon himself as well. The priest nodded before chuckling with affirmation towards the female dragon.

"Nayru, I couldn't quit even if this place had tried to kill me..er...more. We've come to far to turn back. Besides. Assassins. Bandits. Mercenaries. Demonic nightmares and gargoyles, among canyons and nature itself? What else could this place throw at me beyond a few traps. I'm hardly frightened. Besides! I'm here with you. So I've nothing to fear! I'll ah..follow you though..haha. No more running ahead."

He made good on his word, moving near her but ensuring not to run past the run-maniac-super-saiyan-dragoness while nodding intently. The light was once more burning from his staff as if a powerful torch of holy light. Which..technically..it was.

[Nayru Al-Saiduq]

Yeah, yuck it up, blueberry. Nayru wasn't sure if she was more frustrated at how Remus-ey his flippant response was, or at the fact that Remus-ey was now actually a thing that could be used non-ironically. She also wasn't sure which was worse. The competition was pretty close, and both made her want to punch herself. Usually it'd be the aggravating factor, but well, it was just... difficult to actually envision hitting Remus. He had this sort of precious sweet babbu aura to him that set off too many mama bird instincts. Maybe dragons were actually just evolved birds? ...Nah, that was too crazy to work.

Nonetheless, despite the flippant response and its blatant lack of actual respect for the situation, Nayru couldn't really deny or refute it straight up. "...Well, it's not like I'm in any position to talk about responsibility," she admitted with a sideways smile as the dragon released Remus from her grasp, arms flailing down to her side in a slightly over dramatic gesture of defeat. She chuckled as she shook her head. "It'd be hypocritical of me to tell you how to live your life. Just... try to stay alive, yeah? That barrier isn't invincible."

Turning away to face down the continuing stairwells, she continued, not quite up to the task of facing Remus for this. "You can heal me up if I take some hits, but there's only so much you can do for yourself. And I aint gonna lose you here." No it's ok Nayru keep on jamming that foot further in your mouth, sure it'll all fit, TAKE IT ALL YOU FILTHY WHORE. Turning as much of her brain off as humanly (dragonly?) possible, and definitely NOT paying attention to the faint tinge of red in her cheeks that Remus was definitely absolutely not going to notice in the wake of saying a little more than she intended, the great and wise and powerful dragon, who was definitely NOT feeling like any of those three right now, moved onward down the stairs.

At face value it didn't look like anything particularly special but if Remus looked closely he might notice that she was testing each step very minutely, slowing down just a little as she descended each time, to test for further traps. It wasn't exactly habit, but a lifetime of spelunking in sometimes dangerous ruins had taught her to be careful. Slightly ironically, more so than she ever was in legitimately life threatening situations, especially those concerning others. The irony of that was unfortunately lost on her.

Fortunately(?), it seemed that those two HAD been the only traps, at least on that flight of stairs. While Nayru was secretly relieved, all jokes aside she hadn't been particularly excited about taking a bundle of explosive runes to the face and not entirely confident in her ability to take it unscathed, it also brought Remus's ah... unique brand of luck front and center to her mind. They made it to the bottom of that flight unscathed, turned right, and turned right again as the next set of stairs took them further back down to the titanic great hall - and the next walkway apparently. It was pretty clear that this was gonna be a long walk.

[Remus]

Remus still wasn't used to others being so concerned over him. Admittedly, he should have ages ago. Duma, Donovan, Perun, and Nayru herself, along with Remus'es sister, all expressed concern for the scruffy haired Etrurian healer multiple times over. Here he was though, slightly tickled internally at the notion that someone was so determined to emphasize or stress his own safety. Yet his primary concern was still ensuring the protection of others. No matter how hard he tried, he felt that would always be how he was. After-all. Remus was, well, Remus. When ever he imagined his death, which sadly he often imagined for reasons unbeknownst to even himself, he could only hope it was in an act of protection to others. Shielding them. Throwing himself in-front of others or fighting to give them time to escape, or even something less noteworthy like expending himself healing others from life-endangering wounds. In actuality, it was from a powerful subconscious drive.

He was aware of the monumental wrongs within Elibe. He could not right every one, but he found his singular desire to be righting as many as he could. No number was "enough" either. No matter how many people he healed, others would get hurt. Injury and pain continued. As long as it did, he couldn't sit still or rest. It was why, individuals like Nayru were so important to him. They saved him, from himself. Forced him to rest. Forced him to think of himself. Otherwise, he never would.

Lapis hair rustled as the priest combed pale digits through them messily before he turned his gaze directly at the back of Nayru. He couldn't really see much else of her with her forging ahead of him so assertively. He responded none the less, smiling warmly all the while while he admired the dragoness. A chuckle spilt from his lips prior to his words.

"Ah. Well..I promise Nayru, to do my best to stay alive. You are right. My barriers won't last forever. So, I'll be careful. Just know that you don't get off so easy either though. I don't intend to lose you either madam. Even if you wanted to, I'll just heal ya' up! Ahah."

Goodness. Though the implications were meant to be heartfelt, it was lost on him just how grimm it could have come off. Even if Nayru attempted to slay herself, if it was in his power he would have healed her. If death couldn't release one from someone's side, what could? Truly, her darker humor had rubbed off on the priest without him ever realizing it. The power of assimilation was a dangerous thing.