Sebastian felt it immediately in his bones the moment he entered, the massive doors groaned inward, revealing a long passage and unlike the ruined city outside, this corridor had not been left entirely to decay. There were faint glyphs along the walls that still pulsed weakly with residual enchantment, the path ended in a laboratory.
A vast underground chamber stretched before them, illuminated by floating spheres of pale light suspended in midair. Stone tables lined the room in ordered rows, covered in glass instruments, shattered vials, dried residues of unknown substances, and metal frameworks etched with arcane sigils, there were shelves carved directly into the walls, filled with jars containing things no one immediately wanted to identify.
For a moment, even Yarvik forgot how to talk.
"…Now this," the dwarf whispered slowly, "is something I didn't expect to see... I mean what the fuck is all of this.."
Lune stepped forward cautiously, eyes scanning the floating lights. "It is a mage laboratory…" she murmured. "But it doesn't feel abandoned at all."
Faelorn's gaze was fixed on the sigils etched into the far wall.
Sebastian had already moved deeper inside, he didn't touch anything at first. Just observed.
His medallion, which had been quiet for a few seconds, began to vibrate again, softly now and that alone told him enough.
His voice broke the silence without looking back.
"This really is interesting."
He stopped beside a long stone table covered in scattered tools. Glass rods. Alchemical burners. Distillation coils. A cracked crystal apparatus still faintly humming with residual magic.
He picked up a small vial between two fingers, tilting it slightly toward the floating light.
The liquid inside was dark, almost black, but when it caught the glow it briefly shimmered with faint veins of silver.
"…This place has been used recently."
That got everyone's attention instantly.
Lune frowned. "How recently?"
Sebastian didn't answer immediately. Instead, he crouched beside the table, running two fingers lightly over a thin layer of dust.
"A month," he said finally. "Maybe less."
Yarvik let out a low whistle. "So we're probably not alone down here. Fantastic."
Faelorn stepped closer to one of the shelves along the wall, eyes narrowing as he studied the jars more carefully. "Then whoever was here either left in a hurry… or didn't leave at all."
Then Lune spoke more quietly. "What are those?"
She pointed toward one of the shelves.
Inside a glass jar sat something that looked almost like ash at first glance. Until it shifted.
Sebastian's eyes tracked it instantly.
"…No clue," he muttered.
Yarvik took a step back. "Why would anyone collect that?"
Seb gave a dry look over his shoulder. "Because someone with knowledge thought it was useful."
That was enough answer for most of them.
Faelorn exhaled slowly, frustration creeping into his tone now. "So we've got an active mage, or something like one, using this place as a laboratory beneath my people's ancestors' city…"
He shook his head.
"This just keeps getting better."
Sebastian moved toward the central platform, he stepped onto the edge of the circular markings and crouched slightly, studying the intersecting lines carved into the stone.
"Whoever built this knew what they were doing," he said quietly. "This isn't amateur work. Not even close."
Lune crossed her arms, uneasy. "So what does that mean?"
Sebastian didn't look up.
"It means we're not dealing with someone who stumbled into this place, they chose it."
Yarvik scratched his beard nervously. "A mage who chooses to live in a place like this is either brilliant…"
"…or completely insane," Faelorn finished.
Sebastian finally stood again, eyes scanning the room once more.
"Or just strong, very."
Sebastian and the others spread through the laboratory, his attention narrowing as he moved slowly between the ruined tables.
Whoever had been here had taken care to remove what mattered and leave only what was either useless or meant to be found, at the far end of the chamber, half-hidden behind a collapsed shelf of glass apparatus, he found it.
A stack of documents.
Or what remained of them.
Most had been reduced to brittle black fragments, edges curled and eaten away by fire or deliberate destruction.. But a few pages had survived beneath a collapsed metal frame, protected from the worst of it.
Sebastian crouched, carefully lifting one with two fingers. the ink was faded, written in Elder Speech so old and formal it barely resembled the dialect Faelorn used.
His eyes moved slowly across the lines, and something behind his gaze hardened.
"…No," he muttered under his breath.
A phrase stood out more clearly than the rest, repeated in fractured references across the page, 'The Calamity of Worlds.'
And beneath it, in heavier ink, almost ceremonial in tone,
'Ithlyne Prophecy.. convergence of endings.'
Sebastian read no further aloud.
He simply folded the page carefully and slipped it back beneath the debris, burying it exactly where he found it.
When he stood again, his face was calm.
But his silence had shifted.
Lune approached from the side. "Find something?"
Sebastian shook his head slightly.
"Old nonsense," he said flatly. "Nothing useful."
It wasn't a lie exactly.
He turned away from the documents and moved toward the far wall of the laboratory.
That was when he saw it, the structure was partially embedded into the stone itself, an arc-shaped frame carved directly into the laboratory wall. Elven in design, but reinforced with something else layered over it.
A portal frame, inactive and dark.
Along its sides were sockets where a crystal should have been mounted. One at the top.
Faelorn stepped beside him. "What is that?"
Sebastian studied it for a moment longer.
"A portal," he said quietly. "Possibly what the mage used to get in and out of this place."
His eyes traced the missing components.
"It's not meant to lead within the ruins. If it ever activates again, the other side will be somewhere far away from here."
Lune's eyes widened slightly. "So if we fix it…"
"…We get an escape route!" she finished quickly.
Yarvik immediately nodded. "A proper one. No more cursed elf tunnels and screaming ghosts."
Faelorn, however, didn't look convinced. His gaze stayed locked on the inactive frame.
"And where does it lead?"
Sebastian didn't answer right away.
"That's the problem then," Faelorn added. "We have no idea."
Seb exhaled lightly through his nose. "Then we find out after we make it work."
Faelorn turned toward him sharply. "That's not exactly reassuring."
"It's honest."
They began searching properly after that.
Carefully at first.
Then more desperately as the realization set in that the laboratory was larger than it first appeared. Hidden compartments. False panels. Broken storage alcoves behind collapsed stonework.
Minutes passed and frustration slowly crept into the group.
Yarvik kicked at a loose crate. "Either this thing doesn't exist or it's hiding from us on purpose."
Lune crouched near a cracked shelf, brushing dust from scattered fragments. "We're missing something obvious."
Faelorn rubbed his head, already looking irritated. "If this is some kind of elven joke, I'm going to personally insult every fucking ancestor I can name!"
Sebastian, meanwhile, had gone still near the portal frame again, studying the runes rather than searching blindly.
That was when Yarvik's voice broke the silence.
"Oi."
They turned.
The dwarf stood near a fallen slab of stone, holding something small between two thick fingers.
It was a crystal.
Not large or ornate. But perfectly shaped, faceted, humming faintly with dormant energy.
"…Could this be it?" Yarvik said awkwardly. "I picked it up on the way in."
There was a long silence.
Sebastian slowly turned toward him.
Then closed his eyes for a brief second.
And facepalmed.
Hard.
Faelorn stared.
Then slowly looked at Sebastian.
"…That's it, isn't it?"
Sebastian lowered his hand.
"…Yes."
Lune turned immediately on Yarvik. "We've been looking for that for the entire time!"
Yarvik held the crystal up defensively. "I picked this up before we entered this place! How was I supposed to know it was the one?! It was just shiny looking!"
"It's literally the same shape as the socket next to the portal!" Lune snapped.
Yarvik pointed at it stubbornly. "Oh piss off look at the thing, I don't know any of this magic horseshite!"
Sebastian, still mildly exasperated, stepped forward and took the crystal from him.
"Alright," he said calmly. "Enough."
He walked toward the portal frame, holding the crystal up to the empty socket.
Faelorn watched carefully now. "You sure about this?"
Sebastian didn't look back.
"No," he admitted. "But we don't have anything better." Then he pressed the crystal into place.
/-\
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