chapter three

Standing outside the palace gates stood Tharos, staring up at the place. The same feeling of fear, shame & regret still loomed over Tharos as he took in the view. There was still a grand majesty to the place, even after all this time. maybe it was the architecture, how everything was in perfect symmetry, how the light shined off it. Perhaps it something more esoteric, in how it was all perfectly aligned with the principles of geomancy, that perhaps true beauty was only found when in alignment with the principles of the universe. That is at least one interpretation. as Tharos started to walk up to the stone steps of the palace. He felt heart race and his pulse quicken yet again, as it had before. However, he no idea what the source of it was, and there too many possibilities for him to narrow down. As his friend Vartark was fond of saying.

“I have information. But no context.”

As he reached the top of the stone steps. The palace was the same as it was the previous day, a ruin that once harbored greatness, the greatness which had faded long ago in the ever-expanding passage of time, as he walked into the throne room to reach the archives. Tharos stood their gaze staring at the throne for several still monuments, a rush of emotions painted his face as he tightens his grip on the hilt of his sword, and in a soft tone of voice one that carried a level of regret that couldn’t be measured.

“I’m sorry. “

Then Tharos would turn his back towards the throne and leave the throne room heading to the archives below. As Tharos journeyed deep into the bowels of the palace into the archives. the sand & dust were thick in the air, and the air was stale. The sunlight that was lighting his way throughout the palace was fading.

“I will have to rely on torchlight.”

He thought to himself as he lit his torch and moved deeper into the archives. It was sprawling and labyrinthine, comprised of an ever-expanding network of winding corridors and stairs, which led to many rooms full to the brim with ancient knowledge, magical artefacts, and enough miscellaneous coinage to keep one family in the laps of luxury for several generations. In one of the rooms, he passed stood several massive suits of what looked like full plate Armor that where about roughly 8-10 meters tall and were interlaced with the plates was a crystalline structure, along with massive gem in the center of the chest plate.

As he entered the section of the archived labelled architecture in the corner of his eye, he spotted faint movement in the darkness, as he directed his torchlight in the direction of the movement. nothing was there. As he moved through and searched through the archives, at the corner of his eye he spotted movement again, but this time the eerie silence was replaced by a low clicking noise. The hairs on Tharos stood on edge, he was not alone, reaching for his sword as he directed his torchlight into the direction of the clicking. There was a flash of movement towards him and with lightning quick speed, three blade-like arms struck at Tharos, Tharos without even thinking swung his sword at the three blades making their way toward his chest, and the blades sparked as they connected. In the light of the sparks and torch light, Tharos spotted his attacker, it had the lanky and thin body of a mummified man, a skeletal cat head and it had three arms each with long blades. the creature hissed at Tharos and leapt straight at him with another swipe of its blades incoming. Tharos ducked & rolled underneath the creature with him getting behind the creature, Tharos taking this chance swung his sword at the creature and with a blow straight and true slashed off one of the creature’s arms, the creature hissed in pain, as a thick black liquid was gushing out of the wound, as its arm fell to the ground. Some of it spilling on the floor or getting on his sword Tharos noticed the floor along with his sword was starting to slowly corrode in contact with the creature blood, faint sizzling noise could be heard

“tch, that is going to annoying to deal with.“

The creature turned around and started its counterattack, Tharos parried & dodged each of the blows, using his torch to get some distance between him and the creature, as the fight continued the creature’s attacks were getting slower & slower. The opportunity Tharos was waiting for presented itself when there was a break in the creature’s defenses, at that critical moment. Tharos with a mighty blow Decapitated the creature with a single strike, the battle was over with the creature’s head rolling on the dusty and sand covered floor, oozing a thick black blood from the stump that was once its neck. Tharos had won, His breath was quick, and heart was racing.

“that’s enough excitement for one day.”

he thought to himself as he was about to sit down and catch his breath, he heard more clicking noises in the distance, as he shone his torch light into the direction of the clicking. he spotted more of them. Tharos gave out a small sigh, once again he had his work cut out for him.

The palace archives were now coated in a layer of red & black blood, with many shelves along with their contents strewn about on the floor, and where there was once the smell of stale air, the smell had been replaced by the smell of iron. Several misshapen bodies lay across the cold stone floor. Tharos propped up next to a shelf covered in a mix of red & black blood Tharos couldn’t move, every part of his being was in massive amounts of pain, the creatures had narrowly missed his heart, however, the wounds they gave him were more than enough to cripple, if not kill a normal man thrice over. However, being immortal, such wounds were little more of a painful inconvenience for Tharos, his body began to convulse, and spasm uncontrollably as broken bones fixed themselves back into place, and torn muscles mended themselves together. This was a slow & painful process, and Tharos’s mind was more focused on counting numbers

“1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10”

This process echoed in his mind over & over again as his body began to repair itself. It was a technique he learned from a priest during his travels in his younger years, it was a technique designed to block out pain, but it was also useful against certain types of magic such as spells that would target the mind. of course, it all depended on several factors such as the willpower of the victim and the power of the mage in question, but it was a useful technique regardless.

“1,2,3,4,5…. Arghhhhhhh”

Tharos screamed in pain

“1,2,3,4,5,6, Arghhhhhhh“

Tharos’s body started getting hot, and cold sweat dripped from his body, as the convulsions and spasms got worse, the body felt like he was being pierced by multiple spears, the room around him was started to fade in & out as Tharos began to lose Consciousness. Tharos awoke sometime later, his body fully healed, however, the items on his person didn’t have such a luxury. His sword & armor were completely rusted though, and his clothing was torn. Tharos let out a sigh

“Those were last, I guess I will have to start using the armor & weapons the treasure hunters use.”

as Tharos got up & dusted himself off. He continued to search the archives for the knowledge that he looked for as he did Tharos pondered what those creatures were

”it’s possible that the monster that is sealed beneath the city is finding a way of spreading it’s influence and is corrupting the local wildlife, or another possibility is these creatures are just remnants of a bygone age like himself.”

As he pondered, he found what he was looking for, information on the city’s defenses. it was a series of stone tablets & scrolls that to his luck were still in pristine condition. Tharos put the stone tablets & scrolls in what was left of his bag and left the archives, as he made his way up the stairs to the throne room and out to the main hall. The sight of a beautiful sunset greeted him, and as he stood there watching the sunset. A single tear streamed down Tharos cheeks, this was a beautiful sight he had almost forgotten, but one that filled him with a profound joy as he stood there, the city for but a spit Secord it took on the vestige of what it once was. The crowning jewel of humanity achievements and the greatness of civilization. He stood there for a long time soaking in every detail as the sun began to fall out of view. As it did Tharos would then make his way down the stone stairs and head home, with a small but bright smile on his face.