Moon Chasers: Into the storm [Finished]

Chapter eighteen: Revelation

They finally managed to arrive at the top of the mountain but upon arriving they realize that not only is the moon not here but the place is also littered in ruins. To be completely honest Jory had never seen, not even in books, a place such as this one. There was for exemple a giant round space made of cut white stone that clearly did not originated from the island. There was also strange pillars that when the light aligned with the hole at their top would project on the floor star charts.

They spent the day just looking around, it seemed as if each ruin originated from a place and a different era. The materials were not of magic origins but why would these things be here. A giant arch under which Vix and Eleon looked like tiny insects had also a bird nest on top and the birds looked confused as to what the four of them were doing.

The plan was to leave no stone unturned, quite literally, they would look at everything they would find and try to decipher the reason why these were here. At some point Qa called the team to look at something, everyone gathered around him as he showed them his discovery. He was quite pleased with himself but his usual expressionless face coupled with the fact that half of it was covered by bandages made it impossible for anyone to actually see that. However Eleon was really happy that they were finally getting somewhere.

Qa's discovery was a rock covered in what looked like drawings and script. To decipher the script would take half a life, a time that none of them had anymore, so they just settled on trying to understand what the drawings were "saying". That was an ordeal most of them found difficult and annoying but Vix found it at least more interesting than foraging around as she had been doing just that for the past month. Of course she left the foraging to her three new companions, who frankly preferred to stay moving than stay on the ground trying to understand scribbles that could have been made by a mad man.

They did find more stones with drawings and scripts on them but Vix had to let them try these because the task required more time and attention she had primarily thought and she was still stuck with the first one they had found. After two days of just fruitless deciphering they actually came up with something. There was a bunch of figures that would come back a lot and eventually they made the necessary connections in their brains. One was a circle with a spiral in the middle another one was a hexagonal thing with a halo, so that's what they understood : the circle is a portal to another realm and the hexagonal with halo thing must have been the Moon, in other words, the thing they have been chasing all this time is not there and never was.

The Heart of all is in another realm entirely and all they had been doing up to now was only to get them to next step of their adventure. Vix couldn't believe it, she thought she was so close but turns out she is only at the beginning of that quest. Meaning she has to work with these outlanders for even more time. The gods be on her side because she has a lot of trouble managing to coexist with them already.

They decided that if a portal was what they needed then a portal they must find and since none of them know how to make one they better hurry up and find it. They explored the ruins for two more days, finding more and more of them. It was quite fun actually, to be the first here in a very long time, to categorize the stones and shapes. To explore their interior or just to walk around trying to guess what it once was. It felt rewarding. Jory took time during these two days to draw these ruins, or at least a small part of them in his little notebook. Their shapes began to form into his dreams, still very strange and without real anchor, but from time to time he could see one of the arch, or a column and in the next second they would be gone as if even his subconscious had no idea what to make of them.

They eventually found the portal, as old as the rest of the ruins, it rested upon a flight of stairs in a flat open area, incredibly alone in comparison to the dozen of ruins they had crossed to get to it. It just "sat" there a giant empty ring of white stone circled with corroded metal with still an ever so slight glint to it. And as they got close enough to actually touch it they realized it had a very golden color, and yet, as they all knew gold doesn't rust. But the ring was incredibly silent, nothing happened when they crossed it and nothing happened in the minutes that followed. It was just not working. Perhaps broken, or maybe just waiting for the right signal.

"If that's the portal...Well I'm running out of ideas!" Jory pestered before throwing a rock perfectly through the ring. It had no effect other than tensing up an already extremely tense Vix

"Well, can't you do the magic thing?" Eleon made some weird mouvement with his fair hands in a somewhat comical imitation of Jory's mouvements. The halfling reached out toward the portal but something told him that if the portal was not lit he wasn't going to be the one to do it.

"I pretty sure it doesn't work this way, when I traveled through the ley lines I wasn't the one opening the road, the compass was, I was merely just holding onto it praying that it wasn't going to break on me. What I think we need is a catalyser. Like my compass."

"Could ours work?" QA ask earnestly

"I don't think that the compass itself is a magic object, it just seems to be pointing to what it senses, and right now it's the portal." Continued Eleon

"And this catalyser is...?" Asked Qa

" Like a key of some sort, I don't think we can improvise this one" this time it's Jory who answered

"It must be of arcane nature as the portal seems to be the skeleton holding the portal in place."

"So we have a lock and a door frame but neither the door itself nor the key?! Great, we've dealt with worse right?"

Just as the elf said that a terrible roar teared apart the tranquility of the afternoon, the fresh air in the heights became filled with crackling thunder as a gigantic form descended from the heavens down on them at high speed.

"Of course you had to say something!" Screamed Jory as he ran making a break for the coverage of foliage.

"What, we battleled against an ancient god in a storm! At sea! How could this be worse?! At least we are on solid ground"

"Just shut up!" Shouted Vix