Chapter XI
. Hidden Treasures .
- Sixth Age, year 1022
Paper held the key, but he still had no idea of how to go about unlocking the box with it.
You couldn’t exactly just wave it at the thing and hope for the best.
Actually, he’d already tried that, and to no avail.
Erra-ine Thar wasn’t the city that it might have been, before the war, but it was still a great place to find literally anything that existed in the world. Lyrris hadn’t gone there to sight-see, though. Directed by a head librarian at the Grand Keep, he was given directions to an older trader of curiosities that had made shop in the outskirts of town.
There were no questions asked, because the man caught one look at the character sketched on his light sheaf of paper, and became instantly interested. He talked of old times, long ago, when the Ancients still ruled the mortal planes. When their cities were vast and covered the expanse of the world’s surface. He spoke of many things, things that Lyrris didn’t understand, nor believed he ever could or would.
It was fascinating, but one would have needed to grow up in an educated family to grasp such concepts.
Mysterious, that’s what it was.
All that he really cared for, though, was learning what that character had meant….
“Might I inquire as to the source of this rune, my dear friend?” The man had asked, prying for more.
“It was just carved into some rock that I dug up in my field.”
“And there was nothing else there?” He looked at him with hungry eyes. Not preying, just starving. “Nothing other than…a rock?”
Lyrris shook his head, holding back a chuckle or two as the man’s excited and anxious antics continued around the room, first fiddling with that, then moving to the corner to reorganize some odd things on a shelf, as if to ploy him into thinking that it wasn’t of much importance, and he was only asking to be polite.
“No, otherwise I would have brought you more than just a single character.”
“Well, yes, I suppose that’s true.” His eyes fell, then shot back up with renewed light when another pleasant thought entered his mind. “You know, money can be arranged for the…exchange of such things….”
He was about to let it go, though, because it interested him far more than the man, who had probably seen many such things.
All that he really wanted to know was what it contained.
That was more important to him than gold, at least, for the time being.
Try as he might, there was simply no opening the box, though. The character, the man explained that it meant to release, or to set free. But there was no button to be pressed, no latch to lift and certainly no lever to turn. Just that flat, cold metal. Still impenetrable and safeguarding the treasure within.
Frustrating, to say the least.
If he couldn’t open it himself, then there was no sense in keeping it, but taking it back to that man, or to any other, would most likely mean losing it. Whether or not there was gold involved, still the same.
If it wasn’t something that you could press or pry open, then there must be another means of unlocking it…. Cogs ticked in circles, grasping for any bit of remembered information that might be of assistance.
Magic, perhaps? Though it was usually preceded by some sort of indication.
It always had that odd smell about it, and this wasn’t the same.
But then, he’d seen wielders at a fair once that could perform simple feats without even the slightest bit of display. Not even sound to accompany it.
He hadn’t really believed that their tricks were real, of course, but then, he was a child at the time. And there were other things, stories that they all heard, about strange happenings around the kingdoms. There was also myth that beneath the streets of Fairrun were carved deep tunnels, delving into the earth and sealed by doors that no one could enter to hide their dark secrets from the world, doors that could only be opened by speaking some password.
No handle.
No lock.
And but one key to enter.
Lyrris spun onto his knees and lifted the edge of the box up, staring down at the rune before throwing out a weak, “Open.”
Of course nothing happened, why would that be it?
The man, he had said something after thumbing through a book and planting a finger on another sketching of the same character. An indexing of the Ancient language. It was just a single word, nothing too fancy. Racking his mind to remember, Lyrris retraced the scene, watching as the old merchant had taken the paper from him, donning a pair of double rimmed glasses and eyes widening at the sight of something so rare.
He laughed in pure happiness, then ran to the shelf, fumbling over dusty libraries stacked from floor to ceiling, before finally laying hold on his desired volume and ripping through the pages. Eventually he stopped with an exclamation of joy, holding book and paper up to the light in comparison.
Sure enough, the runes were the same.
“To release, or to set free.”
“Is that all it means?” Lyrris asked further, then a bit taken aback at the man’s response.
“Is that all it means?” He countered, sarcastically, spurting air from between his lips and rolling his eyes. “To the mind of the unlearned, it may seem nothing at all. But in the hands of a true learner, this has the key to unlocking the knowledge of the world, my friend. Even of the universe.” He looked off into the distance, which couldn’t have been very far considering his small shop was entirely cluttered with an assortment of junk, and what were probably rather rare and expensive items. “Koi, my friend. A missing piece to the puzzle.”
Of course, he’d already found that one, but it was no less visionary.
Lyrris nearly laughed aloud, partly at the man’s odd nature, and partly because he’d remembered the word.
This time, there was no doubt that it had to be correct. Leaning towards the box a bit, and praying that it would work, Lyrris uttered back that single, unfamiliar word.
There was a click, and the sound of a small wind rushing through his room, but only right in front of him, and the two halves of the metal container separated just the slightest bit. It was obvious to him that it had worked, and that the box was now open, as light, like liquid illumination, was streaming through the revealed crack, dancing on his walls and flickering through shades of blue and purple.
That same excitement suddenly overcame him, and his fingers seemed to shiver as they reached to open it further, to find out what lay inside.
Set into the top of the lid were two round stones, emitting that bountiful light that streamed all around. The base was filled with a dark, spongy material, molded into a form that held several objects. At least, was meant to, but only one remained.
A cylinder of that same, flashing metal that made up the exterior of the odd chest. Similar runes were set into the item itself.
It felt heavy in his hands, very heavy.
Nearly the length of his arm, it was dense and seemed to be weighted on one end. Lyrris spun it in his hand, marveling at what he had found. Of all places, to be buried out there in the field. But then, his mind told him that it most likely was not that way, thousands of years before, when the Ancients still roamed the world. It was their kind that had crafted this artifact, and their kind that had buried it, most likely for a reason.
Or perhaps lost it….
This time, though, there was a button to be pressed, which he did.
How could one resist that temptation?
There was a flashing, like an explosion, and heated air rushed up past his face, forcing him to drop the object and shield his eyes from the bright glare. A soft, but very audible buzzing sound filled his room.
Two rods of pure light, red and incandescent, had protruded from the metal, branching out from either side and then curving back in to nearly touch at the tips. Past the initial shock, Lyrris realized that others might hear and reached for his newfound tr
easure, fumbling hurriedly until his finger finally found it’s mark, and everything went still once again.
The candle at his desk had blown out.
And there were two deep marks cut, or burned into the floorboards.
Still smoldering.
. What it Means to Be Mortal Revisited .
- Sixth Age, year 1022
Mod was already in the commons room, talking with another woman that Lyrris recognized, but didn’t really know.
“Sleep well?”
He nodded, but flopped onto a stool and began to idly sip at the light herbal tea that she was always so good at making.
“You were up late last night.” Mod commented, throwing him a sideways glance, before turning back to her current guest to continue their conversation.
Shrugging, as there was little else to say, and he went back to thinking on the night’s events. They certainly weren’t fitting to the bill of a good night’s rest.
Lyrris was going to need some more of that tea.