The two of them darted through the surreal grove, keeping a cautious distance from the centaurs. It wasn't easy though.
They were absurdly fast, their horse-like lower bodies propelling them forward with shocking agility for creatures of their size. Every time Vastarael or Narisva thought they'd lost them, they'd catch sight of the towering marble figures in the distance, their glowing eyes cutting through the shade of the grove like twin lanterns.
"For stone statues, these guys have way too much stamina," Narisva huffed, her breath slightly uneven as they raced to keep up. She perched on a low branch briefly, scanning ahead before teleporting closer to their targets. "Seriously, do they ever stop moving?"
"You're the one who wanted to follow them," Vastarael reminded her, his tone dry as he leaped over a fallen tree trunk. "If you've got complaints, file them with yourself."
"Yeah, yeah," she grumbled, teleporting again to keep pace. "You're just mad because I'm faster."
"Teleportation doesn't count as speed. That's cheating."
"Sounds like something a slowpoke would say."
Before he could retort, the grove suddenly gave way to a clearing and both of them froze. Ahead of them, rising out of the earth like the bones of some ancient titan, were massive ruins. Vines crawled up their sides, and strange runes glowed faintly in the shadows, their meanings long lost to time.
The centaurs slowed as they approached the ruins. Vastarael and Narisva exchanged a glance, both of them clearly thinking the same thing. This was no ordinary hunting ground.
"Alright, genius. What's the plan? We can't just stroll in there."
"We don't need to stroll in. We'll go unnoticed."
"Unnoticed? Did you miss the part where those things have glowing eyes and can probably sense us?"
He smirked, holding up his hand. A faint shimmer of energy rippled around him, like heat waves rising from the ground.
"Veil of the Ingenious Prince. It'll make us invisible for nineteen hours. Completely undetectable. No sound, no energy signature, nothing."
Narisva crossed her arms, "Invisible, huh? And you're sure this works on glowing murder-centaurs?"
He shot her an exasperated look.
"It masks our energy and presence entirely. They won't sense us. Unless you plan on sneezing directly into one of their faces and triggering a fight, we'll be fine."
She sighed, begrudgingly conceding. "Fine, but if we get eaten, I'm haunting you forever."
"Okay. Now, let's go before they get too far ahead."
The veil enveloped them both and true to Vastarael's words, the air around them seemed to warp, bending light and sound until they were little more than faint blurs in the landscape. They moved silently, their footsteps muffled as they approached the ruins, their eyes tracking the centaurs as the creatures entered the ancient structure.
The ruins were massive, far larger than they'd appeared from a distance. The archways alone were tall enough to fit entire buildings beneath them and the walls were carved with intricate patterns that seemed to shift and shimmer when viewed from different angles.
Vastarael couldn't help but marvel at the craftsmanship, though a nagging sense of unease crept into his chest. Something about this place felt... alive.
"This place is insane," Narisva muttered, her eyes darting to the glowing glyphs on the walls. "Whoever built it must've had way too much free time."
"Or way too much power," Vastarael replied, his voice grim. "Look at the runes. They're still active. That means someone or something is maintaining them."
As they crept further into the ruins, they followed the centaurs from a safe distance, careful not to make a sound. The creatures moved slowly now, their massive hooves echoing faintly against the stone floor. And then, without warning, they stopped.
Narisva and Vastarael froze. The centaurs stood perfectly still, their heads tilted slightly as if listening for something. The silence stretched on for what felt like an eternity and just as Vastarael was about to suggest retreating, the centaurs moved again.
But this time, it wasn't forward. One by one, the marble giants walked directly into the walls of the ruins, and vanished.
"Did you just see that? Tell me you just saw that."
"I saw it," Vastarael replied. "They didn't pass through a doorway or a portal. They just… merged with the stone."
"That's not creepy at all. What do we do now? Follow them? Because I really don't like the idea of walking into a wall."
Vastarael hesitated, his mind racing. The centaurs were clearly tied to this place in some way, but how? And more importantly, why?
"Let's investigate first. If we're lucky, we won't have to find out what's on the other side of those walls."
"Yeah, because luck's really been on our side so far."
Despite her sarcasm, they pressed on as they explored the eerie ruins. The walls seemed to pulse faintly with energy and the air grew colder the deeper they went. Whatever secrets this place held, they were determined to uncover them.
And once again, Vastarael dreaded to see the one thing that always spelled trouble whenever he saw a new place.
Moving murals.
The wall before them wasn't just carved or painted. It was alive.
A massive mural stretched across one of the walls, impossibly intact despite the ravages of time. It depicted a massive serpent, its body coiled and broken, lying in an ocean that shimmered and moved with unsettling realism.
Waves rolled and crashed against the serpent's bloodied form, staining the water deep red. The sunlight danced across the ocean's surface, flickering with an eerie beauty. It was as if someone had taken a moment from history and trapped it inside the wall, forcing it to replay over and over.
"What the hell..."
Narisva whispered, her voice uncharacteristically soft. She took a cautious step closer, her eyes wide as she tried to take in the surreal scene.
"It's... moving. That's not normal, right? This isn't normal."
"No, it's not. But it's not the first time I've seen this."
"Wait, you've seen this before? You're telling me moving walls are just a thing now?"
He sighed, his gaze never leaving the mural.
"In certain places, yeah. The Frozen Ruins had murals that showed Peccavi and its people. The Obsidian Runic Spire? That one showed something even worse, like the Insignia Knights crossing timelines to invade our era. And now, here we are again."
"And you didn't think to mention this earlier? This is insane. It's... it's beautiful in the creepiest way possible."
"It's how the Erna Isles convey history. These murals are messages. They show what happened, what's important. This one... this is about Erna herself."
Narisva raised an eyebrow, gesturing toward the mural.
"What, the islands? Or the person it's named after?"
"Both."
Narisva folded her arms, her skepticism still intact despite the spectacle before her.
"Alright, I'll bite. So what's with the giant snake bleeding out in the middle of the ocean? Doesn't exactly scream 'heroic founder.'"
Vastarael moved closer to the mural. The serpent's body was massive, its scales shimmering like polished metal even as it lay broken and lifeless in the churning waves. The blood spilling from its wounds seemed almost alive, twisting and swirling in the water as if it were trying to tell a story of its own.
"This is the first part of the tale," he said, his voice quieter now. "The serpent... it was killed by her husband. Oh, by the way, her husband is the Frozen God."
Narisva snorted softly, though her eyes remained glued to the mural.
"Great. So, step one of the story is murder. Fantastic start. So why is it here?"
"I don't know yet," he admitted. "But this mural... it's not just for decoration. It's here for a reason. Someone wanted us to see this."
"Us specifically?"
"Maybe not us," he said, stepping back slightly to take in the full scope of the mural. "But... anyone who came here. These ruins aren't just ruins. They're... records. Messages left behind for anyone brave, or... stupid enough to follow."
"Sounds like us, alright," Narisva muttered, her gaze lingering on the waves as they seemed to ripple across the wall. "So what's next? We just keep walking until we find another creepy moving painting?"
"Pretty much. But be ready. At the end of these murals, danger always comes. It did the same to me twice and trust me, it's creepy as hell."
Narisva didn't respond right away, her eyes narrowing as she studied the serpent's massive form. The longer she stared, the more unsettling details she noticed.
"Alright," she said finally, stepping back and cracking her knuckles. "Let's find the next one. But if I see even one more creepy, lifelike death scene, I'm teleporting out of here. Veil or no veil."
Vastarael chuckled softly, though there was little humor in it.
"Deal. Just don't forget that we're not here to run. We're here to figure out what happened. And this mural? This is just the beginning."
Together, they turned and continued deeper into the ruins, their footsteps silent under the shroud of the Veil. The walls around them seemed to close in, the glowing runes pulsing faintly as if guiding them forward.
And then, the rubble from the wall began to fuse together, like a video of a building's destruction happening in reverse. The second murals appeared from the massive self repairing walls and this one was... educational.
A man with white robes and a black helmet was walking on top of the blood of the oceans. They saw him walking towards the gigantic serpent and touched it. The man was gigantic enough to touch the dead serpent.
And then, for the first time since Vastarael saw the moving murals, he saw a miracle of transitions happening right in front of him.