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"Are you sure you saw them here, Cassi?" Derrick asked, slapping his palm on a towering stone wall. As if I hadn't explicitly mentioned spotting Adonis's settlement behind multiple layers of rock walls. This had been the only exit I noticed any of the Khotunn using through my Fluidic Spectral Eye, a skill I received upon signing Korbin's Infernal Contract to associate my class with his 'HellKnights'. The skill channeled the water mana I have on hand, creating a spectral eye I can see through so long as I spend the mana and concentration to keep it active and floating.
Whenever Korbin wasn't nearby, my vision through the small hovering sphere of water mana was usually limited to glowing shapes of people, weapons and spells' mana with the color dependent on the energies affinity. With Korbin in close proximity however, my vision became crystal clear, even capable of seeing past unmagical surfaces of a mana source is powerful enough. Such an example being Adonis's Khotunn exiting a secret passage behind this rock face.
"And how exactly did they exit out of solid stone? Don't you think we would've spotted a pair of giant rock people on our way down?" Derrick asked in a snide tone. I was about to explain they left down the rounded stone passageway 50 feet at our side, when a couple stones slipped down the rock wall. Looking up, 4 jagged lumps sticking out of the towering stone wall slowly peeled from the rock. One of the lumps rolled forward, revealing a humanoid shape crashing to the stone below with a heavy thump.
The other three fell to the floor behind as the humanoid figure rose their feet, their hips bending unnaturally far back to stand from a face down position. Before the three of us stood what appeared to be a living stone sculpture of a man with holes in its eye sockets. The sound of stone dragging against stone accompanied its arm raising towards us as it morphed into a sharp, lance-like shape.
"Wait! We mean you no harm!" I yelled, easing my hands up hoping to defuse the assumed Khotunn's aggression. There wasn't any mention of smaller, sneakier forms of Khotunn in that rather graphic introduction video. However, considering they're a race born from the magic of an H grade future god, a little class diversity wasn't out of the realm of possibility.
"What? State your business, soft-skin." The lead Khotunn demanded as the other 3 rose to their feet to surround us. Korbin stepped forward, earning several sharp stone arms pointed his direction having gained their twitchy attention.
"We're here to join the cause, we're outsiders to your planet and have learned the plight of Phanthu and his people." Korbin said in as affable a tone as I've ever heard from him. The Khotunn looked amongst one another before the one in front finally replied.
"How? How did you get here?" They asked curiously, slightly lowering their lance shaped forearm. While I'm sure Korbin spent the last half hour scheming up an entire speech for these guys, so had I.
"It was Vashi, his rampage hasn't stopped since leaving here. Our planet was all but destroyed, with our leader having managed to teleport a few of us off world just before…" I said, trailing off and feigning a thousand-yard stare. With every fiber of focus I had, a single tear duct welled just enough to blink down a forced tear. Korbin looked back, his worried face at having heard be cut into his lie replaced with a restrained grin he dropped before facing the Khotunn. All 4 of them glanced amongst each other, apparently unsure how to handle the current situation. Finally, one of them reshaped their stone arm into a hand dropping it at their side.
"You are victims of Vashi, and do not support Phanthu…if what you say is true, I see little difference between us." The unarmed Khotunn said, giving what I believed to be a smile. The lead Khotunn whipped his head over to him while keeping his stone lance pointed at Korbin's face.
"There's no evidence they aren't spies for the soft-skins. Our orders are to kill any who linger at our doors." The Khotunn hissed at his much kinder fellow stone man. Another of the 4 stood up straight behind their aggressive lead man, placing his stone hand onto their shoulder.
"We cannot admonish our persecutors just to turn around and act just like them. We'll bring them before Lord Adonis and his council." The stone man said. Finally, all 4 of them reshaped their lance shaped forearms back to their typical form. One of them placed their hand onto the towering stone face I'd seen them exit from. Slowly, his stony skin slipped into the rocks with one fluidic motion before twisting their arm counterclockwise.
The ground trembled as the stone wall split down the center with a heavy CRACK that reverberated off the cavern walls. Slowly, two skyscraper-sized slabs of stone opened outwards, revealing a dim tan glow emitting from behind the oversized doors.
"If any of you brandish your weapons, you die where you stand. Are we clear?" The rather angry sounding Khotunn who was the last to lower his arms hissed before leading us into their tunneled settlement. Stepping through the threshold, countless Khotunn of all shapes, sizes and seemingly rock types walked a bustling stone city. Walls full of tan glowing crystalline rocks differing in shape separated sections of the settlement, with 40 foot arching gaps along the beaten path between different areas. Through the archway to our side sat a bustling marketplace, with wisps of grey and white mana flashing through the crowd.
While surveying this ancient and presently extinct civilization, Korbin caught up to me tapping my forearm with the back of his gauntleted hand.
"Great work back there, using Vashi was the exact angle I was going for." Korbin whispered, smiling only with his eyes while glancing around.
"Oh? And what exactly was your plan if I hadn't butted in?" I asked, expecting to hear a rather lengthy speech about the purpose of life itself in the face of potential extinction.
"Probably claim to be his chosen, and demand they bend the knee. We might have had to kill those guys before anyone believed me, so I'm glad you stuck to the original plan." He said casually.
"Wait, what?" I asked, breaching above a whisper and gaining the attention of one of our Khotunn escorts.
"Is there a problem?" He growled, halting in his tracks. Korbin sighed before contorting his face into a forced smile as he addressed the guard.
"My comrade here is just voicing her captivation in your city. It's not everyday we see a hidden civilization." Korbin said with a chuckle. The guard merely scowled at us for a second longer before turning around and resuming his trek toward the back of the settlement. Looking ahead, there was no sign of any Pylon buildings or grand castles of any sorts. Only homes, shops, and mine caves labeled by ores such as Tungsten, chromium, and copper. Glancing behind me, I noticed Lonni staring longingly at the mine labeled Iron.
"Hey big man, got something on your mind?" I asked, hoping to pass the time until I was sure we were being led into a trap. Plus, it's not often I catch Lonni being so distracted, meaning something must have really caught his interest.
"It's just, we have so much limestone back at Elysium…nevermind, don't worry about it." Lonni said dismissively, turning away from the mines. Turning back, I noticed Korbin's head twisted over his shoulder staring at the mines as well.
"Alright, wait here while we inform Lord Andolis of your arrival." One of the Khotunn guards commanded as we reached the flat, stone wall at the back of the settlement. The guard pressed his stone hand onto the flat vertical rock wall, sinking into it the same way they had entering the settlement. A much smaller doorway slid up, where the guard ducked under and entered. Derrick leaned into my shoulder as the remaining guards surrounded us.
"So, this is definitely a set-up, right?" Derrick said in a hushed voice. Curious as to how bad they would truly pan out for us, I ran an Identify on the guards.
[Khotunn (Level 8)]
[Khotunn (Level 9)]
[Khotunn (Level 8)]
"Maybe, but nothing we can't handle." I whispered back confidently. I took another look around the settlement, seeing a decent amount of Khotunn citizens had taken notice of us as they glared back at me from afar. One of them looked to be no larger than a child, standing outside of a smooth stone shack that appeared to have been hollowed out rather than constructed. A much larger Khotunn with what looked like lavender plants falling at their shoulders from their scalp emerged from the shack, grabbing the little one's hand and pulling them inside.
After a few minutes, the same Khotunn guard exited halfway out of the doorway into the stone wall, motioning for us to enter. Filing in behind Korbin, my eyes had to focus readjusting to the dim lighting crystals along the walls provided. Inside the walls arched around a hundred feet above, creating a natural dome with glowing stalagmites and crystals reflecting their shimmers. Glowing similar to the ones we'd seen through Xernilia's caverns peppered the floor, with differing hues creating streaking designs that intersected at the center of the large dome.
At its center stood the man I recognized as Andolis from the introduction video, surrounded by Khotunn much bulkier than the guards that escorted us here, with builds comparable to Lonni. Andolis had his hands hovering over a long rectangular table covered in different symbols and stones radiating an array of pulsing hues and shimmering luminescence. Further into the room lining the back walls were symbols and strange formulas etched into the tan stone. Andolis's head turned slightly towards us, peaking around the edge of his glasses before turning his attention back to his work. The Khotunn guard who let us in waved for us to follow as we descended down a few steps towards their leader and his posse of Khotunn. As we drew closer, Andolis's slightly nasally voice narrating his work became audible.
"And as you…can see by the addition of ionically charged copper and super heated…zinc." Andolis said, his words fragmenting as he clearly struggled to split his focus between teaching and executing. As we drew nearer and a few of the smaller Khotunn in the back took notice, a faint sizzling began to crescendo from where Andolis worked.
"Now quickly class, pay close attention to the rapid corrosion taking place." Andolis frantically ordered, stepping away from his work. The smaller Khotunn all crowded around the table, even pushing one another to get a closer look. Within seconds, dark green smoke began billowing over the table as the sizzling sound intensified.
"…okay now make way!" Andolis yelled, shoving through the crowd of assumed students. I slowly made my way around the table, finally getting a clear look at his work as his hands began glowing a dim tan hue over a rounded copper stone covered in silver dust that was slowly eating through the stone.
"As you can see, these metals in their current state when combined will end in mutual destruction, rather than a state of symbioticism. However, what was the key concept we focused on when studying the energies residing within our Palladium sample yesterday?" Andolis asked, hovering his hand over his melting experiment. As he spoke, the copper's rapid corrosion slowly came to halt, leaving a silver powdered copper stone sitting idly on a strange symbol within a strange circular diagram full of strange characters drawn on the table. Looking up the length of the table, nearly a dozen diagrams with similar symbols in and around them lined the top.
"All mana cannot be created nor destroyed!" One of the smaller Khotunn blurted out.
"Good, Jandris! What else?" Andolis exclaimed as the Copper hovered over his palm, slowly floating in a circle above the students.
"The echoes of mana's cycling through all matter is detectable through divination magic!" Another student blurted out, earning a snap-and-point from their teacher.
"Yes! Yes precisely, so what could we do with this rather whittled down copper?" Andolis asked, as the badly corroded rock floated down into his palm.
"We can perceive a time in which it was…in a different state?" Derrick answered out loud, earning a few disapproving scowls from the shorter Khotunn. Andolis didn't even look up from the rock he spun between his thumb and index finger.
"Of course, though all one had to do was be in the room just a few minutes ago to have achieved that. The question is why would that matter now?" Andolis prompted, earning a series of murmurs between his students trying to make sense of his question. While I have next to no prerequisite knowledge on lithomancy, I'm not ignorant to the concept of divination. The only issue is, I can't see the value in understanding the future, or past, of rocks that have all but deteriorated.
"You wish to learn of a state in which these two metals' natural energies meshed mutually, in order to understand better why they no longer do." Korbin eventually spoke up, with his hand in the air. Andolis's head snapped up, finally taking notice of our joining in his lesson.
"Ah! I see our guests have taken a liking to our practices! You are correct, but not fully." Andolis said, tipping his glasses as he addressed Korbin.
"You see, today we're going over a particularly complex concept, but one absolutely vital to the pragmatic use of lithomancy in our world." Andolis said, placing a hand over the corroded, silver flaked copper in his palm. Bright tan and white lights flashed from between the creases in his hand, illuminating the blood in his fingers. Slowly, he removed his hand, revealing the copper stone in perfect condition sitting beside a small silver oblong metal ball.
"Today, we will be going over Suspended Divination."
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