Submission (#2056) Approved

Quest: Resonance - Act 3
Act Type: Exploration
Word Count: 1030
Adult Elnin Present: Kai [ELN320]
Regional Affinity: Kyendi
Claiming Regional Affinity for: Kier [ELN1701]

"You're positively sure it was this way?" Kai grouched as he followed behind an enthusiastic Kier. 

"Absolutely!" the kittom chirped back. "I swear I saw it just yesterday, in the distance. I shouldn't have gone away that quickly, right?"

Kai yawned. "Only one way to find out, I guess." The two of them found themselves that morning on a large floating island of Kyendi, trying to sniff out the remnants of some supposed ruins. The path was winding and twisting, going off on tangents here and there into the foliage, as if unsure itself of where to go. Remaining in one place was disorienting to the senses, and the thick mist didn't do anything to help matters, bogging down upon their bodies to eventually condense into a hundred water droplets upon their fur. In the far distance, the silhouettes of great mountains were barely visible, and an uncountable number of other floating islands drifted along, sometimes disappearing into the fog for minutes at a time before remerging. 

And when the path abruptly stopped, Kier opted to follow a nearby creek to keep their bearings straight. The spray tickled at their paws as they marched on, skipping to the beat of the water's ripples. It was calming, and yet quite riveting at the same time. As the two of them continued, the rush of the water grew faster and faster, falling down an incline to the nexus at which it would eventually plummet from the island itself in beautiful dash of liquid light. And when they reached that place, they would simply find another sign of life to follow. 

Before the sun was yet at its highest point in the sky, Kier caught a glimpse of something strange -- and not just anything! It was the edge of a piece of rubble that they had seen just the day before. "It's still here!" Kier nearly jumped at the sight before bounding towards it at full speed. Behind them, Kai yelled as he too broke into a run. "H-hey! Slow down!! I'll get lost without you!!"

Kier could barely hit their own brakes when they ran into the site, skidding across the dirt ground until they finally came to a stop. It wasn't just a piece of rubble -- it was almost an entire ruin! It was a large circular area, bounded on all sides by blocks of stone too tall to climb. In the center, another slab of rock, and what appeared to be the bottom half of a broken statue. 

"Geez, you sure run fast," Kai panted, finally arriving at the scene, and eyes lighting up at the sight before him. "W-whoa. What is all this?"

Kier shook their head excitedly. "I'm not sure! It has to be one of those cool and mysterious places people talk about. The ones that appear here from somewhere else?"

Kai nodded, approaching one of the monoliths. "I wonder what exactly... this is supposed to be? Is it like, a little circle to have a party in?" Kier laughed, following them up to the stone. They put a paw upon it's surface.

"Hey, there's writing here," Kier noted. "At least... I think it's writing? I can't read it." And indeed, upon the stone was carved a series of foreign symbols, in neat rows all over the structure. In some parts it was too weathered to make out, but some sections appeared to be clearly visible, the strokes and curves of each character hewn into the rock. Kai traced his paw along it as well. "Whoa..." he breathed. "I wonder what this says."

Kier gave them a smug grin. "Maybe it's a curse! Maybe stepping in this circle was a mistake!"

Kai looked taken aback. "R-really? D-do you think so??"

"Nah, I'm just joking," Kier laughed. "It's probably fine, I think. All of it looks really old, anyway. Whatever this is, it probably hasn't been used or frequented for a long time." 

Kai wiggled nervously. "Oh... okay. Still, we should be careful in case --" Kier didn't wait for him to finish before trotting with curiosity up to the statue in the center. Tilting their head, they tried to make sense of it. What was this a statue of, exactly? It seemed like it could the lower half of some sort of beast, but there looked to be far too many legs and tails. And a set of wings, perhaps? And were those scales?

Kai joined them to gaze up at the statue. "Man, this thing looks scary. If it was a real animal or something, I think I would faint seeing it." Kier giggled at that, and threw a quip back. "Perhaps somewhere, it does exist! And now that it knows about us, it'll chase us to the ends of the world!"

"Aww, stop that!!" Kai complained. "Don't talk about things like that so carelessly, it might actually come true!!" He let out a groan and bent to the side to stretch a bit. "Oof, that run took a lot out of me." A turn in the other direction, and something caught his eye. "Uh, Kier? are you sure this thing hasn't been used in a while?"

Where he was looking was yet another set of symbols, carved into the side of the statue. But instead of being featureless, the fissures within the runes were softly glowing with an eerie green light. The light was so dim as to be easy to miss, but the both of them being so close to the statue, it didn't take long for them to notice. 

Kier looked upon the rock with interest. "Hey, that is pretty weird. What do you think it means? Is this statue sort of charged up, or something?"

"Your guess is as good as mine." Kai shook his head. "I think that we should, err... defer this to the proper authorities. Or at least like, a more experienced band of adventurers. If this thing really is dangerous, we'd probably be out of our league. We'll mark this area on the map as best we can and take it up with someone tomorrow?"

Kier nodded. "That sounds good. I'd like to know more about this place, too."