12-31-2017, 03:25 AM
"Sure," she nodded, splitting the pile of books in half with her magic so each of them had their own stack. The top of hers was about the general geography of the area - hopefully, containing some useful maps. Pulling a pair of chairs towards them with her magic, she guided Summer into one and sat down on the other. Stretching, she kicked her legs out, tapping her heels on the floor as she lazily held the book in front of her face with a basic spell. The pages turned automatically once she was done, although she mostly skimmed, slowly making her way through the book.
Nothing.
There were occasional vague references to Omni, and a general claim that there was some gate, but nothing more. It was vague and cryptic, like the flavour text one might find on a fictional map rather than something actually informative. It didn't even say where the gate was, or what it looked like. Just that to get there they'd have to 'venture deep into the caves and brave what lurked below'. Which caves? Given that there were hundreds, if not thousands, of caves in the Steppes, it would be impossible to locate the right one. Ebony grunted, leaning on Summer's shoulder and rotating the book in the air, examining some text under her scrutinising gaze. She huffed, placing it by her side.
Then instantly jolted, sitting up straight just when Summer had shifted to accommodate her. Hurridly, she yanked a book out from the middle of Summer's pile, remembering something in her light bulb moment. She flipped through it quickly, eventually landing on a page detailing 'The Gorons'. If what this said was correct, they'd been travelling around the Ashen Steppes for a while. So...
"Hey, Summer?" Ebony looked to the side, glancing towards him only to see him already studying her, apparently noticing her shift in behaviour. She blushed from the proximity between their locking eyes and scooted away slightly in her chair.
"Yes?" He kept his head calm and steady, suppressing his amusement to listen to what she had to say.
"I was thinking. If even the map books don't say where it is, outside of it being somewhere underground, it might be better to just ask someone - like this guy." She spun the book around, holding up a sketch of a stubby bearded dwarf-like creature. He had very big and strong arms, and short - yet muscley - legs. His fists were almost as large as his face. "The book says these people have been travelling the area for a while - so they'll definitely know where to look."
She beamed up at Summer, expecting praise. But before he could deliver any, she continued. "That also brings up another point. If someone did know about the gate thing, then information like that would spread around quickly - unless they went through and managed to get home, so didn't come back, I guess." She paused. "Or if they were really reclusive and didn't tell anyone - like the Gorons. I mean, if someone was going to go to the trouble to write a book about it, they'd probably tell people as well. So if there's any accessible information, these guys probably have it."
Summer blinked, thinking. It was a good lead - or at least, their best one yet. He was a tad tentative to cast away the books they'd found just to run off on a merry adventure, no matter how sound her logic was - but at least one half of him did want to stretch his legs. "That's pretty smart. You know where to find them?"
"I think I know how to find them," Ebony grinned. "Here," she gestured to some lines of text detailing the rough areas they Gorons tended to pass. While it was mostly random, and they always lived on the move as a travelling tribe, they could probably narrow them down in a day or so if they got lucky. At least, it would probably take about a day with Morene's motorbike. Ebony wasn't sure about walking speed. She'd struggle to walk more than five to ten miles without tiring - living on a boat for years tended to have the effect.
"Alright." Summer idly turned the page of his book, despite not looking at it. "I guess we've got our plan of action. I'm just going to finish reading this first, if that's okay?"
Ebony glanced at his book of mythological creatures and nodded, humming her agreement. While he flipped through the pages, she slotted the rest of the books back on the shelves. It was a quick job, and afterwards, she found her eyes drawn to a black tome with a picture of a white skull on the cover. Instinctively, she opened it up to a random page in the middle and blew off a thin sheen of dust, rubbing her hand over the old pages. She had just enough time to acknowledge some magical looking runes on the cover before the book shook itself out of her hands.
It landed on the hard wooden floor with a disproportionately loud slam, splintering the wood and causing Ebony to yelp in surprise. A bony hand reached out, grabbing her ankle and painfully digging its fingers into her boot. A scream - sadly not a bone-shattering one - cut out of her lips reverberated down skeleton's lone limb. Falling backwards, Ebony flailed, pulling herself away, but also helping the skeleton surge to the surface, a bony blade held in its other hand.
CRACK.
Summer's fist was planted firmly in the centre of its face, sparks of lightning shattering its skull into dust before it had a chance to use its weapon. It recoiled, but didn't seem to care, apparently able to see without its head - but then again, it never had any eyes in the first place.
It ignored Ebony, lunging at Summer, only for him to dodge to the side, shaking his wrist. "Get behind me," he commanded Ebony, leaving no room for negotiation.
She didn't move - not in the direction he wanted. Kicking out with her legs, she slid across the floor until her back pressed against the wall. Two more skeletons had climbed out of the book while the first distracted her friend. They both began walking towards her mechanically. Deal with the weaker targets first - then swarm the stronger ones. They possessed the decision making, or some guidance, to make that call.
CRACK.
Summer punched his skeleton in the chest, crumpling its ribcage like paper mache. Yet when he moved to pull his arm out, he found it stuck, lodged between two twisted ribs on the other side. Grunting, he pulled out his whip with his other hand and used it to pull one of the two hunting Ebony towards him. The flexible hide curled around the skeleton's spine, and when Summer jerked hard it caused the skeleton to fly backwards and crash to the ground, falling apart into a pile of bones afterwards once it was relieved of its spinal cord. Before he could make another move, his closer opponent he'd left neglected retaliated with a sloppy swing of its sword, digging it into his shoulder. Summer hissed and used the knowledge from his most recent attack to guide his next movements. Swinging his trapped arm to the side, pivoting about the trapped wrist, he swept his elbow against the spine. Shortly after, that skeleton joined the last casualty as a bone pile. In his brief respite, he held a palm to his wound, stopping the bleeding.
Meanwhile, Ebony muttered to herself, hastily between short and rushed breaths. In near perfect timing, her scythe manifested in her palms, firey purple sparks racing along its length as skeletal claws clashed against it. Her arms were weak and untensed. In only a matter of seconds, her unarmed opponent was almost on top of her. Its knee slammed into her shin, and bony jaws snapped in front of her face. Fueled by fear, her magicks swarmed around her body, engulphing her in flames. By the time they faded, she was left frozen in shock, curled up in a smouldering crater with her scythe and a pile of ash.
Yet, the skeletons didn't wait. Four more had risen in the time it had taken them to slay the last three, and the two bone piles near Summer seemed to be shaking ever so slightly - as if slowly rebuilding themselves piece by piece.
Nothing.
There were occasional vague references to Omni, and a general claim that there was some gate, but nothing more. It was vague and cryptic, like the flavour text one might find on a fictional map rather than something actually informative. It didn't even say where the gate was, or what it looked like. Just that to get there they'd have to 'venture deep into the caves and brave what lurked below'. Which caves? Given that there were hundreds, if not thousands, of caves in the Steppes, it would be impossible to locate the right one. Ebony grunted, leaning on Summer's shoulder and rotating the book in the air, examining some text under her scrutinising gaze. She huffed, placing it by her side.
Then instantly jolted, sitting up straight just when Summer had shifted to accommodate her. Hurridly, she yanked a book out from the middle of Summer's pile, remembering something in her light bulb moment. She flipped through it quickly, eventually landing on a page detailing 'The Gorons'. If what this said was correct, they'd been travelling around the Ashen Steppes for a while. So...
"Hey, Summer?" Ebony looked to the side, glancing towards him only to see him already studying her, apparently noticing her shift in behaviour. She blushed from the proximity between their locking eyes and scooted away slightly in her chair.
"Yes?" He kept his head calm and steady, suppressing his amusement to listen to what she had to say.
"I was thinking. If even the map books don't say where it is, outside of it being somewhere underground, it might be better to just ask someone - like this guy." She spun the book around, holding up a sketch of a stubby bearded dwarf-like creature. He had very big and strong arms, and short - yet muscley - legs. His fists were almost as large as his face. "The book says these people have been travelling the area for a while - so they'll definitely know where to look."
She beamed up at Summer, expecting praise. But before he could deliver any, she continued. "That also brings up another point. If someone did know about the gate thing, then information like that would spread around quickly - unless they went through and managed to get home, so didn't come back, I guess." She paused. "Or if they were really reclusive and didn't tell anyone - like the Gorons. I mean, if someone was going to go to the trouble to write a book about it, they'd probably tell people as well. So if there's any accessible information, these guys probably have it."
Summer blinked, thinking. It was a good lead - or at least, their best one yet. He was a tad tentative to cast away the books they'd found just to run off on a merry adventure, no matter how sound her logic was - but at least one half of him did want to stretch his legs. "That's pretty smart. You know where to find them?"
"I think I know how to find them," Ebony grinned. "Here," she gestured to some lines of text detailing the rough areas they Gorons tended to pass. While it was mostly random, and they always lived on the move as a travelling tribe, they could probably narrow them down in a day or so if they got lucky. At least, it would probably take about a day with Morene's motorbike. Ebony wasn't sure about walking speed. She'd struggle to walk more than five to ten miles without tiring - living on a boat for years tended to have the effect.
"Alright." Summer idly turned the page of his book, despite not looking at it. "I guess we've got our plan of action. I'm just going to finish reading this first, if that's okay?"
Ebony glanced at his book of mythological creatures and nodded, humming her agreement. While he flipped through the pages, she slotted the rest of the books back on the shelves. It was a quick job, and afterwards, she found her eyes drawn to a black tome with a picture of a white skull on the cover. Instinctively, she opened it up to a random page in the middle and blew off a thin sheen of dust, rubbing her hand over the old pages. She had just enough time to acknowledge some magical looking runes on the cover before the book shook itself out of her hands.
It landed on the hard wooden floor with a disproportionately loud slam, splintering the wood and causing Ebony to yelp in surprise. A bony hand reached out, grabbing her ankle and painfully digging its fingers into her boot. A scream - sadly not a bone-shattering one - cut out of her lips reverberated down skeleton's lone limb. Falling backwards, Ebony flailed, pulling herself away, but also helping the skeleton surge to the surface, a bony blade held in its other hand.
CRACK.
Summer's fist was planted firmly in the centre of its face, sparks of lightning shattering its skull into dust before it had a chance to use its weapon. It recoiled, but didn't seem to care, apparently able to see without its head - but then again, it never had any eyes in the first place.
It ignored Ebony, lunging at Summer, only for him to dodge to the side, shaking his wrist. "Get behind me," he commanded Ebony, leaving no room for negotiation.
She didn't move - not in the direction he wanted. Kicking out with her legs, she slid across the floor until her back pressed against the wall. Two more skeletons had climbed out of the book while the first distracted her friend. They both began walking towards her mechanically. Deal with the weaker targets first - then swarm the stronger ones. They possessed the decision making, or some guidance, to make that call.
CRACK.
Summer punched his skeleton in the chest, crumpling its ribcage like paper mache. Yet when he moved to pull his arm out, he found it stuck, lodged between two twisted ribs on the other side. Grunting, he pulled out his whip with his other hand and used it to pull one of the two hunting Ebony towards him. The flexible hide curled around the skeleton's spine, and when Summer jerked hard it caused the skeleton to fly backwards and crash to the ground, falling apart into a pile of bones afterwards once it was relieved of its spinal cord. Before he could make another move, his closer opponent he'd left neglected retaliated with a sloppy swing of its sword, digging it into his shoulder. Summer hissed and used the knowledge from his most recent attack to guide his next movements. Swinging his trapped arm to the side, pivoting about the trapped wrist, he swept his elbow against the spine. Shortly after, that skeleton joined the last casualty as a bone pile. In his brief respite, he held a palm to his wound, stopping the bleeding.
Meanwhile, Ebony muttered to herself, hastily between short and rushed breaths. In near perfect timing, her scythe manifested in her palms, firey purple sparks racing along its length as skeletal claws clashed against it. Her arms were weak and untensed. In only a matter of seconds, her unarmed opponent was almost on top of her. Its knee slammed into her shin, and bony jaws snapped in front of her face. Fueled by fear, her magicks swarmed around her body, engulphing her in flames. By the time they faded, she was left frozen in shock, curled up in a smouldering crater with her scythe and a pile of ash.
Yet, the skeletons didn't wait. Four more had risen in the time it had taken them to slay the last three, and the two bone piles near Summer seemed to be shaking ever so slightly - as if slowly rebuilding themselves piece by piece.