It came a lot quicker than anyone expected. They were passing rows and rows of locked mausoleums, ancient marble still immaculate and void of all signs of age, when there was a change.
After a particular row, where they had expected yet another mausoleum to be, there was a pond in the ground. White marble stairs descended into the pond, with large blocks of bleached stone marking the edge of the pond, with the rest of it hidden underground. But more than a pond, it just looked like what should have been a passage leading to a lower level.
The descending stairs had railings on the sides, and the walls beside them were decorated with wainscoting along the bottom and frame molding up above with carved pictures within. There were braziers hung on the walls, visible in the passage, yet they weren’t lit.
"This is it, I think," Vanessa said as she kneeled beside the pond, staring at the bleached rocks. "The signs are all correct. This should be the Purification pond but... I don’t know why it’s inside a passage. This isn’t anything like the records I read."
Nero studied the pond as well, though he didn’t kneel. A part of his attention was spread on the rest of the mausoleums, making sure no other undead emerged. Fortunately, most seemed to stay dead, and though a couple of them had noises coming from within, the doors remained firmly shut.
"Can you check to make sure if there’s nothing wrong with the pond?" Nero asked.
Vanessa merely nodded, instead of answering, and began to take out a number of cards from her case, as well as one of her daggers.
"This will only take a couple of minutes," she said, and began to prepare some test for the liquid in the pond.
Nero took that opportunity to, finally, check out the upgrade for his second innate ability.
Name: Virtuous Moonlight II
Image: A sleek black silhouette stood out, like a ribbon or some elongated object, its form abstract yet deliberate. Near the base of this figure, there was a small circle, almost like an eye or a focal point.
Type:
Star rank: X
Ability: [ Moonlight, like silver serenity, bathes the world with the mercy of the Virtuous Aeon, holding back an entire kingdom of darkness ]
Flavour text: "When darkness covered the lands, and the living breathed corruption in lieu of air, when the hymns of Ava began to hush, and the roses of Rhea began to wilt, the nine joined hands, leaving the Dreadcell hanging, and a land that once knew glory," - Karv La Heim
Nero read the card multiple times, trying to gain any hints from it, but he got nothing. This Luminari card, which had become his second innate ability, was just as mysterious as the day he had found it.
He found many similarities between the evolution and the original. The name, for example, was almost entirely the same, with only ’II’ marking it as the second version of the card instead of the first. The image also hadn’t changed at all, just like the type of card or the rank.
The ability had changed, however, though it once again mentioned the Virtuous Aeon, and his mercy. There was no mention of purification, however, and instead, the focus now seemed to be on holding back darkness. Yet he could not be sure what that meant at all.
It would be a shame if the card lost the intimidation it had towards curses and beasts, though something told Nero that wouldn’t be the case. Just like before, he would need to test the ability to figure out what it actually did.
The flavour text had also changed, and remained just as ominous and mysterious as the first time. The text from version I of the card mentioned a bunch of names that Nero didn’t recognize at all, though if he was extremely liberal with his guesses, he might be able to connect the names to a few things.
For example, the ’mysts of Hjorflow’ could be anything, but if Nero absolutely had to connect it to something, then the fog surrounding the six countries could be a good fit. Of course, that was just a guess, and those mysts could be anything, and didn’t need to be mist just because they sounded similar. Similarly, the mention of wardens made him think of Oathwardens.
In the latest text, however, Nero could make no guesses. Corruption was clearly referring to cursed energy, but beyond that the text was a mystery to him. He found it interesting though that both quotes seemed to have been said by the same person, whoever he was.
Nero had somewhat been hoping that the purification ability of Virtuous Moonlight had improved. He was regretful of the fact that he hadn’t been able to enter the pond as a Neophyte, which is when it would have been most effective, and had hopes that if the purification aspect of Virtuous Moonlight improved he could have somehow used that to enhance the effects of the pond.
Now that such hopes had been quashed, Nero allowed himself to admit that any such attempts would be extremely dangerous since he didn’t even know how his ability worked.
"The pond is fine," Vanessa said, standing up. "We can go in and begin the process."
Nero had seen how she had dipped her dagger in the liquid and then run some tests on the drops she lifted out, and hadn’t noticed anything unusual during the process. Even so, he wanted to be cautious.
"You sure it’s not toxic or anything like that?" he asked.
"No, it’s perfectly fine. Here, take this, you’re going to need it," Vanessa said, handing Nero a card.
Name: Semi-aquatic
Image: A picture of a frog sitting on a floating leaf on a pond
Type: Augmentation
Star rank: 0
Ability: [ Allow the user to slowly absorb oxygen through skin while under water ]
Flavour text: "The vast unknown, now within my reach," - ???
"The card can’t completely replace breathing, so any strenuous activity will reduce the amount of time you can stay underwater. Try to maintain a steady heartbeat as long as possible," Vanessa said.
"How long do you expect it will take?" Nero asked, feeling hesitant about leaving the group alone again.
"Barring any unexpected issues, it should not take long," Vanessa said, not giving any specific time frame.
"Alright, well, remove the protective suit you’re wearing. It’s supposed to be waterproof, but with all the cuts in it, it’s only going to take on water and weigh us down," Nero said, even as he began to remove his own suit.
That also gave him a chance to swap out the cards he had underneath his clothes, adding Semi-aquatic and Luminalink instead of Mud Fortress and Serene Wind. They probably wouldn’t be so useful underwater.
Vanessa’s clothes underneath her suit were badly cut up as well, though she covered up her cuts using Linen Wrap. The two of them were ready to descend into the pond, but Nero still felt hesitant about leaving the group.
"Bael, I’m leaving you incharge while we go down," Nero said, turning to him. "If anything happens, send a signal down into the water immediately. I’ll come out as quickly as I can."
Bael shook his head.
"No, you focus on completing the mission. If anything happens up here, we’ll deal with it," he said. Bael was feeling immensely guilty, for he hadn’t helped in the fight at all. In fact, he had been a huge burden. It wasn’t his fault since he had been poisoned, but that didn’t make it any better.
Nero stared at him for a while, and then the others, one by one. He wished he could create some kind of protective barrier around them, but that wasn’t possible, so he would have to simply trust them once more. Hopefully, this time, nothing bad would happen.
"Lina, listen to Bael while I’m gone," he instructed, and then, with nothing else left to say, he stepped into the pond before Vanessa.
Noman watched the two depart silently, his mind a mix of confusion, guilt and anger. How could it have been Dave? How had he never guessed? Noman wanted to clench his fists, but his body still hadn’t recovered from the effects of the poison. He could walk, maybe jog, but he could do nothing else.
Unable to deal with the frustration, he simply closed his eyes and began to gather aether once more.
"If you need to talk to me under water, hold out your thumb," whispered Nero as Vanessa followed him. He didn’t need to elaborate. She had already experienced the effects of Luminalink before.
"Alright, but I think it’s best if I take the lead here," said Vanessa as she crossed him. "You don’t know what to look out for."
Nero didn’t argue, mainly because he didn’t see the point in arguing with someone as excited as her.
The duo stepped completely into the liquid, holding their breaths and swimming deeper down the corridor. Nero couldn’t use his flames to light up the place, though fortunately Vanessa used some card to summon a ball of light above her. As a result, Nero couldn’t help but notice how her clothes stuck to her skin.
His emotions, which he had no problem controlling up until recently, began to fluctuate as an unfamiliar feeling began to swell in his chest.
That did not affect Nero’s actions, though, for while his emotions were going haywire, a lifetime of training his discipline left him with complete control over his actions.
Instead of looking at Vanessa, he looked past her, and at the passage they were swimming through.