Cave in Mystery [Viq]

by **Ilhor Skyglow** on September 8th, 2012, 8:32 pm

Cave in Mystery
Fall 2, 512 AV

Ilhor moved slowly through the snowy roads of Avanthal, his hands in the pockets of his fur coat, his shoulders slightly lifted to cover his neck from the sudden hits of the cold wind, the collar of his coat covering half his face. Everything in his appearance seemed to match the gloominess of this cold morning of early Fall, but for his eyes, which glowed vividly, fueled by an inner happiness that spread the sweet warmth of excitement all over his body.

Although his task this morning was nothing exceptional, to stock up in supplies from the Frozen Falls Market in preparation for the Fall's inevitable blizzards, he woke up in great spirits and happy thoughts filled his mind. At last, after so many years of depression, uncertainty, hardship, and lately, utter despair, a definite glimmer of hope has shown through the dark clouds of his past, illuminating a new path towards the future. The last weeks of Summer have brought to him the chance he so much needed, to have a steady job and thus, of income, so he could start preparing for the long journey retracing his father's steps. Of course, he knew that this was only the beginning, and that it might take years, and definitely a lot of hard work, before he was prepared for such a long, and dangerous, journey. In any case, at this time, he was just grateful for being handed this opportunity, and his mind was willing to stay cheerfully around happy thoughts of the immediate future.

After a short walk, he reached the Market, which was heavily crowded by people with the same intention as him. In the past, he would just go away and come back at a later time, since he absolutely detested being around that many people. But today he just didn't care, and in fact, he liked the sight, and smirked at the vivid contrast of the great fluid of people moving and shifting before him, and the apparent stillness of the ever-frozen Waterfalls in the background. He took some time to let this nice image settle in his head, and then carefully forced his way to a shop run by the Winterflame Hold. Just before entering, with the side of his eye, he saw Viq, standing before a stall that seemed to sell mining supplies and other similar equipment.

Although him and Viq are cousins, and have been very close when they were children, they haven't really spent much time together for some years now. Truth be told, it was all Ilhor's fault, who, after his father left, had become very distant and preferred to be left alone. Of course, when Viq and his family learned that he was left to fend for himself, they were quick to offer him to stay with them, and help him in any way, as did many members of his Hold. To these gentle requests, Ilhor responded first with kind rejection, and then in frustration and anger. He just wanted to be left alone, and he definitely didn't want anyone's pity. If he was going to survive, it would be something he did on his own, and something that he deserved. Nevertheless, now that his life seemed to be starting to get back on tracks, he felt a deep desire to re-warm his friendship with Viq, to whom he owed many of his happiest childhood memories.

He changed his course and started making his way towards Viq, with a big smile on his face, a chill of excitement running down his spin. As he approached, he noticed that Viq was bartering with the stall owner, and he moved in closer quietly, waiting for Viq to finish his business and then notice him.

Secret :

by **Viq** on September 9th, 2012, 5:04 pm

The decision itself came to him in last night's dream, but the plan had been lingering in his mind since he first went there. Normally, he wouldn't decide to just up and leave, but today he needed some distraction. Everything seemed to be going pear-shaped in the past few seasons: Avanthal is not the peaceful place he used to know anymore, and with other impending dangers lurking in the shadows cast by fate's meandering tapestry, he felt that he should take matters in his own hands, and make his academic goal a reality sooner rather than never.

But first, he had to shop for all the necessary items: a quill, a vial of ink, and some waterproof parchment. Absent thought, he equipped his backpack, and made his way in the shallow snow from his hold to the market. The journey there seemed considerably shorter than he remembered it to be; was he moving faster than usual, or was it that he was still in that lethargic state of waking up, wherein time seems to slow down to a standstill, even as his body moved through Avanthal? He had no idea; he was just moving mechanically to the market, mostly unaware of change or movement.

Soon enough, he was in Frozen Falls' market, staring at a familiar face from afar. "Ah, Hyvan's shift; maybe I can get a better price.", he thought, and walked towards the stall containing all sorts of writers' tools and supplies. "Viq! Long time no see!", exclaimed Hyvan, delighted to see his childhood friend and former patron in the market. Viq reciprocated with a kind smile and an insincere greeting: "My fav'rite man or god or beast, who is to eyes a big feast: Hyvan, the Vantha, of Skyglow, as cold and pretty as white snow.", a line the young man would have surely blushed at, had he been unable to detect the playfulness in Viq's tone.

Eventually, his subtle efforts to get a better price went over Hyvan's head, and he ended up paying in full. The final item in his checklist was what can arguably be described as the ultimate of gifts that even primitive technology gives its users: light. As luck would have it, a new shop with mining supplies had just opened for business, only a few steps away. "Come right up, little one. My wares are known to last a lifetime. Ask anyone in Taldera.", yelled the unfamiliar -yet overly friendly- trader, while waving at Viq, who was already on his way. "A simple torch is all I want, so there's no reason for this flaunt.", said Viq, while picking up a nondescript torch, to the silent puzzlement of the man behind the counter. After examining the torch to make sure its fuel content was not lacking, he gave a positive nod and two copper mizas to the merchant, before kneeling to the ground to pack the torch next to his writing implements.

Soon, he was greeted by the ghoulish smile of a towering colossus that he almost didn't recognize. "Ilhor...", he said, as if he was being subjected to a test of knowledge. "Long time no see...", he added as he stood up, now obliviously lost in the wilderness of unoriginality. After concluding the greetings, Viq didn't hesitate to share his plans for the day with his cousin: He was about to revisit the cave upon which he had stumbled some years ago, with the purpose of recording the inscription that can be found within it on parchment for further study. He wasn't sure if Ilhor's smile was enough indication, but he went ahead and extended an invitation to him anyway, if nothing else for old times' sake.

OOC :

by **Ilhor Skyglow** on September 11th, 2012, 7:01 am

Ilhor was very happy to be talking to his friend again, and his invitation for this little journey was a fantastic opportunity to get back together. Nevertheless, he hesitated. From deep inside his mind, he recalled a faint image of a much younger Viq, his pants soaking wet, his face overwhelmed with a strong emotion of excitement, but also, a hint of fear. Ilhor remembered him panting and trying to describe a cave, half-filled with water, walls full of drawings, a half-erased inscription buried deep inside a central dome.

Ilhor instictively thought that something like that might be dangerous, and although he was rather impulsive and quick to act in many situations, when he smelled danger, he always took a step back. More precisely, he usually abandonded the whole scheme early from the start, so he wouldn't risk anything. This way, his final decision was not any less impulsive than someone's who decided to jump into the train wagon at first sight, it's just that his decision was to leave the train station altogether. In this case, though, there were a couple of reassuring facts: Viq has gone there and came back alive, not hurt in any way, and now, his interest seemed to be much more... scholarly, attaching to the whole endevour a sense of careful planning, though he had not yet heard such a plan from Viq.

After a moment's thought, he decided not to reject the plan at first sight, partially due to his high spirits and his want to get back together with Viq, but also, out of curiosity and the evident chance to get some artistic inspiration from the journey. So, he started talking it over with Viq, aksing him if he was sufficiently prepared for the journey, how dangerous the cave was, and what general plan they would follow.

Seeing that there was not too much to fear, Ilhor decided to follow his dear friend and cousin to his new adventure.

"Like the old times", he said, in a voice as excited as the one he used when they were children, though with a deeper, heavier tone that signaled, beyond any doubt, that those beautiful, innocent days, were over.

by **Viq** on September 15th, 2012, 10:52 am

The place itself mustn't have been an hour's walk from Avanthal, but owing to its natural camouflage, it was unknown to most residents: its only entrance faces South, and is concealed by snow in the winter and moss in the summer, not to mention that the whole complex is flooded with ice three seasons out of four -if not more. It's only during midsummer that the interior becomes accessible, when the last chunks of ice melt away and the resulting drift drains south, towards Storm Bay. This perpetual cycle of freezing and thawing has been happening for so long that it has managed to smoothen the jagged rocks to the point where they might appear at first sight to comprise a cream-like texture.

Luckily for Viq and Ilhor, the first storms of fall hadn't happened yet, so the place would be relatively dry, and -more importantly- penetrable by the two spontaneous scholars. The mouth of the entrance itself shouldn't be higher that five feet tall, and less than a third of a fathom in width. The entrance is connected to a hundred-yard long corridor that widens by about three inches for every meter traveled within it, ending in a big dome about eighty spans across. On the walls of the same corridor carved art can be seen, most of it by the entrance, and getting rarer and older as one moves inwards.

Finding their way was, thankfully, not much of an effort: Viq's memory served him so excellently on both his visits, that by the time they commenced their ten minute rest outside the entrance, he was considering the possibility of making a map to share with other potentially interested scholars, while idly playing with the steel in his hand, repeatedly throwing it an inch or two in the air and catching it back unconsciously. Absorbed as he was in thought, he failed to see that he was ignoring Ilhor, who had, after all, agreed to join him in his endeavor without much of an incentive. He had promised to himself before to be more considerate of his cousin, but he had time and again failed to keep that promise, since a very young age. Has familiarity wrought contempt? Or was it that we would feel more at ease with Ilhor than any other person? The thoughts didn't cross his mind at the time.

by **Ilhor Skyglow** on September 15th, 2012, 1:34 pm

Viq didn’t seem to be much of a talker now than he ever was. If it wasn’t for a sense of fear of the unknown, that drained all mental focus from Ilhor, he would have tried to start a conversation. Instead, he followed Viq carefully and silently, his dismay increasing gradually as they moved further and further away from Avanthal. He tried to relax himself many times, but his thoughts almost immediately lapsed back to what they may find in that cave. Truth be told, Viq hasn’t told him much, and Ilhor has mostly concentrated their pre-journey conversation on how they could survive any possible dangers and if they were sufficiently prepared, without going into particulars about the cave. Well, not a very good idea now that he thought about it. Sure enough, he was as perfectionist as they get, but he was also overly impulsive, so he never failed to investigate the details into ridiculous depths, yet, he almost always missed many of the most important ones.

After an hour’s or so walk, and as Ilhor was about to suggest they headed back home, Viq suddenly stopped. He then slowly turned to Ilhor and said in a low voice, almost whispering, “This is it”, and pointed to a moss covered piece of rock, some 50 feet ahead of them, slightly pointing out from a low snow-covered hill. At first, Ilhor saw absolutely nothing, apart from the obvious, and was ready to protest, but noticed that Viq has already moved a few feet away and has started looking through their supplies. Ilhor turned his eyes back to the moss-covered rock and looked carefully. The rock was a dark grey, almost black, highly contrasting with the white background of the hill, and the moss that covered it almost entirely, added a deep, murky green highlight. Ilhor kept looking, trying to notice every detail, but still couldn’t see anything. As he started moving closer, a sudden brisk of cold air blew, and then Ilhor saw it. For a brief moment, the moss seemed to move, and then he got it. This was not moss, it was lichen hanging in the air, and the rock was not dark, it was hollow!

He stood there for a while, looking at the entrance. No wonder no one knew of that cave, it seemed impossible to see it without already knowing about it, or with a big dose of luck. In an instant, his doubts and fear have turned to excitement. He turned back to Viq and asked him to describe the interior, so he might picture it in his mind. Viq wasn’t really a man of many words, but he must have been as excited as Ilhor, since he started describing the narrow corridor and the dome with great detail, and didn’t really pause for nothing than the necessary breaths.

“So, we might have to swim?”, asked Ilhor, after Viq explained to him that the cave was flooded the last time he came here. “And if so, how are going to keep our torch from being extinguished?”. These questions were not doubts, and sure enough, Ilhor didn’t want them heading back anymore. It was just that, now that he had heard more, he needed to know that they were perfectly prepared before heading inside.

“And”, he added, raising his brow slightly, “you sure you can light a torch with all this humidity?”.

by **Viq** on September 25th, 2012, 4:00 pm

Clueless as ever, Viq saw those questions -that so subtly offered additional proof of his neglect- as nothing more than typical inquiries and proceeded to answer them in characteristic manner. First, he pointed at the entrance while swiftly turning to Ilhor and exclaiming "Behold! The portal to another time, the narrow path to art sublime." in a big voice. After having repeated that line with small variations in his head dozens of times throughout the whole trip, it had started to sound like any other hackneyed poetry; however, he reckoned that refraining from sharing it would be a needless waste of his effort. In the end, it came out beautifully, resonating in the cold air with a slightly crooked version of a prosodic meter that he liked to use whenever the need to affect magnificence would appear.

He soon found himself allaying his friend's doubts in rhyme too immature to be polished smooth by the flux of thought over time: "Puddles and drips I call to mind, the place to me was not unkind.", he said, moments after Ilhor had started his second line of inquiry, regarding the torch. Soon, it was explained to the young sculptor that lighting the thing and keeping it aflame wouldn't be a problem, owing to its fitting chemical composition. Viq knew plenty of foolhardy Vantha, but Ilhor wasn't one of them. Often found sacrificing the good stuff in life so that he could preserve the illusion of safety, it was almost a miracle he agreed so easily to embark in this outing, however scholarly it might have been. So it was no surprise that his cousin would have so many questions. Nevertheless, despite their combined careful thinking and prior experience, neither of them managed to take into account the limited burn time of the single torch they were carrying.

Prompted by Ilhor's last utterance, Viq unfastened his backpack and took out the newly acquired torch, along with the flint. After planting the torch on the ground, and cupping the round edge of the rock with his left hand, he aimed for the steel and struck with no visible effect. He tried again, but no dice. The blessings of Morwen's gnosis were enough to transform any excess humidity on the piece of steel into ice, itself easily discarded in the form of tiny shards by tapping the steel against the torch handle. He tried once more and sure enough, sparks came out. Once more, and now the pitch-soaked cloth and its coating of fat were beginning to glow in a composite orange hue. He blew the side of the torch, and soon the whole head was alight, starting thus an immaterial sixty minute timer counting down the remaining time of artificial light.

And with that active demonstration that would surely expunge any doubt from Ilhor's mind, Viq reequipped his backpack and begun to ingress towards their destination. Seeing that the entrance was so thin -much thinner than he remembered-, he decided to advance sideways, and carry his backpack in his left hand, while illuminating the narrow corridor with the torch in his right. That gave him a pretty clear view of the wall, which he hadn't paid any notice to the last time he had visited the place. Every few meters, a different scene would appear engraved in the wall, and Viq made sure to shift his glimpse from the slowly widening corridor ahead to the unplanned lithic tapestry, while the titan behind him was struggling to move in the limited space.