The Mana-Verse

[Sapphire Knight]

Once more, Grani was behind the Professor and speaking in his ancient language.

[Blue Valkyrie]

The characters are nothing like the letters in the current alphabet, that while slightly different to that of the Arcadians was still close enough to allow smooth translations--this however was very very different and obviously older. As he continued to examine the letters a sudden spark of inspiration came to him, his old master's books he remembered seeing something similar in one of his journals.

[Quickman]

"Ah-HAH!  Yes, yes, yes, that's it, that's it!" Dropping his bag to the floor and rifling through it with both hands, he produced a well-worn leather-bound journal with loose pages poking out.  Opening it and stuffing in anything that came tumbling out, he flipped through the yellowed pages until he came upon what he was looking for.

"This, this is it!  This is it!  My master, my master, he studied a similar language, yes?  The text of the Great Old Ones, he said.  The ancients wrote vast texts, vast texts!  Lost to time, they were!  But, but, but my master, he kept records and taught m-me to read them!"

Reading over the writings, he looked over the etched text and began the diligent work of translating it.

[Blue Valkyrie]

Lacking the time to really study them in detail and with his master's notes not by any means complete themselves he is only able to decipher a few phrases here and there.

"Primal"
"Cycle"
"-rld Eater"

The last work he is only able to guess as as the stone had eroded somewhat with time, although perhaps it was better to say someone had damaged it intentionally. After a half hour of study he is able to make some sense of the image carved into the stone.

A picture of  a special tome, a large demon like monster and flame.

Aya kneels down next to the professor "I wonder if the monks from my time studied these books too--I'm not sure when they sealed this place away and clearly the people of this town never dared to open the seal." Aya commented

[Quickman]

The Professor studied the broken segment for a long moment and attempted to extrapolate a possible meaning. "...World Eater, perhaps?"

He looked to Aya, as while he possibly had notes to corroborate, he didn't know where they were and it would take too long to find them.

[Phi]

"Great, just what we need; another glutton we have to deal with." Salem exclaimed, half-jokingly in response to World Eater.

"I bet I can take 'em! Eating Contest, Act 2!" Pema pounded a fist into her palm.

"Something tells me the 'World Eater' demands a bigger dinner table..." He muttered sarcastically.

"But really, I wonder if that really is what it means? Maybe it's something else." Pema contemplated.

[Blue Valkyrie]

As the group jokes the Professor is sure he can see the stone tablet shake?

[Sakura Leic]

(.....What?)

[Phi]

As the group jokes the Professor is sure he can stone tablet shake?

(The Professor stone tablet shake to disappear? )

[Sakura Leic]

(Yes.)

[Blue Valkyrie]

(Fixed   ))

[Quickman]

Jumping back a half-step, the Professor could have sworn he had seen the tablet shake.  Though, he wasn't sure, so he reached out to touch it.

[Sapphire Knight]

Grani, still behind the Professor, looked at the tablet warily.

[Blue Valkyrie]

"Has it been so long that the lesser races no longer fear trespassing on these hallowed grounds?"

A voice fills the room seemingly from the stone.

[Phi]

Pema crossed her arms and stared at her staff. "Well, that's not a very nice thing to say, Salem!"

Salem sighed. "Wha- No, that wasn't me. What you're looking for is the other mystical, disembodied voice, that seems to be coming from the first floor!"

She leaned over the railing and peered down below. "Oooh, okay, that makes a lot more sense then. Haha, I guess that voice just sounded kind of similar. Whoopsie!"

He paused. "... What in the world gave you the impression that I would even say something like lesser races?"

"Hmm, I dunno, I mean, sometimes you have your grumpy days." Pema said, swaying back and forth with her arms folded behind her.

He groaned.

She proceeded to take the staff and hugged it. "Sorry, Salem. You're still my favorite mystical, disembodied voice!"

"Only Pema..." He muttered. "Anyway, we should head downstairs and determine exactly where the voice is coming from."

"Right! Come on, Mr. Calien." She turned to Calien, then headed down the steps.

[Sakura Leic]

Calien headed back down stairs after being thrown off with Pema's conversation with Salem.

[Quickman]

The Professor dropped whatever he was holding and promptly got down on his hands and knees and bowed low in reverence. "Most, most m-most humble apologies!  Please forgive our intrusion—we are mere explorers on a holy mission!"

Crawling backwards on his hands and knees and his head still bowed, he held out both hands. "May I ask, may I ask, to whom are we speaking?"

[Sapphire Knight]

At the sound of the booming voice, Shuu, who had been quietly observing what was going on, stood at attention, like a soldier.

Grani, on the other hand, let out a sigh and didn't seem to flinch. He knew something...

[Blue Valkyrie]

"Holy grounds--hmph "holy ground", we once worshiped your false gods and called this place "holy", now it is a prison." The voice responds to the Professor.

"I am Byblos, I am the keeper of Demon knowledge; and the keeper of the seal; why are you mortals here?"

[Sakura Leic]

"Well we're kind of looking for something important." Sakura said still not sure she could trust the voice "The fate of the world and the town below is on the line if we don't find it."

[Blue Valkyrie]

((I'll let everyone chime in before I move on))

[Sapphire Knight]

Grani sighed and simply shook his head, the daemon unicorn now decidedly not speaking, as if he was waiting for something...

[Mr. Haxwell]

Toshi - "There is a disturbance in the balance that holds this world together." she spoke, "We're here to fix the cause of this. Should you hold us captive here, then you're only helping a false god that will eventually destroy us, including yourself, should you let that happen."

[Quickman]

"A sacred rune... it was shattered and, and, and a great evil is upon us!" The Professor remained bowed and reverent as he spoke. "Please, we implore you... We did not intend for such an intrusion... As, as a, as a humble acolyte, I ask for forgiveness on b-behalf of our party.  We only mean to stop the evil that was unleashed... and, and, and we ask, we ask, Benevolent Byblos, Great Keeper of Antiquities and Sacred Knowledge, we ask, we ask for your guidance."

He paused for a moment and peered up to where he assumed Byblos to be. "Would you want this workd to come to ruin?"

[Blue Valkyrie]

"Why should we care for a world that has forsaken us, your gods abandoned us when we proved to difficult to control--and soon they will abandon you." Byblos pauses and sighs "The fragment of the primal crystal--what you call the "Omni-Gem" has come to rest within the fourth room--take it if you wish the fate of this world is not my concern, but do not take the last flame and open the final door for you will unleash my master lord Atmos upon this land and a wayward mage will be the least of your concerns "heros."

A flame appears before Grani "My lord I don't know why you travel with these mortals but I belive it is foolishness to try and stand in the way of this world's fate--but perhaps it is not my place to question your actions. Perhaps-- you see something in these mortals? Like I once did with Mar? Hmph it doesn't matter I will continue to watch over this archives and the seal of my lord till the end of this cycle finally arrives." The stone stops shaking and goes quiet, although perhaps it is possible to converse further?