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Forgotten Lore (Updated M-W-F)
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<blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 7514455" data-attributes="member: 143"><p>Today: the last post of Book 8 of the story. </p><p></p><p>* * * </p><p></p><p>Chapter 223</p><p></p><p>The doors to the Vault swung ponderously open. After seeing the massive works at Ironcrest they seemed less impressive to Bredan, but it was still enough of a mass of stone being moved to give him pause. A thought flitted into his mind of being trapped behind those doors, unable to escape while the air slowly grew stale.</p><p></p><p>He pushed that thought roughly aside as he joined the entourage that filtered into the now-open outer chamber. In addition to Konstantin, Javerin, and several other wizards, the group included Bredan and his companions—save one—and the representatives of both the dwarves of Ironcrest and the elves of Tal Nadesh. The pair of dwarves chose to stand on the far side of the room from Bredan and his friends. Glori had introduced the elvish delegate, a man named Lendelaine. He looked distracted as he stood off to the side, scanning the interior of the Vault chamber.</p><p></p><p>As before, there wasn’t much to see. The broken tablet of the Revelation Stone still stood atop its platform, facing into the room. The broad wall facing the entry was still as blank and featureless as it had ever been, but as on that last visit Bredan could feel something, a faint stirring of power. Looking again at the elf, he wondered if he felt it as well.</p><p></p><p>One final figure came into the room, and remained standing at the back. Bredan recognized him as the figure who had stood high up in the back of the room at their first meeting with the Circle. The King’s representative, then, though as before he seemed content merely to observe.</p><p></p><p>“Let us proceed,” Javerin said. Three of the junior wizards came forward, each carrying a small sealed box. The dwarvish and elvish delegates did not move, but Bredan could sense the sudden increase in intensity. They all had it, staring as the wizards carried their containers to the edge of the platform that held the Revelation Stone. Javerin waited until they had all put down the boxes and withdrew before she opened each of them. She didn’t use a key, just ran a finger along the outer edge of the lid, but they each popped open as if she’d worked a mechanism.</p><p></p><p>“<em>Ut vresh al turam nosk,</em> she said. “<em>Shre solvas tendrai les sora tal.</em> Five centuries ago, our three races chose to seal the Elderlore Libram away from those who would misuse its power. But now the three kingdoms have again come together to break the seals and access the ancient power of the Book.”</p><p></p><p>One by one she lifted each of the pieces of the shattered key from the open boxes. The final piece, the one held by the Apernium, was made of a black metal, its edges sharp and menacing. She tried to fit it to the silver key, and then the gold one, but it was not clear how the fragments meshed. She tried again, trying different combinations and approaches until her brow furrowed in consternation.</p><p></p><p>The gathered notables began to look concerned.</p><p></p><p>“Bredan.”</p><p></p><p>Konstantin’s voice jolted Bredan back to full awareness. He looked around and realized that he’d taken a few steps forward without realizing it. At the wizard’s gesture, aware of everyone’s eyes on him, we walked the rest of the way over to the pedestal.</p><p></p><p>For a long moment Javerin just looked at him in obvious disapproval. When he did not recoil before her intensity, however, she handed the pieces of the key to him.</p><p></p><p>They were all complex, like the pieces of a puzzle. His uncle had owned something like that, a toy fashioned of metal, designed so that it only came together when the pieces were juxtaposed in a specific manner. But it wasn’t his skill as a smith that had him sliding the three pieces together. It was some kind of instinct. He just <em>knew</em> how they would fit together. And they did, the three pieces of the key blending together until it was just one hefty piece of metal resting in his hands.</p><p></p><p>“Now all we need is a lock,” he heard Xeeta say.</p><p></p><p>But Bredan was already turning toward the far wall of the chamber. Javerin started to interrupt him, but desisted at a gesture from Konstantin. Bredan approached the wall, the others falling in behind him. Again it was instinct that guided him rather than any specific knowledge. As he got closer to the wall the key began to feel warm in his hands. He lifted it, almost as he would have lifted his sword. The wall responded, a shimmer forming within the stone. As he brought the key forward the distortion swelled until it formed a disk a full five feet across. Bredan touched the key to that spot. The shimmer instantly became an opening, one that led into a chamber directly ahead. He could see clearly into it, as if the breach had been a true door in the stone wall. But he somehow knew that the space he was seeing was not truly located on the other side of that barrier, but was somewhere else entirely.</p><p></p><p>“How does it work?” Xeeta asked. “Does he have to go first, or should he go last…”</p><p></p><p>Bredan turned at her words, and the looks on the faces of the others—human wizards, dwarves, and elves alike—told him that none of them knew the answer. “We can all go,” he said, though he wasn’t certain that he was right.</p><p></p><p>The others followed him through the portal into the chamber beyond. It was a considerable space, the walls, ceiling and floor all made up of a pale bluish stone. Half-spheres that formed a ring around the peaked ceiling filled the room with a gentle, diffuse light. There were no other exits visible.</p><p></p><p>The center of the room was dominated by a stone pedestal similar to the one that supported the Revelation Stone, except more than twice its size. There was a wooden frame set in the center of the pedestal that had obviously been designed to support an object. Yet there was nothing there.</p><p></p><p>“Where is it?” Dergan asked. “Where is the book?”</p><p></p><p>The others spread out, searching every nook and cranny in the room. But it was obvious from one look that there were no places where something could be hidden. Even so, the wizards and their guests both examined the pedestal, looking behind it and tapping it for secret doors or hidden compartments. Bredan was barely aware of their efforts. He just kept staring up at the sloping walls that slanted up to join at the apex twenty feet above the empty pedestal.</p><p></p><p>Glori was the first to notice. “Bredan? What is it? What’s wrong?”</p><p></p><p>Something in her voice drew the attention of the others, until they were all looking at him. “Bredan?” Quellan asked. He came over and gently laid his hand on the warrior’s shoulder. “What do you see?”</p><p></p><p>The others glanced up at the spot where Bredan’s gaze was fixed, but all they could see was bare stone. “Bredan?” Glori asked. “We should get him out of here…”</p><p></p><p>“It’s a message,” Bredan said suddenly. “It says that the Book has returned to where it was first found by modern men, centuries ago.” His eyes came down and met Glori’s, and she shuddered at the intensity that she saw there. “It says that it waits for us there.”</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lazybones, post: 7514455, member: 143"] Today: the last post of Book 8 of the story. * * * Chapter 223 The doors to the Vault swung ponderously open. After seeing the massive works at Ironcrest they seemed less impressive to Bredan, but it was still enough of a mass of stone being moved to give him pause. A thought flitted into his mind of being trapped behind those doors, unable to escape while the air slowly grew stale. He pushed that thought roughly aside as he joined the entourage that filtered into the now-open outer chamber. In addition to Konstantin, Javerin, and several other wizards, the group included Bredan and his companions—save one—and the representatives of both the dwarves of Ironcrest and the elves of Tal Nadesh. The pair of dwarves chose to stand on the far side of the room from Bredan and his friends. Glori had introduced the elvish delegate, a man named Lendelaine. He looked distracted as he stood off to the side, scanning the interior of the Vault chamber. As before, there wasn’t much to see. The broken tablet of the Revelation Stone still stood atop its platform, facing into the room. The broad wall facing the entry was still as blank and featureless as it had ever been, but as on that last visit Bredan could feel something, a faint stirring of power. Looking again at the elf, he wondered if he felt it as well. One final figure came into the room, and remained standing at the back. Bredan recognized him as the figure who had stood high up in the back of the room at their first meeting with the Circle. The King’s representative, then, though as before he seemed content merely to observe. “Let us proceed,” Javerin said. Three of the junior wizards came forward, each carrying a small sealed box. The dwarvish and elvish delegates did not move, but Bredan could sense the sudden increase in intensity. They all had it, staring as the wizards carried their containers to the edge of the platform that held the Revelation Stone. Javerin waited until they had all put down the boxes and withdrew before she opened each of them. She didn’t use a key, just ran a finger along the outer edge of the lid, but they each popped open as if she’d worked a mechanism. “[i]Ut vresh al turam nosk,[/i] she said. “[i]Shre solvas tendrai les sora tal.[/i] Five centuries ago, our three races chose to seal the Elderlore Libram away from those who would misuse its power. But now the three kingdoms have again come together to break the seals and access the ancient power of the Book.” One by one she lifted each of the pieces of the shattered key from the open boxes. The final piece, the one held by the Apernium, was made of a black metal, its edges sharp and menacing. She tried to fit it to the silver key, and then the gold one, but it was not clear how the fragments meshed. She tried again, trying different combinations and approaches until her brow furrowed in consternation. The gathered notables began to look concerned. “Bredan.” Konstantin’s voice jolted Bredan back to full awareness. He looked around and realized that he’d taken a few steps forward without realizing it. At the wizard’s gesture, aware of everyone’s eyes on him, we walked the rest of the way over to the pedestal. For a long moment Javerin just looked at him in obvious disapproval. When he did not recoil before her intensity, however, she handed the pieces of the key to him. They were all complex, like the pieces of a puzzle. His uncle had owned something like that, a toy fashioned of metal, designed so that it only came together when the pieces were juxtaposed in a specific manner. But it wasn’t his skill as a smith that had him sliding the three pieces together. It was some kind of instinct. He just [i]knew[/i] how they would fit together. And they did, the three pieces of the key blending together until it was just one hefty piece of metal resting in his hands. “Now all we need is a lock,” he heard Xeeta say. But Bredan was already turning toward the far wall of the chamber. Javerin started to interrupt him, but desisted at a gesture from Konstantin. Bredan approached the wall, the others falling in behind him. Again it was instinct that guided him rather than any specific knowledge. As he got closer to the wall the key began to feel warm in his hands. He lifted it, almost as he would have lifted his sword. The wall responded, a shimmer forming within the stone. As he brought the key forward the distortion swelled until it formed a disk a full five feet across. Bredan touched the key to that spot. The shimmer instantly became an opening, one that led into a chamber directly ahead. He could see clearly into it, as if the breach had been a true door in the stone wall. But he somehow knew that the space he was seeing was not truly located on the other side of that barrier, but was somewhere else entirely. “How does it work?” Xeeta asked. “Does he have to go first, or should he go last…” Bredan turned at her words, and the looks on the faces of the others—human wizards, dwarves, and elves alike—told him that none of them knew the answer. “We can all go,” he said, though he wasn’t certain that he was right. The others followed him through the portal into the chamber beyond. It was a considerable space, the walls, ceiling and floor all made up of a pale bluish stone. Half-spheres that formed a ring around the peaked ceiling filled the room with a gentle, diffuse light. There were no other exits visible. The center of the room was dominated by a stone pedestal similar to the one that supported the Revelation Stone, except more than twice its size. There was a wooden frame set in the center of the pedestal that had obviously been designed to support an object. Yet there was nothing there. “Where is it?” Dergan asked. “Where is the book?” The others spread out, searching every nook and cranny in the room. But it was obvious from one look that there were no places where something could be hidden. Even so, the wizards and their guests both examined the pedestal, looking behind it and tapping it for secret doors or hidden compartments. Bredan was barely aware of their efforts. He just kept staring up at the sloping walls that slanted up to join at the apex twenty feet above the empty pedestal. Glori was the first to notice. “Bredan? What is it? What’s wrong?” Something in her voice drew the attention of the others, until they were all looking at him. “Bredan?” Quellan asked. He came over and gently laid his hand on the warrior’s shoulder. “What do you see?” The others glanced up at the spot where Bredan’s gaze was fixed, but all they could see was bare stone. “Bredan?” Glori asked. “We should get him out of here…” “It’s a message,” Bredan said suddenly. “It says that the Book has returned to where it was first found by modern men, centuries ago.” His eyes came down and met Glori’s, and she shuddered at the intensity that she saw there. “It says that it waits for us there.” [/QUOTE]
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