Of Language and Lost History[Job/Solo]

It had been months since Yakuroro had come to Heliohapt and yet he'd made little progress towards his primary reasons for coming to this land of sand and heat. He'd been sidetracked by many things along the way from young beast tamers to curious shepherds and dungeons. But the main focus of his journey to the south western continent was to search for remnants of the lost Toran Civilization. The Toran Tribe was said to still exist in some parts of the world, but they were a primitive people and hard to find when one didn't know where to even begin looking. What Yaku sought was the ancient and advanced culture and society which had supposedly been their precursors.  The Imuchakk magician searched the desert for ruins and found many, but none that held the long buried secrets he was after.

Following many failed expeditions, Yakuroro was beginning to feel the weight of his task. If it were such an easy feat to discover long lost ruins then they wouldn't be lost for so long, would they? At least he was struggling with an impossible task. Were it one so simple that any fool could stumble upon succeeding, it would neither be worth the magician's time nor justifiable that it was giving him so much trouble. This acknowledgement was partially what gave the madoushi the strength to continue his ventures into the desert day after day, week after week, despite an utter lack of results. Knowing that countless others had failed before you made the prospect of diligence paying off as success all the more appealing. Perhaps what made the trial so difficult was the fact that the deserts form was always changing. What was a visible ruin poking out of the sands today would likely be buried under a large dune the next, indistinguishable as anything more than another one of the seemingly endless mounds of sand that stretched as far as the eye can see in all directions.

Without leads or any hints as to where he could find his prize, Yakuroro continued to search. Ever scanning the horizon from atop a flying carpet with naught to keep him company save for a baby chimera named Akatetsu who could not speak, let alone offer conversation. Thankfully the boneheaded creatures musings, gyaos, and human-like personality offered at least some balm to help stave off the minor insanity that came from prolonged solitude. But even the beast himself was not immune to the fatigue and boredom these long trips away from civilization incited. Honestly, the two had lost much of the enthusiasm held when this journey first began. Weariness and countless days of effort that bore no fruit had sapped their willpower and strength in ways that starvation and dehydration never could. But somehow they both managed to hold onto embers of hope which could be stoked into great flames of excitement at any time. They merely needed a spark...some kind of catalyst to ignite those flames...

~499/1500 Word Count~

One hand raised to his face, eyes squinting through sandy gusts, Yakuroro flew over the desert dunes as a sand storm whipped about. It was a dangerous time to be flying around but it was also one of the best times to be searching for ruins. While visibility was poor and he could easily get lost by being blown off track, sands were also being picked up from the desert floor unearthing all kinds of secrets that would be buried again once the storm calmed. "See anything?" Yakuroro asked his chimeric companion, Akatetsu, but the beast could only reply with a negative growl. "Gyao..." But no sooner had the creature felt the disappointment of having nothing to report he caught a glimpse of something shining in the distance. "Gyagyao! Gyao!" Akatetsu tugged on Yakuroro's robes and pointed in the direction he had seen the glint that was hopefully something of note. By the time Yakuroro turned to look in that direction there was nothing to behold other than a wall of sand, but he trusted the bonehead and turned the carpet in the direction Tetsu had been pointing.

The trust between father and son paid off as not two minutes of flight later they would find themselves emerge from the sandstorms whirling winds ending up in an unnatural eye that should not have existed. It was much unlike that of a hurricane or a tornado as the winds were all blowing in one direction. But even so, this patch of desert seemed immune to weather phenomenon as the storm split going out of its way to not touch these particular dunes. There was no immediate signs of ruins and Akatetsu made a dejected sigh as he realized the glint he'd seen was merely a ray of sunlight poking through the sandstorm but a reassuring pat on the head from Yakuroro told the beast he'd done well. "Good job Tetsu, there is definitely something here...These wind patterns aren't made by nature. There must be something buried here." Akatetsu's excitement returned redoubled as the carpet descended and they proceeded deeper into the clear skied patch of desert.

~855/1500 Word Count~

As the pair flew over a particularly large sand dune the entrance to a structure came into sight. Just barely poking out of the sand, it looked as though the desert were about to swallow the entrance up at any moment. The closer Yakuroro and Akatetsu got, a small group of dots gathered outside the entrance came into view and gradually grew from indistinguishable figures in the distance to a more clear picture. They were a gathering of soldiers in the Heliohapt Pharaoh's livery and their numbers seemed to be about half a platoon. Yakuroro was filled with mixed interest and irritation. He was impressed that these men had managed to find such a hidden ruin before him when they were on foot. However he was also dreading the interaction he'd have to go through. The Pharaoh was publicly known to have a hunger for knowledge by the jobs he'd personally had added to the local job boards. If they were here then it likely meant that the ruins had already been stripped bare of all the ancient knowledge held within...or so one might think.

As the Imuchakk landed his carpet nearby and waved to the sentries who had spotted him, Yaku took notice that there were no artifacts gathered around. Had they only just begin excavating the ruins? "Another vagrant looking to take on the pharaoh's request, huh?" The captain of the soldiers said as he stepped forward. None of the men were taking defensive positions and were merely looking with curiosity at the giant blue haired man and his lizard-like companion. Apparently there was some kind of new job requisitioned for these particular ruins.

"Ah, yes, the Pharaoh's job. It looks like I might have gotten in over my head though..."

It was a lie, Yakuroro had no idea there was a job posted regarding this ruin, but he played along and prompted the soldier to reveal more information. By admitting that he was not cut out for the task at hand, perhaps the soldier would agree and explain. Years of manipulation paid off as the captain sighed and shook his head at Yakuroro, "Honestly, I just lost my commanding officer and half our platoon to this damn place. It's filled with traps and we only just barely managed to get out alive. That was a three days ago. We've been waiting outside for reinforcements ever since." There was sorrow in the captain's eyes that showed the weight of the loss. It was unfortunate that these men suffered, but it played in Yaku's favor as he now knew that the ruins had yet to be looted and that danger lurked within.

"That's terrible!" A false mask of horror spread across Yakuroro's face as he willed his magic carpet to wrap around his waist tying itself off to neatly close his robes. A faux look of confliction followed the horror and then a sigh made it give way to reluctant consignment as he if accepted his fate. "Unfortunately, I have no choice but to enter despite the risks. It was my brother's dying wish that I complete this job and see it through to the end." Yakuroro placed a hand on the soldiers shoulder and sniffled as though he were holding back tears, "If I don't return, please give word to an Imuchakk on a sickbed in the Mending Sands clinic that his brother died trying honorably to fulfill his request..." And with that, Yakuroro entered the ruins, Akatetsu following after him as the guards watched another fool walk to his death. It was important not to linger lest they ask about his fictional brother.

~1500+/1500 Word Count~

The entry chamber was only a few meters wide and a couple tall. The large Imuchakk had to duck his head slightly noting that the passageway was clearly not meant for one of his race. There were steps leading down into the earth and a disturbing lack of light as the staircase trailed off into utter darkness. Frowning as he stood at the edge of the light that was being let in from outside, Yakuroro sighed and reached out to place one hand on the rough stone wall. "Let's go, Tetsu. Stay behind me and watch your step." The magician advised before beginning making his way into the apparent abyss. As shadow and darkness consumed Yakuroro's vision his perception of time also seemed to be swallowed up. Yakuroro wasn't sure how long he'd been walking down the steps, but he could still here Akatetsu's footsteps behind him and this tether to sanity helped keep the Imuchakk from panicking.

Once Yakuroro's legs began to tire of the constant drop his hand at the wall felt a sudden shift in texture. The rough stone gave way to a cold but smooth surface and the sounds of his own foot steps changed as well. He paused and held out a hand behind him to signal Akatetsu should halt as well, but it was a fool's effort as the pitch darkness made it impossible for the beast to see the hand. Akatetsu bumped into Yakuroro from behind and the Imuchakk stumbled a single step forwards. As his foot touched the ground it shifted beneath his weight slightly and Yakuroro froze. He instantly assumed he'd activated a trap, but instead of death the chamber was filled with light as a number of braziers overhead ignited.

Firelight flooded the room revealing that the stairs had ended and the ground had leveled out. The walls and floors appeared to be made from a well polished black marble of sorts that was strangely clean for an ancient buried ruin. "Gyao?" A confused sound came from behind Yakuroro as Akatetsu tried to peak around him at the new view the source of light provided. Yakuroro sighed and smiled stepping out of the stairway and into the hall which was several meters wider and taller. Rubbing his neck with a sigh of relief that he hadn't triggered any traps Yakuroro took another step...and triggered a trap.

The braziers which had just been lit suddenly had their flames snuffed out and the sound of shifting marble resounded throughout the chamber only to be followed by the flapping of wings and a few screeches that chilled the Imuchakk to his bones. "Mist!" The magician shouted as he held his staff high. If there was critters in the darkness, he wanted to be able to sense them before they got close. His magoi fueled the rukh into producing condensed water droplets in the air around him creating a cloud of mist.

Yakuroro closed his eyes recalling the dimensions of the room to be much larger than his usual application of mist could cover. It was about 10 meters wide and 15 tall which called for a doubling of magoi output if Yaku's spell was to match its size. Pushing magoi into the Staff of Storms, Yakuroro adjusted his spell to expand its size and scale condensing even more water from the air to do so. The mist cloud grew around him just in time to detect several winged creatures entering its range.

230/250 Magoi

Training Mist 500/500:

From his travels around the world, Yakuroro was able to recognize the general shape of these creatures as being highly similar to bats. However they were much larger than any bat he'd ever seen and their movements were far faster than he'd expect of airborne beasts of their size. There seemed to be five in total and each one had a three meter wingspan. Unaware of their ability to use echolocation, Yakuroro simply began striding forwards in his mist cloud keeping it centered upon him. Thinking the bats had some sort of night vision, he wrongly assumed this veil would keep him safe, after all some had entered his mists but none had attacked yet. However another screech sounded and then all five of the winged rodents swooped down to attack. Yakuroro intentionally kept his borg suppressed and ducked low dodging the first swooping strike, but another two managed to scratch him on his right shoulder and the left of his neck. Two more tried attacking Akatetsu, but the bonehead's thick skull protected him from any damage.

A grunt of pain escaped the Imuchakk as he stumbled forward from the blows and rose a hand to his neck. The warm wetness of blood let him know that he'd suffered a fair amount of damage from the attack. Wincing from the pain in his neck and shoulder, Yakuroro rose his staff at the ready and closed his eyes trying to listen to the rukh of his mist in order to tell where the flying foes would attack from next. As his mind listened carefully for the whispers of the rukh another screech sounded and he picked up on the green sound rukh that made up the noise. It moved towards him and bounced off back towards the bats and the moment that green wave of sound reached the creature it swooped down for another attack. Being somewhat familiar with the concept of sound location having used it himself in the depths of the ocean, Yakuroro inferred that these winged rats were likely using sensitive hearing organs to detect him rather than dark adjusted eyes.

Yaku rose his arms in defense of the next wave of scratches and accepted them stubbornly as he began to build magoi into his staff. Listening to the sound rukh, Yakuroro used the knowledge gained from previous spells to make five spheres of sound magic. Yakuroro expressed his will to the rukh in the form of commands and they answered back with the name of this spell. "Ring!" Yakuroro shouted slamming his staff onto the ground. The spheres shot out in different directions aiming for the creatures that were flying around inside of his mists. Not all of them were direct hits, but the spell had accounted for slight misses by adding a command to stay close to whatever was hit and make minor adjustments until they were around the targets head.

A piercing ringing sound afflicted each of the bats and one by one they dropped to the floor, their sensitive ears unable to handle the sudden overload of loud noise. As the creatures fell to the ground, the braziers came alight once more and Yakuroro dropped his mist in response. As the mists cleared, the magian took a closer look at the stunned bats to see that they were all slowly turning to hardened wood. Each one was a manifestation of life magic. Akatetsu moved to poke one of the petrified creatures that were once alive with curiosity. "Don't move around too much Tetsu, it seems like the floor here is booby trapped." the magician stated as he took note of several symbols carved into each tile of the marble floor. "Perhaps these carvings denote the proper path..." He mused aloud whilst rubbing his chin, not even aware of the blood he was smearing onto his face now that there was a puzzle to think on.

210/250

Training Ring 250/250:

Yakuroro rubbed his neck which, along with the rest of his upper back, was still sore from behind hunched over whilst walking down the flight of stairs and barely took notice of the warm blood he smeared over his skin before reaching down with his other hand to pick Akatetsu up by the head in a large Imuchakk hand. "Gyao?" the creature made a sound on confusion as he was lifted up onto Yakuroro's shoulders. "Hang out up there for a while my son, The less sets of feet stepping about, the safer we will be." Yakuroro said as he looked forward towards the end of the hall. There was still a long way to go before reaching the other end and countless tiles they would have to step on to get there. As a magician and owner of a flying carpet, there were numerous ways the Imuchakk could simply fly over to the end, but something within Yakuroro wanted to challenge his wits againts the trapped puzzle of a floor that spread out before him.

Yaku made a pondering hum and gazed over the symbols carved into the marble-like floor with a keen eye and noticed that there were repeating patters of crescents and circles that resembled the phases of the moon. The Imuchakk looked down at the tile h stood on now and recognized it as a waxing crescent. Looking around elsewhere he could see that of all the surrounding tiles some touching the one he stood upon were following a natural procession. Behind him and to the left was a tile of the previous phase and directly in front of him was the next phase. Yakuroro smiled to himself thinking that he had this puzzle figured out and confidently took another step forward onto the next tile in the sequence.

Both feet of the Imuchakk settled onto the tile and nothing happened. The magician's smile turned to a grin and he nodded to himself only to wince as the act triggered a bit of pain from the cut at his neck which was bleeding less and less as time went on. "Looks like I figured things out, Tetsu! We should be out of here in no time at this rate!" The chimera rose a paw and growled in celebration pumping its limb into the air as a sign of victory. "Gya gyao!" But the force from this action made their total weight shift a bit. The tile they were standing on was trapped, but it had simply been stuck in place from years of no use. The act broke whatever seal had been keeping it still and the tile sunk inwards handful of centimeters. The enjoyment of success melted from Yakuroro's face and he stared blankly forward confused as to how he could have possibly been wrong, the puzzle seemed to straight forward! Oblivious, Akatetsu was still cheering happily right up until the floor opened up beneath them and he too experienced the shocking realization that another trap had been sprung.

The tiles beneath them suddenly gave way and fell revealing a hollow shaft. As the pair began falling Yakuroro gripped his staff tightly and took notice that they pit that had opened up was about 3m wide. He didn't know what was at the bottom but he knew that they wouldn't want find out by landing there with all the force of the fall. It would be much nicer to land in a pool of water and so he went to work begging the rukh to fulfill his request. A surge of magoi would will blue rukh to begin filling the bottom of the shaft up with water and in response the name of this new spell was whispered to the Imuchakk.

"Flood Fill!"

The sound of rushing water would then begin to fill the shaft as a rising tide came up to meet Yakuroro and Akatestu with a splash.

190/250 Magoi

500+/500 Flood Fill Trained:

The Imuchakk plunged into the water with a splash and blinked his eyes open to see a set of spikes carved from marble just a meter below him. Had the water not been there to slow their descent, Yakuroro and Akatetsu would surely have suffered a terrible injury. Yakuroro pushed off the water and began swimming upwards to counter his slow dive using a single hand while the other held on to the panicking Akatetsu helping the beast calm down. The magician surfaced soon enough and reached up to lift himself out of the now water filled spike pit. Yaku's finger tips would grasp the edge of the marble floor and with great effort he managed to pull himself up to chest level. As Akatetsu coughed up some water and his lungs scrambled for a fresh breath of air, Yakuroro hoisted them both out of the water and onto the floor placing all of his weight onto three different tiles as he lay flat on the ground.

The Imuchakk groaned still unaware that he's activated a whole other set of traps, his mind still trying to figure out why he'd set off the last one when the puzzle of the room was so obviously simple. Was it all a trap and a lie? Had he missed something? As Yaku was lost in thought, spikes began protruding from the ceiling, the walls were closing in on both sides, and the floor began spewing flames from various spots. "GYA! GYAO! GYAOOOO!" Akatetsu slapped Yakuroro's head over and over again as the poor baby chimera growled loudly to notify his adoptive father of the impending doom. Yakuroro opened his eyes and began to scold the child for pestering him whilst in deep thought only to see the various death traps and drop his jaw in shock.

"What is it Tetsu? I'm thinki-...Eeeeeeh!?"

The lowering spikes and fountains of flame made using the flying carpet a fool's errand and so Yakuroro decided to perform yet another spell in order to reach safety. He rose his staff and channeled magoi into to magical medium generating water and making use of the lingering source behind him in the pit. A track wide enough to stand on with both feet made of ice would be formed as Yakuroro guided the water under and past him. This first part of the spell was very similar to his Slipping Sleet ability which was for use against charging melee fighters. But instead of guiding a wave back towards Yakuroro, he issued slightly different commands with a subtle change. The water wave formed behind him instead of at the far end of the track and compressed to push the Imuchakk forward. The stream would give the magician a burst of speed sending him gliding along the ice at 10m/s for a short instant as he shouted this new spells name, "Slippery Step!" This would allow Yakuroro and Akatetsu to clear the rest of the traps before the could encroach to deadly distance or burn them alive.

The pair would slide to a stop on the ice track just past the exit door at the end of the hall way and both of them let out a sigh in unison. Yakuroro stood back up and looked back into the room filled with traps and frowned as everything began slowly moving back into place. In a few moments it was as if nothing had ever happened in that room. Closer inspection also revealed what Yakuroro had done wrong. While he solved the riddle behind the traps, he didn't think to start the pattern from the very entrance. An easy but embarrassing mistake. Yakuroro took solace in the fact that Akatetsu was not capable of quite understanding the intricacies of the puzzle and would likely be unaware of the blunder.

170/250 Magoi

500+/500 Training Slippery Step:

With the chamber of traps behind him, Yakuroro descended deeper into the ruins and found himself heading down another flight of stairs. This time it was thankfully a much shorter stairwell but never the less, Yaku was getting tired of all the steps and dreading the climb back up to the surface. These stairs exited directly into a new chamber that was massive and lit with small magic tool orbs that emitted light. The chamber was lined with shelves full of old tomes and at its center was a strange looking creature puffing away at a pipe. "It's been a bit over a century since the last thief broke in without solving the puzzle of knowledge. I'm surprised that you made it here, magician." An elderly voice echoed from the creature sounding faded as though it were being filtered trough some kind of material.

Yakuroro rubbed his still wet hair and gave a grin, "If it makes you feel any better, I did solve the puzzle!...Just a little too late." But the abomination did not seem amused. "It was the final order of my late king that I let none access this library through force. I, the Guardian of Wisdom, shall remove you." The hunched over humanoid then pointed its staff and released a Brilliant Flash sending a bolt of lightning towards Yakuroro. The Imuchakk could not react in time, but Akatetsu burst into action jumping from his shoulder to take the hit in mid air. The poor chimera was shocked and let out a pain filled growl before dropping to the ground paralyzed, smoking like a cooked ham.

"Tetsu!" Yaku shouted running to his son's side. The beast was still alive, but he wouldn't be moving any time soon. Yakuroro clenched his teeth and looked up to see the guardian puffing away at his pipe to form 15 balls of flame. A wave of Ember Sprites ignited and flew through the air but Yakuroro swiftly countered by raising his own staff and shouting, "Stubborn Current!" releasing a spray of water which he moved side to side creating a stream to douse each of the flames before they could do any damage.

"Cease this aggression! If you want me to prove myself I can go back and do the tile puzzle again!"

150/250 Magoi

Abilities Used:

"It is too late for that. I was entrusted with the power of my "King" in order to ensure her legacy remained unsullied." The creature then began to float into the air and flew towards Yakuroro with Forged Aggression in hand as its arm took the shape of a lance. Yakuroro stared the charging construct down and caught the blow shifting its angle at the last moment. His staff fell to the ground and a few drops of blood fell from the spear tip, but the weapon was moved off to the side and only slightly scratched the Imuchakk's side. "If it's a King's word you need to stop...then you've got one right here! O' Djinn of Mischief and Deceit! Let my will bend reality and grant me the power to fool even the wise! Dwell in my body and let your power be unleashed!" The ring at Yaku's left hand that was gripping the creatures limb shone brightly and the Imuchakk became engulfed in magoi.

The guardian pulled away as Yakuroro transformed into an armored monster clad in the power of his djinn. "Marx Replication..." The King Vessel muttered and 20 clones of the electrocuted Akatetsu appeared around him. The guardian tried to fly backwards, the but many chimera were on top of him swiftly.

One by one the Akatetsu's clawed at the creature dealing scratches to its stone-like body before vanishing. There was little the guardian could do between the recoil of each blow as Yakuroro flew behind him and delivered a final slash with Marax's greatsword. The guardian let out a scream of pain and burst into a shimmering cloud of magoi and a small amethyst fell to the floor in his place. With the guardian defeated, Yakuroro disengaged his djinn equip and dropped to the ground picking up the jewel to examine it shortly before pocketing the object and rushing to Akatetsu's side. In time the chimera would be fine and once hi safety was confirmed, Yakuroro began studying the various tomes present. Among them was a codex for the ancient Toran Language along with many other texts about their ancient civilization. After a night of long study, Yakuroro picked out the few tomes he wanted for personal record including the codex for himself and then returned to the surface to inform the Heliohapt soldiers of his success and claim the reward.


110/250 Magoi

Abilities Used: