Atomos: The Beginning Part 7

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The viera Talen would notice that there is a man wearing grey robes standing on top of one the tree's watching the group leave. The moment the viera blinks or looks away the man is completely gone. Alba will notice that the tree Rydia lives in, is completely missing, it should be there along the horizon but just is not to be found. The ship flies off west making the quickest exit it can from the jungle. Cecil leans against the railing and looks the party over, "Well you look like you have been through hell. What happened, did you learn anything?"

Alba's mask turns to regard the area they'd traveled from, ears pinning back against their head. With a soft huff of a snort, she clambers over the airship railing and looks up to Cecil, nodding once, slowly. Then, pointing to Talen as if to say 'ask him.'

"I swear I know that man there...", Talen says, pointing over at... "Odd... he was there a moment ago." He slips over the railing last of all, peering down at the devilsaur. "I want one...", the male Viera murmurs. His ears perk straight up, focusing on the others in turn before the Viera turns to Cecil. "As to what happened, I think it will be said differently by all who were there, and best retold as a group later. But we have a direction, west, to Rozarria. The Wandering Library, if you've heard of it?"

Zhgir for his part, is busy trying to get the spiderling settled. "If you take too many keys, they will take them all away..." The arachnid can be hard telling Alfir, "Oh, and you must learn how to fly. To fly with the wind, like Zhgir-!"

Cecil raises his eyebrows and his wings shift, "Another legend? The wondering library is a legend as old as the artifact itself. Cast out to the void, with only a single doorway connecting it back to the world. That doorway travels never to be found twice." Reaching up to rub his head" Cecil glances over the edge, "Who? I do not see anybody there. Regardless, Kain we head west!" Edward flies up to Cecil, "Kupo, I am going to go give Kain directions. The rest of you should all kupo up." The moogle then flying off. Alfir sticks his tongue out at Zhgir, "You didn't want this key, you can't tell me what to do!" Then the spiderling runs off, only to be seen sneaking up behind Cecil attempting to lift one of the Ageyls keys."

Alba grunts, straightening and arching her back, to the tune of the occasional crackle and pop as her spine settles. As the crew begins to get moving, she stands, waiting on Talen and Zhgir to shift from the deck.

Talen shrugs lightly at the mention of legends. "What is old is new again, what is lost can be found. The Wandering Library is the key we need, and the wee Moogle there can help us find it. In time, even we may be legends, if we can stop the use of the artefact." Talen looks over to Alba, and moves to her side, "Shall we rest a bit, then?" Zhgir gets a look, as do the others, a smile sneaking onto his face as he sees the antics of the wee spiderling.

Zhgir's hands raise up in the air as he stifles a frustrated groan. "Zhg-ir!" He hisses underneath his breath, watching the spiderling run off. Then his hands return to his hips. "Fine, Zhgir'll just take his keys back when he is caught." He waves his hand distractedly, then turns back towards the viera. "You two need new masks, yes? Fresh colors?"

Alfir runs off when he is caught and goes into hiding on the ship. The trip itself is quiet for the next two days as the ship makes its way towards the west. A set of ruins comes into view, mostly just two pillars standing up in the lands. The ship lands and Cecil looks around, "Well there was once something here. Where to Edward?" The man looking towards the Moogle, the moogle shrugs, "Well the door last time I was here appeared on a rock wall. May just need to spread out and see if we can find anything by luck?"

Alba pushes up her mask, casting sullen brown eyes on the bare ruins below. Her lips thin, then her gaze turns to Talen, a single eyebrow arching.

Talen peers about and rubs at his chin, looking at Alba with a casual shrug. "Perhaps you could raise the ship back up, and have the lookouts working from above while we fan out down here, Captain?" The male Viera eyes the Moogle, "Edward, was there anything odd about the doorway that might give us some clues? Something that was out of place that we could look for? Lights, plant life, sounds, that sort of thing?"

Zhgir stays by the railing, and spreads his hands. "Zhgir could fly! And find the Wind gotten library. That is close to what we are looking for, yes?" The arachnid offers helpfully, looking around the deck. "Zhgir really should have taken his wings with him..." He mutters by himself and eyes the Aegyl thoughtfully, wiping some of the blown sand away from his eyes.

Edward shake his head slowly, "Not at all honestly. I just saw a simple wooden doorway, didn't even know what it was. Just opened it up wand walks through it... what was beyond was... well scary. I saw some books, grabbed one and ran. No idea what I had at all." The moogle steps off the ship and glances around, "This is where it was before. Only two tall standing pillars and some broken walls crumbling in the dust." Pointing over to what appears to be rocks, but closer looks show there to be a wall side of things. Cecil gets back on the ship, "We can circle around, you guys can stay on the ground. Good luck."

Alba crouches, gathering up a handful of sand and letting it fall, slowly, to see which way and how hard the wind is blowing. Glancing up at Talen and Zhgir, she lifts a shoulder, pulling down her mask and gesturing in the vague direction of the area surrounding the ruins.

Talen nods to Alba when she points to the ruins. The male Veira squints, looking about. A few steps are taken towards the ruins, but then he stops, glancing over at Edward. Fire flares up in the Viera's left hand, and he gestures with his right. "Edward. Come. NOW." Talen strides towards where the Moogle stands.

Zhgir stares after Talen. Then the arachnid quickly moves so that Alba is between him and Talen. "Maybe Zhgir will go ahead and explore, yes? Zhgir is very good at finding things?" He suggests, already heading that way - and far away from the fire wielding summoner.

Before the party, along the rock wall, appears a door. A simple wooden door with no marking or anything significant. Edward Kupo's and backs up, "Well good luck! You guys can go on without me right? I will let Cecil know to meet you in Emberstrand."

Alba's hand reaches out, snagging Edward by one stubbly arm. Talen did, after all, request his presence in a language she knows well, and whether she has to struggle with the Moogle or not, she is going to keep her grip and trot to Talen's side. An ear tracks Zhgir, the set of her shoulders betraying her overpowering urge to drop her face into one hand... But miraculously, she refrains.

Talen chuckles at Edward's expected reaction, and nods to Alba. "Careful, he strikes me as a squirmier" He raises an eyebrow at Zhgir's reaction and shrugs. "Edward. Remember what is at stake here, and bring that legendary Moogle bravery to the fore, yes?" The male Viera continues towards the door, spell at the ready, and carefully places his other hand upon the door. And gives an experimental shove.

Zhgir holds by Talen and Alba, his dark orblike eyes peering into the darkness. "Zhgir goes first, yes?" He says, before he attempts to slip inside, to check for any potential traps - or keys - that may lay within.

Edward squirms, thrashes and attempts to bite Alba with his sharp teeth. "Let me Kupo! I will not go back in there kupo!" Almost to the verge of tears as the door is opened and people start to go through. Zhgir is the first one through...

The void stretches out before the group. A massive expanse of nothing but inky blackness, with a super nover bright start off in the distance offering the only light. The ground is a cobblestone floor, but there are many holes that drop down into nothingness. Bookshelves are scattered around the area. Showing that this was once the library it is claimed to be.

Alba's arm jerks and thrashes with the Moogle's struggles, but she says nothing, even as her ears lower further and further. Tearing her gaze away from the starlit void, she focuses on the floor and its holes, thrusting Edgar in front of her toward Talen, as if to say 'you talk to him.'

"By all the spirits...", Talen curses. "So it does, in fact, exist. Mind the holes there though, you don't want to fall." He reaches back to take Edward from the female Viera, holding him in one hand, and with his other hand, takes Alba's hand. To the squirming Moogle, he says, "You've been here before, Edward, we've not. Show us where you found the book... you need to lead us here." He gently sets down the moogle, nudging him slightly foward, and then looks back at Alba with a reassuring smile. He nods to Zhgir, "Walk with the poor Moogle, and keep him safe, yes?"

Zhgir takes a step back at the sudden exposure of the library, and instantly he is hiding behind Talen, clutching onto the summoner's waist. "... does Zhgir have to?" He complains, and then stiffly, walks up to the moogle. "Zhgir can sing 'The one that fell but was not food' for you, yes? Much better than this phr'ezgh place?" He offers as he holds up his hands, about to snatch the moogle up to his shoulders, letting the creature lead him otherwise.

Edward just curls up into a ball clearly scared and not liking the place. "I... need to find the librarian." He offers his voice meak. He points off along one of the pathways, "He was up there last time. He can help you find what you want..."

The hand slipped into Alba's is, for a moment, squeezed with painful pressure. Her eyes, it seems, are glued to the floor; if she can't take the sight of their environs, and can't speak to aid them in their quest... then she'll watch their path, and ensure they don't fall.

Talen squeezes Alba's hand as well, not liking the place much at all. He sighs at the poor Moogle, and nods to Zhgir, "Go on, help him up Zhgir." Talen looks at the pathway pointed at by Edward, and starts striding towards it. "Well, we can start with the last known place the Librarian was scene, and then spread out from there if we cannot immediately locate him."

Zhgir hoists Edward up on his shoulders with two of his hands, and then the two others stretch out to grab onto the wall, the arachnid starting to crawl upwards towards the pathway. "Zhgir Zhgir, felt a knocked tree~ they crept up as three, couldn't set him free~" The arachnid sings away, palps twitching nervously. He really wished there were keys in here. "A web or two, may make them lay 'em too..."

A little bit of walking and you come unto a circular area. Where there are pathways going in eight different directions. Standing in the center are three figures, each of them a exact copy of yourself. The Talen figure comes forward, "We are the librarian, what can we help you find today?" It is noted there is no moogle one at this time. the shadowy figures all appear quiet real, every detail exact and perfect.

For a moment, Alba seems a bit more herself; her ears slam down at the appearance of the shadow copies of three of their four, and her free hand curls faintly into a claw, overpowering annoyance of all things Spirit ruining her view of how the world is supposed to work. Drawing a deep breath, and letting it out, she nudges both Talen and Zhgir with a foot, unable to answer.

Nudged forward, Talen slips free from Alba's grasp, taking a few more steps towards the copy of himself. "Greetings Librarian. We have come far to seek knowledge of the Artifact of Atmos. There are those who would see it used for ill purpose in the world, and we wish to find it before they do, and hide it so that it may lay forgotten until needed. The wee Moogle here found a book that spoke of it, one that has been taken from him, I think. Would you have a copy?"

Zhgir stares at Talen curiously, before he too steps up, holding up his four hands - and a moogle. "Greetings, Zhgir. We seek the keys to world destruction." He looks uncomfortable for a moment, shifting from foot to foot. Almost as if he was forgotten something - but suddenly he ahs, and he adds proudly, "And sing songs."

The Talen copy nods at that, "Indeed, that is the knowledge you see, that is the knowledge you find. be weary of the guardians of such knowledge. That path." Pointing to one of the exist, at which point the visage fades into nothingness. The zhgir one steps forward and points to a different path, "The knowledge you seek is on that path." Then to does the spider fade away.

Alba's mask turns to face Zhgir, in silence. Long, long, pointed, meaningful, *seething* silence. Her free hand flicks out, rapping a knuckle sharply against the back of his head, followed by an explosive sigh. Turning, she starts to head down the path indicated by the Talen clone, but pauses before her foot can return to ground. Looking from one indicated path to the other, she crosses her arms and drops to sit on the stone where she is.

Talen reaches over to grab one of Zhgir's hands, and tugs him towards the path that leads to where the Talen clone pointed. He stops before Alba, and then looks up at the Alba clone, and back to Alba. "She's your clone. Ask her in the manner in which you can still speak to me, yes?"

Zhgir tilts his head this way and that at the knocking on his head. "Zhgir? Zhgir?" He asks, then turns around and sees Alba there, letting out heavy sigh - he seems to jump up into the air, however, gravity does not allow him. But as he was about to drop Edward into Alba's lap, he is pulled by Talen. "But Zhgir said Zhgir should go that way-!" He protests, gesturing towards the other exit, palps twitching rapidly. "Zhgir wouldn't let Zhgir down, because he's Zhgir!"

The Alba clone watches Talen and Zhgir start down their path. The circular room shifts a bit and the doorways are all new directions, impossible to tell which one leads to where. Edward sighs and shakes his head, "I didn't know about this!" Circling back up into a ball with only a red pom sticking out. The Alba clone steps up and speaks, well outside of ear shot of Talen, "Once a path has been taken, it is lost until found again. Only one doorway leads in, but many lead out. Only once can you ask for knowledge here. Though I can point you in the direction you should start will you follow the same path as your mate? Will you seek out your mate, or will you seek out a prize of your own?" A pause then speaking again, "Or will you sit here, waiting and waiting unsure if minutes, hours, or even days go by in the blink of a eye. Gaze upon the visage that you will become should you linger to long." The Alba clone changing into a old hag like viera, the voice now raspy with age, "Never a child did I have, while I waited never to be found. Never a child did I have, while I searched." The hag version of Alba letting out a cackle as she walks back to the center of the room.

The path that Talen and Zhgir start onto is smooth and solid. The path behind them is lost the second they both leave the platform, leaving only a black void behind them. Each step along the path it grows more solid, walls start to form, eventually even a ceiling. The only clue that there is a void still is seen in the occasional window. Torches now line the wall giving plenty of light and music can be heard ahead. A massive double wooden door block the source of the music. Once they are within a few feet they open on their own, showing a gigantic ball room before Zhgir and Talen. A masquerade ball is in the process, with classic dance music on the far side from a orchestra. A well dressed man in gold and silver colors approaches the group holding out two masks, "We are so glad you could make it. Come dance with us. Dance with us and forget your worries, forget your woes, forget the very passage of time. That which you seek is in this very room, as it now remembers what it once was. From stone to dust to stone again. Come, dance with us."

Talen blinks at the man in gold and silver, "I would stay and dance a while, good Host, but the world outside is in danger. I could not in, good conscience, idle away having fun when every moment counts. If I dance one dance, would you show me what I seek then?"

Alba's mask tilts up toward her shadow clone in silence, slowly standing once the Librarian turns to rejoin its fellows. "If it is as my Shaman says," she mutters, moving to stand before the trio, "then you know what I shall do. And this, also, you shall understand." One hand lashes out, two talon like finger claws jabbing into the flesh between the copy's ribs, before she turns to catch up to Talen and Zhgir, fuming.

Zhgir grabs the mask before Talen manages to utter a word. "Zhgir will dance!" He grins with two of his hands held up in the air, before he tilting towards Talen, offering one of his other hands to the viera. "May Zhgir?" He was grinning ear to ear - though soon hidden away beneath the mask, "It will be better this time, Zhgir promises!" ... and the arachnid continues to hold his hands up in the air. Because dance.

The clone is stabbed between the ribs, only to be met with no resistance. The image blurs a moment then reforms complete and hole. "I am nothing more then a memory, a visage of what you were, what you are, and what you can become at the edge of the void for all time. Of knowledge you seek, of knowledge you shall have. Walk that path." The image points up to a different direction then the one Alba was going, 'And you shall find what you seek. Be weary of the guardians. take only what you requested."

The well dressed man chuckles, "Oh my good baron, you always were a kidder. Your son is much more eager, you know there are some very pretty ladies here that are eligible for a man of his stature." As zhgir puts on the mask his form changes into a fourteen year old boy. His clothing rich and posture that of a noble. The man looks back to talen holding out the mask, "Come your excellency, this is your celebration after all. you should enjoy it." The dancing behind him comes to a slow, then picks up again with a new song. "This empire will last forever."'

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