(Garen's Point of View)
The metallic, cylindrical structure we found half-buried in the river mud was, to put it mildly, baffling. Hundreds of yards of a black, oily metal that seemed to repel dirt and water. There were no visible seams, as if it were forged from a single piece. And on its surface, engraved with impossible precision, was a strange symbol: a stylized 'X' with seven small, recessed circles arranged around it. I'd never seen anything like it.
"What in the blazes is this thing?" Borin grunted, hitting the metal with the pommel of his axe. The sound was dull, absorbed, as if the material was protected by more than just its own hardness. A mana barrier, perhaps, but of a type I didn't recognize.
"Ancient," Lyra murmured, her fingers brushing the strange symbols. "Older than the oldest elven records I know. It's as if the earth itself had forgotten it and remembered it all at once." She subtly placed her hand on the surface, careful not to apply too much pressure.
"A weapon of warrior gods?" Borin ventured, always seeing things in military terms. "Maybe a prison for some primordial beast."
"Or a star-seed that fell and took strange root," Lyra countered, her poetic nature showing through. "A chrysalis waiting to bloom."
"Bah! Star-seeds! It's probably an underground fortress of some mad king full of treasure and deadly traps!" Borin insisted.
"You're getting old and predictable, like the knots in your beard," Lyra sighed. "Always thinking about fighting and looting. If you don't hurry up and find something more to life, the baker's daughter will marry someone younger who can keep up with her and give her the dozen children she wants."
Borin turned as red as a tomato. "At least I don't hide my age behind elven lotions and pretend to be an eternal pointy-eared child!"
"Enough!" I intervened, stepping between them before things escalated. The air crackled for a second with the rise of my fiery power; here, I didn't need to hold back. "We have a mission. There's something inside this thing, something the Children of Twilight wanted to hide. Focus."
Kael, who had been examining the engraved symbol with absorbed concentration, finally spoke up. "There's a way in. Here." He pointed to one of the seven circles in the symbol. "It's a sequence. It requires a specific mana pulse… I think I can replicate it."
Carefully, he channeled a small amount of his wind energy, modulating it until it matched a subtle resonance emanating from the circle. A faint click sounded, and a section of the metal cylinder slid inward silently, revealing a dark opening.
Inside, we found something unexpected. It wasn't a damp fortress or a dark prison. It was luxurious, like a palace from a fairy tale. Smooth, white walls emitted a soft, internal light. Strange, elegant furniture made of unknown materials. Floating lights illuminated corridors stretching into the distance. And panels with glowing symbols that shifted, spheres that hummed softly… Nothing made sense.
"This isn't ancient," Lyra murmured, her astonishment evident. "Or it's so ancient it looks new."
"Smells like a trap," Borin grunted, his axe ready.
We had barely taken a few steps down the first corridor when a metallic sound echoed behind us. The door had closed. And from the shadows, figures emerged, running towards us. Rat-men. Dozens of them, armed with rusty swords and makeshift spears. An ambush!
"Delta formation!" I yelled. Years of fighting together made us react as one. Borin became the anchor, his axe creating a kill zone in front of him. Lyra unleashed a rain of ice and steam arrows from the rear, slowing and decimating the attackers. Kael was a blur, cutting tendons, creating openings, disappearing before they could counterattack. I focused on the larger ones, my fire sword carving through their disorganized ranks.
The fight was short but brutal. The rat-men weren't strong individually, but their numbers were considerable. Soon, the corridor was filled with bodies… or almost. Kael had left one alive, conveniently incapacitated and tied with a rope that appeared out of nowhere.
Before we could interrogate it, a different figure emerged from a corridor ahead. Six arms, grayish skin, wearing tattered monk-like robes. It raised two of its hands in a clear sign of peace. It wasn't hostile.
It tried to speak, but its language was unintelligible, full of clicks and hisses. It gestured a lot, pointing to itself, then to the dead rat-men with what looked like disgust, then motioning for us to follow.
Kael shook his head slightly. "I don't detect deception. Only curiosity… and fear."
Cautiously, we followed. It led us through labyrinthine corridors to a different section. The atmosphere changed. No longer luxurious, but functional, inhabited. Dozens, maybe hundreds, of six-armed beings huddled in the shadows, looking at us with large, frightened eyes. Children hid behind their parents. They weren't warriors; they were refugees.
Our guide led us to a central chamber. On a pedestal lay indentations shaped like three golden eggs and one slightly larger. It pointed to the indentations, then to itself and its people, then made a snatching gesture. The eggs had been stolen.
Then it took us to another chamber filled with ancient murals. The paintings told a story: these beings emerging from the water, greeted by human figures. Then conflict, fear. The six-armed beings retreating into this metallic structure, sinking beneath the water, hiding from the world. A story of refuge lasting thousands of years.
One mural stood out. A six-armed being handing a glowing egg to a human figure surrounded by light, under a shooting star. The Legacy. The prophecy. Did they see Lexo as salvation? Or as a threat?
"The one who attacked us at home…" Lyra murmured. "It wasn't an irrational monster. It was one of them. A scout, trying to retrieve their stolen children."
"And the Children of Twilight," Kael added. "They set fire to the fake camp to make us believe these beings were gone or destroyed. They manipulated us into fighting them."
"A senseless war," I concluded, anger surging. "Someone wanted us to eliminate each other."
We indicated we weren't enemies. The being nodded cautiously. We left the metallic structure, the path now clear of rat-men, and sealed the entrance again.
Back in the forest near home, under the waning moon, the silence was heavy.
"We have to report this," I said finally. "To the mayor. And to Valerius. Let him inform the King."
"And we need to talk to Elara," Lyra added. "About that strange seer Lexo mentioned. She started all this."
I nodded. Too many questions. Too many dangers lurking in the shadows. My son was at the center of it all. And I was going to find out why.