Saga: The Eben Spires

[Ryan - Loki]

Slowly everything flickered into life once again. The light was brighter now, too bright in fact, and Ryan found his arm rising up in front of his eyes to shield them. Everything was still blurry, and it took a few more seconds for his eyes to adjust from being shut for so long. Sitting up properly now he had a sudden rush of worry, not knowing where he was or why he was there, but the feeling quickly passed with a suddenly moment of clarification, where all his memories of the last few days came rushing back.

However, now that he had realised where he was, on top of a giant dragons back, new questions rushing through his head. How long had he been asleep? How close were they to Bedoe? The brightness of the sun caused him to originally believe a long time, but upon closer inspection the suns position told a different story; it was still morning, in fact he had only been asleep roughly twenty minutes.

Pushing all thoughts aside for a moment Ryan leaned to his right and looked down below. He had expected to see the rushing waters of the sea, instead he found the dry mountain reigns of Bedoe. They were far closer than he had expected. ‘You fly faster than I would of thought Rizuk Ryujin.’ Ryan did not know where the White Knight was, but he knew he couldn’t be far.
He hoped the other stranger had joined them, and wondered that had happened to Aion after the meeting, but whatever had happened Ryan was sure that they would all meet again. Things once again were starting to feel as they once did in the days of old, the days of danger and threat to the planet. Someone was brewing, and it would take everyone to help stop it.

[Jimmy Claymore]

Rizuk grunted his reply to Ryan as his wings continued beating the air, he finally crested a powerful breeze and glided along the mountain-ranges but he couldn't hide his exhaustion. He neared a snow bank and announced to Ryan

"Get ready to roll" He unceremoniously crashed into the thick white barrier, depositing Ryan near the entrance as his huge red scaled body tumbled through the snow finally resting back in his human form. But completely submerged in a snow drift. There was a sudden burst of flames and a splash of water as Rizuk emerged from the snow looking more than a little grumpy about the whole experience. He strolled over to Ryan while rolling his shoulders trying to regain feeling in them

"That was pretty unpleasent... sorry, I was trying a bit too hard there, think I pulled a muscle. Let's just find these Spires, destroy that helmet and get the hell out." He thrust his hands into his pockets and began a strange wading kind of walk through the snow in the rough direction of the Eben Spires muttering all the time about how unpleasent it was to be stuck in the cold, he was a flame creature, if they could just find a nice volcano he'd be set...

((OOC: sorrry it's short, I might expand it later))

[Aion]

"Took you long enough. A bit longer and even I would've caught a nasty case of frostbite." Aion's voice shot out from a distance. He sat on the peak of a small hill; in front of him were hundreds of highly detailed miniature Lavertian military ice figurines he had made during his wait. In truth he had only been here for a little over two hours, but Aion was rather impatient, even when taking account of his age. This was one of the reasons he was given a role as ambassador, a weird choice considering his problems, but oddly enough being entrusted with this responsibility helped greatly.

Aion arose from his mound and dusted himself off; he strolled over to Ryan, giving a slight nod upon reaching him. "I apologize for not meeting everyone earlier, but the others we met in Metapha seemed to be trustworthy enough to handle the job; and from what I can see they did well enough. Instead, I relocated to Bereteca and made preparations for a hostile attack from anybody looking to take advantage of this current situation..." Aion had intended to give Ryan a full status report, but ended his sentence a bit early, as he was completely caught off guard by Rizuk who was moving rather strangely. " ...Who's he; some hermit you found? I have to admit he seems...off...."

[Jimmy Claymore]

Rizuk's ears perked up at what sounded (to his ears anyway) as damning criticism, he turned to face this stranger who was chatting away quite merrily to Ryan giving a frustratingly reasonable excuse for why he had left earlier and mentioned somewhere Rizuk had never been before (which was also frustrating since he was meant to be well over a thousand and he'd been asked to go to two locations he'd not heard of) He stopped his waddling walk and just shook of the snow as best he could, shivering the whole time, he turned to look aggresively at Aion
"S-s-some Hermit, h-huh? I'll have you kn-know I'm R-R-Rizuk R-Ryujin, the Dra.. the DraACHOO!" a plume of flame leapt from his nose and created large scorched patch on the stone he was standing on since the snow had been quite effectively evaporated. "Freakin' perfect, the next place best be a desert..."He sniffed and noticed Aion's ice figurines. As the gears turned in his mind he inwardly groaned to himself. Perfect. The guy was an Ice Elemental. It was good from a strategic stand point since he also clearly had good control and strength, but from a personality stand point he was 95% certain they were going to irritate the living hell out of each other

"Least we have a good balance of strengths" Rizuk muttered as he breathed a small gout of flame onto his hands and rubbed them in the blaze, trying to warm up a bit. He wasn't a cold weather creature. If he missed with one of his attacks up here he could cause an eco disaster. Still, he did his best work with a handicap
"Jiaomasu, can we get going? I'm sure that other guy can catch up and anyway, we have a replacement. Seriously, I'm freezing my behind off." Rizuk tried jogging on the spot to warm up and scowled in annoyance "It's all well and good for Ice boy other there but this is NOT good conditions for a Dragon! I'm an endangered species ya know!" He shivered to prove his point and continued his futile attempts at warming up as he did, occasionally glowering at either Ryan or Aion depending on which way he was facing.

[Ryan - Loki]

With a sudden turn of his body, Rizuk sent Ryan rolling off from atop his back and crashing into the snowy mountainside. The deep layers of soft snow easily cushioned Ryan’s landing, slowing his rolling momentum to a complete stop almost instantly. Laying on his back in the snow Ryan welcomed the icy feeling against his skin. The coldness of the snow, and especially the air as he breathed it deeply into his lungs, relaxed his muscles almost completely. The coldness wasn’t uncomfortable to him. Being a fire elemental, at least partially, Ryan felt no discomfort to the cold, rather the opposite; it felt pleasantly cool to him.

Ryan had heard what Rizuk had said, but it wasn’t until he heard another’s voice that he finally made an attempt to get up. He smiled. Pushing himself up with his arm Ryan made the slightest of attempts to brush the snow off of his cape before turning towards the voice. ‘Aion.’ By this point Ryan had reached Aion, placing his hand upon his shoulder and smiling, the scars on his face more prominent for doing so. ‘Mt Lavertian brother, I am glad you could make it.’

Removing his hand from Aions shoulder Ryan listened to everything he had to say. A status report, no less than the utmost efficiency from Aion, though the peculiarity of Rizuk was far too much of a distraction. However, before Ryan make the introductions Rizuk stepped up and did so, before interrupting himself with a sneeze; Ryan hadn’t considered how this type of environment, which was somewhat unusual within Bedoe, would effect the dragon.

‘Lavertia is lucky to have someone with as sense, and quick thinking as you Aion.’ though speaking to Aion Ryan was not looking at him, instead he was glancing around at his surroundings. He remained in silence for a few seconds, and then he spoke. ‘If I remember correctly, we are currently at the spire of the Kirath – a native creature to these parts.’ He turned and nodded in the direction behind Aion. ‘On the other side of this spire is the spire of the Eagle. This ledge we are on should lead us there.’

Slowly Ryan looked between Aion and Rizuk. ‘You are right; the others can catch up with us. Let us move.’ And with that Ryan moved around Aion and began across the ledge, keeping as close to the mountainside as possible; there was a long way to fall if a mistake was made, and he wasn’t as confident with flight as he once was. Ryan moved in silence, only speaking when it was necessary. ‘When speaking, speaking in hushed voices.’ he warned. ‘The risk of causing an avalanche is high in these parts.’ he did not speak again.

As the three of them finally finished making their way around the edge of the spire the entrance to the spire of the eagle came into view; a temple entrance protruding out of the side of the mountain. It was a magnificent sight. He had spent much time in these mountains as a young boy, exploring for hidden caves and treasure, and although this temple had somehow managed to elude him all those years, they had somehow stumbled upon it so easily and quickly when time was of the essence; it was little things like this that maintained his faith in higher powers.

With a simple point of his finger, showing the others the temple entrance if they had not already, Ryan began making his way across to it. It wasn’t more than a minute later that they arrived. The entrance was a lot bigger up close than it had seemed. Suits of armour battling each other, five against a group of one, had been carved into the stone of the mountainside, as had the entire temple. Ryan couldn’t help but marvel at the precision and detail of everything; the knights of origin must have been master stonemasons.

‘This temple, it appears to be of the same design as much crafted at the time of the first great war between Lavertia and Bedoe, a style of work that came into popular use at least up to a thousand years before the war itself.’ Ryan pointed up at the two pillars that had been carved on either side of the entrance, more specifically the detailed rose carvings that had been made, spiralling around them. ‘This temple is old, very old, and more than likely contains only one large chamber.’

Of course all of what Ryan had said had been speculation. He had no idea what to really expect, or whether anything would be as he had predicted. Either way he was excited at the mere concept of this place of history. He was itching to get inside.

[Aion]

Aion cautiously took a step backward as Rizuk focused on him. His expression transforming from it's usual relaxed look to one of extreme confused and discomfort. Needless to say, Aion was at a loss for words. "I-I'm sorry sir, I just assumed...." He mumbled to Rizuk nervously, forcing a smile in the process. Aside from his odd behavior, one thing about Rizuk did catch Aion's interest: his mention of being a dragon. It was the first time that Aion had met another member of an actual dragon race outside of a Nenian settlement. And though he didn't display any of the common Nenian traits, Aion was curious to know if he had any connection to his people.

The young warrior followed his two more experienced companions onward. It wasn't long before the three of them reached their destination; as Ryan looked over the temples design, Aion searched the surrounding area for any signs of life. He couldn't find any evidence of a person reaching the temple in the last few hours, other than themselves."This seems too easy. Surely, for something this valuable we would have ran into some sort of trap by now..." He whispered.


(OOC: I gotta get to bed. I'll add more in a couple hours or so....just wanted to make sure you guys had something to respond to... )

[Jimmy Claymore]

Fortunately for Rizuk, Aion's slightly humbled response to this announcement sounded sort of like a compliment. Maybe. If you squinted a little. And this caused his Ego Boost to suddenly activate, his Healing accelerated and the poor cold virus, already in a hostile environment, was wiped from the face of existance. Feeling cheerier he decided to play forgiving deity and waved a hand regally
"Do not threat, for I am forgiving... now let's get to this temple before my ego drops back to it's usual level" Which would be, "small enough to not visibly effect the world outside of his own head" in layman's terms. The trek through the snow was eased by his melting them a path as best he could, it was pretty hard to cause the friction with all that snow in the way.

The temple itself was grand, magnificent, intricately detailed. Ryan's reaction showed he was impressed by the huge edifice. Rizuk's reaction was slightly less (or more if you knew him) predictable
"I want one. Let's find the mason" Rizuk announced before realising that, even by his standards, he needed to wait for the time and the place. He rubbed his neck and grunted as Aion made an observation that, in his infinitely cynical way, Rizuk was trying hard to ignore
"Arrggh!! Why did you say it!? Now you've said it we're going to FIND a trap!Or worse, whoever we're after's been here hours before and already absconded or... or they flew in and are going to kick our asses on their way out. Man, seriously, this your first time doing this or what?" Rizuk suddenly realised he was shouting and sighed, his eyes firmly squinted shut as the full magnitude of his cock up was starting to become evidenced
"Alright... let's head into the temple to avoid the avalanche that I may have just caused"

[Garoten Reklor]

He'd been there for nearly a half hour when the others began to arrive, standing a ways off from the entrance, camouflaged into the snow with a creative adaptation of energy shaping that caused his armor to appear entirely white. The time had been spent scanning and rescanning the temple for any signs of life or technology that could present a threat. For a half hour, he'd come up completely empty. When the small group finally approached the entrance, he remained hidden for a few moments just to observe. Finally Rizuk moved to enter the temple, and he stepped forward, armor fading back into its gleaming blue, white, and gold shades.

"You're probably right. My guess is this place is bristling with traps. Unfortunately, I can't find any of them from out here. The walls are incredibly thick! We're just going to have to adapt once we're inside."

Without any further conversation, the White Knight turned and faced the massive edifice that towered over the small group. Although from a distance the entrance appeared open, he'd discovered upon arrival that it was an illusion. Just far enough inside the gate that it remained hidden from the sunlight, a set of stone doors barred the way of any would-be intruders. The only sign that it was anything other than a dead end was a thin line running from the floor to the ceiling dead center of the wall. Considering the skill that was evident in the rest of the stonework, that one little line set of warning bells in Kyle's own mind. Why would such incredible artisans leave any sign at all of a door, unless they wanted someone to open it? He reached out a hand and carefully tapped on the door with his knuckles. The metal on stone rang inside the shallow cavern, accompanied by a dull echo from the wall - indicating a large empty space on the other side. Now he was even more suspicious. Against all better judgment, he flattened his hands just to the right of the crack and pushed as hard as he could. Tiny cracks began to spiderweb outward from his palms, but the wall, as expected, didn't budge.

"Well, here's something at least. A giant, locked door. I don't know about you all,"

He turned and began to search the rest of the cavern. The HUD inside his visor leaped to life with sensor readings on the type of stone, hardness, and thickness of each wall. Although he'd already done this once, he hoped he'd somehow missed something - a button, lever, or better yet, another door. Nothing presented itself.

"but I really wish this wasn't so obviously the only way inside."

He turned back to face the wall and sighed. He was hoping to at least get inside before the traps and puzzles started, but delving into ancient temples for treasures of immeasurable power was always like this.

"Any ideas on how we get it open?"

[Ryan - Loki]

Ryan had turned to glare at Rizuk as he raised his voice and shouted, but it appeared that the dragon deity had already realised his mistake, and had warned everyone to take shelter inside the temple. As everyone moved inside, to escape the imminent avalanche, it became clear that this time they had avoided such a fate. Luck appeared to be shining down upon them this day.

Hmm…Traps? Ryan hadn’t considered that there may be traps inside or around the entrance to this temple, but now that the white knight had brought the topic to light Ryan found he was considering it, and it was extremely likely. Suddenly he found himself slowly walking towards the entrance, scanning his eyes over everything for something abnormal, as he didn’t wish to set off an ancient trap. His eyes fell upon the small spider web of cracks that the white knight had caused upon trying to force the door open. This was made within the mountains of Bedoe; there would be no forcing anything here.

‘If there is a door then there is a way to open it.’ Ryan muttered, more to himself than anyone in particular. Thinking out loud. ‘There is something here that we have overlooked. Some small detail.’ placing his hand upon the stone door Ryan walked alongside it, stroking his hand across the stone. It felt warm, and this surprised Ryan. His face formed a frown. Something was amiss.

Color=blue] ‘The door is warm.’ [/color] He repeated, this time out loud for everyone to hear. He knew the white knight had placed his hand upon the stone already, in an attempt to force open the door, but he wasn’t sure if he could feel the temperature of the stone through the metal suit that he wore. ‘Does it not strike anyone else odd that a stone door, carved from the mountainside, in an extremely cold environment, is warm to the touch?’ Ryan was still facing the door, his palm planted firmly upon it.

‘Perhaps…perhaps the key to opening this door has something to do with the elements?’

[Aion]

Aion could only listen patiently as Rizuk shouted at him, and hope the dragon's actions wouldn't cause an avalanche; given the environment, Aion was unsure that even he could control one of such a magnitude. "Feels like I'm back at the academy." He thought with a smirk, his mind reflecting on his early life in Lavertia.

He had kept his smirk until Rizuk had mockingly asked if this was his first time participating in this type of situation; the young man's expression changed in what seemed like no-time. His eyes shifted away from the group, that now familiar feeling of discomfort creeping back into his body. "Well....actually..." He would've answered "Yes", but his was interrupted by the knight, who had just made his presence known to the rest of the group.

Aion remained silent, listening carefully to each word spoken by both the White Knight and Ryan. During this time, he made his way to the stone door, kneeling down and resting his hand at it's base. "The same temperature all through...but why? Is this a hint in itself?" Aion pondered.

Ryan's mention of the elements being being the answer to this riddle, triggered something within the young mans brain; the lack of guards, traps, any kind of precautions outside of this door...it started to make sense.

"It's just a thought, but maybe the door itself is a trap," Aion stood up, dusting himself off once again, and placed both of his hands against the door. "And the key to disabling it is matching the exact temperature of the environment; thus opening it. I'm aware it sounds like a simple task, but considering the journey here, the ever-changing temperature, as well as the freezing weather; all of these would break any normal person. If under a great amount of stress, one were to try and perform such a task that requires this much focus...causing an avalanche wouldn't be out of the question; and obviously, you can't just blast your way in."

His smirk widened. "It's the perfect deterrent for any would-be treasure hunters...."

[Ryan - Loki]

(OOC: I know it's only been two days but i'm double posting to progress things a little.)

Almost immediately after he had put forward the theory about opening the door using the elements, Ryan had began using his ability to manipulate fire to increase the already existent heat within the stone. It wasn’t instant but slowly the heat of the stone began to rise until the heat of the stone was so intense it began to melt nearby snow and ice, as well as being able to burn upon touch. Noticing no change in the door, as well as being coupled by Aions theory, Ryan removed his hand from against the stone door, the temperature rapidly returning back to normal.

‘Well, I have attempted to heat the door, but to no avail.’ Ryan declared to the group with a hint of dismay. ‘Perhaps there is some truth to your theory General.’ At this point Ryan took a few steps back, still looking at the door, but now running over the full scope of Aions theory in his head. A trap so ingenious, yet thought up thousands of years ago? It was hard to believe. Yet then again, though it was ingenious it was ingenious for it’s simplicity.

‘I say that if no one else has any ideas,’ he paused for the others to insert any if they had them. ‘then put your theory into practise.’

[Jimmy Claymore]

You may have noticed Rizuk had been quiet for a long time, he was pondering their options here. Ryan had tried heating the door and he'd decided (with surprising tact) to not intervene and comment on his technique. After all, he'd been doing it for over a thousand years and he wasn't flawless. Of course, he thought his flaw was that he was almost too good at it, but he'd never vocalised this and had probably avoided a few unpleasent opinions. But heating it wasn't working... Aion's theory had the most merit, he admitted grudgingly except he also had a fairly good reason for why he hadn't acted yet
"Y'know, I get that you can't be the brightest crayons in the box, considering your collective choice of career, but have you stopped to question why a thousand year old temple STILL has a warm door? Or for that matter HOW it's keeping warm? Aion's probably right, I'd guess its a trap and on the other side is whatevers keeping the door at a nice high temperature. Hell, they built this at-" Rizuk stopped for a second.

It was old... over a thousand years old. So was he. His people had enormous life spans... staying alive for a thousand years in a temple wasn't unfeasible... he shook his head to clear his mind of that theory. It was stupid, he always wanted to think that somewhere there were more of his kind, that he wouldn't be alone on a planet of monkeys. But, Bedoe was cold. Too cold. They wouldn't be able to survive, no way...

He realised he'd been pause for too long and shook his head
"Right, sorry... try having, uhh... Aion? Have Aion cool the door and then hit it. The sudden shift in temperature ought to make it weaker, or at the least cooling it will make it expand and we can knock it off its hinges" Rizuk wasn't sure how good this plan was but it was better than nothing.

[Ryan - Loki]

(OOC: Sorry for posting out of turn again. Just trying to show that the thread is still here Aion, if you've got problems in real life that are stopping you from postings, or something, just let us know and i can control Aion for a little while if you like you know, just to keep things moving.)

Rizuk raised a few good points, brining theories to light that Ryan had yet to consider. What WAS keeping this door warm? The temple was old, at least as old as the Knights of Origin who placed the armour piece inside the temple, and that wasn’t to say that they hadn’t found the temple already made, which would make it even older than originally thought. This temple could possibly be well over a thousand years old already, and that was only if Ryan’s estimations were correct – and maths wasn’t his strongest subject. But that lead him back to Rizuk’s point; what could keep a temple warm for so long?

It was clear that this temple hadn’t been opened since it was sealed, so for at least a thousand years, which was far too long for lit torches to stay alight. The stone door was also several feet thick, meaning it was far too dense for torches to heat it through. There was something inside, possibly an enchantment, which kept things warm – why Ryan couldn’t grasp. Was it even safe inside the temple? If the stone door was this warm, despite being incredibly thick, what would the conditions be like within the temple? Hot conditions didn’t plague Ryan, his manipulation of fire granted him extreme conditioning against its heat, but the others were probably less fortunate, all except maybe Rizuk.

Ryan felt his mind spiralling out of control with theories and possibilities. The list was endless. But when he attempted to voice them he could only managed a few short words. ‘Use caution…we have no idea what to expect when this door is opened.’ and now they waited for Aion to cool the door. Everything hung on this theory working.

[Aion]

Through another short exchange of words between the group, Aion remained silent. It wasn't so much as he ignored to conversation, but the careful planning of how exactly to go through with this theory that demanded his full attention. The problem wasn't so much the environment itself, but, as Rizuk stated, what was on the other side. This proposed another problem. This intense heat, hot enough that they could feel it radiating from a stone door; if they were to open the door...would they instantly be fried?

His hands placed firmly against the door. Aion spoke once more. "My theory only answers one part of this puzzle..." He paused. A faint, but visible sapphire aura radiated from each of his hands; and began pulsating throughout the entire doorway. "Whatevers on the other side of this door is somehow managing to spread this heat equally; there's no single spot that's more intense than another."

There were three strategies he could use in this situation: One, attempt to freeze both the door and neutralize the source of the heat in one move; this in itself would be difficult since he couldn't possibly get an accurate reading of how strong the heat was. Two, freeze only the door, knock it down, and hope to god that he could react in time to stop whatever was on the other side. Or...

"I'm going to need some assistance. This'll be too dangerous for me to do alone." Aion said softly, taking a few steps back; stopping only about eight yards away from his original spot. "I'll do exactly as I've said, however, once this door opens we'll need to fallback, and quickly eliminate the source of this heat." The glow that had surrounded his hands only moments ago, had now extended to the rest of his frame. "Rizuk, Ryan, I'm hoping you two can accomplish this." Without any hesitation, Aion's arm shot downward, striking the ground before him; the aura around him following his every movement to perfection, shot into the earth. A sapphire glow would engulf everything around the group, growing brighter, until it would finally blind each of them. Once they came to, everything around them would be frozen.

[Garoten Reklor]

Behind his visor, The White Knight was having another private conversation with his ever-present AI, Rhia.

=Their idea has merit. If we cool the door, it'll contract and I can knock it free easily enough, but I need to know what's behind that door.=

=Understood, but the sheer mass and unusual mineralogy of the stone is making it impossible to get scans through. There is simply no way to determine what's back there without opening the door, but the heat inside that room must be enormous.=

=Very well then. Just be prepared to make emergency adjustments to interior armor temperature as soon as that door opens. Initiate transformation to Templar on my mark...mark.=

Suddenly the cave was filled with whirring and clanking sounds as plates of the Knight's armor shifted and the whole took on a sleeker appearance. His shield collapsed into his left arm and was replaced by a large cannon. Two more cannons folded out from his shoulders, while two rocket pods appeared as if from nowhere onto his shins. Before he could put any of his new toys to good use, however, Aion spoke up and explained his plan.

"Sounds good to me, but you need to know the estimated temperature in that room is approaching three hundred degrees farenheit."

A flashing indicator in the lower right corner of his display suddenly gained Kyle's attention. He stared at it for a moment pondering the implications, then reported:

"And climbing...I think we'd better get on the ball."

He targeted all of his weapons on the door and disarmed the safety protocalls.

"I'm ready."