The Forgotten Zodiac

"Heck yeah." Sylas grinned. "I'm not about to forget that, L'arc. Hey, Kendra!" He waved to her. "L'arc and I were going to go check something out in the forest. Want to come along?" He offered. "It's not really supposed to be dangerous, but just in case, we could use someone with your fighting skills."

Kendra glanced over to Verolen, then back to Sylas and smiled. "I'd love to accompany. I have not anything better to do," she said, coming over to L'arc and Sylas. She inclined her head slightly to the new king in respect, then looked back up. "Lead the way, and I shall follow. ...and, I pray, you do not allow me to get us lost," she added, a small refrence to her earlier time spent with the human.

Sylas chuckled. "Nah, we'll lead this time. We're never lost when we're in the forest." He grinned, then turned on heel. Before long at all, they were heading into the forest. "So, we're going to find a temple. You might have to watch your step, though, the ceiling of the place is giving way. I fell into it," He chuckled at himself. "L'arc said it was Elvish build, but I don't think so..."

"Mayhap I will be able to offer insight once I see the place," Kendra offered. "I am fairly well read, though texts on the Surface word are hard to come by... we mostly have old sagas from up here. The ones about the rulders of old, Tryfing and Mysiltainn and the like," she explained.

"That'd be good," Sylas smiled. "I'm glad you're coming with us, Kendra." He turned to look back at the forest, watching where they were going for a moment before looking back at her. Then he turned red as he nearly ran into a tree.

Kendra had reached out and placed her hand on Sylas' arm to pull him back, but he stopped walking before he was in any real danger of actually hitting the tree. L'arc turned to looked at them, amused, before chuckling at a comment from the tree that Kendra couldn't hear.

Sylas, however, could.

Oi! Love birds! Get yer head out of the clouds and watch where yer walkin'!

"Sorry," Sylas mumbled, turning away from the tree and blushing all the more. He hurried along the path, then laughed at himself and his silliness. "Hey, we're getting close," he pointed out. The forest fires had since burned themselves out, but smoke was still visible in the distance. "I think it was this way," He hurried forward, then slid to a stop. "Watch your step," He warned, spying a hole nearby. "This is the weak area. Do your best not to fall,"

"Ask the grass where we should walk, Sy, and lead the way," L'arc suggested, not unhelpfully. He let Kendra take the place walking just behind Sylas, and the new king fell into line behind her.

Sylas nodded, looking down at the grass. He walked carefully, step after step, until he reached the short hole Mr. Krow had dropped down into. "Here we are. This is the hole we climbed out of," He nodded, dropping down with ease. "Come on, down we go," He poked his head up, grinning.

Kendra slid into the hole after Sylas, with L'arc not far behind. The druid looked around for a moment, before saying, "Wish we'd have brought a lantern of some kind... just like me to not plan ahead, eh?"

"The holes in the ceiling make enough light," Sylas walked down the stairs, looking around for once. The white marble had been overgrown with weeds in the cracks and vines all up and down broken support pillars. Odd looking runes were carved into the marble, but a lot of it didn't look like it had been a part of the normal architecture. "Huh...this is interesting...what do these markings mean?"

L'arc ran his fingers over the runes, trying to decipher them. "I can't tell much, honestly. I didn't sudy these for very long... but niether elf, fairy, nor centaur write in runes - so you were right, Sy, some other person of some other race has been here. Let's see... warlocks and witches definitely are a possibility..."

"They don't look like the sort of runes Gabe uses. Or Rush. Any of them, really...they just don't look familiar at all..." Sylas frowned at it. "Could it be...some sort of phonetic language? Look, an 'x'. Isn't that like, 'no'? And then a door...no doors? Or don't go through the door? This one looks like a snake..." He looked around, spotting a door on the other side of the room. It had an X scratched into the wood surface. A door nearby had a circle, instead. "So...either X means something bad, or X marks the spot..." Sylas mulled, frowning a bit.

"The circle seems way safer," L'arc said. He looked to Kendra. "What do you think?"

"...maybe we should try knocking on each, and see what sort of response it brings," she offered, looking a bit unsure herself.

"Look, there are more carvings here. I think...this is counting," Sylas looked at the marble, then pushed a dusty, rottting tarp out of the way. He pulled it off entirely, revealing scratch after scratch after scratch. All counting. "That's...a lot of scratches..." It nearly covered the wall entirely, from ceiling to floor. And it was a pretty big wall, too. Sylas took a step back, and looked down when he heard a crack; he scooped up the pieces of what appeared to be a carved tree of some kind. "Hey..." He said softly. "I think this was a temple for the Mother Tree. Look at this, L'arc," He lifted the shrine, setting it on what must have been the alter. "Yeah...that has to be what this was. But...why underground...?"

He shook his head, then nodded at L'arc. "Go ahead, knock."

"Urgh, why me?" L'arc said softly, but headed over to the door with the circle. He hesitated for a moment, then reached out with his fist to rap against the door. Before he could, however, Kendra pulled him back.

"Allow me," she said. "If it is dangerous... it wouldn't do for the forest to lose their new King the same week they got him," she said, then knocked on the door.

Sylas looked like he was about to interject, but frowned as nothing happened. "Maybe this one," He turned and knocked on the door with the X, but the same response was gotten. Absolutely nothing. "Maybe...we could try opening it." He twisted the knob and attempted to push it open, but found that there was something in the way. "Huh...it's not opening. There must be rubble in the way. Try the other door," He nodded at Kendra.

Kendra nodded and took a deep breath. "Here goes nothing," she said. She pushed against the door. After a pause in which the door seemed stuck, she decided to try and pull it, instead.

The door flew open, and a cascade of dust fell from the doorframe. Sylas frowned and peered at the black hole that opened up before them. "I think...look, there's light up ahead," He pointed. He wandered inside, and made it to the light within a few seconds. "I think we're good!" He called back. "It's just a torch!"

"No dangerous monsters yet, then?" L'arc called to Sylas, wandering in after him. He studied the torch a moment, then said, "Let's take it. It'll help us see further in."

With that, he lifted the torch off the wall.

And the ground slipped out from beneath him.

WIth a shocked scream, the forest king fell into darkness.