An ancient civilization, the first to discover the powers of magic, proudly stood for a millennium, until all members of the civilization mysteriously vanished. The buildings still stand, the forest surrounding the buildings reclaiming the land. No one knows the reason, and everyone fears that they never will. Centuries later, a group of archeologists discovered the ruins, and they set up a large camp nearby. They found vast treasures, and they became a rich camp.
Before long, travelers came onto their camp, and found more treasures in the ruins. They all ended up staying in the camp, each financially set for life. Soon, the camp became a settlement, and before long, it was a town, the town of Shayle. The ruins were then reclaimed, but the town no longer needed them, as it was then one of the largest and most prosperous cities on the continent.
The buildings were large, and each crafted of stone. They had some of the largest stores in the area, one of the longest royal lines, and possibly the most extensive library in the world. Some of the worlds most powerful sorcerers would flock to the library to research the most ancient texts and valuable scrolls in the world, each containing infinite wisdom and vast resources.
---
Aaron had his nose shoved in a book, the text of said book very fine and curvy. His deep blue and green eyes had an issue focusing in on the letters, straining to read it. His hair wasn't neat, for he would fiddle with whatever strands were nearby to relieve the tension. His skin was clean, having just washed himself this morning after going for a whole week without bathing or being in a town, the slightly tanned skin only broken by the many runes that decorated his arms, hands, neck, back, and forehead. His clothing had maintained a very clean condition since its wash last night. His black jacket remained pristine, the white strips forming an X on the front not even smudged. The leather straps that started at his shoulders and connected on a metal ring in the back of his jacket were still clean, even after a night without a wash. With Aaron, this was a big feat. His jeans however, were not so lucky. Any ink from the old books covers or backs collected along his finger tips, and he smeared them into his jeans. It barely even left streaks after being worked in, but Aaron didn't concern himself with that, after all, he would was hit out in a week, maybe even tonight if he stayed here longer. His shoes weren't dirtied, for it had been a day since they had last seen a dirt trail.
His metal staff was not nearly as clean as anything else. It was abused, because it was never to be washed, for fear that the special runes on it would wash off. The staff was a magical one, allowing him to focus his powers, and increase his magic, due to the runes and the opal inside the core of the staff. The metal was also a special one, only mined in the caves around his hometown. The metal was rare, but almost impractical. It was very hard to smelt, reshape, or build with, leaving only specially trained craftsman to work it, but with every sale, it made them considerably richer.
Aaron had heard that there was an item around this area of the world that held a genie, and would grant the holder of the object one wish. That was all Aaron wanted, so he was staying in this huge town for the simple purpose of its location and extensive library. Aaron slammed the large tome, and he sighed. "Not a thing in there about this artifact," Aaron said. His hopes were slowly fading away with every wasted minute, but he could waste a whole lot in this room, because he didn't mind reading or researching one bit. Aaron didn't care that all the information he had found could be written on his palm, or that the books he had read would need to be carried by at least four men to move anywhere, but at least he had that information.
Aaron slid the old, leather-bound book next to a stack of other read books. Aaron reached over to the small pile of unread books, pulled one over, and opened the cover. The binding cracked with age, and the parchment looked stale and fragile. Aaron turned the pages delicately, and browsed the table of contents. He spied something about the old civilization that had once formed here, so Aaron flipped to the section of pages pertaining to that. As he skimmed to the end, a sentence caught his eye.
Upon further investigation of the runes, we found them to be a society inclined to magic, and the artifacts that harnessed these powers.
Aaron looked closer at the book, and re-read the sentence to make sure he didn't read it wrong. Aaron kept on reading, his hopes rising.
The artifacts located in the ruins were very interesting, but one of the walls translated meanings caught our attention. It read: Thy lamp of magic, to grant thou a wish, lie ahead but a chamber. If thou doth seek thy magic lamp, then though may rejoice. We were thrilled, and proceeded into the next
Aaron turned the page, but only found a new chapter. There was no writing on the back, as the inks would have blended together back when this book was written, nearly three hundred years ago. Aaron flipped between the two pages, and noticed that a bundle were missing, indicated by the tear marks along the inside of the spine. Aaron sighed, and read back to find the approximate location, and wrote that down on the palm of his hand, the flipside of the runes. Aaron slid that book back into position, and pulled up another book. Much like the last one, it cracked as it opened, and the parchment looked even more frail than the last.
Aaron had barely turned to the table of contents when the doors of the library swung open with a loud crash. A man, looking rather old and derranged was standing in the doorway. His clothes were tattered, and looked almost one hundred or more years old. He opened his mouth, and began to yell and shout. "I know! I know the location! I've seen it! I've seen it!" Aaron turned towards him, and saw a fistful of papers clutched in his hands. "It's in the ruins to the southwest! I've seen! I've seen!" A team of two guards came in the room, grabbing the shouting man aronud his arms. His hands opened wide, dropping the papers to the floor.
"Come with us, sir," One of the guards demanded.
"I've seen! I've seen!" The man kept shouting as he was taken away. As the doors shut behind them, Aaron wandered up to the fallen papers. One was a map, a map of the surrounding area, with the nearby forest marked. And arrow was pointing to it, labeled "Artifact!" In big, bright letters. Aaron took a mentla snapshot of the map, silently rejoicing in his head. He dropped the papers on the floor in a rush, and left quickly.
---
Aaron was sidestepping the trees and branches as he wlaked through the hot, muggy forest. The area was thick with trees and hamrless wildlife, but it was still hard to get through. Aaron found himself navigating through briars, squeezing between near walls of trees, and sweating bullets. Soon, the trees broke into a clearing with a large, vine-covered temple. The vines had grown everywhere, crawling through the cracks, covering the entrance until it was barely visible, covering every oraface, and connecting at the top, where a tree had started to grow.
Aaron walked up to it, and touched the warm stone structure. His hands traced over the visible sections, his eyes softening. "I've found it..." He said out loud, to no one in particular. "I'm so close to the artifact..." Tears formed in his eyes, and he whiped them out. He strode up to the enterance, and found the vines to be thick and heavy. He took a couple steps back, and flicked out his left hand.
"Fire Rune. Flaming Arrows." He said flatly. The runes on the back of his left hand glowed, and a small plume of flame jetted up from the ground, burning the vines. They burned up a ways, just far enough for Aaron to comfortably walk through. "I'm going to get my wish!" He said loudly. He peered in, and found a tunnel and large room lit by the sunlight on the outside. He strained his eyes to see, but figured he'd be okay once he got in. Aaron took a few strides in, keeping his hand close to the wall, until he found the large room.
He groped around on the wall and found a torch. "Fire Rune. Flamin Arrows." A very small plume shot up on the torch, which was next to a small trail of oil. It circled around the room, lighting various torches on it's way. Soon, the room was lit up, and a giant chamber was revealed. The vines were wtill growing inwards, growing over a large door with engravings decorating its surface. The door was large and magnificent, with numerous signs of degredation showing, but no holes where visible, meaning now vines, no air was getting through that door. Aaron stood, the only sound was that of the flames and his deep, awestruck breath.
Before long, travelers came onto their camp, and found more treasures in the ruins. They all ended up staying in the camp, each financially set for life. Soon, the camp became a settlement, and before long, it was a town, the town of Shayle. The ruins were then reclaimed, but the town no longer needed them, as it was then one of the largest and most prosperous cities on the continent.
The buildings were large, and each crafted of stone. They had some of the largest stores in the area, one of the longest royal lines, and possibly the most extensive library in the world. Some of the worlds most powerful sorcerers would flock to the library to research the most ancient texts and valuable scrolls in the world, each containing infinite wisdom and vast resources.
---
Aaron had his nose shoved in a book, the text of said book very fine and curvy. His deep blue and green eyes had an issue focusing in on the letters, straining to read it. His hair wasn't neat, for he would fiddle with whatever strands were nearby to relieve the tension. His skin was clean, having just washed himself this morning after going for a whole week without bathing or being in a town, the slightly tanned skin only broken by the many runes that decorated his arms, hands, neck, back, and forehead. His clothing had maintained a very clean condition since its wash last night. His black jacket remained pristine, the white strips forming an X on the front not even smudged. The leather straps that started at his shoulders and connected on a metal ring in the back of his jacket were still clean, even after a night without a wash. With Aaron, this was a big feat. His jeans however, were not so lucky. Any ink from the old books covers or backs collected along his finger tips, and he smeared them into his jeans. It barely even left streaks after being worked in, but Aaron didn't concern himself with that, after all, he would was hit out in a week, maybe even tonight if he stayed here longer. His shoes weren't dirtied, for it had been a day since they had last seen a dirt trail.
His metal staff was not nearly as clean as anything else. It was abused, because it was never to be washed, for fear that the special runes on it would wash off. The staff was a magical one, allowing him to focus his powers, and increase his magic, due to the runes and the opal inside the core of the staff. The metal was also a special one, only mined in the caves around his hometown. The metal was rare, but almost impractical. It was very hard to smelt, reshape, or build with, leaving only specially trained craftsman to work it, but with every sale, it made them considerably richer.
Aaron had heard that there was an item around this area of the world that held a genie, and would grant the holder of the object one wish. That was all Aaron wanted, so he was staying in this huge town for the simple purpose of its location and extensive library. Aaron slammed the large tome, and he sighed. "Not a thing in there about this artifact," Aaron said. His hopes were slowly fading away with every wasted minute, but he could waste a whole lot in this room, because he didn't mind reading or researching one bit. Aaron didn't care that all the information he had found could be written on his palm, or that the books he had read would need to be carried by at least four men to move anywhere, but at least he had that information.
Aaron slid the old, leather-bound book next to a stack of other read books. Aaron reached over to the small pile of unread books, pulled one over, and opened the cover. The binding cracked with age, and the parchment looked stale and fragile. Aaron turned the pages delicately, and browsed the table of contents. He spied something about the old civilization that had once formed here, so Aaron flipped to the section of pages pertaining to that. As he skimmed to the end, a sentence caught his eye.
Upon further investigation of the runes, we found them to be a society inclined to magic, and the artifacts that harnessed these powers.
Aaron looked closer at the book, and re-read the sentence to make sure he didn't read it wrong. Aaron kept on reading, his hopes rising.
The artifacts located in the ruins were very interesting, but one of the walls translated meanings caught our attention. It read: Thy lamp of magic, to grant thou a wish, lie ahead but a chamber. If thou doth seek thy magic lamp, then though may rejoice. We were thrilled, and proceeded into the next
Aaron turned the page, but only found a new chapter. There was no writing on the back, as the inks would have blended together back when this book was written, nearly three hundred years ago. Aaron flipped between the two pages, and noticed that a bundle were missing, indicated by the tear marks along the inside of the spine. Aaron sighed, and read back to find the approximate location, and wrote that down on the palm of his hand, the flipside of the runes. Aaron slid that book back into position, and pulled up another book. Much like the last one, it cracked as it opened, and the parchment looked even more frail than the last.
Aaron had barely turned to the table of contents when the doors of the library swung open with a loud crash. A man, looking rather old and derranged was standing in the doorway. His clothes were tattered, and looked almost one hundred or more years old. He opened his mouth, and began to yell and shout. "I know! I know the location! I've seen it! I've seen it!" Aaron turned towards him, and saw a fistful of papers clutched in his hands. "It's in the ruins to the southwest! I've seen! I've seen!" A team of two guards came in the room, grabbing the shouting man aronud his arms. His hands opened wide, dropping the papers to the floor.
"Come with us, sir," One of the guards demanded.
"I've seen! I've seen!" The man kept shouting as he was taken away. As the doors shut behind them, Aaron wandered up to the fallen papers. One was a map, a map of the surrounding area, with the nearby forest marked. And arrow was pointing to it, labeled "Artifact!" In big, bright letters. Aaron took a mentla snapshot of the map, silently rejoicing in his head. He dropped the papers on the floor in a rush, and left quickly.
---
Aaron was sidestepping the trees and branches as he wlaked through the hot, muggy forest. The area was thick with trees and hamrless wildlife, but it was still hard to get through. Aaron found himself navigating through briars, squeezing between near walls of trees, and sweating bullets. Soon, the trees broke into a clearing with a large, vine-covered temple. The vines had grown everywhere, crawling through the cracks, covering the entrance until it was barely visible, covering every oraface, and connecting at the top, where a tree had started to grow.
Aaron walked up to it, and touched the warm stone structure. His hands traced over the visible sections, his eyes softening. "I've found it..." He said out loud, to no one in particular. "I'm so close to the artifact..." Tears formed in his eyes, and he whiped them out. He strode up to the enterance, and found the vines to be thick and heavy. He took a couple steps back, and flicked out his left hand.
"Fire Rune. Flaming Arrows." He said flatly. The runes on the back of his left hand glowed, and a small plume of flame jetted up from the ground, burning the vines. They burned up a ways, just far enough for Aaron to comfortably walk through. "I'm going to get my wish!" He said loudly. He peered in, and found a tunnel and large room lit by the sunlight on the outside. He strained his eyes to see, but figured he'd be okay once he got in. Aaron took a few strides in, keeping his hand close to the wall, until he found the large room.
He groped around on the wall and found a torch. "Fire Rune. Flamin Arrows." A very small plume shot up on the torch, which was next to a small trail of oil. It circled around the room, lighting various torches on it's way. Soon, the room was lit up, and a giant chamber was revealed. The vines were wtill growing inwards, growing over a large door with engravings decorating its surface. The door was large and magnificent, with numerous signs of degredation showing, but no holes where visible, meaning now vines, no air was getting through that door. Aaron stood, the only sound was that of the flames and his deep, awestruck breath.
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