Past, Present, Future [Vyra!]

[DaGlobster]

Kruz'Iik closed off his senses, allowing his intellect to flow away from him for a few brief moments. This place, the sheer potential was intoxicating. Kruz'Iik stood in a single great chamber, carved into a hollowed out hill in Serendipity's highlands. It served as a reminder that races incomprehensibly old once walked this earth, and it came with a certain degree of pride that Kruz'Iik could say his people had outlasted them all.

Kruz'Iik's tall, shadowed figure stood in the center of it all, the entire ruin comprised of a single massive chamber, walls lined from floor to roof with carvings that not even Kruz'Iik comprehended. Beings of pure intellect, any Mindshifter would drool at this place. So much to learn, so much to incorporate. The stones themselves, he could feel the memories dripping off of them, the history of an entire people.

Suddenly, he sensed another mind, but it wasn't like any other. Like a ghost, he slipped his physical trappings, dispersing his intelligence over the entire room so he could observe who was entering. To anyone coming in, the air in the room would feel sharp, like it was slightly charged.

[Vyraena]

Vyraena entered the ruins and stood in the doorway of the massive chamber, staring at the vast expanse of knowledge that was in front of her. An orb of white light floated above her right shoulder, illuminating the ancient carvings on the wall. Barely able to contain her excitement, she ventured into the chamber.

Upon entering the chamber, Vyraena examined the carvings carefully. After determining there was no way to decode this ancient language on her own, she searched the room for anything that might aid her. She began picking up the magic tomes lying around the room, hoping one of them would have some kind of key... some way to translate this language into one she knew.

She sat down and began looking through the tomes she gathered, clearing her mind and suppressing her excitement. That's when she realized the odd feeling in the air... a kind of tense feeling. She stood up and looked around, but was unable to detect anything out of place.

"Perhaps it's some kind of magic that was used to protect these ruins from intruders," Vyraena spoke aloud to herself. "Or maybe an illusion? Is it possible I'm not alone here?"

[DaGlobster]

"Not alone is correct." came Kruz'Iik's voice, coming from the walls themselves. The ruins shook, an illusion put on by Kruz'Iik to make his sudden presence sound that much more impressive. He could not use his proper form, for if any unawakened race were to look upon the true form of a Mindshifter, they'd no doubt lose their minds trying to comprehend it.

Instead, he went with one of his more commonly used avatars for interactions with the unawakened races; Nothing at all. He'd bend his shape, remain just out of sight inside Vyraena's peripheral vision. Constantly breathing down her neck, but never behind her. Crawling across her skin, but never touching her.

"Who is it that intrudes. Another seeker of knowledge?"

[Vyraena]

Vyraena quickly glanced around the room, trying to see if she could determine a more precise location of this mysterious presence. "I suppose you could call me that," she replied. "You said I'm intruding, as if you're implying these ruins are yours alone. However, I'm going to assume you came here searching for something as well. Perhaps we could be of use to each other."

Vyraena walked back over to the pile of tomes she just gathered and began skimming through the text. "After all, if you found what you were here for, there would be no use talking to me. It would have made more sense to slip out undetected... or am I wrong?"

[DaGlobster]

"I suppose you won't be so easily deterred. I had hoped to have these ruins to myself for at least a few more hours." Kruz'Iik's voice said as it bounded across the room. In front of Vyraena, a being took form. It was a robed figure, but without any features visible behind the hood, just shadow. The sleeves joined together in front of its chest, and the robe reached low enough to slightly drag against the ground.

"I apologize if my form is vague. To gaze upon my true countenance would destroy your mind. Perhaps we can still be of assistance to each other." Kruz'Iik said. His voice didn't come from him, rather appeared directly in Vyraena's mind. It was a gentle sort telepathy, but there was something about it that was incredibly powerful. Kruz'Iik seemed to give off a sort of pressure from his body, as his mind pushed at the barriers of the material world.

[Vyraena]

Vyraena continued to skim through the texts she had collected and never even looked up at the figure that appeared before her. "Allow me to introduce myself, then." Vyraena said. "My name is Vyraena. I collect ancient tomes and artifacts, seeking to apply the knowledge I gain from this to deepen my understanding of magic, as well as the world in general."

At last, Vyraena looked up from her reading and studied the figure that appeared before her. "Interesting. I've been all over the world, and have collected documents from countless cultures... yet, I'm not familiar with anything like you." Vyraena said, calm and collected. She felt the overwhelming power coming from this strange man, if he could even be called that, but did not feel intimidated.

"Who...or what...are you exactly?"

[DaGlobster]

"Many call us Dark Ones, Ilithids, and other names. We are Mindshifters. We are the oldest form of consciousness on this plane, beings of pure intellect. You may call me Kruz'Iik." He said, and approached her, his aura of power dying down so he wouldn't harm her unintentionally. His footsteps seemed to come from everywhere but him. Out from the darkness under the hood, snaked out two ropy, thick tentacles. They extended about halfway down Kruz'Iik's body, probing at the air in front of him.

"Soon, I will finish forming a physical shell, to make interaction between us easier. My kind are named Mindshifters because we have no bodies of our own. In our purest state, when we're living in our cities, we're tall, powerful shadows, but I am different. I am a scout, I have been gathering knowledge of the surface world since before the kingdoms of man. I can adopt many shells." Kruz'Iik explained, the form under the robe growing slightly more defined as his physical shell grew into it.

[Vyraena]

"I see. Well then, Kruz'Iik, it's an honor to meet a being as knowledgeable and ancient as yourself."  Vyraena replied.

She finished looking through the first book she had opened, but was no closer to deciphering this ancient language. She was at a loss for what to do. Normally Vyraena could recognize the root words of some language she knew in the ancient carvings she studied, and form an understanding of the language from that. However, this language was unlike any other she knew. It didn't even vaguely resemble familiar characters or words.

"Can you read these carvings? Even any clues to the structure of the language would help, if you have found any."

[DaGlobster]

(Funny enough, I'm using Kruz'Iik's orignal form as a sort of avatar for him. I really liked it, but the admins said I couldn't use it as his original form since the Ilithids from DnD were too similar. Don't tell Rhi-Rhi!)

Kruz'Iik turned to the wall, the sleeves of the robe parting as a rubbery, clawed hand that looked like it'd belong to some sort of cave-dwelling cephalopod. He extended one of his fingers, pointing to the convoluted and incredibly complex wall carvings.

"They have no familiar language markers because they were not placed here by men, nor any mammals. With your limited perceptions, you could never hope to understand these carvings, because they weren't meant for creatures with only two eyes." Kruz'Iik explained.

[Vyraena]

Vyraena closed the text she had just opened and looked around the room. If what Kruz'Iik had said was true, then there was no hope for her to decode the mysterious writing around the chamber. If that was the case, she had come here for nothing. She was surrounded by knowledge that had been untapped, and would remain that way. The thought of that made her sick to her stomach.

"It sounds as if you're saying that you can decode this writing, even if it's impossible for humans. How about an exchange? Everything you can figure out about these ruins, you tell me. In return, I'll share any knowledge I have that you would like to know."

[DaGlobster]

"An interesting proposition." Kruz'Iik said, reaching up to pull back his hood, revealing a peculiar countenance. He had a face like an blue-skinned octopus mounted onto a matching body, with deep, void-like eyes that seemed to encompass everything within them. Veiling his lamprey-like mouth, a tangle of short, six inch long tentacles writhed around with curious movement.

(here's a link to a picture: http://www.canonfire.com/wiki/images/9/96/Ulitharid01.jpg )

"What knowledge could you hold that's worthy of deciphering the entire works of a civilization?"

[Vyraena]

Vyraena paused for a second, contemplating the question in her mind. That's right... he's about to help me figure out the secrets of an entire culture. What could I possibly have that's worth that much? She thought it over for a few minutes while silence fell over the room. At last, she spoke.

"I have gathered countless tomes and artifacts from all over the world. Ancient tomes describing long forgotten magics, artifacts used by Archmages to conjure powerful spells or those used by Mordecai to negate them... even folk tales and history books. Through all of them, I have never seen a magic like the one I use. Would that be of interest to you?"

She did not know if this would work, but what else could she offer a being as ancient as this, who had been there for the rise and fall of the cultures she had studied.

[DaGlobster]

"A completely undiscovered kind of magic? You have my curiosity. I will help you." Kruz'Iik said, turning around to look at the carvings. He was looking for the beginning. After a minute of looking around, he nodded, as if comprehending something. He slowly walked to the center of the room, slowly looking around in a circle.

"They were not men at all they were...insects. They were named...Formians..." Kruz'Iik said, and motioned for Vyraena to join him in the center of the room.

[Vyraena]

Vyraena moved towards the center of the room, eager to learn more about this race she had never heard of. She had so many questions, but decided to start with the big one. "Formians? Insects? How did a race of insects create something like these ruins, and the texts inside them?"

[DaGlobster]

"Well, it's quite simple. They carved them. The nature of their being is why you cannot read their language, nor ever hope to. You see, insects see the world much differently than all others. Their eyes are drastically different, and they see just as much through scent and touch than through sight. The carvings must not just be seen, they must be felt, smelled. Experienced." Kruz'Iik experienced, motioning to the chamber as a whole.

[Vyraena]

"I see." Vyraena said, as she began to understand how drastically different this culture was from any others she knew. She was fascinated by the Mindshifter and the ruins at the same time. In all honesty, she couldn't decide which one she wanted to understand more. She decided, for now, to stick with the reason she came there in the first place. So many questions raced through her head. Unable to contain her excitement, she began blurting them out.

"What would a structure like this be used for? Are there more like this? There are carvings on the walls, as well as tomes full of them, but what do they say?"

[DaGlobster]

"Be silent, child." Kruz'Iik said, and narrowed his eyes, looking at the stones. "They came from another world...from the stars. They came in a great ball of fire, and came to rest here." He said, and looked at the ground, and then at the curvature of the roof. "This building, it's not a building. It's the vessel they arrived in."

[Vyraena]

Vyraena calmed herself so as not to overwhelm the Mindshifter with questions. "Why leave their world to come here? And why here specifically, in this region?"

[DaGlobster]

"They were refugees, according to this. They were fleeing some great darkness. They did not intend to land here, their arrival was an accidental one." He answered.

[Vyraena]

"And once they got here?" Vyraena replied, eager to find out more about the captivating tale Kruz'Iik was weaving from the remnants of the lost race.