A Wacky Read

The dark and forgotten catacombs under the castle were as dead and rotten as it was the king, after he was separated from his head.
As the heavy stone entrance was put aside, a fading light conquered the black halls and dusty stones. The light got closer and flickered in a red torch-like fashion. With it, the voices of the adventurers lightened up the place.

"More rooms, nothing but more secrets", an old, sick and penetrating voice complained angrily.

A young and bolt voice followed, "Agreed. Castles like this are used to have catacombs, but this is ridiculous. There's like an endless number of rooms down here."

They both passed the entrance and lay their eyes upon the everlasting darkness before them. The young was a tall Lizard with grey-green skin and bright orange adornments around his neck, throat and eyes, that went by the name of Hati.

After him was the old Doctor Kältezorn that was easily twice is age. Once he was Human but for the last year he put up with a fiery curse that consumed his body. He didn't carry a torch, he was the torch. Merely a skeleton was granted to him, submerged by a body of flames. Out of shame he tried to cover it up with a wide tunic made from non-flammable tissue.
The light his skull emitted was surely enough to show them the path.

"That's an overstatement, but I get the idea." The third voice that echoed through the stones was smooth, deep and charming all over. It was Rex's, a blue coloured Lizard that had adornments of lighter shades of blue at the typical spots, the snout, throat, eyes and down his neck. While Hati was wearing only khaki shorts and a bunch of leather belts and bags, Rex was dressed mostly in black leather. His skin-tight black leather pants and his blue pinstripe vest were covered by a wide black leather coat, that almost scraped the floor and not only had a wide collar but also a hood hanging down the back.
Other than his companions, Rex didn't rely on light to pierce the darkness. His enchanted eyes glowed from a magic beyond the comprehension of his adventurous group.

"Let the walking torch go first, we need some light in there", Krator joked, who saw himself as the muscle of the enterprise. His young and strong voice was only a taste of his strength and fitness. Krator, also a tall Lizard, was titled Highpriest and Templar. With his bright orange skin, his big red eyes, his wings, according chest muscles and a long, wide yet flat horn on his head, Krator was quite the sight to behold. Since his wings occupied his back, he only wore his Templar gear, a fancy loincloth made from noble red fabric and adorned with gold around the frame. Golden runes in the middle of the long tissue that hang between his muscular legs told of the Three Temples he served and protected. The only other thing he carried with himself was his two golden gauntlets, that were adorned with runic carvings. Those metal fists were his weapons he used to bring justice to everyone asking for it. And he urged to use them again soon.

"Yes", the old skeleton-man cynically replied ,"Let the immortal trigger the traps."

Highpriest Krator smiled with his wide frog-like mouth, "I knew you would understand." He had no snout like the other, raptor-looking Lizards of his group, because he was of another gender. His face was flat without any visible nose. His two big eyes sat at the side of his skull and the wide flat mouth directly underneath. His flat skull peaked in his hollow horn, that looked more like a finn used for swimming. Looked closely enough one could spot his nostrils in its sides.

Eventually the walking torch made way and they covered some distance through the maze of dark stone. The ceiling was quite high and not visible in the flickering fire. Maybe, Hati thought, it was simply too dark to see.

When the rest of the enterprise followed, the mood dropped sensibly.

"Pretty dark if you ask me", the weird voice of their blacksmith stated.

Hati turned shortly, "You might want to take off your glasses."

"Oh, yeah", Rook pulled down his thick tinted glasses, "That's better", before he looked around once more. "Pretty empty if you ask me."

"No one did!", Morty yelled. Rook had a tendency to rid him of his patience rather quickly.

Rook was not a fighter and not much of an adventurer. He was an inventor and blacksmith, a chemist and an insane, mental sociopath. He liked to dress in style, a white shirt, that arms he pulled up to his elbows, a purple vest with pinstripes, similar to Rex's, and purple shorts to go with it.
But not only cloth-wise he caught a viewers attention. Rook was a hybrid, a bastard of the Lizard-People and a mysterious race from giant birds. He had leathery skin that was coloured in a bright and eye-cancering shade of blue, but he had a yellow beak and a few red feathers on peculiar spots to go along with it. Most of his visible feathers were on his head, where they created a foot wide fan down his neck, like a Mohawk. Like his lizardy companions, Rook had a tail too that wiggled after his steps, but his had a feathery fan on its tip.

After a minute or so, they had crossed the first corridors and ended up in a wide hall that was mostly blank, dusty and empty.

"Nothing else here but this", Hati was looking for the right word, "Ring? That's not of the Dark Gods, is it?"

For them to behold and in the middle of the hall, there was a wide metal ring erected right side up at the end of a few steps. It looked like a fancy gate that didn't lead anywhere.
They knew it was very likely to be an artefact of magical nature.

Morty stood in front of the steps and laid his bony finger on his bony chin, "It shows none of the characteristics. It looks nothing like the usual artefacts."

Many of the Dark Gods relics were grotesque in their appearance, relics that the adventurers hunted for a matter of life and death. But this ring was plain, it was boring to look at and didn't fit into the style of the Gods of Spiders, Flesh or Fire, who ruled their world.

While they beheld the room and the ring, Rex took a good look around himself. His enchanted eyes should reveal any kind of magic to him, but,

"There's no magic in this place."

"And no traps", the Highpriest added while he stood by the door with his muscular arms crossed.

Finally the last two of the enterprise caught up and came into the hall. The cursed son of Doctor Kältezorn, Knom Kältezorn, and a little wood elf that stuck around, named Elisa.

Knom was a young man that didn't age anymore since he was twelve, caused by an early death and his fathers attempt to resurrect his body. While much of his flesh was replaced by artificial parts and experimental contraptions, he also lost most of his emotions and humanity. Nowadays he is mostly described as efficient and calm, but also random and evil.

He mostly wore the same clothes, at least since the adventurers got to meet him. His thick rimmed and tinted glasses were always covering his dead eyes. They were strapped to his hairless skull via leather straps and pretty much pinned onto him. The rest of his face was covered by a dark leather mask that had a nod in the center, containing some air filters. The gasmask was strapped onto him as well and couldn't be removed easily.
He was a shirtless pale figure. Merely his grey-green pants covered his grace. His tools of trade were his golden gauntlets and steel plated boots that were adorned by carvings similar to the plating of the Highpriest. Nobody knew where he got those from really, but no one dared asking.

The small thing-man looked up to the tall Highpriest and nodded. He could sense that there were no traps nearby. His inhuman body allowed him to feel vibrations, a Human could never notice. Only those senses allowed him to orientate himself also, since his eyes were almost blind.

Elisa was seen as the weakest link and had to come in last when it was sure that all was safe. The little girl had lost her parents in the war and grew up in the streets and woods of the harsh lands, surviving by stealing and lying.

"Why's that not making me feel better?", she asked her group. No traps, that’s fine, but she knew something was off. It always is.
The half-elf was little, even though she was older than Knom when he died, he was still taller than her. The pale skin and her long pointy ears that she could rotate into the wind, she got from her mother’s side. Her black hair and her stumpy nose she got from her father’s side. Her fierce attitude was a combined contribution.

Her mess of hair was a long carpet that hang down her back and into her face, covering most of her red shaded leather jacket and her black shirt underneath. Her skin tight black leather pants were stuck into her knee-high leather boots that tried to make her look taller with their high-heels but didn't help much.

As so often she had her hands resting on her two dagger pommels, that she had strapped onto the outside of her legs. One of the daggers was fancy, made from jade and gold. The other was rusty, from leather and blue steel. She didn't pay for either of them.

Hati was sure, "It's a storage. Even the King didn't know what to do with it." He got excited over the discovery, his eyes widened, "I can't believe it, we found something completely new."

After a second of silence, Morty the flaming skeleton spoke out, "I want to run it."

Immediately Rook joined in, "I'm game!"

"You guys are insane." Hati shook his head in disbelief. But he should know better by now.

"I get that a lot", Rook nodded soberly.

By that chance, Rex climbed the steps and had a closer look at the flat ring and it's subtle adornments. Hardly visible in the flickering light, but more so in the mages gaze, the wall-less gate was wearing carvings of runes. Runes that were out of this world. "I never saw these runes before", the blue skinned mage admitted. "Wait, this one, I know this one."

Hati joined him by the steps and Rex sat down, so they could look each other in the eyes. "What is it?"

"It's not a rune, it's a constellation", Rex explained but his green friend didn't understand. He rolled his eyes and sighed, "Stars."

Rook was already up and about to take the artefact apart and put it back together again. He managed to find a latch in the back of the stone steps and tried to figure out what magic lay beyond it. "I need a power source", he ordered.

Interested the old skeleton came over to take a peek, "What did you find?"

Together they looked at the mysterious mechanic beyond the stone steps and Rook explained, "There's some system of crystals and gems." Many crystals and many gems were crowded together into some transparent frame. It looked very much like some sort of system behind it but no one but Rook was able to understand it.

Rex looked over their shoulders as well. "Pretty", slipped over his lips, as he was amazed by everything shiny and rich of gems. His infamous title King of Thieves had to come from somewhere.

Rook looked up to Rex, who sat on the steps, "My head tells me that it needs zapp-power."

"Electricity?", Morty clarified.

Rex smiled and was happy to help, as long as it benefitted him. He freed his spellbook from his wide coat, it was held in a blue leather holster and some blue belt around his hips. He browsed through it for a bit before he stopped at a particular page and smiled.

When his magic ignited, the page before him started to glow in an unnatural shade of blue and green, a cyan shine that Rex had made his own. His three fingered dragon claw reached into the light and when it retreated beyond the rift, it held an artefact the others usually described as a Bug in a Tube. The cylindrical canister was sealed by two wide golden screws that were adorned and pierced by nails and a single ring on each side. Beyond the glass floated a thick, black bug as big as a fist in a mysterious fluid. "That should do the trick." He handed the glowing artefact to the half-bird wacko.

The wacko nodded as a thought struck his brain, "Don't touch the ends, I remember that one."

A devilish smile snuck itself onto Rex's face, "Oh, so you remember, that's nice."

"Hahaha! Can't trick me twice, bud'."

"I'll keep that in mind."

After the shared and at least half honest laugh, the sparsely feathered Lizard pushed the Powerbug into the system of crystals and gems, glass and shine. Only a moment later the lights started to ignite, the glass shone in a white shimmer and the gems started to buzz with a noisy chime.
The big ring revealed itself to be of multiple parts, as an inner circle began to rotate. The constellational runes Rex described as stars had a run around the cycle, just before it stopped and another light appeared on the rings cenith.
Another part moved off the ring and flipped downwards with a loud clunky stomp. The red light disappeared again and the cycle started anew.

"Guys, it's moving", Hati beheld in awe.

The old Mortanius could only cross his arms and wait, "Master of the obvious."

The little wood-elve Elisa grabbed onto the strong arm of the Highpriest, who swore to protect her with his life. "I got a bad feeling 'bout this."

"You kidding?", he smiled, "This is thrilling."

The inner ring shortly stopped and another angled metal piece on the side made its noisy move. The first light of the first angle stayed on as the ring ran on.

"Wow!", Hati yelled, "Guys, is it supposed to do that?"

Rook shrugged as they stood in front of the steps and beheld the show, "I hope so."

The runes made their moves and when it stopped again, another shape bit the metal, another red light appeared and stayed.
Hati got very excited, "It did it again, did you see that?" This was some discovery! What it was, no one knew, but it was something! He hoped the others saw it the same way.

Krator wiggled his heavy arm and smiled down to his elf, "Exciting, don't you agree?"

"How often will it do that?"

It happened a third time and a third light stayed on before the ring ran on.

"Counting these lights", Rex calmly stated, "I would say, nine times."

When the gate reached its seventh light, lightnings started to strike and crawl up and down the rings. But also it seemed to reach its limits.
Krator noticed, "It's slowing down."

"We need more energy!" Rook yelled and waved his hands, "More bugs!"

Rex grabbed his blue spellbook and handed him more bugs. He pushed them into the crystal pile as he reached them over until it was a pile of plenty that shone and glowed with an dangerous magic aura.

More lightning reached out for the rings. A stable flow was installed and the bows of unholy light moved less and less. Like in a frame of spikes the rings were embraced and the cycle went on and on.

The Lizards stood beyond the steps and in the cold light of the flickering power surges. Hati had his arms casually crossed, this wasn't the weirdest thing he's seen, as exciting as the discovery was.

He bend over to Rex next to him, "What you thinkin'?"

"It's not magic." Rex had something on his mind, as usual. And as usual only Hati was there to ask what it was. "Whatever it is, it's more advanced than anything else on this planet."

"You say, it's a machine?", the green one raised one of his thick, scaley brows.

But Rex shook his head ever so slightly, "Impossible, I know."

"There!", Rook yelled, "The nine-eseth lock!"

The final shape glowed on the cenith of the ring and with it, the lightning bows came together for a final flash. When they transformed into invisible power, they started a reaction within the rings.

A magical blue light emerged from the edges and filled up the ring until it reached the center, where it collapsed into a fountain of magical shining water, piercing the hall.

For a moment it stayed there, raging a storm of light and water, a vortex bound by the metal rings. But before the adventurers could react to it, the fountain retreated.

The four Lizards, the burning skeleton, the undead son and the little rebellion elf beheld the tender waves of the magical rings. It looked like it was filled by water, but it was a wall, which was weird and magic. The light illuminated the hall, even the flames of the Doctor went dark in comparison.

Eager to find out what magic this was, the Highpriest took a step forward and reached out his armored hand. For a second he gazed at the water until Rex asked disappointed, "What are you doing?"

"It may sound weird, but that's not water. I have no connection to it." As a Highpriest it was Krator’s duty to bring balance to nature. Making use of the elements is one of the basics of his sorcery. If it would have been water, the Templar would have had command over it.

"What made you doubt it?", the dark dressed mage teased him, "Maybe the glowing or its revolting manner against the law of gravity?"

Krator shrank his eyes when he threw him an evil gaze, "You should go first, because you know everything."

"I think it's pretty, it's sparkling." Elisa dared to smile, "Does this make me a girl now?"

"Oh yes, totally girly of you", Hati said in an ironic tone and smiled.

To their surprise, Morty walked determined through the watery wall and disappeared.

Everyone was stunned. Well, some more than others. Hati was the first to talk, "What the-", but couldn't finish his sentence.

At once Rook charged after the undead Doctor, "Wait for me!", and was lost in the mysterious gateway.

"NOO!", Hati yelled. "What the hell?!" But all his waving couldn't bring them back.

Master of his emotions, and mostly quite reserved anyway, Rex thought of a solution before he acted. He stuck his hand into one of his blue pages and pulled a fat, black bug from its light. Since the creature was his creation, born from his mind, he had a connection to it and was able to see through its eyes. So when he threw the fist sized insect into the water, he was able to tell if it died or not.

"Look", he turned to Hati, "It's safe."

Even Krator got closer and reached his hand through to the other side. "It's cold." He turned to Hati as well, "I say we go."

The young secret leader of the adventurers threw his arms into the air from frustration, "Because what's the worst that could happen, right? Am I the only sane in here?"

"Wherever they are, they can't come back." Hati knew that Krator was right about that. "They need our help", the Highpriest added.

With a confident smile, Elisa took his golden armored hand and dragged him through the gate. There was no returning now.

Rex stood by the water and reached out his hand to his friend. "Take my hand, dear", he smiled heartly.

Only after a frustrated sigh he took it, grabbed Knom's hand as well, and went after his insane group.

Once they were all gone and left the darkness of the catacombs, the water vanished and the rings died of all magical life they had. The glow ended and the Powerbugs collapsed into sparkly dust that dissolved into thin air and the sand of the grounds.
It was all left behind as it was before, as it was discovered. But the cursed adventurers were misplaced.