Carelessly Creeping

"You know you're really eating a lot of those crystal things?"

Hugo reared his large reptilian head and looked me in the eyes and grunted before dropping his large head back onto the silver platter.

"Hey, don't give me that look! You're just mad cause it's true."

Maybe hanging out with Hugo for this long is driving me crazy, I should get up and do something till I'm ready to go back and speak with Brim Stone.

I got up from my comfortable position on a barrel placed near Hugo's platter and started looking around. Most of the storage facility was filled to the brim with all sorts of things. Ranging from pieces of art to broken telescopes and notebooks. Almost all of it was covered in dirt or dust, for such a rich family they didn't seem really good at keeping things clean.

I made it halfway through the room before I noticed something, it was disturbingly quiet with just the faintest sounds. The distant munching of crystals and the very faint creaking of wood.

I looked up, there was a second floor but with no obvious way up. Something or someone was moving around up there. Whatever it is it's causing my ring finger to itch.

"This curiosity is going to get me killed one day."

I traveled to the other side of the room to see if there was a way up and to my surprise I found something funny. If you're going to have a secret way up to the second floor at least do a good job. Cause seeing a ladder hidden under some cloth and tucked in the corner is a stupid way to secure a second floor.

"Whoever the head of security is they're doing a spectacular job."

I grabbed the ladder and took off the large blanket of cloth. I set up the ladder and climbed up to a small, not very well hidden hatch, by the stone wall I was nearest too. I pushed the hatch open quietly making sure to not make much sound. I pulled myself up and left the hatch open.

After pushing myself up off the ground I decided to try and listen for the sound of creaking wood that wasn't from me. There was nothing, the only wood creaking I could hear was when I shifted my weight. I let out a sigh and looked around the only thing in the hatch room was a door that was already wide open.

I pushed the door open the rest of the way, the squeaking of its rusted hinges echoing throughout the upstairs area. I now found myself in a hallway. The hallway's wall were decorated in pictures and notes many of which were unintelligible. Crates of tightly bound parchment and sheets of paper laid haphazardly on the floor.

Hey...this reminds me of Mchawi's hut. I wonder how she's doing. While looking down at the mess I noticed something odd. This was recently disturbed there are marks in the dust. So something is up here, I looked down the hallway to notice three open doors.

"Well...shit."

I walked back to the hatch and closed it and put a box of books on top of it. If whatever is up here intends to leave it isn't going down the hatch. Once I left the hatch room I heard something down the hallway and turned towards it. The door at the farthest end of the hallway was moved slightly.

"Huh...yeah...no I'm good."

I'll check the room on the right first mainly because I'm curious and I'm just a tad bit scared. I pulled the door open and a cloud of dust hit me right in the face causing me to start coughing.

"Damn...ugh...gross."

There wasn't much light only some light shining through a hole in the roof. Which I can only assume came from the roof caving in overtime. In the light, something caught my eye, a picture of my ring. It was roughly drawn and must have been drawn some time ago.

I walked over to the desk and looked at the drawing. There wasn't just one drawing upon further observation there seemed to be many drawings each very similar to the ring but not exactly correct. There also seemed to be many opened books and marked pages.

On the wall closest to the desk, I could see a list of locations many of which had a corresponding mark next to it. I picked up a book that was left open on the desk and went under the light to read it.

Our king once noble and kind has been corrupted by the hate of the undying.
Once upon his head sat our glorious holy crest now sits a ruby red message of death.
Once a part of sol he was our brother of old, now he's nightmare's heir.

The rest of the page seems to descend into gibberish. Amongst the gibberish and unknown terms, there were four underlined and marked phrases.

The Ring of Knowledge.

The Amulet of Power.

The Pale Crown.

Three artifacts that together could change reality.

I don't know what any of that means but upon reading about the amulet and crown the ring on my hand as pulsed. For a brief moment after the pulse, I considered scouring through the books for information. The thought and the want seemed alien in nature.

I decided it might be best if I left the room for now and I explore the rest of the upstairs. I peeked my head out into the hallway and I saw nothing out of the ordinary. I stepped out in the hallway and continued further down it until I reached the door on the end which was teetering ever so slightly to the left and right.

Taking a breath I peeked in the crack of the door to see nothing but darkness. I grabbed the door and opened it slowly. I went and grabbed some books from the hallway to keep the door open.

Then I walked into the room and from what I could make out in the darkness there were display cases but I couldn't see what was in them. I was stressing my eyes trying to see in the darkness, it's frustrating. I ended up cutting my finger on a piece of glass as I skimmed over one of the cases.

"Fuck it."

Seemingly in response to my outburst, the ring on my hand released a small burst of red light which steadily decreased to a small red glow.

"Jesus Christ, I swear you're going to give me a heart attack.......I'm talking to a ring...I'm going crazy."

The red glow from the light provided me with enough light to see some of the environment around me. When I assumed these things were display cases I was right. The glass was old and stained with dirt and dust but I could still make out the items in some of them.

Many of the items looked occult in nature or just old and broken. Or maybe that's how they're supposed to look, I don't know. Once I reached the other side of the room, which was difficult because of the pieces of broken wood and trash that decorated the floor, I stumbled upon something very disturbing.

It was the final display case in the line of display cases in the room but to call it a display case would be a joke. The case in question was not made of wood and glass like the other display cases this case was made of stone and thick metal. In the middle of the case was a small glass circle. A large iron padlock with thick chains laid broken and dangling off the side of the display case.

Inside this safe like display case was a pony mannequin head. With displaced dust and marks around its neck. This was recent to if I'm right. Though that makes this a bit scarier then I thought originally because whoever broke into it did it by melting the metal and burning the stone.

I think I've been curious enough, I'm leaving. I turned to the exit of the room and walked out while shivers went up and down my spine. I close the door behind me and the door to the room I entered earlier. I arrived back at the hatch door but before I could enter I heard something.

It was so quiet you wouldn't hear it unless you were attentive and listening carefully. It was the subtle shifting of weight on wood and the gentle inhale and exhale of someone breathing. I know it isn't me but I can't pinpoint where it's coming from.

I turned to the right if the hallway to see railing to the lower layer of the building and I turned to the left to see the three closed doors, two of which I entered. Then all the sounds became silent again and I had a hunch.

I looked up.

Right above me on the ceiling was one of the bat ponies I had encountered earlier albeit Its color scheme was not the same. We looked at each other and our eyes met. It's large crimson eyes conveyed instantly that this pony thing was a desperate one. In just a few seconds the bat pony spread its bat-like wings and flew through the air and over the railing.

"W-what?"

Author's Note

Been busy

Thanks for reading.

If you see any errors please tell me. I did the read over real lately.

Have a fantastic day!