Faradeigh was not fond of the temple that they had found themselves within. Despite being dark and deep underground, the entire place was in shambles, as though it would fall to pieces at any moment. Evidently, parts already had. There were collapsed columns, chunks missing from the walls, ceiling, and floor, and there were cobwebs everywhere... the list went on! Ruins were a more apt description than a temple in his opinion.
Beyond the damage it had proven difficult to see very far into the darkness, even with the aid of Bravura's natural light. He wished he could see in the dark as Syrah promised she was able to, though she mentioned that Bravura's light was infringing on that ability. He suspected that light in general restricted her dark abilities, given that they were elemental opposites. Currently, they were in some sort of entry hall. For a temple, it had thus far proven to be built much more like a cathedral.
At that point, Faradeigh was just trying to distract himself. The temple turned out to be much larger than he imagined, seemingly built to rival the castle up above. But if Stella was right about the layout, they would be approaching the equivalent of a throne room soon, the most likely place they would find this Socrariel. Such rooms often served as chapels for favoring the gods, enacting through worship, and spreading the will of the religion. While Faradeigh had read enough to understand the religion of the lands he lived within, he was never much for practicing it, probably due to other priorities, such as survival.
'By the state of things, we're more likely to find Socrariel's corpse than him.' Faradeigh noted to himself.
But as they crawled through the dilapidated temple, he began to feel uneasy. There were human forms laying around, long since burnt to ash. And not a single one was reanimated as a ghoul. Faradeigh felt a chill running up his spine. He was not comfortable with the situation at all. There was so much that he did not know, and even less that he could control. The ghouls alone proved to be a major threat that could be filed under both of those concerns.
"So, nice weather we're having." Cornelius joked, a weak attempt at breaking the tension.
"I swear in the name of Corvin I will hit you with the flat of my blade!" Syrah argued irritably. "Anyway, didn't you say you learned from a dragon below the castle, you know, before killing it?"
"That was a stray dragon that was shot down by our ranks, and kept in the water canals Syrah." Cornelius informed her. "That had absolutely nothing to do with this."
"Still..." Syrah said. "Being able to control dragons on a whim-"
"I have not been able to replicate that since, so drop it!" Cornelius snapped. "However... I suppose it wouldn't hurt to try..."
"Where's the gray in your hair?" Faradeigh asked, noticing a particular lack of detail.
"It is a Dragon Lord's right to slay any dragon he chooses, part of his duty of keeping the balance." Stella answered. "As such, they do not suffer the branding that anyone else would."
Everyone had grown quiet after Stella had spoken that. The four warriors decided to simply investigate the dark temple that they found themselves within. Faradeigh felt uneasy that Cornelius had killed a dragon in cold blood like that... but he forced himself to remember that much of society raised people to hate and fear them. He had forgiven Syrah for wanting to kill Syckle (though was still majorly sore about the topic), so it was only fair that he forgave Cornelius for a past action as well. However, he would not be able to tolerate such a thing happening in front of him.
As they searched, Faradeigh felt an unease the longer they had remained in the depths of the temple. He was sure that they should have found something by that point, but there was no trace of opposition or even the dragon. Eventually, Cornelius felt comfortable enough to bother his sister to the point of anger. Faradeigh shook his head at their antics and decided to remain on task as the Princess had been.
The uneasy feeling continued to grow as the two siblings dove into yet another argument. Cutting them out of his senses, he felt a looming presence... and it felt as though it were coming from within. Yet at the same time, he could tell it was approaching from somewhere in the darkness.
"Knock it off, both of you!" Faradeigh jumped in. "Something doesn't feel right..."
As he said this, Bravura arched his back and raised his ethereal fur, snarling as it pointed its black nose ahead. Faradeigh had never noticed that the wolf's nose and lips were a pitch black before, despite the many times he had seen the thing. Distractions aside, Bravura focused a beam of light ahead to reveal a pair of what were once large and ornate doors. One currently lay flat on the floor while the other was barely attached to the wall, and ajar. They were both corroded with age, proving that the temple they were traversing was very old indeed. "Older than record" seemed to be putting it lightly. The uneasy feeling within Faradeigh only seemed to grow as they approached.
"I feel something in there..." Stella noted, a glow that formed around her hands as she gripped one of her catalysts, offering light. "I can't tell its intent, but it's big, and it's alive."
"Socrariel..." Cornelius muttered. "The dragon oracle. I've heard stories, but thought them all to be fiction."
"And of course you're useless enough to only mention this now." Syrah deadpanned. "Should we announce ourselves?"
"If Socrariel truly is a dragon, then he no doubt already knows we're here." Faradeigh informed them before walking through the doors, Bravura at his side.
"As much as I hate to admit it, he's right." Syrah agreed, knowing what great hunters dragons were supposed to be.
"Are you going to be okay?" Stella asked her friend. "Are you truly able to go through with this?"
"I'll be fine." Syrah sighed. "I'll let you guys do the talking, but don't think I won't be the first to jump in at the first sign of aggression."
"Of course..." Stella spoke sadly before following after Faradeigh.
"I'm the Dragon Lord, it'll be fine." Cornelius assured, guiding his sister after the other two.
Faradeigh was in awe. At the center of the expansive room they were in was a beautiful altar, seemingly untouched by time. Just as in the drawing, the altar was in the center with a mount bearing nothing. Around that mount was the largest moon stone Faradeigh had ever seen, shaped as a crescent moon that fit around the mount. Moonstones that adorned the pillars offered the light that allowed Faradeigh to see it all. Enthralled by the sight, Faradeigh approached it to examine. Bravura's blue tones seemed to brighten as he too stepped upon the altar.
The mount looked as though something were meant to be put within it, like a sword or something similar. If a weapon was indeed kept there, Faradeigh guessed it must have been quite something, especially if it had to be kept so far from prying hands. The journal entry mentioned it to be a key, however. If this was the very same then... where was it?
"It's beautiful." Stella spoke, surprising Faradeigh to the point that he almost fell over.
"Uh yeah! Very beautiful!" Faradeigh awkwardly agreed, thinking that the altar was the second most beautiful thing in the area.
During their investigation, Faradeigh had spent a lot of time with the Princess as they tried to come up with a solution to their problem. Not once during that time did he get flustered. He was a man on a mission, and she agreed to help. That was all there was to it, though Syckle's teasing had earned embarrassed reactions on more than one account. Faradeigh took extra care to make sure he got his revenge on the black drake.
'So why is this happening now?' Faradeigh asked. 'Do I like her?'
As if to answer his own question, he started running through everything he thought of the Princess, and did not come across a single thing that he did not like, not even her flaws.
'Oh by Archleon's seal, I like the Princess!' Faradeigh screamed in his head.
"Is there something wrong?" Stella asked him. "You look kind of spaced out..."
He almost died as he realized that time did not stop for him to sort through his thoughts. In response, he frantically insisted that he was lost in thought about where the dragon could be and what its game was, and nothing more. She accepted the answer, though he doubted that she truly believed him. Faradeigh just counted himself lucky that she did not press the matter, and cleared his throat to prepare for talking to his other two companions.
"This is definitely the place, though I wish I had the drawing to compare..." Faradeigh announced.
"Didn't you bring the journal?" Stella questioned him.
"I did, but the drawing was removed..." Faradeigh informed.
"Sorry, I've got it here." Syrah apologized before handing it to him. "I needed it for something..."
"You okay sis?" Cornelius questioned. "It's not like you to be disorganized like that."
"I'm fine!" Syrah shouted all too suddenly, causing her brother to jump.
"Okay then..." Cornelius reacted. "Um, Faradeigh! What are your thoughts?"
"Between the notes in this journal and the dark, eerie feeling of this place, I'd wager this altar is the connection to the Crevasse. Though, the key, or whatever this thing mounted in the pedestal is, appears to be missing." Faradeigh offered as he glanced between the journal and the drawing, Bravura in the position to offer the perfect lighting as he read.
"Okay that's it!" Syrah shouted impatiently, "What's the deal with the wolf? And why has no one else asked this yet!?"
"I honestly have no idea, but I think it likes me." Faradeigh explained. "At least Bravura's coming in handy."
"You named it?" Syrah questioned.
"It's been following me around for years, I feel like I have to!" Faradeigh countered.
"Sounds reasonable." Cornelius agreed.
"Sure, whatever!" Syrah growled. "He can just be a criminal of the Cardinal kingdom, steal directly from their king, keep a dragon, and now we just have to accept that he's got some glowing pet wolf!"
"Syrah, calm down." Cornelius warned. "Only half of those things are his fault."
"Uh thanks?" Faradeigh replied to Cornelius, disregarding Syrah's rude comments. "But seriously guys, we should be investigating the area."
"You two must be separated." Stella ordered. "I'll pull my status into this if I have to. Syrah, you can see in the dark and Cornelius can light fires, so you two take that half of the room while Faradeigh and I take this one."
"What's with your family always taking his side?" Syrah questioned before walking off with her brother.
Faradeigh showed no reaction at all to the harshness. He just accepted that her anger towards him was how it was going to be from then on. Stella tried appeasing to him for her, but he waved it off claiming that it was of no importance. In truth, it did hurt him, but it was the kind of hurt that he was used to. From being imprisoned, to being thrown into an arena, to being a wanted criminal in Brim, and finally traversing the lands alone... being neglected and rejected was just a part of his life. Even more so now that he was finding himself curious of his parents' whereabouts...
After strolling down the wrong path with Thayo those few years back, he decided that it was his responsibility to make sure that he would not allow himself to unfairly act out on others any longer. Yet, the pain still bugged him. While he was good at pretending it did not bother him, and even shelving it altogether, it came out in odd ways. For example, his determination to help Syckle, back when they met, and he had so foolishly jumped into Corvin's Blades with no thought of the consequences.
It was not just a sense of doing the right thing, but rather a need to ease the pain of a friend to mask his own pain. While that may sound selfish, it was not. He did want to help his friend for the sake of helping him, but it came with the addition of not acknowledging his own problems. Faradeigh also had a tendency to talk to himself when he thought he was alone, and to yell at inanimate objects on occasion.
As far as the current investigation went, Faradeigh had found an interesting corpse. It was a skeleton, but it was adorned in armor that looked fresher than the rest of the temple, though was still old. There was a cracked jewel in one of its eye sockets, devoid of all color. In addition, the bones seemed to be pure white, much like Phoenix's, and had no traces of flesh of any kind. Just as well, there was some sort of spell book and a broken staff. Some magic users relied on catalysts to channel their abilities, much like Stella needed to. Staves were ideal for spell casters, while Stella's more weapon-based catalysts were ideal for her unique powers.
'I hope she never has to learn the truth...' Faradeigh thought in regards to her power.
"I think I found the Lich King that Phoenix fought." Faradeigh announced. "And judging by this book, he was definitely planning to use this place to revive Archleon, and offer his undead army as a sacrifice for the ritual. Other than that, it's just a bunch of spells that are useless to anyone who's not a necromancer."
"Bring those back with us." Stella ordered. "There might be something in there someone else would recognize."
"Must be nice, knowing who exactly your enemy is..." Faradeigh mused, using the book's strap to hook it onto his belt.
"That's why we're here, isn't it?" Stella asked.
"Yeah, but at this rate we're looking at more of a history lesson than finding answers for our current dilemma."
"Socrariel is alive and near." Stella assured. "He must not be willing to talk at the moment."
"Or he's observing us, debating whether to kill us before or after satisfying his curiosity." Faradeigh pointed out.
The Princess shuddered at the thought and insisted they go back to searching. There were some pages littered across the floor. Some were legible, while others were not. There were scorch marks on several, and likely there were many more that had been burnt completely. Faradeigh wondered whether the pages were a result of Phoenix's fight with the Lich King or not. The contents seemed to be written in a language he did not recognize, so he wound up doubting the connection to the liches. He also hoped that Cornelius and Syrah were faring better.
Faradeigh kept looking Stella's way during the search, careful to keep the visor of his helmet down so that she would not notice. There was no denying that he felt something towards the Princess. He decided that he enjoyed hurting himself. He knew there was no chance between them, and was saddened by the fact. The feelings, however, came as a surprise to him. Not so long ago, he knew for certain that he and love were not compatible. Yet now... it rang true more than ever, and yet he was feeling something for a woman that deserved so much more than he was. And as a Princess, she was no doubt going to find that someone. He just hoped that it would not be Vaughn Cardinal.
"Ah, I thought it might be you. It seems as though my bane has finally arrived." An inhuman voice boomed.
"Everyone to the center!" Syrah shouted from the distance.
Not knowing what else to do, they all ran to the altar. Faradeigh could feel his heart pounding and his unruly thoughts fade away as he sprinted to the center of the large area, not even checking to see if his companion was right there with him. Luckily she had kept up, and they wound up arriving at the altar just as Syrah and Cornelius had. They all turned, keeping their backs to the mount in the center of the altar as they bore their weapons and faced different directions. Bravura was walking in a circle around them, casting his light where he could and illuminating the moon stones, but the dragon was still nowhere to be seen.
"Pathetic, just how predictable you all are." It spoke again. "Humanity always held such potential for greatness, yet time and time again you and your species fall short of my expectations. I have foreseen this meeting long ago, before any of you had been born... not even the interloper present can change this fate, it would seem."
"Show yourself!" Cornelius demanded, his weapon igniting.
"Very well oh Dragon Lord!" The beast that must have been Socrariel mocked.
And into the light the dragon stepped. Either by fate or by choice, the Dragon stalked out so that he was in front of Faradeigh. Faradeigh's heart skipped a beat in fear. Despite spending so much time around Syckle, he was unprepared for the dragon that appeared before him. Not counting Rigel, this would be the second dragon he had ever seen, and he was easily double Syckle's size! Not only that, but this dragon was potentially aggressive and most certainly a force to be reckoned with.
"Before we progress into the next series of events, allow me to introduce myself." The Dragon offered menacingly. "I am Socrariel the Blind, as I am sure you have guessed."