Red Like Roses [Closed]

Tala listened to everyone's concerns. The necromancers being dead was indeed a problem, but hearing Solomon made his postulate. He was quick to leave however before Tala could stop him or before she could even share her own part.

"H-hey, wait, there's something you need to know about what we found and--"

Hitomi stomping on the ground stopped her. She turned around and could sense that the girl was pretty unhappy about SOMETHING. Tala just couldn't tell what. A part of her really wanted to comfort Hitomi around this time, but there was something that was bugging her. She moved over to Vidalia and the girl.

"What Solomon said might explain some things," she said. "But only half of it..."

Tala didn't want to expose Ilya to the gruesome details about what happened at the manner. In fact, it was still suspicious that she said the necromancers had been here, but they were dead. Things weren't adding up just yet. Ilya, however, started walking in the same direction as Solomon.

"Actually, since I'm a Cartic mage, I think I might be able to help," she said. "I came down here to research the ruins to begin with, so maybe I can help with finding a way to open the door in the other room."

"W-wait, shouldn't we stick together though?" Tala said.

Ilya smiled.

"I suppose," she said. "But maybe it's better we go back there then? Vidalia and I can go ahead while you..."

She made a glance at Hitomi who was still in the corner.

"Gather yourselves," she said. She'd look at Vidalia and beamed. "Come on, I have a book here that might serve as a reference for us."

She'd take Vidalia by the arm and pull her along.

Tala meanwhile, sighed and looked at Hitomi. Slowly, she started to approach her. Without saying anything at first, she'd let Hitomi's mask touch the Enkidu's arm.

"You should have this back," she said.

If Hitomi looked at her, Tala's eyes were apologetic and she held a sad small smile.

"I'm not sure what's upsetting you right now, but I can tell it has to do with this mission," she said. "If you can just hold out a little longer it'll be over, and I'll make up for it okay?"

She then sighed.

"I'm sorry I've been such a bad partner..."

***

Vidalia and Ilya would reach the room where Solomon was in. Solomon himself wouldn't find anything remarkably new about the place. Ilya, though, would light up with recognition.

"This room!" she said. "I know this room! I was here before the necromancers took hold of me. There's a very specific pattern to open the door if you two are willing to help me out with it."

Vidalia remained quiet throughout the entire conversation. It seems as though Solomon had went on ahead instead of waiting for the others. While Hitomi appeared to be sad about something, Tala wanted to stay behind so she can check on Hitomi while Vidalia and llya go on ahead to catch up with Solomon.

However it was here that Vidalia's suspicions regarding llya had increased, making her suspicious of the girl that they were supposed to be rescuing. "Hm, alright." She then had llya tug her on the arm, which she removed from her in an elegant manner.

"No." She gave a fake smile to llya before going on ahead to meet up with Solomon.

"So what do you find?" Hopefully he did that would allow the group to leave the cave faster before anything else happens that will trap them further in this manor, or split from Tala and Hitomi.

However llya revealed that she had been in this room before and that there was a pattern to open a locked door. Vidalia twirled back to llya.

"You have? Care to tell us what you remember?" If she does have anything to remember that is.

Solomon remained quiet for once as they made their way back to the room. When they got there, he set his box down and looked like he was about to do something when the girl called out. He stopped for a moment before turning.

"Before that, can I ask you how you came to know the mechanics of this room?" he asked inquisitively.

Hitomi, while still upset, manage to reign herself in as Tala handed her mask back. Hitomi was quick to put it back on though. Almost immediately she found much of her tension begin to drain away. This felt better...Much better.

Before she could get too comfortable though, it seemed that she had ended up making Tala feel bad. She asked her to hang in the a little longer, and then apologized for being a bad partner. Hitomi's ears drooped and she found herself pushing up her mask once again. She leaned forward, pressing her forehead against Tala's and closing her eyes. She let out another sigh, taking Tala's hand and beginning to trace once again.

'You're not a bad partner, this is a bad mission. I'll hold out though.' She hesitated a moment. 'Thank you for coming after me.' She had thought she wanted to be alone...Tala coming up and talking to her, even though they couldn't really get all the details out, still did wonders to bring her spirits up. She'll hang in there for this stupid mission, if only for Tala...

'Let's get back to them then?' She'd step back, pulling down her mask once again. At the very least she was with Tala again...She could relax just a little.

"Well, I study Eisleyn architecture, see," Ilya explained to the both of them. "And much like other noble houses, catacombs are often designed to have traps to ensure that no one steals valuables of the noble families. In the case of this room, by trial and error, I found out that manipulating the tiles and the orbs of the tombstones are meant to lock and open the doors. People who try messing with them in the wrong way get sealed in and, well, suffocate I guess."

She gave a small shrug.

"But yeah, if you do a little trial and error, you find out which functions work, which don't," she said.

Ilya would move over to one tile that depressed into the floor. Almost instantly, the door they had just entered from shut again. She then looked at Vidalia and Solomon, smiling brightly.

"See?" she said. "Now, to open the other door, all I need is for there to be enough energy on the ground. But the Cartic stone in the middle has been shattered. I'd need someone to stand in place as a conduit for magical energy to move towards the door. Do any of you want to volunteer?"

***

Tala let out a relieved sigh when Hitomi traced her messages. She was glad to see Hitomi was feeling better now. She quickly gave Hitomi a chipper bob.

"Yep, we definitely should," she said.

Hitomi's ears, however, would pick up that the door had shut for Solomon, Vidalia, and Ilya once again.

llya had studied architecture? Well this was sudden and made Vidalia more suspicious of her, not helped by how she managed to get herself, Vidalia and Solomon stuck in the room they were in, while Hitomi and Tala were at the other side.

"We're stuck!?" Vidalia tried to get the door open, but to no avail. She turned back towards llya, who was smiling.

"Why are you smiling, we're separated from our team again. We can't leave without them." Although fortunately it appears that they can get out, they just need to cast some marks.

"But I thought we couldn't here, and even if we could, why not you try?" She offered to llya, if she had any... Or was hiding it from the group.

Solomon listened to the girl's explanation quietly. As she concluded, he tipped his hat and hummed thoughtfully.

"You know, I'm a rather unremarkable person," he stated, "but you see, I'm quite the expert when it comes to one thing."

He waved a hand to the bodies on the ground.

"Something's been bothering me for a while now. You said that you saw the necromancers this morning, but these bodies have been dead for a few days already." Solomon let his box drop to the ground and placed a hand on his buzzing lantern. "And you seem a bit too knowledgeable about how this construct work. So, if you would please..."

Solomon smiled softly, placing his other hand over his heart.

"... Please profess truthfully who you are and what you are doing here, the gods as your witness."

Of course, relaxation decided to slip from her grasp rather easily. Her ears twitched as she heard the familiar sound of a door shutting. She tilted her head, stepping to the side and looking back towards where the others had went.

Her eyes would widen and she'd place a hand on Tala's shoulder, her other hand would point at the now closed door.

She glanced towards the woman, a miserable look in her eye. She just wanted this mission to be OVER already! She had no idea what happened in the first place! Why did Solomon have to traipse off on his own anyway damn it!!!

She sighed, turning towards Tala and defeatedly writing another message. "Any chance you can magic that open?"

"Oh, don't worry," Ilya said nonchalantly as she took out a spellbook from her bag. "You'll all be reunited soon enough. I just need the marks in the right places and--"

Solomon cut her off, however. He pointed out the inconsistencies in her story. Ilya's smile faltered but for a moment, and when Solomon asked her to profess who she really was, she grinned wider.

"Gods?"she said. "There are no gods. Just science."

Solomon would see a glyph spread across the floor of ultraviolet. With the snap of her fingers, both Solomon and Vidalia would be yanked hard onto the ground as if gravity were weighing them down. There would have been no chance of evading it as save for the platform of the Cartic stone on which Ilya was now standing, the floor was completely covered in the marks.

"Religious people and cultists are no different from one another," she mused as she flipped through the tome. "You all think higher beings play a role in our own achievements. Carta and Canta are merely natural phenomenon we use for ourselves. At least, that's what I'm inclined to believe. The realm of the 'undead' itself is hard to explain."

The glyph across the floor would shrink until it only encapsulated Solomon and Vidalia. Ilya hopped off the platform and moved over to them, pulling out what looked like an ornate dagger.

"Now, I could kill you right here," she said. "But then I'd have no one to talk about my theories with. Care to listen about what I've figured out in this crypt?"

***

Tala nodded at Hitomi's question. She tried summon marks, attempting to crack the stone door with her earth magic. But as soon as the glyphs landed, they faded.

"Again?" Tala said, gritting her teeth. "Something's blocking me from using magic. I can't tell, but I'm guessing there's a counter spell or barrier of sorts. If we can deactivate that first, then--"

Tala perked up. She grabbed Hitomi by the shoulder and shook her.

"That's it!" she said. "Hitomi, I don't know if it'll work, but can you try roaring in a focused direction? If your roar can hit towards the door, but not me, maybe it'll dampen the spell enough for me to break it from afar."

It seems Solomon was onto something, finally something that she and him can agree with. She slowly took out her bow as Vidalia waited to see what IIya would do, when suddenly she felt like she was being pulled onto the ground and soon couldn't move, dropping her bow and arrow.

IIya took out her dagger, preparing to kill Vidalia and Solomon, but she wanted the two to hear her theories about the cave first, at least it will give her and Solomon time until Hitomi and Tala can get to them.

"Why are you doing this?" Vidalia asked in anger.