Chapter 27 - Colosseum

The room stood in ruins, covered in carvings so life-like, they were closer to tattoo's on the ancient flesh that was the pearl white stone.

Within that room, that seemed to have a thin onyx gleam in places where the light should reach, Argo walked behind Raul, who Sapphire Amulet, was shining, breaking the dark away.

Argo felt something strange at his feet, and glanced down. If he were a normal person, his blood might have ran cold. But after so many years, it was… childish.

Faces were carved into the ground.

Some were human. Some were not.

Sporting grotesque molestations of life, the carvings looked like the souls of the damned trapped in the stone itself.

When the light of the amulet drew further, the faces seemed to disappear into the ground, the unique form of carving made it so that if one wasn't directly above, it was hard to notice that there was any deformation in the ground at all.

It was as though a dead tide were rising and falling. 

He turned his gaze back forward.

Raul had stopped before a great pearl altar. Everything the giants crafted, seemed to be made of the same pearl stone. He wasn't sure why though, it had never been mentioned in any of the records he had read about them.

Raul turned the Merk Wolf around, to face Argo. He stared down at him. Argo felt the shift in the air. The Merk Wolf was staring at him emotionlessly, but while Raul could hide his, the Merk Wolf could not hide it's masters savage intent.

Raul circling Argo, at a medium distance, watching him, through the still air and the silence, each step of the wolf, sounded like a challenge.

It's head lowered.

"When we first arrived, this place was inhabited by a Corrupted Horror. It had vines, with poison that brought the dead to life. We believed it to be a spawn from the Ruination," Raul's magic leaked out, Argo could make out a spell being weaved but he didn't know which, "It had refused to die no matter the number of times it was destroyed. Even Master struggled."

A Monster that even a Master like Murphy would struggle with? Argo took a second glance around. The ground was completely untouched. There were no cracks or breaks? 

An idea appeared in his mind, but he put it to the back, for the time being.

Necromancy was an art that if discovered, the entire region would be cleansed and quarantined. If thousands needed to be put to the torch they would.

There were precedents of this in history, such as the Fall of Gorum, which was a hole of dwarvish descendants who had dug too deep, and found ancient catacombs and their knowledge. 

Not even the children were let go back then.

If such a creature had lived here, with that power, then, that would warrant the entire area being put to the close eye of all the nations, and cleansed at the Churchs discretion.

"How did we defeat it?" Raul's lips formed words from behind.

There it was. 

He knew he was going to be tested. 

Karl was too careless, to be curious about his surroundings. A few sweet words had won him completely over. But, Raul was not so easily deceived.

He had no reason to believe that Argo was not who he said he was, and who Red had vouched for him to be, but he still tested him regardless.

Had he performed too well against the monster that had attacked? Was the quality of soldiers in the rebellion so low that he could stick out enough to warrant this kind of investigation?

Regardless, he knew if he took too long to answer, or answered wrong, he would die. This place… was full of the monsters that had been controlled by the Dumbarans.

The ground was devoid of cracks or breaks. The altar was untouched, and had a smooth mirror like surface of water within. The amulet was emitting light, and had the power to unlock things here.

A glint flickered in his eyes. 

"...Lord? Wasn't it that the Master sealed it inside of it's heart?"

The blocks fell into place. If he was right, then, Master Murphy was definitely not a no name Master of the Dumbaran Rebels.

He must have been someone during the war and even before it. 

Argo prepared to draw his sword and fight to the death, his heart beat slowed, as he took in everything around without moving his gaze.

The rhythmic steps of the Merk Wolf stopped in front of him. His maw was mere inches from his head, and if it so felt the inkling, it could open and swallow him, before most could notice.

He didn't move his hand.

He held his nerve.

Raul turned the Merk Wolf around, "Heart? Is that what the soldiers are saying? It's apt, but, wrong. Monsters have no heart, like we humans do. That things core, it's soul, was trapped in this Gem. And with it…" 

The Sapphire Amulet grew in intensity, glowing like a small sun! 

The whole of the colosseum was aglow! 

Hundreds of monsters emerged, both big and small, from every hole and tunnel! 

There were no cracks or crevices in the colosseum, it was as though, newly built. Argo was all but certain now about the materials used to build this place, and what he was standing on. 

The Altar's mirror-like water rose up into thousands of droplets of water. Argo's pupils shrank. Others might not notice but he had been around them for years. He knew their presence, well.

Within those drops of water, there were... spirits.

"...Everything is possible." 

Pink mist flew around the monsters, their lives stripped from them as the spirits in the waters let loose soundless blood curdling screams.

Yet the monsters remained standing.

Brainwashing to take away their free will, and when they were closest to death but not yet dead, using the amulet to channel that sealed monsters power, and control them.

He had seen such a monster once, a human one, in the deep dungeons of the Imperial Capital. This... 

He observed them closely.

...Was not the same.

They looked exactly like the Headless Monkey's, that they had encountered before entering the Hold. Like the massive packs of monsters that swarmed and ran amok outside. Their eyes were devoid of life anymore.

Even the Merk Wolf, that had been only under mind control, had lost any intent or sentience at all. Where he could once feel a savage killing intent, there was nothing anymore. It was simply an empty husk.

But they were different. These monsters which had been turned into puppets, gave off a sense, that was so utterly violating, that despite what it would mean for him, he felt the urge-, no, the need, as if it was his duty, to destroy them.

He had been right. 

His skin drew up goosebumps against his will. 

This was beyond what he was willing to get involved with.

This was something that should never ever see the light of day.

It should have died alongside the Ruination. 

He understood why the Dwarves Descendants were exterminated so mercilessly back then now. He couldn't control the visceral reaction his body had to it. If not for the training he had undertaken as a boy, he might have lost his mind and attacked.

Feelings this, he knew...

His gaze turned. Raul's eyes were completely white.

...That was no mere magical item.

It was far more twisted.

A vile molestation of life.

A Soul Gem.