Molting the Mortal Coil

The perfectly cylindrical tunnel continued on for a few hundred feet in a perfectly straight path before there was an opening on the left side that seemed to be a staircase downwards. More curious about the straight tunnel, Sage followed it for a thousand feet before it finally came to a stop. The end of the tunnel carved in a perfect hemisphere shape. Maybe it was some sort of perfect sphere that just melted right through the stone?

With no other clues to be had, Sage returned the way he came and took the only branch off of the main tunnel and found himself in a circular stone staircase. Contrary to the tunnel, this staircase had the marks of tools from carving and didn’t seem perfectly shaped. On the other hand, it didn’t look to be constructed in pieces. The entrance tunnel looked like the remains of a perfect powerful attack while this stairway seemed to be carved directly from the stone using a tool that cut the rock like butter. Makes sense… a high level Cultivator might use a powerful Magic Weapon as nothing more than a tool for cutting stairs.

Following the stairs down, Sage was very wary of traps or ambush and sent the Mantis on ahead first. The chances of him missing out on something were far less than the chances of him stepping into a trap or discovering a beast that called this place its home. He slithered slowly down the steps, taking his time as he closed one eye and examined the room at the bottom of the stairs. The Chameleon Mantis stepped into the room that was the source of the light he saw in the tunnel. What Sage saw through the Insect’s eyes nearly made him trip and fall flat on his face. Reaching a hand forward to brace himself against the wall, he kept his body still as the Mantis advanced.

The bottom of the circular stone stairway was like something you might see from medieval times, a carved stone archway over the door that led into a room paved with stone bricks on the floor and along the walls. The ceiling was immensely high, nearing a hundred feet, and possessed vaulting eaves, again made of stone. The room was easily the size of an amphitheater and had huge stone columns lined up along either end of the long hall. Each of the columns was covered in carvings of epic battles between men and beasts stretching from floor to ceiling in wondrous epics. Sage felt as if he was in the throne room of a Dwarf from a fantasy novel… that is, if he were to ignore the most stunning and impossible part of the room.

Various parts of the floor and walls seemed as if they had been shorn away, leaving massive chasms like the sword of a titan had smashed into the room from the outside like a stone box. Within each of these huge rips and tears there was not stone or dirt like one would expect while standing in a stone hall constructed underneath a mountain. Instead, each of these rips seemed to be doorways to deep space. Being from another world, Sage could only compare it to the pictures taken from deep space telescopes. Swirling purple nebula, arcing blue trails of icy comets swirling past, the twinkle of innumerable stars along with the sharp black of the void of space. Sage was astonished at the crazy picture before him, immediately checking for signs of having entered an illusionary array, he was even more amazed when he found no arrays in the area at all. He even stretched out the spirit sense of his real body to do a double check and still found nothing. It was certainly possible that whoever made the array way too strong for him to even notice anything, but there was also the chance it was caused by something else entirely.

The Chameleon Mantis moved closer to one of the huge rends in the stone floor and reached in the tip of a forearm. Sage quickly had the Mantis pull back its arm when he felt it push through some sort of barrier and rapidly turn cold. Not wanting the bug to suffer any harm, he realized the pieces of space might actually be real. If so, what sort of being could tear open rips in space that didn’t affect the rest of the world nearby?

Sage had the Mantis carefully maneuver around the rips in the room, not even taking the risk of flying over the gaps as he wasn’t sure how much area the protective fields covered. He didn’t want to make the wrong guess and lose his Mantis for no reason. It would only expend a couple dozen spirit stones and a few minutes of his time to raise another one, but it might also completely expose him to whatever it was that might be in this place. Moving quietly and slowly through the room, the Mantis had the time to change its carapace coloring to keep itself perfectly camouflaged. It took nearly ten minutes to traverse the huge hall and finally reach the other end where a huge dais sat.

Sage noticed another weird thing at this time. Normally in such a huge hall, if there was a steps leading up to the raised dais, there would usually be some sort of throne where the leader would sit and speak to his subjects. The weird thing here was that the expected throne was facing the wrong direction. Instead of facing towards the large room it was pointed towards the semi-circular wall behind it. Whoever sat in it wouldn’t be looking down upon their subjects, they would just be staring at the wall.

Curious, he paid more attention to the wall and found it strange. The wall was covered in a layer of metal and not made of the stacked stones like the other walls, floor and ceiling. Looking up, he saw that the wall was not just semicircular it was a partial hemisphere. A perfect half-dome made of metal lined the wall. As the Mantis got closer, Sage saw that even the floor was covered in metal and the spot where the flat floor would met with the wall had a gentle upward slope just like Sage had seen done in backgrounds for photoshoots so there wouldn’t be any shadows caught there.

Wait a second… is this some sort of ancient magical viewscreen? It’s definitely not a weird throne set up with a stage for one, right?

If the rest of the room had a better view of the space behind the throne, Sage might really had thought it was a strange room built just for a perfect view of a small stage. As it was, the dais was raised which meant the whole hall would have an obstructed view. If the intention was a stage, why create a huge area for seating and then immediately ruin everyone’s view? It was far more likely it was all made for a special magic item or array. Sage was curious what sort of thing such an impressive viewing position was made for.

To either side of the dais was a doorway, each one sealed with a door that looked like it was carved out of jade. The Mantis approached the throne, walking slowly up the steps only to smack into a solid, yet invisible, barrier at the top of the stairs. The top of the dais was sealed off, meaning it couldn’t get any closer to the throne or the spherical metal wall. This time, Sage could see a symbol flicker to life on the ground in front of the throne. Well, it was the back of the throne, but it was the front from the Mantid’s perspective being closer to it than the throne or wall was. From the shape, Sage recognized it as a slowly flowing and changing Seal rather than a shape inscribed with small symbols that would indicate an array formation.

Sage had the Mantis change focus and head over to the jade door on the left. Moving close and seeing no window, he had it touch the door and manipulate the handle to trigger and surprises that might have been left behind. When there was no reaction, he had it check the other door. Again, things seemed to be okay so Sage had it return to him before he sent out a Steel Silk Centipede. Sage entered the hive body of the Chameleon Mantis as he directed the Centipede into the main hall.

The purpose was twofold. First, explore the limits of the tears in space to see how far they extended and if they could be covered, or at least put up barriers against, with webbing. Secondly, the large bug would be an obvious target and draw out anyone who might be watching.