Mystic Heart Odyssey

Part 7: Downtime

Chapter 9

I’m starting to think I really should have named this arc ‘Mysteries & Discoveries’ or something along those lines, hehe. Time for the boys to face some existential questions!

-Llox

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“You… you certainly weren’t kidding,” Lykou said as he eyed the statue in front of him with a mixture of awkwardness and fascination. As luck had it, the statue of the konuul-like creature was in the same direction as the main trail through the valley. It was a little past it, in fact, but not too far out of the way, so when Kuna insisted on showing it to him, he was happy to go along with it- especially since he was much more rested than the previous day. “...feels kind of weird looking at it.”

Kuna nodded. “I can imagine. The similarities are pretty weird.”

Lykou walked around the statue, getting a good look at it from all angles. “I wonder what it means?”

“Means?” Kuna asked curiously. “What do you mean?”

“Well, it seems strange for it to look so similar, right?” Lykou said. “I would have thought maybe they were just trying to imagine what different kinds of people would look like as simple animals, but that wouldn’t explain the things I saw yesterday…”

“Hmm.” Kuna rubbed his chin. “From the stories my grandmother told me about how the world became what it is, the most ancient spirits first created all the animals in the world, and then watched how they behaved. Each of the most powerful spirits in certain places picked a kind of animal that they liked the most, for one reason or another, and turned them into the first people. I… guess maybe they missed some, somehow?”

“Wait, really?” Lykou asked, fascinated. “The stories I always grew up on say that some spirits just, y’know… became the first people themselves, when they decided to embrace the mortal world over the spirit world.”

Kuna shrugged. “Who can really be sure? Not like anyone’s still around that would’ve seen it. Other than the oldest spirits, anyway, and I don’t see one of them popping up anytime soon to explain it.”

“Huh… I guess, under the circumstances at least, your version at least might explain these not-quite konuul and not-quite sereva animals,” Lykou conceded.

“I wonder if we’ll see any more of them while we’re out here,” Kuna pondered as they started heading back to the trail. “I mean, besides just statues, that is.”

“Maybe. I get the impression that the ones I saw like certain areas,” the konuul commented. “Most of them were grazing in an open field full of what looked like clover.”

Kuna smiled a bit at the thought. “Mmm, clover… I haven’t had that in a while. Don’t know why I haven’t collected any. Maybe I should get some before we leave this valley.”

“Wait, you actually eat that stuff too?” Lykou asked, grinning. “Guess you have even more in common with those things than I thought.”

The sereva shrugged. “Not often, but it’s nice now and then. I usually prefer to mix it with other things though.”

The two hiked for a while, taking their time so that they could appreciate the sights along the way. A little before midday, Kuna noticed another area that was particularly popular with small critters just a short distance from the trail and paused, grinning. “Hey Kou, c’mere,” he said as he turned to stroll over to the nut-laden trees. “I know something else I wanna stock up on real quick.”

“Oh?” Lykou asked as he turned to follow him. He’d already picked up on the squirrels and birds, of course, but it wasn’t until they approached the feeding grounds that the reason for their abundance became clear. Of course, many of them scattered when a tall predator entered the area. “Oh hey, are those nuts?”

“Yup! I tried some yesterday. Pretty sure they’re some exotic kind of pecan,” Kuna replied, then summoned up his magic. “Hang on, I’m gonna grab some more.”

“Sure, I haven’t had anything like that ages! I wish there were more of these kinds of trees back home,” Lykou said, swishing his tail a bit. “Here, let me help you up-”

Kuna grinned. “Nah, I got it. In fact…” Suddenly, the konuul felt something rise up underneath him and knock him on his butt, then start lifting him up alongside the sereva.

Lykou blinked and looked down at the large plant that’d sprouted up beneath him. He then shot his companion a look and smirked. “You did that on purpose.”

“Can’t prove it!” Kuna retorted playfully.

“You’re really getting pretty damn good with that magic, you know,” the konuul said as he reached up to start harvesting some of the nuts. He paused. “Er. Wait. Do we have a spare bag to put these in? Would rather they not get scattered all over my regular food bag.”

The sereva smiled and pulled out a couple small sacks he’d put together earlier while the canid was resting up, then tossed one over to him. “Yup! Made these just for this occasion.”

Lykou smiled as he caught the small bag. “Nice thinking ahead. So that’s why you gathered all that material yesterday, huh?”

“Well, partly. Also just good to have spare stuff for patching up our clothes,” Kuna replied with a wry smirk. “Considering how much abuse they tend to take on this journey.”

“Hah. Good point,” Lykou agreed.

Once they were satisfied with their harvest, Kuna returned them both to the ground and restored the plant life to something resembling its normal state. They hiked for another hour or two, until eventually they spotted some structures in the distance. Lykou recognized the roof from one of them as the one he’d seen while hunting. “Hey, there they are! The buildings I saw yesterday.”

“Looks like the trail’s gonna go right past some of them,” Kuna commented. “Which I guess makes sense, since it was presumably cleared by the same people that built them.”

“And I guess that means we don’t have to go out of our way to check them out,” Lykou said excitedly. “I wonder what we’ll find!”

“Only one way to find out!” Kuna agreed as they made their way towards the structures.

As they got closer, they started seeing more of the ruins through the trees, though such a word didn’t seem appropriate, given what good condition they were in. They involved a lot of pillars, including many free-standing ones, each with intricate artwork carved all around them. Stone troughs, both in the ground and elevated above their heads connected the various buildings. Some were dry, but a others had water actively flowing through them from a long, wider segment that ran over to the river.

It didn’t exactly look like a village, even if the buildings were fairly close together. None of them looked like typical houses of any kind. Several completely lacked walls, and instead their small, arched roofs were held up by rows of columns. Vines hung between them, but so neatly that it almost looked deliberate, for decorative purposes. One of them was entirely devoted to a large basin that was being kept full of water by one of the troughs, with another serving as a drainpipe out of the other side, keeping the water level stable. Another had nothing but several large, cubic stones that’d clearly been carved and polished for whatever reason. Given their size, they were likely used as tables or something similar. Their sides, like nearly every other surface, were highly decorated, but the tops were left smooth and bare.

A third building- one of the few with any solid walls- housed the closest thing they saw to any kind of living space. There were large, flat stone slabs lining the back wall, with small dividers between them and narrow horizontal windows up high. There were several short troughs lining the side walls at different heights. A few were being filled with water, while others were completely dry and not connected to the ones outside. Various painted stone urns and pots decorated the remaining empty spaces in the building. There was no door to speak of, just an open entryway.

After marveling at the architecture and artistry a bit, they both decided to pause and sit down on what looked like a stone bench outside and snack on some of the nuts they’ve harvested. “Mmm, these are pretty good,” Lykou commented. “Wish we could plant some of those trees around Lakefire. Would probably take forever to grow and produce anything though.”

Kuna rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “You know… maybe they could be sped up a bit,” he suggested with a grin.

Lykou blinked, then grinned. “Heyyy, that’s a good point. We’ve never had someone with life magic in the village before. I’m sure there’s all kinds of potential things you could use it for that nobody’s even considered.”

“My thoughts exactly,” Kuna replied, then fidgeted and smiled nervously. “I… I’ve been trying to think of what I’d even do in Lakefire, whenever we get there. Y-you know, in terms of… like, my role or job or whatever.”

“Ku, you’re very talented. Even outside your magic,” Lykou assured him. “I’m sure you’ll do well at whatever you put your mind to.”

“Th-thanks,” Kuna said, blushing slightly. “Just… figuring it out will be… interesting. As much as I enjoy painting and such, it’s not like that’s a very practical skill. So... I thought I could use my magic to help grow some useful things for the tribe, and probably patch people up when they get hurt.”

“Oh, definitely! People are always getting little cuts and stuff, and the hunters in particular sometimes come back in rough shape when they mess up with a particularly nasty boar or something,” the konuul pointed out. “And like I said, even if we mostly eat meat, we still have plenty of use for all sorts of plant things. I think the chief mentioned earlier this year being worried about running low on charnops some winters.”

“Sounds like a plan then,” Kuna said, perking up a bit. He beamed. “Heh… you know, it… it feels nice to think I’ll be able to help out with things like that.” He rubbed his arm and stared down at the ground for a moment as his smile briefly faded. “N-nice change from… you know, the past.”

Lykou frowned, then pulled him into a tight side-armed hug. “Hey. You’ve always been a good, sweet, and talented guy. Not your fault those bastards didn’t recognize that. It’s their loss.”

The sereva’s smile returned a bit and he leaned into the embrace. “Thanks Kou,” he said, then popped one of the nuts into his mouth and crunched it up. “So what about you? Still going to keep the ‘spirit chaser’ thing going when you get back?”

“Pffft, right,” Lykou retorted with a small eye-roll. “After this whole trip, they probably won’t let me leave eyesight of the village for at least a year. And frankly, I wouldn’t blame them. I think I might shock the hell out of everyone and become… I dunno, a shore sweeper or something for a while.”

“Really? Think you’ll be able to give up your lust for adventure?” the sereva asked with a smirk.

“I’ve already had enough for a lifetime, I think,” Lykou replied, then hesitated for a moment before grinning. “Or at least a good while, anyway.”

Kuna chuckled, then munched on some more nuts for a minute. “Hmm... Didn’t you say you wanted to start up some kind of trade caravan back to some of the places we’ve visited?”

“...eventually, yeah. Don’t know how that’ll work though,” Lykou said. “Gonna have to work it out with the chief and the rest of the village elders anyway.”

“Fair point,” Kuna said. “Hey, in the meantime, I’m sure I’ll, you know… need a guide… for the village…” he added with a hopeful smile.

Lykou smiled back and gave him a gentle squeeze. “Mhmm. Knowing how shy you can be, I’ll be sure to find a way to do that for you as long as you need. Maybe I’ll even find a way to be your assistant or something,” he suggested. “Although trust me, you’ll make other friends, too.”

“I do look forward to meeting Naira and Oren,” Kuna said.

“Oh I can’t WAIT to introduce you to them, Ku,” Lykou said excitedly, his tail swishing away behind him. “I just know they’re gonna love you. And you know, now that I think of it, Ore would probably be good at the whole ‘meditation’ thing. He does something like that already anyway sometimes.”

“Oh yeah? Hmm,” Kuna replied, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. “I wonder if he could learn magic too… I know konuul supposedly have a harder time with it, and I have… well,” he paused and twitched slightly. “An… ‘advantage’, but I’d certainly be willing to try and teach him, if he’s interested.”

“That’s a fantastic idea!” Lykou agreed. “And honestly, even if it doesn’t work, he’d probably appreciate the effort and go with it regardless. Like I said, he already likes doing sort of meditation-type stuff.”

Kuna smiled and they snacked in silence for a minute or two. Suddenly, he noticed movement out of the corner of his eye. He looked up and smirked. “Kou, don’t look now,” he said quietly. “But I think one of the locals resents us outsiders raiding his favorite tree.”

Lykou looked up and arched a brow at the squirrel that was watching him- or, more specifically, the bag of nuts in his lap- with intense focus from the low hanging branch of a nearby tree growing between the buildings. “Well too bad,” he said with a smirk. “Ours now. Plenty left back there anyway.”

“Gosh, such an unrepentant thief,” Kuna teased. “And I thought you were a good guy.”

“Hey, you’re just as ‘guilty’, you know,” Lykou retorted, turning back to the sereva. “I don’t s-GAH!” In the middle of the konuul’s sentence, the squirrel darted down and snatched a nut right out of his hand before darting off again. “You little fucker… come try that again, I dare ya!”

Kuna snorted and giggled. “Guess the snatching goes both ways.”

Lykou glared at the squirrel, though without any real malice. “I’m watching you, ya little shit,” he declared, then cracked the shell on another nut and popped it into his mouth with narrowed eyes. After a few minutes of silently staring one another down while the squirrel gobbled up the nut it’d stolen, it suddenly darted in close again, but this time the konuul swatted at it. The squirrel nimbly dodged around the swing and hopped onto his arm. A frantic blur of movement and cursing followed as the squirrel scrabbled around on him and finally made its way down to his lap. But just as it was about to grab another nut, the canid grabbed ahold of it and lifted it up. “Gotcha!”

Kuna shot him a genuinely concerned look. “Aw, Kou, don-”

“Relax,” Lykou said, glancing over at him with a reassuring smile. “I’m not gonna hurt it.” He turned back to the squirrel as he used his other hand to set the bag aside, then got up to walk over to the branch. “Take this as a lesson though, little guy. Don’t mess with the big folks. Some m-OUCH!” he yelped as the squirrel suddenly bit him, causing him to instinctively loosen his grip. But as the squirrel tried to escape, he tossed it away, causing it to tumble across the ground and bump against the far wall.

“Hey! You didn’t have to toss it,” Kuna said, shooting him a mildly upset look.

“It bit me!” Lykou said defensively, rubbing his hand.

Kuna looked at the canid’s hand, then arched a brow. “Barely. You’ve had worse, ya big baby.” He then looked down at the squirrel, which looked a little stunned as it got up. “Poor little thing looks like it got hurt worse.”

Lykou glanced down at the critter. “Serves it right for trying to steal from me AND biting me!”

“It’s just acting on instinct, you goober,” Kuna retorted, then walked over and carefully knelt down a few feet away from the squirrel, holding a nut out carefully. “Here ya go little guy.”

“Don’t do that, it’ll just end up following us expecting more,” Lykou said, arching a brow at him. “Why so much sympathy for a squirrel all of the sudden anyway?”

Kuna shrugged. “They’re cute, alright?” he said and smiled when the squirrel hesitantly approached, then grabbed the nut from the sereva’s hand. It immediately backed up and started gnawing on it while keeping its eyes on him. “Brave, too. Not the first time I’ve seen one get close like this here.”

“Not so many natural predators here I guess,” Lykou said with a shrug. When Kuna shot him a look, he held his hands up. “Relax, I’ve got all the meat I need for now, remember? Besides, no good way to make a stew, and it takes a few of ‘em anyway.”

“Good,” Kuna retorted with narrowed eyes, then turned back to the squirrel as it finished its treat up. “Dunno how you can eat ‘em anyway. Boars, fish, and those big birds are one thing, but these little guys are adorable.”

“Hey, you were a konuul for a day,” Lykou said, crossing his arms with a grin. “And I seem to remember you felt the instincts for yourself.”

Kuna folded his ears back and grinned sheepishly, looking away. “Y-yeah yeah, don’t remind me.”

Lykou chuckled. “I guess these ones are cuter than the ones back home. But let’s get back to exploring before it decides it wants more.”

The sereva stood up and dusted himself off. “Yeah, fair enough,” he said as he gathered his things back up and took a firm grip on his walking stick. He flashed one more smile back at the squirrel as it cautiously sniffed at the air a few feet away, watching them intently. “Run along now, little guy. Snack time’s over.”

As they resumed exploring the ruins, they were once again enthralled with the beauty of it all. But along the way, Lykou noticed they had a follower and sighed. “Told you not to feed it.”

Kuna glanced up and off to the side, where he spotted the squirrel following them at a careful distance. He grinned. “What, afraid of some attention? I thought I was the shy one, Kou.”

Lykou snickered. “C’mon, let’s go check the big one out,” he said, gesturing to the larger structure he’d seen from the cliffs the previous day. “Maybe it’ll lose interest when we go in there.”

“Sure,” Kuna agreed. “Can’t wait to see what’s inside.”

As they got closer to the building, the squirrel did seem a little more hesitant and ended up darting off as they approached the entrance. When they stepped inside, all thoughts of their simple-minded follower left as they were greeted by the most elaborate artwork they’d seen yet. Each wall was covered in an enormous mural depicting all manner of creatures in an enormous, colorful menagerie. While they weren’t quite as big as a few of the carved cliffsides they’d seen, they were nonetheless even more impressive for the detail and artistry on display. Along the bottom of the walls were circular pedestals. Half of them had more flowering potted plants, which had small holes in the ceiling situated above them to let sunlight in. The other half had small, presumably magical flames hovering above them, providing a bit more light to the place. Water flowed gently through some troughs below them, reflecting light up so that it danced on the walls and sections of the ceiling. The further in they walked, the more they thought they heard faint musical sounds just at the cusp of their hearing, coming from all directions. There were small, round seats scattered at regular intervals through the rest of the building.

But what really caught their attention was the mural on the back wall. On the edges were some wild animals, like the rest of the art. But they were walking on outstretched hands that served as a stairway, matching some actual steps just beneath them leading up to a raised platform in the center. And as the animals in the mural got closer to the top, the more bipedal and anthropomorphic they looked. And standing around the top were clearly people- some of which were familiar. Sereva, konuul, ursarans, lepne, raptuvans and whatever Marja and Elzhan’s people were called. Interestingly, the very top section, around the platform, was simply a round empty space surrounded by what looked like a glowing halo.

Lykou and Kuna stared wide-eyed at the mural. The whole place clearly had some kind of spiritual significance, to say the least. But the details are what took their breath away. There was no mistaking the implications- the paintings made them very clear. “Whoever these people were,” Lykou said quietly after a moment. “I’d say at the very least they agreed more with your peoples’ beliefs…”

“Why do I get the feeling there’s more to it than that?” Kuna replied, slowly approaching the steps. “I… I feel life energy flowing through everything here, Kou. Even the stone. Lots of it.”

Lykou shot him an awestruck look. “Y… you don’t think…”

“Maybe this place was built by spirits?” Kuna finished for him as he carefully ran a hand over part of the mural on one of the side walls. “I don’t know… I’ve never heard of spirits creating buildings before. Let alone anything so… ornate. But I can’t really explain it otherwise, either…”

“Kuna. Could… could we be in the birthplace of… people?” Lykou asked incredulously. “As in, in general?”

“Maybe… either that, or just very, very spiritual people that happened to be really dedicated to that story, or something like it,” the sereva replied. “And just happened to also be very dedicated and skilled artists, builders, sculptors, and magic users…”

“Very impressive either way, to say the least,” Lykou said, ascending the steps to inspect the depictions of various people standing near the top. “They also obviously knew a lot of different people exist besides their own, whoever they were.”

“That’s a good point,” Kuna noted. “The people in most places we’ve been to aren’t terribly aware of people outside their own territories.” He walked up the other side to meet the konuul, examining the depictions of various anthropomorphic beings as well. “Just makes me wish we knew who they really were…”

“Well, if not spirits, something tells me they wouldn’t do all of this and not add themselves to the mix,” Lykou commented. “You suppose it’s one of these ones we don’t recognize?” He gestured over to a larger figure by Kuna with a large, long snout and a single horn on its forehead. “Maybe that one, for example.”

“No idea,” the sereva replied. “Though I feel like if they went to all this trouble and wanted to include themselves, they’d probably put themselves in a more obvious, prominent position.”

“Unless they were humble,” Lykou pointed out. “Obviously, they were very spiritual. Might have thought doing so could be seen as insulting to the spirits that made them.”

“Possibly,” Kuna conceded. As his eyes fell on the ursaran, they narrowed and he frowned. “Even if they were aware of so many kinds of people, I doubt they knew them all very well. Or else they wouldn’t have depicted those bastards looking so fucking tranquil.”

Lykou winced a bit and rubbed his neck uncomfortably. “Heh… yeah,” he hesitantly agreed. “Though… who knows, maybe they weren’t always so bad. Or maybe we’ve just had bad luck meeting the bad tribes and there are decent ones out there after all, you know?”

Kuna shot him a look, then rolled his eyes. “And maybe my antlers have been here all the time and they’re just invisible,” he snarked, then waved his hand over his head. “Whoops, nope, we’re still in reality. Nevermind.”

The konuul just arched a brow at him and started to say something as the sereva turned to look at some other images, but then decided to let it go. On the one hand, he didn’t like his companion judging an entire people based on his limited experience. On the other, given the extreme nature of that experience, he could hardly blame him- even if the worst one was arguably not even a normal ursaran. And it wasn’t like Lykou had the greatest opinion of the ones he’d met, either. So instead he decided to change the subject. “Hey, you said there’s a lot of life energy in here, right? Wanna try, I dunno… doing something with it? Grasping it or whatever?”

Kuna glanced back at him, then looked around thoughtfully. “...interesting idea. I’m almost afraid to, though. Feels like the energy in a place like this might not even be meant for mortals to manipulate.”

“That’s… a fair point,” Lykou conceded. “Guess it’s up to you. Heh, feel any essence concentrations?”

The sereva hesitated, then closed his eyes for a moment and concentrated, breathing slowly. When he opened them again, he shook his head, though his brows furrowed a bit. “Not… here,” he said, then turned towards one of the side walls. “But I think I felt something outside, maybe in the next building over.”

“Heh, that didn’t look like a full building,” Lykou said. “No ceiling.”

“Well let’s go check it out,” Kuna suggested, walking towards the exit. He smiled awkwardly. “As peaceful and beautiful as this place is, I think the energies are starting to overwhelm me a little. Kind of hard to ignore when I’ve gotten so used to sensing for it anymore. And I’m curious to see what that essence concentration is.”

“Sure. Careful though, could be something dangerous,” Lykou responded, then froze for a moment. “Wait a minute.”

“Hmm?” Kuna asked with a concerned look. “What’s wrong?”

Lykou slowly grinned. “This feels backwards. I’m the one that should be leaping at the chance to explore things, and you’re the one that should be talking about caution. Did we swap something again?”

Kuna blew raspberries at the konuul playfully as he walked over to join him. “Hey, I can be adventurous too!” he retorted with a grin. “Especially in a place like this. Whoever built this place, they don’t seem violent anyway. If anything, more like the opposite.”

“True. From what we can tell anyway,” Lykou said as they left the building and walked around the side.

A short walk away from the grand building, which they decided was almost certainly some kind of temple, they found a collection of pillars surrounding a large stone floor. Vines hung between them, much like other areas around the ruins, though they were larger and more covered in flowers than the rest. The artistic designs on the columns were also strangely absent there. Instead, paw, hoof, and claw prints decorated the floor, all leading towards a circular set of steps that led up to a raised altar, seemingly made of solid gold. They both marveled at it as it shined in the sun. There were various arches connecting around a dozen of the pillars across the length of the area, but there was no actual ceiling, allowing plenty of daylight across the entire area.

After searching the perimeter a bit, they both cautiously climbed the steps to get a better look at the altar itself. The top had an intricate but seemingly abstract pattern of lines etched into it, contained with several concentric rings. There was a silver ring attached to the sides of the altar as well, with little round divots spaced evenly on its top. A strange glowing sphere was sitting in one of them, but the rest were empty.

Kuna ran a hand over the lines on the altar’s surface curiously. “Wonder if this is some kind of elaborate spirit sign.”

“I’d almost be surprised if it wasn’t,” Lykou replied, then pointed to the glowing object. “I wonder what that is, though. Obviously magical, whatever it is.”

“Oh yeah, definitely,” Kuna said. He closed his eyes for a moment as his hand hovered over it. Almost immediately, he jolted back a little as he opened them again in surprise. “Yuuup. That’s where I sensed the essence. And good fuck there’s a lot of it concentrated in there. Both life essence, and soul essence, somehow.”

“Woah,” Lykou said, staring at the object with wide eyes. “What on earth for, I wonder?”

“Good question,” Kuna replied. “Something powerful, I’d imagine.”

“Hey, maybe you could use it to make sure you’re… uh, ‘full’ or something?” Lykou suggested, scratching his head. “You know, after that whole ghoul bite thing. Never know when you might need more, and it takes a while to build up on its own, right?”

Kuna shot him a flat look. “Kou. We literally swapped species when we shared essence for a couple days. I don’t want to imagine what might happen if I took some from a strange, unknown magic object.”

“Yeah, but that was because Alg-...er, Dark Aggy was secretly an evil mischievous lunatic or something,” Lykou pointed out, then looked back at the sphere. “Still, that’s a good point. Maybe we should ask Zyn about it before we go touching it. Hopefully he’ll pop up tonight or something.”

They both looked around in silence for a moment.

“...you definitely thought he was going to show up and startle us just now, didn’t you?” Kuna eventually said with a wry grin. “Tell me it wasn’t just me.”

Lykou snickered. “Would certainly be his style.”

“No such luck though,” Kuna said, then rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Actually… that just made me realize something though. What if this place was made by ancient jarzin? I don’t remember seeing them on those murals.”

“I dunno… he said they don’t know who made it either,” Lykou pointed out. “And they do have a history of staying hidden and secretive, after all. Maybe even the folks that built this place didn’t really know about them. Or… they came along after it was built.”

“Maybe. But, helpful and nice as he is, he’s still a jarzin,” Kuna replied with a smirk. “He could absolutely have been lying for one reason or another.”

“You’re really more skeptical of him than you let on sometimes,” Lykou noted with some amusement. “Still a bit cynical, huh?”

“Wouldn’t say cynical,” Kuna said with a shrug. “Like I said, nothing against him. But he likes to play guessing games and doesn’t like to ‘spoil fun surprises’, remember? He might’ve just wanted us to see all this with an unbiased perspective before revealing the truth.”

“I guess,” Lykou said, then looked back at the altar in front of them. “Well… what do we do? Just leave it?”

Kuna glanced back and forth between the symbol on the altar and the glowing object. “Hmm… doesn’t… seem dangerous. It’s just life and soul essence, right? We already have a bit of both naturally,” he reasoned, then tapped his fingers on the side of the altar thoughtfully. “On the other hand, we have no idea if there’s any other kind of magic involved here.”

“Fair point, but I’d hate to leave it here and never learn anything about it,” Lykou said. “Zyn did suggest this valley was pretty safe, and I don’t think that’s something even other jarzin would lie about. If we do want to ask him about it, it’d help to be able to show it to him.” They both stared at the glowing orb thoughtfully for a minute. Finally, the konuul hesitantly reached out for it.

Kuna sucked air in through his teeth. “Careful, Kou… you know this is reckless, right?”

“Yeah,” the konuul replied, grinning at him. “I also know you haven’t tried to physically stop me yet.”

The sereva eyed him, then grinned back. “Okay, just… be careful,” he said, then summoned up his life magic. “Anything happens, I’ll be ready to patch you up.”

Lykou nodded, then slowly reached down and set his hand on the object. They waited a beat. When nothing happened, he picked it up and started looking it over. “Huh… feels… kinda cool to the touch, but super light. And smooth. Kinda like that ‘glass’ stuff, maybe?”

Kuna cautiously reached over to touch it as well, then tilted his head. “Huh. Strangely anti-climactic,” he said. “Nooot that that’s a bad thing, mind you.” Without thinking, he rested his still-glowing hand on the outer ring of the symbol on the altar. Suddenly, he felt a faint tug and was too slow to react before some life energy was sucked into the outer ring, causing it, and part of the interior symbol, to light up. He yelped and jerked back in surprise.

“Shit!” Lykou said as he looked his friend over. “You okay?”

“Y-yeah,” Kuna replied, staring at the thing. “I… guess that answers the question about it being a spirit sign, though.”

“It… only filled part of the lines, though,” Lykou noted, looking back at the altar’s surface. “I… guess the rest takes a different kind of energy.”

Kuna thought for a moment, then took a deep breath as the glow around his hand switched from green to pale blueish-white. As his hand started to move back towards the symbol, though, Lykou gently grabbed it and shot him a look.

“...you know how you said I was being reckless a minute ago?” the canid pointed out with a smirk. “That… might be a step too far, doncha think?”

Kuna smiled sheepishly. “Yyeahhh, good poi-”

Suddenly, a certain familiar squirrel dropped down from above and scrabbled down Lykou’s other arm, startling both of them. In his surprise, the konuul dropped the orb, with the squirrel jumping on top of it in the process. As both it and the object landed on the altar and tumbled to the middle, Kuna, having been jostled by the konuul’s panicked movements, bumped his still-glowing hand down on the symbol again, and immediately felt another quick jolt of energy leave him and enter the rune.

The result was immediate. The rest of the large symbol lit up and a column of light and energy rose up around the edges, causing Lykou and Kuna to stumble backwards, barely stopping themselves from falling down the steps in the process. Meanwhile, both the orb and the suddenly very confused and terrified critter started floating up in the air. The latter thrashed and flailed around in a panic. Suddenly, the sphere seemed to merge into its chest and the whole creature was quickly surrounded in a bright glow as its thrashing slowed down. The light overall began glowing brighter and brighter.

Lykou and Kuna shared a wide-eyed glance, then started backing down the steps, worried about what might be about to happen. About halfway down, there was a sudden surge of magical energy in the air, paired with a bright flash from the altar. They both winced and shielded their eyes as they were pelted with several waves of wind and magical energies that threatened to knock them down.

Finally, things settled down. As the light faded, they hazarded a look back up to the altar. They could just make out something lying on top of it. Something furry… but significantly larger than the squirrel that’d been there previously. It didn’t seem to be moving, whatever it was. After a few moments, with wide-eyed looks of disbelief, they slowly crept back up the steps, unable to resist their curiosity and fascination. Lykou grabbed his axe tightly in both hands, just to be ready in case of any danger.

When they finally got a good look at what was laying on the altar, their jaws dropped. It all added up with what they’d seen in the murals, of course. Instead of a small, wild animal, the altar now held a fully anthropomorphic- as well as nude and clearly female- version of the creature that had recently been trying to steal nuts from them.