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Saturday, April 25

Secret of Semar: Prologue

Kham was led to the central fortress, a large squat stone tower with smaller side buildings flanking it before they melded into the massive walls that surrounded the city. The boy moved unerringly through the winding streets towards the entrance. The walls of the buildings appeared pocked marked and scorched. Some very heavy fighting had taken place there.

Kham shouldered past a series of weary but agitated sentries with but a few words. It was not long before he was being led downward, deeper into the bowels of the citadel. The air became progressively cooler and damp the further he penetrated the foundations of the fortress.

Ilmarė looked around, eyes wide. “This looks familiar.”

“Yes, the construction reminds me—“ began Beldin.

“Don’t say it,” interrupted Kham. “I know what you’re going to say. Just don’t say it.”

Finally, the runner stopped before an immense door made of dark wood and bound by steel. A few moments later he banged on the door, it swung open easily. A reddish glow suffused the chamber within.

They had arrived at the bottommost chamber of the citadel. It was a huge room, over a hundred feet square. It was featureless, with the exception of a central platform ten feet high. Four sets of ramps led up to the top of the platform where an irregularly shaped stone ring stood. The eerie red glow came from the empty central portion of the ring, bathing everything within the chamber with its light.

“A Ssethregoran gate,” Ilmarė said quietly, despite Kham’s protests.

“I told you not to say it,” muttered Kham. [MORE]

Labels: arcanis

posted by Mike Tresca at 7:31 AM

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