Feathered scale

Cracks of thunder could be heard in the air around as Nicola broke the ancient runes of that formation, one by one.

The door and stone wall began to flash in a bright red color and made a high-pitched noise. The reamaining arrays activated one after another, but because of the damage they took over time, they could only produce a series of sparks and hiss before imploding with a thud.

Nicola kept looking around, waiting for something to happen but nothing did for a while and the two entered the cube in front of them.

The decor looked simple, the room was decorated with just a table, a chair and a few corner cupboards. Nicola and Tuatha split in search of something to give them a bit of information. Tuatha went to the cupboards and Nicola went to inspect the table.

On top of the table he found remnants of papers that had long since deteriorated into dust, only a few pieces could still be seen in one piece, and the pieces of information were written in a language he didn't understand.

In addition, on the table there was a quill pen for writing and some, very old, personal belongings of the person who used that place before. Nicola rummaged through the drawers, finding a hidden bottom inside a drawer. Inside this secret compartment he found a ring and a box, which he soon removed and placed on the table.

Nicola analyzed the ring and saw that it was a very old space ring with runes that were no longer used and decided to give it a try.

When he put the ring on he felt there was only one object inside and he put it out. It was a preserved sheet, but to his delight there was nothing written, just a drawing that he could analyze.

In that drawing was represented where they were, a great stone room filled with blue cubes. Nicola could see between the cubes many people coming and going, all of them dressed in the same clothes.

A bluish-green uniform that covered her entire body. Some carried swords, others carried spears and shields. In the center of that drawing was a person, Nicola had doubts if it was really a human, its characteristics would be very similar to humans if not for the representation of feathers and scales that covered some parts of its skin.

The man's image carried grandeur and power, like a great general standing at the head of his troop. He wore the same uniform and carried a halberd in his hand.

Nicola then took his eyes off the image and looked at the box on the table. There were no formations sealing off his access, but he still prevented himself by casting several detection spells before opening it.

What was inside the box exceeded Nicola's expectations. He had noticed that the box had a very strong content preservation feature, so maybe this item was not stored in the ring either. What was inside the box was a feathered scale, the same scale he had seen on the central person of that earlier drawing.

What impressed him most was not the feathered scale itself, but the feeling it gave to him, just one scale was enough to cause a feeling of oppression, apparently that scale seemed to have belonged to a very powerful person for even just a part of his body left behind so long could still overwhelm him.

Yet even as he felt overwhelmed he felt a vague sense of familiarity with the scale in front of him, making his seven horns throb.

Nicola touched the feathered scale and received a notification from the system.

[Ding! Demon ancestor remains found. The demon from which this feathered scale originated ranks far above the host's bloodline in the hierarchy of demons. The host is able to choose to absorb the inheritance left in the genetic information of that sample through the gluttony sin.]

[Probability of successful absorption: 90%]

[Probability of mutation and evolution of demonic lineage: 03%]

"Nicola, I think I found out what this place was. Come see what I found" Tuatha's sentence snapped him out of his reverie and brought him back to reality. He quickly decided to close the box and created a simple sealing matrix around it before sending it to the tower inside the space artifact.

"What did you think? I might also have an idea of what this place is." Nicola asked.