Schism

Despite his state, Rethys judged that, with a little healing to stabilize his wounds' bleeding, he would be ready to move again after his energy was restored. But he wouldn't go back after just setting foot in this place, and with nothing to show for it. He resolved that he would either emerge with the runic lexicon or gain some clue towards finding it.

The fight with the ice mage was successful but too costly for him and the next fight would have to go better if he were to try and explore somewhat effectively, especially so if he couldn't clear this place due to the creatures resisting his exorcising. His other option was to try and find their summoning circles and disarm those, but he would have to consult Sevi about that.

In the end he stabilized his most pressing wounds and stayed near the ice wielder's corpse, waiting for his energy to return and for his body to naturally recover some more. The enhanced healing factor from his improved physique, as well as his diet of ether-rich daemon meat saw him recovering at frightening speeds.

Meanwhile, he kept himself busy with occasionally checking the journals and paperwork strewn all over the surprisingly intact workshop. Noting that the documents probably survived thanks to being magically-made, he took to skimming over their content in the hopes of finding anything even remotely useful.

But apart from the fact that the script in them was even rougher than the ones he found in the previous workshops, Rethys found nothing truly useful.

What he did find however, were more clues as to what happened in Yvtar. And while they weren't exactly helpful, they could be in the future.

What he found were records of daemonic summoning and possession, details, data and metrics going over all sorts of magical processes centering around daemons. It recounted their features, including element, nature, bearing and aspects, whatever all of that meant, before eventually also describing their would-be hosts, similarly in concerning detail.

None of the information written there was useful to him, as he already had the ability to identify creatures at a glance and from a safe distance using his senses, but what he found still painted a very interesting, albeit unsettling image.

The documents were as comprehensive as they were harrowing, even to Rethys who could understand little of the magical jargon that filled them.

'Did they use... civilians to summon these things.' Rethys thought, his eyes wide reading the paper describing the most revolting things imaginable in far too much detail.

After some time, the creature laying dead near him shuffled and began moving, or rather contorting strangely, breaking the young man out of his contemplation.

Approaching the Water-wielding creature, Rethys could see how a bright white light shone from it as Purity ether enveloped it and brought it back to full health. He noted both how, regardless of injuries, a singular spell completely restored the creature's condition, as well as how the element of Purity was seemingly also capable of healing.

'With Sevi's element, that makes three elements that can heal.' He remarked to himself, committing this useful information to memory.

Despite the creature being healed however, Rethys was right next to it, and before it could do anything, he brutally shoved its vulnerable head against the stone floor, disabling it once again. He then tried once more to exorcise its soul, only to for the ice wielder to once again wrap its soul in a thick barrier of ether.

'Pointless.' He concluded, seeing that the creature performed the same feat faster and stronger this time, which confirmed his suspicions of this kind of creature's superior faculties.

He wasn't disheartened however, as he had got what he expected from the creature. Now that he knew how long creatures stayed disabled, at roughly four hours, and he was once again in shape to continue exploring, Rethys had no reason to stay in this room any longer.

Rising to his feet, he packed a few of the more interesting documents lying around and walked through one of the doors opposite to the entrance from which he came, stepping into the dimly lit hallway.

'Finally, something helpful...' He rejoiced inwardly at the refreshing sight.

He was more than just a bit exhausted at this point from seeing the same dark stone corridor for over a thousand times. And though this one also looked the exact same, it had the amazing addition of magical lamps affixed to the walls, providing generous lighting.

Moving from corridor to corridor in a steady pace, he avoided the movements of the creatures that dwelled here, all the while doing his best to get a good survey of it. He hoped to use what he had seen with the entity's help to navigate around, but decided not to rely on those visions. A more thorough examination would serve him better than a simple mental map, and he kept his senses sharp.

And as he wandered the stone halls bathed in soft blue light, he kept his senses focused on his surroundings, avoiding the wandering patterns of the creatures that inhabited this place and trying his best to keep them in his senses while staying out of range of theirs. And after more than an hour of what seemed to be leisurely walking but was anything but, Rethys had finished what he thought was a thorough enough assessment of this ritual wing.

His findings were displeasing to say the least, as they confirmed what he had seen when he first ran his senses through the area, as well as showing him new problems that he had to work around.

Robed creatures similar to the ice-wielding one he had fought patrolled the hallways in very regular motions that took them through the entirety of the place, including its every nook and cranny. Others took it upon themselves to stand vigil in each and every one of the workshops, making it impossible to access any of them without a fight.

And though their behavior added a welcome element of predictability to the otherwise unpredictable Yvtari catacombs, it proved that the Water element wielder he had fought was no exception, and that every single being that inhabited this place possessed unusual levels of cognizance. Combined with the fact that these things had unbound cores of varying elements, Rethys was in for a hard time if he were to try and find the runic lexicon.

The only good thing about this creatures was that, unless he was very unlucky, he wouldn't have to fight two of them at once, as he could time his fights properly and exploit the creatures' organized habits.

Another quirk of the place itself that he had to deal with was the sheer density of magical objects strewn all over it, which clouded Rethys' senses. This was especially noticeable when distant rooms overlapped to his vision, rendering them nothing more than blinding spectacles of light that he couldn't gain any information from.

If that wasn't enough, the geometry of this place was strange. He already descended into this place through a passage in the westernmost edges of the catacombs, near the sea cliffs. He expected the place to then head eastwards towards where the rest of the underground expanse lay, but this place stretched westwards instead.

Rethys' sense of direction at this point was extraordinary, thanks to spending two whole weeks navigating using not visible light, but instead the ambient flows of ether. His method used the difference in these flows in conjunction with unmoving ethereal landmarks such as Sevi's room, the center of the catacombs, and the surface to form a veritable map that he used to get around.

This has given him spatial and directional awareness unthinkable for a human, and these senses told him that, if his calculations were right, he should be right above the ocean now, some distance away from shore.

But that information was instantly contradicted, as apart from his calculations, his immediate senses told him he was still underground, surrounded by stone structures which themselves were carved into subterranean rock. Despite that however, his senses also told him that the place continued on further westwards into space that shouldn't be.

This schism between what he felt and what he thought he knew disoriented him immensely. The only thing he could know was that this place either messed with his senses, or had special properties with distance and position that Rethys couldn't fathom, not with his meager magical knowledge.

All of this combined with the fact that he would only have around four hours to explore before he had to fight the restored ice mage made for a nightmarish scenario. If not for the urgency of finding the runic lexicon, Rethys would not have for even a moment considered staying in these ritual rooms.

'What to do...'

He was conflicted, on one side he didn't want to come out of this place empty handed, on the other he didn't want to stay here at all, after all it was his life on the line. At this point, the confidence he gained from his recent advancement was almost completely gone, replaced with a realization that he was still in bloody Yvtar, where the slightest misstep meant death or worse.

Still, fear wouldn't grab hold of him so easily, not as he was now, and his mind ran and ran and eventually settled on staying, despite his better judgement.

'It's okay, it'll be fine as long as I make it back before the ice mage gets up.' He concluded, wanting to make progress regardless of cost.

He doubted from what he saw that anything could outright kill him quickly enough to prevent him from running away in one piece. As long as there was life in him, he'd run away when things went south.

His reasoning followed that he should do try to accomplish the most he can with the window of opportunity he had before turning back, at which point Sevi's insight would hopefully help decipher this place's strange quirks a bit.

And so, his mind made, Rethys approached one of the expansive workshops that dotted the strange wing of the catacombs, hoping that the strength of the mage he targeted would match what his senses told him.