Tao Te Ching (Mitsu)

[GEAR]

"Right. We'll be on our way shortly, Lunam..."

Fang clapped a hand about the young girl's shoulder reassuringly, before flashing a disarming grim at Oleander.

"Unless you have a problem with that, Advisor?"

Perhaps more than a little miffed from her earlier embarrassment, the Necromancer simply fumed, producing a small black fan from her person, spreading it wide to waft across her face, looking away as she spoke in mock contempt.

"Hmph. Do as you will. Whatever artifacts are located down there will have to be brought to the surface for closer examination, regardless. Just try not to break anything."

"So you're saying you want others to do the dirty, dangerous work for you?"

At this pointed accusation, the dark-dressed woman gave a haughty laugh. Surprisingly, this seemed to be echoed by her bodyguards, whose shoulders shook with a similar mirth as she leaned in, as if sharing a secret with Fang. She smelled, the Professor thought, like the kind of flowers that you left out at funerals - a kind of odor used to disguise misery.

"Oh, darling!" She chuckled; "What do you think I have you for? ✰"

...and with that final, parting barb Oleander turned on her heel, making her way back towards the tent, her attendants in tow. Fang gave a slow exhale, evidently immediately grateful to be out of the Advisor's presence, giving Lunam an apologetic look as she began to lead the way towards a large, cage-like structure located touching one of the lips of the crater, the sound of crunching gravel under their feet only further adding to the din.

"Sorry about that." She explained hurriedly;

"She was sent down to oversee the operation by government officials... reports to one of the Directors. At first I was grateful our discovery was getting so much attention, but now...?" - Fang trailed off, shaking her head in disbelief.

 

[MitsukaiNoZenkai]

"Honestly, she's a creepy person." Lunam walked alongside Fang, her frock swishing a little as she kept her pace slow to match the professor's pace to the traversal cage. "That woman is the kind of person who would march down into this place with a thousand people and come out alone and empty-handed. You're far more reasonable of a person. We're gonna work great together!"

The blonde gave Fang a sidelong glance as she spoke; trying to judge her expression as she returned to cradling her camera down by her waist in a comfortable position. That this site was under the administration of a supposedly fallen enemy was concerning. Did the Directory have some sort of magical cloning technology or something? Given her own black-ops history, the investigator didn't doubt it at all. The sound of her shoes clanking against the metal of the cage brought her out of her rapid thought train and back to the present situation.

"Still, I think ghost lady's gonna be a problem. That's the kind who likes to censor people by making them disappear. I don't wanna become a missing person on the side of a milk carton..." A slight pout formed on her face as she shifted her gaze about to make sure there was no one within earshot of a murmur. "We might have to make sure certain elements don't get lost in the shuffle so we don't go poof in the dark. Because I'm not having my work usurped by some crazy lady who bathes in bad dollar-store perfume."

 

[GEAR]

"Ghost lady, huh?" Fang chuckled; "Well... At least you'll fit nicely on the side of the carton."

Fang politely opened the door to the climber, allowing Lunam inside its cage-like structure before closing it behind herself. A simple press of a button, and the two began to descend into the dark. Thanks to the tactful implementation of EOT, the ride was surprisingly comfortable, the cage dropping down into the abyss past intermittent flares, as the sun slowly began to disappear overhead.

"As for reasonable... That's a rather bold assumption." She said quietly, her features lit only by the occasional light, yet still audible over the whine of the machine's engine as it descended.

"The discovery of EOT and Prana changed a great deal about how we perceive history.... Historians had to go back and re-examine things we had thought were just hearsay, in order to gain a better understanding of humanity - Separating fact from fiction anew. It's not something any reasonable person would want to undertake, given the scale of the work involved." She explained, sauntering over to Lunam.

"My parents wanted me to be a Doctor, but... That didn't really work out."

She gave a wry shrug, as if that was all that needed to be said. The somewhat surly and world-weary nature of the Professor indicated that, at the very least, her bedside manner was... questionable.

"How about you? How did you get involved in..." Her hand floundered in the air, like a twirling fish, grasping for the proper word as she surveyed the Full-Armor unit of equipment the young girl had loaded herself down with;

"...Photography?"

 

[MitsukaiNoZenkai]

"My grandfather." The statement was simple; tinged with a healthy dose of pride and a few notes of bitter sadness. "I'm sure you've heard of him; Kent Lumine. He was an investigative reporter and photographer years back and had all sorts of famous articles from all over the Earth Sphere. ..Until the Vanishing Trooper incident."

The young woman looked up at the fading light of the hole's entrance, then down into the abyss below them. Her smile had faded and left a hard determination as she continued. "He investigated the events surrounding the incident and came to the conclusion that there was multiple layers of sabotage, backstabbing, and general incompetence from all the major powers that culminated in the Huckebein's Black Hole Engine raging out of control and taking a lot of L3 with it. Everyone shut him down and ruined his reputation... And I'm determined to find a way to prove him right."

Her left hand gently patted her messenger bag that had accompanied her before she had laden herself down with equipment. "But to get the clout to do that, I have to build my own reputation. So here I am. There is nothing in the world or beyond that will stop me from achieving this dream, so you'd better be ready for the best recordings and photographs you'll ever see in your life. I'm going to record every inch of this place in such detail that your great grandkids will be able to smell ghost lady's bad perfume wafting down this giant hole in the ground!"

And there was Lunam's boundless confidence and million giga-watt smile back; the fire burning in her eyes again as she clearly intended to make good on her promises.

 

[GEAR]

At the mention of "Kent Lumine", Fang's eyebrows raised sharply in surprise. One of the more notable names of the century, as far as photography was concerned - yet, as Lunam had said, he had been cast down as a conspiracy theorist, an unpatriotic hack, a washed-up had-been peddling tabloid trash for pennies... Yet, here was this girl singing his praises, glowing like a miniature sun.

This girl, she thought, has the trappings of a great hero in troubled times. The kind of true, earnest, and keen soul the world needs.

Were it only that you could carry even the smallest spark of that tender warmth within your own heart.​

...?

What, what?

Fang's thoughts were interrupted as the cage ground to a halt, causing her to stumble, and cast about, suspiciously.

It... was just the two of them, wasn't it? Yet, for just a moment, there were... thoughts that were not hers, in her own voice, yet not consciously willed. For an inexact amount of time, she stared off into the depths before them, listening to the gentle plip-plop of condensation dripping from the ceiling, allowing her heartbeat to slow. Must have been my imagination.

"I think your Grandfather would be very proud of you." She said, at length, looking at Lunam as the door of the cage rolled up, leaving her to step out.

The area immediately before them was like something out a of a theater. A massive, oriental gate set into the rock, as though it had been violently wedged into the substrate, a spiral staircase leading down from its entryway. Fang picked up a large flashlight from the ground, and beckoned for Lunam to follow.

"I, ah... Don't have any kids of my own..." She continued, somehow feeling lame compared to the young girl's impassioned words. "But... you seem like a good one, for what it counts. Or at least, I would like it if they talked about me like that."

Once more feeling that was an awkward place to stop as she fiddled with the device, she spoke once more, giving it a hearty slap that caused it to hum to life at last.

"Two marriages down the drain... Can't say I'm really up for a third, know what I mean?"

Of course she won't, she chided herself immediately, the beam scanning the gloom ahead.

With that, Fang began to lead her down the staircase. Braziers had been set into its walls ones that flickered to life with ochre, Od flame, and the material underfoot was marbled jade cut to exact specifications with nary a single sign of age. The walls were polished and flawless, yet every inch was inscribed with volume after volume of characters, which faded in and out across its surface. Fang watched them with some small measure of interest as they descended, lapsing into silence - perhaps to let the young woman do her work without being further prodded with awkward questions.

 

[MitsukaiNoZenkai]

The conversation was met with an ever-so-slight dimming of the smile that flicked back up into full power once the cage rolled up. Even as they approached the impressive architecture Lunam had clearly darted out in front of the Professor, which would likely cause her to startle in surprise at Lunam's sheer speed when she was in work mode. Her black mary janes went tktktktktktktktktktktk on the flawless jade flooring as she darted back and forth waving the camera like she was simply spraying the walls with the handheld camera's line of sight.

What Fang would notice once she got used to the blonde's startling speed was that she was actually pausing almost perfectly still each time she took a picture of the pillars, the floors, the shifting walls and their no-doubt arcane writings... Her finger on the picture-taking button twitched at a phenomenal rate that perfectly matched the half-heartbeat pause each time, making it clear as the older woman observed that there was a reason Lunam chose to use high-capacity digital media storage for a project like this. With normal film she'd have to stop and change rolls every twelve seconds or so and that would have been horrible.

The frock swished back and forth as the Boosted Child made a quick but clearly thorough sweep of the area of the entrance with the large camera in her hands before she'd made a circuit. Pausing in the middle of the entrance way, she took the opportunity to switch out the datacard in the handheld camera before she fastened it to one of the numerous straps she had festooned herself with. Thus freeing her hands, the video camera came up over her shoulder with one hand followed by the tripod for it being shrugged off into the other hand. With clearly practiced motions she hooked them together, adjusted the height of the legs after critically eyeing the floor near one of the walls with the fading text, and placed it facing the wall after consulting her laser range finder.

"Having children is a big responsibility," Lunam said finally. It had been at least ten minutes since she'd started and not a peep had come out of her the whole time she'd been bouncing around doing her work. "Marriages falling through might be because you haven't found the right person. Some people just don't work well together. Others are inseparable, while yet others have at least one of them be a monster the other fears. We humans are fragile creatures in some respects. In this line of work, you see all kinds of things. It wouldn't hurt to make sure you don't close your heart, or you really will be alone... And people go crazy from being alone too long. We're social animals."

Having set up the recording device to follow the wall's shifting texts and ensuring it was set to go by itself for a while, she turned to where Fang had probably paused to wait for her and swished her way to her side. "That's why I like you more than ghost lady. Someone like her's already fallen into worshiping the darkness in all human hearts.. It's too late for her. You still have hope. Don't give up, or you'll join her in the abyss." The large camera had found it's way back into her hands and she half-shrugged in the direction of deeper in. "Shall we?"

 

[GEAR]

Watching Lunam at work put an inexplicable chill down Fang's spine. There was something about that child's movements, the way she darted so freely back and forth, even while encumbered with so much equipment, the twirling and whirling of her feet across the floor... that was tugging at a corner of the Professor's mind. It was the same area of her brain that housed the old primordial fears, of lithe forms and golden eyes darting through the undergrowth, stalking their prey. She simply watched in rapt silence as Lunam chatted away amicably, dispensing wisdom beyond her years, before noticing her knuckles had turned white on the flashlight's handle.

"...Oh." She said at last, at Lunam's question, shaking her head to clear out the cobwebs, suddenly conscious of the fact that she had barely dared to breathe the past two minutes.

It's just your imagination. She told herself, leading the way further down the steps. She's just a kid. All of them move like greased lightning these days.

...Right?

The stairwell opened up into a wide chamber, the two passing through another, similar "gate" that was locked into the rock as they did so. It was...

"...A cave?"

Sure enough, a kind of rank dampness filled the air around them as the exited onto a plateau of sorts. Before the two stretched out a large, impossibly vast cavern of dark blue rock, veins of running, pale-green water running in tight, carefully carved patterns below them. More characters had been scrawled into the rock at different intervals, fading in and out of existence - yet their placement too seemed highly precise, forming a series of lines that was reminiscent of an octagon.

"Look." Said Fang, raising her flashlight and pointing towards the walls; "These rock formations... are completely different from what was above. I'm not an expert, but I'd say that this is far closer to what we uncovered in China."

She turned back to regard the cavern. As they looked on, plumes of flame occasionally burst into being, drifting through the air like will-o' wisps, or Saint Elmo's fire, casting curious shadows lit by large, yet inert shapes just on the fringes of their vision. Maybe it was something about the air down here, Fang thought, but... she was really starting to get a headache. A dull pounding at the very forefront of her skull, not loud, not especially painful... but persistent.

"Does this make any sense to you?" Asked the Professor to Lunam, as her torch swept over even more steps set into the plateau, conversationally.

 

[MitsukaiNoZenkai]

Lunam quietly observed the cavern before them. She wouldn't admit it at the moment but there was a feeling of pressure here. The part of her psyche that governed her psychic powers was quietly revving itself up in response.

"Hmm." The camera went click-click-click as she pondered a more proper response to the question. Even in the midst of the growing feeling of the very air pushing against them the young Lumine was intent on doing her job. "I'll have to move the video recorder down here after the stuff up there finally loops around... Though the pattern is pretty obvious." In the dim glow of the water in the floor and the harsh glow of the flashlight, Lunam's eyes seemed to take on a dangerous glint that wasn't reflected in her expression. "If I had to guess, this part is what makes ghost lady scared to come down here. I'm not an expert on it but don't geometric shapes in ancient places these days mean magical tomfoolery is afoot? Octagons are popular for that kinda thing in China, right?"

Eyeballing the cave-hall and it's likely spooky connotations, the Terra Sentinel operative once more slung her camera before unslinging the long strap that had held the video recorder that was back along the way. Unlooped it was a pretty good length, and Lunam stepped up to the edge of the cave mouth. With a sharp crack her right arm suddenly blurred as she snapped the end with the metal carabiner like a whip past the threshold into the air of the cave itself. She gave it a moment or ten then not noticing anything unusual from already observed behavior, Lunam chose to take two steps back, turn gently on her heel in a way that made her frock flare out in a pert manner before it settled back down.

The immediate concern of the cave before them was put on the back burner as she glared back towards the way they'd come; a cute little scrunch to her face as she scrutinized the gloom as if expecting something to have tried to come up behind them. It wasn't enough that any imaginary hackles would have been raised, but the belt in her right hand was gripped tightly enough that it was clear she was ready to smack something if it tried anything. The gloom didn't seem to give her any answer, though. Her face loosened into a thoughtful semi-pout as she looked to Fang.

"Guess they didn't do the smart thing and put the trap behind us," she half-questioningly stated with a little shrug.

 

[GEAR]

Fang gave a noticeable start as Lunam's hand blurred, and seemed to freeze as the carbiner tumbled through the air, clattering against something in the distance. Seconds passed... but no divine retrubution seemed to be forthcoming, and she eventually exhaled, gratefully. In the meanwhile, her mind was working overtime as she walked foward, the torch now somewhat less necessary as more phantom lamps pulsed into being, forming a winding path of light before the two of them.

A great many seals, yet no traps? Her mind was racing. It was as if this place was never intended to be visited, not ever - the sheer amount of seals placed upon it were indication enough, but the mismatched rock and materials had another, more fantastic idea boiling away at the back of her mind, one related to the more modern sciences that had come up regarding Dimensional Transfer. Could it be possible?

"It's called a Bagua, and it's a Taoist symbol." She explained to Lunam, pointing to the octagonal shape of the chamber as they walked. All around the two of them, the earth rose and fell unevenly - the rock was cast into curious shapes that threw fearsome shadows on the wall around them, and a faint sense of other would doubtlessly have prickled at the base of the young Psychodriver's skull, that vague sense that there were other entities, unseen but not unfelt, that were aware of their presence.

"Specifically... It appears to be the earliest kind, dating back to about 1100 AD. That means... Either this structure has been added to over time, or the concept is far older than we had previously believed."

Fang's finger stabbed out, tracing the different directions, following the corners of the room as she indicated each corner in turn:

"Each section represents a different element... Sky, Wind, Water, Mountain, Earth, Thunder, Fire, and Lake. Together, they make up the world that we know... or, so the idea goes."

Close to the center of the circle, Fang paused, bringing a hand up to her chin as she looked about once more. Even from the vantage point they had entered from, the poor lightning made it all but impossible for them to get a birds-eye view of the place... but perhaps the young woman could help?

"Do you have a Drone of some kind in there?" She asked, gesturing to Lunam's backpack;

"If you send it up, we can get a better look at the whole formation."

 

[MitsukaiNoZenkai]

"A drone? Ah, right!" Lunam turned back and trotted politely alongside Fang as she reached towards her left side this time and freed a case about the size of an old encyclopedia book from another strap. The professor would easily recognize this as one of the new-fangled Extra-Over Technology camera drones, and her thoughts would be confirmed as the young woman flipped open the top to reveal a laptop-style controller with a flatish palm-sized stark-white camera drone clipped into a little port. It was the work of a few button presses to get the little disk to float silently skywards, then make the case's lid show the multiple views of the drone's built-in camera arrays on the built-in display.

"The resolution's not super great on these new-fangled drones," she said with an audible pout even though the feed was crystal-clear and looked to be flawless. One could mark it up to Lunam's bias as a young woman who preferred to use handheld cameras, though. "But it should get up to height in a moment.. Aaaaaand.. There!" The views of the cameras solidified on the screen into a display of their immediate surroundings. Thanks to the camera's angles and some processing power tucked into the controller deck the resulting stitching of fields of view quickly generated a semi-3D display of the surroundings, clearly centered on the two of them since Lunam had the controller and she was beside Fang. "Yup, definitely an octagon pattern going on here. I wouldn't chalk it up to being older than anything, though. For all we know this could be from the future or something! Magic is weird."

At the same time all of this was going on, her Psychodriver senses were now on high alert. Moving further into this place was pinging faint presences on her mental radar; as though each new step brought her through another layer she could look back through and see things behind her. None of them seemed hostile at the moment and Lunam would like for them to stay that way. Now the question was whether or not to try to reach out herself?

"Nothing ventured, nothing gained," she whispered softly to herself. Fang probably wouldn't be able to hear it even with the otherwise silent structure not distracting her. Lunam Lumine took a slightly deeper breath and gently reached into the noospheric aether.

【..Hello?】

 

[GEAR]

Fang waited patiently as the Drone did its work, flicking a lighter absent-mindedly as she did. It seemed unlikely that whatever was down here would be disturbed by a little smoke... except, of course, for the young girl beside her. That dewy-eyed stare could have weaned even the most hardened of drug addicts off their product of choice through through WMD-strength guilt-tripping.

As the image was mapped out before them though, it nearly slipped from the Professor's grasp as her jaw fell in shock.

Viewed from overhead, the Bagua's construction was incredibly ornate, wrought of jade, marble, gold, and silver - it was like a thousand statues, all intimately woven together into a great tapestry. Each quadrant seemed to tell its own story -of warriors battling against creatures that almost defied description, all fangs, eyes, and teeth in a whirling cloud, driving it back beneath the earth. Two sections apiece depicted the rise and fall of some great monstrosity - a leering, laughing face, a tusked beast, a faceless monster... and one other, now unreadable for its related section had been violently demolished... As though something had torn free from below, yet no damage was present above the two women.

At the center of it all, buried face down, was what appeared to be a massive bird of some kind, crimson wings splayed behind it - yet great cracks had now run across its back, snaking off a corner of the edifice. the interior of these glowed a faint red, like veins of magma, carved into the rock, as though the bird were "bleeding".

"What..." Stammered Fang,

"...is this...?"

[ . . . ]​

Lunam's thoughts unfurled into the darkness of the celestial prison like creeping vines, rolling over the gibbering professor to her right, curling through the nooks and crannies of the night. Her thoughts were like a ping of sorts, an echo that floated from wall to wall in search of a receptive mind. For a moment, there seemed to be a kind of hesitation - something was there, certainly, but what was uncertain... Until slowly, with great care, a voice began to speak into her own, answering the call with its own.

To call it "human" would have been wrong - it exhumed a kind of ancient warmth, of heat, that flowed through the body and lit the senses aflame. There was a sense that, with just the smallest amount of effort, it could well have been a raging inferno that sundered the mind - but perhaps such days were long past, leaving only smoldering embers - a kind, feminine voice, like the heat of a home's hearth that warmed the heart.

[ Beside my bed a pool of light -
Is it hoarfrost on the ground?
I lift my eyes and see the moon,
I bend my head and think of home. ]