⬡ The Tomb of Brass Seraphs ⬡

A pleasant sea breeze sweeps across the sun kissed port town of Cedar. The streets are filled with commoners and mages of all age and professions, all minding their own business, with Red among one of them. A hired mercenary who mercilessly killed the unjust and evil, he must behave himself, most especially since its citizens are under the protection of Dies Irae, a militarized guild whose goals match his.

Though... he can't help but think of joining a guild. There's only so much a lone mage can do during missions. Hell, he almost got himself killed back in the compound in Desierto. At the same time, he loathes the idea of having a companion in missions. Who knows when they will catch him unaware and kill him?

It is not the right time to ponder over things, however, as he has another job to do. Francois, the rune knight who claimed to be his 'brother', sent him a missive with a very personal request. In it also contains an advanced payment for his services. Why they can't meet personally, he doesn't know. Most likely busy due to his profession as a rune knight.

He is to meet 2 people. In the letter, it details how he might remember them. Seeing them would jog his memory. I see he's still trying to make me remember. Persistent little bugger. He thought to himself. The missive also contains descriptions of these 2 individuals: one a small orange haired elf with starry orange eyes, and another who looks just like him, except with a much shorter hair, auburn brown hair similar to Francois', and emerald green eyes. "Look for those two. They stand out the most." It said, whatever it means.

He arrives at the port where the missive said where they would be. There's too many people at this time. Perhaps he should come back at another time?

Just as he was about to leave the port, a voice calls out to him. "Yo! Michael brother!" He turns around and spots an orange hair the pokes out among the crowd. It waves its hands, trying to get his attention. As the crowd disperses, a small elf with a literal star in his eyes stood before him with a gleeful expression. He sports a white buttoned top, its sleeves rolled up, and a brown leather vest. He wears a black pants and brown leather shoes, and carries what seems to be some sort of... camping gear? 

The midget elf runs towards him with an excitable grin and tackle hugs him. He is definitely short, and acts all childish. Confused, he pushes him away. "I... who are you?" Red asks. He already thought of what the elf is about to say. "Don't you recognize your older brother? It's me! Cinna!"

As expected.

"Are you one to invade everyone's personal space?" He pinches the elf's ears, agitated, though he did so subconsciously. "I am not! I am not! Anyways, did brother Franz send you?" He asked as he took off his brother's hands away from his ears. "I did. Where is the other one? I believe there was two of you."

"Ah, Ozwald? He already went ahead to the ruins." Cinna says, and Red has a look of confusion. "I don't believe Francois briefed me of my job. He only sent me a missive and have me look for you guys." He says as he pulls out the letter Francois sent to him. It looks very formal, with seal and all, which resembles an aster. Its writings are all in some very fancy font, but still legible even for the most uneducated. "Ah, yes. To summarize, Oz and I found an entrance to some sort of ancient ruins while we were on our way to Cedar. It's not that far." Cinna says, folding the letter and stashing it to his pockets. "We should be on our way." Cinna says. Red nods in agreement. After Cinna went and unpacked his things in a nearby inn, the siblings... or 'siblings' walked their way to where the 3rd member is.

Ozwald.

The destination of the ruins they discovered was not far from Cedar. They then traversed across the beach and eventually found what seems to be ruins of some sorts just by the shoreline cliffs.

It didn't specify that only he and the two other siblings will embark on a journey inside an unknown temple. As soon as the temple was within sight, they noticed not one, but a group of archaeologists and scholars at the entrance to the tomb. Unfinished tents litter the front entrances with hardy workers laboring to get the tents finished. They must have just arrived as well. As they walked closer, they spot the other sibling, Ozwald. He bears a strikingly similar appearance to he and Francois, only with a shorter hair, emerald green eyes, and a garb befitting a chronicler. He carries around a book of some sorts, reading it.

"I didn't know there was a group involved," say Red, "In fact, the missive doesn't say anything about a group. Can we can trust them?" "There's a reason we needed a wizard, bro. You see, after we discovered this ancient ruins, we set out to the Alumni of Grimwold to ask for assistance in procuring any artifacts or documents. If you forgot, just like what Francois claimed, then let's just say they are a collective of non-magic users who prefer studying and discovering breakthroughs. Research. Boring stuff."

As they approach the group, Ozwald was the first to greet the new arrivals. "Greetings, Cinna! And... bloody hell! Michael is that you?" He says, shocked at the sight of his brother, one who they assumed to be dead in the past. Red gives off another confused look. "Why does everyone keep calling me Michael..." He muttered to himself. Ozwald tried to extend his arms to embrace his long lost sibling, however, Cinna was quick to interject. "So! About the trip."


"Ah. As you can see, we just finished with our preliminary investigation in the outskirts. We, or shall I say, I did not find any traps of magical nature... so far. But! I daresay we should conduct a preliminary investigation on a few rooms." Ozwald says as he closes his book. He runs off and rallies the group, all of them eager to enter the ruins. The two just watches as their sibling gives orders to them, some continuing setting up a base camp outside, and some starting their preparations in cooking supper.

A small group of scholars and archaeologists banded together with him and the siblings as they traversed the halls of what remains of the ruins. Angelic statues greet the team, some covered in moss while some are just a pile of rubble. Red adjusted his HeXcry to be opaque, looking for dots around their vicinity. He bookmarks their dots as "friendly" and labelled them as green.

They never even delved that deep into the ruins when Red ordered them to halt. Only darkness linger within the ruins as no torch has been lit. He conjures a diagram that resembles a hexagon. As he finishes casting the spell, a live 3d feed of his surrounding area appears, similar to the one on his HeXcry. "It's safe if we do it this way. There's no telling what trap you may trigger." Everyone nods in unison.

Upon closer inspection to the (partial) live map of the ruins, there appears to be 8 rooms within its vicinity - 3 of which may hold some information or artifact. What's interesting is there are some sort of clockwork parts scattered around the ruins. The statues themselves also incorporate clockwork designs. The map also reveals walls that aren't exactly dead ends, but it appears to be sealing off the further ruins. He observes mechanisms that he suspect may be a trap.

Debating amongst themselves, the scholars and archaeologists suggested they move to one of the rooms of significance. It's the room to their right. They enter a large room that appears to be a library of some sorts. Instead of books, scrolls litter the shelves. They also look like in pristine condition. To the scholars, this is a treasure trove for them.

At the center of the room lay a single book. Ozwald takes interest in this book and finds it odd that there is a book in a room full of scrolls. It is as if it was meant to be discovered. "I daresay this would make a great place for scholars to convene. Shame it's a tomb."

While the scholars took their time in the library, Red investigated the perimeter of the library, checking for traps, staring at statues, etc. No trap so far. "This... will take awhile for us to decipher." Says one of the scholars. "This is a language i never read about. Cross referencing scripts and decoding these will be a pain." Says another.

Minutes become hours. The sun sets and it was time for them to get back to camp where fresh stew and delicious meals await them. They couldn't make much progress on day 1. They collected a few scrolls to decipher back to camp where the rest of their resources are. There was not much action going in the tomb, but he feels relieved knowing that the team is safe... for now.

Ozwald rallies the group to make an announcement. "Well! We have some good news and bad news. The good new is we managed to get a hold of some scrolls!" The team cheers, delighted that they can uncover more information about some lost civilization. "The bad news is we didn't make any considerable progress. The scrolls had us stumped so we'll have to try later." The team who delved in the tomb sighs in frustration. The mood shifted to happiness as the food was all ready to be eaten.

Ozwald pulled Red to the side in hopes of talking to him. "I hope we can rely on your help tomorrow, brother. We're not even halfway done investigating the ruins." He says.

"I know, I know. I did not expect this trip to last long." Red sighs, "Still. I'm the only one who can keep everyone safe. I do hope you will compensate me for this."

"I will." He says. Red bids Ozwald farewell as he and Cinna leaves the encampment for Cedar. While Red is back at camp protecting the non-mages from harm, Ozwald is out to send Cinna safely to Cedar and then head back at camp. "I apologize if this was a... boring dungeon delving activity, or whatever you call it." He says, apologetic. "No worries! I got some inspiration from being in the tomb after all. Angels and gears! The possibilities are endless!" He exclaims. "So uh... what did you find?"

Ozwald brings out the book he grabbed from the tomb. Staring at it intently, he could feel a faint magical power originating from it. "Did you know what that place was?" Cinna asked another. "It appears we in ..." He stares at it once more.


"... the Tomb of the Brass Seraphs."

Ozwald and his brothers have only known the Brass Seraphs as anything but a myth that draws and inspires a child's imaginations. It was a tale passed on by their mother when they were but a wee child who knew nothing of the world. It was assumed a work of fiction for children to spark their imaginations and inspire them to become inventors in this modern age of magic. The tale was written in children's books with cartoon-ish characters. Something that would draw the interest of children. However, the discovery of the tomb changes everything.

Not only are the Brass Seraphs real, but it also contains minute information of the existence of artifacts. The Brass Seraphs is a collective of magic engineers who dabble on machines that uncover the mysteries of paradox space and the fabric of space-time. It is their morbid curiosity on incomprehensible phenomena and unbridled thirst for knowledge that ultimately led them to their downfall, for their artifacts went awry. No traces of their existence were ever found, nor did the place continue to function without its denizens. Only the artifacts of brass and steel was left behind.

These artifacts, when toyed with, distort the fabric of space and time itself. According to the book Ozwald acquired from his latest trek within the hallowed halls of the tomb, their latest experiment was to undo time within a specific perimeter. Preliminary experiments succeeded without any incident. The later experiments, however, proved to be unsettling for the engineers. They paid no heed to it, as the book dictates, and what they did only disrupted the thread of time and fabric of space. No further details were inscribed within the book as the next pages were left blank.

If anything, this serves as a reminder not to trifle with powers they could not fathom, and a lesson the Brass Seraphs never learned until it was too late.

A new day dawns. No incident has occurred on the Alumni of Grimwold. Not on Red's watch. He made sure the encampment close to the ruin entrance was not disturbed by inhospitable beasts and savage creatures. They weren't kidding when they are magicless. He more or less deduced they don't have the capacity to use magic thus they resolved to staying in the sidelines, investigating lost ruins and the likes for information.

Unfortunately, they haven't decoded anything at all from the scrolls of texts they procured from the library back in the ruins. Cross referencing texts and glyphs didn't help at all in translating the entire document. This is an entirely different language they're dealing with.

Red got up and prepared himself, immediately scouting the perimeter for any sign of danger. A bookmarked dot from his HeXcry could be seen just moving towards the encampment. It was Ozwald. He greeted hello at Red as the two of them faced each other. "G'morning brother. How was the first night?" He asked, feeling happy to meet his brother once more. "No threat lingered about the encampment. Don't think the collective is in any immediate danger." Red replied, crossing his arms. It didn't cross his mind that Ozwald was talking about him. "You wound me, brother. And here I thought your memories would come back."

He observed the midget elf is not with him. "He's not coming?" He asked. "Oh, Cinna? He is actually in Cedar for some other endeavor. Surely you must remember Cinna's passion for the arts?" He said as Red just gave him a blank expression. He does not remember anything. At all. "I don't."

He gives up trying to jog Red's memory and decides to focus on the task at hand. He ran to the researches to query their progress. By the looks on the researchers' faces, they don't look like they didn't have any progress in translating the texts. "We tried cross-referencing materials we have, but no luck." One of the researchers said in a very frustrating tone, and eventually calmed down. After pondering their next move, Ozwald finally thought of something. "Perhaps there are materials within the facility that might help? Mayhap we'll have progress there. I'll be assigning a team to extract these scrolls and send them to the facility for more research."

A few hours later, the team assigned in transporting the goods left the encampment, heading for their base. Meanwhile, it is time for another trek inside the ruins. Something doesn't sit right with Ozwald, however. Why is does the passages within the book all written in their common tongue? It was as if it was meant to be.

Red once more conjures a map in front of the group, stressing the fact that most of these rooms are empty. The researchers insist they take a look themselves. They can't trust information displayed by his magic due to their belief that 'One must bear witness to evidence, else it is no evidence at all', or so they say. They do have a point. Information relayed by magic can only do so much.

They pass through the rooms, and surprise surprise, nothing valuable rests within these desolate rooms save for furniture too old to be used. As the walk even deeper in the ruins to go towards one of the rooms that is assumed to possess artifacts, something felt amiss. To the researches, nothing seems to be happening. To Red and Oz, however, they felt their surroundings distort a bit. Red motions the team to a halt, stopping by at a rather large hallway. "Do you feel that?" He asks. "I do."

Suddenly, a tear opens in front of them. Creatures of rusted clockwork emerged from the tear, each with one distinguishing feature - they all bear the insignia of the Brass Seraphs. Afraid of being killed by the clockwork menace, the researches fled for their life before Ozwald even told them to run away. Red looks at Ozwald, wondering why he hasn't left yet. "What are you still doing here? You should go!" He says, concerned for his safety. They look outnumbered.

"I'm not leaving you to fight them alone."

Ozwald whips out the book he got from the library and opened the pages. The passages inscribed on the pages of the grimoire lit up. "Do you even know how to use it?" Red looks at him, concerned that he might mess things up with magic he does not even know how to use. "Oh, on the contrary, the magic inscribed within these pages fit perfectly for a scholar like me. This will be a piece of cake."

The clockwork lifeforms commences their attack against the duo. Red pulls out his pistol and fires against each of the rusted life form. Ozwald unleashes bolts of magic against their transgressors. However, for each creature they take down, more emerges from the tear. "There is no end to them."

As the mechanical lifeforms overwhelm them, the pages of the book flipped themselves towards one of the blank pages. Suddenly, a passage appears out of the blue, as if it was written. Inscribed on the formerly blank page seems to be a spell, what its purpose is and how to cast it. "I have a plan. Cover me!" He said as he starts to gloss over the texts.

Red conjures a barrier around Ozwald and provokes the rest of the mechs to attack him, drawing their attention away from the scholar. With his pistol's light weight, he was able to land multiple attacks and destroying them. Still, more machines emerge from the tear, and it seems to be getting a bit bigger. "You have to hurry with your plan or we're dead!" He yells as he is starting to struggle against the clockwork lifeform's continuous onslaught against him. 

"O Needle of Time, mend the tears of tyranny that the unstoppable onslaught may be put to a halt." As Ozwald chants, the clockwork lifeforms stops their onslaught against Red and fixates their offensive against him.

"O Brass Cogs, unwind the gears that the passage of time moves backwards." As the creatures move towards him, they are stopped by the barrier that's protecting Ozwald. It's as if they didn't notice it at first.

"O Swift Seconds, move up thy momentum that the passage of time be swift." Unable to reach him, the creatures start to attack the barrier. As they successfully break it, Red casts another defensive barrier in place of the broken one, pushing away the creatures.

"O Ancient Hourglass, weave thy fates, as eon's bulwark against the future's great beyond!" Red starts to struggle and eventually runs out of magic power to protect him. "Ozwald!" He cries out, unable to protect Ozwald after all the spells he cast. However, the chant was already complete.

As he closed the book and the clockwork lifeforms all leaping towards him, a wave of magical energy surges across the room. Time seems to have slowed down, only for a moment, and then he chants the final verse. "Chronicle Script!" A magic circle comprised of diagrams that resemble cogs and scripts from the scrolls starts to appear beneath him. Time slows down even further until it comes to a halt, with only he and Red able to move. "Flow Reversal!"

The clockwork menace starts to move as the passage of time continues. At least, to them. However, they all appear to be moving backwards as if they were backtracking the actions they did. The destroyed ones reverted back to their undented forms and moved towards the tear. Eventually, the all the clockwork menace moved back towards the tear, and then it closed.

The onslaught stopped all thanks to Ozwald and his book. Before he could approach him, flashes of memories start to flood his mind. These flashes of memories appear to reveal the time he was still a child, hearing the tale of the Brass Seraphs, and sleeping with his other brothers. He starts to recall protecting the younger self of Ozwald and another brother of whom he does not know. He feels... warm. These flashes of memories felt painful, and as the flashes fade, so does the memories.

Ozwald eventually falls after unleashing a very powerful spell. He appears to have spent all the magic power he has for that one spell, to save the both of them and to stop the clockwork menace from pressing onwards. If it wasn't for him, the Cedar will have been taken over, though it would have easily been handled by Dies Irae.

Red moves to him and picks him up, and subconsciously gave Ozwald a hug. He falls unconscious moments later. The two leaves the ruins, with Ozwald being carried by Red as he is still unconscious. Something is amiss. The encampment is there, alright, but instead of being greeted by the afternoon sun, what greets them is the sun setting. The worried researchers ran towards him at the sight of their unconscious leader. He handed him to them to tend to move him to his tent. "How long have we been there?" He asks one of them.

"Sir... you spent 6 hours in ruins. What happened?" The man queried. "It... doesn't matter. You can ask Oz yourself. But... 6 hours? That's impossible. We've been there for at least 30 minutes!"

"But sir... the researchers fled towards the encampment 6 hours ago."

This can't be right. He has many questions to ask, but for now, he needs to rest. Being overwhelmed by a mob of clockwork golems took a toll on him. He is a little wounded, and thus returns to his tent to meditate. Alot of questions form in his mind and in need of answers, all relating to what just transpired within the ruins.

The next day, Red woke up to hear commotions from outside. He got out of his tent to find the Alumni of Grimwold dismantling the tents. Some of their supplies have already been stashed on their vehicles. He looks around to find Ozwald standing in front of the entrance of the ruins. Concerned for his wellbeing, he approached him to give him company. He is not usually one to comfort or look after others, but judging by his intent, it can only mean a semblance of his former self is coming back to him.

"Hey... Oz." He says as he goes closer. "Hey brother Michael. You're up late." He says as he continues to stare at the ruins. "Has the expedition come to an end?" Red asks, and Oz nods in agreement. "We have all what we came for. I daresay I don't want to touch the artifacts if the temple would be run afoul by horde of creatures from the great beyond." Red agrees to his sentiments. The two then found themselves staring intently at the ruins, appreciating its beauty.


"It's beautiful, isn't it? The architecture of this place. Its purpose." "What is?" He asked. "Remember when mom told us the story of the Brass Seraphs? Of how they could wield the power of space and time?" He paused for a moment. He remembered the story quite clearly as bits of his memories start to come back to him yesterday. "I do. Didn't they abandon the project because they realized how powerful it is and if it was used by the wrong hands?"

"Ah, I see you finally remembered." Ozwald chuckles and gives a sigh of relief as his brother regained his memories. "And no, they didn't. It is likely the ending passage of the book our mom read was but a fallacy to hide the truth of what happened to the Brass Seraphs." Red gave him a confused look. Surely that was the ending of the tale, right?

"I've read the book I acquired from the library and scanned its contents. The selfsame book I used to conjure that powerful spell. I don't know why this book exists in a period where scrolls were prominent and books were nonexistent, but I believe it was as if they had a glimpse of the future and what it will come to be."

Ozwald sighs. "It's a shame the truth of the tales is... met with a horrible ending. There is reason to believe they trifled with powers beyond their grasp that ultimately led to their destruction. Now, this is all just a tomb of works finished and unfinished left behind the greatest engineers ever existed... at least, in their era. Or do they even call themselves engineers?" 

The both of them stared at the ruins once more, thinking of what happened back inside it. Red has been meaning to ask him of something that's been bothering him every since they left the ruins yesterday. "About yesterday..."

"I know. Bla bla bla, yatta yatta yatta, we did it, we resolved the issue, I passed out, and we left to find out we've been in the ruins for 6 hours. Is that it?" Ozwald said, and Red gave a surprised look when Ozwald knew exactly what he wanted to ask. "I daresay it's the side effect of the spell."

"Oh." Red lets out an unsatisfied sigh. "So... what do you intend to do with the book?" He asks once more, expecting a clear explanation of his intents with the grimoire. "I plan to study it. There's alot of questions I haven't found the solution to. And we have reason to believe the answers lie within the scrolls we acquired from the library. I daresay the materials back in the records of the Alumni provide more satisfactory results."

"That seems about right. You were always the inquisitive one." Red says with a slight smile in his face, knowing that his brother, Ozwald, didn't change one bit when they were still children. Still, pieces of his memories fail to come back as he only recalled the childhood he had with his brother. "Do you remember the time when Cinna threw a water ballon on Franz and he got mad?" Ozwald asked, expecting him to remember everything. But alas, it was not meant to be. "I don't. All I remember is my childhood with you."

Hours later, the team finished dismantling the tents and moved all of their supplies to their vehicles. All they need to do now is to leave. "I believe it's time we depart. Will you not come with us? I'm sure Cinna would like to hear of the exploits of the man who saved us himself." "Are you talking about you or me?" Red retorted. "Ah, touche. But, if you're not coming with us, may I wish you the best of luck in your next endeavor." He says as he extends the payment for his services, with it added the compensation for his extended service.

They soon part ways and Red is bound for Cedar to have a change in scenery.

Having comrades at arms don't seem to be so bad. Mayhaps he will join a guild?