Valiance

Myriad Reality

<Snipped quote by Valiance>

*Looks toward the figures and zooms in my vision, keeping a distance*

@System

*Closer inspection shows what looks to be a woman tracing over text on the wall with a finger, while a still indistinguishable looking, monstrous shadowy figure looms over her shoulder*

Myriad Reality

<Snipped quote by Valiance>

*Scans through the hieroglyphics for decipherable language patterns*

@System

*None of the text seems to be able to be made sense of, for one reason or another*

Myriad Reality

<Snipped quote by Valiance>

*Gingerly brushes my hand against the walls while I trace my way through the hall*

@System

*At the end of the hall, a new massive grand hall is formed, with a ceiling so much taller and walls so much farther apart than it should feel possible given the structure's size itself. Hieroglyphics line the walls from end to end, all the way around the room, and at a distant point within the room, a shadowy figure looms over a humanoid one as they stare at the text on the wall*

Myriad Reality

<Snipped quote by Valiance>

*The beam gathers into a sphere in front of me, the pale glow illuminating a short distance ahead of me as I continue through the chamber*

@System

*Halfway along the walk to the next chamber, the material of the structure shifts from adobe brick to solid black stone, the gleams with an odd cleanliness for an ancient chamber against your light*

Myriad Reality

<Snipped quote by Valiance>

*Carves a teleportation sigil into the wall that triggers on danger, and leaves a note explaining that I’ve proceeded deeper into the structure before walking toward where the barrier used to be*

@System

*The long curved hallway beyond this doorway becomes pitch black within a few feet, much less well lit than the prior sections*

Myriad Reality

<Snipped quote by Valiance>

*Draws a set of protection sigils on the strips and attaches them to the wall*
Akora, can you hear me?

@System

...

Myriad Reality

<Snipped quote by Valiance>

*Emerges from the ground, battered and cautious of remaining traps, and makes my way toward the cocoon*

@System

*The cocoon snaps away almost in an instant, leaving me lying on the ground, unconscious but without a scratch on me. The moment that energy fades, the sealed door’s barrier dissipates as well*

Myriad Reality

<Snipped quote by Abominations>

*Sends a miniature probe to scout ahead, looking for Akora*

@System

*A singular cocoon of swirling pink energy, noticeably different from the stuff attacking you before, lies on the floor in the chamber. The floors, walls, and ceiling are all charred black, and Garsun is nowhere to be seen, while the red barrier to the next room hums softly as though it did not falter*

Myriad Reality

<Snipped quote by Nemeses>

*The beam burns away at the flesh above, and slows down as it reaches the pulsing blood beneath, which absorbs more energy before itself disintegrating*
Akora, Omega!
*Slams my forehead into yours, and then kicks off against your chest, shoving you backwards while at the same time flinging another handful of microbots at the wall*

@System

… Huh-
*Is cut off from further conversation by a pulsating orb launched at me from Garsun, which I narrowly avoid*

Myriad Reality

<Snipped quote by Inimical>

*Flings the corrosive energy from my body onto your hand in the recoil of the explosion, accompanied by blood rippling with magical blue light, and twists my fingers as if grasping a sphere*
In—

<Snipped quote by Abominations>

Vert!
*The larger webbing and the smaller webbing in my hand swap places, including the combatants touching each of them, timed such that Garsun is placed in the direct path of the beam again after it passes over him the first time, but Akora and myself narrowly evade it*

@System

*Shifts so that I stand to your back, facing Garsun at the back of the room, nodding to you while side-eyeing the stranger at the front*
No restraint.
*Snaps in Garsun's direction, sending a flash of red his way that slows and solidifies into a dome of energy, encasing him as I rush him down*