Work Text:
She had seen this place in her dreams for years. The riverbank of the Salve was the most bittersweet sight in the world to her. Some would say this river was her salvation, while others would call it her damnation - which one she believed changed by the day. This was where they always met when she came to the dig site, the spot where they first met.
“Come on Tony, what’s taking you so long?” Sepulchre muttered to herself, sitting on a crate, watching the river flow. “I know you’re getting old, but I’m usually the one who shows up late… this isn’t like you.”
She leaned over and picked up a pebble, throwing it out into the water.
The ripples disturbed a frog on a lily pad, which hopped into the water and swam off towards the other shore. “You probably don't wanna wash up on that side, little guy…”
“You say that,” a voice spoke, barely five feet behind the World Guardian. A tan-skinned woman wearing a blue shirt, brown vest and khaki pants had approached. “Yet aren’t you the one who keeps going back there?”
“Lottie? What are you doing out here?” She turned around to face the woman she regarded as her ‘sister’. “Shouldn’t you be doing management for the camp on Anachronia?” the World Guardian queried.
“My position has changed in the few months since your last visit,” she replied hastily.
“Changed in what way?” Sepulchre asked, personally curious. “A promotion or a demotion? Don’t tell me you dumped all that stuff on to someone else? You know you’re one of the very few people here I trust to be in charge of that project…”
She seemed a bit hesitant to elaborate further on the statement. “Forget about me, why are you out here by the water? Why didn’t you just come to the management building?”
“Tony and I always meet out here. This spot is special.”
“Oh, so this is that special spot? That makes a lot more sense then.” She straightened herself out, looking more professional. “I suppose I should just be thankful you showed up as quickly as you did after getting my letter.”
“Your letter? I thought Tony had sent it?” she replied, looking now towards a large rock in the middle of the river.
“Afraid not.” She slinked over and took a seat on the crate next to Sepulchre. There was a brief pause before she continued. “But I am grateful you came anyway, could use a few more familiar faces around here…”
The World Guardian didn’t react; she was still caught on the previous topic. “Yes. This is that special spot…”
It was just another cold day for a young Tony Robinson. Panning out by the river, hoping to pull up something he wasn’t sure even existed. Tiepolo was insistent that the Salve held the secrets they were looking for, but all he had turned up since he arrived was dirt.
Even worse, Tiepolo was, at best, vague about what exactly they were looking for. Being this close to the border of Morytania - knowing what lurked on the other side - didn’t help his confidence either.
He sighed; the scenery was nice, but every day was the same. Here he was wearing the same blue shirt, brown vest and khaki pants that everybody else wore, looking at the same dirt, rubble and water that everybody else looked at. It had only been two months since they started work at this spot, and already he was second-guessing his decision to come here.
He became an archaeologist to make discoveries, to learn things nobody had ever learned before; instead, all he was doing was playing with dirt. This isn’t what professionals do, he reasoned silently, it’s what children do.
It was at this moment that something appeared in his panning tray - a single scrap of cloth. He pulled the tray from the water and grabbed the scrap out of it, some small part of him hoping he had made a breakthrough. He was quickly disappointed when he realized this was no ancient cloth at all, it was brand new.
Tony sighed and turned his gaze back down towards the water, but as he did so, something caught his eye. Not fifteen feet away from him in the water was… something that looked human.
Initially, he thought he was merely seeing things, but looking a second time made it crystal clear that this was no mirage.
It was a young girl, mercifully caught by a rock, floating unconscious in the flowing water. She had red hair and sickly-pale skin, and was wearing plain black clothes with a tear to perfectly match the scrap he had panned up. The girl was also visibly injured, blood dripping out the side of her head, giving a slight tinge to the water around her.
Thinking on his feet, Tony reached for the retriever pole kept nearby and hurriedly jumped into the Salve. He didn’t need to move past ankle-deep before the pole reached across the girl, hooking on to the sleeve on the other side. It took Tony several minutes of great exertion, but before too long both of them were back on dry land.
By the time he got her ashore, she was regaining consciousness, and her body was beginning to shiver. Tony threw his coat around her just in time for her to open her eyes. She looked up at Tony, who had never in his life seen such a dazed, far-away look in another humans’ eyes before.
“Are you with me, young lady?” he asked. “Can you tell me your name?”
“Sepulchre.” Her response was sudden, and she seemed confused by her own answer.
“Sepulchre? Who would name their child—” The answer had already hit him like an ogre’s club.
The World Guardian and Reiniger were already on their way back to the office. As they walked, the former let her eyes wander freely, taking in the sights of what was now a familiar dig site.
The scenery hadn’t changed much at all since Sepulchre’s last visit. Still the same old wooden boards, bushes, trees, tents, and various other things that had all been here for years, all except for one thing: the Monolith.
The Monolith was always here, but it was always laying in the dirt, just a pile of rubble, for as long as she could remember. Why, then, was it not only standing upright, but also pulsing bright blue across the indents of its carved features, being held in two pieces by what appeared to be an ethereal orb of energy?
Without saying a word, she strayed from the path and strode over to the mysterious monolith; Reiniger followed.
“Alright Lottie, you got me,” she commented, not taking her eyes from the structure in front of her. “What the hell happened to this thing?”
Before Lottie, who was standing to her left, could say anything, a voice came from her right.
“Now that's the question, isn’t it, my dear friend?” The voice came from an orange-haired man a bit taller than the two ladies. He was wearing a hibiscus-red trilby with two feathers attached, a similarly coloured desert jacket and light-tan pants.
“Ah, Dr. Nabanik, it’s rare to see you out of the temple. What could be so important as to pull you away from all that work down there?” the World Guardian turned in his direction, genuinely surprised to see him.
The archaeological expert chuckled. “Indeed, not many things could wrench me away from my various projects in the temple below. My presence, then, should prove the significance of this Monolith.”
He waited a moment for her to speak, but she simply blinked. He continued, “I am here because it was Zaros himself who raised the Monolith you see before you.”
“Lord Zaros was here??” she exclaimed, almost too quickly.
Dr. Nabanik's brow furrowed and his left hand brushed against his hat. The first was his way of telling her to calm down, the second was Azzanadra's signal for having 'private' conversations in the presence of others.
After taking a moment to recover, her eyes met with Dr. Nabanik’s, and both nodded in unison. “What I mean is, was there anything to suggest that this monolith is related to Zaros or to his religion in some way?”
“Not that I have found,” the doctor admitted. “There are zero mentions of a Monolith in any of the ancient texts on the culture or religion of the Zarosian Empire.”
She nodded before continuing. “So there was no hint that Zaros could’ve been involved with whatever this thing is?”
The doctor shook his head. “I have no reason to suspect Zaros has any relation to this object, nor could I have known he would be able to raise it as he did.”
Once more she nodded. “Do you have a theory for why Zaros would show up and raise the Monolith without warning?”
He took a moment to think. “For once, I believe I am at a loss for theories. Nothing I know would give reason for Zaros to appear as he did.”
She gave him a side-eyed stare, one that lasted for several seconds, before nodding a third time.
“The architecture of this pillar. Is it consistent with the style and materials of Senntisten or with the later construction of Saranthium?”
“Neither,” he stated with great confidence. “It is not consistent with anything else we’ve uncovered, Zarosian or Saradominist.”
“What about the magic that powers it? I know you’ve done extensive research in the magical arts of various eras.”
His mouth formed into a weak, apologetic smile. “Even on this, I am baffled. The magical energies that come from whatever it is that powers the monolith are foreign even to me.
The World Guardian fell silent. If even Azzanadra doesn’t know… what could Zaros be thinking?? she pondered the question without words at least a dozen times, and the more she thought about it, the less she liked it.
She seemed ready to speak again, but the previously silent Reiniger opened her mouth first. “As much as I appreciate the analysis, Dr. Nabanik, Sepulchre and I have other business inside.”
She put a hand on Sepulchre’s shoulder and gestured towards the building. Before her companion could say anything, Lottie started walking. The World Guardian gave Azzanadra one last concerned glance, receiving only a serious nod in return.
The inert monolith laid covered in dirt, fifty-some feet away from Professor Robinson and the redheaded child he rescued.
They walked slowly, his arms holding the coat tightly to her body. She was upright and walking, albeit leaned against him - but she was still shivering. It was the middle of winter and she was wearing soaked clothes, that she was even breathing was miracle enough.
Tony could tell the silence was bothering her, so he struck up a conversation. “Young miss Sepulchre, can you tell me where you’re from?” he asked softly.
“I… I’m from… a city of vampyres.” She said timidly, barely audible. She was staring down at her own feet as they left footprints, as though they were unfamiliar to her.
“Vampyres you say? I don’t think there are any cities like that around here. Where is it?” He looked down, waiting for her to confirm his theory.
She did exactly that. Her left hand came up and pointed behind her, back towards the River Salve. “It’s on the other side, p-past the swamps and over the big wall. It’s far away from here.”
“Morytania...” He responded, almost afraid to inquire further; almost. “Do your parents know you’re missing? I’m sure they must be worried about you.”
Her head shook weakly, it seemed to take a large amount of effort. “My parents are both dead, they died a while ago.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. Who takes care of you then?”
She said nothing. Her left hand drifted towards the wound on her head, her eyes squeezed shut in discomfort. “I… I don’t know. I don’t remember.” Her grip against her own scalp tightened, as though she was trying to force the memory out.
“That’s quite alright, I have trouble remembering things sometimes too.” There was a warmth to his voice now, hoping to calm her down. “Do you know why you were in the river?”
Opening her eyes, she brought her hand back down to her side. “I was with somebody, somebody I’ve known a really long time. I didn’t want to be there anymore, so I jumped into the water. I don’t know what happened after that.” There was a pause, “What’s your name?”
His smile beamed down at her, he said “My name is Anthony Robinson, but you can call me Tony, like all my friends do.”
“Okay. Mr. Tony, where am I?” She looked up at him curiously.
“Misthalin. More specifically, you’re at the Saranthium dig site, east of the city of Varrock.”
She shook her head again. “I only know the first, Misthalin. I think I’ve overheard older vampyres talking about a place with that name, where a lot of humans lived.”
“Yes, the people here are mostly all human. Though I believe there are a few Dwarves living in the kingdom as well.”
She looked confused. “What’s a Dwarve?”
Tony let out a small chuckle. “Dwarf, actually. They’re like humans, but a bit shorter and with more muscle.”
“Oh.” She said, sounding embarrassed. “Where I came from there were only vampyres, humans and werewolves.”
“Is that right?” He stopped in front of the large tan tent that was meant to be their main building. “Well, you’ll have to tell me more about that once you’ve gotten a rest, and once you've had that wound looked at.” He took a step inside, both sets of footprints disappearing through the fold.
The World Guardian was looking down, as though she could see the footprints from twenty-five years ago, still fresh in the dirt. Upon raising her head, she saw the main building of the site in front of her, a sight that made her jaw drop. When she was last here, the building was ‘average,’ at best.
The building before her now was quite different. The siding had been given a fresh beige paint, the stone underlay was more properly evened out and straight, the roofing was made to look as though it was made of marble. The window pane and window sills appeared to be of some fine-treated maple, and the balcony gave the appearance of an expensive mahogany floor with the finest steel railings. The building was, in a word, immaculate.
Sepulchre stopped in her tracks upon noticing. “Tony has been spending big," she commented, "the place looks holy enough to be a church.”
“Well, that’s part of what I wanted to talk to you about, actually,” Lottie said, with a hint of annoyance. “As you know, the Varrock Museum recently agreed to fund our projects. After Anachronia, we seem to be the talk of the archaeological world. But the truth is, their funding was not nearly what we had hoped it would be…”
“Looks like it was a lot more than what I was expecting!” she muttered as they both resumed walking towards the building.
“This wasn’t paid for by the Museum…” Lottie mumbled, barely audible. Sepulchre tilted her head in confusion, so Reiniger continued. “While Tony and I were discussing what to do about our underwhelming funding, a dark-dressed man appeared quite literally out of nowhere.”
The World Guardian gave her ‘sister’ a concerned side-eyed glare. She had many past experiences with ‘dark-dressed men appearing out of nowhere’, and exactly zero of them were good.
“He said his name was Xephos, and that he was from an anonymous organization that wished to fund our projects,” Lottie continued. “Tony was hesitant at first, but eventually Xephos convinced him. I still don’t like it, for the record.”
“And what did this ‘Xephos’ ask for in return? Nothing is ever free, what is it he’s after?” she asked. Sepulchre was already on the hunt for a conspiracy.
“In return, he has requested that we allow him access to certain items, should we find them. What those items are, I do not know. Tony was too tempted by the idea of running an ‘Archaeology Guild’ to care.”
“Guild??” she blurted out. “Just what is it this ‘Xephos’ and his organization are hoping to accomplish, with the opening of an Archaeology ‘Guild’?”
Lottie chuckled. “According to him? What his organization does is ‘for the greater good.’ I’m sure you’ve heard that one a million times.”
“Two million, at least.” A look of realization washed over her face. “Is that why you asked me to come here, to tell Tony all the reasons why this is a horrible idea?”
Charlotte looked down. “No, we’re past that now.” They stepped right to the front door of the Guild. “Come on, let’s head inside.”
Lottie entered first and with brief hesitation, the World Guardian followed.
Tony and young miss ‘Sepulchre’ pushed their way into the tent, where six men were huddled around a table. The table was just about the only thing in this tent. Initially, they all appeared annoyed to have been interrupted, but upon seeing this shivering mess of a young girl, their expressions turned to pity.
“And who would this be then, Mr. Robinson?” the man sat behind the table asked with a slight hint of agitation.
“Well to make a long story short, sir, I found her floating in the River Salve,” Tony replied.
“In the Salve??” the man barked. “Why, what kind of person would throw a child into that hellhole?”
“According to what she’s told me, she herself jumped into the river.” Tony seemed a bit hesitant to divulge this information.
“Is that so?” The burly man dressed in garishly bright clothes got up from his chair, stomped around over to where Tony and ‘Sepulchre’ were standing, and bent down slightly to match her height.
“Let this be a lesson to you, young lady,” he reprimanded her. “Don’t go pulling stupid stunts like that, or this is how you’ll end up. Get her dried off and send her back where she came from, Anthony.”
“Well, Director Tiepolo, the issue here is exactly that. You see—”
He was cut off by another voice. Another young girl, likely near the same age as the one Tony held, came stumbling through the tents’ entrance and nearly fell.
“Mister Orkan, I have the papers you asked for!” she shouted. “And your lunch…”
Tiepolo’s expression changed from stern to delighted in an instant. “Ahh, Charlotte, very good! Come come, give them to me, dear.” He beckoned her with a hand, as though calling to a dog. She happily did so, nearly bumping into Tony in the process.
She turned back towards Tony. “Sorry, professor. I was doing some stuff for Mr. Orkan, but I can come help you now if you...” It had taken her a few seconds, but she finally noticed the girl accompanying Tony. “Who are you?” She asked.
“Sepulchre.” The young girl replied. The shivering had finally ceased and the natural bass returned to her voice. “Who are you?”
“My name is Charlotte, but call me ‘Lottie’ okay?” She said this with great authority. “Are you gonna be helping professor Tony out now too? Am I finally going to have another kid around to play with?!” She was beaming at the thought of it.
“Mmm, perhaps?” Tiepolo pondered. “I suppose we could send word to the girls’ parents that she is safe? Tell me, miss…?”
“Sepulchre.” The girl repeated, though there appeared to be doubt in her own voice this time.
“What kind of a name is that?” Orkan retorted, as though offended by her name. “Well, where are you from then?”
“I’m from across the River,” she answered, “Morytania, Mr. Tony called it.”
There was a quiet gasp across the room from all but Tony and Charlotte. Sepulchre couldn’t help but notice the looks of pity on their faces turn to either fear or contempt.
One man grabbed at a silver star around his neck and held it out towards her. “Merciful S-Saradomin…” he mumbled, much to her confusion.
She was about to question this response when Orkan spoke up, voice unsteady. “Anthony. Take this girl to the Church’s Orphanage in Varrock,” he demanded. “Use my name if you have to, as long as they take her in.”
“Awww… You can’t do that, Mr. Tiepolo,” Lottie moaned, “the Orphanage people are mean and ugly, and the kids there—”
“I have made my decision!” he refuted, “I want this girl off of my campsite immediately!” His face turned red with either anger or embarrassment, it was hard to tell which.
Tony retorted, also a bit heated. “You cannot just throw her into that pit because you’re afraid of the blood-sucking boogeyman! The girl has no family, no parents, the last thing she needs is to be labeled a monster because of where she came from!”
“We do not have room here for another person, Mr. Robinson.” Tiepolo responded, slightly shaken by the strong words against him, “Our operation is barely running as it is. She cannot be here, and the orphanage is the proper place for children with no family.”
Tony gave the stout man a glare of such animosity you’d think the man had killed Tony’s own parents. “I will take her off-site, but I will not be taking her to that damnable orphanage. There is a friend of my family who runs a tavern in Varrock, I’ll see if I can get her residence there.”
He began to turn away, taking the confused young lady with him.
“I’m coming too!” Lottie said, also giving a glare to the now uninterested Tiepolo. “I haven’t been in the city for a few weeks anyway.” She gave a sympathetic look to the unwanted girl, turning to join them.
As the three exited, the curtain of the tent fell closed behind them.
The door of the Guild swung open.
Various men and women were sitting or standing over various tables, on which laid all manners of paper. Some were studying maps, some looking at charts, some reading reports, all talking amongst each other.
The last time she was here, the World Guardian was preparing for the journey to the strange island in the North-east, but even then it was not as busy as it was today. Just like the outside, the inside had been made to look as though the gods themselves crafted it.
It didn’t take long for someone to notice them, and every pair of eyes soon followed. Strangely, there were mixed emotions among the crowd as they spotted her. Some were happy to see her, some appeared almost sad, some had a nervous glint in their eyes, and some even looked afraid. The World Guardian has never been a fool. She knows when there’s something she’s not being told.
“Alright that’s enough gawking,” Lottie announced, “continue what you were doing. Though we will be having a meeting shortly.”
The rest of the room returned to their work. Sepulchre gave Charlotte a suspicious squint Since when did she have so much authority? she wondered.
Upon taking a moment to think it all over, she quickly realized just how strange the entire situation was. She had grown accustomed to things never working out how she imagined them, but never before had things been so off-track yet so orderly. Something was wrong.
Ever leery as she was, Sepulchre slipped over towards the large staircase that took up the middle of the ground floor. “Tony!” she called up, “Wanna come down and say hello?”
There was no response. “Tony…?” she called out again, voice shaking ever so slightly.
Her paranoia only grew when once more, no response came. Something urged her to give the room another once-over, and somehow she was not surprised to see all eyes on her. The happy faces were gone, replaced only with what appeared to be pity.
“Does she not know?” a voice muttered from the crowd. Reiniger shot a look in their direction that scared every one of them back to work.
She turned towards Sepulchre and with an authoritative tone, she said, “Just come upstairs with me. There’s no reason to be down here.”
“Lottie, what’s wrong?” She asked with concern.
“Nothing is wrong! Can we just go talk upstairs?” Reiniger insisted, heavily.
The concern she felt only escalated “Calm down, Lottie. You were fine a minute ago, why are you acting so bossy now?”
“I am not acting bossy.” she fired back, impatience very quickly taking over her tone. “I just want you to come upstairs so we can talk.”
“Charlotte, please…” Sepulchre pleaded, now more than a bit worried. “What’s going—”
“Gods-dammit Val, would you please just go upstairs already??!" Her scream echoed across the entire building, nearly tearing the paint off the walls.
Valenthia was shaken; It had been a long time since anybody had used any form of her real name with such aggression.
Without a word and with her head down, the World Guardian dragged herself up the stairs.
Tony stepped out of the tent, nearly smashing his boot through the ground.
“The nerve of that bastard!” he growled. “The whole point of this field is to be open-minded! How a fool like him ever managed to make it so high in the Archaeological world is the greatest mystery I could ever solve!” He was like a volcano on the verge of erupting.
The young Reiniger came up next to him. “Between you and me, Mr. Tony, I think Orkan is a total jerk. That’s why I really come out to work with you, to be away from him.” She folded her arms in a huff. “I need another kid around here or I’ll go nuts!”
The other young woman, the red-haired orphan, quietly walked next to them both, tears beginning to well up in her eyes. After knowing him for all of ten minutes, she shared their opinion of Orkan Tiepolo. She looked once more to the dirt below her. “Why… why did all those men start acting like that?” She mumbled, doing her damndest not to cry.
“You mean you don’t know?” Lottie questioned, shocked. “Everybody thinks the only things that exist on the other side of that river are monsters! Scary blood-sucking vampyres, angry werewolves, hungry ghouls and wailing ghosts!”
“W-well yeah. I mean, I know at least three of those are there. I don’t know what a ghoul is, though…” Sepulchre said, holding back the tears. “But I’m not any of those things! I’m just a human! So why?”
“Fear,” Tony stated bluntly. “They’re afraid of what they don’t understand.”
“And what about that man in the black robes, why did he hold that silver thing up at me? And what was that name he said, ‘Saradomin’?” she asked, both offended and gloomy.
“Saradomin is the God of Light, and that man is a priest of Saradomin,” Tony explained. “The silver symbol is thought to be blessed by Saradomin the same way the Salve was. It’s supposed to repel demons, vampyres and other unholy creatures of Zamorak.”
“So, is that what I am on this side of the river? An ‘unholy creature of Zamorak?’ Just because of where I come from??” She sounded absolutely miserable by the end of the sentence.
Charlotte put a hand on the girl’s shoulder. “Well, I don’t think you’re a monster.” She said with a bright smile. Sepulchre did not give a smile in return. “I don’t even know what any of those monsters look like, anyway! So even if you were, I wouldn’t mind!”
“Indeed!” Tony proclaimed, his demeanour taking a drastic turn from disgusted to jovial. “You should be treated like any other human, and I’m going to make sure that that is exactly what happens!” He looked down at the girl, who still had tears welling up. “Though I say we should have your head looked at, and then we can have a meal before we leave!” he declared.
“Alright!” Charlotte shouted enthusiastically, “Come on, let’s go down by the food tents and grab something, I’m starving!” She began to skip happily off in that direction.
Very quickly however, it became obvious that she was the only one heading in that direction. She swung around to look at the others, curious why there was delay.
Sepulchre sighed and let her head hang, staring at the ground. A single tear fell from her eye as she followed.
The World Guardian’s foot touched on to the first floor of the guild, after what felt like an eternity climbing the steps. Finally she lifted her head up, glad that she would finally be able to see Tony. She very nearly turned to leave when she laid eyes upon naught but an empty chair at her adoptive uncle’s desk.
“Where’s Tony?” she asked, in an impassive tone.
Charlotte’s hand hovered over the desk for a few moments before she turned around. “That’s part of what I called you here for, Val.” she said, relieved to finally be able to speak openly, “Tony is… gone.”
“What do you mean ‘gone’??” she demanded, trying to keep calm.
There was a long pause before Lottie spoke once more. “The Monolith took him.” She spoke with great confusion, as though she herself was unsure what she was saying.
“What the hell does that mean?? ‘Took’ him, meaning what, like teleported him somewhere?” She cried. “I can track that with magic!” She hastily turned back towards the steps.
Reiniger put a hand out to stop her. “No, it didn’t teleport him. Dr. Nabanik already confirmed that much...”
Valenthia shot her a harsh glare. “Well then what the hell happened, Charlotte?! Why did you wait this long to tell me?!”
“Because I knew this was how you’d react!” she retorted, “and I didn’t want to embarrass you by causing a potential breakdown in public…”
The World Guardian simply glared, waiting impatiently for more information.
“A few days after the ‘Empty Lord’ appeared and raised the monolith, that man Xephos returned. He and Tony were discussing the Monolith,” she explained, beginning her account of the incident in question.
“The two of them had been working out ways to test the thing, specifically by attempting to interact with it using various objects or artefacts that have been dug up over the years.”
“To no avail, I assume?” she fervently interrupted.
Reiniger nodded. “That was, until Xephos suggested the use of an artefact that he himself had previously brought to us as a ‘gesture of good faith’, or so he claimed.”
“Of course.” She rolled her eyes, the irises of them having turned a bright crimson. “Naturally, Tony trusted this completely, because why wouldn’t you?” The frustrated sarcasm in this statement could melt the ears of lesser creatures.
“Naturally.” Reiniger echoed with equal frustration, “The artefact in question was a black stone, one previously owned by a man named… I believe it was Zemouregal?”
“Zemouregal is a Mahjarrat,” the World Guardian corrected, “Probably the most evil and most annoying of the few who remain. Which Tony would know if he bothered to talk to me about things like this! ” she growled, losing patience with the situation.
Reiniger continued, voice momentarily shaken by the rising temper of her companion. “A-anyway, Xephos suggested to Tony that he attempt to offer this black stone to the Monolith.” Her voice took a more defeated tone, “I warned him against it, but he had already made up his mind. The next morning he was intent on trying exactly that.”
“So it was the obsidian prism that made the Monolith ‘take’ him?” Sepulchre mused, calmed somewhat by curiosity. “I had assumed the thing was inert after I smashed it prior to the Mahjarrat Ritual of Rejuvenation.”
“Xephos said something about it being inactive too, actually,” Reiniger noted. “Although, he said that his mages were ‘convinced there is potential’ for it here. Obviously they were right.”
“What exactly happened when Tony went to the Monolith with the prism?” Valenthia queried.
“The next morning, he went dashing outside towards the thing. He was saying something about a ‘discovery’ he had made, and how it might be ‘dangerous’ since he’s no god.”
She shook her head with slight regret. “I watched on from a distance, though Dr. Nabanik tried to talk him out of the whole idea. Tony held up the black stone and the Monolith’s glow brightened. The magical center expanded and sucked Tony in. Dr. Nabanik tried to reach for him, but it all happened too fast. Tony was gone before Nabanik could even get up on the platform next to it.”
“Right…” Sepulchre sighed, “So, you brought me here to get him out. I understand…”
“No.” Charlotte responded, the professionalism having returned to her tone. “I brought you here to fulfill the Guildmaster’s wishes.” She handed off a paper to the World Guardian, one that had come from Tony’s desk.
With no small hesitation, Valenthia took the paper and slowly allowed herself to read what had been written. After the first completion, she read it again. After the second, she read it once more. After the third, there was one more read-through.
“I… I don’t understand?” She mumbled, “Why would he…?”
“It doesn’t matter why,” Reiniger sternly remarked, snatching the paper from her hand. “What matters is that the message is clear, and it is.”
She stood straight, putting more professionalism into her demeanour and tone, “It states as follows: ‘In the event that I, Anthony B. Robinson, am not physically present in this Guild within twenty-four hours of my experiment, I hereby declare that the title and duties of Guildmaster shall be split equally between both Guild associate Charlotte G. Reiniger and the World Guardian, Sepulchre.’”
The aforementioned World Guardian fell silent for a few minutes, unsure how to respond.
Charlotte noticed her apprehension, speaking slightly quieter now. “Well? You’re going to accept, right? You can’t just leave this all on my shoulders, Val!” she pleaded, “I can’t run a quickly-growing guild all by myself!”
Letting out a long and heavy sigh, the World Guardian broke her silence. “I can’t say no to you, and I can’t say no to Tony, either; I owe him everything.” She forced a weak smile. “I guess I have no choice. Where do we start?”
“Well, as it happens, the Monolith has done more than just kidnap Tony…” Reiniger began to explain, leading her new co-Guildmaster below; It was time for a meeting with the rest of the Guild.
The paper that made the declaration lay unfolded on the Guildmaster’s desk. It looked rather out of place, written on such an old piece of vellum. Below it sat the documents Tony had been writing the day before he disappeared, which should be kept on top of the pile.
For Charlotte Reiniger, the piece of parchment had gone unnoticed until the day after Tony's disappearance; clearly, she had overlooked it in her initial search the day it happened.