Marco huffed, getting to his feet, "I'll be fine." he said, drawing his staff. And just in time too, because just then, a loud screech rang though the tower, and Marco nearly dropped to his knees as the noise level nearly popped his eardrums.
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"Good. Come-" Oci started, before the screech interrupted him. "Ow… what the Ed was that?" Oci asked, wincing and shaking his head slightly. "Was it coming from up there?" He pointed upwards, cupping his ear with the hand not holding the knife. "Either way, let's go shut it up before it does that again. I don't think my ears can handle it."
"I don't think mine can either…" he said with a groan, "Though you're right, it came from further up…" he sighed, "And by my best guess, that was a griffon.
"Oh, Edding fantastic." Oci shook his head once more, then started towards the staircase as quietly as he could. He glanced behind him once to make sure Marco was following, then looked forward again. Soon, he arrived at the foot of the stairs, which curled upwards into total darkness. "Did you bring anything we could use to see with? It's super dark up there." Oci whispered at Marco.
Marco hummed, "Nope." he said, "But I can shift into a bat and use echolocation?" he hummed, "You'll have to carry me though."
"Hmm… you couldn't communicate what you were saying, though…" Oci frowned, glaring up at the darkness. "If only I could also see through shadows instead of just manipulating them. If only I'd thought to bring some torches…" He trailed off, a smile slowly appearing on his face. "Wait… Ignis."
"True…" he sighed, "And bats don't make noises you can hear.." he sighed, until the other's face lit up, and he spoke thespell.
"Ah, gods, it didn't work that time." Oci let out an angry breath, then held his hand in front of him. "Ignis." A small ball of fire appeared, hovering over his hand. "There we go! Take that." He held his hand up higher and started up the stairs.
Marco smiled, "Whelp, problem solved I guess." he said, smiling at the other.
"Yep. Thank that scroll." Oci flashed a smile at Marco and continued up the stairs. They emerged into a large room, dimly lit by the fire in Oci's palm. There were shadowy shapes in the center, either furniture… or a monster. Oci took a few cautious steps towards the center of the room. As he walked, another staircase was revealed on the far side.
Marco stayed close to him as they moved, his eyes straining to see past the glow of the other's flames, hoping the shadowed shapes werent the creature they'd have to face as they headed for the staircase on the far end of the room.
Oci kept a little distance between him and the shapes in the center of the room, just in case they really were creatures. But as he passed closer, it was revealed that it was just a table and chairs, covered with a thick layer of dust. He let out a breath of relief and picked up his pace towards the stairs.
Marco visibly relaxed when he saw it too, moving to follow Oci up the next set of stairs, making sure e didn't make any unnecessary noise, trying to avoid creaking steps.
The next floor was just as dark, although there was a little light coming from the staircase. It didn't appear like there was anything on this floor, which was fine with Oci. As he hurried towards the stairs to the next floor, his toe caught on a crack in the ground and he nearly fell. When he'd regained his balance, Oci knelt down and inspected the crack. "This looks like a carving, doesn't it?" Oci whispered to Marco, tracing it with one light finger. "Three rings locked together– oh." He stood quickly, eyes still fixed on the carving.
Marco didn't like not being able to see well, but dealt with it as he followed Oci to the next floor. He was relieved to find this one empty, but his heart rate jumped when the other fell, "What is it?" he asked, his voice barely more tan a whisper as he moved to see it, confused.
"This is the symbol of the god of deceit." Oci breathed, eyes flicking to Marco's face. "Either the person who owned this castle really loved them, or it was their castle in the first place. I don't know what that means for us. But I guess that could explain how this castle's managed to stay whole in this forest. It has a god's protection."
Marco hummed, "It may also be why that blast earlier didnt kill me.." he said softly, "A lot of shifters call the god of deceit their patron god."
"Well, that's really lucky. Thorne was like, 'oh, people invading my tower? I think not– oh, stars, that was a shifter! Oops. Let's go to the side a little with that blast.' Maybe they'll just let you take the thing?" Oci asked hopefully. "No, actually, I don't think they will. At least, the version in the stories wouldn't." He shrugged and continued towards the stairs.
"No, I would think it was more of a warning." he said softly, "Like, 'Leave now wile you can, this is your ony chance to leave alive' type of thing." he sighed, following him.
"That seems like them." Oci nodded and stepped onto the first step of the stairs. "I didn't know Thorne was the shifter's patron god. That's interesting." He walked up a few more steps as carefully as he could, not wanting to make any noises.
"For most… not all." he said softly, "Not all shifters are deceitful." he sighed, "Legends say tat Torne created the shifters, giving tem the ability to shift. But the other gods got angry since Shifters used their powers to steal and deceive." He hummed, "That's why every shifter has different markings, so you know who and what they are."
(Please excuse the typos, my keyboard is shit)
"Oh, that makes sense." Oci nodded and peeked into the next floor, which was lit by a large hole in the wall. The floor was marked with scratches, but other than that the room was empty, save for another staircase leading up. "Hey, look at that." He nodded towards the floor.
(Ooh, that sucks. You're totally fine.)
Marco looked to the floor, humming when he saw the large pile of brush, furniture bits, and various other matierials. "Obviously a nest…" he murmured, "I'm gonna guess we're close to the treasure then…"
"Yeah. It's probably just up those stairs." Oci pointed towards the stairs. "I hope it is, at least. I don't want to walk up any more stairs than necessary." He skipped up the last few steps and crossed to the stairs, giving the next a wide berth.