After generations of passing down knowledge, years of gathering resources, months of planning, the higher ups from the society finally had their chance when Uriel discovered a way inside the dungeon.
They knew it existed, they knew it had to be sowhere in what used to be called the state of Texas, but those who knew its location died without being able to pass it down to their descendants.
All they had to go by where the disjointed pieces of a puzzle far greater than any of the ancient families could understand by themselves, put together only after the dungeon was opened. It didn't amount to much and couldn't even be called a book, it was just a few pages here and there about the contents of the dungeon.
Had that been all, they might have still been able to find the place by themselves if not for the pages being written in different languages ranging from an old form of english to french and even so ancient languages long forgotten.
Asking for help was completely out of the question since that would also an revealing secrets too valuable to be shared and now the sa wealthy families that complained year after year to the university for still teaching humanities despite them being useless in the war against cryptids now cursed at their naivety.
Had they known from before that the scrambled texts they handled like old relics actually contained the truth about human origins, they would have most certainly allocated a significant portion of their wealth in not only maintaining humanity studies, but also in its developnt.
"It's useless, I just can't read this page." Martha Eurus, Bella's cousin complained after attempting to read what their family called 'The grimoire'.
"Yeah, well, after those two basically disowned themselves you're the closest mber to the wind heritage. You will have to keep trying until you get it." Mason declared in a stone cold voice.
"Tsk! I don't care about this... Heraclotus dude, why do we have to read about this?" Mark said disgruntedly.
"It's Heraclitus of Efesus, he proposed that all creation ca from fire. He's one of the most important founders of your family and you need to continue reading about him until you understand his reasoning for thinking that." Neve explained with the sa patience a kindergarten teacher would show to her students.
"It's useless! You're only saying that because your legacy is in french and you can properly read it," Mark whined. "How the fuck am I supposed to read chinese?"
"Enough! It's not chinese, it's greek. You're not even supposed to be here, you're just the best next thing." Mason scolded.
From behind it seed as though the four higher ups from the society discussed important matters while performing the ritual, though in reality they could barely understand their own legacies since most of them originated in lost languages, then evolved into greek and then to a modern language.
In that respect, Neve was way ahead of the others and not just because she was fluent in french, but also because most of her legacy was never kept a secret.
It started from Tales of Miletus who proposed that water was the elent of life and it was passed down until it reached France, where the alchemists picked up on this and developed the idea even further. Though, contrary to most, they shared most of their knowledge during the knowledge era of Illustration.
"I found sothing," Martha declared with a heave and proceeded to read what she found with the help of her translator. "It says here that life is the spirit of things that move. Does that make sense?"
"Yes, yes, the life breath of animated things. What else?" Mason, the oldest of the mbers of the society and the bearer of the earth legacy waved his hand in a forward motion to hurry the woman.
"I... I don't know, that's all... I think." Martha stuttered.
"I wish Windfire was here instead of this moron." Neve let out after failing to explain Mark the importance of reading the scriptures left for him.
"What does my late brother have to do with anything?" Mark snarled with so much venom it wasn't difficult to understand he didn't like Windfire much when he was alive.
"He could read ancient greek, understood the importance of his legacy and not only carried the fire elent manipulation trait, but sohow he was also able to manipulate air.
He was a genius and would have most likely helped with the fire and air legacies, instead we got the half witted brother who got himself possessed by a thing he can't even control." Mason explained at the sa mont a group of cultists showed up.
"Elder Mason, the guards inford there's a situation that calls for your attention." The masked cultist inford.
"Can't you see we're busy here? Just let the guards deal with it." Mason replied in a ceremonious tone, much different to the one he used just a few seconds ago.
"I would do that, but one of the people they caught might be of help. When we searched him we found a couple artifacts concealed in his clothes and after a bit of questioning, he confessed to being an archaeologist." The cultist inford.
"An archaeologist!? How good is he?" Neve asked.
"He claims to be the top of his class and I would be inclined to think otherwise as he doesn't look like much. He also has yet to graduate from college and cos from an apparently small company, but we can't ignore the fact that he was caught inside the castle."
"That ans he must have dodged or deactivated the traps, a hunter like that can't be underestimated. Bring him here, maybe he can help us translate the scriptures." Mason nodded at the cultist who went back to inform the guards of his command.
It may not have showed through his wrinkled skin, but Mason was overjoyed and couldn't believe his luck. An archaeologist skilled enough to find the golden city of Cibola on his own showing up just when they were stuck couldn't possibly be a coincidence and Mason took it as a divine on.
On her part, Neve was also relieved as it ant she could finally get a rest from trying to get the hard headed Mark to put any effort in the study of his legacy. But neither Martha nor Mark showed any trace of joy or relief on their faces.
The forr because that ant she knew the mont she wouldn't be needed she was good as dead and the latter because he had a suspicion of who they could be talking about.
"No, call that man back! They can't bring that bastard here, if he catches a glimpse of what we're doing he'll ruin everything!" Mark shouted loud enough his voice stood out amidst the chanting.
"What got into you now?" Mason passed a quick hand through his face, causing his wrinkled dry face to distort out of sheer frustration. In hindsight, recruiting Mark had been the worst mistake he had ever committed and only did so with the intention of reeling Soulfire in.
The jacobs family wasn't as wealthy as the rest of the four families and due to the fire legacy being spread out around the world, they also lacked the most basic knowledge about their traits, but what their lacked in ancient wisdom the made up in their powerful blood.
Of the three brothers Windfire was the strongest as he not only was a heavenly rank with an astounding flux energy pool, but had managed to use the wind elent to boost his flas. The next was Soulfire, whose control over the fire elent allowed him to conjure a unique ability.
But with the forr's death and the latter's refusal to participate, that only left Mark whose control over fire allowed him to summon flas and nothing more.
It was a simple trait, but also the most pure form of fire elental manipulation and at the ti it seed like a good idea to recruit him.
Now, however, Mason clicked his tongue as he looked at Mark sweating bullets and scurrying away and thought it would have been better to settle with soone who could understand the ancient fire legacy he so painstakingly collected over the years, even if the person in question lacked the power to light a match with his trait.
"I've warned you many tis, but you refuse to listen. Stop ssing with the Dungeon Raiders!" Mark cried as he shafully took cover behind Neve who flinched after hearing the na of the company and then so more when the guards showed up pushing a lean man towards them.
"Kill him!" Neve commanded from behind Mason.
"Is this madness contagious?" Mason fumbled, wondering if they were being affected by the flux energy flooding the room, then spoke to the man in front of him. "You claim to be an archaeologist, yet you filled your hands with our treasures and that makes you no better than a common thief."
"I wasn't stealing, I was just... I'm..." Kenny stuttered though the mont they heard his voice, both Mark and Neve heaved a sigh of relief and went back to their positions.
"I don't care about those trinkets, you can keep them and grab so more on your way out if you want. But that's only if you help us with sothing. If you really are an archaeologist this will not only be easy for you, but you'll also find it quite interesting." Mason's eyes glinted for a second as he showed Kenny to the table where what remained of the four elental families was scattered.
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