68 The Historians (1/2)
The area that Sombra and I entered into when I passed through the door leading into the mansion was a massive foyer over a dozen meters tall and over two dozen meters long. At the center of the foyer stood a statue of a creature unlike any I had ever seen.
The statue was of a person. I could tell, largely because of the humanoid frame of the statue. It possessed two arms, two legs, a human-like head, and a basic stomach. The rest of it was... odd.
The statue's head had long, ruby-colored horns. There was a long tail that ended in a deadly looking stinger protruding from the creature's back. It had a set of draconic wings that were exquisitely crafted and matched the color of the thing's horns. I studied it for a moment until Sombra spoke.
”Morthos.” It said, breathlessly. There was a touch of awe in its voice, an emotion I hadn't really heard it articulate until now.
”Althos, that statue is a depiction of the demon-lord known as the 'Silver-tongued destroyer.'. He brought doom to a thousand worlds just by speaking. Morthos.” The demon told me, sounding genuinely inspired by the creature. I chuckled at the amazement audible in the demon's voice. And then I paused to consider the creature's reputation.
”He 'brought doom to a thousand worlds'?” I asked myself, curious about that. It was a fierce reputation to be sure, but I thought it was odd because he was also apparently the creature who ordered the city of Aronms to be built in the first place.
[The title is accurate. Morthos enjoyed creating destructive societies, especially ones that were destined not only to destroy their neighbors but also themselves. Dark elves were among his favored servants for this very reason. Dark elves in thousands of worlds, including ones that they weren't able to destroy before the end of the mythic age, served and worshipped him.] The system explained.
”I see...” I replied, wondering how many thousands, if not millions of servants he must have had throughout this universe. I didn't doubt that the number was immense if he somehow brought doom to over a thousand worlds. And that wasn't the only thing I was curious about either.
”What happened to the worlds that he 'brought doom to'?” I asked the system, curious to hear what fate befell the worlds he was apparently responsible for ruining.
[Well... If you're really curious I'll go ahead and tell you that one of the worlds he ruined is located in the solar system, the chain of planets that orbit a sun, that you inhabit. I won't tell you what's happened to it since then though. You'll have to investigate that yourself.] The system told me, giving me more of a reason to uncover the secrets behind interstellar travel. I grinned internally and finished my visual exploration of the statue in front of me.
This odd foyer wasn't uninhabited. Dark elves of all sorts wandered it, and before I went anywhere else I laid my eyes on them.
The dark elves here were elegant individuals. No matter their gender they were tall individuals, standing in the range of two and a half meters at the lowest to over four meters tall at the tallest. The difference between their shortest and their tallest members was an impressive sight.
The clothing that adorned their bodies were skin-tight things that were covered in three different motifs that I noticed. One of the motifs were animal imagery.
Their helmets were clad in the imagery of stylized bats, worms, and a few other animals like badgers and armadillos. I wasn't sure how I knew the names of the animal types, but at this point, I was ready to chalk it up the domains and their influence on me.
Another motif was that of the dark elves themselves. Some of the breastplates that guarded the dark elves' thin bodies were covered in artistically etched envisionings of dark elves. It would have been difficult for someone else to notice as the armor was dark and in the dark. I couldn't imagine another surface dweller's eyes easily peering through the darkness so to see what I had noticed.
The final motif was an odd one. There was a consistent theme of tiny, monstrous creatures covering the armor that protected the extremities of the dark elves. They wore arm guards and greaves that were covered in depictions of creatures that were a cross between humanoids and monsters. I looked at them intently for several seconds, having never seen anything like them.
”Althos you're looking at depictions of corporeal demons. Corporeal demons are monstrous creatures with equally monstrous powers. And they form the majority of demons. Sombra and other incorporeal demons are a minority.” The domain of knowledge revealed, educating me gently.
After hearing that I nodded, appreciating the information, and finally readying myself to mentally scan the inhabitants of the mansion. I had come here to at least lay eyes on the historians who apparently had some influence over the people of Aronms, and it was time for me to focus on them.
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I closed my eyes and allowed my not-so-mini-map to fill my vision. The thing instantly consumed what I could see, and inside of the building it was powerful enough that I could see who all was inside along with me. I quickly applied filters to the map so that I could focus on a specific group: the aforementioned historians.
Countless dark elven outlines lost their color, and after a second only two in the building retained their vibrancy. They were blue, the color that the system had long ago meant neutrality on both the mini and not-so-mini maps. They were located above me, almost directly on top of me in this strange mansion.
Out of curiosity I quickly unapplied the filters and allowed my eyes to explore both the interior of the mansion and the rest of the city. There were a handful of red outlines, indicating a group that was just hostile towards me, and a small number of green outlines.
I tapped on one of the red outlines, just out of curiosity to gain a bit of insight into who my enemies were. I heard the familiar voice of the automated system begin to speak into my mind, ready to educate me as to the status of my foes.