Arcanum - Chapter 159

A weird smell of incense woke me up from my sleep…. ‘Where is this faint incense smell coming from?’.. I wondered stranding up quietly to not wake up the others, but to be honest if they were sleeping through Daisy’s and Scarlets loud snoring I’m pretty sure they can sleep through anything. I noticed Paul wasn’t here…. ‘He must be in his room’…. I quietly and carefully crepted to his door opening it slowly and silently a possible. ‘Hmmmm he’s not here either…’ noticing his bed was untouched and perfectly made. ‘He must be where the incense smell is coming from….’ following my nose I discovered the smell was coming from his locked room that was left slightly open.

“Paul?…” I whispered opening the door slightly to peer inside. I starred in awe quietly as it looked like a museum…. hundreds and hundreds of things on shelves and glass cabinets with the source of the smell coming deep within the room.

Curiosity getting the better of me as always I silently slipped into room taking care not to open the door too much. It was truly amazing… I guess this is Paul’s personal treasure trove of items and equipment….. Slowly I made my way deeper into the room the smell of incense getting stronger and stronger. “Paul.” I said noticing the back of someone that looked like they was in a wheel chair.

“Emilia?…” He turned around to face his eyes red and swollen from crying.

“Hey you okay?…” I asked worried about him walking closer…. “What are you doing?..” I asked noticing he had packs and packs of incense.

“It’s my way of paying my respects to those who passed away….” He said in a solemn tone returning to face a large ash filled tray filled with stalks of completely burned incense.

“Can I?…” I asked politely.

“Yeah….. Here.” He said taking out two stalks of incense and lighting them for me. “Just you know… Pray for them and hope they find their way to heaven…” He said putting them in my right hand and placing my left hand around my right to resemble praying hands. I closed my eyes praying they find a way to heaven and opened my eyes.

“Now you just plant it into the ash tray…..” He said guiding my hand to imbed the stalks into the ash tray where the two he lit earlier was still burning.

“Are these all the Students of Atlantis that has lost their lives?…” I questioned quietly to maintain the solemn atmosphere.

“Yes… All the students and individuals that unfortunately we lost due to my decisions and actions…” He answered closing his eyes taking a deep breathe.

“I thought we only lost one student…..” I questioned noticing we burnt two stalks.

“We lost on students…. and one Guard bravely sacrificed himself to complete a task for me…” He explained as tears began to flow down his eyes. I instinctively pulled his head closer to me holding him tightly, ‘just what have you been through all these years?…..”

He silently pulled his head away gently after calming down and pulled out a big handful of incense and began lighting them all in small bunches. “This set are for all the soldiers that I murdered today… I don’t know how many….” He said imbedding the incense into a larger bowl is alot more left over stalks.

“Let me…” I said taking some bunches and began helping him to finish planting the incense taking care not to burn myself.

We prayed in silence for a few seconds before raising our heads…….. “Come let’s go…” He said with intense sorrow in his eyes.

“You can’t keep blaming yourself.” I said to him quietly and respectfully.

“I know…… I tell myself that as well…. but I always wondered maybe if I was a little smarter or more prepared I could save lives on both sides…..” He cursed.

“Paul you did your best….. And that’s all anyone can ask for…” I said trying to comfort him. He nodded in silence but I can tell from his expression he’s punishing and blaming himself for everything that happened.

“So what is this room?…” I asked after a few minutes of silence hoping to get his mind off things.

“This is the room we have for extremely dangerous items and artifacts…..” He explained wheeling through the room. “For example….. See that Pitch Black floating crystal encased in glass?..” He asked me pointing at it.

“Yeah….” I answered.

“Well that is…. a Black Soul Stone containing a fragment of the Shackled Oblivion…. merely being near it will corrupt and drive someone insane and become a servant to the Shackled Oblivion with the ultimate goal of releasing it back into the universe.” He explained making me take a few steps away from it.

“Can’t you destroy it?…” I asked feeling frightened of the evil it can cause.

“Ohhh so small back story…. Shackled Oblivion Started a war with all the other Gods….. Wanting to bring darkness and death to everything that living…. It took the combined might of all the Gods to defeat it… and even then could only shackle it in the plane of Oblivion where it stays trapped for eternity, eternally fighting scheming and finding ways to unbind itself……” He explained.

“So no destroying it?..” I asked.

“I don’t think I have the power to….. Nor do I know what will happen if I did….” He answered.

“We’re safe right?..” I questioned.

“The glass case it’s in is protected with a null zone…. but even then going near it will cause very disturbing images.” He answered.

“Gotcha don’t go near it…” I answered, “You got anything that won’t spell disaster and doom to the whole world?..” I asked jokingly.

“Ohhh this is cool…” He said pointing at a large egg encased in a similar glass case, it was beautiful…. all across the shell was bright lights of different intensities all flowing in one direction like the night sky as if I was peering into space itself. “That is the Egg of one of the rarest Dragons to ever exist…. A Celestial Dragon…..” He smiled seeing my reaction.

“A space dragon?…” I asked.

“Yes….. A Celestial Dragon is an everlasting Dragon that lives in the Astral plane…. even I have never seen one… can you imagine?… the infinite knowledge it must have…” Paul explained in awe. “Anyways because time doesn’t flow in the Astral Plane….. The only way a Celestial Dragon can reproduce is laying an egg in a plane of existence… We came across this specimen when we cleared a Dragon Cult…” He smiled.

“Will it hatch?..” I asked curiously.

“Scarlet and Ashley say’s there is a Baby Dragon in there…. but we’ve had it for years and nothing has happened so far… even its mother hasn’t returned for it.” Paul explained.

“Wow… what do they look like?..” I asked curiously.

“From what I’ve read…. they are like Serpentine Dragons similar to those you see in Chinese Mythology they are depicted to be ethereal. Beautiful coloured in purple and blue.” Paul answered.

“Wow…” I uttered in awe my imagination going wild.

“Ohh this is interesting…” He said pointing at an urn….. Encased in ice constantly spewing out blue and black smoke falling to the grounds of its confines.

“That seems evil…” I instinctively said just looking at it brought chills up my spine.

“Remember the object that kept the Evil person from dying in the books you love to read so much?…” He asked.

“Yeah…..” I answered.

“Well that….. Is the Urn of a Lich called a Phylactery….. That is the only true way to kill a Lich… destroy the Urn and the Soul of the Lich contained within will die to.” He explained.

“Woah…..” I looked at it in complete fear. “Who does it belong to?…” I asked.

“Holding a Lich’s Phylactery keeps the Lich at bay….. It’s an insurance policy.” Paul answered.

“Why not just destroy it…..?” I questioned.

“A Phylactery is one of the most ancient of Necromantic Rituals and spells… It has been noted that destroying a Phylactery will also result in the destroyer’s death regardless of where they are…… and not only that the immense amount of Necromantic energy in that small Urn will let out a giant Death nova rendering a huge area Lifeless for decades.” Paul answered.

“So earlier before…. about Scarlets armour being made out of Platinum Dragon Scales… what is that?…” I questioned.

“It’s a long story….. There was One dragon the true God of Dragons……. It birthed two Dragon Gods… Bahamut the King of Dragons the only known Platinum Dragon to ever exist… and Tiamat the Queen of Dragons…… Bahamut and his metal coloured kin are normally considered good and fight for righteousness…… Then there’s Tiamat and her coloured kin….. They have normal colours like green black and red….. They are considered generally evil and selfish.” He began to explain making me wonder was it a dragon that I saw back in the Sporean village. “As you remember Helen and Grace’s look of disbelief….. Since Gods can’t come here how is it possible to get the scales of a Platinum Dragon?” He chuckled.

“So what is it made out of?..” I questioned.

“No idea… to be honest.. It’s defiantly made from Dragon scale but how and what exactly…. I don’t know.” He chuckled.