"We see you've removed the others," The left skull rasps, "Quite ruthless of you." The dragon skeleton ducks its head forwards, only in inch away and causing the three to shy away, cautious, as the middle head joins in, "Do forgive us. We've been out of the social loop-" A loud crack echoes in the cavern as its head cracks against the stone roof, and it shakes its head with a whine of pain while shifting downwards once more.
The right head barely glances to the middle as it rumbles, "Either way, it is battle time.. Go through the gates, Gladiators, if you will." The ribs that barred the doors started to rumble and shake, slowly bending outwards to allow the doors the ability to open. The golden lights of the right head seems to stare at the travelers for a long moment, flickering as if about to fade as it rumbles once more as the other bones finally settle, "Go now, brave ones."
As if on cue, all three heads slithers back downwards, resting against the ground once more as the lights faded from the eye sockets as the skulls slightly bounce from the sudden motion, and what sounds like a snore breaches the air and then dies down.
"Do we go in?" Jeff says after a pause, a frown deep-set on his features as Vex makes a bewildered face, as if the idea itself was against all reason. Raven, noticing the expression, says, "There has to be a reason the familiar came here." She doesn't look pleased, but she is still the first to push open the rotting doors, stepping into a bricked hall, the two males quick to join her as they weave around the bones and into the hall, which descended into a cracked staircase a few feet in.
Just like the previous areas, they note, the stone was covered in lichen and moss, moist and still seeming to be somewhat alight despite the lack of a torch or similar. Their heels clicked against the weathered stone, echoing forwards then coming back to reach their ears as it bounced off the walls. It's only a short period of time, maybe a few minutes, before the stairs flatten out, a visible light at the end.
Walking past the archway, the end of the tunnel, searing pain stabbed at their eyes from the sudden change of brightness. To combat the pain, Raven narrows their eyes and puts a hand over their brow, blinking rapidly as they took in the area. The first thing that caught their gaze in the cavern was large braziers of black stone, green fire roaring forth to light up the area in the corners and mid-way points of the elliptical cavern.
The floor below was no longer stone, instead being dusty sand that was splattered with something dried, colored brown with age- given the skeletons near the odd coloration, they decided with a pit in their stomach that it was long-since dried blood of the fallen warriors. Weapons dotted the land, laying on the ground or embedded skeletons, where vital organs would have been. Along the walls were bleachers of the same rough stone, the bones of hundreds of creatures big and small rattled to life, into a deafening roar as the beat of war drums filtered through the air. The flames flickered, sending wavering shadows where it could as the ground shook with the murderous thunder.
It was a colosseum, the mage realized- a full colosseum of the dead.
Wide, confused eyes flicker to and fro, from one spot to the next as terror rises in their chest, threatening to close their throat as they finally look to the others. The first to catch their gaze is Jeff, whose eyes have misted over, seeing something they couldn't, frozen to the spot. They shakily reach out, moving his shoulder to try and get his attention, "Jeff, What is-" and then he crumples, balling up just like at the camp.
"Vex!" They squawk, "Something is wrong!" However, even if their voice carried over the thundering noise, it didn't matter; Vex was gone, and so was the doorway, a slate of stone taking its place. The two of them were trapped. Their stomach rolled and their heart picked up in horror, threatening to ram itself out of their chest. Once more, they turned to the ex-bandit, shaking and calling his name as their voice pitches in fear, trying to snap him out of the daze as the crowd roars- why weren't the skeletons doing anything else? They couldn't run, couldn't carry Jeff long enough to get away before something attacked- he had to wake up as they pull him into a sitting position.
The feeling of being watched burns into their shoulders, and their head snaps up to meet the gaze of a man, whose large smile looked malicious in the green firelight and lavish clothes of silk imprinted with the color. The man sat up on a balcony above, the area befitting royalty with the podium before him and the cushioned seat, not seeming affected by the war drums that beat with their heart.
A flick of the wrist from the man, and some of the bones in the arena started to tremble and move, large crystals pulled out from the braziers with magic to start forming with the bones, up and up to form a sort of golem within the magic twister of materials. Using one hand to sweep back a strand of black hair, they can only stare in horror as the bones and crystals knit themselves together to create the towering construct, fusing and binding as the creation's head turns, glowing crystal eyes landing onto the two forms. Fifty seven feet, they guessed, mind running in an endless loop;
'We're going to die. Why did I make Jeff and Vex come here? Why did this even happen?' They felt the urge to throw up from the terror, a sob building in the back of their throat as the construct stares at the two. Their own eyes couldn't stay still, trying to find a solution, an exit, something as they choke out, "Jeff, wake up, now!" The voice was drowned out, and they bury their face into his shoulder, arms wrapping around his form,
"Wake up, please!"
ns 15.158.61.55da2
