Chapter 6: Angel Kolas

The webs increase in thickness as we walk, becoming visible even without the bright light of my lightstone. We must be traveling closer to the center of the thing’s nest than when I traveled through the webs last time.

Shar stays close by, not wanting to brave the webs on her own as she gives our small party directions. Keve keeps a wary eye on our surroundings and I’m grateful for the second pair of eyes. Going through the webs is stressful, reminding me of the predator that used to call this place home.

“So Keve,” I start as I cut my way through a particularly thick section of web with my dagger. “Why were you chosen to watch me?”

“Varia is wise.” Keve answers, his voice thick with soft lilts and brief vowels. “I am not… like the others in my tribe. She knows this and so she sends me to see more of the….” he pauses, searching for the word. “Other life.”

We enter another room and we both go quiet. The chamber is filled with old cocoons, some of them ripped open with strange tears, while others are simply crushed. The webs in the room are in complete disarray, destroyed by whatever came through here and something had been eating the remains inside the cocoons.

“Shar, is there another path we can take?” I ask nervously, my hand on my weapon.

Shar shakes her whole body, her feathers flaring out. “It’s a longer path.” She shifts her talons on my pack. “But we can travel through the room of Angel Kolas.”

I nod, backing out of the room slowly, my eyes staying on the other entrances.

My breath relaxes as we leave the room. It’s best to leave whatever monster was creating trouble in there alone.

We backtrack for a good five minutes before Shar has me take a left turn down a hallway we hadn’t taken before. The hallway eventually reaches a closed stone door, completely covered in webs.

I sigh as I get to work at cutting through the webs with my enchanted knife. The thing had done wonders against the normally incredibly strong web of the spider-creature.

Keve stands watch, his gaze on the corridor behind us as I cut my way through the surprisingly thick cover along the door.

“Do either of you know much about Angel Kolas?” I ask. I kneel down to cut down the last of the web before pushing it out of the way. “I know he’s one of the seven oathsworn, but not much else.”

Keve shakes his head and Shar stays quiet, so I assume they are as clueless as me.

I shrug and put my shoulder against the door that has been closed for a couple of centuries. It doesn’t budge, so I call Keve to help me. Together, we push into it and it finally starts to creak open. With one final push, the door opens enough for us to squeeze through, revealing a dusty room lit by a lightstone similar to the one I’ve been carrying with me.

In the center of the room is a statue of an Angel. Runes cover his arms, tattooed into his skin through the power of his oath. In one hand he holds up an open book, while in the other a strange cube with markings all along its surface holds the Angel’s attention. A quiver rests on his back, while two long knives rest at his waist.

A small altar is set before the statue, a few items on its surface and paintings line the walls. At the far end of the room is another door, sealed shut from hundreds of years without use.

I ask for Keve’s help and together we close the door that acted as an entrance.

I take a deep breath, the air of the room smelling surprisingly fresh. “Why don’t we rest for a moment? I’ve barely eaten anything all day.”

Keve nods, pulling off his own pack to grab some food, while Shar hops off my pack to transform into her humanoid self and walk around.

I pull some jerky out of my bag, wishing that I’d brought more with me from my camp on the surface. I like to pack light so that I can fit more items in my bag for the first delve. But I really should have more emergency rations.

Chewing lightly on the jerky, I walk up to the statue, blowing dust off of the plaque that sits at its base. There are multiple languages written on the plaque, but I can only read one of them.

Angel Kolas, The First-Sworn

He protects us all

Except when humanity needed him most, it seems. Not that anyone could save us from our own idiocy.

Taking a step back, I actively identify the statue.

That’s my second level up from simply learning information. Maybe lore-mage stays true to its name and levels when I learn pieces of our history? I glance at my status, but see no changes aside from the new level.

I frown as I reread the second part of the description. “Shar?” I call out, grabbing the attention of the board golem. “Would you fly up there and see if there’s anything written in the book he’s holding?”

“I can do that.” Shar says, shifting from her humanoid self into the form of a bird. She flies up and lands on the shoulder of the statue, staring down at the book. She hops a little as she seems to read something. “It’s a map. There are also instructions I can’t read.”

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“Can you-” I start, but she interrupts me, knowing what I’m going to ask.

“Give me your notebook and I’ll copy it down for you.” Shar flies down, transforming back into her humanoid form as she lands in front of me.

I quickly oblige, handing her the notebook. She gets down and starts drawing. I look over her shoulder as she quickly finishes the map.

It takes me a second, but I recognize the map to be of the western coastline. An x is drawn into a spot a little north of an old undead city. The words are in a dialect of the same language the temples in the strongholds use for their ancient texts. I can recognize a few words, such as “life”, “angel” and “guide”, but not much else. I’ll have to take it to a theologian in the nearby frontier city of Onder. They’ll probably be able to translate the rest for me.

“Thank you Shar.” I say, closing the notebook and putting it back into my bag. Now I know where I’m going once I’m finished with this delve. “This statue should keep any monsters away,” I tell the two, “so I’m going to take the chance to rest and decide on some things.”

Keve simply nods, pulling some more things from his bag.

Shar walks over to Keve, sitting across from him and asking him a question.

I ignore them as I look at a decision I’d been putting off for a while.

It’s a profession that I’ve never heard of. The creation of automatons, or golems as I now know them, was lost along with most of our knowledge of the old world. Is it worth it to take it as a profession, when I don’t really know what it entails? I glance over at Shar, who stares intently at Keve as he carves a piece of wood. Taking the profession will allow me to understand her better, and I’ll be able to fix her again if the need ever arises. I also grabbed books on automatons from the Archmage’s library, which would allow me to gain the skills in the profession.

It’s a life altering decision, and one that is hard to change once I make my choice. Still, I knew what my answer would be as soon as I received it. It’s knowledge of the old world that no one alive has. I am an explorer, I live for this kind of knowledge.