[Legends of the Modern Age (Scion)] Chapter 1.B: Enter the Labyrinth

The Scion of Ares just continued to have her arms crossed and smirked. Teasing had to happen. "Ah, I see. You just want to be sweet on me. I mean sweet with me."


"So this means we can move on and stop thinking about the wall-pictures?" Kendra asked hopefully, changing the subject to the matter at hand.
 
"Probably," Karima answers Kendra's query whilst smiling at the pair's ongoing flirting, "I don't see any way of interacting with this story, so forward is once more the only choice."
 
You move forwards for an indeterminate amount of time, the fog following you and the hieroglyphics repeating. Eventually you cross into a red tiled room with two exits: One with tiles that are slowly turning purple and an Alpha with a sun-disc atop the entrance. The other has tiles that are slowly turning orange and a winged Omega above the corridor.
 
"Hah! Finally something I sort of recognize and can understand! It's Greek!" Kendra seemed all-too proud of herself for recognizing the two most commonly known Ancient Greek symbols. But then she frowns. "Mixed with those Egyptian things from before... So I guess we'll choose by color again. Anyone fancy purple or orange?"
 
"It's a bit more than that," says Libby, pushing her glasses up on her nose. "Remember, 'alpha' is the first letter of the Greek alphabet. 'Omega' is the twenty-fourth and final one. The two letters have been used as another way of saying 'the beginning and the end' or 'the first and the last'. For example: ἐγὼ τὸ Α καὶ τὸ Ω -- 'I am the Alpha and the Omega' -- in the Book of Revelation."
 
"So we choose between the first and the last?" Karima ponders, "of what? The story from before?"
 
"Well, always best to start at the beginning." Kendra motions for the Alpha path. "Unless someone has any objections, that is."
 
"The alpha also has the sun disk that referred to the son of Ra before, and the omega the wings that referred to the newcommer, which may be important. But tentatively, I would say that this supports choosing the alpha path."
 
"Can we all agree on the fancy purple path, then?" Kendra asked as she tapped her foot in anticipation. "Purple ain't a bad color. Roman emperors favored purple, right? Romans were pretty badass."
 
"For a few short years," Karima agrees with a faint smirk, "and yes purple, alpha, sun path it is."
 
"Stay close. No one get separated." At least it was the whole group that seemed to agree to move in this direction this time. She had been taking direction from Kendra this whole time. If she was going to guard her, best to have them going in the same direction. She kept her eyes open for magic, but almost everything about this place was magic, so it made it all less important. She supposed when she saw something non-magical she might be inclined to find something strange. Or possibly an exit.
 
As you progress down the purple hall, you occasionally see scraps of greek script and heiroglyphics, but nothing that you can get real meaning from. Eventually you reach a large circular room, dominated by a large marble statue of a man in robes with a staff topped by an elaborate depiction of Ra. You can also see a white disc on the ceiling directly above the statue's head, a sun disc atop an alpha engraved on the pedestal and a mysterious lack of fog.
 
"Well, this is nice and obvious," Karima says deadpan as she enters the room with the others. "Grisl, any good ideas about what the hell Fate was doing bringing us all here, other than hooking you and Kendra up?"


While she talks, she examine the statue, the pedestal and the walls for more writings that could tell them what is going on here.
 
Kendra turned to Karima with a raised brow and opened her mouth to say something. But then she stopped and turned around to watch Grisl's reaction with much amusement.


She wished she had popcorn right about now.
 
As Kendra turns to Grisl she sees something slightly more alarming than anything. The hallway seems to have vanished. The walls are perfectly curved, with no sign of any hallway ever existing.


Karima can see that despite the master craftsmanship on the statue, it is mysteriously lacking fine detail anywhere other than the staff. There is no identifying marks anywhere beyond the Alpha on the pedestal nor is there enough detail on the face to identify who the statue is of.
 
"We are neither hooked nor up. Fate just used a series of sequential anomalies to allow for the beginning of a friendship." She tried to convince herself it was simply a friendship, but there was the image she had of a flying ice palace that seemed to imply otherwise. And the piles of bloated corpses in the basement that were somehow responsible for the palace flying, Grisl was afraid to tell Kendra about them. Why?


"What are you looking at?" Kendra seemed like she wanted some reaction from her. If she weren't looking adorable just standing there looking at her, Grisl would just snap at her. "I find it more confusing that everyone else was here as well. It would seem to imply that we will need each other in the future and it would be best if we were aware of each other."
 
Kenji smiles at Grisl response to Karima and stares at the statue, looking it over for clues "Pardon my interjection but if Fate thinks along the lines of Hollywood writers then perhaps a disparate group of adventurers needed to assemble to tackle some grand world shaking threat on the horizon that none are aware of. As their adventure begins they are tested and they must forge ties of friendship to resolve deep seated personal issues and overcome the trials that Fate throws at them. Rivalries, blossoming romances, defrosting ice queens, smart asses being punched, and explosions are all conventional for the genre. Then again Fate can be more nuanced than Hollywood so all of that could just be bunk spun from my love of cliche action movies. I'm not the scholar of this bunch just the pretty face." He pauses for a moment to read how the others have responded


"No matter the reason for our meeting escaping this maze is the task at hand. I don't see any levers, pulleys or doors. No other features make themselves apparent for our use as well. If no one has any thoughts about how to proceed I could try talking to the statue. Inanimate objects find me irresistible."

Activating Boys Will Be Boys so I dont get punched for being a smartass
 
"There is very little about the situation to pay attention to," Karima counters as she looks around to survey the room again, "the walls that now encircle us are without markings, the figure is of some unknown character, and it's just us in here." She moves to investigate the statue's staff more closely, "if the situation was pressing or had an apparent solution, more attention would be paid to it. If you have any ideas or guesses, I'm all ears," she says as she examines the depiction of Ra. If this were a movie, pulling that might very well open a secret door or something, so it bears investigating.
 
"Oh, nothing. Just our path is gone and so is the fog." Kendra responds to Grisl's rather funny defensiveness before turning to Karima. "Pull it already, or will I have to?"
 
"The path behind was was already hidden in vaguely threatening mist and non-Euclidean geometry. I don't think the fact that it is now solid stone really changes that much. And I will, just as soon as I've had a second to look it over."
 

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