"Why? This place… doesn't feel creepy." There was no overlying sense of despair or pain in this room and Sequoia didn't feel like there was an angry presence here. This place felt almost peaceful. It seemed sleepy and calmer than the torture room.
“That’s the problem, Sequoia. This entire place is supposed to be creepy, supposed to ward off people but here,” Aniña gestured to the room around them, “It’s calm and peaceful and doesn’t fit with the rest of the rooms. Othylia is not a… a calm god. It just doesn’t fit.”
(I'm heading to bed. Sorry I haven't been on lately. My cousin's quinceanera's happening tomorrow and everything's been busy preparing for it.)
That made sense, she supposed. What was this happy little room doing in the creepiest murder hallways Sequoia had ever walked through? "If it were a room for children, it makes sense that this would be calmer. Kid's aren't exactly made to be raised in torture rooms."
(All good, have fun!)
“Exactly. Why have kids down here in the first place? I know we went through a few options but it’s still not making sense.” Aniña sighed and ran a hand through her hair. This wasn’t making any sense to her. Why keep kids down here? Why have such a peaceful room in a place that’s not supposed to be peaceful?
Aniña raised a compelling point. What would kids be doing down here? This very clearly wasn't a place meant for children. Any baby who was raised down here probably came out traumatized for life. Sequoia looked around the room, searching for any symbols or buttons that might clue them in as to it's use. "Have you ever seen this room before?"
Aniña shook her head, "Never and I've been down here before," She sighed and began to pace, "I've been in three different tunnels like this, and there's never been a room like this one…" The thought just made her pace even more.
Sequoia started at the runes, brushing away the dust covering them. She couldn't make out a few runes closer to the corners, so she summoned a bit of lightning for illumination. It was still pretty hard to see, so she rubbed the lit hand over it and squealed in surprise when the rune started glowing. "Aniña…"
"What is-" Aniña stopped pacing and looked at Sequoia wide eyed, "How did you do that?" She asked, walking over bewildered. This day just kept getting stranger and stranger.
Sequoia shrugged furiously, pulling her hand fully away and dispelling the lightning. As soon as the lightning went away, the rune stopped lighting up. When Sequoia summoned it again, the rune lit up again. off, on, off, on, off, on. The light of the rune flickered dark and light, light and dark. "I touched it when my hand had lightning on it."
"Try lighting all three, see what happens then." Aniña said, standing behind her and looking down at the runes. Confusion but also awe lined her features as she studied the markings. This was all so strange yet cool at the same time.
Sequoia summoned her lightening and touched the other runes. Nothing happened. Only the rune for birth was lit up. "Uh… It won't let me light the other ones. Can you try? Like… cast a spell on it or something?"
"I can try." Aniña crouched down next to Sequoia and racked her brain for a spell. Once she found one, she led out her hand over one of the unlit runes and muttered something under her breath. A second later, one of the runes lit up.
Sequoia whooped and held out her non-lightning-covered hand for a high five. Aniña had caused the rune for fertility to light up in the same color as Sequoia's birth rune. "Yes! How do we light the third one? Do we need a third person?"
Aniña chuckled and gave Sequoia a high five, shaking her head slightly, "I don't know. Maybe? Or maybe we both have to light the rune… together…"
"Well, won't hurt to try. Let's do it." Sequoia picked up her lighting wreathed palm and set it down on the rune, leaving plenty of space for Aniña to touch it without accidentally electrocuting her. It made sense that they would both have to touch the rune for family. Because they were a family now, or at least the beginnings of one.
Aniña took a breath before placing her hand next to Sequoias. She bit her lip a little while they waited for the rune to light up. It took a few moments but eventually, the last rune lit up and Aniña let out a laugh of excitement, "We did it!"
"We did it!" Sequoia cheered, pulling away her arms and doing a little victory dance. When she stood up, she realized that the ceiling was open. There was a little hole right above the circle of runes, staring up into a bright;y lit room. It was only a foot or so in diameter. She pointed it out to Aniña.
Aniña frowned up at it, "Well, then. Things just got interesting… again…" She sighed a little and reached up to the hole, only she was just a little too short to touch it. She cursed at herself and her height.
(Anina is me)
Sequoia jumped and stretched but she couldn't reach the hole either. It's bright light entranced her, and she desperately wanted to see what was up there. Was it a treasure room? Something that could explain why this little room even existed? "Give me a boost. I wanna see what's up there."
"I don't know how good of an idea that is… we don't have weapons and there could be something dangerous up there." Aniña rubbed at her face with both hands, letting out a muffled string of curses.
Aniña made some good points but Sequoia wanted to know about that room. She just had to find out what was up there. "Just lemme peek through the hole. I won't stick my head in, I'll just peek up through the hole. C'mon, I gotta know!" She pulled at Aniña's arm pleadingly.
Aniña frowned but eventually sighed and gave in, "Fine. Fine. But not for long, okay?" She held out her hands for Sequoia to step up on. Gods she hoped nothing bad would happen. If it did Aniña wouldn't forgive herself.
"Of course. I'll get down right away!" Sequoia stepped up into Aniña's hands and peered into the bright room. She could scarcely open her eyes, blinded by its brilliance, but she did notice a small dark shape in the corner. A dark shape that got larger and larger as it moved towards her. Oh hell no! She pulled her head out of the hole with a squeak and hopped out of Aniña's hands.
"What happened? You okay?" Aniña scanned Sequoia's face for any injury and released a breath after finding none, "What did you see?" She looked up at the hole herself and frowned at it.
"Some weird dark blob." Whatever it was, it hadn't covered the little hole in the ceiling. Sequoia drained the electricity from her arm and was relieved to see the hole closing as the runes darkened. "It started moving towards me so I jumped down. Do you have any idea what it could be?"
Aniña shook her head, "No. God I hate not knowing things about my ow culture and… and things in in these chambers…" She sighed, "Come on, we should get out of here…"
"Yeah." While this room was still very calming, the dark blob kind of freaked her out. What was it? Why was it crawling towards her? Was it going to hurt her? Could it have hurt her? Sequoia thought so. Something about the way it had wriggled towards her felt undeniably threatening. "What else is there to fo around here? Can you read me a story or something?"
"There isn't really much else do. How about I tell you a story in the library? Save any more creepy dark blobs coming for us?" Aniña wrapped an arm and Sequoia. she could tell she was a little on edge from what she saw so maybe getting out of here would be best.
"Yes, please." Sequoia patted Aniña's arm gratefully, letting herself get led out of the creepy hidden hallway and into the creepy tiled hallway. "What kind of story are you going to read? Can you read me something sappy and gross and romantic?"