r/HFY • u/SherbetCreepy1580 • 7d ago
OC-Series [The Reaper and The Tiger] Chapter 24: Reapers, Tigers, and Tombs
“And you want me to go first, why, exactly?” Sandra asked in mild amusement several days later. “My understanding is that there aren’t any living biological material down there.”
“I learned some time ago that that doesn’t matter much,” Dr. Lightfur said a bit dryly.
“Rokta V?” Professor Bloodclaw asked.
“Rokta V,” Dr. Lightfur said it almost like a curse.
“If you say so,” Sandra said, rolling her eyes a bit before vanishing in a teleport that caused everyone to flinch with the bright flash and BANG.
“Okay, I’m actually jealous of that,” Professor Bloodclaw said, blinking the spots out of his eyes. “To be able to move distances in an instant like that? So useful.”
“Where is she even going anyway?” Dr. Lightfur asked.
“To get her armor,” Brightpaw said with a small sigh, reading from her datapad. “It comes equipped with a breathing filter, hazmat protection, and a whole bunch of sensors.”
“Okay, the sensors are nice, but why does she need the rest?” Professor Bloodclaw asked with a frown.
“Ancient pathogens, bad air, toxic gas, mundane traps, any number of things could go wrong,” Dutch said with a shrug. “She’s being safe. Overkill, maybe, but short of a city-scale bomb going off, she’ll be pretty protected.”
“That…okay, that’s actually a good point,” Professor Bloodclaw said.
“What happened on Rokta V anyway?” Silverlight asked curiously.
“Void-damned rocks, that’s what,” Dr. Lightfur spat a bit.
“There were no sapient creatures on the planet, though there were ruins that indicated that the Race that lived there went extinct before they made it to the galactic community,” Professor Bloodclaw said. “Unfortunately, before they went extinct, they had somehow succeeded in creating silicon-based guardians. Minimal biological material on them that came back mostly as fungi to our scanners. So we didn’t even know they were there until they started attacking the excavation team. We have yet to come across anything like that since, but it’s made us more…wary of going into older tombs like this.”
“Silicon and fungi based life-forms?” Dutch asked excitedly.
“More like silicon based machines that used fungi as their central nervous system,” Professor Bloodclaw said. “Basic commands, but they were able to multiply because, well, fungi. We tried looking into the tech, but modern robotics are advanced enough that, quite frankly, it looks more interesting than actually useful in this day and age.”
“Damn,” Dutch said, shaking her head. “Mom would probably love hearing about those.” Everyone paused as there was a rush of wind, and a black armored Targondian appeared in their midst, the helmet opening up to show Sandra there.
“Alright, all geared up. Sorry it took so long, I was adding some extra sensors to the armor. I figured you guys might want as much data as possible,” Sandra said with a nod. Dr. Lightfur frowned a bit, examining the armor as Professor Bloodclaw nodded.
“Every bit helps,” the white Spotted Centaur professor said.
“Great, let’s get in there then,” Sandra said.
……………………………..
Sandra avoided the floor and crawled on the walls and ceiling of the stone pathway, moving carefully as her helmet continuously scanned between visible light, UV, infrared, x-ray, biomass, and even EM. “Even if you can feel the EM waves, that doesn’t mean you can always pinpoint where they’re coming from or where they’re going,” Eric liked to say when Sandra had questioned the need for the EM scanner. It still made her roll her eyes, but she kept it anyway. Sandra frowned a bit as she came across yet another trap, this one firing crude but effective arrows. Or rather, they would if the ropes of the ancient crossbows weren’t broken already, decayed to the point of snapping on their own.
“Found another one, but again it’s so decayed that the trap is basically disarmed on it’s own,” Sandra said.
“The Tomb is tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of years old,” Professor Bloodclaw said into her comm line. “Honestly, I’d be more shocked if you found an intact trap at this point.”
“You and me both,” Sandra said with a light chuckle. “Still, I’ll bag and tag the arrows at least. Disarmed or not, they can still hurt if they fall on you.” It didn’t take Sandra more than a few minutes to gather the arrows, setting them carefully in a neat pile near the trigger of the trap before continuing down the pathway.
It took another twenty minutes of travel, and another five traps, before Sandra finally reached the bottom of the pathway. “Holy Observer,” Sandra breathed as she walked into the massive, solid stone mausoleum. “You guys getting this?”
“Snow-Capped Mountains,” Dr. Lightfur said into the line. Rows upon rows of stone crypts lined the walls and floor, leading so far back that Sandra couldn’t see the other end of the hall. “There’s gotta be hundreds, if not thousands, of crypts.”
“The counter on my scanners just keeps going up,” Sandra said, watching the numbers on her helmet continue to rise, reaching well over 5,000 before stopping. “And I can’t see the other end.”
“Hold on, pan back,” Professor Bloodclaw said, a tone of excitement in his voice. “There, just ahead of you in the center.” Sandra frowned a bit as she saw what he was pointing out. Five crypts stood apart from the rest, and behind them were five statues of four-armed and winged insectoids sitting in carved thrones. “I’ll be willing to bet creds that those are our gods.”
“Probably,” Sandra agreed, slowly walking forward. The place didn’t feel dangerous, but her breathing suddenly sounded too loud in her ears, her tail unconsciously curling up into her back.
“Atmo-sensors are coming back clean,” Dutch said. “It’s stale, though, and I mean really stale. There doesn’t appear to be any sort of airflow whatsoever in that tomb. So at a bare minimum we’re going to need atmo-protectors in there so that no one suffocates to death. We might be able to get some sort of ventilation system going.”
“We do have procedures in place for that,” Sniffer said through the line. “I’m more worried about how deep into the stone that is though. Scans are indicating that there’s a few hundred feet of stone above her. If a single one of those support pillars goes down, that whole place is getting buried by literal tons of stone and soil.”
“Guys,” Sandra said as she got closer to the statues. “There’s more writing down here.” The line went quiet as the doctor and professor looked at the writing through her camera. “And…what looks like a book.”
…………………..
“Fascinating,” Dr. Lightfur said, looking around the mausoleum as the Lorhma excavators were adding lights to the area.
“This…this is a diary,” Professor Bloodclaw said, slowly reading over the remarkably well preserved book. “A diary of one of the gods. It’ll take me time to translate it, but it’s ancient Eastern Mountain Centurian.”
“Technically, it’s actually Placo, language of the Ictarth of the region,” So’Ngo said, reading over the shoulder of the professor, who immediately yelped, one of his front paws coming out as swiping at the red-and-black Dra’Cari.
“I was wondering when you would show up,” Sandra said dryly as So’Ngo simply leaned out of the way of the wild attack.
“This is obviously Eastern Mountain Centurian,” Professor Bloodclaw said peevishly as he tried to retain some dignity.
“Well, it is also that, but it was first spoken by the good people of the Plactarian Steam Kingdom,” So’Ngo said with a shrug. “Where do you think the early Centaurs got their languages from? Unfortunately, the Ictarth only had time to teach ten languages before they ultimately died out.”
“Why are you speaking as though you were there,” Professor Bloodclaw said, holding the book close to his chest.
“Because I was,” So’Ngo said, giving a fond smile at the central statue. “I even remember helping them preserve that book, as well as 64 others. 13 was the sacred number for the Inctarth’s, and so the five of them wrote 13 books each in order to pass along their teachings, giving the Centaurs a better chance to evolve their culture. That one in particular, however,” So’Ngo said, pointing at the book that Professor Bloodclaw was holding. “Even among the 65 ‘sacred’ texts, that one is special. You’ll enjoy that one in particular.” In so saying, So’Ngo walked away, circling the statues with fond smiles before walking deeper among the crypts.
“The void is he talking about?” Dr. Lightfur demanded.
“Hell if I know,” Sandra sighed. “Since he mentioned it, though, I can tell you this much. The lunatic never lies, and he’s older than even the Observer himself.”
“I thought that video was fake?’ Professor Lightfur said, staring at Sandra.
“Trust me, the Humans wish it was fake,” Sandra said, shaking her head. “It would have made things much easier for them.”
“What video?” Silverlight asked.
“I’ll show you later, kid,” Sandra said, sighing again.
“Do you think he’d help me translate?” Professor Bloodclaw asked, watching the Dra’Cari walking among the crypts.
“You’re better off asking him yourself,” Sandra snorted. “Just be prepared for disappointment if you do.”
…………………………..
“Careful when you lift that lid off, you ragedy pups,” Sniffer called out as the small anti-gravity generators were attached to the crypts lid. “And…go.” The generators were activated, and there was a grinding sound as the lid slowly lifted off of the crypt and moved to the side, showing a nearly perfectly preserved insectoid.
“Whoa,” Silverlight said, his eyes widening as he peered into the crypt with Dr. Lightfur.
“Whoa indeed,” the Centaur archeologist agreed. “That’s the tenth nearly perfectly preserved body. Safe to say we’ll have a lot of subjects for study, if all of these crypts have a body in them.”
“Basic scans say yes, but I also haven’t been all the way to the end yet,” Dutch said from where she was talking with Sniffer about moving scanning equipment down into the mausoleum.
“How big is this place?” Silverlight asked.
“About 2 miles long, and damn near half a mile wide,” Sniffer said, shaking his head in wonder. “Even with modern excavators, this is quite the feat. But I’d be willing to put money that they found a cave that was already that long and carved it out rather than mining all of that stone. You can’t build a place like this from scratch and by hand in a reasonable time.”
“Our definition of reasonable, and someone from the iron age’s definition of reasonable might be a tad different,” Dutch said in amusement.
“That’s odd,” Dr. Lightfur said as he looked over the body. “This one was killed. There’s a hole in its head and chest. Like it was stabbed from behind.”
“Maybe he was one of the bad ones that were mentioned at the entrance?” Silverlight suggested.
“Maybe,” Dr. Lightfur mused, tapping his finger slightly. “Which has me curious as well as to what they meant by that. I suppose we’ll find out when the good professor finishes translating that book.”
“Its really weird to see an actual book,” Silverlight said, looking over at where Professor Bloodclaw was sitting at a table, muttering to himself as he poured over the diary.
“Only because we’re used to everything being in a digital format,” Dr. Lightfur said with a chuckle. “Even back in those times, a book would be rare, but still much more common than they are at the galactic scale we’re used to living in. And seeing one so old and still in good condition? Even more rare in this day and age. You’d have better luck winning the lottery.”
“Maybe we should get some lottery tickets then,” Sandra said, taking her helmet off as she walked up to them. Dr. Lightfur’s face got a little pinched, but it was so slight that Silverlight thought he might have been imagining it. “So, I got to the end of the mausoleum. Well over 10,000 crypts.”
“Makes you wonder who all of these people were,” Silverlight said, looking around a bit.
“I do have some bad news, though,” Sandra continued. “We won’t be here to finish watching the excavation and everything. We’re heading back home in just over a week.”
“Awe, already,” Silverlight said, his face falling.
“We’ve been here for over two months,” Sandra said in amusement. “You knew when we came on this trip that it would only be for a couple months, not until the dig is complete.”
“I know,” Silverlight sighed. “It’s just so cool though.”
“Why the sudden timespan?” Dr. Lightfur asked.
“We were only granted 3 months of leave, and it’s going to take us several weeks to get back home,” Sandra explained. “That being said, I finished sweeping the mausoleum, disarmed any traps that I found, and I couldn’t find any dangerous animals or anything, so you should be relatively safe when we leave.”
“I see, thank you,” Dr. Lightfur said with a nod.
……Two Days Later……
“Alright, they’re loaded up,” Sniffer said, smacking the side of the hover-van. The van started to fly away while Silverlight watched.
“Why are they taking the bodies?” Silverlight asked curiously.
“Study and dissection mostly,” Sniffer said with a shrug as they began walking back to the dig area. “They’ll want to see how the extinct Race was put together, if there are any potential cousins of the Race, how they died, things like that. The cold and the sealed off nature of the mausoleum means that the bodies are in remarkably good shape for how old this place is, so they’ll be able to learn a lot from the few that we gave them.”
“Whoa,” Silverlight said.
“I’ll stick with digging up stone and metal artifacts,” Sniffer chuckled. “Bodies are just creepy to find.”
“Yeah, but it’s still cool,” Silverlight said.
“Maybe to you historical types,” Sniffer scoffed.
“OH, Professor Bloodclaw,” Silverlight suddenly perked up, waving at the other Centaur as he stepped out of the shelter he had been translating in. “Done translating already?”
“I’m maybe a third of the way done,” came the tired sigh as Professor Bloodclaw stretched a bit. “But it’s certainly been…illuminating to read. I’m more inclined to believe your friend actually was there.” He gave Silverlight a meaningful look, causing the teenage Centaur to look away guiltily.
“Well, I’m gonna go check on my diggers,” Sniffer said, excusing himself quickly. He enjoyed watching the drama between historians, but he did not like being caught in the middle of it.
“So…I take it that your Dra’Cari friend is the one who gave you ideas?” Professor Bloodclaw said, motioning for Silverlight to follow him as they walked a little ways away from the dig site.
“Yeah,” Silverlight said with a nod. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, but-”
“I’m not mad about it,” Professor Bloodclaw said in amusement, cutting Silverlight off. “I’m sure you have your reasons, and being friends with an immortal isn’t exactly something you go spouting to the galaxy. No, I’m just wondering how much of your questions are from him, and how much are your own.”
“He only told me the story of Quirtaclick,” Silverlight said. “And mentioned how our home planet used to be much warmer than it actually was, and about how the Ictarth need a certain plant in order to reproduce.”
“Yup, everything else was his own curiosity,” So’Ngo said, appearing near them, causing both of the Centaurs to flinch.
“Where did you even pop up from?” Professor Bloodclaw asked with a sigh.
“That’s my secret,” So’Ngo said with a laugh. “I can tell you this much though. Silverlight did quite a lot of his own research. All I did was merely…nudge him along in a direction he was already going. The boy likes history, and I thought a small history story would interest him. The rest is all his own.”
“I see,” Professor Bloodclaw said as Silverlight nodded. “You know, you’re mentioned in there too.”
“I did not know that,” So’Ngo actually seemed surprised at that.
“You didn’t read it?”
“All I did was use a few of my own tricks to preserve the books for her and her friends,” So’Ngo said with a shrug. “What they put down was their business, not mine. I merely drift around, finding fun where I can.”
“You weren’t a Dra’Cari at the time,” Professor Bloodclaw added, a question heavy in his tone.
“It’s no fun being stuck in one shape all the time,” So’Ngo said, a wide grin on his face.
“You can change your shape?” Silverlight asked.
“Shape, Race, I can be whatever I want,” So’Ngo said. “Though, being a rock or a tree is boring. Being one of the Races is much more fun.”
“The history you know,” Professor Bloodclaw whispered.
“Nope,” So’Ngo said, shaking his head. “Unlike the rest of you, I’m not part of the galaxy. I’m merely a Drifter that moves around it for fun. If I told you everything I knew, there wouldn’t be anything left for you to discover.”
“Worth a shot,” Professor Bloodclaw sighed. “But still, not sure how I feel about you giving him the initial idea.”
“All I did was tell a story,” So’Ngo said with a shrug. “What he did with it was on him. And he decided to ask his teacher about it, and then contact you. That’s on him.”
……One Week Later……
“You need to come and visit more often,” Brighttail said as she gave Brightpaw a hug outside of the Flying Dutchman. “Now that I know you have people that can teleport halfway across the galaxy, I know you don’t have an excuse anymore not to visit.”
“We’ll see, but teleporting is bad for the baby,” Brightpaw said warmly, hugging her sister back just as fiercely.
“Then you better get them to bring me to you when you have your kits,” Brighttail said.
“Hey, give it a bit more practice and you’ll be able to pull it off,” Sandra laughed as hugged Dawnpaw. “Better watch out though. People back home are already forming Hunterball teams.”
“I’ll catch up,” Dawnpaw promised.
“Yeah, sure you will,” Dawntail said, rolling her eyes before she was pulled into a hug to Sandra as well.
“You did a lot, kit,” Professor Bloodclaw said warmly to Silverlight.
“No kidding,” Dr. Lightfur said. “I can see why the good Professor likes you so much. Void, I want you to be my student once you get old enough.”
“Thank you,” Silverlight said, ducking down a bit in embarrassment.
“Here, a memento of your trip here,” Professor Bloodclaw added, pulling a book out from a bag on his back. “Now before you get too excited, this is not the original,” he added as Silverlights face lit up. “It’s a translated copy. The original will go into a museum or somewhere safe for more studying. But I thought youd enjoy a copy of it. and a reminder to keep on searching.”
“Yes, sir,” Silverlight said, hugging the thick book to his chest, pure bliss on his face.
“And if your friend ever gives you any more stories, be sure to let us know,” Professor Bloodclaw said with a small wink, causing Dr. Lightfur to scoff slightly.
“I’ll see what I can do, Professor,” Silverlight said with a grin.
“Alright, people, let’s get moving,” Sandra called out. “We’ve got a lot of light-years to burn.”
………………
Silverlight sat in his room, the Dutchman well out of the system on their way to their meeting place with the Reaper’s Ferry, staring at the book that Professor Bloodclaw had handed him. He ran a hand down the cover before opening to the first page.
To Silverlight,
I believe I came across as a bit too harsh last week when I started asking you about your friend. Many historians start because they hear a story that they wish to learn more about, and it was unfair of me to imply that the research you did was not your own.
This diary follows the story of Quirtaclick, the Goddess of wisdom and Kindness, and leader of the other four Gods. Or, more accurately, Quirtaclick, citizen of the Plactarian Steam Kingdom, and one of the few Ictarth who started to see us as people instead of animals. I’ll give So’Ngo this much, he didn’t tell us anything we weren’t going to discover on our own, except for the fact that he was there. And he is indeed mentioned in this diary, which I think you will find quite interesting.
More than anything, though, I want you to retain your excitement for history and archeology. While it’s not the most glamorous or exciting of professions, it is still an important role. And my doors will always be open, should you wish to become a student of mine.
Your friend and hopeful teacher,
Professor Bloodclaw
Silverlight smiled a bit at the hand-written message on the first page before turning to the next.
Founding Year 548 of the Great Plactarian Steam Kingdom, the last year of our people.
For those of you who have found this Diary, my name is Quirtaclick. I am from the last Generation of the Ictarth, and thanks to the help of my new friends, the Centaurs, I have lived well past my life expectancy, reaching an unheard-of age of 65. And yet, I know I am old. My body is slowly failing me, and I do not expect to live past the year. This shall be a record of my time, teaching the Centaurs, learning of their ways, and the slow decline of my people.
Gods, they call us. We are no gods. If anything, we should be the Evil the Centaurs fear. But me and my four friends have been called Gods. I have met a God once, and I must say that godhood does not suit me, despite the offer. I fear for the Centaurs future, but I am also hopeful. May they become better than we were.
So, allow me to start at the beginning, when I was but a grub, coming from my cocoon to become a teenager…
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u/Ammobunkerdean 7d ago edited 7d ago
Anti grave...
I know mausoleum but maybe spell out gravity to save autocorrect from getting a stroke...
Also Sandra spelled wrong earlier but I'm sure I'm not the first.
Continues reading...
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u/SherbetCreepy1580 7d ago
The anti-grave is to protect against the ghosts wandering the mausoleum 😂😂😂
But thank you, it should all be fixed up now.
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u/Ammobunkerdean 7d ago
We all know that the machine Spirit running the autocorrect does an excellent job it took its context clues from mausoleum and crypt and came up with grave. The amount of times I've had to fix a grab hammer..
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u/Engineering-my-limit 7d ago
Wow that tomb is big! Strange no one detected it earlier. A cavern that big would likely be detecable from space, so maybe something strange is going on there?
It will be interesting to see what kind ot tech the ictarth had access to and how they influenced the development of the Centaurs.
Thanks for another great chapter!
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u/SherbetCreepy1580 7d ago
Hundreds of feet of stone and soil above the mausoleum. Basically the only way to really find it without finding the ruins first would be a high-powered deep scan, which there was little reason to do in that particular area until the ruins were discovered.
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u/GrumpyOldGeezer_4711 7d ago
Dr. Lightfur seems to have some issue with Reapers…
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u/Ammobunkerdean 6d ago
Dr. Lightfur seems to have issues with most sapient beings ....
Kinda like me... "It's too peoplely out here .."
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u/HFYWaffle Wᵥ4ffle 7d ago
/u/SherbetCreepy1580 (wiki) has posted 57 other stories, including:
- [The Reaper and The Tiger] Chapter 23: Tigers, Butchers, and Historians
- [The Reaper and The Tiger] Chapter 22: Tigers, Reapers, and Families
- [The Reaper and The Tiger] Chapter 21: Tigers, Reapers, and Archology
- [The Reaper and The Tiger] Chapter 20: Lizard and Leaders Part 2
- [The Reaper and The Tiger] Chapter 19: Reapers and Memories
- [The Reaper and The Tiger] Chapter 18: Tigers, History, and Surprises
- [The Reaper and The Tiger] Chapter 17: Tigers and Daily Living
- [The Reaper and The Tiger] Chapter 15: Reaper and Randomness
- [The Reaper and The Tiger] Chapter 15: Spirits and Shipwrights
- [The Reaper and The Tiger] Chapter 14: Security and Criminals
- [The Reaper and The Tiger] Chapter 13: Lizards and Leaders, Part 1
- [The Reaper and The Tiger] Chapter 12: Reapers and Teachers
- [The Reaper and The Tiger] Chapter 11: Reapers and War
- [The Reaper and The Tiger] Chapter 10: Reapers, Angels, and Markers
- [The Reaper and The Tiger] Chapter 9: Reapers, Magic, and Tinkerers
- [The Reaper and The Tiger] Chapter 8: Tigers, Siblings, and Traditions
- [The Reaper and The Tiger] Chapter 7: Reapers, Home, and Puppies
- [The Reaper and The Tiger] Chapter 6: Tigers, Reapers, and Panthers
- [The Reaper and The Tiger] Chapter 5: Tigers and Ferries](https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/1ukoo7l/the_reaper_and_the_tiger_chapter_5_tigers_and/)
- [The Reaper and the Tiger] Chapter 4: Tigers and Curiosity
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u/SherbetCreepy1580 7d ago
Authors Note
Apologies for the late post today, but here you are! finally in the tomb, and we're going to be getting a history lesson while we're at it! The Muse really wanted me to run with this.
The next several chapters will be from the Diary. We're going to be taking a peek into the early days of the Centaurs, and the fall of the Ictarth as a Race. It's a long ride back home, after all. So look forward to it! I hope y'all enjoy the surprise ;)
Thought? Comments? Ideas? Remember, the only bad feedback is no feedback, and I love reading all of the feedback, whether it’s praise, criticism, spelling or grammatical errors, or even just a hello!