Red Stones and Lion's Faces

"You're out of your mind," Griffin said as they sat around the campfire. The Three had been talking for a little while, brainstorming over how to get across the Desert, that Nero was informed was filled with more than just Manticore wanting to kill and eat them, not to mention that while the day was hot as fuck, the nights where literally below freezing, that explains the 1000 bonfires in the village at a night.

"It is very fast and the best way to travel the dunes. Fiore and Litch-folk have been navigating these lands for hundreds of years on the back of Riding Sphinka, we could cross the sea in a week!." Fiore said proudly, Griffin didn't seem quite convinced.

"I would rather die than galavant through the hostile territory on a giant Blue cat! plus I can cross the sea with Attrhunt and Creaturea in three days!" Her arms folded in adamantly.

Nero rubbed his chin "Unfortunately not all of our party has your capabilities, Princess."

Griff scowled "Don't call me, that. fuck nut."

He shrugged "Well unfortunately it's true. There's three of us and unless it's safe I don't want us going out there, plus there's the matter of trying to travel with a hoard of treasure-"

"Wait wait wait wait... what?"

He nodded "It's one of the gifts Ulsa gave me. gonna be a pain in the ass to haul, all those gems and Gold, how are we-" Nero grunted as Griffin grabbed his cloak.

"DON'T YOU EVER NOT TELL ME THINGS I WANT TO KNOW WHEN I WANT TO KNOW THEM, BECAUSE I NEED TO KNOW THEM, YOU FUCKWIT!!" She shook him violently before, pointing fiercely at Fiore who flinched in horror at the look in the Vermillico's eyes. "YOU. YOU TAKE ME TO THE HOARD'S HOARD YOU FOUR ARMED WHORE." Griff was gone, a Demon took her hell, straight out of the gates of Beelzebub.

Fiore shook nodding "Fiore is scared, and a little Hurt... this way."

They travelled through the busy village, towards the Upper Valley's chambers. Never before had Nero seen people move out of the way so fast, as Fiore led them on and Griff dragged Nero along with a horrifying look in her eyes.

The Pierced into the Chambers like a spear, Fiore the Blade, Nero the shaft and Griffin the raging **** behind it. Among the halls of glowing stone and painted battle, they travelled until they slopped down, past the many Litchen quarters and deeper into the darkness.

You could tell these parts of the tunnels had not been visited in a long time, the stones were lesser, smaller, dimmer, and the door they came to, heavy but small was coated in a layer of dust inches thick.

The Trio paused, and Griffin stared hungrily at that rusted grey door, she pushed on in her quest to see the riches, but Nero's hand wrapped around her arm, softly, patiently "Let me get it."

She smirked, "I'm not looking for a gentleman." She whispered in her frightening way, but he refused to falter.

"No. You're not looking at all." He warned, moving forward and beckoning Fiore.

There was a handprint on the door, amongst the swirling pattern, this print had triple digits, not Four fingered, He'd noticed the minute he looked at it. "Could you open this please, Fiore?" He asked.

Fiore bowed and pressed her top left hand into the slot. colour flashed across its crevices, white and orange; a river flowing through it seems and lashing through the dust, cracked the door open.

The Black-haired Mysteria paused "Litchen... Have Hadel gates?" She rubbed her chin with those perfectly manicured fingers "Every time I think this place is degenerated you go and surprise me." She grinned, tapping Fiore on the shoulder as she walked past them, pushing through the doors without a moment's hesitation.

Nero was getting annoyed now, Griffin seemed mysterious and eloquent, not a bum-rushing golddigger, He didn't like this newly emerged side of her. But as He entered the darkroom... He paused.

The room was huge, easily triple the size of the Hotspring under Ulsa's spire, the grounds were long and smooth but unseen under... well... all the treasure. Nero had never seen anything like it, piles and piles of gems, dark circular bronze pennies, larger rectangular currency maybe the size of an old dollar coin and of course Pentagonal coins that were intricately patterned made of pure and shining gold.

Nero moved forward, next to Griff who also looked starstruck up to the mound of wealth, mainly because of it nearly reaching the ceiling, their eyes tracing the many huge deposits of Glowing stone etched into the walls, on high stands and laying abandoned on the dusty floor.

Griffin's short black hair dances across her sharp ears as she shook her head in utter disbelief. "How much of this did Ulsa say you could have?"

He blinked, still trying to compute what He was seeing with his wide eyes "Half."

But then the wonderous vibe was broken, by Fiore "Fiore, thinks you two are staring at the shiny metal too much?" She said rather innocently.

"What?" Griff said "Do you have any idea how much this is? there has to be over a million in Imperial mercury here..." She matched up, grasping one of the silver coins "One Mercury can by arms for a single man to the teeth at the right fence..." she dropped it and picked up the brown coin "Pluta is the only coin a lowborn will ever see in their lifetime, many die without ever even holding a Mercury... but this..." Finally, she grasped at one of the Golden Octagonal coins, how it shone ins darkness, printed with an 8 sided star on one side, and a crowned woman's head on the other. Griffin stared at that face for a time and spoke in deep spite "I have never seen this many Grand Juno's before, nobody outside of the Great Patrician houses, the Bank of the black-Meadow and The Royal Imperium itself even knows what these look like, You can't even exchange them for the Mercurial Equivalent without a writ of Finance... and here...." Griffin stood and held out her arms at the endless hoard.

"Here we have easily enough unregistered funds to fuel.... well anything." She whispered, there was something earnest in her eyes, hopeful, Nero saw it now, he understood. especially when she turned to him, and took his hands desperately.

"It lies in your hands, you have to see that... with this. and with this." She placed her hand on his heart "We have a real chance to destroy the Empire, to free the People, You have to help me, I have been fighting for this kind of liberty for so long.... it's dwarfed by the contents of this room, please... Please..." She was almost begging, she seemed scared like he might refuse.

"Griff, You asked for my help, and I already agreed. I'm a man of my word." He whispered.

Her blue eyes softened, and she looked like she wanted to embrace him like she wanted to take him into her arms and cry with joy, but she sniffed and repoised herself, giving him a low and respectful bow "Marte will be in your debt, Warwolf. I... Will be in your debt."

There was a slashing clang, the hundreds of tinkling sounds of coins falling along as Fiore lay in the bed of shining metals "Just a pile of pretty metal...." Fiore said absently, picking up an Imperial Mercury and bitting it boredly "Fiore, and Okku Hunters steal from Red devils for fun, Only Glowing rocks are useful, ammo for rifles spears and pretty lights!" She said, picking up a Red glowing stone that Nero hadn't before "How will Griff-Griff and Nero even carry all this? They only have two arms, hard to carry things."

Nero chuckled as Fiore waved her bottom set of arms, But Griffin's jaw dropped "Wait.... Let me see that." Griffin said, moving over to Fiore who was still holding the Glowing red gem, probably the side of a Baseball.

"O-Okay." Fiore tossed it to Griff who scuffled to catch it like a newborn.

"By the Red-God will you be careful, do you have any idea what this is!?" She cried.

Nero and Fiore both blinked and Griff looked sudden exhausted "Oh god, I feel like living Textbook, It's a Snatch Anchor! You ladies have all of these Anchor stones and the most you use them for is Lighting and Munitions, If the Empire ever got into this Valley they'd be mining this place barren for the next 700 years!"

"Chill. just Humour us." Nero asked.

Griffin huffed, and nodded "This type of Anchor is extremely rare, It's a Second Grade Snatch Achor, 3rd being the weaker and the First being the most powerful, though you never find a First Grade Anchor Stone, they are so rare and dangerous that everybody but stone collectors stay away from them."

"Hmmm, How are they different? I mean these Anchors are obviously, powerful in some weird way." He asked and she answered with a chuckle.

"Anchor stones aren't just pretty crystals, they are powerful conduits with different powers based on Colour, they contain energy like a battery that can be harnessed, used if you like for specific purpose's, With a Grade 3 Bolt anchor I could load a Firearm, or... illuminate a space. but a Grade 1 bolt anchor... Not that anyone has ever found one, but it could probably power an entire city."

"Have you ever seen a Grade 1 Anchor?" Nero asked, fascinated by the thought of a rock powering a city.

Griffin smirked, "I have... and so have you..."

"What?"

"there's a Grade 1 Venom anchor strapped to your belt." She winked.

Nero blinked, his hand closing around Umbral's Hilt, drawing the Black Crystal sword and staring at its shining blade.

"Venom Anchors.... they aren't good, let's just put it like that, and like when a battery runs out of charge, the Anchor ceases to function. it will become bland and dead, just like that Blade." She whispered the look she gave that sword wasn't a good one.

He sheathed it and nodded "Right, So Bolt anchors power things, Venom anchors are probably toxic by the namesake... so... a snatch anchor... Holy shit!" He grinned as the pieces snapped into place in his head.

Griffin nodded and smiled "We could probably store a good portion of this wealth inside this anchor, but we would need more, for the whole thing. Fiore, please tell me that there are more stones like this?"

Fiore shrugged "Yeah, Fiore thinks so, we'd have to look?"

Nero nodded "Come on then, the faster we look for this stuff, the sooner we can get it all stored."

And so the digging began. The room was filled with the sounds of clinking currency, and slapping jewels. Nero fished through the cold pile just like the other two, and found gems of every kind, Gold that gave him a little shock as he tried to pick it up, a Yellow one that was light as a feather even two little blue one's that He couldn't pry apart for his life, but no Ruby red gems "You two found anything yet-"

"FIORE'S GOT ONE!" She held it up in the air, and Griff rushed over smiling.

"Grade 2, perfect, just a few more and we'll be swell!"

The search continued, and Nero groaned as he pushed aside a large pile looking for stones, his fingers and arms were starting to ache and after another 20 more gemless minutes, Nero sat, huffing and puffing and rubbing his eyes.

"Pluta, Mercury, Juno....." He didn't like the words on his tongue, "Roman gods..." He frowned, yet another connection to the earth, what the hell was this place? why was it all so similar, what was the connection? it stressed Nero out and He clutched his head as Images of home flashed through his mind "No more Ice cream.... no more Pubs... No more Barry or Max and Aaron... no more normalcy.... ugh!" his head throbbed like a fast snare beat, his eyes twitched again even worse than when He saw that first sunset of violet and silver... "No more Golden sunsets.." another for the list of things that pried pieces of his sanity.

He wanted safety, he wanted to feel real relaxation, not this eldritch feeling of bewitching calm that being on this planet brought, it stirred his Instincts. It hadn't been right inside of him, not since he got here, where His instinct was controlled as long as He pushed it away, now it face him down like an angry bull at every second, forcing his mind into clarity that scared him.

Nero fell clutching his head, trying to stop the eldritch writhing like an insidious smoke, filling the space it made his Mysteria crackle on his arm, and caught Griff's attention "Nero? what's wrong?" She asked softly.

His hair shimmered as He shook his head "I-It's nothing...." No one knew about his Instinct, even here, he couldn't shake the feeling that speaking about it would be breaking some forbidden writ, an unspoken rule that He had placed back when He decided to stop being a violent thug, he didn't want anyone else to end up like Marcus... that was his greatest fear.

But then He paused, he was leaning on something warm, something strong. He pushed some of the Currency out of the way, digging it out like the stump of a tree, and grunting, wrenched it free.

Nero held the helmet in his hands, felt it rusted bronze coloured mask that was Black as night. many ridges encircled the faceplate, moving smoothly into a curved snout, the Visor was sharp and curved to look like furious eyes, with jutted teeth curving up into the nose hole. the Galea on top was pitch-black and loose, made of a dark hair that travelled down the backplate of dark bronze. The Helmet culminated into a strong almost Spartan-like helmet, with a faceplate that resembled that of a Growling Lion, and nestled inside, was nothing less than three, heavy Glowing gems of ruby red.

"I got some! I got three!" He cried, the two girls moving towards him with excitement.

He drew one of the three stones and Fiore chuckled "Is Four being enough Griff-Griff?"

Griffin beamed "More than enough! now we can..... now we...." Griffin's eyes fixed on the Helmet itself, and she moved forward, turning it around slowly to gaze at the faceplate. Her smile faded slightly, replaced with a solemn sadness.

"What is it? It's a sick helmet, a bit like yours."

Griff touched that faceplate, and nodded "Yes, it is." But her face was suddenly cold as she took it from his hands and moved slowly to Fiore "Where did you steal this?" She asked in a low, sinister tone.

Fiore blinked "That? Fiore is not sure, maybe during a Red Devil attack?"

Griffin pressed further "Think. where did you find this? or... who did you kill to take it from, tell me."

Fiore seemed unnerved "F-Fiore is telling the truth! Fiore doesn't know, Many Red Devils attack our land, kill our people unprovoked, Litch-folk just want to be left alone!" She said adamantly under Griff's venomous gaze.

But Griff softened, nodding quietly as she stepped back "Of course. I apologise, it is a godsend that we found this, it solves another of our problems."

"And what's that? we found the stones?" He inquired.

Griffin nodded "But... there are the Rusts to consider." With her sure fingers, Griffin unlatched the Black lion faceplate and pulled up the secured visor. It was laid with soft material inside, and a what looked like some kind of breathing mechanism was laid intricately inside "I had tried to make you a Mask to at least protect you somewhat from the Rust storms, they are nasty if caught in unprepared... unless you have a Mysterian Helmet." She placed the mask back into the Helmet which clicked back into place.

And she held the helmet tight "I'm glad that I'll at least be able to give you a proper Introduction ceremony, any Mysteria must have a master to induct them with a Mysterian Helm." She smiled. Nero was going to ask just who that Helmet belonged too, before she interrupted him, "Come on, Let's get as much of these riches stored as we can. I don't want to linger here." She said so cheerfully, but there was a different look in her blue eyes.

Griffin explained how to actually activate a Snatch Anchor since each one had a different method, Golden Bolt anchors responded to kinetic energy, give them a quick shake, they'd be sparking and ready to go. but a Snatch Anchor needed a little more coaxing, so just as Griffin's Grade 2 gem glowed, making a strange hissing sound as it began to suck hoards of the Currency into it's Red body like a vacuum, Nero was still caressing the gem's body trying to get it to work "Come on mate, start sucking!" He growled.

Griff raised an eyebrow "Is that usually how you ask?"

Nero frowned "Glowing magical Rocks? sure."

"Well there is never not a reason to be polite, go on, the poor thing has been sat in a vault for god knows how long, be nice." She urged.

"You're talking about it like it's alive?" He asked. but Griff merely winked, her gem pulling more and more Bronze, silver and gold.

Sighing, He closed his eyes, and brought the Gem close to his mouth so that He could whisper "Could you please, work your magic, I would really appreciate it... I know what it's like to be stuck somewhere you know? there's no need to be shy. Please?-WOAH!?" Nero cried as the Gem began to furiously devour every piece of metal on the ground around him, positively swallowing every coin and penny into it's glowing red body, Nero could barely hold onto it.

Griff laughed as the three of them drew more and more into the stones, they were voracious, just sucking and sucking away with no want to stop. Fiore had two in each of her arms, giggling as she danced, the stone drawing more and more treasure inside. The Three of them laughed and chuckled their day away, it took an hour before Griff's stone stopped, unable to hold anymore, and another three until Fiore's clicked, the hissing coming to a halt along with the effect.

But it was not until sundown that Nero's gem finally went to rest, its glow dying down, filled to the brim just as they had emptied half of the Vault.

Griff pilled the Stones carefully into her pack, and nodded, the three of them had been having more fun then maybe any of them thought, and their moods seemed lifted "How about a drink?" Nero asked.

Griffin tutted "How about a drink while I prepare the Introduction Ritual. The Sooner we are ready to go the better."

Nero nodded, although a little grimly "Yeah, right. let's go, I need to thank Ulsa for this, I never imagined that she'd be so kind in sharing this with me."

The trio walked back up the valley path, Nero was transfixed by the Pale Violet sunset once again, it made his head hurt, so He tried his best not to look at it but... He just couldn't it was so hypnotizing "No more... No more home, no more home I'm in the wrong place, I don't belong here, I don't belong here!!!?"

"Love?" Fiore seemed concerned as Nero stood there, shaking. and Griff seemed slightly annoyed.

"Nero, You keep freezing, twitching, You need to talk to us. What is wrong?" Griff demanded.

But she shook his head, trying to remember to blink and breath "Let's go."

The rest of the walk back was tense, something was very wrong, that being everything, being here was really getting to him, it felt so strange, so off, it was like homesickness and motion sickness combined and amplified by 10,000. He just had to push through it, and maybe it would pass?