ORIGIN

As the small bat made his final rounds above the surface of Polaris a small inconsistency struck him. The entire room looked different with the lights out and the clouds above producing only short bursts of light to see by, but the dam area looked particularly off. He had studied this area before, like most areas of the cave, perched upon a rock or a wall and letting time pass in its endless stream as he took in the details of the world around him. The dam had always been an area of life, of movement, of activity, but not of the usual variety. Among the crumbling surface all manner of non-animal creatures had spent their time attending to unknown, or perhaps unknowable tasks.

But not today.

The wall was still, silent, with no sign of where its workers had gone. Like the path toward the tunnel this was certainly an anomaly worth investigating. Without a word Zeno dipped down and glided closer to the land mass that would have been too dangerous to approach before, searching for answers to the silence of the dam.

Zeno slowly drifted by the empty landscape, his gaze focused upon the ground below. The storm above still held some interest for his inquisitive mind, but he knew that investigating it would likely be a bit too dangerous at the moment. Beyond that, this close to the previously perilous grounds he was able to make out details he'd never been able to see before. he was able to trace the effects of the golems' work before.

Ears continued to strain as his flight kept him close to the earth, reaching for any sounds that might indicate their return. Apprehension pressed upon his normally solid psyche, knowing that any minute a particularly large golem might burst out from the rubble below.

As he listened intently for sounds of movement a familiar voice appeared. The youth from before! Not the great beast who had wandered off but the small raven, one who had shown curiosity about the storm.

"This area used to be crawling with large creatures made of stone. Their absence combined with the presence of this storm is quite perplexing."

Though the youth was suggesting that he look above he doubted that the clouds in this area would tell him very much. Perhaps he could get past them and into the upper layers of the room from here? That would be a risky move indeed, and might make descending to the floor again difficult if the storm expanded too much more. No, if there was nothing on the ground then he might give a quick glance but flying that close would likely be more risk than he was willing to put himself in at the moment.

"With them gone perhaps we can investigate what they were working on. Perhaps it was something that attracted the storm to this room." Where it had originated from, beyond the direction of Tunnel I, was still in question but might it be possible that something here triggered its release?

Zeno flapped down and landed upon one of the larger rock formations, closing his eyes and letting out a sigh. He wasn't meant for this kind of investigation. He knew the land, had watched the inhabitants, could sit for hours entertained by the antics of the greater gemmed ones as they interacted with each other, but actively taking part in something larger than relaying knowledge was far outside his realm of expertise.

"Even with the opportunity it would be best not to linger too long. There's no telling when they will return." he spoke as he gazed down at the rock below him and retreated back into his mind, falling into a bit of a meditative state as the enigmatic situation weighted on him.