Stuck

"I don't know. I just had a font, I suppose." Arcturius dismissed this with a wave

"Yeahhhh, unless you want to have a flesh eating worm burrowing through your hand, I wouldn't do that again....." She said, looking back.

Arcturius shrugged, examining his right hand, "Oh," he sighed, "I could always grow a new one."

"You can? I know the clans up south can regenerate small wounds, but you can regrow a whole hand?" She asked, surprised.

"Well, I've never tried, but, given that I can do this..." he morphed into an old, green-skinned man, rasping, "I can probably regrow limbs." He turned back into himself, "If not, the Seraphim are crackers with regenerative medcine."

Almira blinked. "Wow, I've never seen that done before."

He shrugged, "All Romans are born with at least some measure of ability with shapeshifting... takes a bit of practice." He yawned, "How much further?"

She pointed to a stream they had been following from a distance. "Almost, the reason why we can walk by the bank is because this isn't a colored one, so there's bound to be some predators." Almira kept going till the end. "Alright, let me know if you see a little boat." She said as she searched.

Arcturius shrugged, while she searched, he began glowing and materialized several small watercraft in front of them. "Any of these work?"

Almira tried not to look as impressed as she felt. "Yep. Let's go then." She said, climbing into one.

Arc jumped onto one made of simple, plain old wood. "Right then, shove on." He giggled slightly, "Always wanted to say that."

Almira had to smile. "You're a strange one, you know that?" She said as they drifted along, eventually going underground.

Artik smiled slightly, "Not as much as I'd like to be. I need to get stronger." He grinned, "Now, some of the Romans back home... my gods! They could do so much good for the universe..." he frowned, "If only they weren't so busy killing each other. Now, my parents, they were senators. Before the government collapsed. They..." he blinked, "They used to tell me, 'Artie'--- see, spend enough time around me, you're bound to give me nicknames. 'Artie, you're going to do something great for this place'. Of course... they were slaughtered. The Siege of the Senate. It's why I'm so keen to go back there, stronger than all of the damn Romans. Bigger than the Omega. Reunite all of Roma. No more death!" He sighed.

He realized then that he never said any of this out loud. Just, sitting there, looking at the water with a hollow gaze.

Almira felt sad. No one actually killed each other on Tsurrin without good reason, so she didn't understand. She reached over and put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sure you will. Remember, no matter how discouraged you get. No one ever wants to give up if they're not going to lose anything. All you have to do is give that up, and you're on your way to success!"

Arcturius shifted, going from pale skin to a bit tan. "Yeah," he said. He sighed, then clapped, "So! Where's this river go?"

Almira was too busy looking at the veins of marble that had started to show. "Hm? Oh, a long time a ago, this underground river eroded a large marble rock. It's like it's own cave network now." She jumped out of the boat and onto a leadge. "Come on!"

Arcturius floated behind her. "Marble," he said. "I always liked marble."

The river continued on under the marble, but had a thin layer that was safe enough to walk on. The light's reflection danced on the walls and ceiling as the river moved, making it look a shimmering blue, green, and white.

Almira smiled. "The caves always look different, depending on time, season, and temperature. In other words, it will never look exactly like this ever again."

There was a small entranceway on the side of one of the caves

Arcturius nodded at Almira. "That's... a pretty good metaphor for life." He blinked, "Erm..." he noticed an entranceway. He stuck out his tongue, "Something's... off about. Ominous. In other words..." He adjusted his cloak, "Follow me!" He ran down it.

Almira got down on all fours to race, easily running past him. "Come on! How can you be slower when you've only got two limbs to manage right now?" She said teasingly.

The pathway lasted for quite a long time. It ended in a single room. It was very simple. A box with a throne in the middle. The ground wa littered with skeletons. The three eye socketed skull easily gave then away as the remains of the extinct Serians. In the throne was a man. He was not decomposed. Yet he was cold to the touch an had no pulse. He was or all intents and purposes dead.

Arcturius laughed and kicked off the ground, flying in front of her. He stopped dead when they enetered the room. He didn't notice the bones, only the man on the throne. "Almira," he said softly. "Do you know anything about healing?"

"No, I never had the chance to learn." She tried to ignore the faint scent of death. "Why do you ask?" Almira kept her eyes on the man on the throne.

The man did not move