\n Chapter 4 of the Lahu series. Stahl's perspective again. As always comments and constructive criticism are wanted! Let me know what you think!
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\n The only thing that should have been on his mind was his lost dive partner, but all he could think about now was the awe inspiring discovery he had accidentally stumbled upon. Stahl winced in the harsh light as he raised his paw to shield his eyes. It was unlike the light from fire, or the sun. After a few minutes of adjusting his eyes, Stahl was able to better see what was in front of him. The cave he had crawled through let out into a massive chamber carved out of the rock, and the chamber was housing something he had never seen before. The cavern contained a set of metal buildings, built into a cross pattern with a central hallway connecting each of the four wings. The buildings weren't nearly as tall as the Koena ruins had been, but they were untouched by water damage. Time appeared to have had little effect here.

\n Stahl stared in awe at the ruins as he pulled himself out of the water and sat down on the ground next to the pool. He absentmindedly raised his left paw to his right shoulder, holding it tightly against the bleeding wound. He leaned his back against the rock wall behind him and curled his tail around to his side as he regained his breath. He couldn't take his eyes off of the buildings. They had a beauty, a solid symmetry that was lacking in nature, and in wood and mud holts. He noticed one of the four wings ended at the rock wall, culminating in a metal structure that led up and into the roof of the cave. The metal glimmered, lit by powerful beacons of light that were situated on the corner of each building. To Stahl, they resembled a trick used by Lahu to communicate between rafts, reflecting lights with mirrors to deliver messages. However, these lights were constant, unflickering, and far stronger.

\n It finally came to the young Lahu, what was so amazing about the sight before him. He quickly scrambled to his feet, and balanced himself with a paw on the wall behind him. Through the glass windows that lined both floors in each wing of the ruins, Stahl could see the same colored lights glowing fiercely. Power. The ruins had power! He knew about the strange energy that ran the ruins, having heard about it from travelers in the past, but here it was, still working after all this time! He lifted his tail off the ground and began to walk forward towards the buildings. In the distance he could see what appeared to be an entrance. Stahl picked up the pace, turning his walk into a slight run, his excitement building as he got closer to the ruins. He slowed down again as he approached the entrance way, now moving cautiously. The tip of his tail curled up and he held his right shoulder tightly as he went. He was too tired to run for very long.

\n When he got near to the door, an unexpected movement was elicited, as the door attempted to open itself in his presence. The door slid slightly upwards, but made a loud crunching noise as it was brought to a halt. The movement and the noise frightened Stahl, and he quickly dove behind a nearby rock, returning the door's noise with a loud yelp. After hiding behind the rock, curled up in a ball with his eyes shut, for a few minutes, Stahl slowly ventured a glance over the top of the rock and back to the door, worried about whatever possible danger it might hold. The entrance had attempted to open, but hadn't even lifted itself a foot before becoming stuck on something. More of the white light flooded out through the opening, and Stahl couldn't see any details inside.

\n He stood slowly, picking up a rock in his paw. After staring down the door for a few more minutes, he threw the rock at it. The rock bounced and tumbled on the ground by the entrance, and came to a halt just before the opening. The door didn't care to respond to the rock. Stahl took a few more steps back towards the doorway, ready to run at a moment's notice. Once again within its proximity, the door tried to move, but was still jammed on something. All it was able to accomplish was a slight jiggling in its track, and making a horrible rending noise. Stahl winced and leaned back, but was able to keep from diving away this time.

\n Once he was close enough, Stahl reached out with his paw to touch the metal of the door. It was cool and slick to the touch, and yet it felt incredibly durable. It had lasted this long already, after all. He closed his eyes and pressed his paw pads up against the metal, half resting his tired body and half wondering just what he was getting himself into. He opened his eyes and glanced down, towards the opening under the door. It was too small for him to fit through. He wrapped his left paw around the bottom of the door and pulled upwards, and the door made more cringe inducing noises, but refused to budge.

\n "This close to intact ruins and I can't even get in." He scratched the back of his head with a claw, trying to think of a way to get inside. His left paw drifted to his side as an idea formed in his head. A smirk lit his muzzle as he slipped his left paw into the glove at his waist, and took a few steps back from the door. His whiskers twitched as he raised his paw, with the lens of the glove pointed flat towards the door. He carefully raised his right arm, being mindful to minimize the shoulder movement, and held the paw over his other. He braced himself, tail firmly against the ground, his feet planted solidly on the rock. Stahl closed his eyes and pressed the trigger located on the backside of the glove. He tried to keep his feetpaws planted firmly on the ground, but he was jarred back by the violent force of the blast, and knocked onto his back. He groaned as he sat up to inspect his handiwork.

\n Stahl had never used the glove outside of water before, but was pleased to find that it worked admirably. As expected, the blast from the lens of the glove was strong enough to bend the metal door inward, creating a larger gap for Stahl to crawl through. The bright lights inside still obscured his vision of what was within. He took the glove off and holstered it back on his belt, before hesitantly crawling through the newly created passageway.

\n Stahl winced again as he looked down at his right shoulder, inspecting the wound in the light for the first time. The gash was deep, and had ripped viciously through his salvager's tattoo. He considered the irony of the wound, relating it to how the tattoo was applied in the first place, and then he noticed the amount of blood that was dripping onto the pristine white floors of the ruins.

\n "Need to tie it off. Stop the bleeding." Stahl spoke in a hushed tone, hoping to keep himself company. The sound still echoed through the hallway, and it served only to accentuate how alone he was.

\n He looked around the hallway, which led off in four different directions, each one leading to its own metal door like the one he had just destroyed. The hall was made of a foreign white material that was also cool and smooth to the touch, like the metal outside. The white glow emanated from each corner of the hallway, where strips of light ran up and down the length of the hall. He didn't see anything that would be useful for trying off a wound. The scarlet drops of blood stood out on the white material in a way that unsettled Stahl.

\n With a shake of his head, the Lahu returned his attention to the task at hand. He would need to use something on him to tie off the wound, and he could only think of one thing. To be sure, he rummaged through his pouches, but found nothing useful. The object he had picked up from the Koena ruins slipped out of his pouch, and he bent down to retrieve it. He made sure it was safely stowed and the pouch was tightly bound before moving on. With a sigh, he untied the cord that his loin cloth was hanging from. After removing the cloth from the cord, he wrapped it around the wound as many times as it would fit. He then tied the cord again, in such a way that he could cinch it tight after sliding it up to his upper arm.

\n After finishing this, he looked down the hall once more. Stahl shivered, noticing how cold the ruins were. His thick fur helped keep him warm in cold water, but the air in the ruins was chilling him deeply. He crossed his arms as he padded slowly down the hallway, towards the wing of the ruins that led to the pillar he had seen outside. The exhaustion he felt kept him moving slowly, and he kept his eyes on the door at the end of the passage. There wasn't anything else to look at, anyway. Eventually he reached the end, and the door slowly slid open for him.

\n Through the threshold, and at the end of the hallway just past it, something new caught Stahl's eye. He walked towards the object, which was hanging from the roof just above the far doorway, hoping to get a better look at what it was. Anything that stood out against the plain white walls was interesting. On his right, another door opened as he walked by it. He would've ignored it and continued on towards the object at the end of the hall; however, something moved in the room beyond, and this took his attention completely. He turned his head to the side and gave the room a closer look. A few tables were covered in various instruments that he didn't recognize (and didn't want to venture a guess as to what their purpose was). The entire far wall of the room was glass, and the windows looked out over the expanse of the cavern outside. Nothing was moving.

\n With a quick turn, he moved forward and leaned his head through the threshold to see if whatever had moved was within. Stahl's jaw dropped as he got a look at the inside of the room. Broken glass was scattered about the floor, and patches of the otherwise pristine white floor and walls were stained dark brown. The air had a stale stench to it, which struck Stahl hard as he entered the room, and made him nauseous. He twitched his nose and whiskers as he observed the scene before him. It was obvious something bad had happened here. Something so bad that it still left its mark after thousands of years.

\n There was no sign of the movement he had seen before. Now that he was inordinately unsettled, Stahl decided it was time to move on. He quickly returned to the hallway and headed for the door at the end. As he got closer, the object hanging from the roof made a noise, and a red light appeared, focusing directly onto Stahl. He kept walking, tilting his head slightly to the side, as he examined the object. It was complicated, but resembled some parts he had seen Lakeland tinkering with once. It's base was mounted into the roof, and it hung down a few inches below the ceiling. Another piece of it protruded towards him, and the red light was mounted on top of that.

\n "Move!" A voice echoed through the ruin, so Stahl was unable to determine it's point of origin.
\n He twisted his head around just in time to see someone else launching themselves at him. They knocked him against the wall and fell to the ground along with him. Just after he was pushed out of the way, a blue stream of light erupted from the object hanging from the roof. It hit where the red light was now focused, burning a crater into the floor before stopping. The object paused and then swiveled, turning the red light towards Stahl and whoever had saved him. Whoever it was grabbed Stahl's paw and pulled him up, moving towards the door under the attacking object. The object fired once more as they stumbled through the doorway, but it fell silent after the door closed safely behind them.

\n "Argh!" Stahl raised his left paw to his shoulder, which got slammed into by his savior. "Damn it, can't you save me a little gentler next time?"

\n "Sorry, next time I'll save you after you get fried by a laser." The savior said, crossing their arms.

\n Stahl was finally able to get a good look at the other as they both leaned on the wall, opposite each other. Tan shorts and tunic, gold and ruby necklace, dark and rocky fur. "Oh, it's you, Mea. What are you doing all the way down here?"

\n The look on Mea's muzzle was not the same warm and gentle expression she had worn earlier in the day. "I should ask you the same thing. How did you get down here in the first place? Only two Lahu know about this ruin and you're not one of us."

\n Stahl looked down, remembering the chain of events that had led him there. "Kai, my partner, and I, we got attacked by a monster at the Koena ruins. I ran away, and found a cave that led me here. Kai, I don't know what happened to him." He looked up hopefully. "You didn't see him, did you?"

\n Mea frowned and shook her head. "I haven't see anyone besides you since I left the village. I came straight here after I got settled into the communal bunk."

\n "Oh, okay." He let out a small sigh. "Well, since you're here, that means there must be treasure here, right?" Stahl asked, pushing off the wall with his tail, leaning towards Mea.

\n Once again, the other Lahu shook her head. "All I've found down here is death. Something terrible happened to the ancient ones here, and it was right before the tragedy that wiped them all out. It's a wonder that the ruins could be turned on, after all this time."

\n "Did you do that? Turn them on, I mean. I've seen parts of ruins that weren't flooded before, but nothing that could ever be turned back on." The young Lahu's inquisitive mind began to race, thinking of questions to ask Mea, just like when they had first met.

\n "Did I activate them?" Mea glanced at the ground and then back up to Stahl. She spoke hesitantly, as if she was unsure of what to be honest about. "Yeah, I did that. I found the key to do it in another ruin like this one, across the ocean."

\n Stahl looked around them. The ruins were expansive, there had to be plenty of useful stuff there. "What is it you were looking for? What didn't you find here?"

\n "You'd laugh at me if I told you." Mea's ears flushed gently as she pushed away from the wall and started to walk down the hallway.

\n Stahl was quick to give chase. "I wouldn't laugh." He moved up behind her and leaned his head over her shoulder. Her ear twitched as his whiskers brushed past them. "I promise, I won't laugh. I get laughed at enough myself."

\n Mea stopped walking and turned her head slightly to the side to look at Stahl. "If you laugh, I'll throw you through the door and that laser will burn your tail off."

\n The younger Lahu raised a paw and placed it on his chest. "Salvager's honor." He flashed his teeth at her with a large grin.

\n "Because you are the most honorable bunch, after all. Alright, I'll tell you." She sighed and turned to stand face to face with Stahl. Then she leaned in close to whisper in his ear. "I'm looking for Heaven's Tear."

\n Stahl was familiar with the name of the artifact Mea was looking for. Heaven's Tear was widely regarded as being a myth, but a few of the treasure hunters in the world believed it actually existed. Stahl's interest in history gave him an expansive background when it came to the many tales of Heaven's Tear, but he still wasn't sure if it was real or not.

\n He was careful not to offend Mea. "If Heaven's Tear exists, then that would mean..."

\n "I know what it would mean. That's why I have to find it. I don't believe it's magic, but what it would tell us about the events that led to the downfall of the ancient civilization, it would change our entire perception of history." She took a step back from Stahl. "So now you know why I'm down here, and why I'm traveling across the ocean and back looking for treasure."

\n "How close are you to finding it? If it does exist, of course." Stahl reached out and put a paw on Mea's shoulder to keep her from moving away.

\n "If the clues I had put together were right, it should have been here, in these ruins. All I found was you, though. You and a couple of old tools. Nothing worthy of being called a treasure. Not even any leads about Heaven's Tear. Maybe it's somewhere else down here, but I don't have time to look for it with you around."

\n "So this is a dead end. Look, I don't need an escort back to the surface. While we're down here already, why don't we keep looking for Heaven's Tear? You can't have scavenged the whole place yet. Even a real treasure hunter has her limits." Stahl smiled weakly at her, squeezing her shoulder gently.

\n Finally, Mea returned Stahl's smile, which in turn strengthened his. She reached a paw over and ruffled the top of his head once more. "Alright, kid. I guess you're a real treasure hunter after all. Lets take a quick look around. Although, I don't take responsibility for anything that happens to you, got it? This place is dangerous."

\n "I already said I don't need an escort." Stahl said, looking back at the door which protected them from the 'laser'. "As long as there aren't any more 'lasers'."

\n Mea started to walk down the hallway, and she waved a paw to get Stahl to follow her. "I disabled the guns down this hallway, so we should be okay. "

\n Stahl followed closely behind her, keeping his eyes on the ceiling, looking for anything else that might try to kill them. "Good. Not that I'm scared, I just didn't want to have to deal with the hassle." He still felt a bit skittish.

\n They walked down the rest of the hallway in silence, and entered another room through the door at the end. This new room was smaller than the other one he had seen, and had only one desk, situated in the corner. The decor changed considerably, with the white floor changing to a soft gray fabric (which Stahl enjoyed under his paws), and the walls were decorated with some paintings of forests and shorelines. What appeared to be a plant, but smelled like oil, and couldn't be a plant, was situated in the corner by some chairs which lined the wall. The opposite corner of the room contained a door which didn't look at all like the rest, and had visible hinges. Stahl assumed it wasn't automatic like the others.

\n "Maybe there's something useful over there?" Stahl asked, pointing at the desk in the corner.
\n "I guess it couldn't hurt to take a look, but I'm not holding my breath."

\n Stahl scowled at Mea's comment. He knew she was more experienced than he was, but pessimism wasn't going to find Heaven's Tear.

\n Mea walked over to the desk and started rifling through the books and papers situated on top. Stahl sat in the chair behind it and marveled at the comfort of the material, which was unlike anything he had felt in the past. A large box sat on the desk, with wires leading to yet another box which sat underneath by his foot paws. Stahl had seen these before, in much worse condition, falling apart in flooded ruins. He had even salvaged them for parts before, which Lakeland was able to put to use in his inventions. Because of this, he knew exactly what the power switch looked like, and it was the first thing his paw digit went for. He excitedly waited for the result of his action.

\n With a quiet whirr, the screen on the desk came to life and the small lights on the box below began to blink. Stahl flinched as the screen flickered and displayed several quickly changing images, none of which he could understand. Mea leaned over to look at what he had done.

\n "That text is the ancient language. I know a little bit of it. Let me see." She reached her paw over and spun the screen around to her, so Stahl couldn't see anymore.

\n Stahl jumped up and walked around the desk, huddling over Mea's shoulder to get a view of the screen as well. He was starting to understand why Mea worked alone, she didn't share very well.

\n Mea turned her head slowly to Stahl as the device started itself. "So, do you always salvage in just your fur or is that some sort of special prize I won?"

\n Stahl took a step back, and it was now his turn to blush. He curled his tail between his legs. "I needed to tie off my arm, see?" He pointed at his shoulder, and the tourniquet he had made out of the loin cloth.

\n "I'm sure you did." Mea said, putting emphasis on 'sure', as she turned her muzzle back to the screen. Stahl watched as she reached across the desk and picked up the input device for the screen.

\n "Whatever. Maybe it's a big deal somewhere else, but no one here really cares all that much." He crossed his arms and grunted.

\n After a few minutes, Mea took a step back and looked down at one of the books on the desk. "Alright, I might actually have something here." The tip of her tail twitched back and forth as she leaned over the book, and then looked back up at the screen. Her voice was tinted with excitement and surprise.

\n "What is it? Did you find Heaven's Tear?" Stahl leaned forward, his tail also twitching at the tip. Once again he was motivated by the possibility of finding treasure.

\n "Not quite yet, no. But look at this. See, here, this book is the log for every delivery this facility got, back when the ancients still used it." She put a claw on the book and pointed at a few characters of text that Stahl didn't understand at all.

\n "I'll, ah, have to take your word for it. And?" He nodded, impatient for her to get to the good part.

\n "And this here," her claw moved up to the screen, and once again towards unfamiliar characters. "This is the same log, just computerized for long term record keeping. I've seen the same setup before at other ruins just like this one."

\n "Okay, but unless it says where Heaven's Tear is, why does it matter?" Stahl's tail had stopped moving. This wasn't the lead he had been hoping for.

\n "Because the book and the computer have different final entries. The final entry in the book describes a large crystal object delivered to the ruins for an experiment. That should be Heaven's Tear. There's no shipping log for the same object, so it never left. Not only that," Mea turned, her face beaming with excitement, "but the entry isn't logged in the computer. Whatever happened after that crystal got here, it must have occurred at the same time as the tragedy that wiped them all out. "

\n "Which would mean that..." Stahl's eyes went wide, and he flashed back to the bloodstained lab down the hall. "It would mean that its possible Heaven's Tear caused the tragedy, and that its actually housed somewhere in these ruins?"

\n "That's what this is telling me. According to the logbook, the object was delivered to wing 5. That doesn't make any sense, though. This place only has 4 wings." Mea took a few steps back from the computer. "I need to consult some of my notes back at the village. We won't be able to find Heaven's Tear today, anyway."

\n "Wait a minute, I wanted to help you find Heaven's Tear!" He stamped a foot paw on the ground, dropping his arms to his sides.

\n "I promise I'll keep you in the loop, okay? For now, we need to get back topside and search for Kai. It's getting late and finding him at night will be more difficult." Mea placed her paw gently on Stahl's shoulder, and made direct eye contact. "I promise. Scavenger's honor."

\n Stahl hesitated for a moment before calming down. He raised an eyebrow. "Alright, but what does in the loop mean?"

\n Mea rolled her eyes and pulled her paw back to her side. "Its a phrase used by the ancients. It just means...I'll keep you updated. Like I said before, I've picked up some of their language over the years."

\n Stahl nodded and smiled at her. "Think you could teach me how to read it sometime?"

\n Mea started to walk towards the door at the corner of the room, and Stahl followed. She wrapped her paw around the handle and turned it, pulling the door open. "Maybe, we'll have to see how long I'm going to be around." She paused and started through the threshold. "I'm sure he'll be fine. Kai, I mean. He most likely just swam a different direction, and since you led the monster away, he got up to the surface just fine."

\n "You think so?" Stahl asked as they walked through the door. It led to a smaller room that resembled the one they had just left. On the far wall was a large metal door, and to the side of that, a panel with a single button.

\n Mea pressed the button and it came to life, and a small screen above the door indicated 'Ground Level'. Stahl didn't understand. "It'll be here in a minute. Isn't ancient technology fascinating?" Mea asked, pointing up at the screen. "That up there says that the elevator is on the surface level."

\n Stahl chuckled a bit and rested his paw on the glove at his waist. "Seems like those guys had it all figured out. What couldn't they do?" A bell chimed and the doors opened, leading to a yet even smaller chamber with reflective walls. Stahl walked over and leaned towards them, getting a closer look at his own muzzle. He opened it up examined his pearl-like fangs. "Mirror walls. Huh. Why?"

\n Mea shrugged as she followed him on and turned around, pressing the button on the inside of the chamber. "If they had it all figured out, what happened to them? No, I figure they must have had something wrong."

\n The elevator let them out in another cave, which was partially flooded with water. Other than the door to the chamber, this cave was relatively unassuming. "If I'm right, a few thousand years ago, this wasn't a cave. You could look up and see the blue sky from here." Mea said, walking slowly over to the water. "Now you have to swim to get out of here."

\n "Where exactly are we?" Stahl asked, dipping his paws into the water, using it to wipe at the blood that had trickled down his arm.

\n "We're under your island, to be exact. Swimming through this cave will take us straight to the shoreline. We'll be back at your village before sunset." She looked over at him. "Ready?"

\n "Yeah, I'm ready." Stahl said, nodding firmly at her. Mea jumped into the water and quickly disappeared through the cave. Stahl sighed as he dove into the water and gave chase. If something happened to Kai, he wondered if the tribe would even want him back.