Aw. He wilts a bit, wings folding back up. He is right, though.

"Alright, walking it is," he agrees, beginning down the path. 

"I meant that you should land and then fight instead of trying to balance the two things. At least while you two are still new to it."

He stops, "Oh," he says, turning back, sheepish. "Yes, that makes sense," he admits. 

So flying then?

Flying! He still keeps close to Ilek.

Ilek's alright - he probably will need to land if there's a fight, though. He's also side-eyeing Jaim for the uncharacteristic behaviour. 

Zephyrinus does not comment on it. Though he has little baseline to work from to think this side-eyeing is unusual.

(Ilek was too young to really remember what Jael was like.)

 It doesn't take them too long to reach the walls in the air - and a look at the end of the pathway proves that, yes, there is another door there. A very large, round, black adamantium door. 

Jaim slowly makes his way to one edge, squinting at the adamantium-dark runes around it. After a moment the Bow starts glowing so he can see. 

"I've never seen anything like this," he murmurs, "Most of these deal with Space, but... I don't see any way to open it." 

"Not something that can be simply brute-forced then? What Space is usually used for in contexts like this?"

"I wouldn't," he agrees, "The only working runescript I've seen that had anywhere near this many Space-related runes in it was on the portal from the Guardian's city to Sanctuary. But I have no idea what some of these mean - I don't recognise them at all." 

"Portal? Could it be related to how I got here?"

"I have no idea - and it isn't active," he says, "But I suppose it being in the area near where you appeared is suggestive." 

Shrug. "The word 'area' does take an interesting meaning when Space magic is involved. I take it? At any rate, I would want someone to take a closer look at this then."

"There were a lot more levels to that lift than just this one," he explains, "I think we may have stumbled upon some kind of buried city like Sanctuary - it could easily extend under the battlefield you came through onto." 

He pauses, "Which... does suggest that there should be a similarly powerful Artefact as the Gauntlets of the Healer and Guardian somewhere around here." 

"How many times over has the importance of this location has multipled then?"

He turns to look around the room - as much of it as he can see - spotting Ilek up by the top of the door. 

"...If we could find someone matched to the controlling Artefact," he says. "And if the wards are intact... We could have a stronghold to rival Sanctuary on our hands." 

"And that's just the best-case scenario," he adds, "Even if that's not the case, I expect this place holds many lesser Artefacts. The addition of a few dozen of those to the Cialin military could make an enourmous difference." 

Zephyrinus nods. "Okay, how far we can explore before we need to call for proper specialized help?"

He smiles, "I am actually specialized help, technically," he says, "I know about as much about runes, ruins, and Artefacts as most of the people we could call on short notice. For a discovery of this size we should really contact Sanctuary, however - gain aid from their scholars. Perhaps even Morton," he muses. 

"The controlling Artefact should be within this tower, somewhere, however," he adds. "It should be safe enough if we stay inside it." 

"Alright, where to go then?"

"The lift - we'll need to check the next few levels down." 

In that case, he will follow then back to the lift.

And Jaim taps the panel to take them down to the next floor. The lift doesn't shake, this time - the only way to tell they're moving is by the wall sliding past on the other side of the broken lift doors. 

It doesn't take them long to come to the next stop. The doors slide open at a touch of Ilek's mana, revealing a long, wide hallway, lit by pale blue light. The walls here are covered in more spiral designs, and waves, in orange and blue. 

There's another door at the end, which opens on its own as they exit the lift. 

"What kind of magic is that?" He points at the walls.

"It's not," Ilek says, "Just art." 

Jaim nods, stepping up to the wall to run a finger over one of the spirals - it comes away clean of any dust or grime. 

"Though the choice of design is suggestive of the kind of Artefact which controls this place," he adds. "Orange is the colour associated with Air - and of course the wave designs mean Water." 

"Orange is air? Oh, well. Are we likely to get blasted if we keep investigating this close to the artefact?"