GALATEA

DD1: You find yourself in an odd corner of the caverns with what look like the remains of an old camp. Besides the iron cookery and dust-filled humanoid armor, you feel that if you touched any of it, it might buckle under the weight of time. Carved into the stone is a strange word: GALATEA. What do you make of this?

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G A L A T E A

A wave of worry and guilt seemed to wash over Sairose as she stared at the wall carving. There were other words, like this one to be found in the depths and Sairose had heard others speak of them and theorise on what they might have meant.

But no one really knew.

Remnants of a bygone era were scattered across and beneath the firmament, and as Sairose stepped through the subterranean campsite, she began to ponder further on what was found here. She could not see any sign of a struggle here, and rather, strange silvery utensils and armour pieces not for coursers, but for another kind of beast entirely. Some of these metals were so terribly corroded that they could collapse under a featherweight within a moment; their bones had mostly turned into dust.

Daring not to make a misstep, she stepped further back to see the scene in its entirety, a camp dimly lit by stray cracks of light. The words faded into obscurity, minimised by the large footprint of life-once-lived. Were the words of protection, or curse? Were the words always here or were they carved into stone by those that came before? She remembered briefly her father leading her to a place like this one, speaking of the ruins of old where these strange beasts held dominion over courser and a strange mention of a great undoing, which she never fully realised but only saw in glimpses such as this. But never once had she seen this word. Behind her, a voice echoed as Khalim approached the site.

“Sairose…..where have you…?” Khalim had gone back to look for her whilst Tariq forged ahead. Ears flicking, Sairose turned her head back to Khalim and spoke solemnly. “Galatea….Khalim? Have you ever heard such a thing?” Khalim snorted and tossed his head, before stepping closer to survey the site. “Something beyond our time Sai, come on, Tariq was asking for you.”  

Sairose sighed, there was a feeling of sadness and warning that she could not quite shake as she read the words. As if, in some small way, seeing or uttering them had assured her fate.

Whatever it was.