previous position, and I wondered if it was possible to fall asleep standing up.
My reverie was disrupted when Rio suddenly made a happy noise and beckoned us over. Hoping whatever he had found meant that we would not have to swim out of here; I scrambled to his side. The dragon-kin wandered over and watched over my head.
“See this?” Rio pointed to a swirling mass of unreadable text.
I nodded, though seeing and understanding were two very different things.
“This word,” he pointed to a squiggle, “means ‘mouth’ or ‘opening’. And this one means ‘king’.”
It was all gibberish to me, but I listened patiently anyway.
“This one means ‘hand’ – Aha!” He exclaimed before he pointed out a painting of a palm-print on the opposite wall. The dragon-kin and I just watched as he rushed over to it and pressed his own hand to it.
There was a loud click, and my eyes widened as the wall to my right began to move. The thick slab of stone slowly slid aside, creaking loudly, to reveal a colorful wooden wall behind it. There were patterns all over this one, too, but they seemed to just be decorative.
There was a circular slot in the center of the pattern that seemed just the right size for a certain golden artifact. I smiled. This definitely looked like some kind of door. Rio pulled the ring from his belt, and, without hesitation, pressed it into the slot. It was a perfect fit.
Another click reverberated around the chamber, and a portion of the wall just taller than Rio swung open, revealing a dark passage beyond. The redhead looked back at us, grinning wildly before he walked through the doorway. The dragon-kin and I glanced at each other, and then went to join him.
For the first time in the history of our world, those outside the race of mer were entering the city of Eigiollys.