^^ The First Look ^^
^^ Basement ^^
I raced across the street to check out what I had to work with.
--- Greta's POV ---
I removed the heavy iron lock and chain from the old wooden door, carved with heavily scratched and dented patterns, almost undecipherable.
I heaved on the heavy oak, and slowly opened one side of the double doors.
It creaked like the devils knees, and a wave of dusty, stale air blasted me as the outside air began to replace the old air.
I coughed and covered my mouth and nose, stepping in with a Witchlight raised. The area was illuminated, and I was in awe of the raw bones around me.
It was like someone had gutted the most perfect restaurant in the world. The bones told the story, but the normal people would think it just a broken, dilapidated ruin.
I giggled, happy at my luck, and grabbed a broom, sighing when it crumbled. I repaired it mentally, and weaved a glyph that would strengthen it and return it back to its former state.
The wood darkened, the cracks sealing, and the tines at the bottom straightened, raveling themselves quickly.
I nodded and started sweeping, going through everything before it was thrown away. I found a set of keys, and kept those, just in case.
Then I examined the bones again. Directly in front of the entrance was a massive empty area with bolts in the floors, which was where the tables used to be, and then to the right was a crumbled cobblestone wall, evenly spaced giant fireplaces and Mantles imbedded into the wall.
To the left was a large set of arches, clearly the old dividing line from the kitchen, as destroyed kitchen appliances filled that side.
I laughed. "It's Perfect."
"Wow. Lots of potential."
I jumped, and whirled, again throwing a fireball.
Father simply shrugged it off, brushing Ashe off his leather-clad shoulder. "Sorry to scare you." He smiled.
I sighed. "What is with you people and scaring me?" I sighed.
He laughed. "It's not on purpose. But as I was saying-"
"Potential. I know. And I'm going to make it reach that potential once again. Without your interference. I can handle a little hard work." I warned.
He raised his hands in surrender. "I know! I just want to help. Your shop, your business. How do you like Laurent?" He asked.
"He's nice, and very easy to learn from." I nodded.
"Good." He nodded. "So what first?" He asked, looking around.
"I need a Stone Mason and a Carpenter's guidance." I sighed, looking at the arches and mantles. "I want those restored, and layered with runes of protection, and I was wondering if I should slip in Runes of detection, just in case..." I hummed.
"You're lucky. I actually know a thing or two about Masonry. Carpentry isn't my strong suit, but I know how to swing a hammer as much as the next man." He nodded.
I smiled. "You're very useful... alright. Well, first, I need to demolish this place, brick by brick, so that it can be rebuilt with the old stones... but-... is that a door?" I hummed, and walked over to a black door, the only place where runes were present.
"Yes... with runes of Timelessness... powerful stuff... you shouldn't touch it. I'll open it, step back." He warned me, and I stepped aside.
Mirage grabbed his hand before he touched it. "Not wise... look closer." She waved a hand over the door, and the paint peeled away, leaving almost the entire door exposed... and covered in death runes.
He whistled. "Ouch. That would've hurt. Just a moment..." he traced a Rune in the air, and slammed it into the door.
It hummed, and then cracked, and finally shattered. He grinned. "Ha. Easy as pie."
I pointed at the back of his neck. "Have those always been there?" I asked, Referring to a small collar of death runes around his neck.
He hummed and closed his eyes. They faded, and crumbled, and he smirked. "Puny Witch Runes. Ha." He chuckled, and I glared at him.
"Watch yourself." I huffed.
"You're half Lich, and your Runes show it." He waved me off. "Now what did they want to protect so bad?" He stepped into the hall slowly, and froze. His entire body turned gold for a moment, and then turned normal. "Wow... they went all out. A Midas Rune? Ouch... this is starting to hurt even me..." he grumbled, and then took another step.
I sighed when he turned into silver this time. "Can you even bother to protect yourself?" I snapped when he turned back.
"Sorry." He grinned sheepishly, and then threw a hand up, runes spreading from his hand like fire. The walls of the little stairwell glowed, and then started to crack, but stopped soon enough. "There. All broken." He nodded, and walked down the steps. I followed, curious.
Another black door, and another set of Runes later, plus an added bonus of Destruction, Chaos, and Ea Runes and Glyphs, and we entered a massive underground room, passing through a temporal barrier that was harmless, it seemed.
Time wasn't relative in this room, and that worried me slightly. "Any number of ancient horrors could be down here-!"
I stopped talking, and gasped, looking out over a field of Second and Third Era Fossil Fuel and Electric Vehicles, both Two-Wheeled and Four, of thousands of types and in many different conditions.
"When... were those runes laid?" I asked softly.
"The end of the Second Era..." Mirage said just as softly.
"So... a Witch hoarded vehicles, and decided to save them all instead of books, like all of the others?" I asked.
"Looks like it." She nodded.
Father laughed. "You've got something amazing here, Daughter... I salute your luck." He shook his head, chuckling.
I grinned. "Awesome. Papa? If you would replace the runes, just the same as they were, but with a password? 'Delirium' sounds good." I nodded.
He grinned. "My pleasure. I love traps." He began tracing runes, while Mirage helped, and I grabbed my broom, and began sweeping, burning all of the gathered trash, before casting a small spell from my grimoire to give me a perfect list of everything in the room, and its relative age and condition.
I hummed down at the list, and nodded. "Cool. Instant Inventory. Thanks, Ma." I grinned, and then hummed, confused. "But if the Runes were from the Second Era, not the Third, why are there Third Era Items here?" I wondered aloud.
"The Witch who lived here died in the fire that burnt it down." Father piped up. "Her family probably collected until they couldn't remember the password, and then..." he shrugged.
I nodded. "Yeah... well, whatever. Awesome. Master Cortez would love this as a project, I think. He's obsessed with Second Era Fossil Fuel vehicles." I smirked.
"True." Father nodded.
I tucked the list in my pocket, and looked at Baba. "Can you take these into a Garage in the Mansion? Please?"
She chuckled. 'Happy to.'
As she was methodically swallowing all the vehicles and parts, I surveyed the space, and created a set of blueprints out of light with another useful spell, and then imprinted them into a sheet in my grimoire.
They took root, and I nodded, humming. "I wonder if..."
I gently drew in the rest of a cobblestone arch, and flinched as the room rumbled softly.
I grinned. "No way..." I sprinted up the stairs, and laughed in delight, finding the arch exactly as I'd drawn it.
I laughed and drew an exact replica of one of the cobblestones, a 3D image, all sides, and covered it in Runes, the ones I'd planned on putting on them anyway.
Immediately, every single stone in the place took on the runes, making me jump for joy. "Ha!" I shouted in victory, and started refining the plans, watching as the runes Father and Mirage were drawing began showing up. The password wrote itself next to the traps, and I grinned. "Amazing..."
I filled in the arches, and then hummed... "Now what do I want this place to look like?" I wondered aloud again.
I grinned as inspiration struck me, and I started drawing.
I realized the people I'd drawn were actually there, as lines in the air, and blushed as I erased them. I finalized the plans, and looked around, smiling.
The mana Drain had been acceptable, as I'd used the Rune that father had taught to replenish my soul, and used soul to power mana, giving me near unlimited Mana.
The plants in the center began slowly growing to fruition, and I smiled at the Sugar Cane that was growing perfectly. Small planters filled with aromatic herbs such as Dill, Basil, and Thyme hung from the ceiling, giving the room an amazing smell.
I started to draw a plant garden on the rooftop, along with a small elevator to get there, and then started drawing a list of nice-smelling herbs.
"Let's see... Parsley, chervil, chives, tarragon, thyme, dill, basil, rosemary, fennel, wild marjoram, star anise, oregano, bay leaves, coriander..." I drew them, and then set about planting them in a calm and controlled grid system as they appeared.
I hummed, and looked at the remaining half of the garden. Then I smirked. "Tea." I said aloud, and started drawing different tea leaves, finding their seeds and planting them all, one by one.
While chamomile was the most popular and widespread variety of Tea Leaves, there were a few others, at most three, that delivered different types of teas.
My favorite, Snake Root, was a black Flower, whose petals were ground up and used to make a blood-red tea, with a rich flavor almost like that of Coffee, but it had zero caffeine, and was naturally Bittersweet, perfectly balanced.
I grinned and looked down at my three basic Tea Leaves.
I hummed, and decided that that wasn't enough, so I drew leveled terraces, and extended the elevator, wrapping the entire roof in a Greenhouse, including a humidity and heat control set of runes to the fabric.
I planted every single variation of Tea, and then leaned back, grinning. My face, clothes, and hands were filthy, but I had a beautiful garden, filled with useful herbs.
I drew them all to perfection, and then plucked a leaf from a chamomile plant. It grew back immediately, accompanied by a small Drain to my Mana, and I grinned. "Ha." I heard someone coming up the stairs, and grinned, turning.
Father looked around, and whistled a long sound, looking up the elevator shaft. "Wow... very impressive. What do you want with the Basement?" He asked.
"I was thinking about making it my official workshop. Lots of space, strong, protected... can you make a portal door to next to my room in the College?" I asked him.
He nodded. "Alright. I can do that. Where at?"
"In the basement, to the right of the trap door, please." I said, and wiped my hands on a clean part of my shirt, dipping my hands in a small birdbath to get the dirt off, and then washed my face.
I hummed, looking at the birdbath, and laughed. "Too tame." I shook my head, and turned one into a small lava bath, with the lava becoming animated, and becoming a ballerina who danced on the surface of the lava. I created a partner in the opposite water bath, and nodded as they began to dance. "Much better." I found all the other bird baths, and made them all randomly magical, instead of boring, mundane things.
Then what I was going to do with the basement became clear, and I laughed. "I've got it!" I cheered.
"What's that?" Mirage asked.
"Atlantis!" I cheered again, and ran down into the basement, tossing the password with a passing breath.
I entered the massive underground space, and laughed. I carefully extracted the entire room into the astral plane, leaving supports to hold up the roof of the cave that was left.
The door from the stairs was still there, but now it led to a giant pit, filled with water, which was electrocuted, with the gods own lightning, stolen from Daniel's Torc with a whispered apology.
There was a platform about fifteen feet in diameter between the door and the water, But at the bottom of the water was a small marble dome, barely an inch in diameter.
Crammed into that tiny dome was my workshop, just as big as the room had been. The entrance was simply to touch the door into the basement at the bottom of the stairs, whilst thinking the password, 'Extremity'. The exit, inside the Marble, was a door as well, which exited from a doorframe embedded into the wall next to the entrance.
I checked my grimoire, and grinned. All the details, even the passwords, were faithfully recorded, and the blueprints for both places were perfectly drawn.
I grinned. "Perfect. Now to decorate my Workshop..."