At the very back of the armory was a suspiciously large painting. But what caught Slar's attention was what this painting was made out of. It was unlike any painting Slar has seen on the cloud plane.
Starting with the frame, instead of the usual cloud matter to make up the picture frame, the frame was made of a golden material (gold) that's not unlike the hard material Slar's material gun is made out of. In addition to this, there are strange round red crystals (rubys) lining the material picture frame.
But what really caught Slar's attention was the type of paint used to create this strange portrait. Paintings on the cloud plane used prism dew (cloud paint) which can capture and store different colors of light from the sun that is unlike the light-grey colors usually found on the cloud plane. But cloud paint tends to have a radiant glow as a result of the light that's captured inside the paint. This paint on the other hand... doesn't glow. Yet it still has the same variety of colors prism dew tend to have. Whatever this paint is... it doesn't feel natural.
But the quality is nowhere near as surreal as the content of the painting. It was all really strange. In the painting, there are a collection of multi-colored creatures wearing clothes from many different cultures and myths Slar is unfamiliar of. Each character in the painting are represented by a different color. And not all of them are shaped like a man. For example, in the painting, there is a aggressive looking half animal, half human looking creature wearing nothing by animal skins and holding a wicked looking spear completely colored moron (the color of human blood). Another example is a angelic looking woman with wings on her back (wearing clothes reminiscent of mid-evil Europe). She was shaded in a lighter shade of red that made Slar feel more calmer instead of more active. It's strange. Every creature in this painting is colored a certain way, as if a child took a coloring book and completely shaded a character a specific color. In other words, each of them are shade with a color that reflects their personality. Or at least that is what he assumes.
After examining the painting for a few minutes, Slar found that he could recognize a select few characters. Two of which stuck him as a odd choice for this picture. One of the characters in this painting was Excalibur, the deity of Clarity. The resident deity of the Sky Kingdom. The version of Excalibur in the painting was depicted as a warrior wearing a cape and holding a magnisfently crafted sword. But unlike some of the other characters depicted in this painting, Excalibur wasn't overly muscular compared to what you might imagine a legendary swordsman should look like. To make up for his lack of expected muscle tone, Excalibur has a fierce cunning sketched across his features. His was colored in a calm shade of light blue, the type of color that makes you think and assess the situation. Another Character Slar recognized was Possibility, the deity of imagination. The resident deity of the Daze Kingdom, a neighboring kingdom that resides on a different cloud island next to the Sky Kingdom. It's otherwise known as the kingdom of dreams and illusion. Possibility was depicted as a young cloud boy with a simple t-shirt and pants who was laying on the ground, staring up at the clouds in the sky. Possibly was painted with a white color. The white was probably to represent emptiness and open mindedness. Like a blank slate or blank canvas.
It became pretty obvious at this point that this painting was depicting all kinds of deities from many different lands. Most of these deities Slar doesn't even recognize. The only ones he does recognize are the ones depicted as cloud people. And he doesn't even know every deity that resides on the cloud plane.
But as much as a masterpiece this painting is... what is it doing here? It would be better suited to be in a gallery or in a hallway to be observed by the owner and to be appreciated, but why in a armory of all places? That's a little odd. Unless the owner comes to the armory often, Slar can't see the purpose of leaving such a masterpiece in a weapons storage room. But then again, he is standing in a rich person's mansion. What did he know about how they think?
...But on a second thought... maybe this portrait was put in this armory for a reason. If all those fictional books Slar read about mansions were correct, then that means the act of simply tilting a ordinary object will reveal a secret room or passageway. This painting may seem a little large and heavy, but if he just nudged the frame with his gun just a little....
*CRASH*
Aw crap. Someone was bound to hear that. Simply tilting the heavy golden frame a little caused the painting to work itself off whatever it was hanging on to and fall forward. Luckily, Slar was able to dodge out of the way before it could crush way.
As Slar sat up, he examined the painting's condition. Luckily, it seems to be fine despite falling face down on the ground. Unfortunately, it seems to large for Slar to take with him. He tried taking a ruby out of the frame but it was stuck in there.
So the next thing he did was look at the wall the portrait was formally on. In place of the painting was a hole in the wall. A hole that leads into a stone tunnel. It was so obvious that it sorta surprised Slar that there was actually a secret passageway behind there. Who made this place?
Regardless, he might find something more useful in there.
Does he go in? Were would the tunnel take him? Or should he stay in the armor just a little long to find a weapon?
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Note: Yeah, yeah, I get it, this chapter is a little short. To be honest, I felt a little lost for awhile. No mater how hard I tried, I couldn't bring myself to finish the long chapter I had planned. That was until I realized that it's much more easier to write smaller chapters instead of longer ones. That way, I can just focus on one scene at a time. I figured it's probably better to post smaller chapters more frequently instead of whacking my brains to write a longer ones in the span of a few weeks. That also means breaking my planed chapter into smaller ones. Feel free to jump in with your own chapter if you like.
The Portrait of Deities was inspired by a similar painting found in the chapter, "Nat doesn't want Ilvir/Issac and Chirp to meet just yet" by an anonymous writer. The concept was interesting so I decided to use is as a plot device for this storyline.