Somnium Supremum

[Heptachromosexual]

Felix had one of his hands on his hip as he walked, the other swaying back and forth as Crymos walked up beside him and asked his question.
"I'm from the far north," he replied simply. "I love the thrill of battle. I hope Almus makes this little adventure worth my while." He waved a hand as they walked over the bridge and onto the next island. "I wouldn't want to get bored," he said coyly.

[The_new_Kth77]

Claus examined the model system. Taking note that it had four planets. While he had no reason to believe he was in the human hosting system of this dimension, he saw that it was the same configuration as the system Eos was in, a human home world and home to a close friend to him. If this was correct it could be good news as Eos was a decently technologically advanced civilization, more so than Knephas, but the U.M.A. discouraged contacting non member civilizations unless absolutely necessary. He decided to keep trying to contact Eos, if this was indeed the system Eos was in, in his back pocket in case the situation deteriorated, though he doubted that a being powerful enough to pull him and his ship into another dimension couldn't stop a simple signal.

He looked over the plants and liquids, curious as to what they were, but fortunately his suit's sensors could not tell him anything about them, his suit lacked the deep penetrating scanning equipment, Chemistry and Mineralogy, or any other scientific equipment needed to really learn anything. He exited the room and went back down the hallway. Using his jet pack he hopped onto the mezzanine where he tried to move the vines by hand to see if there was anything of interest behind them

[Tc Frorleivus Almus Ph]

After they would eventually cross the only bridge that allowed them to cross to the next island, they would find themselves with not a lot of room; the landmass they stood on was barely ten meters across. To the left of the bridge, there was a gigantic treasure chest that was nestled into the small mountains that sprung up behind it. The miniature mountain range wound its way around the outside of this island, coming to an abrupt stop at the bridge that went up to the next island to their right. This bridge, however, had a large gate in front of it that was evidently meant to bar their path. It was made of intertwining silver bars that didn't appear to have a door or way to open at all; it was as if they were part of the natural environment.
* * *
Upon approaching the vines and trees against the wall, he'd see two of the trees flanking the entire mass of vines covering the wall. After picking them away, he would find several pictures hidden behind them. Every single one of them was an extremely detailed oil pastel painting of Almus that almost looked real. In each portrait, he seemed to be standing with his back to the high stained glass window in the office that Claus had just come from, the desk in front of him at his waist. The only difference between the portraits was the position that Almus stood in, which was only subtly different, and he seemed to be looking just a tiny bit off in a different direction in each one.

[Heptachromosexual]

Already hand on his hip when they reached the apparent dead end. The treasure chest that was the size of someone's garage might have been interesting, but Felix suspected that there wasn't anything interesting inside.
"Shouldn't we head back to see Almus, then?" he suggested, turning back toward the way they came. He was ready to get the show on the road already.

[Crymos]

Crymos only looked at Felix, at first a bit flustered that he wanted to return so soon, but soon figured that the gate was there for a reason; it didn't appear to have a door built into it. They were probably supposed to do something special before it would be gone. He did want to at least investigate the treasure chest before they left.
He went up close, looking it over carefully. It was made of wood with gold frames and had a large locking mechanism the size of his head. He suspected some sort of large key was required to open it. Slowly, he went around the back of it, looking at all the sides carefully to see if there was anything of importance before coming back around to the front.

[Gizumo]

As usual Gizumo was simply following after the group without saying anything, but simply looking around. He was surprised to see such a large treasure chest! He wondered if there was anything valuable in it. When he saw the gate, he walked over to it, but decided that touching it might be a bad idea. He considered trying to force it open, but he turned around to find that everyone seemed to consider heading back. Trying to shoot at it probably would cause some horrible thing to happen, and he wasn't the trigger happy type, so he simply turned back and stuck with the group.

[Cyane Rain Black]

Ace stared longingly at the treasure chest but turned and followed the rest of the group back to Almus. He also wanted to get this trip moving on and was curious about what was to come.

[The_new_Kth77]

As Claus examined the portraits his suit also stored the images in its database. He decided not to mess with the paintings themselves at the moment and proceeded back downstairs to the entrance hall. He approached the square Island to get a better look at the empty frames, 'could those frames upstairs have something to do with this frames down here?' He thought. He felt he was grasping at straws trying to find some deeper meanings to these portraits, but he had very little information to go on and these were the first lines he could draw in his mind at the time.

[Tc Frorleivus Almus Ph]

Upon examining the chest, they would find nothing particularly special around the back. On the front, right underneath the large keyhole, there was a small plaque with some words carved into it:

L'isola del Tesoro

Other than that, the large chest would appear completely unobtrusive.
***
The empty portraits on the wall were arranged in a circular pattern, with many smaller frames crowning one large one in the center. If Claus were to count them all, he'd find that there were fourteen smaller frames around the outside, each of them a slightly different shape, but all roughly the same size. The one in the center was considerably larger and sideways, in landscape orientation. All of them had glass covers on them, but there were no pictures inside; just the brown backings.
If he were to look closely, Claus might see that there appeared to be something stuck in the lower right corner of the largest frame. A piece of paper?

[Crymos]

Crymos was only mildly surprised to see the plaque in a language he didn't recognize. He was more surprised to see that it didn't appear to be in Almus's native language, but rather in one of its descendants. He couldn't guess what it was right away, and he didn't have the foggiest what it meant either. After looking at the chest itself again, he realized that it was probably "treasure island". He did recognize the words a bit after all.
He only thought on this for a moment. Instead, he made to talk to Felix again as they started back toward the cathedral. "So what can you do? Are you just a fist fighter?"

[Heptachromosexual]

Felix had already started walking back when the icy boy caught up with him. "What would you expect the god of pornography to do?" he asked coyly. "My garments become weapons."
As he said that, he flipped the sash across his chest, which still seemed to billow in imaginary wind.

[Cyane Rain Black]

Ace followed behind the other two, silently listening into their conversation. He looked around at the scenery once more as they headed back and thought that it looked better here than his own home. He heard Felix say his sash became a weapon and was suddenly very interested. "Does it really?" He said walking faster to circle around Felix and look at the sash.

[The_new_Kth77]

Claus, noticing the paper, grabbed the edge of it between his thumb and forefinger and carefully removed it. He carefully looked it over front and back. Simultaneously his suit's onboard computer analyzed the paper and cross referenced it with the images recorded from upstairs.

[Tc Frorleivus Almus Ph]

Once Claus removed the little piece of conspicuous material from the picture frame, he'd find that it would appear somewhat thick for paper and that it was folded up. It was also yellowing somewhat. Even though he couldn't feel it through the armor he wore, it would seem a bit obvious just by its appearance and the way it moved in his hands. Once he scanned it, he'd discover that it was actually papyrus. Upon attempting to unfold it, he'd find that the papyrus had aged and was rather frail, despite being so thick. There were splotches of discoloration here and there, and upon opening it completely, he'd find that there was writing inside. The writing appeared to have been done with a calligraphy pen, the letters curly and elaborate. The ink was faded and blurred from age, but still legible:

And there I stood on the cusp of the new day, amidst all of my beautiful treasures. In awe, I realized that I had no greater desire.

[Crymos]

The group had just climbed the stairs of the cathedral and entered in time to see Claus looking over the paper in his hands. For a moment, Crymos took in the appearance of the foyer, since this was his first time inside here, and then he went over to Claus. "What have you got there?" he asked, looking over his shoulder.
Looking at the paper, he figured that meant there'd be treasure at the end of their quest, like Almus already said. He looked up at the picture frames that were on the wall, wondering for a bit why Claus was standing right here while reading this paper. Perhaps he found it in this area. What did this message have to do with these picture frames, which had no pictures in them? What was the significance of these picture-less frames, for starts?
He only pondered this for a little while before he decided they should continue on, walking up the foyer stairs and looking around. He couldn't help but be distracted by the vines growing in through the hole in the ceiling. There, he saw that there was something behind the vines, so of course he went to look. Pushing them out of the way, he was met with the same sight as Claus. He looked over each portrait carefully, noting the slight differences in each one. What was the purpose of this?
Filing that away in the back of his mind, he continued into the room where he supposed Almus would be hiding. The large office was what he expected Almus to have built for himself. It had a subtle air of opulence that was very characteristic of the other. Look at me, he thought to himself. Being so analytical of everything.
Unsurprisingly, Almus was somehow back in the office, despite that they had just left him at the Myropolium. "You know, I think you're rubbing off on me," he said to the other.