“This is the first ruin we’re stopping at,” I announced after a while, turning to look back at Stanton who gazed up at the weathered statues that flanked the rocky entrance in awe. “Are you going to be able to make the climb up?”
“I will be fine,” Stanton assured me as he moved to get off his horse, Quincy rushing to his side to aid him.
“It is a long way up and down,” I warned the noble, despite turning my attention towards Drace and Sierra as I spoke. “Freya, Amaranth and I will show Stanton and the others around the ruin, while the rest of you get started on hunting. We’ll catch up when we’re done.”
“Sounds good to me.” Sierra nodded, her eyes shifting towards the two groups of Adventurers that stood nearby. “We’ll be sure to put the recruits through their paces too.”
“That sounds worrying,” I heard Alistair’s familiar voice mutter from somewhere in the group of Adventurers.
“It should be,” Drace affirmed, flashing a devilish smirk towards the recruits who had formed two loose groups beside one another.
“Hunting?” Lazarus queried as he, Sawyer and Ransom formed up beside Stanton.
“For food and practice,” Constantine replied. “We weren’t prepared for all of you newcomers to arrive so suddenly and didn’t have a chance to stockpile food. If we don’t get more soon, we’re going to start having problems feeding everyone.”
“Ah,” Lazarus said with a nod as understanding came across his face. “Makes sense.”
“Indeed,” Stanton added curtly while glancing sharply at Lazarus then back at Sierra. “Do not wait to begin your hunt on our account. We aren’t certain how long our inspection of the ruin may take.”
If that wasn’t a dismissal, I don’t know what is. I forced myself to keep my face impassive and turned to look towards Sierra. “Might as well get on it then. We’ll see you all in a couple hours.”
“See you then,” Drace stated simply, before motioning to the North East with a big hand. “Let’s get moving everyone! We have another walk ahead of us!”
A handful of groans filtered into the air as the two groups of Adventurers shifted away from us and began their journey away from the ruin.
“Oh no! Are those groans I hear?” Sierra called out to the two groups in mock anger. “Well, it looks like our nice walk just turned into a run! Let’s go! Move your feet!”
“Poor bastards.” Sawyer couldn’t help but laugh as the two groups of departing Adventurers suddenly launched into a jog at the red-haired scout’s urging.
“Just wait until you see what we have planned for them,” Freya replied, giving Sawyer a knowing look.
“What—”
“There will be time for talking later,” Stanton interrupted as he motioned towards the Hub entrance and began walking towards it, tossing the reins of his horse to Samuel. “Let us get a move on into the ruin. Samuel will secure my mount and join us when he can.”
“Of course,” Samuel replied, his voice clearly carrying a tone of annoyance with the task that Stanton had saddled him with.
I guess everyone has their limits, I noted as Samuel gently led the horse to a nearby tree where he could tie him up with a scowl on his face. I suppose being used as a personal valet is his.
“I will lead the way,” Donovan stated firmly as he rushed ahead of Stanton. “The entrance is warded by my key.”
“Warded?” Ransom asked as we all began to climb up the avalanche of rocks that led to the entrance’s mouth. “Why did you have to ward it?”
“Because there is an exposed section of the Ley Line in this ruin,” I replied, looking over at Ransom. “And we don’t want to risk a wandering critter having a chance of falling into it…again.”
“Wait, something fell into it before?” Ransom asked just as we reached the mouth of the entrance and Donovan began to unravel the protections that he had laid down several weeks earlier. “What was it? What happened?”
“A spider,” I replied, seeing that everyone was looking at me with curiosity, including Stanton. “As for what happened, well, that’s a long story…”
W
“This…this is amazing,” Stanton’s voice echoed through the massive domed chamber that formed the heart of the Translocation Hub, everyone else save Donovan, Amaranth and I echoing wonders of amazement as the four mages directed several glowing balls of light through the air.
“This place is huge,” Sawyer said, glancing between me and the wide-open room. “Do you have any idea what it may have been used for in the past?”
“Not really,” I lied, sticking to the story that we had agreed on, deciding against telling Stanton or any of the others the true nature of the Nafarrian ruin. “Save that it was something that drew directly on the Ley Line and was an important part of the city that was once here.”
“I see…” Stanton said numbly. His attention still focused on the chamber around us.
“Given the strange magics we faced after Lyrian unfroze me, I have one theory that this place may have been a research lab of some sort,” Donovan stated. “But, it could have very well been a gladiatorial ring, given the nature of the battle we had. It is impossible to say with certainty.”
“There is nothing like this chamber in Eberia. At least, nothing that we’ve discovered,” Stanton told us, fixing his intense gaze on me as he spoke. “There is so much that we have yet to discover, that has been ignored due to The War and a lack of Æther to conduct proper research.”
“This place is certainly Nafarrian in origin,” Quincy added as he looked up at the smooth stone above us. “I recognize some of the similar architecture…yet there are some…cultural differences perhaps? Not all of it is completely the same.”
“Eberia…or whatever the Nafarrian city that is now Eberia is quite far away from here,” I said, despite barely knowing anything about the Nafarr. “It’s not surprising that their culture would be different.”
“True,” Samuel agreed. “However, we have some evidence to suggest that the Nafarr were able to communicate over vast distances. Something that allowed them to coordinate their forces against the Irovian Dynasty to great effect…even if it didn’t allow them to win the war.”
“Had they not lost access to their supply of Æther, they may have,” Donovan said. “Whatever cataclysm befell the area here, spelled the end for the Nafarr back at Eberia. All of their technology depended on having access to the Ley Line. The moment it dried up, so did their chances of survival.”
“Pity that the first moment we have an opportunity to study more of our city’s history, another war looms to threaten our way of life,” Stanton whispered bitterly, his sour tone sounding surprisingly genuine to my ears.
Stanton paused for a moment as he glanced around the chamber, his eyes following the floating balls of light as they illuminated the chamber, revealing the setting where the large crystal we’d been forced to destroy once was. With a loud sigh, he tore his gaze away from the sight, motioning towards me as he spoke.
“You mentioned that there were other chambers here,” he said. “Was there anything left behind? Anything at all?”
“Nothing that we could find,” I replied to Stanton as I motioned for us to slowly start making our way towards the far end of the chamber and down the incline that led to the lower levels of the Hub. “There are a number of hallways on the upper level that collapsed, likely due to whatever blast destroyed the city. It may be possible to excavate them in the future, but we haven’t had the time or reason to do so just yet.”
“As for the lower level rooms that were left intact, we didn’t find anything of interest inside them, save for the Ley Line at the very bottom. Whatever Nafarr survived the destruction of the city, must have stripped the place before abandoning it…or the invading Dark Elves did afterward,” I continued, indicating the
collapsed hallways as we slowly began to descend deeper into the ruin.
“I wonder how large the Nafarrian city here was,” Lazarus said, speaking up for the first time since entering the ruin. “If you dropped the city of Eberia where Crater Lake is, I think it would sprawl wide enough to include this place within its limits.”
“I would give much to find out myself,” Donovan added, nodding along with Lazarus’s statement. “The little we’ve been able to piece together from the records and maps in Eberia, is that the Nafarr had three major cities across this region, with the other city much, much, further north. I can’t help but wonder if it escaped the war unscathed.”
“It may be worth a journey one day to see,” Freya commented, sharing Donovan’s excitement. “But it’ll have to wait until we’re settled, and Aldford is more established.”
“Agreed,” Donovan stated. “Though at the rate things are proceeding, that may end up being sooner rather than later.”
We continued to talk amongst ourselves as we slowly descended deeper into the ruin. Stanton and the other mages commenting excitedly on everything around us, leaving both Freya and myself slightly taken back by their reaction. I didn’t know what had exactly come over Stanton since entering the ruins, but his haughty and abrasive demeanor had vanished, replaced with a genuine curiosity of what this place once was and the people who had lived here.
I suppose you can have ulterior motives and still share an interest in something, I thought, keeping a subtle eye on the man as we reached the final approach to the Ley Line below, the air before us humming with magic. But I suppose seeing the ruin may make him even more inclined to try and take it from us.
“Hold up,” I called out to everyone, bringing everyone to a stop just before they crossed over into the magic-filled area. “Past this point, you are going to be affected by Æther Sickness, and you won’t be able to stay here long without risking your health. If you want to see the Ley Line, you’ll have a couple minutes at best; then you should get back here to safety.”
“And if we don’t?” Lazarus asked from behind me.
“Then you risk being transformed into a ghoul,” Quincy said softly, his gaze landing on me as he spoke. “Or…”
“You end up looking like me,” I finished, meeting the mage’s eyes without flinching, knowing exactly what was going through his mind. “And I assure you, how I look is the absolute best-case scenario that prolonged contact with Æther will get you.”
“Noted,” Lazarus replied, his gaze dropping down from my face as he looked at my withered body.
“Let us see,” Stanton said eagerly, taking a step forward down the final ramp. “I have come too far to leave without seeing the Ley Line.”
“I pray that is all we see,” Donovan muttered as we all moved to follow the noble. “And that no new horror is waiting for us. I still find my dreams plagued by nightmares about what we found here before...”
Moving in silence we descended into the bottommost room of the ruin that housed the Ley Line, everyone save Amaranth and I audibly grunting as we entered the Æther filled area, causing their stomachs to clench with nausea.
Amaranth told me while purring contently as we all walked towards the Ley Line.
“So, this is it,” Stanton stated in a weak voice, his free arm curling itself around his midsection as he spoke. “A Ley Line, and more Æther than I have ever seen in my life.”
“All the Æther ever created in Eberia would not match what courses through this river every second,” Donovan said in a tight voice, clearly feeling the effects of Æther Sickness as we all looked down at the azure river that had carved a channel through the floor.
“This—oh!” Samuel’s words died in his throat as he looked up towards me, then flinched in surprise, his eyes going wide. “Lyrian, what are you doing?!”
“What?” I looked at the mage with confusion, seeing that everyone else was staring at me, their eyes wide. “I’m not doing anything, just standing here.”
“Lyr, your eyes…the veins on your face,” Freya whispered worriedly. “They’re all glowing.”
“Oh,” I breathed, feeling slightly embarrassed as I suddenly understood everyone’s reaction. As it was, my gaunt appearance was enough to unsettle someone, let alone have everyone see the veins under my skin begin to glow. “Another side effect from my Ætherwarping, I guess.”
“Does it hurt?” I heard Sawyer’s shaky voice ask as he took a step away from the Ley Line to get a better look at me.
“No,” I replied, shaking my head. “I feel fine. Great even.”
“A curious affliction,” Stanton said while inclining his head away from the Ley Line to look at me. “But perhaps we should heed Lyrian’s earlier warning and retreat from this room before the sickness affects us any further.”
A chorus of assent rose from Stanton’s statement, everyone happy with their momentary glimpse at the river of Æther.
“I’ll be right behind you all,” I called, remembering something I wanted to do the next time I visited the Ley Line and turned my attention back to the river of Æther, Amaranth moving to join me by my side. “I just need to do something first.”
Hearing everyone leave behind me, I raised my hand and slowly pulled the gloves I was wearing off, immediately being greeted by a spidery network of glowing veins that crisscrossed my palm.
I can only imagine how my face looks, I couldn’t help but think as I clenched my hand into a fist and relaxed it, trying to force myself past a familiar wave of self-consciousness due to my warped appearance. Focusing on what I had come here to do, I reached into my inventory and pulled out one of the several [Large Bronze Jugs] that I had crafted late last night and knelt down towards the Ley Line, keeping a tight grip on the jug’s handle.
“Hopefully this works,” I whispered to Amaranth, who watched me curiously as I plunged the bronze vessel into the Ley Line and watched it fill full of the azure liquid.
It only took a few seconds for the jug to fill itself, before I pulled it out of the Ley Line and set it down on the ground beside me, a small tag appearing in my vision as I focused on the now full container.
Ætherfilled Bronze Jug
Quantity: 1
Item Class: Magical
Item Quality: Average (+0%)
Durability: 0/0
Weight: 3 kg
“Doesn’t look like it’s going to melt or explode so far,” I whispered to Amaranth, and I watched the Ætherfilled jug carefully, ensuring that it didn’t do something strange before I put it back into my inventory.
“Maybe,” I replied with a shrug as I pulled out a cap and screwed the jug shut tightly, then pulled a similar jug from my inventory and repeated the process a second time. “I don’t know. It seems like it is going to be fine.”
my familiar said in a nervous voice, putting even distance between me and the Ley Line.
“Stop worrying,” I told the cat as I set the second jug down beside the first and capped it, pulling out a third from my pack. “I’m almost done.”
“Just one more, scaredy cat,” I told Amaranth with amusement as I filled the final jug and capped it. Standing up from my crouched position over the Ley Line, I turned to look at the four large containers that I had filled with Æther, each of them standing on the ground without any visible reaction. “That should hopefully be enough for what I’m planning.”
“My next crafting project.”
Chapter 17
It was late afternoon by the time Stanton, Quincy and Samuel had had their fill of exploring and searching through the Translocation Hub, the trio having gone through nearly every inch of it with the new Irovian Ætherscopes. For hours, the three were completely enthralled with researching the ruin, and just as I was starting to get concerned that we would have to make the trek back to Aldford in the dark, Stanton called an end to their initial survey, citing that as interesting as the ruin was, he didn’t believe that it had anything to do with the Ley Line rupture, and that any further exploration would have to be done at a later date when they had more time and less pressing matters to attend to.
“Almost done,” Donovan said to me, bringing me back to the present as Freya and I stood at the mouth of the Hub’s entrance, watching him weave another ward into being, sealing the place from uninvited visitors.
The last thing any of us needed was having another creature falling into the Ley Line and getting warped into some sort of monstrosity that would terrorize the countryside.
“No rush,” I replied to Donovan as I scanned through a pair of quest updates that had appeared in my vision a few moments earlier.
Quest Update! The Ruptured Ley Line!
You’ve shown Lord Stanton and his retinue the Ancient Transport Hub and allowed them to explore it freely. However, based on your suspicions from [Statecraft, Deception and Veracity] you have decided to keep its true purpose hidden from him and his group.
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