'Sierra!'
A sixteen-year-old Judith had rushed toward her friend, who was bruised along her arms and temples.
'Who took you away? Tell me the names! I'll cut their heads off and present them to you myself!'
Sierra had smiled faintly. 'I'm fine, Judith.'
'You don't look fine to me! What did they want!? Just gold?'
'They wanted Priscilla. She is the Blessed, after all. You know how precious her existence is. Unfortunately, they mistook me for her. I'm fine. I managed to escape.'
'You're not fine! You could have been dead had they not realized you weren't Priscilla. And what the hell is wrong with your sister? She was with you when you got taken away but she didn't open her wretched mouth for two whole days! You just got lost is what she said! And your parents? They thought you'd return on your own! They didn't even dispatch knights to investigate!'
'...It's not her fault, Judith. She must've been frightened.'
'Frightened? We had no idea you had been kidnapped for two whole days! Being lost and kidnapped are two very different things! I don't care how badly shaken she was, she didn't have any right to lie! How could your family just give up on you?'
'How is Priscilla doing? Is she okay?'
Judith was dumbfounded. 'What did you ask?'
'Is she okay?'
"Are you okay? Lady Judith!"
Judith stirred with a jerk. Her glassy gaze focused back on Clairette.
"Are you okay? You seemed lost," Vivia said.
"Oh? I wasn't. I was just admiring the beauty. Anyway, where were we?"
"I asked what you would've done had you been in my place?"
She stared at her acutely. "What I'd do is very different from what you'd do, Princess. You have no relationship with that red-haired woman like I have with Sierra and Melissa."
"I'm simply asking - would you give up on your friend?"
Judith thought back to the past.
"Seems like the rumors of you visiting Stras were true, after all. Otherwise why would you speak of that red-haired woman as your friend?"
Vivia smiled. "You expect direct answers from me while you prefer being indirect yourself."
"One of my many charms, what can I say?"
In the distance, Vivia noticed something near some rocky cliffs as the lake's waves receded. She squinted her eyes, wondering if it looked like a statue. They made their way along the slippery slope.
Judith tilted her head, studying the one-eyed warrior. Even through the lifeless stone, the charm behind his gaze and excellent swordsmanship was unmistakable.
"Now this is the kind of a man I want. Handsomeness and strength just radiating from every part of this statue, now does it not?"
Hearing no response, she glanced at Clairette but found her wearing the strangest expression.
"Princess?"
That is…my master's face…
Why is Master Nara's statue here? And why is she dressed as a man?
She climbed tremblingly onto a rock to get a closer look.
"I see an opening there. Is that a…cave?"
Vivia's stupor broke. "What?"
"The lake floor over there," Judith pointed just a little farther from where the statue stood.
Vivia stared at the statue once more, still confused and perplexed - but she didn't have much time to dwell on it.
"Let's see what that opening is."
—
Rudaheim.
Zerath knocked. "May I come in, Sir Draconis?"
Draconis's eyes widened. "My lord! You needn't ask. Please tell me how I can serve you today?"
"What can you tell me about Eurus's mother?"
He blinked. "Pardon, my lord? Are you referring to the ribbon you found in that cave?"
"Yes. Did you find anything?"
Draconis stammered. "Apologies, my lord but His Majesty has forbidden..."
"I'm not asking about the cave. I'm asking about Eurus's mother."
"But she was found there…or at least her ribbon."
"The cave was used a long time ago during the war. It doesn't have anything to do with Eurus's mother centuries later. Probably someone stumbled upon it and used it to imprison her. So what can you tell me about her?"
Draconis coughed. "Well, before Eurus took back that ribbon, I had investigated it. The ribbon in itself is nothing out of the ordinary, but I did sense some very strange energy."
"Her spirit energy?"
"No, it's different…I don't know how to explain it well, but it feels like I recognize a part of that energy, but a part of it I don't. Pardon my lord, it's truly difficult to explain. On top of that, the traces of that remnant energy was very faint."
"But what kind of energy was it? Magic?"
Draconis parted and then closed his lips. "No, it's not magic. It's very different but also very, how should I say this…unnatural? Even the mere traces felt so nauseous, as if the energy wasn't supposed to exist. I've been trying to find the source of it, but…" he sighed in defeat.
Zerath gave it a thought. "Why do you think a spirit could be abducted?"
His eyes widened. "Why wouldn't they be?"
Zerath blinked.
Draconis coughed. "Apologies, I spoke in a misleading manner. I meant they're the closest beings to God. They hold a drop of God's divine power, and we can say that they're nature in itself. Everything derives from them. As such, their spiritual energy is very pure and powerful. The only reason I can think of abducting a spirit is to use their immense power for some ritual."
He recalled the altar in the cave's deepest floor. The inscriptions surrounding had felt exactly like that.
"Where is Arzan?"
Draconis called out. "Arzan!"
A young demon came rushing out a moment later, huffing breathlessly. He was the same Syrevar from the Ministry of Magic who had accompanied Zerath's troop during his Nethermoor trip.
"Yes, Sir!"
His gaze fell upon Zerath, and his eyes widened. "My lord!!!"
"Sshh!" Draconis pressed his ear. "Not so loud, and not in my lord's presence!"
"Yes!"
He smacked him on his head. "Still loud!" He then bowed. "Pardon his rudeness, my lord. He's a little rusty around the edges..."
"It's fine," Zerath smiled. "I see he's very passionate."
"Yes, my lord!"
Draconis glared, and his mouth shut immediately.
"What were you doing in the archives?"
"I was looking into the hybrid child! Eurus! Since he's a hybrid between a demon and a spirit, I'm very keen to learn his magic's properties, especially the side he inherited from his spirit mother. It's actually quite fascinating! The amalgam of elemental and spiritual powers is something we've never seen before! We're already aware of how demon's mana work, but a spirit is different! So you see the core is really different and actually very similar to the Blessed's aura!"
Arzan continued his monologue with sparkling eyes. At some point, he finally realized he got lost in the flow a little too far.
"A-A-A…" his face turned ashen. "Sincerest apologies, my lord! Please cut my head off for this disrespect!"
Zerath's mouth twitched. "Nobody's head is rolling off, Arzan. Be at ease. And no, you didn't waste my time. I'm happy to learn about magic. It's fascinating."
It also reminded him of the strange power dwelling within his sword. He glanced at his sword at his hip.
'It's the revered Varkhail's sword!' Nefarion's eager words echoed distantly.
His thoughts then drifted to the memoir where the freed slave had described his first meeting with the Varkhail.
Deep blue eyes, mahogany earrings…
Arzan shone. "Yes, magic is fascinating! It tells so much about our world that we've yet to learn about."
He looked back at Arzan, smiling. "Indeed. There's so much we don't know yet. Which is why I want to know if you learned anything about the altar."
Arzan spread several scrolls across the desk. "This is that altar we had seen in that cave. I drew it from my memory as much as I could."
"You drew so well based on what you remembered?" He was taken aback. "This already looks so detailed."
His face reddened. "I'm honored by your praise, my lord!"
"What about this altar?"
"There are two very distinct runes on this altar. The ones on the left are actually very old inscriptions based on the ancient versions of our language, Xul. That's what I was wondering the whole time. I had seen them before in older texts, but it didn't occur to me at the time. After a thorough search, I found the scrolls and realized they looked the same."
"What are those runes?"
"It's a representation of our solar system. There has been considerable evidence that our world revolves around the sun and the moon revolves around our world. The runes are the representation of Yin in essence."
Zerath remembered the similar scripture he had shown to Astaroth a few years ago to resolve Nethermoor's crisis.
Arzan explained. "The runes depict our solar and lunar cycles and the cosmic balance which keeps our realm in harmony. A more modern version of these runes can also be seen in our Twilight Sanctum. Sire Izrus effectively invokes these runes whenever one of the Great Three brings their Blessed to him. The energies of the Sun and Moon flows through the runes and shines upon the Blessed."
"I see," Zerath then asked, "What are the other runes?"
His shoulders slumped. "It was a little difficult to remember those runes, my lord, so they're incomplete. Those inscriptions are very different. I wasn't able to find out much about them. None of the texts and scriptures that I looked into had any information about them either. The symbols are also strange. I've never seen them before."
"That's alright. Why do you think such runes were at the cave though?
Draconis added to that. "We cannot comment about the other runes, but our runes are the foundation behind using demon magic. It's also the basis for all elemental magic. And when we Syrevars study mana, we must learn the concepts of the Sun and Moon first to understand how energy exists in Rudaheim."
He then stroked his beard. "Now if these runes were in the altar, it means someone was performing some kind of magic, but we won't be able to get the full picture unless we understand what the other runes are."
Zerath considered it for a moment, then looked at Arzan.
"Let's make another trip to Nethermoor."