Salandra’s eyes went wide as they entered the clearing.
Grac gave a nod, not really sure what to say.
“You mentioned that you were interested in Irkan history and our friend here is from Tas’Irkan, so I figured the two of you could chat.” Cobal said sheepishly.
Salandra spun around and hugged him. “This is beyond what I expected to encounter in my studies.” Quickly recomposing herself she walked over to Grac and held out her hand. “Salandra Fevezar, pleasure to meet you.”
“Grac, likewise.” He sat back down and Salandra took a seat on another log across from him.
“What would you like to know about? I’m not a historian of my people, but I grew up in Tas’Irkan, so I know our basic history.”
“History is documented in books and we know quite a bit about Tas’Irkan and its surroundings, although a lot of it is of course second hand information. I’m personally more interested in your culture. Who do you worship, what do you celebrate, what stories do you tell your children to make sure they behave.”
Grac smiled. “Those are all good questions, I can tell you’re serious about this.”
Salandra blushed. “Well, it’s just that I’ve been studying the culture of people who live in the Feral Wildlands for a while now, so the more well known stuff, I already know about. I’m trying to learn new things.” Her eyes lit up. “And if you can tell me anything about your knowledge of herbs and alchemy that would be even more incredible.”
“For that you’d best talk to my wife, but that’s… difficult now.” He sighed. “But I can answer your other questions no problem.”
Salandra seemed to have the sense not to pry for more information about his wife and just nodded along.
“Let’s see, let’s start with who we worship. Most of us who live in the wildlands worship Saresh, the guardian of the wilds. Some of our people pray to others of the Arpentara. I know our scholars ask Owlana for guidance regularly. Outside of the gods you would recognize as well, we also have our tribe father Mosg. He is the one that first molded our tribe out of the earth and sent us on our path into this world. He is a strong and kind god, and was the first to live in Tas’Irkan. When the city first thrived, he went on a journey of self discovery and he hasn’t been heard from since, but us Irkans believe that he’s still roaming the world, learning about himself so that one day he can come back and teach us.”
“May I ask what Mosg looks like, or what symbol is used to worship him?”
“You may.” He reached into his pack and pulled out a small clay doll. It looked a bit crude and rough around the edges. Where the eyes of the doll should be were two beautiful glass orbs that shone in different colors depending on what angle you looked at them.
Cobal and Mana had long sat down next to Salandra and Grac respectively and were intently listening along.
“This doll is what we call Irkana. Each Irkan makes their own Irkana when they are but a child. We then pray to it while a priest carefully attaches the crystal eyes to the doll. Once it is complete, we hold onto it our entire lives or until it breaks. If it breaks, an Irkan is supposed to return to his or her home to have a priest help them in making a new Irkana. There is no shame in breaking your Irkana, as they are fragile clay dolls, but there is shame in not returning home to make a new one.”
“Fascinating,” Salandra said. “I had heard of the name Mosg before, but I didn’t know what an Irkana was. Are your people named after the Irkana, or is the doll named after your people? What is the origin of both names?”
Grac chuckled. “If you keep adding questions I won’t get to answer all of them. Nevertheless, the Irkan as a people came first. Mosg taught the first Irkans how to make an Irkana. It’s our word for tiny Irkan, we add ‘a’ to a word to indicate that it’s a tiny version of something else. So it’s a tiny version of our own person. In a sense, we pray to ourselves whenever we worship Mosg. He’s a humble deity.” He gave the Irkana to Salandra who very carefully inspected it from different sides, before giving it back to Grac. “And the origin of the name Irkan?”
“As far as we know, that’s the name given to us by Mosg. Where he got the name from, we do not know. Perhaps it has a deep meaning, perhaps he just liked the sound of it. All I know is that we’ve always been called Irkans.”
Salandra nodded. “I see, I’ve never even read about Irkana. Is it supposed to be a secret?”
Grac shook his head. “No, I’m sure there are many outside of our people who know about it. Our people just spend most of their time isolated from others, so we have no real reason to share our customs much.”
“That makes sense. Are there any special celebrations you hold?”
Grac smiled. “Let me tell you about our spring celebrations.”
“There’s a beautiful river that flows through our village and ends at a waterfall. I believe it continues onward from there and ends up traveling further east. The waterfall is called Rekasha, which means ‘spirit of water’ in the old Irkan language. Lake Rekasha, which isn’t very large, is the center of our spring festival. Around the lake grow flowers that are native to the region. These flowers we call Maldela. The Maldela flower has a beautiful dark blue hue to them and when it’s time for the Rekasha spring festival we pluck hundreds of Maldela flowers and float them down the waterfall. They’ll then pool in the water at the bottom for most of the day, before eventually traveling down the river and disappearing out of the village. During the festival we eat, laugh and dance together. It’s probably not that different from most other people’s celebrations, except for the Maldela flower and the Rekasha waterfall.”
Salandra listened to every word Grac was saying, fascinated about the new things she was learning. “None of my books spoke about either of these things, are you sure it’s alright to share this information with me if my purpose is to record it?”
Grac nodded. “Like I said about the Irkana, these aren’t secrets, it’s more so that no one bothered to ask us before. I mean no one who then wanted to record this information. We’ve had many visitors throughout the years, the previous hero even spent some time in Tas’Irkan apparently.” Grac then sheepishly looked at Cobal as if he’d given away a secret.
“Don’t worry friend, she already knows about our backgrounds.”
Grac nodded. “That’s our festival, what do you think?”
“It sounds lovely, I would love to see this place for myself.”
Grac thought for a few moments. “If you want, you can come with me to Tas’Irkan once I’m done with the business that is keeping me here in Marsolin. You’re helping Cobal who’s helping me, so consider it a debt paid back.”
Salandra’s eyes grew so wide that Cobal almost worried they would fall out of their sockets. “I would absolutely love that, I’ll take you up on that offer for sure.”
Grac smiled. “Very well, then once we’re done here, we will talk about the specifics.”

Eventually the topic changed as Salandra turned her attention to Mana and asked, “what was your old world like, if I may ask?”
“What would you like to know?”
“I don’t really know, it’s hard to imagine. Was it similar to our world, or was it very different?”
“The latter. We didn’t have magic, swords and kingdoms, but instead we had countries governed through democracy.” She chuckled. “Sometimes at least. We didn’t have horses and wagons – not that they didn’t exist, but we didn’t use them as transport anymore – but instead we had trains and planes and cars. A train is a wagon that can only go on one specific road but can carry hundreds of people at once. A car is a wagon without horses and a plane is a flying tube that can carry people.”
Salandra looked to Cobal to see if she was being fooled but he smiled at her. “I’ve heard all of this before, it seems to be true.”
“Then were there no wildlands in your world?”
Mana shook her head. “Not really. There were some uncontacted tribes in the rainforests I think, but throughout the years as infrastructure got more and more complex, we explored pretty much the entire world. This had benefits but also downsides. Different cultures died out, lands were stolen and profit became paramount. People started developing tools of war that are beyond imagination and would even make your most powerful mages quiver in fear.”
“I find that hard to believe,” Salandra said. “I don’t know too much about magic, but I’ve heard stories of mages being able to destroy entire buildings with a sea of flames.”
Mana smiled wryly. “There was a weapon in our world that could demolish entire cities, killing millions of people all at once and doing lasting damage to the surrounding environment.”
“You’re exaggerating.”
“I wish I was. Luckily for most of us, the one time these weapons were actually used, we all decided afterwards that it was far too scary to do again and although tensions have risen high throughout the years, since different countries had access to these weapons, I’m happy to say that none have been used in my lifetime. It’s kind of nice to think that such a devastating weapon perhaps does not exist in this world. It’s comforting.”
Salandra paused for a little while. “That sounds horrible.”
“Tell me about it. Do you have any more questions for me? I’m sorry I turned it into such a dark subject so quickly. Force of habit.”
“What about animals, did you have any exotic animals or even other races that aren’t common here.”
“Not so much other races, we had humans and animals and that was pretty much it. I’ve talked with Cobal about this in the past, but we have some animals that aren’t common here and some that he’s never even heard of. I’m actually quite curious if they still exist on other continents because despite the many differences between our worlds, the similarities are common enough that I believe there might be some link between the two. But that’s a topic far too broad to broach now. One animal species that might be interesting to mention are elephants. I hear they also exist on this world, but only far to the north in the desert lands, and that none have ever been seen in this part of the world.”
“What are they like?”
“I’ve only seen them on TV or in captivity, so it’s hard to say, but I did hear a fun story that elephants think that humans are cute in the same way that we might think a puppy or a kitten is cute.”
“That somehow warms my heart.” Salandra smiled. “What’s a TV?”
Cobal perked up. “I’ve got this one. It’s like a window, but you can see something that happened somewhere else and might have even happened in the past. They use it to watch plays and shows.” He looked at Mana to see if he got it right.
“More or less what Cobal said. It’s hard to explain if you don’t have the concept of our technology, but it’s what we use for entertainment in our world.”
“That sounds crazy, so you can just watch a show from your home?”
“Yes, and you can pause it when you want, watch it back later and even rewind it a little bit if you missed something.”
“I’m still not sure if you’re messing with me.”
Mana and Cobal laughed. They continued chatting for a while before going back to town. There they did some preparations for the next evening so that they could take the following day off to relax a bit before diving head first into danger.

When Lysa returned to the room, she was carrying a small chest that was simple in make but looked sturdy enough. She put it on her desk and retrieved the key for it from the drawer in her desk. With a click it opened and she pushed the lid open. She then revealed from it two different items that she placed on the table, before closing the chest again. On the table were a beautiful golden ring with a ruby gemstone socketed into it as well as what looked to be a strange sort of talisman. Lysa held up the ring first. “This is my gift for you, Mana. It is a ring that was crafted by a clever tinkerer. You can’t really see it on the ring itself, but underneath where the ruby is socketed is a runic symbol for fire. Unfortunately I can’t tell you exactly how it works, but if someone who is familiar with magic uses this ring they can summon and manipulate a small flame. It won’t be strong enough to do incredible things, but it’ll light up your surroundings and should be at least a good way to intimidate those unfamiliar with magic’s limitations.” She handed over the ring to Mana who gladly accepted it.
“And for you, Cobal, I don’t think there are many gifts of high value that I could give you that would impress a prince, but I think I found something you might appreciate.” She handed him the talisman. It was made out of a fabric Cobal didn’t immediately recognize. With patterns of white, blue and gray interwoven in what seemed to be runes of sorts but then they didn’t end so it couldn’t be runes, they were too connected. “What is this pattern?” He asked Lysa.
“This is a talisman made by the nomads in the northern region of our continent. Their folk aren’t much for learning, but one of them was a scholar and visited our library on a pilgrimage. It is said that the talisman holds the spirit of an ancient snake that used to guard their people. I can’t guarantee that it does much but it is said to offer protection to the wearer.”
“This is rather unique, I haven’t seen patterns like this ever before.” Cobal inspected the talisman closely but the more he looked at it, the stranger it looked to him, as if the patterns were constantly changing while he looked at them.
“I would be surprised if you had, I was told these were a unique script from their people that they only used amongst peers. Like I mentioned, I don’t know what it does, but I have confirmed that there is some magic to it, so I tend to put belief into the man who gifted it to us.”
“I’ll gladly take it, if only just because of how pretty it looks.”
“Finally, my third gift to you is a piece of advice. Whatever you encounter in that manor, don’t let it rattle you. I know you’re about to face something you’ve never faced before, and it’s quick to get lost in the pace of others. Stick to your plan as much as possible but the moment things turn south, get out of there. You only have one shot at things and if you overstay your welcome and get overwhelmed by cultists then it’s lights out.”
“I’ll keep that in mind, but we have strong allies on our side and Mana has surprised me before with how capable she is.”
Mana smiled. “I do my best, but I’m still far from the hero you’re waiting for.”
“I don’t mind waiting a bit longer.” Cobal felt strangely vulnerable at this moment. “I’m proud of how much you’ve grown already and how good of a friend you’ve become.”
Mana smiled. “Thanks, I appreciate that.”
“Do I need to give you some privacy or?” Lysa chuckled.
“We’re fine, thank you. Cobal is already catching the eye of one of your scribes anyway.”
“Oh? Tell me everything.” Lysa leaned forward.
“I don’t know what she’s talking about, I don’t see it at all.”
“Women’s intuition,” Mana said.
“I’m more inclined to believe Mana in this one.”

“So, what’s the plan?” Mana asked. “We’re not going to the manor until tomorrow night, right?”
Cobal nodded. “I was thinking we could visit the Sapphire Respite tomorrow.”
“Oh? I didn’t know you were interested in poetry and art.”
“They have music too. But that’s not the point. I thought it might be interesting to find out more about that quill that Dionil gifted you and you told me a long time ago that you were interested in the kind of fiction that the people from my world wrote.”
Mana chuckled. “Back in my world, there were people who wrote stories about dragons and elves and magic. Do the authors of your world write stories about corporate jobs, marketing teams and computers?”
“I don’t know what any of those are.”
“Good, keep it that way, they’re not designed to make you happy.”
“I don’t know, I think most of our fiction authors write about the big orbs in the sky or the deep ocean and their people.” He smiled. “Remember how I thought Arana was just a story and not a real underwater village?”
Mana nodded.
“Well, there are many stories about people living off the coast and stealing children from poor farmers and attacking unsuspecting villages. There’s even a pretty well known story about a prince being stolen by a siren and raised by her to become a feared sailor.”
“Well, I’m very curious, so I’ll take you up on that offer.” She sighed. “I’m worried. I’m not at all prepared for something as dangerous as attacking a manor. And how will I know that this strange present from Lysa will work well?”
Cobal smiled. “Whenever I would get a new sword or something, I would find a nice spot to test it out. Perhaps we can do the same with the ring.”
As they walked past the Topaz Slumber, Cobal spotted Salandra sitting on a bench next to one of the fountains. It seemed like she was eating lunch outside. “What a happy coincidence,” Cobal said.
“As if you weren’t scanning the crowds intently,” Mana remarked.
Cobal glared at her but she feigned ignorance.
“Oh, hello Cobal, Mana. I was just getting some late lunch in.”
“Are you busy?” Cobal asked.
She shook her head. “Not really, I was collecting things in the morning but I’m taking the afternoon off.”
“Want to come with me, I would like to introduce you to someone.”
“Sure? I’m not quite sure what you mean by that thought.”
“Excuse me, can we have a moment alone,” Mana said.
She pulled Cobal to the side. “What are you scheming?” She asked.
“Salandra has been studying the history and culture of the Feral Wildlands and she told me how she’s been learning about Irkan history. I was thinking we could introduce her to Grac.”
Mana sighed. “Have you asked Grac?”
Cobal shook his head. “I guess I should have.”
“Yes, you should have. He’s probably not in the mindset to lecture someone on his people’s history while we’re about to try and save his wife from some crazy cultists.”
She looked back at Salandra who was politely looking the other way while the two talked. “I’m sure she’s a lovely girl, but don’t trust her too much. You’ve already told her now, so it would be weird to suddenly back out, but leave her at the edge of the camp and discuss with Grac first, before you lead her into his camp.”
Cobal nodded. “You’re right, I should do so. I was just thinking that it might be a good distraction for Grac,”
Mana’s face lit up. “That’s actually really sweet of you, I thought you were just trying to woo her.”
Cobal turned defensive and felt his cheeks redden. “I would never have such underhanded intentions.”
Mana smiled and put her hand on his shoulder. “Come on, don’t lie to yourself.” She chuckled. “Alright, let’s go meet with Grac then.
“I don’t mean to sound distrusting, but why are you taking me out into the forest?”
“Just trust me,” Cobal said.
Mana whacked him on the back of the head and turned to Salandra. “Normally when a man tells you to just trust him, as he lures you deep into the woods, you should go in the other direction as fast as possible. In this case though, he’s just an idiot who doesn’t do a good job at explaining his actions.”
Cobal sighed. “You’ve been harsh on me lately.”
“Have I? Or have I been fair?” Both Mana and Salandra chuckled.
Cobal shook his head and continued. “Wait here for a bit.”
He made his way to the camp. He spotted Grac sitting on a log, his hand on his weapon until he realized it was Cobal who just approached and not someone dangerous. “Back so soon?” He asked, relaxing his grip on the weapon.
“Yes, we had a little bit of a change of plans.”
“What’s up?”
“Well, during our stay in Marsolin, I’ve been working with one of the scribes at the Topaz Slumber. Her name is Salandra and she’s been great at finding out information about our friends’ paralyzation.”
“Is that the woman that Eliana told me fancies you?”
“Why does everyone think that?” Cobal almost yelled out.
“If you want my thoughts, I think that if everyone thinks that, it’s probably true.”
Cobal’s temper faded. “Do you really think so?”
“I do. I haven’t met the lass, of course, but Eliana has a good eye for people.”
“What do I do if she likes me?” Cobal asked, suddenly very self conscious.
“Do you like her as well?”
“I mean, she’s pretty and kind and we’ve been working well together.”
“So yes.”
“I think so? I’ve never really thought about these sorts of things much. I was supposed to marry some noble from an important family to tighten our grip on the country, so I never really looked for romance.”
“Well, you’re here now, exploring your feelings doesn’t hurt, does it?”
“I suppose not. We are leaving somewhat soon though, and we’re diving fast into danger. Is now really the time.”
Grac smiled and stood up, putting a hand on Cobal’s shoulder. “Take it from someone who has been married for many years, you never know when it’s the right time for meeting someone, but when that moment comes, you’d be a fool not to explore it. And if things don’t work out, that’s okay too. My current wife wasn’t my first partner either, and I wasn’t hers.”
Cobal nodded. “I’ll take your advice to heart and if we’re still alive in three days, I might ask her out on a date.”
Grac smacked him on the shoulder, which almost sent him tumbling. “Sorry, force of habit,” the big guy said. “It’s important to be honest to your own feelings and to her feelings as well.” He paused. “Why did you bring her up?”
“Well, she told me during our time studying together that one of the focusses of her studies is Irkan history. I was wondering if it would be alright for her to meet you. I brought her to the edge of this clearing already, but Mana told me earlier that I probably should have asked your permission ahead of time. Since I already told her I wanted to meet someone, I was hoping you would be alright with talking to her.”
Grac nodded. “Sure, I want to see the woman who’s got you so confused.” He winked at Cobal who let out another deep sigh. “Sometimes I feel like all of you are conspiring together to tease me.”
“What makes you think that?” Grac replied gleefully.
Cobal walked back out of the clearing to where he’d left Mana and Salandra, who halted their conversation upon his approach. “Grac said it was fine.”
“What took you so long then?” Mana asked.
“We discussed it a little bit before he said yes,” Cobal said.
“What is this all about? Who am I meeting?” Salandra still looked puzzled.
“It’s probably better to show you, follow me.”

Cobal found both Eliana and Grac sitting around a currently cold campfire. They were deep enough into the forest that no one traveling the dirt road that led from Marsolin to the rest of the kingdom would ever spot them. Eliana’s arm was bandaged up pretty heavily. “What happened?” Cobal asked as he stepped into the small clearing.
Both Eliana and Grac who had been on edge after they heard his approach relaxed when they saw it was Cobal. “I messed up and tripped while trying to stay out of sight. Broke my arm something nasty when it landed on a tree root. I’ll tell you, the amount of self constraint it took me not to scream out when it snapped will be written about for years to come.” She chuckled. “I’ll be fine, it’s not my dominant arm.”
Grac looked less convinced. “I told her she should go back to town and rest up, leaving the rest to us, but she won’t listen to me.” He looked at Cobal with a pleading look in his eyes.
Cobal shrugged. “As if she would ever listen to us,” he said.
“But what if she gets seriously hurt?” Grac countered.
Cobal looked at Eliana who just grinned. “Part of the job, isn’t it?”
“You heard the crazy woman.”
Grac shook his head. “I know some of your people say that us Irkans are scary due to our size, but you small folk are much more terrifying when it truly comes to it.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment,” Eliana replied, kneeling down to grab a stick. Over the next minute or so she drew the layout of the Solin manor and marked different entry points as well as guard rotations. “Surprisingly, I don’t think they have a particularly big group of people here. The bandits we fought a while ago when we found Grac said this was their base of operations, but I reckon they were just told that by the cultists. Their proper hideout or base or whatever they work from is likely elsewhere. From what Grac and I could see, I doubt there’s more than a dozen people in the entire manor, possibly even less.” She pointed at several markings on the dirt drawing. “Two people guard the hut where we believe Malana to be.” When Cobal looked a bit confused, Grac clarified, “Malana is my wife.”
“Ah right, I’m sorry.”
Eliana continued. “There are two more cultists guarding the front door. We’ve never seen more than six of them outside at a time, and that’s only when one of the two guard groups is relieved by another group. In total we’ve counted only eight different faces from what we could see. Our best guess is that they’re the guards and there’s the main group of whatever these weirdos are trying to do somewhere in there.” Eliana paused. “Am I making sense?”
“Not less than usual,” Cobal commented. He pointed at one particular part of the drawing. “What is this part?”
“That’s the side of the building that’s partially collapsed. We were thinking that we split up when we go into the manor and one group creeps in through there while the others make a distraction at the front door.”
“That could work, how accessible is the collapsed part of the building though?”
“It should be a little bit of a challenge, but nothing we can’t handle.” She looked at Cobal. “You might be the first prince to sneak into an abandoned manor to face off with cultists, I’m proud of you already kid.”
“Your pride is won by the strangest things,” Grac remarked.
“Don’t you know it.”
“So let’s lay it all on the table, what’s our approach?” Cobal asked.
They’d talked over the dirt map for a while now and it was time to form the plan.
Eliana took the lead. “We will sneak up on the shed where we believe that Malana is being held captive. We’ll try and take out the two guards there without them noticing us. Assuming that works, we’ll then free Malana and once she’s out of sight, Grac and I will storm the front door. While we do this, you and Mana will sneak in through the rubble on the far side of the manor. Hopefully we’ll be able to distract the guards for long enough that you can make your way in and find their leader. From there on it will be all up to the two of you. Mana’s been learning about magic quite a lot lately and I hope she has enough tools to deal with whatever this witch will throw at you. You’re there to deal with any of their more physical threats of course.”
Cobal nodded. He still didn’t really consider himself to be a fighter, but he’d grown up training with the sword and after getting lessons from Dionil he realized just how lacking a lot of his basics were. Over the past few months he managed to improve drastically which he’d already experienced during their encounters on the way from Saphestan to here. On the other hand, he was much more confident in both Eliana and Grac, were it not for the Irkan’s exhaustion and Eliana’s broken arm. Both of them assured him that they were fine, but he still felt worried. They were about to do something incredibly dangerous and he doubted that his feeling of worry would go away. Regardless, the plan was set in stone and Cobal returned to town to inform Mana. They would meet up on the outskirts of town tomorrow at dusk and move from there.

Back in town, Cobal found Mana still in Lysa’s office. After debating it for a moment, he decided to share their plans with Lysa, who was present as well. After Cobal told her he had something to discuss, she sent the two scribes that were working on desks in her room to go get some food while they spoke. Lysa meanwhile made tea for the three of them as Mana finished up what she was working on. Cobal saw a pile of books surrounding her and was reminded of their early days in Ravadier. “At least now you’ll talk to me when I ask you a question.”
“What?”
“I was just thinking of when we had only just met, and you would answer every question I asked with a nod or a word at most.”
Mana smiled. “I thought you were basically my captor and you would get rid of me if I became an inconvenience, of course I wasn’t going to say anything that could anger you.”
“I felt so lost those days, I’m glad we managed to smooth things over.”
“Me too.” Mana smiled.
“Lover’s quarrel?” Lysa asked, as she returned with the cups of tea.
They both laughed. “Far from it, we were just reminiscing on how poorly we got along when we first met.”
“I can imagine. Mana being dragged from her normal life to being a prospective hero and being dragged around by a prince can’t have been fun.”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m the problem here,” Cobal said.
Lysa smiled. “I’m being a bit mean here, you’ve both done wonderfully for the situation you’ve been put into.” She sat back down in her chair. “Now, what did you want to discuss?”
Cobal explained the plan that he had discussed with Eliana earlier and Lysa listened intently until he finished talking.”
“I see, there are members of the Jasmine order hiding out in the ruins of Solin Manor, and they might know more about the disappearance of Sapher Blueyerd. You’re planning to free the wife of your Irkan friend and then confront the cultists in this way.” She sighed. “That’s incredibly dangerous and I would normally advise against it. In this case however, there’s not much I can offer as an alternative. I could tell you not to go, but I doubt that would change anything. I could have you arrested but that would cause immense diplomatic problems between our countries and doing so on the verge of war would be a terrible decision.” She chuckled at his shocked look. “Come on, it’s not like I was actually planning to arrest a prince.” She continued. “I am however quite worried about a Blueyerd royal dying or getting seriously wounded in our city. I doubt your father would believe us to be innocent if that happened.”
Cobal nodded. “You’re probably right, I understand this is very selfish of me, but I need to know more about what happened to my brother. It might be our only chance at avoiding a large scale war between Blueyerd and Rilodar.”
Lysa nodded. “You’re right. That’s why you have my support. As a matter of fact, I think I can be of some assistance as well. Wait here for a moment.” She got up and left the room, leaving Mana and Cobal to talk amongst themselves.
“So what do you think of the plan?” Cobal asked Mana.
“I think it’s as solid as it will get. We’ll still be fighting against cultists, people who are likely prepared for such an eventuality. If we can catch them off guard as much as possible, we can probably get the upper hand. And although I’m not very good with magic quite yet, I do have a few tricks up my sleeve. If any of them are mages I’ll be in serious trouble, but against normal people I can pull out a few tricks with the wind and catch them unawares. I think we’ll have to rely on Grac and Eliana as much as possible and now that Eliana’s arm is broken that worries me.”
Cobal nodded. “I agree.” He looked at the large pile of books on and around the desk that Mana had been using the past few days. “Any luck on your magic studies?”
Mana nodded. “We’re getting somewhat close to deciphering the magic circles and their structure. I’m confident that with a few more days of studying I can learn how to read them and understand how they work. Replicating them would be a whole different story but that’s not the goal.” Mana had an almost hungry look in her eyes as she continued talking. “If I’m right, and both Lysa and I believe that I am in fact right, then we can extract a runic language from these ancient runic circles. That language, once properly figured out and parsed, can then be used to form new sorts of magic. As a matter of fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s what the cult is working on as well. The circles are great for complicated magic that require a lot of power, but they’re highly impractical in most situations. I think that whoever first introduced the magic into the world knew this, and hid the more practical applications of the type of magic from the world so that people wouldn’t get too powerful without understanding what they were doing.”
Cobal nodded along. “I have no idea what you mean.”
Mana smiled. “Basically, just like how my language, Might’s language and your language are all different from each other and Might’s language even used a different script from ours, this is another different language. The runic symbols used for it are needlessly complex but that is because the symbols are designed to hold power inside of them.” Mana paused for a few moments, trying to come up with a better way to explain what she was talking about. Eventually she seemed to give up and said, “I think I’ll be able to explain it in more detail once Lysa and I have figured out if we’re right in our assessment and once we’ve been able to actually produce a magical script.”
Cobal nodded. “I’ll take your word for it then, it sounds very complicated. But if this is a magical language, why haven’t our court mages figured it out yet?”
Mana shrugged. “I don’t know. There’s still a chance that we’re wrong about this, or that there is some other reason why it’s not more commonly used. But if it is indeed as effective as we believe it to be, then the only thing I can think of is that the way magic is taught by most mages is very rigid and structured and searching for alternative ways to use magic isn’t done often enough. If you combine that with the runic language itself being very rare – Lysa and I have only found three books that actually have the symbols on them during our search – then it’s not strange that it’s not well known.”
“I see, I guess that makes sense.” They waited a few more moments until Lysa returned.

“Did you just take a bath?” Salandra asked.
The question caught Cobal off guard as they made their way up the stairs in the main hall of the slums. “I did, how did you know?”
She smiled. “Your hair is still wet.”
Cobal reached for his hair. It reached well past his shoulders now, he hadn’t found the time to get a haircut in a little while. “Perhaps I should have it cut,” he said.
“I think it looks nice like this,” Salandra countered.
“Then we’ll see. It’s easier to cut it off later than to grow it back quickly, after all.” They reached the first floor and made their way into the library proper.
“I’m going to continue where I left off yesterday, what are your plans for today?”
Cobal thought for a second. “I think I want to look into the Solin family and their history for a bit.”
“What does that have to do with your paralyzed friend?” Salandra was a bit surprised.
“Nothing, admittedly, but after our chat with Zegred yesterday it’s gotten me more and more curious about the place. And it’s not like I’ve been a particularly big help with your research. You’ve been giving me easy tasks just to keep me busy, haven’t you?”
“I can neither confirm nor deny that,” Salandra said with a cheeky smile.
“Regardless, I think I’ll get started on that today, good luck on your end.” They split up only moments after meeting up, but since they had very different topics to look into there was no point sticking together. Cobal went onto the library floor and started looking around for the history section. He didn’t take long to reach the right part of the floor, but going from there to actually finding a book that would help him out in any meaningful way was a different story. He spent what felt like hours, but was probably closer to thirty or so minutes looking around, going past spined of books looking for a title that might catch his eye, but eventually he had to admit defeat and ask a scribe that was working nearby.
“Excuse me, do you know if there are any books here about the history for the Solin family?”
The middle aged man with a very well kept beard thought for a moment before nodding. “It depends on what exactly you want to know, but I can certainly tell you where you can get started.”
“That would be much appreciated, I have no idea where to begin as of now.”
“Follow me then.” He put down the book he was writing in and led Cobal to a section of the library where he hadn’t looked much yet. “This section is kept separate as it pertains to the history of Marsolin and the surrounding area.”
“That explains why I couldn’t find what I was looking for in the other sections.”
The man smiled. “Yeah, people regularly get confused by that. If you ask me, it’s not an ideal way of organizing things, but the benefit is that once you know that you need to be in this particular section, it’s a lot less hassle to find the specific information you’re looking for.”
“Well thank you so much.”
The man nodded and went back to his own work, leaving Cobal to browse the shelves. There were many different books in this part, but all of them pertained to Marsolin, the surrounding forest or the people who lived here in some way. Finally, Cobal found what he was looking for, a book that focused on the history of the Solin family. Letting out a sigh of relief, he made his way back to the stone alcove that they spent the previous day in. Salandra wasn’t there yet, but there were some books about medicinal herbs on the table so he assumed she went back to collect some more things. He sat down and opened up the book.

Before Marsolin became as big and prosperous as it was, it was just a small village hidden away in the forest, free from strife and visitors. Bordering the forest were three small kingdoms. The Maridan kingdom to the north, the Sildarin kingdom to the south and the Solin kingdom to the west. These three were mostly kingdoms in name and only consisted of a few small towns at most. All three of them eventually laid their eyes upon the small unnamed village that lay in the center of the forest that split up their three countries. Each of them claimed that the village belonged to their kingdom and strife quickly broke out. The villagers weren’t used to having to defend themselves and quickly had to submit to the Sildarin king, who was the first to reach the village successfully with his force. That’s when the remaining two kingdoms, Maridan and Solin, made a deal to work together and take out Sildarin and then govern the village together. With joined forces, they were much stronger and after a short war, the Sildarin king was killed and his family exiled. The villages that belonged to Sildarin were then taken over by the other two kingdoms and a brittle peace was formed. Although many people were worried that the fighting would return, the kings of both nations had different plans. The son of the Solin family and the daughter of the Maridan family married each other and became the rulers of the village now called Marsolin. Although things were still tense, the peace was more stable than before. Eventually the Rilodar kingdom expanded further east and with its enormous size was too much of a force for the two smaller kingdoms to even consider fighting back. In exchange for their loyalty to the crown, they were given the forest as well as Marsolin to rule together. A handful of generations later, the two families had all but assimilated into the village, which had become a large town and built several libraries. The Maridan name ended up vanishing over time leaving the Solin family – which was part Maridan at this point – to rule the region for a long time.

Cobal put the book away and looked through the other ones he had grabbed. He had never learned such specific history about their northern neighbors and it fascinated him. But it wasn’t exactly what he was looking for either. He wanted more detailed information about the Solin family, especially in the last two or three generations and during the fall of the family, which ended up with the librarians in charge after the Solin family fell. Most of the books he’d found didn’t seem like they would have the answers to his questions though. He spent the next two hours thumbing through different tomes and finding out very little until he suddenly had an idea. When they first arrived here, he asked Kayzel what the books in the hallways were, and Kayzel explained to him that these were yet to be accepted works. According to the scribe, most of these books were probably pretty decent since it took a lot of time to write and bind a book, and although anyone could technically do it, most of the time the really bad ones were weeded out quickly. So Cobal started the arduous task of sorting through walls of unreviewed books looking for a more modern book on the Solin family. After an hour of browsing, he finally found something that caught his attention. The book caught his attention because it was a lighter color than most of the other books. Instead of a brown, black or dark blue, it was a light green. Etched into the spine were the title and the author. A Solin Soliloquy by Dergez Nilos. Cobal thought it strange, since the title hinted at it being a fictional story yet the book was in the Slums, so it wasn’t trying to be accepted as fiction. Either way, it caught his interest, so he removed it from the shelf and took it with him.

Although this book is neither fully fictional in nature nor is it spoken word, it rings true to me and I often find myself reliving it when I spend my evening alone. The Solin family, my family, was once a mighty family that prospered as the caretakers of Marsolin, the most beautiful city in the kingdom. But as all good things must come to an end, our family was too greedy and wanted too much, resulting in their downfall. This is the story of Darius Solin, the last leader of the Solin family.

Cobal turned the page. He had his suspicions when he saw the author’s name and it looked somewhat familiar. This introduction confirmed to him that the person writing this was a member of the Solin family, Zegred Solin to be more specific. He wondered why he used a fake name on the cover and he also wondered if the author of this book was the same person as the older gentleman they met in the Phantom Homestead last night. Despite the many questions bubbling up in his head, Cobal continued reading.

I grew up in Solin manor, where my family spent many generations. Although the head of the family had a work office in town where most everything related to the goings-on of the town was handled, the manor was our home. My room was in the top right by the way, seen from the front. It was a small room, as I was the youngest child, but it was mine and it was very comfortable. I even had a secret stash of riches there. I digress. When I was sixteen years of age, my father showed me the basement. This is where our family was buried once they passed away, but there was more than just that. After walking past many sarcophaguses we eventually reached a small chamber that looked different. The way it was sculpted out of the ground and the design of the runic language covering the walls gave it an eerie feeling. “This is where our ancestor once rested,” my father told me. When I asked him what he meant by that he shook his head. “That’s all you have to know for now, more will come when the time is near.”
My father had been a strange man for as long as I’d known him and as I got older I realized he would spend more and more time underground, inviting strange people into our home. Eventually this is what ended our family’s long and prosperous reign in the region. My father, far too deeply indebted to these strangers, had to sell more and more of our property until eventually even the manor I grew up in was now the property of someone else. Finally, after things had gone too far, my father was confronted by several members of town who had banded together to solve the growing problems. My father was desperate at this point and he convinced them that he was onto something. He was joining an expedition that would prove that all of his effort had not been naught. A day later he packed up his belongings and left the town, traveling eastward. He was never seen again. With the patriarch of our family gone and our wealth vanished, we had no choice but to hand over the city to the people here, which was quickly taken over by the local library. My mother died not long after from a strange illness and my siblings each went their own way. I stayed here in Marsolin as a scribe for much of my life, hoping to one day be able to buy back our family home. Alas, it wasn’t meant to be and when tragedy befell the weavers guild and the burning turned into a dangerous pile of rubble and broken dreams, so did I leave that dream of mine behind. I am writing this story, as well as the others about my family, so that one day someone may find them and realize that even the most prosperous of people can fall prey to the evil voices of outsiders enticing them with even more wealth. But I do not wish that my family’s only legacy is its downfall so dear reader, you may find many more stories about our prosperous history if you keep on reading and I highly advise you to do so.

That’s where the chapter ended and although Cobal was sure that the author had many great stories to tell, this was really all he wanted to know. With a satisfied smile on his face he put the book away. The basement of Solin Manor held a secret and that was most likely the reason why the cultists had set up their camp on the premises. Now all they needed was to scout out the place and figure out the easiest way in. Things were coming together quickly and Cobal figured it’d be time to meet up with Eliana later today. After finishing up for the day, Cobal went over to where Salandra was studying. “How are things going?”
“Pretty well, actually.” She looked up from her notes. “I have some pretty solid evidence that there’s a concoction you could use on your friend and I know where to get most of the ingredients. I was actually thinking of calling it for the day and then going out into town to prepare it tomorrow.”
“That’s wonderful news. I’ll probably take a break as well tomorrow, so what do you say we see how well you did the day after tomorrow?”
Salandra nodded. “Sounds good, I’ll see you in two days then.” Cobal smiled and made his way to the inn to grab some food before finding Eliana on the outskirts of town.

Cobal woke up early that morning. The sun wasn’t out yet but he felt restless after spending all of yesterday indoors. After getting dressed and drinking some water he went for a quick run through town. He had only seen the center of town and the district they entered from so he figured a run through different parts of town would be nice. Eventually he wound up leaving through the northern gate and traveling through the nearby forest until he arrived all the way at the western gate which they first entered town from. From there he took his time walking back to the inn, picking up something to eat on the way there. The sun had come up during his walk and the exercise had made him quite hungry. A young boy ran past him as he entered the street leading towards the inn. He seemed to be in a hurry as he ran towards the outskirts of town. Not thinking much of it, Cobal walked into the Phantom Homestead where Clara greeted him from behind the bar. “You just missed a messenger, someone delivered you a letter.”
“A letter for me?” He could only think of two people. Either his father tried to reach him or Dionil. He was secretly hoping it was the latter.
Clara handed him a small satchel holding in it a letter and another small object. “Don’t know who it’s from, but the boy was in a hurry to get back, so I’m guessing he was offered a pretty significant reward for completing the task.”
“That must have been the kid I saw running past me,” Cobal said. Now that he thought about it, it looked like the boy might have had pointier ears than normal. Maybe it was someone from Milinia. If that were the case he would have loved to ask him more about how things were going there, but no reason to think about that now. “Thanks Clara,” Cobal took the parcel and made his way upstairs where he found Mana in the process of combing her hair and putting it in a tidy ponytail. “Did you go for an early morning run, you look all sweaty?”
Cobal nodded. “I might visit the baths before meeting up with Salandra, I don’t feel like reading all day while feeling sweaty” he said.
Mana chuckled. “Wouldn’t want to ruin your chances with her, after all.”
“I’m not sure I follow.”
“Did you really not see the way she looked at you yesterday? If looks could talk.”
Cobal shook his head. “I have no idea what you mean, we only just met after all.”
Mana let out a deep sigh. “Men.” She patted him on the shoulder. “Either way, I’m heading back to Lysa’s office for the day, we have some things to discuss.”
She was about to head out but Cobal stopped her. “One moment, before you leave, I have a letter from Dionil, perhaps you want to know what he has to say.”
She stopped in her tracks and turned around. “For sure, he got back to you quick then.”
Cobal nodded. “I’m sure he has his ways, he is a wise sage after all.”
Mana smiled and sat back down while Cobal carefully opened the letter. The way seal had a little house on it that – if you knew about it – resembles Dionil’s home in the clearing. It reminded him of his peaceful days spent there. He’d better keep the seal in one piece so he could hold onto it. As a letter seal it would be useless, of course, but it’d be a nice reminder of a very nice forest stay. After carefully removing the seal and putting it in his breast pocket, he unfolded the letter and read it out loud to Mana.

Dear Cobal,
I’m glad to hear from you although I wish it was better news you brought me. I understand your worry about those who have been teleported away by strange magics but fear not too much. You’re forgetting that Mirgia and Kimi are both much older than you are. They may not seem it, but they’ve lived long lives and acquired many skills. I don’t think you should be all that worried about their wellbeing. Regardless, I’ll send out some messages to people I know to see if anyone has heard from them. It’s unlikely to yield any results, but I suppose there’s no harm in trying. As for your friend who has been paralyzed, I think heading to Marsolin like you mentioned is not a bad strategy. If all else were to fail you could bring the poor fellow to Milinia, some of our healers can most assuredly cure him. But I do hope you find a more convenient solution in the meantime.

As for advice on your current scenario, I’m afraid I can’t be much help. I haven’t heard much about the goings-on outside of our village. What I can tell you is that – as of writing this letter – Milinia has not been attacked again. Whether that first attack was purely aimed at you and Mana or if they have changed priorities I do not know. The council is still hard at work setting up new protective measures. If you learn anything else about the magic circles then I’d love to hear about it. I’m working on some things in the meantime that might be of help to you and Mana in your journey. To start that off, I’ve included something I am hesitant to part with. It’s a quill that was once owned by a poet I quite respected. A mage that he was friends with when he was younger gifted it to him. The quill has some magical properties that allow the wielder to infuse their script with magic. I don’t think it can perform particularly powerful magic, but it’s been on my shelf for a very long time without ever seeing use, so I figured it would be better in Mana’s hands. As for how I got hold of it, it was a gift from the emperor of Kazarin. This was a few centuries ago, when I was still a young traveler. 

I wish I had something to help you out as well friend, but I’m afraid that swords aren’t my forte. I hope the gifts you received when you were with us have served you well though. And although I have no gifts, I can offer you some wisdom. When you’re investigating something that is very complex, make sure you take some steps back and take everything in properly. Sometimes getting too caught up in the details will just confuse you.

Lastly, I’m glad you managed to become friends with Eliana. She’s a handful on the best of days and I was unsure if I should send you to her, but it turns out I was right. She’s a fierce warrior and a great ally, but she can definitely be a bit unpredictable. She owes me though, so I figured you would be in good hands. I’d like you to relay my greetings to her as well, and apologize to her that I haven’t come over to visit in some time. If you manage to get a break, come visit again and bring her with you. 

Your friend,
Dionil the woodland sage.

Cobal put the letter down and handed the second item in the package to Mana. “I’m guessing this is for you then,” he said.
Mana carefully took the little bound parcel and opened it, revealing a beautiful quill. The entire thing was seemingly made out of glass but where it looked so brittle that it could break at any moment, it seemed to be tougher than it looked. “It’s beautiful,” Mana said.
“It’s definitely unique looking,” Cobal agreed. “Do you think it’s useful?”
“I have no idea how to make use of this, but Dionil probably has something in mind, so I’ll keep it on me. Perhaps Lysa has some insight as well.” She smiled. “It’s good to hear from him, I miss the days we spent in Milinia.”
“The rain that hit the roof as we drank tea in the dimly lit living room while listening to his old stories.”
“Stop, you’re making me emotional.”
Cobal chuckled. “I’m sorry, I’ll shut up.”
Mana put the quill back in the little parcel and then carefully put it into her bag. “Well then, I’m off to go study, good luck on your end as well.” And with that, Mana left the inn.
After a few moments of waiting, Cobal folded up the letter and put it away in his pack. He then made his way back down where Clara was putting some breakfast platters in front of some other guests. She winked at him as he walked to the bar and after a few moments she came up to him. “Need anything?”
“I do, actually. Do you know of a good bathhouse nearby?”
“Did Mana complain?” Clara chuckled.
“Not quite, but I took a run this morning and it was warmer than I expected. I don’t want to go into a long day of reading while being sweaty.”
“Fair enough I suppose.” She thought for a few moments. “If you head down the street towards the library you’ll eventually come past a small square with a fountain in the form of a fish. If you go right there, past the bakery, you’ll run into the Basalt Bathhouse. That’s a pretty decent spot in my opinion.”
“Thanks Clara.” Cobal headed out and towards the bathhouse.

Bathhouses weren’t particularly common in Blueyerd, but since Cobal was a royal he was quite used to them. The palace had a large bath that he made use of somewhat regularly. His sister would bathe almost daily and so would his brother Azuran. Cobal didn’t see the need, but he had to admit that a bath every so often was quite nice. What he didn’t expect was that these baths in Marsolin were outside. In Blueyerd, the water was heated through magical means. This bathhouse seemed to be built right on top of some hot springs. This wasn’t the first outdoor bath that Cobal had taken since they came to Rilodar, they found outdoor hot springs on their way here as well, but those felt much more private. They were the only ones there, after all. The baths here were almost crowded with many people taking a morning bath before starting their day. Cobal felt a little bit out of place in this environment but the hot water mixed with the pleasant outdoor air quickly made him forget about his awkwardness. The building leading to these baths was a curious one. Most buildings in Marsolin – although varying a lot in design – were still built with four walls and a roof. The bathhouse seemed to be just a roof that was held up by pillars. Strung from some of the pillars were curtains that split off the male, female and mixed baths. It was a fairly unregulated affair but Cobal observed the people coming in and out for a few moments and recognized that everyone was abiding by the unspoken rules. After putting some coins in a bowl in front of an old lady who was engrossed in the book she was reading he’d made his way into the bath and relaxed there for a couple of minutes. After he was satisfied that he was no longer sweaty, he dried himself off and put on some clean clothes. On his way to the library he picked up some breakfast. Food and drinks weren’t allowed inside the three libraries, with some exceptions when it came to common rooms, so he had to get some food in him before entering. Clean and satisfied, he ascended the small staircase leading to the Topaz Slumber and made his way inside to meet up with Salandra for another long day of reading books and being bored. At least the company he had during this wasn’t too bad.

Although he hadn’t been exercising much lately, Cobal still felt exhausted. He sunk into the strangely comfortable bench that he sat on in the Phantom Homestead. Sitting next to him was Salandra and across from them were Mana and Kayzel. They invited the scribe along when they walked past him in the main hallway of the Ruby Observatory. Eliana was still out with Grac and probably wouldn’t be back anytime soon, so it was just the four of them.
“So how are you finding our lovely little city?” Kayzel asked. “Now that you’ve been here a couple of days.”
“It’s been surprisingly pleasant,” Cobal said.
“Nothing like your Blueyerd towns, right? We’ve got something impressive here.”
Cobal smiled. “My kingdom has its beautiful places too. You’d be less confident if you ever laid eyes upon the Ravadier Peninsula.”
Kayzel shrugged. “I doubt it’ll hold a candle.”
“I’ll take you there someday then.”
“I’ll have you keep that promise. Perhaps you can show me the palace as well.”
“No promises.”
“What does he mean by that?” Salandra asked, listening to the conversation with growing confusion.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Kayzel said.
Cobal shook his head. “That’s quite alright.” He looked at Salandra. “I’m nobility from Blueyerd, that’s why I could probably invite someone into the palace.” He wasn’t quite ready to share his entire story with her, he didn’t know her well enough. He only told Kayzel because Eliana already knew him and he was their ticket into a fast track at the library.
“Oh, I didn’t know that,” Salandra replied, “I hope I haven’t been rude to you in any way.”
“Not at all, I didn’t share it for a reason after all. Don’t worry about it.”
Salandra nodded and took another sip from her ale while Clara appeared with their food. “There you all go, today’s special is this lovely pork that the local butcher slaughtered today.” She looked around. “Where’s your fun friend?”
“You mean Eliana?” Mana asked.
“Yes, I miss her energy.”
“She’s currently out, but I’m sure she’ll be back sooner rather than later.”
“Hmm.” Clara didn’t seem content with that answer. “Well you all enjoy your evening. I would tell you to not drink too much, but the more you drink the more I earn so drink what you want, I’m not your mom.”
“You’re a fantastic role model,” Cobal commented.
Clara chuckled as she walked away to go help out at another table.
Kayzel and Salandra didn’t know each other. Cobal expected the scribes to all know each other to an extent, but Salandra explained that there were far too many of them for that to be reasonable.
“Well, when I was still a teacher in my old world I had to learn the names of about two hundred kids within a few weeks. And after a year I had to start all over again with a new set of kids.”
“You were a teacher? So you worked with scribes and scholars?” Kayzel asked.
Mana looked at Cobal and they both bursted into laughter.
“Did I say something funny?”
Cobal nodded. “I once asked Mana the very same question, I think it was the first time I ever saw you laugh at something.”
Mana smiled, thinking back on it. “This was when we just started traveling together and I was very distrustful of Cobal. But because teaching is so different in my world compared to here, the idea he had of it wasn’t comparable to reality, so it was funny.”
“Hold up now,” Salandra said. “I was suspicious at first, but I didn’t want to be rude by making assumptions, but you’re talking about another world than ours, could it be that you’re…” Her eyes went wide and she stopped mid sentence.
“You really shouldn’t drink this much if you want to keep secrets,” Kayzel commented.
Cobal sighed. “Allow me to explain what’s going on.”

“I can’t believe it.” Salandra said. “You’re a prince and you’re someone who grew up in a completely different world from ours?” She leaned back on the bench. “That’s crazy.”
“How do you think I feel,” Mana said. “I was at home minding my own business one moment, relaxing in front of the TV before I suddenly looked up to see a bunch of strange mages stare at me like I was their savior.”
“I have so many questions,” Salandra said.
Mana smiled. “Go right ahead, you’re not the first one.”
“For starters, what is a TV?”
Mana looked at Cobal. “They never ask easy questions, you were the same.”
“I gave up on understanding your world a long time ago.”
Returning her attention to Salandra she explained, “A TV is a television. To explain it in very simple terms, it’s like a mirror that shows you something. This can be a show of sorts, like a play that will be on. If I want to go into more detail I’ll just make it more confusing.”
“Sure.” Salandra didn’t seem convinced, but she also seemed intimidated by the sudden knowledge of who she was talking to. “What other crazy stories can you tell me about your world? If you don’t mind.”
“Hmm.” Mana rolled her cup in her hand, the liquid sloshing from side to side. “I think a lot of the things that were just commonplace to me would be very weird to you. It’s the same the other way around, I had a ton of culture shock when I first arrived here. Lucky for me, Cobal was kind enough to help me out in those first months. Our friendship started off very rocky but we got there in the end.”
“A sage punched me in the face and then we became friends.”
Mana burst out laughing. “I feel like you’re making it sound much worse than it really was.” She let out a content sigh. “We’ve come a long way.”
“You were punched by a sage?” Salandra looked at Cobal. “I’m starting to believe more and more that you two are messing with me.”
“We really aren’t. When Mana and I were first traveling there was a lot of tension between us. Mana had an understandable amount of mistrust for us, since we summoned her here without consent. This turned into more and more animosity and eventually I kind of snapped and got angry at someone who was much stronger and wiser than me. After he knocked me out cold once he explained what was really going on and we made up.”
“Good times,” Mana added.
“In a way.”
“Coming back to your earlier question, I suppose planes would blow your mind.”
“What’s a planes?”
“Plane, planes is just the plural. A plane is like a giant metal tube that flies through the air and can carry a whole bunch of people all at once.”
“You’re truly messing with me now.”
“I’m completely serious. It was invented by two brothers who initially built a much smaller version that could only carry one person and only barely. As time went on, the technology kept being improved upon and nowadays it’s safe enough to send people across oceans. Having said that, one of the biggest creators of these planes kept getting into scandals about not making sure the planes were safe enough, causing a few of them to crash. Not great, but our world had its fair share of problems.”
Salandra took all of it in. “I don’t know if I need more drinks or if I’ve had far too much.”
“Don’t question it too much, I had to learn about magic and elves and Irkans and I’m still trying to process it all.”
“You know about the Irkans?”
“We met one.”
Salandra’s eyes lit up. “Please tell me everything about them that you can.”

As the evening slowly went by they ended up chatting about many different things. Cobal and Mana explained a little bit about meeting Grac, but to make sure they didn’t share too much information about their friend who was currently lying in wait outside of town they told Salandra that they parted ways a while back. Salandra told them a little bit about the research she’d been doing on their culture a while back and how fascinating some of their celebrations were. She also lamented the fact that a lot of information about them was unconfirmed. Most of the sources she had weren’t officially published but were still in the hallways of the library, waiting for someone to read them and accept them into the library proper. It wasn’t until the sun was long gone and the moon was high up in the sky that the conversation turned to the Solin Manor. It was the place that was most likely to contain the cultists as well as Grac’s wife. At least that was the conclusion they’d come through early on and that was exactly what Eliana and Grac were looking into. Cobal had been interested in the place for a while now and as they talked about it, it seemed that a stranger overheard them and came over to join the conversation.

“I don’t mean to be impolite, but I couldn’t help but overhear part of your conversation.” An older gentleman, probably in his early seventies, walked over to their table and put his hand on the backrest of one of the empty chairs. “May I impose?”
“What is it that caught your attention?” Cobal asked. Although it was probably just a random old man looking for company, he wanted to be careful with who he invited to listen along to their conversation.
“I overheard you mention Solin Manor, which is my old workplace. I was a weaver there for many years, when the weaver’s guild was using the building for their production.”
“Well then by all means take a seat, what may I call you?”
“My name is Zegred, a pleasure to meet you young folks.” The old man sat down and leaned his cane against the table. His thick mustache and beard were groomed very neatly and he wore a rather expensive looking suit. “If there’s anything I can give you some insight on, I would gladly oblige.”
“So you say you worked at Solin Manor, how much do you know about the ghost stories that took place there?”
“Ah, not an unfamiliar question. I suppose many stories are out there, but a lot of them aren’t representative of what actually happened. Having said that, there were definitely strange things happening before the weaver’s guild shut down. For starters, the building was always eerily creaking. This was likely to do with how old and poorly taken care of it was, but it still created an atmosphere where people are on edge. If you worked late and it was already dark by the time you finished your shift you were certainly likely to hurry home and not look at whatever’s behind you. To that point, there were definitely employees who claimed to have seen strange hooded figures staring at them from a distance and some claim they heard monsters under the floorboards whispering to them. Personally I’ve never seen anything all that strange while I worked there, but it was definitely a creepy building.”
Zegred smiled and waved Clara over to order himself some ale as well.
“May I ask why you show interest in the weaver’s guild?”
“Well, I’m curious about noble families from this country,” Cobal lied, “as I’m of the nobility back in Blueyerd. When I heard that this city was once ruled by three different families and eventually turned into what it became now, I got curious about it. Then I heard that the manor of one of those families ended up being used by a weaver’s guild before being abandoned.”
“I see, that makes sense. The true reason that the weaver’s guild ended up leaving the building behind was due to a collapse. During a particularly bad storm, a part of the roof gave in and buried a bunch of room. This made the structure very unstable and the guild decided that it was too risky to continue their business there. If you’re more interested in the history of the Solin family itself, who lived there before the weaver’s guild, then I can write down some titles of fascinating books you can find in the library.”
“That would be much appreciated,” Cobal said. “Are you retired then, since you said you no longer work at the weaver’s guild?”
Zegred nodded. “I mostly just hang around in local inns and bother young folk with stories they’re not interested in.” He chuckled. “It’s a way to pass the time.”
“Well, feel free to join our table whenever you’re in the area then,” Kayzel said with rosy cheeks and an unstable posture.
“I think it’s time for us to start going to bed soon, perhaps the two of you should get a room here as well?” Cobal looked at Salandra and Kayzel.
“I didn’t drink all that much,” Salandra said, “so I’ll be fine going home. Besides, I don’t live too far from here. As for Kayzel,” she looked over at the other scribe who seemed to be much worse at holding his liquor.
“Clara,” Cobal called out. “Can we get a room for our drunken friend here?”
“You got it, boss,” Clara responded, quickly helping Kayzel up and escorting him to one of the empty rooms.
“Well then, we’ll probably see you around some other time then, Zegred.” Cobal got up as well and shook the old man’s head. “Good night.”
“To you as well, young Cobal.” And with a slightly unsteady step, both Cobal and Mana made their upstairs and promptly to bed.

Cobal knocked on the door of Lysa’s office.
“It’s open,” her voice came from inside. He opened the door and both him and Salandra stepped into the room before closing the door behind them again.
“Back so soon?” Lysa asked. The librarian was sitting behind her desk with Mana off to the side, both of them with a cup of tea. It seemed like they’d been talking until they were interrupted.
“We need a bit of your insight,” Cobal said sheepishly.
“How can I help?” Lysa said.
Salandra stepped forward. “I actually need a bit more from Mana, I believe Cobal said that was your name.”
Mana nodded. “And who do I have the pleasure of talking to?”
“I’m Salandra, I’m a scribe at the Topaz Slumber.”
“Nice to meet you Salandra, how can I help?”
“Well, Cobal said that you know a bit more about the magic that paralyzed your friend. Without a bit more insight into what caused his condition, I don’t know how to start working on a solution.”
“That makes sense.” Mana looked at Lysa who crossed her arms. “Well, from what Mana here has told me, a magical circle caused the effect when someone stepped onto it. It went dormant after one use, from the sounds of it.” Mana nodded in agreement.
“So you’re ruling out that it could be a toxin activated through magic?” Salandra asked.
Lysa nodded. “Well, it’s not a good idea to rule something out without solid proof, but I do believe it to be highly unlikely. If they used a toxin I feel like they might have just tried to kill the person stepping onto the trap. With magic it’s much harder to do that, so paralyzing someone would be a good middle ground. Presumably the person who put the trap there could then quite easily take out the paralyzed person.” She looked at Salandra. “Can you think of a toxin that would paralyze someone and not kill them within a very short amount of time?”
Salandra thought for a bit. “There’s one or two that could have that effect, but they’re not exactly readily available. I’ll have to do a bit more specific research if I want to find something that fits this description but I think it’s more realistic to look at this as if it were caused by a magical effect.” She rubbed her chin. “It’ll be a little bit outside of my expertise to figure out a solution, but it’s not something I can’t figure out.” She crossed her arms. “I hope,” she added quickly.
Cobal looked at Mana. “What do you think?”
“Well, having seen the circle and the effect it caused I think our best way of solving this is figuring out exactly how the magic that caused this works. That way we can reverse engineer a solution.” She put down her cup of tea. “Having said that, as of right now I have no idea if we’ll be successful at doing so. I’ve talked with Lysa all morning and I definitely think she can give us some great insight, but I don’t know if we can fully figure it out within a reasonable amount of time. Especially if we’re considering the other reason why we’re here.” She looked at Cobal for confirmation if he’d told Salandra about that or not.
“Yes, our other reason is more important.” Not mentioning it hopefully clued in Mana that he hadn’t shared that part yet. Lysa and Kayzel were the only ones they’d told about it so far. Cobal turned his attention back to Salandra. “If we assume that strange cultist magic caused the paralyzation, is there a chance you can find a solution?”
Salandra nodded. “There’s a chance, but I need a bit more information.” She looked at Mana. “How well did you examine your friend after he was paralyzed?”
Mana rummaged through her pouch and pulled a note. “I had Fareh write down as much as she could figure out about the paralyzed people. She has a background in medicine so she knew quite a lot.” She handed the note to Salandra who quickly scanned through it before nodding approvingly. “This is very detailed, that makes my job a lot more manageable.” She smiled. “Thank you.”
Mana smiled back.
“And how has your chat been so far?” Cobal asked.
“Productive,” Lysa answered. “I’ve learned quite a bit about your journey together and I must say I’m impressed.”
Cobal blushed. “It’s not all been great and friendly, but we’ve come a long way,” he said.
“We certainly have,” Mana agreed. She smiled at him. Cobal thought back to their early days in Ravadier and being frustrated with his new task. That seemed like such a long time ago, even though it had been a little under a year. “We’ll head back to the Topaz Slumber then, thanks for the insight.” And with that the duo left Lysa’s office and returned to the other library.

“So you study medicinal stuff?” Cobal asked. They’d returned to the little alcove where they’d talked earlier and Salandra had some books next to her.
She nodded. “Yes, I mainly study herbs and plants that are native to the nearby wild regions.”
“Like the Feral Wildlands?” Cobal asked.
“That’s what many call it, yes, but lots of scholars have argued that they’re much less ‘feral’ as the name implies.”
“Oh, how come?” Cobal was intrigued. He’d been taught from a very young age that the Feral Wildlands was a scary place he should avoid. He still held that belief, but the fact that Grac lived in a village in the wildlands had to mean something.”
“Well, I’m not quite yet an expert on the subject, but through research and field work we’ve learned a lot about this region and the sort of people that live near the boundaries of it. There are many interesting species with a long history that dwarfs our own. If the place was completely hostile then these people couldn’t be living there.”
“You mean other humans?” Cobal asked.
“Some,” Salandra said, “but there are many other species that live there.”
“Like the Irkan,” Cobal agreed.
“Yes, like the Irkan. They’re a fascinating bunch. They can be best described as gentle giants. With a dislike of violence despite their big stature they make for very kind and strong people. I’d love to meet one someday,” Salandra mused.
“Perhaps the opportunity arises soon,” Cobal said, holding in a grin. If she helped them out with Dylon’s paralyzation, he wouldn’t mind introducing her to Grac. With the Irkan’s permission, of course.
“I hope so, but from what I’ve read it’s quite a trek to reach Tas’Irkan from here. Several days through the forest isn’t something I see myself doing without proper planning.”
Cobal smiled. “Well, putting that aside for now. How well do you think you can help us out with our friend?”
Salandra rubbed her chin. She seemed to do that every time she was thinking about something. “It’s hard to say, since I can’t inspect him in person. But with the description you’ve given me I can make some good guesses as to what sort of magic has a hold of your friend. The good news is that I think these sorts of ailments will cure themselves over time. The bad news is that depending on the power used in a spell, it could take a very long time for him to recover and I don’t know if a human body can hold out that long.”
“That’s something I worried about as well, he can’t eat or breathe in this predicament, so wouldn’t he die?”
Salandra shook her head. “No, the magic wouldn’t kill him in that sense, but the lack of nutrition would eventually get to him. I hope the people taking care of him will understand that and try to get some food into his body. Most paralyzation effects slow down the bodily functions but don’t fully turn them off. There’s a high chance that if you force food and water into your friend’s body, it will still process those.”
Cobal wondered if Fareh would do that, but he would trust the old pirate woman. She seemed smarter than he was. “I think our friends will take as good care of him as they can.”
“That’s good. Then it’s mostly a question of figuring out the effect. I’ve grabbed some tomes on magical traps. From what you’ve told me it was a strange kind of magic that isn’t common anymore. This note that your friend gave me says that this kind of magic is more of a way of channeling magic than its own thing. That leads me to believe that the actual paralyzing effect will be the same as with other types of magic. That means if I can find the right compounds and herbs I can create an antidote that should work.”
Cobal was impressed. He expected to be digging through scrolls and books for weeks and come up with very little, but Salandra seemed to have a plan from the start. “What can I do to help in this process?” He asked. “Besides staying out of your way.”
Salandra laughed. It was a pleasant sound. “Well our first step is to find out which types of magic cause paralyzation. Once we have a list of the ones we can find we can start to narrow it down by removing those that are either impossible or highly unlikely. If we have it narrowed down we can start looking at solutions to them and prepare an alchemical concoction to help your friend.”
“And if you put it in a way I can follow?”
“Go through the books I hand you and find mentions of paralyzing magic.”
“That I can do.”
Salandra handed him the first book on the pile. “Good luck.”
Four hours later the exhaustion of looking at books had caught up with Cobal and his eyes felt like they were spinning. “How do you do this all day long?” He asked Salandra. She was still thumbing through a book and had a lot of notes. Cobal had only made his way through about a third of a book while Salandra had just started on her second book.
She smiled. “You get used to it. But I do take regular breaks. Normally I take more than today, but I wanted to get a solid start.” Cobal looked out a window off on a far wall. It seemed to get close to dusk already, the sun was slowly going under. This deep in the forest meant it got dark fast. “You want to come with me and Mana and get some food? As thanks for your help in the upcoming days?”
Salandra smiled brightly. “I’d like that very much.”
“Let’s finish up here and then go pick up Mana.” Cobal finished up the chapter he was reading. It was a pretty boring book about different medical side effects of magic. He assumed that Salandra gave the less useful books to him. He didn’t mind, this was important for Dylon and the others’ safety so he wouldn’t want to be the one to mess it up. Another twenty or so minutes passed when Salandra closed her book. “I’m ready for dinner whenever.”
“Great, I’m starving.” They quickly put away the books they used and Salandra made a note of their progress before they both went down the stairs and left the Topaz Slumber. They picked up Mana, who was waiting on the steps of the Ruby Observatory and then went back to the Phantom Homestead where Clara was already preparing that evening’s dinner. Mana went to their room for a little bit to freshen up and when she came back she told Cobal that Eliana would be gone for the evening so the three of them would have dinner together without her.

“Good morning, my name is Salandra Fevezar. I am one of the scribes working at the Topaz Slumber and I was told that you are in need of someone knowledgeable of herbal medicine?” A young woman stood in front of Cobal, a fair bit shorter than he himself was.
“That is correct, thank you for taking the time to help me out. My name is Cobal.” Cobal replied.
She smiled and moved a lock of hair out of her face and behind her ear. She had fairly rounded features and she wore her dress in such a way that it highlighted certain parts of her body while other parts were more loose fitting and concealing. The yellow accents on the dress showed that her main place of study was the Topaz Slumber, the smallest of the three libraries.
“If you don’t mind, I’ve got a room at the slums reserved for the day where we can discuss what exactly you need help with.”
“The slums?” Cobal asked, unsure what she meant.
“That’s what most of us call the Topaz Slumber. A very long time ago it was housed in a building that looked absolutely awful from the outside. That combined with the fact that slums already sounds like a shorthand for slumber made it stick around even after the original building was demolished and the books were moved to the new tower that is the Topaz Slumber you can see over there.” She pointed at the building in the distance.
“That’s interesting to know.” Cobal nodded. “And that sounds like a good idea, I’ll follow your lead then.”
He followed Salandra across the square and down a nice path that led from one library to the other. Despite being called the slums and being the smallest of the three libraries in Marsolin it was still an incredibly impressive building. The tower reached into the sky like a curled finger almost with the very top curving down again. “How does that work?” Cobal asked her.
“I couldn’t tell you what’s keeping it from falling, but I can tell you what it looks like on the inside. It consists of two floors, one small one at the very top where rare artifacts and other valuables are being kept. The floor below it has some offices as well as some very rare books that can only be read there. If you look closely at where it curves there’s a bridge connecting two rooms. The part of the tower that’s curving down can only be accessed through that bridge and the lock is magically protected. Only a few high ranking librarians have access to that part of the slums.” She smiled at him. “But I’m sure that whatever you need is probably on one of the accessible floors.” She held out her arm. “These are the slums,” she said.
“Despite the name, it’s still very impressive.” Cobal looked at the pin that Lysa gave them that would allow them entry. “Is this enough to let me in?”
Salandra nodded. “That pin is actually quite valuable and gives you more access than even some of the scribes working here. You should be careful not to lose it.”
“I will keep that in mind.” He followed Salandra up the staircase and into the building through the two large wooden doors. The doors looked very similar to the ones that they walked through to enter the other library. “Are the designs the same in the towers?”
“Some parts. The doors are the same in each tower and some of the banisters and staircases were made by the same company of carpenters so they all look the same as well, but there are design differences here and there. Each tower has some unique changes that really highlight their individuality. And of course the way the books are stored is different depending on who is the librarian in charge. But if you have everything in a town built by the same people, things are going to look similar at their core.”
Cobal nodded. That made sense to him.
She turned around to face him and gestured at the entrance space around him. “So, what do you think?”
The Ruby Observatory felt very organized and sterile in a sense. There was a desk where you could get help, there were guards and there was a constant stream of scribes going through the hallways to meeting rooms or back upstairs. The Topaz Slumber felt more chaotic. There was a single desk set up in the center of the room where two elven women were helping out visitors. A guard lazily sat on the bottom steps of the staircase that led to the first floor. There were no meeting rooms on the ground floor but instead an open space with benches and even what looked to be a small restaurant.
“It’s more homely,” Cobal remarked.
“Most of us scribes have lunch here in the slums due to it being a more comfortable space. All trade and communication with other institutions on the continent is done in the Observatory as it is the biggest and most modern building. The slums is more for us locals, although just like the other two towers, everyone is welcome here.” 
After talking to one of the receptionists, Cobal and Salandra made their way up to the first floor where she led him to the back of the library. Rows and rows of bookcases lined the path they took until they arrived at one of the alcoves built into the stone wall. It looked as if the space was almost carved out of the big blocks of stone that the building was made with. Cobal couldn’t even begin to imagine how a building like this was made with what looked like boulders. How would they even get that high up with them? Cobal had many questions but now wasn’t the time for it. They sat down in the stone alcove and Salandra closed off the space with the fabric and turned on a lantern. “It’s quite the cozy space, don’t you think?”
Cobal nodded. They were in a massive building with people walking everywhere but it still felt like they were alone.
She crossed her arms and leaned back. “So, what brings you all the way here? You’ve told me your name but nothing else and I can’t say I’m not curious.”
“It’s a long story.”
Salandra smiled. “I’ve got time.”
Cobal hesitated. How much was he willing to share with this total stranger. Salandra brushed her brown hair behind her ear and he looked at her green eyes that seemed to look from him to the wall almost nervously. Her other hand was fidgeting with the belt that formed her dress so nicely around her figure.
“While on a ship, we were attacked by a strange group of mages. Following them to their base, we encountered several dangerous traps set for us or other intruders. Some of our friends were then sent off to some far off place while others were paralyzed. We’re here to try and figure out more about these people – who we’ve learned might be a cult – as well as figure out a way to unparalyze our friends.” None of what he said was a lie, but he wasn’t quite ready to tell her about who he really was. “That’s the summarized version of it.”
“Wow, sounds like you went through some scary times.”
Cobal hadn’t really thought of it that way, but he’d also left out that they were searching for his brother. His determination to find out what really happened had really removed a lot of the worry and fear from the immediate situation, but looking back on it they did go through quite a lot. From accidentally encountering pirates only to find out that Eliana was in fact the person they were looking for, to fighting cultists in the hills to the north of the capital of the country they were at war with. And now they were in a foreign land, studying at a library they didn’t really know all that much about, to find out where their friend’s wife was being kept and what his brother might have to do with all of this. “You know what, you’re right, that’s scary stuff.”
“Are you just now coming to that realization?” Salandra laughed.
“I guess I am.” He smiled. “But enough about me, why are you a scribe here?”
“Oh, that’s not an interesting story at all, I’m afraid.”
“I’ll be the judge of that.”
Salandra laughed. “Really, it’s just a very simple order of events. My parents moved to this town when I was young, my mother was a scribe here for a few years. Eventually she retired when my father made enough money with his bakery and they’ve been working there together ever since. When I got older I wanted to see what this place was like, since my mother always talked about it when I was a child, so I applied for the position of scribe and I got it.”
“How do you even become a scribe here, and what does the function entail?”
“Well, the way you become a scribe might be different for everyone. Some just apply like me and go through an interview with one of several senior librarians. They’ll see if you are a good fit for the organization, but from what I’ve understood they’re not particularly strict. My interviewer definitely wasn’t, but she also knew my mom, so I already had better chances than most.”
Cobal smiled. “I believe Mana would call that nepotism.”
“Who’s that?”
“A traveling companion of mine, she’s in the Ruby Observatory right now.”
“Ah. Anyway, most scribes that work here get paid for transcribing information. Either you copy important works so that they become available to more people at once or you summarize works, help organize floors and guide visitors. A lot of the money to run this place comes from the crown, so we don’t have to make a big profit to stay open. It’s our country’s pride and has been for generations, after all. We get many rich sponsors as well.”
“I see, so you just work with books all day, doesn’t that get boring?” Cobal was already losing interest in the books and wanted to talk more with Salandra instead.
She laughed. “Well, it gets boring sometimes, sure, but most of the scribes here love books and learning. I want to learn more about many different topics, so I spend a lot of my time studying in between tasks. That’s one of the big benefits of the job.”
“And what are you studying?”
“Mostly herbalism and the likes. I love the way that magic and medicine can sometimes meet and find common ground.”
“Medicinal magic isn’t very common where I’m from.”
“Where are you from?”
Cobal hesitated. “I’m from Blueyerd.”
“Ah, our neighbors to the south. It’s a dangerous time to be traveling between the two kingdoms, with all the tension near the borders. How are things on that side?”
“Tense as well. Nobody wants a war, but the Rilodar royals have supposedly kidnapped our prince.”
Salandra nodded. “That’s what is being used as an excuse, but I think it’s nothing more than an excuse. Why would our king do something like that?”
Cobal shrugged. “I don’t know, but it is true that the prince has disappeared from public sight.”
“Perhaps they’re just hiding him?”
Cobal shook his head. “I don’t think that’s it.”
Salandra shrugged. “Well, I don’t know either. I doubt any wars would reach this place. I hope not, at least.”
“I’m sure it’ll be fine,” Cobal said, quickly finding an excuse to change the topic. “But medicinal magic, how does it work? I am here partially to find something that can help out my paralyzed friends after all.”
“Right, that’s what we were talking about.” Salandra looked him in the eyes and smiled. “I think there’s some ways I can help you with that, I’ve studied similar magic before, so I know where to start research on this particular issue. Why don’t you start by telling me exactly what caused this paralyzing effect.”

Two screams were heard before Eliana rushed out of the church, Kayzel not far behind her. The old men were understandably hiding behind the altar. If something dangerous was happening, it was up to the mercenaries to deal with it. What she saw outside she wasn’t quite ready for. A creature from mythology, one thought long extinct. Well, she knew better of course, being who she was, but even Eliana was shocked to see an arachnaya on the surface. An arachnaya was an eight-legged creature that primarily lived in deep caves. They had a diet of primarily mushrooms and other plants that grew deep within the dark tunnels, but they were known to wander out of their caves at times. Just like most other humanoid “monsters” as they were often referred to, these arachnaya were quite intelligent and far from monsters or beasts. The researchers were probably aware of that but the mercenaries.
Eliana’s worry was confirmed the moment she looked behind the arachnaya to see the leader of the mercenaries, a serious looking man named Gale, bleeding heavily from a wound in his side. Two of the other hired folks were thrown aside as well and another was currently squaring off with the creature. Eliana quickly took a few paces forward but was stopped by Kayzel who held her arm. “What are you doing?” He asked. “We’re paying them to take care of this, not you.”
“They’re just going to fight with him, let me talk to him, I can maybe fix this.” She cut loose from Kayzel and stepped past the remaining mercenary. “Good morning, are you the one who has been taking care of this place?” She asked.
The arachnaya stayed on guard but his interest was caught. “So now you speak to me. First you defile my village, then you attack me on sight and only after I deal with your companions does it suit you to speak.”
Eliana looked around her to make sure she had a good view of the situation. The leader of the mercenaries looked bad, but with quick aid he would probably make it. The rest of the mercenaries looked fine, relatively speaking.
“With all due respect, I doubt any of these folks know what you are, so it’s no wonder they were defensive from the very start. They are nothing more than hired muscle after all. I can only apologize for their actions.” She tried changing the subject. “So you’re the one who has been taking care of this place then, if it’s your village?”
“Who’s asking?”
“My name is Eliana Tidesinger, I’m a captain in these waters.”
“Never heard of you, why are you here?”
The arachnaya was clearly not happy they were here, but she at least managed to turn the violent encounter into a more diplomatic one. For now. “I was hired to sail some researchers to this archipelago. I’ve got a bunch of old men inside that are trying to learn from this place.”
“So you’re not here to steal things?” He asked, seemingly relaxing at least a little bit.
Akane shrugged. “I don’t think they were planning to steal things and I’m sure if we talk it out we can agree to not take anything.”
The arachnaya paused, still not fully trusting. After a quiet moment he spoke again. “My name is Larach. I’m a student of Owlana and I’m in charge of keeping this ancient place of worship from falling to the elements.”
“A pleasure to meet you, Larach. It’s been many years since I last met one of your kind.”
“You’re met arachnaya before?” Larach exclaimed with surprise.
“Twice before,” Eliana said.
“Where did you meet them, who were they?” The threat of violence seemed completely gone now. “Kayzel, go get the old men out here,” she said to the young man, who quickly retreated back into the building. Turning her attention back to Larach she said, “I once met a young arachnaya girl when I was sailing far north from here. She lived in a cavern that you couldn’t really see from land, but only from the sea. We happened to spot her caves when we sailed past and found her very ill when we went exploring. Luckily we had a capable doctor on our ship that managed to help her become healthy again. The second time was when we were somewhere near the center of the continent. It didn’t end as well, we were on opposite sides of a conflict. I don’t know what happened to either of them after that, to be honest.”
Larach listened intently, seemingly excited to hear any news about others from his kind. “I’ve been on this island for a few decades now.”
Distracted by Larach’s arachnid features, she only now noticed that the upper half of the man looked like a man in his early seventies. His gray hair looked well kept and swept to one side but it was definitely graying and thinning a bit. His arms and upper body were well defined, those of a man who took his training very serious. It was much harder for Eliana to see any age in his spider half, which didn’t really show aging the same way. “Well, I suppose I’ll hear you all out,” Larach said, clearly a bit more relaxed now.
The remaining mercenaries dragged their leader away into the building, where they would bandage him up and make sure he was okay. The researchers, Eliana and Larach, were all sitting in a circle in a nearby house. It seemed like besides the actual church, there was another building that Larach had taken care of. It wasn’t his home, but he would stay there sometimes. It didn’t have a proper roof and he told them there was no need to show them where he really lived. The researchers soon bombarded the arachnaya with questions about who he was, where he came from, what he was doing here and what the church was for. Larach didn’t seem to mind, he probably enjoyed the chance to talk to people for a change and after he felt safe that they weren’t there to hurt him or steal anything from his village. He explained to the researchers that he was a protector of Owlana’s place of worship and they quickly assured him that they would treat everything here with the utmost respect. They were purely here to gain knowledge, not to steal or gain anything from this place.
Eliana was a little bit disappointed by the lack of treasures they found here, but there was nothing she could do about it. The researchers still seemed overjoyed with everything they were learning and at the end of the day she was primarily here to get paid for the trip back and forth. Kayzel was also fully engaged by the things that Larach was telling them. After spending a few days on the island looking the church up and down, they eventually said goodbye to the arachnaya and made their way back onto the ship. As they were sailing away, Kayzel came up to Eliana after she had finished giving orders to her men and women. “One thing we didn’t get an answer about was why that statue of the siren was there.” He said, not really posing it as a question but more as an observation.
“I guess we don’t always get the answer to every question we have,” Eliana replied.
“After that we went our separate ways,” Kayzel said, “and for the longest I assumed the captain here would be shipwrecked somewhere far away.”
“You’ve grown awfully cheeky after all those years, not at all the timid young man you once were.” Eliana shot back.
Cobal and Mana were both leaning back in their chairs, several drinks in. The story was an interesting one.
“But an arachnid person and a siren,” Mana said. “None of those existed in my world.”
“Perhaps they were just better at hiding.” Kayzel suggested.
“Perhaps.” She looked at Eliana. “That siren, would she be the same as the people I met off the coast of Ravadier, that I told you about a while ago?”
Eliana shook her head. “Those are different people. They might have a similar origin somewhere far in the past, but sirens tend to live long lives, many centuries at least, whereas the merfolk you encountered probably live a little longer than your average human. They also possess far less magical capabilities. Sirens can captivate sailors with their song, command the wind and rain and do incredible feats of power. Imagining an entire city full of them is horrifying.”
“Did you ever go back to the church?” Eliana asked Kayzel.
Kayzel shook his head. “After returning to shore we finished up our report to the king and then all went our separate ways. The old men went back to their homes to study and Ada kept working for the noble that hired us in the first place. Not long after that trip I decided it was time for me to travel the country before I eventually ended up here.” He smiled. “It’s good to see you again.”
“We weren’t that close,” Eliana said.
“Don’t be like that, we went through a lot together,” Kayzel replied, his feelings definitely hurt.
“You’re right, you’re right. Either way, we should go back sometime and see how Larach is doing. He was a nice guy after all.”
“That he was, although I did have to get over the fact that he had that many legs.”
“We all have our charms.” Eliana got up. “I’ve got to take a piss,” she proclaimed, before walking away.
“So Kayzel, was she always like this, or has she changed?”
“She seems to have mellowed out a bit.”
“If this is here when she’s mellowed out I’m happy I didn’t meet her when she was younger.”
“So how long will you be in town for, you think?” Kayzel asked.
Cobal thought for a bit. “It honestly depends on how efficient our research ends up being. There are quite a few things we want to accomplish here but we want to get them done fast. If things go well we’ll be gone in two or three weeks, but if we struggle I can see us staying here for a month or two. It really depends.”
“Well, I know of a few more good spots to eat so if you need some recommendations let me know. Of course I can also help you out in the library, although my expertise might not match with what you’re looking for.”
“We appreciate that,” Mana said. “I’ll definitely take you up on that.”
After talking until the sun had long gone under and most of the other patrons had left the building, the four of them made their way back as well. Kayzel had a nice home a little ways away from the center of town so he said his goodbyes and headed off alone while the three of them went back to their inn. “I’ll check in with Grac in the morning, I think it’s time for us to start investigating the surrounding area a bit and see if anything strange is really going on nearby. That manor we heard about has piqued my interest, I’m hoping to figure something out instead of sitting still and twiddling my thumbs,” Eliana said.
Cobal nodded. “Mana and I will go back to the library tomorrow, I’m meeting with a scribe that is an expert on herbalism and could possibly figure out how to undo the petrification that we encountered.”
Having a plan thought out for the following days and their bellies full of drink and food, they each went to sleep feeling good.