Chapter 28: Mystery of Zephyr Ruins

The following morning, the group were down in the libraries of the castle, researching on different kinds of information, such as Laleh lore, nearby locations and geography, and other things in general. Blaze, Wolfgang and Stamatis were all gathered around one table, reading up on a lot of books concerning the geography and lore.

"Look what I found here, guys" Blaze explained. "There's a section here in this lore book that talks about the god of wind..."

"The god of wind?" Stamatis asked. "Let me in on it"

"Well, the god of wind, according to this book, is named Garuda" Blaze explained. "The pictures here depict him as an anthropomorphic eagle, who carries a bow and arrow, named Cestus into battle"

"My guess is that Cestus is the Elemental Tome of wind, then?" Wolfgang deduced.

"Apparently, Garuda used Cestus once to stop a gigantic tsunami that was coming from the ocean. The arrows he fired from Cestus were so powerful that the winds it left behind was strong enough to blow the waves away from the shores, stopping the planet from becoming engulfed within the sea"

"Sea...water...by any chance was this Galvaria's work?" Wolfgang asked. "He is the god of water, after all"

Blaze nodded in contemplation, looking up at Wolfgang.

"If so, then that's twice that Galvaria has tried to plunge to world under his grasp. Remember, he almost started an ice age before Sol stopped him"

"Sounds like a pretty nasty god to me" Stamatis remarked.

"According to this, the tsunami took place before Galvaria's battle with Volstead, in which he lost due to the power of the Sol Emeralds. Anyway, it's fabled that Garuda spent his life living within a great castle, called Zephyr Castle. His last wish before he died was to be buried on the highest mountain in the planet, so his ascension to the heavens wouldn't be as hard" she explained. "Pretty cool, huh?"

"And according to this map" Wolfgang added. "Within the mountain range nearby here, there is a blank section labelled the Zephyr Ruins" he explained. "The reason there is little detail here is because the cliffs are so hard to traverse that no cartographer has successfully been able to map it"

"In addition, as of these last couple of weeks, something worse has been happening"

The group turned their heads to see Lolita walking towards them.

"Lolita?" Stamatis said quietly.

"What do you mean?" Wolfgang asked. Lolita took a seat on the empty chair in the circle, making herself comfortable. Her face gave the impression that somewhing was weighing down on her soul.

"Well...my father vanished about two weeks or so ago because he ventured for the mountains" Lolita explained. "...He hasn't been found. And neither have any of the search parties that went to look for him"

The group remained silent for a few seconds, swallowing the new information.

"So...they disappeared as well?" Blaze asked. Lolita nodded, her hands clenched together.

"We don't know why they vanish...but we're afraid to keep sending searchers out to the mountains" she said. "For all I know, they could be dead. The council make the decisions around here, but I think they've caught on to the fact that they may be dying in those mountains. I think they're haunted..."

"You think that the Zephyr Ruins could have something to do with this?" Wolfgang asked.

"Maybe Garuda's spirit, or something like that, is haunting the ruins" Stamatis explained. "Or maybe its booby trapped"

"Whatever it is, I'm sure your father would be okay. He didn't go out alone, did he?" Blaze asked. Lolita nodded in response.

"He had two guards with him. I can't remember what they looked like, but they were some of my father's favourite guards"

"It's hard to call" Wolfgang said. "Maybe we should investigate these ruins and see what's causing the vanishings. Maybe if we tread carefully, we won't 'vanish' ourselves"

"In any case, I wish not to be a burden" Lolita said, moving off the chair. "Please continue without me"

She then turned around and saw Milos sitting in a chair by himself, embroiled in a book of his own. The group didn't mind him reading something else; in fact, it would have helped speed up the process of learning about the area.

Lolita felt a little sorry for him though. She didn't like it when people were alone, she could understand the feeling herself. The Laleh council were in charge of the city's decisions. Lolita always felt left out as a result, and she didn't really have any friends her age in the castle. She decided that making friends with Milos would be a good idea.

She walked up to him, ready to greet.

"Hello" she said. Milos looked up and suddenly gasped in surprise. He did not expect Lolita to approach him.

"Oh!" he yelped. "Uh...h-hi..." he said quietly. Lolita giggled, instantly sensing Milos's nerves.

"What are you reading?" she asked. Milos looked down intensely at his book, gripping the hardback edges to attempt to stop his shaking nerves.

"I...uh...it's stupid...r-really" Milos stuttered. Lolita sighed, was everyone this nervous around her? She shuffled a little closer, putting on her most comforting smile.

"...Are you nervous?" she asked, jumping up onto the large seat, sitting next to him. He became all red and looked down in his book again.

"Oh...I-I'm...just nervous around girls...and stuff" he said. "I'm n-no good with talking to people...h-honest"

Lolita giggled again. "Let's be friends" she said, smiling at Milos and extending a hand.

Milos looked at Lolita, taking a deep breath. There was a faint idea in his mind that convinced him that this girl meant no harm to him, so why should he be nervous? His nerves clamed slightly as he nodded, managing a smile. He th took Lolita's hand. He felt rather light headed as he grasped the softness of her hand, shaking it. He then let go, retracting it back to the comfrot of his own thigh.

"Yeah...that'll be nice" he said, urging a smile.

"So what's in this book?" Lolita asked, looking over a little. "Don't worry if it's strange or anything. I like almost any kind of book" she explained. Milos looked back at his book and collected all the information in his head. He was reading a book about the element of the wind.

"Well...I'm kinda reading about the wind element and stuff like that" he explained.

"You mean, like Garuda?" Lolita asked. Milos smiled a little, becoming more enthusiastic to share his information.

"Yeah, just like that!" he said. "Well, I'm reading about Garuda's special flying machine. I want to build a flying machine myself one day" he explained.

"Really?" Lolita asked. Milos nodded in return.

"I haven't got any good materials though. Plus, according to this, Garuda's flying machine was powered by this stuff called Maldion. I've never heard of it before, but it's supposed to be the fuel that drove his machine" he explained. Lolita's eyes opened up a little.

"Oh, I know what Maldion is!" she said. "It's an ore that emits a high powered wind blast when it's exposed to heat" she explained. "We have some in the castle, down in the cellars"

"You do?" Milos asked.

"That's right, want me to show you?" Lolita asked, jumping off the large seat. Milos was a little hesitant at first, but put aside his fears and put his book down, jumping off the seat.

"Yeah, that'd be great!" Milos replied.

"Cool, let's go!" Lolita announced, walking towards the exit of the library. Milos followed her, being completely unnoticed by the rest of the group who had their head stuck inside their books, completely oblivious to the marvels of instant-grow friendships amongst younger people.

Seriously, I mean eight year olds make friends within five minutes of meeting each other. They can also be worst enemies within eight minutes... (Not that that will happen in this story, rest assured). Also, if you do not understand the whole Galv there's a menstead arc, then look at the prequel, there's a mensh in there somewhere about it, divulging more information than it does here in the sequel. Hope you're still enjoying this long and epic yarn!