Chapter -140: Two Sides to History

The following day Sarajin was ready to head on down to the surface to figure out the truth behind Oreore and Pulsa Minoria's feud.

Justek had arranged for them to meet up near Aquamoria so they could have a little time making preparations for what to do.

It was potentially going to be a long day so Sarajin had his mom make up some lunch for him and Justek and store it in a wool bag.

He had figured out how to create vines in Tanglefae yesterday so with that knowledge, he could now make one with the Conduit Form, return to his normal state, and then tie the bagged lunch to his legs while he was flying. And it was light enough to not throw him off-balance.

Once he dropped down outside the shores of Aquamoria he found Justek just arriving to meet up with him. He then tied the bag to his waist and waved him hello.

"Morning, Justek!" He cried out.

Justek faintly waved his hand up from the crossed position before his chest and then said, "You're chipper this morning, Sarajin."

"I'm still thinking about all the cool 'electronics' we saw yesterday!" He said in a giddy tone, rattling his fists before his chest, "I hope we can look around some more on our own next time."

Justek's brows slanted and he was beginning to raise his glasses like he normally does when speaking. Sarajin however, grimaced and let out a nervous chuckle, "B-But first things first..."

Justek gave off a tiny smile and lowered his hand, "So our plan of action today is to return to Oreore and find out their side of the story regarding their feud with the Electricity Tribe. But just how are you going to pose the question to that quick-tempered scruffy man?"

"Shouldn't I just...mention what Valic said?" Sarajin said with a puzzled tilt of the head.

"You could," Justek murmured, "But I don't think he'd take kindly to the accusation, regardless of whether that story is the truth or not."

"...Do you have another idea, Justek? Because you have a better way with words than I do."

"You need to learn how to communicate between all these different Tribes at some point, Sarajin." Replied Justek with a hesitating sigh.

Sarajin crossed his arms and remarked, "But Johnathan is tough, and Valic is smart. I'm not really either of those things..."

"Well," Justek waved his hand out and gave a somewhat optimistic remark, "You have a little more time to think it over before we get to Oreore, at the very least."

Sarajin nodded slowly and then the two were off on their way. It was a quiet trip as Sarajin spent it going over the facts in his head. He had a lot to consider at this point and frankly, it was maybe a little too much for his mind to handle at this point.

Nevertheless, save for a couple groans, he didn't gripe about his circumstances, trying to maintain a hopeful outlook that he'd be able to get either Johnathan or Valic to change their minds about each other's people.

Because if the only problem did boil down to accusations of thievery there didn't seem to be much else wrong with both sides...Beyond the weapons, which Sarajin didn't want to think about, as hard as it was not to.

They were both hard-working people that love metal. They weren't rude to strangers, his circumstances with Oreore at the time notwithstanding.

There WAS common ground for them to stand on, but first he'd have to bridge the great divide between them.

And thinking about it like that, Sarajin was inspired with a way to word the question to Johnathan, and it left him with a smile the last few miles of the way to Oreore.

It was as busy as always here, the ravine looking a little more shaved down since yesterday. Johnathan could've been anywhere in here but fortunately he was the only person with a beard that huge, so finding him was just a matter of keeping their eyes peeled.

After some time walking through, the two found the big man and his eager son working together to haul this HEFTY boulder made of some sort of black metal. It was twice as big as Johnathan and looked full of rough grooves.

"Put yer back into it, boy!" Johnathan shouted as they marched midway through the ravine.

"Same goes to ya, pop!" Ezekiel replied in a playful manner.

"Ya think I'm gonna buckle so easily to some half-pint pebble like this? HA!"

Sarajin cautiously approached him from the side and said, "Hey there, sir!"

Johnathan looked over his shoulder with a curious peek and remarked, "Oi, you're finally back, lad! Hol' on just a moment, we gotta lug this zirconium over ta our blacksmith."

They kept moving but Sarajin and Justek walked beside him, with Sarajin curiously eyeballing the boulder, "What are you going to use this for?"

"New mining equipment and weapons!" Shouted Ezekiel.

It only took a couple more minutes for them to drop the boulder down in front of a cavern entrance as big as it was. Then out walked a man who, despite being even shorter than Sarajin, had just as broad of shoulders and pecs as Johnathan, but contained them in a pair of black overalls.

"That looks just about right, Johnny boy." Said the man in an eccentric, grizzy voice, his bushy mustache ruffling in tune with his voice.

"Always expect the best from yers truly." Johnathan boasted, rattling his knuckles against the boulder.

"Of course, of course, and the same goes for me." The little man pulled out a hammer from his overalls and started tapping away at the boulder.

Johnathan, however, now had his attention squarely on Sarajin's presence, "So, ya here to work yer muscles again, lad?"

Sarajin shook his head and remarked, "Not today, sir. I was kind of hoping you'd give me a history lesson on Oreore."

Johnathan raised his brows in a curious manner while his smile widened with delight, "Oh, takin' an interest in ol' history, ya? Well, there ain't no better source of that then right 'ere."

Sarajin looked at Justek, who silently nodded his head. He then looked back at Johnathan, "Justek told me that the Rot caused the Tribes to dwindle in size...And that one of the reasons you're fighting the other Tribes is to get more territory."

"Hmm..." Johnathan crossed his arms while his brows raised a little more, his gaze feeling a bit hot.

Sarajin flinched and continued with some stuttering, "S-So I was wondering if...Oreore's ever lost territory to the other Tribes, or maybe you've claimed some?"

"Well, I can't be speakin' for our ancestors long, long ago, but as recently as I can tell ya our people have suffered some terrible losses." Johnathan sounded bitter and mournful as he spoke, making a crude gesture towards the east end of the ravine.

"Ya saw them ruins back when, ya? Those used ta be our people's homes." Johnathan's words did bring some vague recollection of that day into Sarajin's head, but he mostly recalled the near dehydration he suffered.

"Those were your homes?" Sarajin said, sympathizing with his tone.

"They ain't much but piles of rubbles at this point but I bet some time ago they looked a lot more dignified. Yep...We were spread out between this ravine and the Curious Cavern...Too spread out."

Johnathan's brows arched with scorn, "The soldiers from the other Tribes could easily march in and run us through, buildings and all, before we could organize a defense."

"Eventually we were forced to colonize in the ravine," Johnathan smirked and shrugged, "A strategic move, all things considered."

"Strategic?" Sarajin remarked.

Justek pushed his glasses up and spoke out, "It's another way of saying it was smart, and I agree. Any Tribe who'd want to deliver a direct attack on the populace would have to enter either side of the ravine. And for the people of Oreore, it'd be easy to cause a rockslide to bury or trap their attackers."

Johnathan snapped his fingers and chuckled, "Ye got the right idea, boy."

Sarajin didn't feel comfortable with the idea of people being crushed under rock, but it was an unnerving feeling he would have to stomach for now.

"As for claiming new territory well..." Johnathan closed his eyes and let out a gruff grunt, "There's the plains to the south of here, but that was vacant land from what I've been told. And we gave that up to the Argent Heavers since they had no place to fit around here in such large numbers."

Sarajin curled his lower lip in contemplation and then nodded his head, "Well, your people seem happy here. It just...feels like a shame that you lost all that history."

"Eh, if anyone wants to go out and uncover it they're more than welcome to," Johnathan said following a carefree shrug, "But I sure ain't ever seen a soul bother."

"Huh?" Sarajin uttered, turning towards the end of the ravine as he vaguely recalled meeting a man named Stonestein out there.

"But if that's all ya got to ask, lad, I hope ya don't mind me askin' ya a question in return." Said Johnathan.

Sarajin flinched back his way and then was surprised when he came out and asked, "Did ya wind up getting into Pulsa Minoria?"

"Y-Yeah?" Sarajin said, immediately biting his lower lip as he felt Justek looking at him with a disapproving glance.

"Did ya find where they make those Metal Boxes that've been troublin' us so?" Ezekiel asked.

Sarajin shook his head, "W-We didn't get to look around much."

Johnathan's chest sagged following a sigh, and with that breath he dropped his arms and ruffled his shoulders around, "Well, if ya ever find out let us know, maybe I can whip up somethin' from the mines that'll give 'em a good scare, ah ha ha ha!"

"C'mon, boy!" Shouted Johnathan, heading on his way back to work.

"Later, Sarajin!" Ezekiel waved behind him, and Sarajin waved back weakly.

He then hung his head and sighed. Justek then told him, "You seriously must work on controlling that mouth of yours, Sarajin."

Sarajin whipped back around, averting his gaze as he rubbed the back of his head, "I-I know...I know. But I don't want to lie, it would hurt mom so much..."

"It's not like she's here NOW," Justek's confidence was shaken quickly, with him shuddering followed by murmuring, "Then again, you can never be too sure just how much they know us..."

The two shared a worrying sigh before Justek sharply swerved away from this subject, "R-Regardless, up until the end you did a rather...Decent job stringing him along without mentioning Valic's side of things."

He then crossed his arms and wondered, "So...now what?"

Sarajin crossed his own arms and leaned his head back towards the sky, "It didn't sound like Oreore had overrun the old Electricity Tribe to take their territory."

"Hmmm..." Justek tapped his glasses up.

"What?" Sarajin looked at him, anticipating some sort of perspective he was missing.

"We should make our way back to Pulsa Minoria now and try to get more elaboration on their side of the story," He settled his hand down by his side and muttered, "Plus, there is something that has been bugging me personally since last night."

"Actually...there was something I wanted to check out while we're there." Sarajin noted.

"Oh?" Justek muttered, "Well, the question remains if we'll be granted any freedom this time. I'm not so sure we'll be able to get what we want out of this trip if we're clung to that brainiac's side."

"...Guess we'll find out when we get there, huh?" Sarajin said the last word on the matter before, following Justek's nod, they left Oreore and headed south for Pulsa Minoria.

Along the way they ate the lunch Sarajin's mom had prepared for them: Egg sandwiches with dandelion greens.

They washed it down with some water they got from Aquamoria, and then by the time they were finished up the city of metal and electricity was just a mile away.

Once more it looked like it had moved around, but it was hard to tell by how much...Or how it did to begin with.

When they got near the walls that same voice from the prior day called out to them, sounding a little annoyed, "Oh...it's you two again."

Sarajin waved his hand up and shouted, "Hi! We're here to learn some more about 'electronics'!"

"Well, the boss is very busy at the moment in Sector 2...He did tell me that if you returned to let you in though, but only on the condition that you don't touch anything besides the rubber suits."

"Awww..." Sarajin murmured.

"So, head on to the gate, I guess...I'll kill the power when you arrive." The man was just disinterested in the whole affair and hurried them along, which they did manage to do, passing through the deactivated electric gate and picking up the rubber suits extended from a segment of the wall to their left.

As they put them on Justek remarked, "These still feel very weird to wear..."

"I don't know, I kind of like them. They fit around my body perfectly and look," Sarajin pulled the material at the front of his chest and let it snap back, "Heh heh! That tingles."

Justek rolled his eyes and began moving forward with his hand gesturing to his right, "You get amused over the silliest of things..."

He then crossed his arms and remarked, "Well, I hope your plan wasn't to touch anything."

"I-It'll be fine, I just wanted to look anyway." Sarajin said, his eyes darting around with a barely constrained smile.

Justek turned to him and remarked in an airy tone, "Such a terrible liar..."

The two of them headed forward between the electronics and people using them for leisure. Sarajin was looking around, speaking his thoughts, "The center of town IS this way, right?"

"Yes, if we keep going forward we'll get there." Replied Justek.

Sarajin pumped his fists up and declared, "Ok! I'm going to go on ahead! See you there!"

"H-Huh?" Before Justek could make a move Sarajin had bolted forward through the crowd towards the center of the city.

There lay that strange wooden monument under the pole, confirming he wasn't going crazy.

He bent down in front of it and was able to get a better, longer look this time around. Though it didn't last for long as Justek caught up and remarked, "Boy, weren't you eager to get here..."

And then he let out a minor gasp, pausing with his mouth halfway agape. Sarajin stood and looked at him adjusting his glasses and squinting his eyes, fighting off the smile growing on his face.

"Mmmm, well, now THIS is a very, very fascinating find you've happened upon," Justek whispered, "I almost feel ashamed for not seeing it sooner."

"I didn't see it either until we left," Sarajin looked at the monument and felt the hairs on his arms stick up on end, even squashed under the rubber, "My body feels really funny around it though..."

"I can see why," Justek remarked, his excitement and curiosity rising, "If I had to make any guess, this is a shrine dedicated to the Titan of Electricity, Voltneir."

"A...shrine?" Sarajin turned with one brow raised, "Isn't that a place where people pay tribute to something?"

"I'm surprised you know that," Justek blurted out, "But yes. Now the question is though...Why would something like that exist when the people have abandoned their faith in whom they once paid tribute to?"

"Maybe the Titan isn't gone?" Sarajin theorized, "When I stand around here it's like the Conduit Form is reacting to something."

"Hmmm..." Justek kneeled down and stared at the lower parts of the shrine, left and right side included. Sarajin noticed from where he was standing that the shrine seemed to be depicting something using painted images.

But he didn't get much of a chance to figure out what they looked like before Justek stood and commented, "It's possible the Wellspring could be hidden within this shrine."

"That...doesn't sound right to me," Sarajin remarked, drawing Justek's attention with intrigue, "Ividae said it's important for them to keep them hidden."

"And...wouldn't the people of Pulsa Minoria want to use it to power the city?"

Justek cracked a minor smile and replied with a hint of praise, "That's the correct line of thinking, Sarajin. But this is a mystery that will not be solved unless we figure out one other key factor...Which I think we'll go discover right now!"

Following that surprising utterance of excitement on his part, Justek turned to the east and began to walk, leaving Sarajin to follow, "W-Where are we going now?"

"I want to have a chat with the leader of Pulsa Minoria," Justek leaned over his shoulder and scoffed, "I believe he'll be less grating to deal with that egotist."

They walked on up to the Sector 5 fortress and before they made their way to the door, Sarajin sped up and got in front of Justek with a big grin on his face asking, "Can I, please?!"

Justek sighed and rolled his wrist around in the air. Sarajin's grin widened and he immediately sprung on up to the front door and waved his hand out in as broad an arc as he could push it.

The door slid open and he did a couple excited hops as he told himself, "So cooool!"

He then rushed on ahead to the elevator and Justek joined up with him in double the time it took. Then Sarajin pressed the button so the elevator could carry them all the way to the top.

It was just as much of a rush the second time around and fortunately, Justek didn't have a second meeting with the ceiling.

But as the two of them left the elevator at the top floor they found the place surprisingly...empty.

Sarajin went towards the one chair in the room and shouted "Heeeeellooooo?!" only for his response to come from the right.

"Over here!" Greeted the friendly voice of Rai, sitting up against the wall with someone next to him.

But this new face was a different kind of person. He had pudgy cheeks and a rotund body which was contained within this weird looking dark yellow suit with grooves every few inches. His suit had extended broad shoulders too, and on his back appeared to be these large downward pointing dragonfly wings. His hair was a sharp shade of yellow and spiky, gravitating more towards the back.

In his hand was a brown, papery bag with some kind of round treats inside, one of which Rai was currently munching on, as evidenced by the crumbs on his puffed cheeks.

Sarajin and Justek walked up to them and the mysterious stranger wasted no time making himself not a stranger, "Howdy fellas, pleasure to meet you, my name's Adderbolt! Rai and I are friends, so I hope we can be too!"

With an incredibly beaming smile the guy closed his eyes and pulled one of those round treats from his bag and held it out, "Here, have one of my sweets!"

Sarajin slowly reached out and the portly guy shoved it into his grasp, helping to close his hand around it . Sarajin pinched it aloof before his face. It had this nice fragrance to it that reminded him of some herbs Carmine had showed him before, but more...spicy.

It seemed like he could easily bite through it too.

"Sweets?" Sarajin wondered.

Rai swallowed his food and then wiped the crumbs off onto his lap, "Yeah, this one's called a cookie. It's pretty rad."

"Huh...Never had a cookie before." Sarajin's curiosity had him chomping half of it down in one bite and chewing. His tongue was elevated by this sweet sensation melting in his mouth.

"MMM!" He squeezed his eyes shut with delight and pulled his head back with a full smile, "Sho ghoood!"

"Thank you!" Proclaimed Adderbolt, "Took me ten tries to get the recipe right but I think this is just about perfect."

Sarajin swallowed it down and then bowed his head, "Thank YOU for that, sir!"

"Sir? I'm not that old..." Adderbolt awkwardly turned to Rai and murmured, "R-Right?"

"That'd be bad if you were, we're only one year apart and I'm not ready to be old...I haven't even been young yet!" After Rai had a bit of a panic attack there he looked towards his company and put his hands behind his head.

"I'm surprised you two came back after Val's little...enthusiastic moment, but hey! I ain't complainin', it's nice to have company to ease the boredom around here."

"Shouldn't you be in the chair or something?" Justek remarked, ignoring Adderbolt's attempts to reach out and wiggle a cookie in front of him.

"Hey I'm the leader so I'll do what I want," Rai leaned back with a yawn and then closed his eyes, "'Sides, Val seems to be running the city just fine without my input..."

"Yes and who exactly made that massive weapon again, pray tell?" Justek said, now finding the cookie being wagged in front of his face.

"Oh fine." He muttered before snatching it up and stuffing the whole thing in his mouth.

Rai peeked one eye open and sighed, "Ok you got a point."

He then stood up and put his hands down into his jacket pockets, "He's really proud of that thing though and well...I just didn't feel comfortable giving him trouble over it."

He started to walk over to the console with Adderbolt following behind, chewing on more of his delightful sweets and even handing Sarajin off another one to enjoy.

Though Sarajin's focus remained on Rai as he ate, while Justek handled the talking part, "That weapon is too dangerous for anyone on this planet to have."

"It's not as bad as you think it is." Rai said in a nonchalant manner.

"Not...?!" Justek scoffed and then swung a hand up beside his face, "That thing put a scar on the planet a couple miles long!"

Rai replied with a reluctant sounding, "Y-Yeah, there is that but I mean like...In terms of practicality, Val's design is very flawed."

He put his hand down on the edge of the console and looked out the window, "For one thing the energy output is killer on the city's power grid. We can really only fire that thing off once every twenty-four hours without risking the functions of the rest of the city."

"And we only have one of those guns pointing in one direction so while it does deal a lot of damage it's only in a straight line. So it's good for big, slow targets and maybe one surprise attack on an invading force but after that? It's worthless."

"Haaaa..." Rai hung and shook his head, "I don't think I have to tell you how eager Val can be at times, but it causes him to make a lot of quick decisions without any forethought behind them."

He then turned around and leaned his back into the console, putting his arms against his chest, "He showed you the Static Discharger too, I imagine?"

Sarajin nodded and Rai chuckled, "He's always pulling that out to new faces..."

He then gestured his hand up to remark, "It's a cool weapon hampered by a major flaw. The friction required to spin the barrels for proper electricity generation means that he can only fire a few shots in quick succession before the barrels overheat and melt the frame."

He was saying all these big sentences like it was as natural as breathing and while Sarajin had his blank expression the whole time he understood one major thing about Rai, "You sure do know a lot about this stuff!"

To which even Justek had to levy some praise towards, "Indeed, it almost sounds like you should be the lead scientist down there."

Rai sighed for a really long time after that. Adderbolt leaned in between the two and whispered, "That's kind of a sour note for him."

"How come?" Sarajin wondered aloud.

"I would've loved to be the lead scientist, and I honestly thought I had a shot at it...Me and Val were like, the top attuned students in our exams," Rai weakly brushed the back of his right hand out and remarked, "Unfortunately the algorithm determined I'd be better suited for running the fortress, soooo, I was forced to become the leader of Pulsa Minoria...With all the fuuuuun that comes with it."

"Why don't you leave then?" Sarajin replied from his simple point of view.

"Well," Rai flicked his pointer finger out from atop his arm, "See those four chambers behind the elevator?"

Sarajin turned around and saw four big holes with tubes leading down out of this building, it looked like anyways, "Yeah?"

"I can use those to travel to any of the four Sectors and back quickly, but Val's got a device on his back that alerts him whenever I leave soooo..."

Justek muttered, "Sounds like he's a control freak."

"I swear he means well under all that eccentricity," Rai said following a very deep breath, "You just have to get to know him first."

Justek turned and remarked, "I think I'd known enough about him. I was actually hoping to poke your brain for a little bit."

Rai's eyes perked up and he said with aghast delight, "R-Really? You need my smarts for something?"

"Just to answer a few questions right now." Sarajin added on.

"Well watt me up! That's fine with me!" Rai sprung up and then wagged his hand out in an encouraging gesture, "Fire away whenever!"

"Then I'll get right to the point," Justek remarked, "Pulsa Minoria runs on elemental energy, doesn't it?"

Sarajin widened his eyes and pointed out, "Didn't Valic say they outgrew that?"

"A lot of our scientists believe the way he does, but obviously that wouldn't make sense..." Rai looked at Justek with one eye open and said, "Let me guess, you figured it out after the weapon was fired off yesterday?"

"Before that, actually, when a Rot Walker was marching towards your front steps." Justek said, a fact he wasn't proud of knowing.

"Oh yeah!" Sarajin proclaimed, "Cause negative emotions and elemental energy are the only two things that'll attract them somewhere."

"Exactly," Said Rai, pointing his pointer finger out, "That behavior is the major arguing point for both sides. Those who don't believe it argue that the Rot Walkers are more crafty than they're letting on."

"But the truth is that when our Titan left us behind they didn't get rid of the concept of Electric elemental energy, they just removed the ability to utilize it from our bodies."

"I suspected as much," Justek said with a prideful smile, "If the concept of an element was stricken from the world forever, especially one as vital as electricity, it would be catastrophic."

"Huh? How come?" Sarajin wondered.

"It's the Unification Theory," Rai commented in a very serious tone, "The idea that the fundamental forces that hold our world together remain that way only because of the efforts of the nine Titans."

Justek turned to Sarajin and wagged his finger around, "Take the Titan of Oreore for instance. If he was to be killed and there wasn't another one capable of maintaining the power over Earth, what do you think would happen to our planet?"

Sarajin pressed his chin against his chest and thought deep and hard about it, but only Rai could properly describe the scale of such an event.

"It'd break apart, drifting off into many pieces away from the core."

Sarajin felt a little unease in his heart and mumbled, "That...doesn't sound good."

Justek then said, "Without Wind we'd have no air to breathe, without Water we'd all go thirsty, without Nature the planet would burn."

"And without electricity, we'd be bombarded by radiation from off world," Rai finished the thought and then pulled away from the console, "But that's all just a theory some genius came up with years ago."

He then took a glance at Justek and remarked, "So I'm surprised you've heard of it."

"Maybe the books I read were written by that person." Justek said, a considerate tone for him, surprisingly.

"Doubt it, we don't have the ability to write things down here." Rai commented with a heavy sigh.

Sarajin was tilting his head around, feeling like he was in a bit of a daze of wonderment and confusion. He then shook his head and stopped gawking long enough to get back on topic, "Sooooo, if there's people out there who don't believe in your Titan, then why is there a shrine still standing for him in the center of town?"

Rai chuckled and rubbed the side of his hair, "Your guess is as good as mine, Sarajin. I don't know what it is about that thing, but it's like...It projects this sensation that prevents people from having the desire to mess around with it."

"We've tried running tests and it does seem like the effect messes with a person's nervous system to force anxiety...Though I wonder if that would happen to someone who isn't descended from our ancestors."

Sarajin murmured, "I DID feel funny near it."

Then he glanced aside and commented in an odd way, "But Justek didn't..."

"Huh, that's interesting..." Rai rubbed his chin and then gestured his hand out, "If you notice anything else, let me know ok?"

He then crossed his arms back up and wondered, "Anything else you wanted to ask?"

"Yes!" Sarajin perked up, finally feeling he had a place to speak after the two geniuses dominated the conversation for a while, "Was what Valic said about the grudge between Oreore and Pulsa Minoria true? Did your ancestors actually get chased off their land?"

Rai closed his eyes and took a deep breath in, "...Yeah, he was mostly telling the truth."

"Mostly?" Sarajin replied.

"Well obviously our people DID lose our innate control over electricity at some point. And obviously we did migrate to Caimanabal after Oreore took our land..." Rai scratched the side of his head and from there his confidence was at half-mast, "But whether or not Oreore massacred us while we were defenseless, and why our Titan abandoned us...That's all speculation based on emotions."

"I was born only a year before the war stopped but from what I understand, we've been attacked by Oreore multiple times since the city was founded," He then hesitant grit his teeth and said, "So like...I don't think we're completely unjustified taking their metal from them in retaliation, but-"

"But what? Stealing is wrong!" Sarajin proclaimed.

"I-I get that, I totally do," Rai said, shaking his hands out defensively, "The problem is we NEED metal to build electronics, so if Oreore isn't going to be cooperative we have to take whatever measures we can to keep building new stuff."

"Like more of that massive weapon?" Justek coldly remarked.

Rai's brows sagged partway and he whispered, "And also stuff that can do great things for the world too...We may look like we're on top of the world right now, but the fact is...We're struggling from insufficient resources just as much as anyone else is."

"Take our city for example. You've been able to tell it's never in one place at the same time right?" Rai waited for Sarajin to nod before continuing, "Using electricity beneath the city we're able to push away from the magnetic field of the planet and move for a bit. But it takes up so much electricity that we really can't get anywhere close to the other Tribes. But our generators aren't able to produce more electricity than what we've got."

"And with the city's box-like structure, there's not enough space to put in more generators, is there?" Justek remarked, and Rai nodded to that with a sad sigh.

Sarajin hung his head a bit then proceeded to take a bow, "W-Well, thanks for answering our questions, Rai."

"That's all?" Rai said, sounding stunned by his courtesy, "W-Well, feel free to come back and visit whenever you want. I could always use the company when Adder's not around."

As Justek and Sarajin began to turn and leave, they were reminded of Adderbolt's presence and it gave them a brief heart attack.

Adderbolt smiled and then remarked, "I'll have some more sweets for you next time too! Here..."

He handed each of them the last cookies from his bag, "Take one more on me!"

"Thanks!" Sarajin waved the cookie at Adderbolt, "See you around, Adderbolt!"

"Bye!" Adderbolt waved his hand out and the last thing they heard him say was something to Rai, "I like those two a lot."

It was something to help keep them uplifted as they went down the elevator and ate their cookies. Justek spoke up midway through to say, "Finally, someone to match wits with who isn't insufferable..."

He seemed genuinely happy and it made Sarajin happy too, "I'm glad you enjoyed yourself, Justek...I-I just wish I could follow along."

"Mmmm, well..." Justek finished off his cookie and had a somewhat unnerving smile across his entire face, "Good lord, what are these cookies? I finished it off and I feel like I must have another...!"

Sarajin grinned his stuff cheeks out wide and chuckled. Justek then shook his head and let out a couple dry coughs, "A-Anyways..."

The elevator reached the bottom and as they walked out Sarajin wiped the crumbs off onto his sleeves as his friend spoke up, "We learned a few new things, but as far as the feud between Oreore and Pulsa Minoria goes..."

"...Yeah, it doesn't feel like we figured out anything that'd help us out," Sarajin said, a little downtrodden, "Maybe I should just go and ask Johnathan about the past between them."

"You'd be wasting your time," Justek said bluntly and then nudged his glasses up, holding them in place, "It is as I suspected from the start..."

The two stopped in the middle of the bottom floor and looked at each other, with Sarajin hesitant to ask, "Yeah?"

Justek gave up the information with little fuss, "Whatever events conspired between the two Tribes, it happened thousands of years ago. That's plenty of time for both of them to twist the events that unfolded to favor themselves and condemn their enemies. And the scant few who doubt have been denied the opportunity to learn the truth."

"So there's no way to figure out the truth?" Sarajin replied.

"It appears to be that way."

Sarajin refused to accept that as the end of this. Driven by an intense desire to mend the relationships between both Tribes, he thought long and hard about an alternative...

"There has to be someone who knows about the events that unfolded between both Tribes..." And from that train of thought came his answer.

"I got it!" He said, clapping his hands before his chest, "The Titan of Electricity would know what happened!"

Justek raised his brows and remarked, "He disappeared before those events unfolded, remember?"

"Yeah but like you and Rai were saying, if a Titan disappeared from the world entirely without someone to replace it that'd be bad right? So wouldn't that mean he's still around in some form?" Sarajin pumped his fists up and proclaimed in confidence, "I bet he's still been watching over in some form and needs to be called back via the shrine in the center of the city!"

"..." Justek smirked and Sarajin lowered his hands with dampening enthusiasm, "...Am I wrong?"

"It's...not a terrible idea," Justek remarked, "If we can figure out how to do it."

"Hmmm..." Sarajin didn't have any ideas on that front.

"It's something to consider for now at least. Until either of us figure out an idea, we should focus on learning more about Pulsa Minoria." Justek suggested.

"Sure, but can we head out for now? It's probably getting late and I wouldn't want you to have to walk home alone at night."

"Ha, you don't need to be concerned about that," Justek said with a hearty chuckle, "But fine, do as you wish."

Thus the two left Pulsa Minoria once more and though progress seemed slow, they were making steps towards their goal. But a long road still awaited them...

Next Time: Blessing of the Sea