When Cyrus arrived back at the Royal Library, his anguish towards Yvon was still burning strong. Cyrus was hardly the type to be completely consumed by his emotions in such a way, but the blatant misbehavior of his superior was beyond unsettling. Yvon was only doing this to rub Cyrus the wrong way after he dared to step out of line. Yvon had yearned for further control for as long as Cyrus could remember, and today was no exception. He wondered if he would ever truly be able to cooperate with his superior without being caught up in thoughts about all of Yvon's odd actions.
Cyrus shut the door carefully behind him as he entered the library, and when he did, he saw Mercedes behind the desk. She looked up when she heard that someone had entered the library, and she rose to her feet before approaching him. "Ah, Professor Albright," she greeted.
Cyrus walked to her side before speaking in return, making sure to keep his voice down so that the others in the library were undisturbed. "Did you have any luck finding the tome?" he questioned.
Mercedes winced as she looked at the ground. "I'm afraid not..." she replied softly.
Cyrus closed his eyes in contemplation. "Well, this is most unfortunate. One might conclude that it has been stolen," he murmured, talking more to himself than Mercedes.
Mercedes responded regardless of his intentions, and her eyes went wide with aghast shock. "Professor, taking books out from these archives is strictly forbidden," she reminded him. "And as you know, the keys to the vault are entrusted to only a select few! Quite honestly, it would be easier to steal the crown off the king's head."
Cyrus fell silent as he was lost in his own thoughts. "An impregnable vault... A disappearing tome..." he whispered to himself. Once again, Mercedes overhearing him was little more than an afterthought. "It would seem we have quite the mystery on our hands. And the mysteries of the world are meant to be solved! ...Or so the scholar in me says. Wouldn't you agree?"
Mercedes didn't seem as confident, and she shifted anxiously back and forth between her feet. "If it had been stolen, I would say it's a job for the city guard..." she cautioned Cyrus. "But I can see you won't let it go until you've 'cracked the case,' as it were."
He nodded with a laugh. "You could say that, indeed. A habit I just can't seem to break," he agreed. "Once a puzzle is placed before me, I simply cannot rest until I've worked out a solution."
"Well, far be it from me to stand in your way," Mercedes told him, and no small amount of humor made its way into her voice as she shook her head, well used to Cyrus' antics by now. "It must be tough being a genius."
"I'll not deny it!" Cyrus confessed with a shrug. "Worry not-the tome will be back on the shelf before you can bat an eyelash." The smile that spread across his face was filled to the brim with pride, and the sun itself seemed to be gleaming through his eyes.
"Right. Thanks," Mercedes told him with a gentle grin of her own. "Best of luck in your search." She returned to her place at her desk as Cyrus made his way towards the door of the library, and she watched him dutifully until the hinges creaked gently to signify his departure.
This was not going to be an easy case for him to figure out. There wasn't much information to go off, and for all Cyrus knew the tome was already far from Atlasdam's walls by that point. Still, that didn't mean that he wasn't going to try. The tome had arrived at the archives rather recently, so he couldn't have had too much of a disadvantage. If he put his mind to it, perhaps he would be able to find the answer sooner rather than later.
"Now, where to begin my search...?" Cyrus whispered to himself, slipping once again into his old habit of muttering under his breath. He had never even bothered trying to break such a routine, believing that it helped him to get his thoughts out into the open more clearly. He would certainly need that at a moment like this. "I suppose I should inquire with Mercedes as to where the keys to the library are stored. The guard at the front door would know who has been frequenting the library lately. As might my fellow scholars..." Cyrus fell quiet for a moment before finishing his suggestions to himself. "Then, mayhap, I should pay the headmaster a visit as well..."
Cyrus truly did hate having to confess that he needed to speak with Yvon. It was the last thing that he wanted to do given their recent altercation, and he somehow doubted that Yvon was going to be willing to speak with him on equal footing. Granted, there was no such thing as equal footing as far as Yvon was concerned given how obsessed with power he was, but Cyrus suspected that their previous argument was only going to make matters more difficult.
For the time being, Cyrus turned his attention to the guard positioned beside the door. There was a chair next to the library's entrance, and the guard's visor was down. He was slouched forward, and the gentle rise and fall of his chest implied that he was asleep. Cyrus frowned to himself before carefully reaching out a hand. "Excuse me," he said simply.
It only took a brief shake on the shoulder for the guard to snap out of his slumber. He snorted as he returned to his regular posture, glancing around in panic. "P-Professor Albright!" he cried out in surprise.
"Good day to you, sir," Cyrus greeted, doing his best to remain cordial despite the weakness he had seen from the guard. "Might I ask you about the archives? I believe that a theft might have occurred involving a rare tome. Do you happen to have keys to the vault beneath the library?"
The guard nodded furiously, still trying to cover his tracks. "Of course I've got a key to the archives," he told Cyrus quickly, his anxiety clearly skyrocketing.
Cyrus figured that he would make no progress as long as the elephant in the room continued to disturb them. He frowned before speaking once again. "Were you sleeping?" he questioned deliberately. Cyrus glanced down at the guard's hip and saw that the hook that was meant to hold the key to the archives was empty. No matter what the guard said, Cyrus had been given the information to receive an answer.
"No, I wasn't sleeping," the guard assured him despite how obvious the lie was. "I was resting my eyes, that's all. B-But even if I was sleeping, what would it matter? What kind of fool would bother stealing a worthless tome anyways?"
Cyrus watched the man for a moment, and he nodded quietly. "Thank you for your time," he told the guard before walking into the library. The guard watched him pass, still clearly shaken at being disturbed. Cyrus didn't give him a second glance.
Inside the library, Cyrus approached Mercedes. "I do promise to make this quick," he assured her when confusion crossed over her gaze. "Who has keys to the archives?"
"Only Headmaster Yvon and the guard stationed outside should have keys to the archives," Mercedes replied. "Do you believe that one of them could be responsible?"
Cyrus shook his head. "It's impossible to say right now, but I'll return to you as soon as I have an answer. Thank you again for your time, Mercedes." She nodded in response, and Cyrus walked towards the door of the library. He could go to the Royal Academy next, and it would be easy to speak with both a fellow scholar and the headmaster there.
On the way out, Cyrus was hit by the sudden sensation that he was being watched. He stopped in his tracks and peered around a nearby bookshelf. Sure enough, there was someone watching from around the wooden frame of the furniture, and Cyrus recognized the face immediately. Russell had been working at the Officers Academy for the past three years, and while Cyrus would never go so far as to say that they knew one another well, they were most certainly acquainted.
Russell had always been the jittery type, but something about him felt different as Cyrus cautiously approached him. He hadn't been able to learn about who was frequenting the library from the guard due to his sleepy habits, but there was a chance that Russell would be able to offer him with the answers that he needed.
"Excuse me, Russell," Cyrus began carefully. Russell looked like a caged animal, and when Cyrus looked closer, he could see that the man's hands were shaking. "Would you happen to know anything about the keys to the archives?"
Russell seemed to grow paler by a shade, but Cyrus chose to not take away too much from it. "The key to the archives? Oh, I haven't got that..." he replied, stammering to get the words out. "Why are you asking me about it in the first place?"
"A tome was stolen from the archives, and I'm attempting to track it down," Cyrus explained. He could see the way that Russell struggled to sit still, and the anxiety mounting in the man's eyes was palpable enough to make Cyrus frown intensely. "Have you seen anyone out of the ordinary frequenting the library as of late? You would know as a scholar of the Royal Academy."
Russell shook his head forcefully, and Cyrus couldn't help but feel as if the other man was trying to convince him a bit too much. "N-No, nobody strange has come by here..." he replied. Cyrus' gaze shifted to a glare, and Russell swallowed nervously before continuing to talk, his tongue clearly getting the best of him as he rambled at the speed of light. "But I'm not surprised someone stole a tome, considering what they're worth. I've got gambling debts myself, so I understand the temptation... But I didn't steal the tome!"
Cyrus held himself back from pointing out that he had never accused Russell of such. Instead, he focused on the light jingling sound that he heard when Russell shifted back and forth between his feet. "Thank you for your assistance," Cyrus told Russell as he turned on his heel and left the archives behind.
As he made his way to the Royal Academy, Cyrus busied himself with musings about Russell's strange behavior so that he wouldn't have to think about the fact that he was off to see Yvon on his own terms after their issues earlier in the day. Russell had been anxious before, but his nerves only seemed to grow worse when he saw Cyrus was inquiring about the tome. Cyrus was left to wonder if perhaps this was important somehow. Russell was, by nature, a jittery person, but Cyrus couldn't shake the feeling that there was something off about it this time.
Cyrus' thoughts were ultimately shelved when he arrived at the Royal Academy's doors. He walked inside and began walking as quickly as he could without gathering excessive attention to his purpose. Yvon's threat lingered in the back of his mind, and Cyrus knew that he wouldn't be able to go back to the archives if he took too long speaking with his superior.
By the time that Cyrus had arrived at Yvon's door, he knew what he had to do. He knocked firmly and waited for a response. By the time that Yvon had bid him entry, Cyrus had already organized the words that he was going to speak, and he approached Yvon's desk carefully.
Yvon was sitting alone in the office, and Lucia was nowhere to be found. Cyrus cast such a fact out of his mind, instead doing his best to seal away the animosity found in Yvon's scowl. Once again, it seemed as if there was something different about Yvon, though Cyrus somehow doubted that it was at all related to the cause of Russell's earlier nerves.
"Cyrus," Yvon commented blankly, his eyes not lacking for anger. "What do you want?" The bluntness to his words was startling and upsetting, and Cyrus did his best to ignore it in favor of focusing on the mission. For all he knew, this was simply the residual upset left behind by their spat from earlier in the morning.
"Do you have a key to the archives?" Cyrus questioned of him. "A tome has gone missing, and I'm doing what I can to determine the source of its disappearance."
For a moment, Yvon's shoulders knotted with tension, but he corrected his posture in the blink of an eye. "You know full well that I have a key to the special archives and that I would never be so foolish as to let it fall into the wrong hands," Yvon snapped. Cyrus had to force his shoulders to remain pressed back to keep from flinching. "In any event, I have had no reason to peruse those tomes in quite some time. The key has been in this drawer gathering dust for ages."
Yvon opened a drawer found in the upper right portion of his desk, and Cyrus glanced at it to the best of his ability while still keeping his distance. Even from far away, he could see the dust that covered the inside of the shelf. "Thank you for your assistance," Cyrus told Yvon as he retreated from the room. Yvon's eyes remained fixed in a glare as Cyrus left the area behind, shutting the door behind him. Cyrus blamed the anger on their previous argument, understanding fully well how petty Yvon had the power to be.
By the time that Cyrus had arrived back in the square of Atlasdam, he felt as if the pieces had finally come together. The guard stood outside the library, but he had little knowledge of the books that he watched over or the true value they held. On top of that, his key had gone missing. Yvon hadn't been to the archives in quite some time, and dust had gathered on his key to make it clear that he had kept his distance from the library. Mercedes had been sure to tell him that only Yvon and the guard had keys to the special archives, and she would know best as the library. Finally, there was Russell with all of his strange behavior and the way that he had mentioned having gambling debts when Cyrus scrutinized him enough.
"That should be all the information I need to solve this case," Cyrus said to himself after he had gone over it once again internally. He was sure that the path of logic was going to lead him in the right direction. All he had to do was follow the road that the facts had presented him with.
There were two keys to the archives. One of them was owned by the guard of the library, and the other belonged to Yvon. However, Yvon's key had fallen under a layer of dust, proof that it hadn't been used in quite some time. The guard's key must have been the one that was used, and the fact that it was missing from his hip made it even clearer. The guard's sleepy behavior had ultimately been his downfall, allowing the key to easily be stolen off his person.
It was doubtful that the guard was the one behind the theft. He didn't know enough about the value of the books that he defended, and he didn't seem to understand why anyone would want to steal them in the first place. The culprit would have needed to know the true value of the tome, and Cyrus could think of someone who was both aware of how important the books of the archives were and suspicious in every way imaginable.
Russell had gathered together quite the debt due to his gambling habits, and he had grown shifty and anxious when he noticed that Cyrus was trying to figure out who was behind the disappearance of the tome. If that wasn't evidence that he was guilty of this incident, then Cyrus didn't know what was. This was the only explanation that made sense, and he was confident that his logic hadn't betrayed him.
"Now all that remains is to find our man and make him confess to the crime," Cyrus muttered to himself. He closed his eyes as he tried to think over where Russell would be. Atlasdam's busy square continued to move around him.
Cyrus was so caught up in his own thoughts that he almost didn't notice it when Russell himself came walking by. Russell was clearly worked up by his own fear, and he didn't seem to see Cyrus at all. In fact, Russell moved through the crowd effortlessly, not caring about who gave him sideways glances along the way. Cyrus watched Russell from afar, figuring that it would be best to confront him under circumstances where evidence would be present.
Russell walked down the stairs out of the square and towards a small patch of grass. The grass led to a pathway that gave way to an entrance to the underground. Russell gave a brief glance at his surroundings before moving inside, not realizing that Cyrus had seen everything. The dark-haired scholar watched for a few moments later, but when he noticed that Russell wouldn't be returning, Cyrus took a step back.
It would be best to speak with Russell when there was evidence present, and given that Russell was traveling beneath Atlasdam, Cyrus assumed that his colleague had been using the underground as a base for his shifty operations. Of course, leaving behind the city would cause a few issues for Cyrus; if he went on his own, he was bound to be attacked should Russell realize what was happening. Even if Russell didn't put up the biggest fight, he was inevitably going to grow defensive at Cyrus' accusations. It was an inevitability that Cyrus knew he would never be able to ignore.
There was a weapons shop found within Atlasdam's lower segment. If Cyrus went there, he would be able to find a staff that could augment his magical strength. Cyrus was far from being a physical fighter by any means, but he could cast powerful spells of fire and ice. If he was forced to, he would be able to call upon other elements as well thanks to his extensive research into the arcane arts. He would need to give himself every advantage that he could, and Cyrus knew that there was no better place to start than finding a new weapon.
"Right, then," Cyrus murmured to himself. He glanced towards the tunnel entrance one last time before making his way into the lower segment of Atlasdam, wondering what would come of his encounter with Russell.
Ophilia arrived in Atlasdam close to the middle of the day, and she found herself sweating from the sun beating down overhead. She rubbed at her brow with one hand. Her gloves had been cast aside due to the heat. The Flatlands were much colder than the Frostlands that Ophilia was used to, and she couldn't believe how geographically close they were due to the radically different temperatures.
Atlasdam was a temporary reprieve from her journey, and Ophilia navigated through the town towards the shop. She was going to need a few extra healing grapes if she wanted to get through the day in one piece. There had been quite a few monster attacks on the way to Atlasdam, and Ophilia was embarrassed to admit that she had taken more than a dozen hits in the process. The Ember continued to burn within the Lanthorn, but its light could only do so much to heal Ophilia's woes. She needed a break, plain and simple.
Ophilia started to walk through the bustling city soon afterwards, hating how out of place she felt. Atlasdam's residents came from many corners of the world, but not many seemed to come there from Flamesgrace. Ophilia didn't think that anybody was staring at her, and she took great solace in the fact that she was less of an outcast here than she had been in Flamesgrace. Her stomach ached with the cruel stab of irony.
Ophilia was so distracted with trying to reach the destination in mind of the local shop that she didn't notice the man walking towards her until it was too late. It seemed that neither one of them had been paying attention, and Ophilia was sent crashing to the ground. The Lanthorn slid away from her grasp, landing near the feet of the man. "I-I'm so sorry!" Ophilia stammered as she got ready to rise to her feet. One hand reached out for the Lanthorn.
When Ophilia glanced up, she was met with the face of none other than Cyrus. Despite their sudden collision, he didn't seem to be upset. "You don't need to apologize," he assured her with a smile on his face. "I should have been paying more attention." Cyrus got to his feet and helped Ophilia to rise by reaching one hand out in her direction. She hesitated before accepting his offer.
Cyrus leaned down before picking up the Lanthorn, and his eyes immediately went wide. He seemed to be enthralled by it. "Incredible..." he murmured. When he noticed that Ophilia's eyes were anxious, he let out a small chuckle before returning the Lanthorn to her. "My apologies. I suppose that my curiosity got the best of me... I can sense incredible magical strength from that lantern of yours."
Ophilia was stuck in place for a moment. Lantern was certainly one way of putting it. "Oh... Um... Yeah," she eventually said, immediately kicking herself internally for sounding so awkward. She looked down and realized that her fingers were touching Cyrus' still. In her shock, she had forgotten to pull her hand away from his.
The first thing that Ophilia noticed about him was that his magical strength was incredible. In fact, the Lanthorn seemed to agree, and it gleamed a bit brighter. She looked up to him once again, and the words fell from her lips before she could stop them. "Are you a mage?" she asked.
Cyrus nodded. "You could certainly say that. I'm a scholar at the Atlasdam Royal Academy, though I do spend much of my time researching the magical arts on the side... You possess incredible arcane strength. If you don't mind my asking, what is your name?" he questioned.
"Ophilia," the cleric replied. "I practice light magic. I'm a cleric at the Flamesgrace Cathedral." Ophilia winced inwardly at her sudden oversharing, but the scholar didn't seem to mind at all.
"Cyrus Albright," he introduced himself with a bow of his head. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Ophilia. Tell me, what brings you from Flamesgrace to Atlasdam? We don't see many visitors from the Frostlands."
Ophilia hesitated, unsure of if she should respond honestly. She liked to think of herself as a decent mage, though she somehow doubted that she would be able to defend herself against the immense arcane might of Cyrus if he betrayed her. "I... I'm on a pilgrimage," she finally said. It was honest, albeit an exemption of information, and Ophilia forced herself to not dwell on it further.
"I see..." Cyrus murmured. He eyed the Lanthorn once again, and recognition dawned in his eyes before he shoved it down. If he knew the truth behind Ophilia's journey, he chose to not say anything on the matter. "If there is anything I could do to assist you, it would be my pleasure."
"I... I'm looking for the item shop here," Ophilia told him. "I'm running low on supplies, but I need to make it to Rippletide before sunset."
"What a coincidence! I was just headed there myself," Cyrus said with an honest smile as bright as the sun. "Allow me to accompany you. I need to purchase a staff and a few plums and grapes. I may have a difficult battle ahead of me, and I need to be prepared."
Ophilia nodded as she followed Cyrus to the shop. He was all too happy to buy enough grapes and plums for them both before making his way to the weapons building. He purchased a staff for himself before handing Ophilia her supplies. All she could do was stare at him in confusion and shock. He was so endlessly kind that it almost didn't seem real to her. She would have expected someone to use her pilgrimage against her if they learned the truth of her identity, but Cyrus didn't seem to mind. Granted, that was her operating under the assumption that he knew at all, and she had no evidence to back up such a claim. Her thoughts on such a matter remained though.
Cyrus was clearly a powerful sage. She could feel his strength whenever they made contact with one another, and Ophilia knew that she could use help like that. Cyrus didn't seem to be malicious, and if she could learn other types of magic from her, it would greatly aid her travels. The further she got from Flamesgrace, the harder her battles got. If she wanted to survive, she would need to have a wide range of attacks, and Cyrus' power certainly made it seem as if he would be able to offer her what she needed.
"Um... If you don't mind my asking, just what is it that you're going to be doing?" Ophilia questioned as she counted the grapes that Cyrus had given her. She reached into her bag to pull out the leaves needed to pay him back.
Cyrus placed a hand on her knuckles to stop her from retrieving her money, and Ophilia hesitantly allowed her hand to fall back to her side. "A colleague of mine has been stealing tomes from the archives found here in Atlasdam. I'm on my way to confront him, but I fear that he may grow agitated when confronted. I want as much power on my side as possible," he explained.
Ophilia took in a deep breath before speaking, steeling herself internally. "I... I would like to come with you," she told him. Her grip on the Lanthorn grew tighter, and its glow seemed to increase at her words, almost as if it could understand her emotions.
Cyrus quirked an eyebrow up. "What about your journey? The last thing I would want to do is delay you from reaching Rippletide," he said with a frown.
"If I come with you to help you find out what your colleague has been doing, I... I would like you to teach me another type of magic," Ophilia explained. "My light magic isn't as effective in the Flatlands, and I could use the extra coverage of elemental power."
"Ah, I understand," Cyrus murmured. He looked down to the staff in his hand before glancing towards the Lanthorn, seemingly considering his options. Ophilia's heart skipped a beat in the silence before he met her eyes with a smile. "I would be happy to aid you. This should complete my preparations, meaning we are ready to set out for the underground tunnels beneath Atlasdam. I will do what I can to help you learn a new type of magic. Ice and fire are my specialties."
"Ice magic would be great," Ophilia replied with a smile. Saintsbridge was in the Riverlands, and Ophilia knew that beasts there were weak to ice magic thanks to her youth being spent there. It would cover multiple bases, and that was precisely what Ophilia was looking to do by traveling with Cyrus in the first place.
"Then it's settled!" Cyrus proclaimed confidently. "I pray that our mission won't take too long. I would be happy to see you off to Rippletide, though I'm afraid that I will be unable to join you. My work as a scholar here is keeping me bound to Atlasdam for the time being, but I'll do what I can until that time arrives."
"Perfect," Ophilia grinned. She was already starting to feel more at ease with Cyrus. He was an open and honest person as far as she could tell. Nothing about him seemed to imply that he had ulterior motives for assisting her, and she was starting to believe that perhaps she had imagined his observant eyes recognizing the truth of who she was. Ophilia didn't think it would be necessary to tell him that she was traveling to Saintsbridge because of the Kindling, and she hoped that it wouldn't be vital to share such a fact. She wanted to remain as low key as possible to keep from facing opposition. She seemed to get into enough trouble on her own thanks to monster battles, so finding other foes was the last thing she wanted or needed.
Cyrus gestured for Ophilia to follow him deeper into Atlasdam, and she trailed after him. As the silence fell between them, Ophilia couldn't help but feel that something about him was familiar. It was difficult for her to place, and she was certain that she would have remembered if she had met such a distinct character before, but she was positive that they were connected somehow. The details eluded her, but Ophilia cast such thoughts aside at the soonest opportunity. After all, she had a mission to focus on.
Cyrus and Ophilia stopped briefly at the entrance to the tunnel leading beneath Atlasdam. The two shared a brief glance, a sign of their solidified resolve, before stepping into the cavern. The light of the city streets was forgotten in favor of darkness, and there was little aside from the Ember to light their path as they chased Russell's footsteps for answers.
I'm actually not posting this at four in the morning. What is this witchcraft?
At long last, we've got Cyrus and Ophilia together! Well, I say 'at long last', but it's only been a chapter and a half. One of the hardest parts of this chapter was working out how I wanted them to decide to travel together. Ophilia doesn't have much of a motive to stop elsewhere at this point, but since Cyrus would be able to teach her other types of magic to defend herself with, that is a reason for her to stay in Atlasdam longer than expected. The matter of monsters being less impacted by her light magic in the Flatlands is a gameplay reference; in the chapter one areas, most of the monsters are weak to the attacks of the character found in the nearby city as well as those in adjacent towns. Light magic used by Ophilia is most commonly found as enemy weaknesses in S'warkii, Flamesgrace, and Atlasdam areas, so the more that she travels, the less power she has at her disposal to stop the monsters.
The other thing I wish to highlight in this chapter is Cyrus' encounter with Yvon in the first half of the chapter. Let's just say that Yvon's odd behavior is going to be important later, and it should be pretty clear why if you know what happens in Cyrus' chapter one. I'll bring it up again later down the line, but for now, it's just something to keep tucked in the back of your mind.
That's about all there is to say about this chapter for now, so I'm going to leave it there. Next time, we'll get into the study beneath Atlasdam and build up to the Russell fight. Until then, I hope you enjoyed. Feedback is always appreciated. Have a nice day, everyone!
-Digital