Tales of Xalthia
Chapter 10: Connections
The night at the Argents' Estate passed by with peace. Tsuki and Lynette spent a good portion of the night talking with Rose and Rhym about their travels, the places they've seen and the things they've experienced as they told them anything and everything there was to know about Briswater and Saiyaka. Time flew by as their talks stretched into the evening and late hours. By the time they had realized the time, it was already well passed everyones' bedtime. Being that it was the first time that they had actually had a chance to get some proper sleep on an actual bed, Tsuki and Lynette were out like a light. The comforts and warmth of a bed was much better than what roughing it out at camp.
They next day would eventually greet them but considering how exhausted they were on top of the fact that they were sleeping in an actual bed, it was no surprise to Rhym or Rose that they slept in. It wasn't until around 10 in the morning that they finally woke up. Rather than feeling groggy and tired, they felt rejuvenated for the first time in what felt like forever. They felt that their bodies had fully recovered and were back in fighting shape. When they woke up, Rose had her chefs make them some food to get them started for the day.
With no word from Lucas yet, they decided to take a walk around the city with Rhym offering to be their guide. Amir would stay behind and help out Rose around the house while Tsuki and Lynette were put in charge of her. They left the house and started to explore the district that they were currently in which was the Residential District. They saw houses of different sizes and designs and even talked with some of the neighbors as they made their rounds around the district. The people were lively with a strong sense of community. Some of the people they talked with were also students at Saiyaka who had heard about them. Much like with what happened at the school, Tsuki was popular among the girls while Lynette was popular among the guys and even some of the younger female students but they were more prepared this time for the barrage of questions they would be asked. They were the talk of the neighborhood.
Their walks through the Residential District eventually led them into the adjacent Recreational District. There, they saw a various of different activities, areas and facilities. There were courts where people would play ball, a fairly large community pool alongside a park and much more. Thankfully, they were now in an area where there weren't many people that knew of them so they were able to relax a little though Tsukis' armor did end up attracting some attention from some of the adults hanging around the area. Most of them were curious what it was like to be a knight serving directly under the royal family and some of them were even retired knights themselves or had family in active service. Meanwhile, Lynette was talking with Rhym about their experience in the Magical Artes and even showed each other a little bit of what they could do. Rhym was still a growing mage who seemed to specialize in offensive while dabbling in some defense. She had all the potential to become something great one day. Rhym had great interest in Lynettes' Healing Artes ever since she saw her work on them back at the lake and was a bit jealous that she couldn't do the things she could do.
Eventually, they made their way through the Recreational District and wound up in the busiest district, the Business District. Obviously, this was the place where most of the people would gather to hang out, shop or work. There were numerous cafes, shops and arcades scattered around for the younger crowds while the older ones had pubs, clubs and other things adults like to do. By the time they arrived at the Business Distrct, it was a little past noon. They were all starting to get a bit hungry so they decided to take a break for a bit and stop by one of the cafes. They ended up at rather simple-looking cafe along the river that had outdoor seating. After sitting down, they ordered light meals to help get them through the day. They were given drinks while they waited for their food to arrive.
Tsuki sat back in his chair, sighing loudly. "Man, I can't remember the last time where I could relax so easily" he said. Being a knight can be stressful and even more so as a member of the Royal Eight. The only times where he could feel relaxed is the times he spends with Cheria.
Lynette scratched her cheek a bit before picking up her cup and taking a sip of her drink. "Well, given your position, I can imagine it would be pretty difficult. Based on what you've said though, it seems Princess Cheria makes things a little easier for you" she said. In the course of their travels so far, they've talked a lot about the royal family. She was particularly interested in the relationship between him and Cheria.
Rhym looked over at Tsuki. While the Argent family didn't have a whole lot of interactions with the royal family, she has heard the rumors that float around the city from the last time she had visited with her father. The rumors were that the Princess was in a relationship with one of the knights which fed into peoples' imaginations of their new potential future king and queen. "I've been wanting to ask this but what is your relationship with Her Highness, Princess Cheria? The way you speak of her shows a lot more familiarity towards her" she said.
Tsuki looked up at the sky, leaning back in his chair. "I'm her bodyguard and protector. More than that though, she's my childhood friend who I owe my life to. If not for her, I wouldn't be here right now" he said.
Rhym picked up her cup and took a sip of it. "Given everything I've heard, it sounded like you two were in a relationship" she said
Tsuki shook his head. "Not at all. People can be a little bit eccentric" he said. Not that he could blame them. He knows why such rumors have started and became widespread. He then looked down at Rhym. "Now, it's my turn to be curious. About your father, I never knew him personally but I have heard a lot about Azrael Argent in the news and various stories. What was he like?" he asked.
Rhym played with her cup a bit as she stared down at her drink. "He was a kind and gentle person yet strong and focused. He treated with everyone with respect and didn't hesitate to help out those in need. Many businesses here wouldn't be as successful without his assistance in some way" she said.
Moments after she said that, the food that they had ordered arrived. The waitors placed their food on the table, gave them a bow and walked off. Rhym had ordered some cake, Lynette had a sandwich with some cookies and Tsuki had a dish called Sukiyaki. It consisted of meat, vegetables and several other ingredients in a shallow iron pot with a mixture of soy sauce, sugar and mirin.
Rhym took a bite of her cake before continuing her talks. "As you may know, he was well-known for his knowledge and experience with magic. He was, without a doubt, one of the best. His guidance was something a lot of Saiyakas' current and former students looked up to. His dedication to magical research was paramount" she said. She soon took a few more bites out of her cake with a satisfied look.
Lynette was eating her sandwich as she spoke about Azrael. Since she had always wanted to meet him one day, she did her own research about him. "Wasn't he in the process of trying to create the ultimate offensive, defensive and healing magic?" she asked.
Rhym nodded at her. "Yes. They made a lot of progress in the offensive and defensive sides but with healing magic already being difficult enough as it is just to learn, not much focus was put into it" she said.
Tsuki listened to her as she talked. It was an interesting topic but one that mostly flew over his head. He was eating his sukiyaki and taking a sip of his drink as he stayed mostly silent. "It's a real shame about what happened to him. Knowing him, I'm sure he would have been able to succeed" he said.
Rhym looked down at her food with a soft sigh as she played with the cup in her hands. "Yeah. He's put so much time and effort in his research. It was practically his lifes' work and that's why I want to see it completed one day. However, such a thing is too far out of my reach right now" she said. She tilted her head up and looked towards the sky. "I wish I was older. Then, I'd be able to contribute" she said.
Lynette reached over and patted her on the head, giving her a soft smile. "Don't be in such a rush to grow up. You're still a child; you should enjoy lifes' simplest pleasures that us adults don't get to have all that often" she said. She was a child that shouldn't have to or need to bear such a burden.
Tsuki nodded at her as he continued to eat his food. "She's right. Enjoy the time you have now so that you'll be able to look back on them one day" he said. It was a struggle that he could relate to some extent. He had his childhood essentially ruined with nothing good in particular to look back on prior to Tomoha's destruction.
The three of them decided to change the subject to lighten the mood as they continued to eat. After about 45 minutes, they had finished their food, paid for it and then left the cafe to continue their walk around the Business District. They walked past several different types of businesses and popular hangouts for the younger, carefree crowd. Unfortunately for Tsuki, he stood out among the crowd of people because of his armor so he got a lot of looks from different people. While they were around the area, they decided to make a stop at the local item store to restock on basic items such as Gels. They were running low on supplies and were mostly reliant on what they found out in the wild.
As they were talking through the streets, they came across a shop that appeared to be thw citys' weapon had swords, axes, spears and a couple other different types of weapons in a display case. Right next door to that was the outfitter where people can purchase new armor or clothing and even have the ability to repair or augment armor or clothing that people currently had. The weapon and outfitter shared the same building, one on each side of it. Even though Lucas said that he would have a sword made for him, he was curious on what selection of weapons and armor they had so they decided to take a look inside.
Inside of the shared building was a long counter that stretched across the length of the shop with backdoors behind it that led into their respective shop areas. The place was lined with various different weapons and armor. The building itself was of a moderate size. It wasn't too big but not too small. The showrooms for each shop had their own space. The main room of the building was essentially one big, open area with a half-dividing wall going down the center to separate the two shops. Standing in the open section of the dividing wall were the two shopkeepers talking amongst themselves, looking rather troubled as they hadn't noticed them step into the shop. One of them was a man with a fair bit of muscle, spikey red hair and scruffy beard who had various hammers of different shapes and sizes strapped onto his waist while the other man had a long bear, wore a patch that covered his right eye and and had things like files and pliers strapped onto him.
The man with all the hammers had his arms folded with his hand held up to his chin. "Is there still no news?" he asked.
The man with the eye patch shook his head and sighed. "Nothing. We should have heard back from them by now" he said.
The hammer man scratched the back of his head and looked towards the back of his shop. "Well, this is a fine mess. General Maxwell had put in an order of the highest priority and considering the labor involved with this particular request, I won't be able to finish it on time" he said.
The eye patch man rubbed his chin a bit. "You want to head on over to the mines and figure out what's going on? I can watch your shop while you're gone" he said.
Tsuki had overheard that they were having some sort of trouble and that the blacksmith was in charge of an order put in by Lucas which most likely meant that he was the man in charge of forging him his new sword. Curious, he approached them. "Hello there. Is there something wrong?" he asked.
The eye patch man looked over to Tsuki as he approached them, noticing that they had customers finally. "Oh, I'm so sorry, sir. We didn't notice you come in. It's just a little shop trouble, don't mind us" he said.
The hammer man turned and faced Tsuki. He immediately took notice of the armor he was wearing and his overall description matched up to what he had been informed of by Lucas. "Wait, you wouldn't happen to be Tsuki Himura, would you?" he asked.
Tsuki nodded at them. "That's right" he said.
The hammer man tapped his chest with his fist. "I thought so. The name is Bos Lumbar. I'm in charge of forging you a new sword that Maxwell had requested to be made. Unfortunately, things aren't going so smoothly. I ran out of some of the materials I need so I placed a delivery request to have the things I need to be brought over from the mines. Only..." he said, trailing off at the end with a sigh.
The eye patch man looked over at a clock on a nearby wall. "They should of arrived by now. Since we're pretty close to the mine, it usually doesn't take this long for a delivery to come. It's possible that an issue came up that's preventing the delivery" he said. He scratched the back of his head and looked back over to the others. "I'm Bryce Shade. I'm in charge of the outfitter. Since me and Bos use the materials in a lot of our equipment, whenever there's a shortage on a certain material, it's a problem for the both of us" he said.
Bos scratched his head once more, bowing slightly at Tsuki. "We placed the delivery request early in the morning and now it's the afternoon with no word on what's going on. So, at this rate, if I don't get my delivery soon, I'm afraid your sword won't be ready on time" he said.
Tsuki shook his head, holding his hand up. "It's alright, don't worry about it" he said. Then, an idea popped up in his head. Bos appeared as if he was about to check up on his delivery himself and if there was indeed a problem at the mine, it could be dangerous for him. "Why don't we go check on that delivery for you?" he asked
Bos shook his head at him. "Oh no, I can't ask you to do that for us. Maxwell would kill us if he knew that honored guests from Eresseas were doing mundane work like checking up on a delivery" he said.
Tsuk gave him a confident grin, his hand turning into a fist as he held it up. "Don't worry. You're trying to fulfill an order for my sake. I don't think he will complain if I pitch in" he said.
Bos stared at Tsuki for a few moments and sighed. He had a feeling that he wouldn't take no for an answer. "Alright. We would appreciate it" he said.
Bryce nodded and glanced over at Lynette. He looked over her, specifically at the gear she was wearing. Based on the staff on her back and the lightweight style of clothing, it was easy for him to deduce that she was a mage. She was wearing rather simple and standard mage gear that wouldn't hold out on its own in the long run. A mage needs all the protection that they can get whether it's protection against physical or magical attacks. "Since you'll be helping me out by extension as well, I'll whip up something special for your lady friend that will give her magic some boost" he said.
Lynette looked at Bryce, shaking her head. She was just standing around, staying silent as they talked and didn't expect the conversation to be directed towards her. "N-no, that's okay! You don't have to do that for me" she said.
Bryce gave her a big grin and held his hand up, giving her a thumbs up. "I insist! Every mage needs some decent protection and what you got on you is rather bare and limited. I don't just specialize in heavy or light armor; I'm also an expert when it comes to outfitting a mage. Give me some time and I'll make it worth your while" he said. After seeing the gear she had and the condition it was in, there wasn't any chance that he was going to let her not be compensated as well.
Rhym shrugged her shoulders and sighed. Seeing Bos and Bryce like this brings back some memories of past interactions her father have had with them. "It's nice to see that you two haven't changed at all. Bryce is just as pushy as ever while Bos is almost the exact opposite" she said.
Bryce looked down towards Rhym and laughed. "You know it, little lady" he said. He then walked over to the counter, grabbing a piece of paper and then walked over to Tsuki, handing it over to him. "This is the receipt of our order. Show it to the foreman near the mine entrance and he should be able to point you in the right direction" he said.
Tsuki reached his hand out and took the receipt from him, placing it in his bag. "Leave it us. We'll have that delivery of yours sorted out before you know it" he said.
Bos nodded at them as he walked around the counter to the other side of it. "If you guys need anything else, feel free to check out our wares. We'll even throw in a special discount for you guys" he said.
Tsuki and Lynette browsed through the selection of things they had but never ended up buying anything at the moment. Bos and Bryce would allow them to keep the discount up until they had to leave the city in case they ever changed their minds. The mine was not too far off away from the main section of the Business District but it was located in an isolated area where they wouldn't disturb any of the other businesses. The further they got away from the main section of the district, the less crowded things became until there were only a handful of people hard at work. The streets soon led them beyond the city limits as they were approaching the crater walls that the city sat in the middle of.
When they arrived at the site of the mine, they were greeted to a deserted sight. There was no one around; no workers, no civilians and no soldiers. Everything was eerily quiet and still. This rose immediate red flags for Tsuki as it was still in the middle of work hours.
Tsuki stopped once the paved, tiled streets soon became a dirt ground. He looked around the area while putting on his guard. "What...?" he asked.
Lynette looked around as well. She didn't know what it was but she could feel something in the air and it made her nervous. The eerie stillness and silence of the mine only made things worse. "W-where is everyone?" she asked.
Rhym jogged a bit ahead of them. She's been to the mines many times with her father and they were always bustling. Ores and minerals were constantly being hauled out by card and wagon from the mines as miners and other workers were coming and going. "I don't know. This place should be in full-on work mode" she said.
Tsuki walked up to Rhym and stood next to her. He couldn't shake the feeling that something was very wrong. "Something isn't right about this. If I understand how Briswaters' mining operations are handled correctly, even if everyone was hard at work within the mines, there should at least be soldiers guarding the area and a foreman in charge of the whole operation as well as back-up workers on standby in case of an emergency" he said. He walked off to the left to where a small building is located. He opened the door and looked inside. What he saw appeared to be where all the operations are handled by the foreman. Much like their surroundings, it was empty. He decided to take a look at some of the documents that were left out, seeing as how he wouldn't get another chance like this to learn about what's inside the mine.
Lynette walked off towards another building off towards the right that was closer to the entrance of the mine itself with Rhym walking behind her. She looked through the opened door and looked around. Inside seemed to be used as a cafeteria and break room. It was empty inside but there were still plates of food on the tables. She walked up to one of the plates of food and put her hand over one of them. "Cold. Whatever happened here, it wasn't recent which lines up with what Bos said" she said. She then walked around the inside of the building to see if there was anything that was left behind.
Rhym looked around and walked off from Lynette as she walked across the pathway to the mine entrance. She stopped, faced the mine entrance and tried to see as far into the mines as she could see. After a minute, she could faintly make something out but it was still too far into the mine and she didn't want to risk going into them as they weren't a place for kids like her. Instead, she stood still and watched what she could faintly see. After about two minutes, she was able to make out two figures walking in their direction slowly. One of them appeared to be carrying the other. "Tsuki! Lyn!" she shouted.
Tsuki heard Rhym shout out his name and he put the stuff down that he was looking at and quickly ran out of the building. Lynette was in the middle of checking out one of the side rooms of the building she was in when she heard her name being called out and rushed out of the building. They both ran up over to Rhym, who was still looking into the mine. They weren't able to see who the figures were but after about a minute of standing their ground with Tsuki stepping in front of Rhym just in case, they were to see more defining features and what they saw confirmed their worries.
Lynette pointed in the direction of the two figures that were coming out of the mine. "Tsuki, look!" she said
Tsuki nodded at her. He made a quick glance over at Rhym then towards Lynette. "Yeah. It's just as I thought. Something's happened. Rhym, stay here. Let's go see what's going" he said.
Lynette nodded at him and then they both ran through the mine entrance and approached the two figures. Upon getting a closer view, they were able to make them out. One of the figures was a man wearing a soldier with medals and ribbons attached to his uniform. His right sleeve was torn to shreds and most of the plating that was on his uniform was destroyed. He was bleeding heavily from his right arm and forehead. He was carrying what appeared to be one of the workers of the mine who looked gravely injured. He was bleeding all over and had a pretty nasty wound on his left side. As they approached them, they saw the soldier drop down to one knee as he was visibly struggling to keep moving.
Tsuki was the first to approach the two wounded people and gave them a quick examination. "Hey, are you two okay!? What happened!?" he asked.
Lynette quickly got to work on using her Healing Artes on the two of them, not sure on who to prioritize as they were both pretty badly injured. The injuries they had weren't the type of injuries people would get while working in a mine. "They were definitely attacked. Based on the injuries, it looks like they were attacked by someone with an axe or something similar" she said. She then looked up at Tsuki, giving him a look. "Didn't they say that there trying to capture a suspicious person wielding an axe?" she asked.
Tsuki looked over at Lynette and nodded. "Yeah. It would appear that whoever they're trying to capture seems to have returned. For what reason, I'm not sure. There isn't anyone in particular left in city that would fit the description of anyone high-ranking aside from maybe General Maxwell. But then, why come here and not Saiyaka?" he asked.
The soldier felt the intense pain he was feeling start to subside a little bit to where he could actually focus on speaking to them. "W-who are you people?" he asked in a pained voice.
Tsuki got down onto one knee so that he was eye level with the soldier. "My name is Tsuki Himura, member of the Royal Eight. The person healing you is my companion, Lynette Suzaki. What about you?" he asked.
The soldier looked up at Tsuki and Lynette with a pain expression. "Kurama Wolfe, one of Maxwells' lieutenants. This here is Lux Silver. He's the foreman in charge of the mines. As you can see, he's unconscious for the moment due to the extent of his injuries" he said.
Tsuki looked over at Lux then turned his gaze down deeper into the mines. "What happened in there?" he asked. With the foreman unconscious, they weren't going to be able to deliver the receipt from Bos and Bryce but the really didn't need it at this point.
Kurama started to feel the pain go away thanks to Lynettes' healing. "We were in the process of changing the personnel on duty and processing the ore and minerals that were gathered overnight. We were just about to wrap things up with a man wielding an axe appeared and demanded we hand over some crystals we uncovered in one of our mineshafts. Of course, we refused and asked the man to leave but things got violent quickly. He killed several soldiers without even flinching. Me and Lux tried to stop him ourselves but we were no match for him" he said. He had never seen someone with the pair of eyes that man had. There was pure darkness in them with almost no life behind them. There was also the terrifying aura that surrounded him.
Lynette looked at Tsuki, giving him a look of realization. "Those crystals must be the ones that Lucas had mentioned. Tsuki, do you think...?" she asked. She soon shifted her focus onto Lux as she had healed as much of Kuramas' wounds as she could.
Tsuki looked over to Lynette and returning the look she gave him with a nod. "The crystals, the recent murders of Cayhills' finest...if his objective is to obtain those crystals, then there's a very good chance that he could be related, if not, responsible for everything that's been happening" he said. His gaze then shifted back to Kurama. "What happened next?" he asled. He was going to know everything before making their next move.
Kurama looked down towards the deeper portions of the mines. "He forced the miners back into the mines where the crystals were. I played dead until they moved on. Once the coast was clear, I checked up on Lux and the soldiers he had cut down. Lux and I were the only ones who were spared and since he was already unconscious, I had to carry him out. We couldn't stay there and General Maxwell needed to know about these developments" he said.
Tsuki looked past Kurama and down the long path into the mines. The tunnels were lit up a fair bit but there wasn't much else to see. "How deep into the mines are the crystals located?" he asked.
Kurama reached into his bag and pulled out the blueprints of the mine. He set it on the ground and pointed to a large, circular chamber pretty deep into the mines. "The mine has three different levels to it. The chamber where the crystals are lies not too far from the stairwell on the lowest level. The tunnel that leads to the chamber should be magically sealed but I'm not all that confident that it would keep that man at bay" he said. The magic seal that blocks off the tunnel leading to the chamber is only strong enough to keep average monsters and people out. Breaking that seal would be like ripping a piece of paper for someone like that man.
Tsuki examined the blueprints and studied the layout of the mines carefully. It was a rather straightforward path that lead to each level of the mines with a few other paths branching off from the main tunnel sections. "Alright. Leave it to us. We'll see what we can do. How are their injuries, Lyn?" he asked, looking over at her once more.
Lynettes' healing soon stopped as she looked at Tsuki, nodding at him. "I healed them as much as I could. Some injuries were too severe for me to heal so they'll need to see proper medical help. Just try to keep Lux stable as much as you can" she said.
Kurama nodded at her. "Will do. I'll get Lux to our healers and make my report with Maxwell" he said.
Tsuki glanced over at Rhym, who was still waiting by the mine entrance, watching everything unfold. "I do have one favor to ask. Can you take Rhym with you? She was showing us around the city before we came here and it'll be too dangerous for her to come with us" he said.
Kurama nodded once more. "You got it. I'll make sure to get her home safely" he said, glancing over at Rhym briefly.
Tsukis' eyes shifted down to the sword he had strapped to his waist. If he was going to put himself in a dangerous situation, then he was going to need something to use as a weapon. "Do you mind if I borrow your sword? Mine broke and I'm currently in the waiting process to receive another one from Maxwell" he said.
Kurama nodded and took his sword off his waist, handing it to him. "You both make sure you come back alive. There was something different about that man. I'll send you some reinforcements as soon as I can" he said.
Tsuki nodded, taking the sword from him. "Got it. Thanks for the heads-up" he said. He then glanced over at Rhym and motioned for her to come over to him. "Rhym, come over here for a second!" he said.
Rhym walked up beside them and looked at Tsuki. While she wasn't able to catch the whole conversation, she was able to hear some of it. From what she was able to hear, it wasn't anything good. "What is it? What's going on?" she asked.
Tsuki placed his hands on the sides of her shoulders and looked at her straight in the eye. "Something's happened in the mines and we're going in to investigate. It'll be too dangerous for you to come with us so Kurama will bring you back home" he said.
Rhym knew that based on their conversation and the expressions in their body language and faces, she knew that she wasn't going to be able to go with them. "Okay. Don't do anything crazy, okay?" she asked.
Lynette reached her hand out and placed it on her head. "Don't you worry. We'll be fine. You be a girl and wait for us at home, okay?" she asked.
Rhym looked over at Lynette and nodded at her before walking up beside Kurama as he stood back up. Readjusting Lux over his shoulder, he started to make it way towards the exit of the mines, glancing back at them one last time as he walked. "I'm sorry for this. I'll be as quick as I can. Good luck" he said.
With Rhym walking beside him, they made their way towards the exit. Tsuki and Lynette stayed back and watched as they left. Once they were gone, they gave each other a nod and then started to make their way through the tunnel system of the mine. The first level of the mines was rather simple and straightforward. The tunnel that they were on connected to a large, open chamber further in that served as the hub for the first level of the mine. There are other tunnels that branch out from the main hub but there was a clearly marked main tunnel to keep the hubs connected with a direct path leading back to the outside. From what they saw on the blueprint that had the layout of the mine, the remaining two levels of the mines had their own hub area. The tunnels spread out across the crater.
The mines are kept relatively safe thanks to the constant presence of soldiers and miners. Monsters in the mines typcially go into hiding in various crevices and holes when people are around but with all of the miners being held as hostage essentially, the tunnels have been left emptied. As a result, monsters have came out of their hiding places and populated the empty tunnels and hubs. Monsters in the mines are of rather small in size and not too hard to deal with for the average person. Monsters in the mines ranged from mice, bats, axe beaks and a small variant of rhino.
Their walk eventually took them into the hub area of the first level. According to what Kurama said, they encountered the man as they were going over their overnight haul and changing out those on shift. It would make sense to assume that they were all gathered in one of the hub areas. It doesn't appear that this was the hub area in question. They took a look around the hub but didn't find anything particularly useful. As they met back up in the center, Lynette took note of something.
Lynette pointed over to what appeared to be a service lift that was used to haul heavy loads from the lower levels. "Tsuki, look over there. Do you think we can use that to get down to the lower level?" she asked.
Tsuki looked in the direction that she was pointing to and approached the lift. "It would be nice but..." he said. The lift was on one of the lower levels so they would need to call it up to their level. Tsuki reached out and pressed the button to call the lift back up but there was no response. "That sort of thing would be far too convenient" he said.
Lynette walked up beside him and scratched the back of her head with a sigh. "Yeah, I thought as much. Worth a try though" she said.
Tsuki looked down the shaft that the lift descends into. It was a dark, dimly lit pit that they weren't able to see the bottom. "The lift must be stuck on one of the lower floors. We'll have to make sure to get it un-stuck when we get the chance" he said. He turned around and walked back towards the center of the chamber and faced back down the main tunnel leading deeper into the mine. "Looks like we're taking the long way in the meantime" he said.
Lynette shrugged her shoulders as she started to walk towards the main tunnel. "Nothing is ever easy for us, is there?" she said.
They continued along through the main tunnel. As they walked, they passed by several tunnels that branched off. Some tunnels went far into the earth while some appeared to have caved in or blocked off. The sounds of monster cries and groans echoed through the tunnels. As they walked, they noticed the remains of bats and mice long a blood trail leading deeper. They surmised that these were caused by Kurama as he struggled his way back to the surface. They added more to the monster body count as they made their way through the tunnels.
After about 20 minutes of walking through the tunnels, checking out some of the branching ones as they walked, they reached a set of stairs that led down. The stairs went pretty far down that eventually put them out on the second level of the mine. The main tunnel takes them back around as the pathways started to grow in size. Various tunnels led them to a number of smaller chambers and those chambers led to more branching pathways. Unless someone had a map or was familiar with the mines' layout, it was easy to get lost. As they walked along the main tunnel, it opened out into a large chamber filled with crystal clear water with a land bridge going through the middle of the chamber. Sounds of dripping water from the roof echoed through the chamber.
Lynette stood in awe as she saw the sight in front of her. It had a sense of natural beauty to it and the crystal clear water only adds to it. "Whoa...is this an underground lake or something?" she asked.
Tsuki stepped forward onto the land bridge and looked around. There was only a single path to take but there was evidence that they were trying to create new bridges to branch out around the chamber. There was bags of cement, several piles of building stones and tools that used for construction work. "Well, the crater was originally filled with water. It would make sense if there were underground reservoirs" he said.
Lynette walked up to the edge of the land bridge and knelt down, putting her hand into the water. "It's cold. How deep do you think it does?" she asked. She looked as far down into the water as she could but it looked endless. "It makes you wonder what's swimming underneath us" she said.
Tsuki looked over Lynettes' shoulders as he stood beside her, staring down at the water. "The crater is pretty deep and the city only takes up a small portion of it. It may not be as deep as the ocean but I would assume that there shouldn't be anything too big lurking beneath the depths" he said. People around the world have a certain fear of traversing over large, deep bodies of water because of the fear of what could be underneath them. Tsuki has never crossed the ocean before so he can't relate to peoples' fears of ocean travel. Much of the oceans' depths are unexplored so there was definitely the possibility that there could be something under the waves..
Lynette tilted her head a bit before standing up, taking a couple steps back from the edge. "Divers have brought up relics from the various underwater chambers, right? With a crater of this size, there's no telling just what piece of history is down there, waiting to be discovered" she said.
Tsuki walked up the birdge a bit to what appeared to be some sort of rest area. There were a few benches and tables with racks along the railing that prevented people from falling in. On those racks were what appeared to be scuba gear and oxygen tanks. Most of them were full on air but there were some that were empty. "Looks like this is one of the diving spots that they use. There's no outside exposure so not many people would know about this spot. Briswater doesn't have an official occupation for divers but it freely endorses and encourages freelance diverrs. Some have even formed their own organizations. One of the biggest ones, I believe, are known as Crater Divers" he said. He examined the diving gear and they had their official emblem on them. It had a simple design of a treasure chest underwater.. "Based on the seal on all of this gear, these belong to the them" he said.
Lynette walked up to the rest area where Tsuki was. "Weren't they the ones that found that one sword that the Dark Wings tried to steal?" she asked.
Tsuki scratched the back of his head. "I believe so. Apparently, they haven't found anything in as good of a condition since then" he said. He turned around and started to walk back across the land bridge. "Considering how long this crater has been here, they've only barely scratched the surface of the potential discoveries lying in wait" he said.
Lynette stared at the diving gear for a few moments as Tsuki walked off on his own. "If only there was a better way to explore the depths" she said. She then turned around and started to run across the bridge to catch up with him as he walked on through the chamber.
They eventually made it to the other side of the water-filled chamber and entered through another tunnel. There were more monsters out than the previous level so their moment of peace was short-lived. As they walked, the smell of blood started to slowly fill the air which was an indicator that they were approaching the hub where everything had started. After a short walk through the straightforward tunnel with a few monster encounters, Tsuki and Lynette arrived at the hub area for the second level. It was much smaller than the previous but still had branching tunnels extending out from it along with the main tunnel. There was also the service lift shaft that connected to the hub above them but the lift was not on their floor as expected. That wasn't the only thing they saw though; they were also greeted to a rather bloody scene. There were bodies of several soldiers and even some miners scattered around the room. There was also evidence of a slight skirmish with battle scars in the ground with some destroyed equipment.
Tsuki took a look around the hub area to assess their surroundings. "Well, looks like we found the hub where they encountered that man. It seems that Kurama was right, after all" he said. While he didn't doubt what he told them, he wanted to believe things weren't as bad as he described. He walked up to some of the bodies lying around and they had all gone cold. They were dead for a while and the cool temperatures of the underground only made them more colder to the touch.
Lynette looked at all the bodies and felt her heart grow heavy. They were long dead and there was nothing she could do. Death was a natural part of life but having your life snuffed out before it was your time was a cruel thing. Not even the most experienced and expert healer could stop death. She examined some of the soldiers and miners and a good portion of them were still relatively young. "Killing innocent people...what does this person have to gain from doing all of this?" she asked.
Tsuki shook his head after checking on a few more bodies. "Hard to say at this point. With crystals like what he seems to be after, one could make a good profit by selling them to certain individuals and groups. There has to be other deposits like the one the miners discovered so whose to say that this isn't a group effort on a large scale?" he asked. With the sudden influx of crystals that have been appearing based on what he has seen and learned from various reports given to him by the king when he received his last letter.
Lynette stroked her chin a bit in thought. With the recent discovery of the ruins further to the east, there had to be more out there around Cayhill especially in the Southern Regions where access is more restricted. There were also the mountains to the southwest that surrounds Basilwell. "Why does it feel like our seemingly endless peaceful days are soon coming to an abrupt end?" she asked. It was an unnerving and scary thought to have but too much has been happening lately that doesn't indicate anything otherwise.
Tsuki scratched the back of his head. "I get what you mean. Hopefully, we're just overthinking things" he said. He walked around the hub area a bit to refocus his mind. There was no point in worrying about something they still had little information about.
Lynette wandered over towards one of the work stations where trolleys filled with crystals, minerals and ores were piled in. She looked at them as they sparkled in her eyes. The crystals had a beautiful color and faint glow to them. She looked over the different trolleys when her eyes locked onto a familiar object. "Tsuki, come take a look at this" she said.
Tsuki walked over to Lynette who was by a work station near the service lift. He looked at what her eyes were locked on to which served as confirmation to them. It was the same crystal that they've been encountering which further proved Lucas' story that they found a deposit. "Well, at least it's not in the hands of a monster or some deranged lunatic" he said.
He then reached into the trolley where the crystal was. It had been buried among other normal crystals and ores. He took it out from the trolley and immediately felt the power swirling around inside of it. Thinking back, he never really had a chance to get a good look at the crystal. Reia took the first crystal he found which promptly ended up exploding while the second one shattered against the walls of Prophet Castle. The third one had apparently been absorbed into the Rhino that the Silver Knight was after so he wasn't able to learn anything about that.
Lynette looked at the crystal he held in his hand. Her eyes were locked onto it as if she was almost mesmerized by it. She had to shake her head rather hard to snap herself out of it. "It's the first time we have actually been able to get hold it and examine it as well" she said. At first glance, it looked like any ordinary crystal. No one would think twice about it and consider it as harmless as any other crystal.
Tsuki rotated the crystal around as he examined it closely. Not having the appraisal skills or Reia or Lynette, he could only make a base observation. "If the energy within the crystal was more stable, we would be able to appraise it more successfully" he said. He continued to stare at it for another minute or two. The crystal or the energy inside of it didn't seem to react at all. As he stared into the crystal, he started to feel something change within him as he could feel his consciousness seem to slip away.
Lynette noticed that the crystal started to have a bit of a reaction as he held it. Moments later, the crystal started to shine a bright violet color. "W-what? The crystal is...Tsuki, what are you...?" she said, looking up at him. She noticed that Tsukis' eyes were now glowing in the same violet color as the crystal. She then started to sense a change in Tsukis' Aer. "H-hey! Tsuki, are you okay!? Snap out of it!" she said. She tried to shake him out of it but he didn't respond or react. It was as if his consciousness was elsewhere.
Tsukis' consciousness soon faded as Lynettes' voice became distant. His surroundings became dark and the next thing he knew, he found himself floating in a strange, empty space of blue void all around him. He regained himself and looked around the strange space that he found himself all alone in. He felt several strong types of energy swirling around him.
Tsuki continued to look around the area and all he saw was an endless void in every direction. "W-what is this place? Lyn! Where are you!?" he shouted. The space he was grew more and more strange. There was no echo to his voice and naturally, there was no response to his shouts. The space he was in didn't seem like a physical state. He could even see through his own hand a little bit. "What is this? Some kind of dream, perhaps?" he asked himself.
Just then, a deep, male voice spoke out as if to answer him. "This isn't a dream; it's reality, believe it or not" the voice said.
Tsuki was put on high alert when he heard a voice speak out to him. He looked around but saw no one else around. "Who are you? Where or what is this place?" he asked. He was in an unfamiliar space with no idea what to expect. It was a potentially dangerous situation.
Just then, a feature-less apparition formed in front of him, floating. There was nothing to identity it except that it was apparently a male that sounded to be around middle-aged by the tone of his voice. "You're in a spiritual place. A realm that's fundamentally different than your own. An alternate space created by a long lost art and ancient magic and sustained by a combination of different powers and energies" he said.
Tsuki didn't understand what the apparition was saying. He was speaking in riddles that made no sense to him. All he could do was give the apparition a confused expression. "Mind saying that again in a language I will understand?" he asked.
The apparition held out his feature-less arm in a welcoming-type gesture. "We call it the Celestial Bridge. It's a space that keeps us all connected" he said.
Tsuki tilted his head as he folded his arms in front of him. "Celestial...Bridge? Unfortunately, I'm not familiar with the term" he said.
The apparition nodded at him. "As it should be. Not too many are left in this world that know of its existence outside of Elven history and communities" he said.
The mention of Elven history made Tsuki raise an eyebrow. Elves have a much longer life-span than humans do with High Elves pushing that bar even longer. "You mentioned that it 'keeps us all connected'. What did you mean by that?" he asked.
The apparition brought his hand up to his feature-less chest. "There are three others connected to this space. Connected to you. Unfortunately, that connection is unstable and spotty at best as of right now. You have yet to awaken to your potential and until you do, the connection will remain the same" he said.
The more the apparition talked, the more confused Tsuki became. Nothing he was saying was making any sense for him. "My potential?" he asked.
The apparition started to pulsate and fade in and out as he held his hand up to his chin. "It would seem the siphoned energy from the crystal is just about depleted. That was faster than I thought" he said. He then pointed at Tsuki as his figure started to fade in and out faster with their surroundings started to darken. "You're so close to awakening your potential. All you need is just a few more pushes. More answers will await you then" he said. Moments later, the apparition disappeared and never came back.
Tsuki held out his arm as it to try and catch it but his hand just went right through it as it vanished. "H-hey, wait!" he said.
The blue void surroundings became dark and the strong, swirling energies that filled the space had all disappeared. The voice never spoke out again and Tsuki was left in a black void. After several moments, he found himself back in reality, standing in front of the trolley and holding onto the crystal. He started to hear Lynette calling out to him once more as he felt his body being shook.
As Tsuki was coming back to reality, Lynette noticed that the glow from both the crystal and his eyes started to dim and fade. Once again, she sensed another change in the Aer around them, particularly with the crystal but right now, her focus was on Tsuki. "Snap out of it, Tsuki!" she shouted.
Tsuki blinked a few times and shook his head, holding his free hand up to his forehead. It took him a minute to regain all of his senses. "Ugh...what? What happened?" he asked.
Lynette stopped shaking him as he seemed to have returned to his senses. "Are you okay!? What happened to you?" she asked. She was in a bit of a frantic state as Tsuki was standing completely still and unresponsive as he stared into the crystal as they glowed the same color. She had grown concerned for him because he wasn't responding to anything she was doing. It was like he was in a deep, meditative state.
Tsuki shook his head some more as he wasn't sure how to tell her about the experience he just had. "I...I'm not sure. I was staring at the crystal and then the next thing I knew, I found myself in this strange blue void" he said.
Lynette tilted her head with a confused look on her face. "Blue void? You were staring at that crystal, completely motionless and unresponsive for the last few minutes" she said.
Tsuki kept his hand pressed up against his forehead, his fingers pushed through his hair. "I don't know how to explain it. It felt like a dream but it also felt so real" he said. It was hard to process for him. He wasn't even sure if what he saw actually happened but something inside of him said otherwise. "Awaken my potential? Connected to me? What does all of that mean?" he thought to himself.
Lynette saw the visible confusion in his face. Whatever happened to him just know seemed to be something pretty significant. Her gaze then went down to the crystal and she noticed something immediately. "Wait...the energy inside of the crystal...it's gone!"she said. She didn't sense a trace of the dark energy that the crystal had just a few minutes ago.
Tsuki looked down at the crystal in his hand and she was right. He didn't feel anything off about the crystal anymore. It had no power left to it. The crystal was practically just like any other ordinary crystal now. "I'm not sure what just happened but it seems to be harmless now" he said.
Lynette shook her head, holding her hand up to her chin. "But how? All of that energy had to go somewhere. It couldn't have just disappeared..." she said. She then looked up at Tsuki, having flashbacks of seeing the crystal and his eyes glowing the same color. They definitely had some sort of reaction so she decided to do a silent appraisal of Tsukis' Aer but didn't find anything out of the ordinary. The change in his Aer from before was completely gone as well. She had no explanation to give.
Tsuki placed the crystal back in pile of other crystals that he had pulled it out of. "...Maybe it was just a dud. Yeah..." he said. He didn't feel any different so he wasn't sure what to say.
Lynette placed her hand on Tsukis' arm, giving him a look of concern. "But you definitely had some sort of reaction to the crystal. If you feel something's different at all, make sure you let me know" she said. Because of their encounter with Yuno back in Prophet Castle, she knows what it feels like when a persons' Aer becomes corrupted by twisted power like what's within the crystals. While she couldn't sense anything wrong right now, that doesn't mean that something won't happen in the future.
Tsuki looked at her and nodded. Since she was capable of appraisals, he thought it would be wise to have her keep an eye on his levels of Aer. "I'll keep you informed if something changes" he said. He looked down at the hand that was holding the crystal and clenched his fist a bit. His strange encounter within that blue void took up most of his thoughts but they had other things to worry about right now so he had to force them to the back of his mind. He slapped the sides of his face to get refocus us mind and efforts to what they're currently doing. After a few minutes of gathering himself, he nodded and walked towards the main tunnel leading deeper into the second level of the mine.. "Let's move on. The longer we take, the more danger the hostages will be in" he said.
Lynette looked over at Tsuki and nodded. She was worried about him but since he didn't seem to exhibit anything wrong, she convinced herself that he was fine. "Right behind you" she said. She walked up beside him but made sure to keep an eye on him to make sure that nothing would happen.
They continued their way through the second level of the mines with not much else happening to them aside from the same monster encounters that they've been having the entire time. The air in the mines started to grow more heavy and dense the deeper they went. After about 30 minutes, they reached the steps on the far side of the main tunnel leading down into the final level of the mines. Throughout their entire walk through the mine, they encountered no evidence that anyone has used the main tunnels which could only mean that the man ended up forcing the miners onto the service lift and brought them down to the third level of the mine. There was no exit that the man could take as he was deep underground at this point with only one way to get back up to the surface. At the deepest level, the air became thick and hard to breathe. They knew right away that they were going to have a harder time traversing the third level than the previous two because of the lack of air.
To be continued...