AN: A relatively short chapter this week, but it's more of an info-dump anyway. And chances are the next chapter will be one, too. But the action will return again soon I promise. So will Zohar, but we'll have to wait for that too~ For now, enjoy the necessary info-dump~

Chapter 17:

The back of Drayce's hand continued to tingle strangely as he made his way back through the front doors of the Crescentia and inside. He closed the door behind him out of habit and found himself stilling. His thoughts lingered on Zohar and though the kiss to the back of his hand was strange, he argued that the necromancer was probably just being polite. It was probably something he did to everyone, right?

He was quickly pulled from his thoughts when he heard the sound of footsteps as they approached him.

"Drayce!" Faelem called out as he raced over to him with Blayke trailing behind him. "Is Caelem ok? Blayke wouldn't let me watch the ritual."

Relieved, Drayce glanced over at Blayke and gave him a purely grateful look. Blayke understood and silently nodded his head. Whether Ashton had warned him beforehand or not, he was grateful that Blayke had taken the incentive and kept Faelen away. Faelen didn't need to witness something like that.

"It was a little draining on him, so he's resting," Drayce answered as he gave the rover a small smile. "Both Fiorello and Kamali are watching over him."

"So what happens next?" Blayke asked as he folded his arms across his chest.

Drayce raked a hand through his hair as he looked around. "Good question. Where did Ashton and Shashi go?"

"Where else?" Blayke asked as he jabbed his thumb toward the ceiling. "The library."

Well, of course. Shashi was sure to be getting right to work. In that case Drayce better get his butt into gear also.

"Right. Let's head on up, too," Drayce said as he headed to the stairs and started his ascent. Blayke and Faelen followed him, both taking a side of him and Drayce turned to look to Faelen on his right. "Where did Nashoba take off to?"

"I let him out in the back garden," Faelen answered with a shrug before a small smile appeared on his lips. "I think he saw a squirrel."

Drayce laughed at the thought of Nashoba chasing squirrels. "Yeah, there's probably a few of them out there. Probably a few rabid acorns as well."

Faelen shared his amusement before he tilted his head to the side in curiosity. "Hey, where did Zohar go?"

"He said he had something he needed to do," Drayce replied with a slight sense of disappointment in his voice.

"Aw, I thought we'd have a new guildmate…" Faelen looked as disappointed as Drayce felt.

And he felt more so now because of the fact that Faelen seemed to have taken a liking to him also and that he truly would be a good addition to the team. But Drayce wouldn't force someone to do something they didn't want to do. And he wouldn't try to coerce them either. He knew that making such demands or relying on tricks to entrap them would only lead to bitterness and resentment.

No, Drayce truly did not want that. Trust and thoughtfulness was going to be a lot more successful for him in the long run. He wanted enthusiastic teammates after all.

"I gave him the offer and he promised to think about it," Drayce told Faelen as they found their way up the second flight of stairs. "Anyway, let's focus on what we're going to do next. We might be one step closer to finding the Radiant Moon or this spell is leading us somewhere else."

They walked to the third floor in silence and quickly entered the library. Just as Blayke said Ashton and Shashi already stood within the many book cases as they plucked off books from the shelves in hopes it would prove useful to them. And on the table in the middle of the library surrounded by a several candles and the three different kinds of mining stones was the roll of parchment that was used to be the vessel for the spell that plagued Caelem.

"Drayce," Ashton was the first to notice them enter. "How Caelem?"

"Fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow," Drayce answered. "But both Kamali and Fiorello are watching over him. Kamali is adamant that he can't detect any mana from him."

"Yes, the ritual was thankfully successful," Shashi said as he walked from the maze of bookcases with a large, thick book in his arms. "Zohar is quite knowledgeable with rituals and spells. I would like to work with him again."

Another person who had taken a liking to Zohar. If only Zohar would allow others to help him in return with whatever he was working on.

"He said that he had something he needed to do, but I gave him the offer to join whenever he's ready," Drayce said as he walked over to the mana infused scroll and paused in front of it.

He glanced down at the parchment to not see a thing. But he trusted Shashi when he said that the ritual was able to remove the spell from Caelem completely and transfer it to this piece of mana infused parchment. There was one question that had been on his mind from the beginning.

"I have a quick question; is it true that this spell had attached itself to Caelem's aura and it was through his aura that it was able to maintain itself to prevent from fading?" Drayce asked Shashi.

Shashi lifted his gaze from the book he was idly flipping through and slowly nodded his head. "Yes, that is true," he answered as he snapped the book shut in his hand and lazily folded his arms across his chest. "I take it your next question will be how long will we be able to maintain this same spell on this piece of parchment?"

Drayce grinned. It was awesome to have someone in sync with him. "I take it you have a way?"

"A temporary one, yes," Shashi replied as he set the book aside. "With the use of those stones you have gathered today I should be able to maintain a constant flow of mana to allow for the spell to continue existing. But as I said; it's temporary. It won't last more than a couple of days."

Drayce winced. "So that means we need to find this Radiant Moon of Compassion before this spell fades?"

Shashi nodded his head again. "Yes, I'm afraid so."

Well, it looked like they were going to have to push the completion of the first mission back even further. He was sure that Ramus wouldn't mind. Especially if he brought back the Radiant Moon to him as compensation.

"So that leads to the question of whether or not you were able to translate anything," Drayce said.

Unexpectedly and disappointingly, Shashi shook his head as he set down the book onto the table. "The words are invisible to the naked eye."

Drayce furrowed his brow. "So how are we going to read them?"

"That's where you come in," Shashi said as he picked up a white stone from the table and turned to face him.

Drayce dumbly pointed at himself. "Me?"

"Come," Shashi said as he held out the cloudy agate toward him with an open palm. "Take this gemstone and press it to the parchment. Keep your hand in contact with the stone."

Drayce retrieved the stone from Shashi and though cautious, he was also curious. He held the stone with his thumb and forefinger and he moved the stone toward the parchment and an unexpected shimmer of light rippled over the parchment. He instinctively drew his hand back and the light disappeared. More curious than before he quickly pressed the stone in the centre of the parchment.

The parchment shimmered with a gentle, white light. Then, seemingly flowing out from the cloudy agate, words and symbols began to form across the parchment.

"Hah?" Drayce uttered he surprise before a sense of realisation struck him. "Oh, is this what Caelem meant? About the light of a certain crystal was needed to make the words visible?"

"Yes, it seems so," Shashi said as he pressed against his side to get a close look at the parchment. "Now don't move. I'll need to take some notes."

"You can read this?" Drayce asked as Shashi began to quickly scribble down onto a blank notepad.

"Yes, all of it," Shashi replied confidently.

Drayce fell silent and remained perfectly still to allow Shashi to quickly jot everything down. He was curious as to why Shashi wanted him to the one to hold the stone against the parchment when Ashton had been in the room with him before he entered. But he figured that he wanted Ashton to scour the bookcases for anything useful.

"Interesting," Shashi murmured after he finished writing and lifted the notepad to read it once more.

"What did you learn?" Ashton was the one to ask as he headed over to them with a book in his hands also. Behind him were Blayke and Faelen, they too with books of their own. No doubt they were coerced into holding them for Ashton as he continued to research.

Shashi continued to study his notes. "It seems that this spell is known as Moon Legacy."

Seeing that Shashi didn't currently need to look at the parchment, Drayce pulled the stone away and the lettering and symbols promptly disappeared. "Not much of a legacy," he muttered idly.

"Indeed," Shashi said as he walked over to the other side of the table and stood in front of an open book. He kept his gaze on his notes as he seemingly idly ran a finger of the page of the book on the table. "I get the feeling, though, that when it was first created it was out of necessity. But resentment of having to carry it turned to spite and spite turned to forcing this burden upon others."

That was a possibility. Perhaps the spell, the Moon legacy was crafted by a Celestian in hopes of protecting the Radiant Moon from those who wish to abuse its power and status further. But the legacy needed a supply of support, a supply of mana. So somewhere down the line someone would resent having to carry such a burden. Forcing it onto someone else to save oneself isn't all that unreasonable.

Well, it was, but Drayce could understand why all the same. Being forced to carry a burden because of someone else was nothing more than completely unfair. No one should have to carry on the burden of another when they themselves were completely innocent.

"Does it say anything else?" Drayce asked.

Shashi nodded his head as he remained transfixed on his notes. "It refers to the Radiant Moon, yes, but it also refers to something else. Something about the Forgotten Princess."

Drayce perked up a little. "That must be referring to the princess who stole the Radiant Moon all those years ago," he suggested. "According to Ramus there is no more mention of her in any of the royal achieves."

"Sounds like they wiped their hands of her," Ashton said. "Makes sense in a way. It was soon after the end of the Legendary War. Tensions within the four races were still extremely high. For a member of the Earthlain royal family to commit an act of betrayal and potential sabotage would be seen as treason to many. So her punishment would have been banishment."

Drayce couldn't help but wince. "That would cause her to become even more spiteful, wouldn't it?"

"More likely than not," Ashton answered with a slight frown on his lips.

Even though she had brought it upon herself because of her own petty jealousy, Drayce still felt sorry for her. Still, she really should have known that her actions would have far reaching repercussions. Did she not see that? Or did she just not care and thought that she was above punishment?

Drayce turned to look at Shashi and indicated idly at the parchment. "Is this spell pointing in the direction of the Radiant Moon or this Forgotten Princess?"

Shashi finally lifted his gaze from his notes and looked across the table at Drayce. "It alludes to a location, however which one I do not know. It is possible that the mentioning of the Radiant Moon was a decoy in order for treasure hunters such as yourself to locate this missing princess rather than the Radiant Moon of Compassion."

From the corner of his eye Drayce noticed Ashton bristle protectively. "Wouldn't be the first time such a thing happened," he muttered.

Drayce nodded his head slowly and pressed his lips together into a thin line as he thought to himself for a moment. "Well, it could also be possible that this Forgotten Princess took the Radiant Moon with her to her grave. If this Moon Legacy is pointing to the grave of this Forgotten Princess, then it's still worth following. There are a lot of questions that need to be answered after all."

"Very true indeed," Shashi agreed.

"Is there anything else?"

"There is," Shashi said as he glanced down at the parchment that sat on the table between them. "This Moon Legacy is what is needed to reveal the location of whatever it is referring to. So you will need to take it into the labyrinth with you."

Drayce glanced down at the parchment as well. He honestly had figured as much due to what Caelem had told them earlier.

"Caelem said that when he reached a certain corner of the first floor that his back started hurting," Drayce muttered. "That must be where this spell is pointing to."

Having stayed quiet throughout the whole exchange, Faelen timidly piped up. "We're going to go look for it? What about those bandits?"

Drayce turned to look over at the young rover to find him looking completely out of his depth, and yet there was a sense of intrigue in his gaze. "Yeah," he said as a frown tugged at his lips. "Those bandits might want their treasure map back, too."

Ashton once again subtly bristled protectively. "If they know you have it, they might wait for you to do all the hard work," he warned.

Another possibility for him to contend with. Wait until he found the Radiant Moon or possible location to said treasure before they pounce and steal if from him. If they went ahead and kidnapped Caelem simply because a necromancer sensed the mana on his back, he would be safe to assume that they would do anything to get their hands on treasure and money.

"Should we tell Ramus with what we know?" Blayke suddenly questioned.

Drayce carded his hand through his hair again. "I think we should. He helped to point us in the direction of the Radiant Moon of Compassion. There is also a possibility that he had done his own researching."

"I think speaking with Ramus is a good idea," Ashton spoke up. "Mention the bandits to him and perhaps he might increase guard patrols to ward off the bandits."

Or at least deter them from doing anything stupid like kidnapping someone again. He was still incredibly pissed at them for that.

"Right, let's get going Blayke," Drayce said to Blayke before he turned back to Ashton. "I'll leave further research to you and Shashi for now. And Faelen? You stay here, too. With Kamali and Fiorello watching over Caelem, you and Nashoba are in charge of the guildhouse until I get back, ok?"

"A-ah, right!" Faelen dutifully replied.

Drayce reached out to ruffle his hair. "You'll be fine Just keep everyone inside for now, ok? We won't be long."

With that, Drayce and Blayke walked out of the library to head to the council hall.