“Verdona,” Krimsun said with a nod. “That’s all?” she asks, “After all this time? Oh well, business as usual,” Verdona said as she walked out from behind her desk. “I did tell you that there was a Nequese on my team, did you not inform your guards?” Krimsun questioned. “It must have slipped my mind,” Verdona dismissed, “Either way, it should have presented its badge.” I wanted to explain myself but thought it wise not to get involved. “Your… subordinate aside, let me give it to you straight. Crowfiend has eluded our every attempt at capture, he’s practically a ghost.” Verdona sighed. “He would have to be, for you to call for outside help,” Krimsun replied. “He’s cocky but competent, he has advertised the day and location of each of his heists and we still haven’t caught him.” Verdona began pouring a bitter-smelling tea from an ornate teapot.
“Are you sure they aren’t merely a distraction for some other illegal activity?” interrupted Reggie. The guards around us scowled, “Quite,” said Verdona as she handed a cup of tea to Krimsun, “I know everything that goes on in this city,” The sisters nodded to each other and simultaneously drank their tea. There was a moment of silence as the scent of the beverage filled the air. “Yes, that should be all then,” Krimsun finally spoke. “What? That’s it?” Reggie said incredulously. “I shall explain as we set up for the ambush, follow closely,” she then looked me dead in the eye. I simply nodded sharply in response.
As we exited and made our way onto the street, Katherine asked me, “Do you have any idea what that was with the tea? I definitely felt something magical going on there.” I thought for a moment, “I’m not too sure,” I admitted, “Elven magic isn’t something that Uncle Aldan had a lot of books on, I remember him saying that they were very secretive about it.” I thought back to the smell and how quickly we left, “Perhaps it was some kind of rapid communication or telepathy?” I suggested. “I guess it would have to be,” Katherine bit her lip a bit, “Definitely outside of the types of magic we studied.”
The streets were as crowded as earlier, but now I was much less overwhelmed by it. Instead of being captivated by the sounds and smells, I was taking a closer look. There were many Elves running about, but there were no other kinds of people. It didn’t strike me as odd before, the city was mostly populated by elves, but they had other groups of people living here. My mind was filled with questions, “Where were that Orc girl’s parents?”, “How are there no non-Elves in this crowded area?”, “Why were those Elves attacking the child?”.
Almost as if an answer from the Prime Divine, I spotted a few people further down in an alleyway as we passed by. I only caught a passing glimpse, but they appeared to be a few Dwarves and Half-Dragon in tattered clothing. It looked like they were sharing a meager meal of bread? Maybe? I began trying to look in each of the alleyways as we passed, but Reggie prodded from behind, “If you don’t keep your eyes in front of you, you’ll get knocked down again,” his face twitched a bit, “So, by all means, keep it up.” Reggie went back to his typical smug expression. Was that concern? Before I had time to dwell on it we arrived at our destination.
“Here we are,” spoke Krimsun, “The Grand Museum of Oakenveil.” Grand was an understatement. In a city full of massive and colourful buildings it stood out as exceptionally tall and ornate. It was far taller than even the tallest tree I had ever seen. The only structure more massive that I could think of was… whatever that thing was that Ignatius showed us. I shuddered as I thought of the beast called Agony. Gus sighed quietly and squinted at the building. “It’s on the top floor, isn’t it?” he asked in a pained tone. “Of course, if it was not on the top floor, how would people know it was important?” Krimsun said plainly.
We made our way into the building and saw that the museum was filled with very modern-looking displays. “The bottom floor of the museum always has the most recent displays, the higher you go, the older it gets,” Krimsun explained. Reggie raised an eyebrow, “And what do you do when the bottom floor is full?” he asked. “Well we simply make the tower one floor taller!” said an unfamiliar voice. We turned around to see an elderly elven man walking towards us. “Professor Argent, it is good to see you,” Krimsun said as she went up to shake his hand. “Good to see that you are doing well in spite of the hand you have been dealt,” the professor looked at the rest of us skeptically. “No, seriously, what do you do when the bottom floor is full?” Reggie insisted. “I already told you,” the elderly elf said plainly, “Humans are so… never mind,” he sighed, “We use magic to extend the tower further into the sky and then create a new room beneath.” His voice was like that of Aldan’s when he was first trying to teach me magic.
“Anyway, you aren’t here for the history. You are here to catch that rascal,” Professor Argent turned to Krimsun. “Indeed, let’s head upstairs so we can prepare,” she replied. The professor slowly made his way over to what looked like the side of a massive tree trunk at the back of the building. He tapped it twice with his staff and it slowly opened into a large hollow space. “Well, let’s get going shall we?” he gestured towards the passage before heading inside. We followed Krimsun inside and almost immediately, the floor began to glow with runes. I had just enough time to read them before they activated, “Close your eyes, Kat!” I yelped as I tried to cover her eyes with my hands. “What?” she said just as a powerful gust of wind shot up from the floor higher and higher up the tree’s trunk. “No no no no no no no!” Katherine shouted over and over as she tried to tune out what was happening, much to the surprise of the rest of the group.
This was not to say that Reggie and Gus were not taken off guard, but Katherine’s reaction took their focus off their own surprise. “Gee didn’t expect you to freak out more than your pet,” Reggie chuckled. For the first time, Katherine did not respond to Reggie’s prodding. Probably because she couldn’t hear him. Within a few moments, we stopped ascending and a platform extended just beneath us. We landed as lightly as if we had all merely took a small hop and landed on a bed of feathers. “Here we are!” the professor exclaimed as he opened the door, “is your human going to be alright?” he asked Krimsun as he gestured to the shaking Katherine. “Katherine will be fine,” she said as she put a hand her shoulder, “won’t you?” she said firmly, but somewhat kindly, for Krimsun at least. “Y-yes ma’am,” Katherine said as she took a breath.
We stepped into the room and I was taken aback by just how primitive it was compared to the bottom floor. In each corner of the room, it was something different. The tree’s branches and vines were stretched out and covered one side of the room, simple tools were leaned against the wall. It reminded me a lot of my old home. The opposing side had large pair of windows on the adjacent sides of the corner, allowing for a strong breeze to pass through and spin a small windmill-like contraption. Adjacent to that corner was a small pool of water with a fountain at the center, dozens of model boats floating around in it. Naturally, opposite to that was a small volcano that was somehow emitting smoke and lava despite it not being possible for it to be connected to the ground all the way up here.
In the center of all this contained chaos sat the Quatricore. It floated in the middle of a glass container and some aspect of each of the elements flowed into it from the ground. “Alright,” Reggie clasped his hands together, “Let’s start by blocking off that window!” no sooner had Reggie said this than the professor slammed his staff on the ground. “You will do no such thing!” he yelled at an impressive volume. “The four elements must be in harmony with the Quatricore, it has been this way for three millennia! To change it would be to admit defeat to that filthy brigand!” Reggie backed away, I’d never seen him at such a loss for words. Krimsun nodded, “I will make sure they do not disturb anything, any and all traps shall not interfere with the flow of the elements.” The professor calmed down, “You had better,” he said seriously as he walked back over to the entrance.
“This is clearly very important to you,” Katherine said, “We will protect it.” This took the professor a bit off-guard, he simply smiled a little and nodded. As soon as he went down the tree trunk we got to work. “Gus and Katherine shall guard the window and I will cover the tree,” Krimsun said as she looked over the room. “As discussed, Reggie and Mak, you two will conceal yourselves and ambush Crowfeind should he get past us.” We all nodded and I began to retrieve supplies from my pocket dimension. I passed out the various materials and we quickly constructed a web of thin wires that would fall upon anyone who touched the glass covering of the Quatricore. “It would be much easier if we could fabricate a fake for him to steal,” Reggie lamented. “You heard the professor,” Katherine replied, “It is the principle of the thing, if that thief steals it then he effectively proves that there is nothing that Oakenveil can do to stop him.” Krimsun nods in approval. Before Reggie can object, Gus slaps him on the back, “And if it weren’t for this added challenge, they wouldn’t need to pay us,” Reggie’s expression lightens at Gus’ point. Maybe we could do this after all.458Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBcMwIxYScs
