26 A Clue to Find Valenxia

Inside the spacious room of the mansion, the townsfolks celebrated after their bodies turned out fine, every single one of them have sworn they could have died at that moment.

Broad tables were laid out on the open, above it was teeming with various sets of menu, especially meat, desserts and the like. The commoners were filled with glee since it was rare for them to enjoy such treats. They quickly piled their plates with foods within their reach.

The floor was glossy like ice, it had a swirling patterns on its surface, it reflected the people who stood on top of it. They had a cheerful smile every time they conversed, letting the frustration from earlier escape their souls.

On a certain table, Celina sat with the girls, her fingers hugged a crystal glass, glinting as she gently shook it, swaying the blood colored wine inside it. She then let the rim of the glass rest upon her thin lips, drinking. With a gulp, a warm flow slid in her throat, she had a satisfied smile as her cheeks flushed.

The other girls drink their wines as well, while Shiela just sat there with her glass still full and untouched.

Celina smiled at her. "Come on, you should at least try."

Shiela chuckled shyly. "I'm sorry but I don't drink."

They got bothered when a loud, spunky voice stood out from the noises of the crowd, it was Radmun's boastful noise. Celina was forced to turn her attention towards him.

Radmun stood atop a table, the men around him were praising him, he made flamboyant gestures as he described his exaggerated stories.

"Then I went whish, wosh hayaa! Then I fired that guy, and I didn't know he was still alive he was persistant, he had hundred goons which I quickly---"

Celina sighed, she returned her eyes to her table, she found it odd that Don has been silent for a while, he stared the floor in a state of trance, he must be thinking about something.

"So Cel, what do you plan to do now?" Shiela said.

"I might continue my journey with Blue, I'm sorry I couldn't come with you" She said.

Previously, their plan was for Celina and Radmun to make a contract with a familiar, after they were done, both of their teams will rendezvous on this town. And together they will seek the legendary sword, which was commonly referred to as the Sword of Righteousness, or when she was still on Light City, it was called as the Valenxia of Angels.

With the event turning unexpected, things have become complicated.

Don threw a stare at her. "Celina, I've been wondering this for a while but how are you gonna find Gamiz?" He said.

"I don't know, but he mentioned he will meet up with prince Hiro, so I have to assume he's going to the City of Lanzud." Celina said.

"Hmm, that's quite a long journey, there will be many uncertainty once your reach your destination. I mean he could not be there." Don said.

Celina smiled and shook her head. "Don't worry, there are still excellent sealers besides Gamiz in Lanzud, I hope they can unseal this spell." She said.

Don rested his worn out face upon his arm. "You know, I'm no seer, but it's only a matter of time before King Dersim succeeds and overtakes the entire territory of Thesur. Currently, most of the towns, forts and cities are barely holding against an army of demons, at some point, every land will be retaken." His eyes became serious, he pointed at her. "Celina, once you're Don unsealing your magic, as quick as possible regroup with our team, because only a Light Mage can wield that weapon."

Don proceeded to a heavy topic, he breathed out and became nervous, his lips seemed hesitant. "I've clearly heard what the demon said, we only have five months left before the upper demons will be summoned. And once they do, not only Thesur is at risk, but the entire land of Altheon as well."

Celina placed the glass on the table with a dismayed look. Ever since she was a child she disliked being pressured by anyone, especially by her parents, relatives and even peers. Right now, her responsibilities were piling up before she could even lift a muscle and act upon it.

Her eyes hinted a feeling of being discouraged. "So do you have any idea where the sword is located?" She said.

"Unfortunately, not. But I have clues." He unrolled an old paper, with its borders tattered and its colors was mottled with orange smears, indicating it was ancient.

Celina stared curiously upon it. "What is this?"

"A document written by Melias' husband." Don said.

Staring at the writings, they were runes which she was familiar with, however, she got struck when she noticed there were uncanny symbols she couldn't recognize. It was mixed with the runes, the runes had sharp tails, resembling east asian texts but more curvy and mystical, each symbol can be translated as a word or a phrase in their common tongue. The letter had three paragraphs and there was a title just above it, it wrote "The Beginnings."

Don continued. "According to some archeologist this piece was said to be one of the early attempts to create runes, but I disagree."

"What are you getting at?" Celina said.

Don smiled. "You must have noticed that there are symbols you don't recognize on the paper. I've researched these symbols across several texts and documents, but this symbols is quite unique, others have dismissed it as mystic codes since the symbols were only used on this piece of paper alone. But it is odd if you think about it."

Celina nodded. "Go on."

"They are not similar to runes since these symbols don't tap into the workings of mana. Runes often command a mana to do certain task, however these ones have no effect. It doesn't make sense that the forefathers of magic would just make up some nonesense. In which I conclude." Don rose the paper infront of her face. "If this is not a magic related document, then there is some sort message hidden underneath this writings, Melias' husband is trying to tell us something."

Celina chuckled as though amused. "You're amazing Don, but how did you arrive on that conclusion?"

"Check our history one more time, Melias' sons fought for the sword and thus she was forced to hide it, with no one else knowing, except for her and her husband they had to leave something. And let me ask you this, if you were one of them and when the time comes how would you let anyone else find it? That's right, you're gonna leave a document, but make it subtle so that not anyone can easily locate it." Don jolted the paper in his hand.

The other girls got amused. "That's a good deduction, but do you have any idea where it is located?" One girl said.

Don sighed. "This is currently my progress." He laid out the paper again on the table. "See, every runes written on this document are just distractions, they are not part of the code. It strikes me how there are three paragraphs upon this writings, when all of their writings are composed of just one paragraph. Also, remember the title, "The beginnings." Which I deduced that somehow it refers to the first symbols on each paragraph." He paused briefly, then continued. He pointed on the upper right corner of the paper, there were two runes written on it, now that Don has mentioned it, it kinda looked out of place. "I found this two symbols odd, thus, anything uncanny has some significance into it."

They were the symbols for 'null' and 'earth'.

Don proceeded. "According to some archelogists these could just have been symbolic meanings. But I have to disagree again, this is a clue to decipher this code, because in the first place it doesn't make any sense. Not to mention, the first symbols on each paragraph is telling us something."

With their attentions focused on him, he asked the maids and borrowed a quill and an ink from the mansion. When he acquired it, he used it to trace the unrecognizable symbols on a clean sheet of paper.

He then borrowed and took a white paint and a pen-sized brush, when he got the tools, he erased some of the edges and parts of the symbols until they become recognizable. Then it wrote "Fall of Glory", "Eclipse", "Dragon Mouth".

Celina mused it. "Woah Don, did you figure this out all on your own?"

Don chuckled. "Well half of it, and for the other half was from.. someone." He eyes were astrayed as though wanting to avoid the topic.

Regardless, Celina stared at it and tried to figure it out for herself.

Seeing Celina confused, Don grabbed the quill and showed them what he just did. "Basically, the first symbols on every paragraph were unrecognizable because they were runes written on top of another runes. And the rune symbol for earth was written on top of all of these symbols. Remember on the upper right of this paper, it clearly wrote, 'null' and 'earth' which meant to erase the symbol for earth. And when I did, I ended up with these symbols." Don said.

Celina nodded when she got enlightened. "That's amazing, but do you have any idea what these means?" She said, referring to the decyrpted symbols.

Don took a map and laid it flat beside the document, his finger ran to the south part of the map. "Fall of Glory, probably refers to the south." Then he pointed on a two jagged tails of the continent, it resembled a mouth of a dragon that was wide open, there was an island between it. "If I have to bet, this is the place, the island of Xenrush."

Celina stared upon it intently. "Then, what does the word eclipse mean?"

Don crossed his arms, he leaned upon his chair. "Sadly, I'm still stuck on that part, it could refer to the time where there will be an eclipse or it could refer to anything else."

Celina smiled. "Anyway, you're quite amazing, you know, my journey won't be the same without your presence."

Don cleared his throat and he flushed a little bit. "I don't need your flattery." He said shyly.

Shiela on her seat, tilted her head, her eyes surveyed the crowd. "If only Turner was here." She said worriedly.

Celina fell into silence when she scanned the people.

Don's eyes broadened, a thought pierced his mind as he remembered the exact words Turner said earlier, then when a realization prickled him, he sneered and sprang up from his chair. He slammed his arm upon the table. "Turner is in danger!"

Celina got alarmed, she stood up quickly. "What do you mean?"

Don snorted. "That fool, when he said he wanted to settle things, he could have meant with that Blue person."

Celina gasped, she fleed from her seat and crossed the room quick. Don reacted fast as well, he took a knife from his trousers then hurled it through the opened window.

The people's eyes were stolen when Celina strode loudly across the room.

Shiela and the girls were left alone on the table. Shiela sighed, then she went off from her seat and pursued the two, in a walking pace.

Don stood on a rooftop of a building, he threw a knife as far as he could, then swapped locations with it, then he threw another, he did it repeatedly allowing him to teleport vast distances.

While Celina ran she eyed the dim town, the buildings engraved a shadowed sculptures on the starry sky. Its streets were dead quiet, the corners were jet black, the only light sweeping the streets were from the shimmering stars from above.

She noticed Don was already far ahead, thus she hastened her steps to catch up with him.

***

Blue lied down upon a grassy field, the soft curled grasses pressed unto his back, cold breeze brushed upon his face, swaying his long hair strands slightly. He closed his eyes and rested himself, as though he was one with the world, dwelling in his inner self, seeking for peace.

But then his focus fell apart, crunching noise of footsteps were coming, turning loud. Blue lifted his head and traced the sound. A person under the heavily shaded forest approached him. The weak moonlight fell upon the person, revealing his features, he wore an armor, and held a sword, his face was familiar but it took a minute for Blue to recognize him.

Blue lifted himself and sat upon the grasses. It was one of the companion of the Light Mage woman, Blue narrowed his cold eyes. "What do you want?" He said with a sharp voice.

Turner sneered, his expression was riddled with contempt and his presence was asking for a fight. "I want you to stay away from her!" He said billegerently.