Arrival II

The two followed the pathway and found more and more stone structures the further they went. At some point, the material of the structures changed from stone to something that was glassy and black. Kies was able to see his reflection in it. Kies out of curiosity tried shooting his compressed wind magic at one and found that despite how fragile they looked, they were actually quite tough.

"Let me try." Ammine coated one of her hands in dark energy and punched the object. The impact shook all the dirt and moss that had accumulated on it but didn't leave a mark on the object itself. "I would ask you what this thing that is created by your kind is, but I'm guessing you're just as clueless as me."

"Yeah, I don't know either," said Kies. The two ventured on the path and they reached a giant crater. Kies peered down and saw buildings made out of the same black material. Most of them were either broken or cracked. In the center of the ruins laid a tower that was missing half of its side but surprisingly, he could see that the staircase inside was still intact.

Kies suspected that the tower was where they needed to go and that they were to make their way down into the crater. Kies looked around for a path down but found nothing. The sides were all too steep to scale down and it looked like flying was their only way. Kies looked at Ammine and said, "Hey, can you fly us down there? I don't see how we're supposed to get down there otherwise."

Ammine opened her wings and stretched them, then without giving a warning, picked up Kies. "Wooah! At least say something first!"

The two flew down into the ruins and dropped down in front of the tower.

"Perfect timing." A voice called out to them. Although it sounded different, Kies immediately recognized it. It was the voice of the spirit that had been helping him recently. A cloaked figure walked from the side of the tower and greeted them. "I didn't expect you to bring a demon along," the figure said.

Kies raised an eyebrow. Now that they were closer, Kies could hear static from the figure's voice whenever they spoke.

"How many of you are left?" Ammine abruptly asked.

The figure held up their hand and motioned them to follow. "Let's go to a better-suited place to talk first."

The two followed the figure to a box that was slightly bigger than them. It looked similar to the ones that they had tried breaking before. The figure placed their hand on the box and the box started glowing. An outline of a square formed on the box and vanished, revealing stairs going down. The figure descended down the steps and the two followed right behind them. The light in the passageway was dim and blue. Kies couldn't see the bottom of the stairs but judging from the sounds of their footsteps echoing, it was considerably long.

They made it to the bottom after a few minutes or so and were met with a wall. The figure once again placed his hand on the wall and it opened up, revealing a large room packed with strange machines. The figure walked up to the table that was in the middle and sat down and motioned Kies and Ammine to do the same. The two seated themselves across from the figure while still looking around at the bizarre things that surrounded them.

The figure tapped the table to call Kies and Ammines attention. "Let's begin. To answer the question from before, there are two. Other than the one next to you, I am the only other Aeos that is alive, but I'm afraid that I won't be alive for much longer."

"What do you mean by that?" Ammine asked.

"You see, I'm poisoned. It's miraculous how I managed to hold on long enough for us to be speaking face to face. Else, you would be listening to a recording of me instead."

"Poisoned? Can't you just switch bodies? I remember that your kind is able to do that. I also believe that your kind is immune to poison since your body is just a shell and your real body is a small crystal."

"Wait, what!?" Kies interrupted, slamming his hands on the table in surprise at what was just said. "What did you say we are?"

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