The Device

*Early the next day*

Lillian and Araval sit in the reading room of their home sipping on tea, the steam slithering upwards as Vyn sits opposite them.

"I was pleased that you both accepted my offer. I can sympathise that these are uncharted waters, and nerves are high." Vyn takes a sip of his tea and burns his mouth, forcing him to recoil in pain and place it hurriedly back down.

"Well, Grand Magi-" Lillian is cut off from speaking by Vyn.

"Vyn is fine, Lillian. I never liked my title much anyway."

"Well, Vyn, you are correct that nerves are high due to these worrying times. Xzeralaki threatens our planet, and our only way to track her is through the Primordial Artefacts that she is collecting, and only you have a way to find them, which may or may not even work." Lillian speaks with a stern tone as she stirs in her unsettled.

"You are very passionate; I like that. You have been gracious enough to open your home to me, and not only that, you are willing to pin your hopes on me. It shows you have a remarkable amount of trust in me, so I won't waste any more of your time." Vyn stands up slowly as his ageing body creaks and groans.

Without verbal or physical actions, a door materialises from dust particles almost as tall as the ceiling between the three Elves. The door itself is plain, with no fancy design or intricacies, just a basic brown door with a metal door knob to open it. Vyn opens the door and extends his arm to Lillian and Araval, inviting them inside as they stare cautiously, looking at each other as they carefully stand.

"If you move any slower, then I may die of old age." Vyn chuckles, trying to cut the tense atmosphere. "You are both capable mages, so you have nothing to worry about."

"I'd agree if it were anyone but you." Araval looks on pensively as he and Lillian follow Vyn into the dark room beyond the door as it creaks closed, encasing them in complete darkness.

Lillian and Araval stand tense and alert, the ever-present danger looming in their minds. Suddenly, a whirring noise quietly emits from below, almost like a machine powering up from beneath their feet, as the rumble increases and a dim glow fills the dark, rising high above them, gaining in brightness. Vyn, who was imperceptible in the pitch black, is now visible and only a few feet away from them as the entire room lights up and what a spectacle it is, a true marvel worthy of the utmost respect, even among the elite Artisans of Volmyr. 

"This room we stand in is the tool I created to track the Primordial Artefacts. I intended it to be smaller, but the more I devised and built, the larger it became, which is the final product. Well, nearly final product." Vyn speaks enthusiastically; his old body seems renewed with passion as he speaks fondly of his life's work. 

As the room brightens more, illuminating all the nooks and crannies previously hidden in the dark, the realisation that this room isn't just made from magic, but also engineering. Pipes, cogs and gears fill the walls, going twenty feet downwards in an organised fashion. Even the floor and ceiling are littered with mechanisation as they all coalesce towards the centre of the room, where a circular metal ball floats, held aloft by a piece of curved metal that spins slowly around the ball with a small circular hole in the centre of the curved metal. Lillian and Araval walk with Vyn on the platform to the centre of the room towards the floating ball.

"I understand why this had taken you so long to create. This room is truly incredible craftsmanship, Vyn." Araval slowly spins around, absorbing all the information he can from what he is witnessing.

"So, what's the issue with your machine? What's the missing piece?" Lillian firmly asks, straight to the point. She understands the situation and isn't in the mood to share pleasantries.

"Oh, yes. Well, look here," the floating ball lifts, and a panel below it slides open, revealing a large inactive gem. "This is the problem. The device works by using considerable magic to locate artefacts that exude great magical power, of which there are only the Primordial Artefacts."

The panel slides closed, and the floating ball lowers again as the three gather around it.

"If you look at the floating ball here, you may pick up how it works." Vyn brushes his hand against the ball as it keeps revolving slowly.

Lillian stares more intently at the floating ball. "Is that...our planet?" 

"Spot on, Lillian. It is indeed the very planet we live on, Aerth, with all its continents to the tiniest of islands. When enough magic is channelled, the circular hole, or the 'marker' on the curved metal, moves and focuses on a point that exudes massive magical energy that reflects from our world. It is complex, and it took me many decades to reach this stage. I am hoping with both of your help, we can charge the gem sufficiently to activate the device."

"Have you ever activated the device before?" Araval curiously asks as he stares at the device, still compiling information in his head while stroking his beard.

"not effectively. It only works for ten or so seconds before it stops again. The device uses immense magic to operate, and I don't have enough to charge it." After many years of frustration and failures, Vyn looks at his device with dejection.

"Then let's see what three old mages can do." Lillian confidently utters while cracking her neck.

Vyn perks up hearing the positive news. The orb floats up as the panel opens, and the gem lifts. They encircle it with palms outstretched and begin to funnel their mana into the gem. Sweat drips down their brows as they focus intently, causing the gem to glow blue dimly, slowly getting brighter and brighter, continuing for a few minutes until they are exhausted, expending nearly their entire mana stores.

"This is as good as it'll get Lillian, Araval. Let's see If it will work now." Vyn crosses his fingers as the gem lowers, and everything returns to its natural place. 

Vyn hovers his hand over the device and closes his eyes. The slow revolutions become faster and faster as the ball uses more magic, as it gains in volume, gyrating with such speed it could rip limbs off if they got too close. Lillian and Araval stare intently, their hair blown around by the powerful force generated until the device abruptly halts its process—the marker locked over the continent of Varenheim, specifically The Sovereignty.

"An Artefact is here in The Sovereignty?" Lillian stresses, knowing Xzeralaki may be closer than she thought.

"No...wait." Vyn painfully ekes out. His body focused on the device.

An orange light appears on the marker, directly over Volmyr, before the light sputters and fades before lighting up bright again multiple times. The orb shifts the Marker south towards a series of small islands. In Vyn's mind, through scattered and fragmented images, he can see the journey southbound, like a bird watching from above, as it travels to the islands, resting on one more significant particular Island as the marker's light begins to fade and sputter again as a ceremonial box comes into view, adorned in blood before locking on to the Island and not moving again, the light slowly outlining the Island in orange on the orb.

"Is this the location, Vyn?" Araval impatiently asks, leaning in close, almost captivated by the device in action.

"..Ye..yes." Vyn breaks the connection and takes a gasping breath before falling to one knee, exhausted. "It had issues initially and focused on our location, but I assume it was due to never being operational." Vyn shakily stands up as Araval and Lillian offer a hand to assist him, which Vyn accepts. "Thank you both. Now, let's see where the marker ended up. It was an island of some sort, but I couldn't tell where."

The three of them look toward the orb where the marker settled. Vyn traces his finger from The Sovereignty across the device south of Volmyr, across the Valandras Sea, to the marker's resting spot.

"The warring island of Hjalthor." Vyn scratches his head with worry. "I believe a Primordial Artefact may be held within a box on the Island. We must make haste and decide our course of action now that we have a destination. 

"Can an artefact really be there?" Araval asks Vyn nervously while stroking his beard.

"If it is there, then teleportation is out of the question. Those brutes on the Island are savages, and I wouldn't want to risk teleporting them into a bloodbath." Lillian adds before quickly hushing herself.

"Them?" Vyn curiously asks, staring intensely. "You want to send a party in your place?"

Realising her slip-up, Lillian relents.

"Araval and I have much to research here, and a party of adventurers are willing to go in our stead." Lillian annoyingly divulges information she would rather have kept to herself for now.

"Then I will have company in Hjalthor. I would love to meet the people I'll spend time with." Vyn enthusiastically voices as he smiles kindly at Lillian and Araval as they stare briefly at Vyn and then at each other.

"Okay, Vyn. We'll take you to them. They may be rough around the edges, and I'd personally pick more suitable candidates, but these are the only people I trust enough with this task. Follow me." Araval exists in the device room as Lillian and Vyn follow on, crossing the halls to the mural entrance to the Sanctum as the door begins to dissolve

"Oh, very fancy cosmic door you have made, much more interesting than mine." Vyn chuckles as the door dissolves completely, giving way to Meetlemire floating and bouncing back and forth like a beachball between Garrick and Kyra. At the same time, Jessolyn and Symeera sit and watch, giggling.

Lillian and Araval stare wide-eyed, dumbfounded at their behaviour, and more embarrassed than they thought possible.

"Uh-this is-uhh.." Lillian stammers, too flustered to speak. "I-uh-"

"Ahaha! Great skill using the float spell, young Meetlemire! Your parents were cheeky like that, too!" Vyn's old body ignites with a kid-like energy as he rushes over, giddy at the spectacle.

"He...uh moved pretty quickly there." Araval stammers.

"I guess there's another child added to the mix," Lillian replies.

End Chapter