Present and Future Part I

The inside of the ruins was just as Phoebe expected it to be, dark, cold and humid, the damp smell of still water was a pungent proof of how old that place was. Marcus made his way through the narrow corridors of the dungeon until they reached a more spacious room furnished with a carved out stone table in the middle, upon squinting her eyes, the high elf noticed strange patterns engraved onto the walls around them.

"Well-" The adventurer put the lit torch on a rusty metallic stand on the left side of the room and then proceeded to take a seat on the stone table. He then took out a small booklet and a pencil from his amalgamation of jackets. "Now, since you come from the royalty line of high elves, what can you tell me about Zenith? Any information regarding the study of magic would be great."

Phoebe crossed her arms and closed her eyes for a bit as she thought.

'While I have never personally been there, I think just about anything I tell him should be enough right?'

"Where to begin? Us high elves have an easier time mastering different magical elements than our lesser brethren."

"Hmmm…" He was quickly jotting it down on the book. "I could surmise that much, but what about mana capacity? Are you high elves capable of unleashing more spells than them?"

"Naturally, we are superior in that aspect as well."

"I see…" He noted it down and then turned the page. "Can you tell me more about this discrepancy? How come two seemingly close races seem to have such a big social gap?"

"There used to be two major factions in Zenith: the high houses and royal family, three if you count the low elven riff raff. They flocked to us like flies, it wasn't long until our fair city became choked full with their kind."

"I see… so Zenith wasn't always populated by elves but instead, high elves. Can you tell aught about your former king?"

She vehemently shook her head.

"My mother never told me about him, or why he left us."

He nodded while finishing writing down his notebook.

"Thank you very much for your time, miss…"

"Ayla. I don't have a last name."

"Very well." He bowed to her. "Thank you, Miss Ayla." He then stood up from the table and went to rummage through a worn wooden chest in the corner of the room. "Now for your reward…"

He started to pull out all manner of trinkets, accessories, weapons and armor out of the chest, a seemingly endless amount in fact which made Phoebe raise an eyebrow as she asked.

"Is that chest a relic?"

"Ah, well observed Miss Ayla. This is in fact a relic, an infinite storage of items which can be accessed later with the power of the mind. I know not how it works but it can even store food items without spoiling."

"Huh… that's convenient."

"Very much so." He kept going through his collection before he stumbled across what he wanted to give her. "Ah, there we go."

He pulled what at first seemed to be a simple stone, once he turned around with it on the palm of his hands Phoebe noticed a faint glow coming off of it.

"What is that piece of rock?"

"This is what I call a prismatic stone, it can be found in the depths of this ruin and the most interesting part of it." He pointed at the ground. "It conducts magic."

With no chanting or any effort from his part, the stone shot a thin string mana that was able to carve the stone floor in a straight line.

"Woah… you want to give us this?"

"Is this not enough for the information?"

"Oh no, this is more than enough." She noticed the moment her hand touched the stone which was no bigger than her palm. A sense of foreboding was starting to fill her as if something was definitely wrong with that piece of rock. "Though I have to ask, why are you giving me this important piece of material? Isn't it rare?"

"To be frank, I get the feeling this won't be the last time I'll see you, Miss Ayla. Take this as an investment for the future so to speak."

Phoebe narrowed her eyes but she was satisfied nonetheless with the result. For her, what seemed to be trivial information ended up helping him tremendously as the moment the high elf left, the man quickly scrambled through the chest as he pulled out a dark burlap sack which was dripping some sort of dark red liquid from it.

"Finally…" He muttered. "I can finally confirm this with my own eyes…!"

He clutched the sack tightly as he ran into the darkness of the corridor that led deeper into the ruins.

Meanwhile, as Phoebe emerged from the darkness, she noticed Leona standing by the entrance as she was striking falling leaves with small bursts of wind magic, shredding some but not all that came into her view.

"Leo-" The high elf cleared her throat. "Miss Ravness?"

"Ah." She turned around once she heard her voice. "How did it go?"

"Uneventful, which is a good thing. I brought this with me."

Once Phoebe opened her hand, the stone which was showing just a weak rainbow color was now shining dazzlingly which forced Leona to squint her eyes and look away.

"What is that?!"

"I don't know, some stone capable of harnessing mana." The high elf closed her hand and it dimmed the brightness a bit, making it possible for them to look at it. "It seems oddly similar to the prismatic pendant Queen Eleonora handed to me, though I don't think they are the same thing…"

"Not at all. If they were, my pendant would also be shining like that."

The high elf quickly pocketed the gem and glanced around for anyone looking at them since a person with a shiny hand in the middle of a town would attract unwanted attention.

"In any case." Phoebe walked past Leona towards the ship. "We should leave this town the first thing in the morning, something feels off here."

"Agreed." The tactician began to walk alongside her. "It may be because of this ruin, the flow of mana feels awfully strong here."

They walked to the ship and once aboard, the two noticed Krieg sitting by the engine room's entrance alone with a burlap sack beside him. Upon seeing them climb up he stood up and slightly bowed.

"Welcome back Leona."

"Did the two of them already left?"

She asked him and with a slow nod he answered.

"Just a while ago. Sir Reinhardt left a few supplies that he bought with the coin you gave him."

The tactician shook her head.

"Why would he use the coin I gave him to buy things for us?"

"A knight's pride." Krieg explained. "Were I in his place, I would've done the same."

"Out of pride?"

He nodded.

"Sometimes we just have to do the right thing for the right person." He turned to the burlap as he started to pull a few food items from inside while he muttered under his breath. "Just like your family did for me…"