KEMAL

"Greetings, Kem,

I wish I had better news of your Trainee, I really do — now, more than ever, I feel a sense of guilt, of responsibility for what happened. I know you, so I shall not hold it any longer.

Kayal is dead.

He was given a proper Storm Warden send-off and his crescent blade cast into the volcanic forge. He was interred in the crypts, safe from harm or disruption so he may find the peace he could not find in life.

I'm so sorry. I know you would tell me that what happened was not in my control, that Kayal, and all the other Trainees knew what they were walking into. Told over and over as we were — that if they had any doubts, none would judge them for turning away from this life. I wish I could say he did not suffer long, but that would be a lie.

Fenrer revealed the truth in an Auric Trance, and Kemal, I beseech you to continue work on finding this damned cult before they take any more lives and spread more blood. There is something wrong happening in Elvkana. Something wrong and rotting the ground out from underneath us. Now, more than ever, we must find the truth so Kayal's, and all the other missing Warden's sacrifice wasn't for nothing. I shall be returning soon enough after setting up an outpost in Irimount.

I suppose I should at least share the next bit of news.

Yuven survived.

It is strange how life continues to show its cycle. For a death, there is life... would that it did not happen to two children who didn't deserve it. Yes, I know Kayal was in his twenties, capable of making his own informed choices... but Kem... I live two centuries. That is a child to me, even if the Avaerilian lifespan is so different from yours. Even as a Storm Warden... he still had so much life.

I have started to question how many times my heart can break... if I can even take it anymore.

I hope you are taking due caution. You must be, as our Oathbound connection remains unchanged, but I still have that constant fear. I do not like being powerless to prevent someone's death. Take care of your Trainees... send them home. We need to get to work when I return, and I refuse to let the cult escape my grip when we are so close to the answer they've been trying to hide in Obscura Texts.

~ Neven Lotayrin."

He kept his thumb pressed against the letter as he stood in the damp dome with the Obscura Text which drove Neven out of his own mind. Yet he still lacked the temptation to dig himself into it with the same stubborn viciousness Neven showed when he tried to pull him out of its crimson clutches. So... that's how it is. He put his knuckles against his hips, tightening his grip on the thick parchment of Neven's tearful words and wavering conviction. It must be bad to cause you to doubt so much. Over the stones, he came closer to the magick bubble which contained the Obscura Text from outside and inside influence. In the darkness, a starry connection rippled from his soul and dissipated into the crushing atmosphere ahead. Nev... we are going to solve this. That is the oath we swore... to protect, no matter the cost. No victory without sacrifice.

He snapped his fingers and the barrier dissipated back into the air. The Obscura Text continued to spin in lazy, slow circles. I know I will not get a straight answer from you, but I am also not against keeping you handy. You have knowledge, I can accept this, you just refuse to show it. You drive people mad when they dig too deep. You leave Aurus to try and decipher whatever aura you extrude, often leaving them in a long daze. You haven't dealt with me. Kemal took it into both his hands. Its spine rippled when he brushed his thumb through the tiny tendrils. "What did you show my Oathbound?" He switched his grip onto the supple black cover. "What did you show him that almost drove him out of his mind?"

Because I'm the one who asks questions incessantly.

He tucked his finger over the first pages, the temptation high. Curled against his own knuckles, he pocketed it instead after gaining permission from the Keeper who ran the Athenaeum for study of its lack of contents. Out of its own personal cage, he closed the door behind him, not bothering with the multitude of magick locks anymore as he squeezed his way through the deep stacks full of thick, titleless tomes. Onto the stone stairs, he released himself from the constriction and tasted brine on the air when he left through the vine-wrapped doors and out into the streets of Asairai. He had set his Trainees to a training schedule without need of him. Though Neven is right, I need to send them back home, not only are things about to get too much here... they're more than ready to take their Oaths.

He set most of the Storm Wardens in positions of defense until Neven returned, taking only his small team out on excursions as far as the crystal cove and not beyond to spare Neven his grief. Julis himself appeared to have a large interest in both the cove and the ruins where they stumbled upon the strange Derelict with the ability to talk and wield magicks. We haven't found any others like that, and I don't believe it to be a Corruptor either... no... I think it was something else.

It was quiet in the treehouse without Maria or Neven. Unease filled the Warden lodge whenever he entered. On the frontlines against a cult, he hungered for an end as much as Neven longed for one. Let's see what I need to get done today. Another investigation to the cove might be in order, especially with this book. It and those ruins were what Neven babbled about the most... He took it out again to tap it with his knuckle. You may not be able to speak, but I may not have to read you to use you. Downstairs into him and Neven's vault of information, he tossed it onto the table to consider the giant map of the Elvkana continent, with home so far away, the Hanekan archipelago off the map. Neven used threads to connect places of interest to each other, but it remained incomplete from when he last made a change.

It looks like a bunch of nonsense... Kemal dared not shift anything even if Neven made the connections deep in the throes of the Obscura created murk in his mind. I'm sure Neven will figure it out when he comes back — with a clearer head. Gods know he needed it after all of this. He leaned against the table and traced the lines of the map, including Neven's haphazard, self-made threads. Though he investigated each one, nothing came up save for the ruins, and an even deeper investigation gave them nothing except what appeared to be an ancient outside bathing pool empty of water. He twisted his neck upwards at the sounds of a door knocking, and he left the map behind to return to the main level of the treehouse after swiping the Obscura Text in his hands.

Julis stood at the door when he answered it. "Captain," he said, his swirling blue eyes gazing over him. "I'm ready to go check on the crystal cove. Aine took Hora over to the ruins to keep watch."

"Good. Let's get to work so Neven can come back to some progress." Kemal clapped Julis on the back and led him to the farthest gate which led to the beach Neven surfed. On the crossing, Kemal listened to the waves clash against the sands, a constant push and pull of the flow. "Sooner we handle this cult, sooner we can get back to Euros and have a break."

"You're telling me." Julis kept pace with a sigh. "I never liked this place since I got posted here."

Kemal hummed. "I remember you telling Neven that it felt like the ground was about to open up and swallow you." He put a hand on Julis' chest to stop his fellow Warden from walking forward. "If you don't mind, can you describe what you meant back then?"

Julis nodded. "I can certainly try, Kem, but... it might not make sense to a Non-Aurus."

"Aye, try me, I helped take care of one."

"Fenrer is far more powerful than I," Julis said with a chuckle. "Very well." Galactic swirls spun the blue seas near his pupils, precise control when he turned in place. First, to the ocean for a cursory glance, then back to Asairai before settling on the ground beneath their feet. "Beneath us, it is distant but I feel the world boiling deep within hidden networks... it is groaning, suffering from something deeper still." The blues took on the shine of an Auric Trance, and Kemal kept a hand on Julis' shoulder to keep him anchored to their world. "Ghosts follow the trail, casting it in crimson. Hunted by the creatures of the pus-filled realms..."

"Derelicts," Kemal mumbled.

Julis swallowed hard. "It coats the entire caverns in rot, in decay."

"Julis." Kemal held on tighter.

Opalescent flames flickered in his pupils, but Julis shook out his head with a weary smile. "As I said, this place has always been unpleasant to me, though I suppose that comes with the dark magick used around us," he explained. "As for the Obscura Text, Neven more than likely did see something that his mind simply couldn't comprehend."

"As it goes with those texts." Kemal continued leading the way, keeping an eye on Julis' pace. "I don't doubt Nev saw something... it is what he saw and created a domino effect in him that concerns me... which is why we're going to these places he reportedly saw and taking the Obscura Text with us." Fine sand turned into thicker pebbles the closer they came to the coast and cove. Droplets sounded from the small tidepools, but Kemal squeezed himself deeper into the cave, his chest pushed against the rock as he tried not to wriggle too much as he used his hands to guide himself inside.

Bio-luminescent coral glowed underneath the water as a small cascade blocked the entrance into the wide sea. Runes and images painted across the walls in varying colors, spread by the glow of the organisms in the cave. "We were able to determine that most of these runes are actually Elvkin words," Kemal told Julis as he traced himself along the crescent of the cave. "As for the imagery though, we haven't been able to figure it out. Neven theorized it may be some sort of map, but..."

Julis looked around the cove, the coral sending the glow into his eyes and scattering it with stars. "I do... sense something here, but I can't pinpoint it." He pushed his hand against the glistening wall. "It feels like... an opening, is the best way I can describe it. Untainted. The ruins had a similar... ancient feel to them when I spread my senses through the area last." Julis dropped his hand from his examination as he studied the painted images. "Have you drawn these?"

"To the best of my ability," Kemal said with a shrug. "I've put them somewhere safe for further study." He joined Julis at the wall. "How old are we talking, Julis? Can you discern age?"

Julis rubbed the back of his neck. "Hm... not well," he admitted. "I am also hearing..." He narrowed his eyes, and came nose to nose with the wall. "I am hearing something."

"What?" Kemal couldn't resist the edge of excitement and a possible answered question he carried.

Julis' gaze flicked from side to side. "I... I don't know what it is. Best I can explain is that it is akin to a rumble, a deep quake, but..." He sucked in his lips with a shake to his head. "Maybe I need more time."

Kemal nodded. "That'll have to do for now. I don't want to keep Aine and Hora out there with the cult disappearing Wardens off the face of the world and us with no way of tracking them down." He clapped Julis on the back. "Until we're certain as to what this place is, most we can do is hunker down and weather the storm until Neven returns."

"You think he'll have figured out something back home?" Julis asked.

"I hope so," Kemal muttered. "I'll be happy if he gave himself a break."

"This is Neven we're talking about." Julis chuckled and followed him out of the cove once more without hesitation or question.

"Well, he should be in much better spirits when he returns. Yuven survived the Expulsion Event," Kemal said.

Julis bounced on his heels. "Incredible, so Warden Ollain's theories and tests worked?"

"It looks like it, from the letter Neven sent."

Relief spread through Julis' brow. "You have no idea how much of a weight that lifts," he whispered. "I have not cleansed a Corruptor myself... but to feel their pain, to be deep within their darkness with no way to halt its spread..." He put a hand on his heart and clenched his jaw. "I've always been a little afraid that Aurus saved their lives only to commit them to further misery."

"We've walked this line before, Julis." Kemal walked in step with him. "We weren't going to get answers without sacrifice, and now we have an answer to the Corruption. Next... let's get answers about this cult."

Julis smacked his hand against his. "Let's."

Kemal urged him to take the lead, but slowed to a stop at a rumble in his soul. He slowed to a stop and closed his eyes. Back into the starlit fields, he frowned as the creek of stars which tied him to Neven shuddered. Ice crawled over it, but stopped at the half-way point. It cracked with grief and old memories flashing in the twilight sea beneath him.

...Nev?