"Since Arthur decided to burn that tower to the ground, how are we supposed to get inside?" Curtis asked as the group looked at the plateau.

A deep crack formed in the ground and started to move around them.

"Considering the circumstances, I'm going to cheat a little bit," Arthur replied as the ground they were standing on began to rise up. Arthur then looked back down to the father who was looking up at them in amazement. "We'll be back for you all after we're done inside. Find someplace to hide in the meantime."

With the power of Arthur alone the ground flew up to the top of the plateau where several minotaurs were already gathered waiting for them, several of the residents of the plateau were down on the ground unmoving with their wings already ripped off.

"I'll deal with these," Kathyln stated.

Several frozen twisters of ice formed around the minotaurs, launching razor sharp blades of ice around towards them. Several attempted to escape from the kill zone, but a ring of ice formed just past the twisters and rose up several feet to keep them contained. The minotaurs roared in panic as one by one they fell to Kathyln's ice magic. Ice shards were coming from every direction, those without a shield tried to use the bodies of their fallen as shields, all of them forming a perimeter to protect one another. A series of stone spikes shot out underneath them, finishing off the remaining.

"We're supposed to be conserving mana," Elijah replied flatly.

With the immediate area clear the ground they were riding landed on the cliff, crumbling as they jumped off. As they looked down into the opening of the plateau they saw the village within. Along the entire inner wall were stone domes with a series of windows and small balconies, looking as though they grew from the walls themselves. The bottom itself was a massive field with a deep blue pond in the center, but the fields were now burning. As they looked to the domes the saw minotaurs moving from dome to dome via ropes, as blood curdling screams filled the air.

"So we go from one war to another," Curtis commented as looked upon the sight in horror.

"This difference is this isn't our war," Arthur replied. "I feel a lot of aether coming from there." Arthur pointed to an area of domes that looked no different from the rest, except that there were no windows and it was swarming with minotaurs. "That might be the location of the next gate."

"But what about everyone else here?" Lilia asked as she looked down upon the war torn village.

"This isn't our fight, so be careful if chose to get involved. Don't over do it and work as a team. If things get too dangerous reteat," Arthur informed them.

"What about you?" Elijah asked as he eyes Arthur suspiciously.

"Tess and I are going to find the source of aether, and if it's the gate we'll secure it."

"And if it isn't the gate?" Claire asked.

"Then we may have very well made things a lot harder to leave."

With that Regis leaped from Arthur's back and followed the others down, as Arthur and Tess took to the air and rocketed towards the aether source.

"Is it me, or is there something wrong with Elijah?" Tess asked sounding concerned.

"He's been without Sylvie suppressing Nico for over a week, it's taking a toll on him."

"You don't think Nico could come out do you?"

"I hope not," he replied, knowing Elijah was running out of time.

They approached the dome in question and saw a hole broken in the side with more and more minotaurs pouring in. From a distance Tess channeled wind mana into dawns ballad, and with a single swing sent a wind blade three times the width of the dome. The blade severed the ropes the minotaurs were hanging from, sending them plummeting down. And to ensure they stayed down, Tess used the wind to launch several razor grass seeds ahead of them. The blades grew a foot long in the few seconds they had before the minotaurs landed, long enough to pierce their bodies and ensure they stayed down.

Arthur watched as his wife mercilessly ensured their death and sighed in envy. War had made her closer to him, cold and ruthless. But unlike him she could at least turn it off and be warm and loving again, and it wasn't a mask.

"I've still got a ways to go," Arthur thought to himself, as she and Silvie were the only ones he could show genuine emotion towards.

They reached the opening and flew inside. Contrary to the outside appearance, the inside was much more expansive as it had to have gone further into the plateau inner wall. Despite the chunks of stone wall littering the floor, it was much nicer inside compared to the natural stone look on the outside. The floors were a black polished stone, while the walls were of different colored stone that seamlessly fit together as if they formed that way, and each wall formed into a beautiful landscape of the surrounding area. Near the exterior wall was a stone thrown facing a solid wall, but a large portion of that wall seemed different, it was framed as if it wasn't alway there.

"Art?" Tess asked as he was clearly distracted by the room.

"Sorry, let's go," he replied then quickly led them down a hallway.

The beautiful stone art continued down the hall, but was ruined by blood splatter and crushed winged humanoid aether beast corpses littering the floor or were smashed into the walls. They continued running without hesitation as they followed the source of aether, but not once did they see a minotaur corpse, just more and more of the winged beasts. It didn't take long for Arthur to realize the aether source they were chasing was actually moving, and was surrounded by weaker sources of aether. As they closed in on the aether source screams, yells, and roars could be heard along with the crashing of weapons and stone. After what felt like an eternity of nothing but the dead bodies of the winged beasts, they came upon a group of minotaurs with their backs to them. Arthur and Tess locked eyes then nodded, without words they both knew what to do.

Channeling aether into one of his runes, Arthur god stepped in between the two minotaurs up front, which were behind two large coffin shields. Before the amethyst lightning had dissipated he had spun around and cut them both in half with his aether sword. The four behind them stood in shock for a second before the back two had their heads severed by a wind blade. The middle two quickly split up and faced Arthur and Tess with battle axes ready, completely forgetting about their original targets. Before they could even make a move against Arthur and Tess, they were both struck in the head by aether arrows, bringing them both down.

Tess walked up to Arthur as they both looked at the humanoid winged beasts in front of them. There were five in total, three males which appeared to be soldiers with leather armor, and aether crystal bows. The bow strings were made of aether, as were the arrows pointed at them. The soldiers were obviously nervous after seeing an enemy they couldn't defeat easily be defeated by two beings they had never seen before. Nevertheless, they held their resolve to not back down, and protect the two behind them.

The two behind them were both females. The first was younger, appearing to be in her late teens with black hear, silver eyes, and midnight blue wings. The other was older, appearing to be in her thirties with white hair, sky blue eyes, and wings that transitioned from aqua marine to orange then red at the ends. Both held an aura royalty among them, but the older one looked upon Arthur and Tess fearlessly.

Knowing they couldn't communicate with words Arthur locked eyes with the older female as he held out his arms and dissipated his sword.

"I know you don't understand the words I speak, but I'd say that our actions speak for themselves."

The older woman stepped up in line with her guards. "I am Queen Lucia, thank you for saving us," she said telepathically, then bowed her head.

Arthur hid his frustration, she was the aether source they were following. As soon as their eyes locked again Arthur continued. "Arthur Leywin, and you are welcome." He then bowed respectfully then locked eyes again.

"I know it is selfish of me, but there are more Minotaurs attacking my people. Please save them and I will grant you anything you ask as long as it is within my power."

"I am already aware of the situation, and my team is already handling it."

—————————————————————-

A little over an hour later Arthur and his team were standing in the throne room, the room they had entered before, with the queen sitting in her throne with two guards behind her and another ten around the room. It was clear that the guards still felt uncomfortable around them. The nine of them had just repelled an assault that their entire force couldn't, and they were well within striking distance of their queen.

When they all entered Arthur and Tess both took notice that not only had the thrones potion had changed, but that the gaping hole had already been repaired as if it were never there. Arthur also took notice of the black cube that was now in the head of the throne.

Seeing Arthur as the leader the queen locked eyes with Arthur. "Again I thank you. If not for the help of you and your team, I fear we would have met our end today."

"And again you are welcome. My comrades and I are happy we were able to help."

"I am curious though." She raised an eyebrow. "There are no records of being like you all ever being seen in this land, let alone be blessed with the power of the creators. Where did you come from?"

Arthur pointed up. "We're from outside the floors, and are on a mission to descend to the very bottom."

The queen's expression became serious. "The bottom?"

"That's right. We are seeking the Dijin. That's why we came here. We need to find the gate to the next floor."

"You are seeking the portal of the creators. Sadly we lost the gate to the minotaurs generations ago."

"Damn it!" Arthur thought in frustration. The queen tilted her head, having heard his frustration. "Forgive my language your majesty." She nodded in response. "Do you happen to know where the portal is?"

"Atop the mountain. Sadly the creators made it so the only way to access the mountain would be to go through the minotaur village. The powerful winds that surround the mountain prevent even our flight through."

"That figures," Arthur thought to himself, forgetting about the telepathic connection again. The queen tilted her head not understanding what he meant. Realizing this Arthur cleared his throat and continued. "I'm curious, the Minotaurs seemed set on killing or capturing everyone, and their methods appeared to be quite brutal. What did you do to them to warrant such tactics?"

The queen sighed. "We did nothing, however our ancestors did. Many generations ago, we lived on the mountain they surround. We were their rulers and they our protectors, just as the creators established. But our ancestors became arrogant and full of themselves. The creators may have blessed them with strong powerful bodies, but we were blessed with a keen mind, and a sliver of their power." She then created a ball of aether. "Because of this our ancestors saw themselves as the masters of the minotaurs and were cruel. In the past they could not stand up to us, our given power allowed us to keep them in check. But as time passed the minotaurs became more intelligent and began forging weapons. Despite this our ancestors remained arrogant, believing that our power was still superior. The day they rose up against us was a massacre. Many tried to fly through the winds, only to be forced down into the village where they were eventually killed. A group of us managed to escape and resettled here, where we remained hidden until recently."

"And you used your "gift" to form this plateau into your home."

"I don't..." the queen started before Arthur cut her off.

"I've seen structures formed like this before, as if they grew from the ground."

The queen closed her eyes, breaking the connection. A crown of runes glowed around her head as the framed space behind her appeared to almost melt away into the stone. It had been explained to Arthur's team that these humanoid beasts can speak telepathically, so they had been waiting quietly for Arthur to say something. So when they saw the wall changing they looked on in a wondrous amazement from the surprise. Arthur on the other hand became a bit excited to potentially learn a new god rune.

"I have no doubt they want this power, but I refuse to allow them to have it," the queen said with determination. She then took a deep breath before speaking again. "With that said, I have a proposal for you." Arthur raised an eyebrow in curiosity. "As you have seen we are incapable of defending ourselves from them, but they stood no chance against you and your comrades. We have little to offer, but I would like for you to stay here to protect us."

"I'm sorry but no. We need to reach the Dijin then return home. The survival of our people depends on it."

"Then some of you stay, and more come back after your people are safe." Arthur shook his head. "I will teach you how to use the power of creation."

Arthur remained with a neutral expression, but this was what he was waiting for.

"I'm sorry your majesty, but we can't stay here for very long." The queen looked defeated. "However," Arthur said, reigniting her hope. "I do have a counter proposal. We will teach you how to defend yourselves from the minotaurs, as you teach me about creation." The queen looked hesitant, so Arthur raised the stakes. "I noticed you have several other problems as well. Your fields were destroyed. I don't know how long your food supplies will last, but I doubt they will last long enough till the next harvest. The woman behind me with silver hair is a plant mage. She could regrow the crops in a fraction of the time." The queen looked tempted but still hesitant, she needed one last push. "As for your people who had their wings ripped off, if we can find their original wings, I can heal them as if they were never removed."

"I accept your proposal," the queen replied then bowed.

"Nice," Regis commented from within Arthur's core with a lewd tone.

Arthur was confused until he noticed as the queen bowed she showed to have very ample cleavage.

"Regis..." Arthur groaned, just thankful that the connection with the queen was still broken.

The queen then said some words in her peoples language and one of her guards from the side stepped up before she said a few more, then locked eyes on Arthur. "This guard will escort you to appropriate living spaces for you all," She said, gesturing to the guard. "And I will be sending another guard to retrieve you after the wounded have been gathered."

Arthur bowed and the others copied his action. As the guard left Arthur followed and gestured for the others to follow him. They wanted to ask what was going on, but since Arthur wasn't talking yet they figured he had a good reason and would ask him about what was said when they were alone.

They left the throne room quietly and walked down the halls. All of the halls were essentially the same, with mosaics of the scenery outside the plateau created into the walls. Eventually they arrived at a white ornate wall with two guards standing by it. As they approached one of the standing guards touched the wall, it glowed purple, then dissolved away. The group passed through, and as the last one of them cleared the opening, they noticed a purple light coming from behind them. They turned back around only to see that the wall had reformed.

They continued to follow the guard down the halls, however these weren't as bright as the previous ones. They were just as well lit but the halls were shades of brown layered as if this hall was just carved out of the plateau but not decorated. The only thing marking their distance were several frames in to left wall that were evenly spaced. The guard stopped after passing several of the open frames, confirming each one was actually a door. He then turned and faced Arthur, locking eyes with him.

"We are in one of the guard halls, and these open rooms belonged to guards that fell in the recent battle."

"I'm sorry for the loss."

The guard didn't acknowledge Arthur's sympathy and continued. "There will be two guards on the hall at either end of the rooms, you are asked not to leave without an escort." The guard then walked passed them and left.

"So are you going to fill us in now?" Curtis asked.

"Of course, let's go inside," Arthur said gesturing
to on of the rooms.

"So why couldn't we talk while we were walking here?" Tess asked as they entered.

"We could have," Arthur replied casually.

"Then why didn't you fill us in as we were walking here?" Curtis asked.

"Incase anyone had an objection. We need to come off as unified, and if anyone argued that could have been compromised. Here we can discuss our situation without risking anything."

The room was like a large studio apartment. There was what looked like a fire pit near the outside wall, a short table near the middle of the room so low that clearly you would have to sit on the floor, a room that appeared to be a bathroom, and finally four hammocks attached to the walls.

"They said we have several rooms. I counted four open before we got here so two per room with one having three," Arthur stated, making sure they all knew they weren't all rooming together.

"Let's figure out roommates later, and you just bring us up to speed on what's going on," Claire replied.

Arthur then proceeded to explain the conversation with the queen.

"What the hell?" Theo commented in annoyance. "How can you make a deal like that?"

"I have to agree," Tess stated. "I know we all agreed to help them, but to volunteer us all like that without discussing it."

"I'm sorry, but I believe gaining another god rune is important to gaining understanding of fate. Not to mention, I think this rune was the same that was used to build the sanctuary. So being able to use this could provide all sorts of possibilities in the future," Arthur replied.

"So do you need to get all of these god runes to get fate?" Kathyln asked.

"I don't know. Every time I met a Dijin they said I was gaining understanding towards fate, but they never said anything about what fate is or how to ultimately get it." Arthur sighed. "I believe the purpose of this floor is to gain insight into a new rune, and I've been sent to floors to test my runes or help me gain them in the past so it would make sense here."

"But how are we supposed to help them?" Feyrith asked. "Tess helping to restore their fields is obvious, but how are we supposed to help them defend themselves?"

"Claire's swordsmanship would be perfect considering their body types and flight, so I was thinking she and Tess could work with a group of them on teaching them. I'd like Feyrith to help teach them defensive strategies, while Theo and Elijah work on turning this plateau into a fortress," Arthur explained.

"What about the rest of us?" Lilia asked.

"In the morning I want you three to go with Regis and scope out the minotaur village. We're going to have to go through there to leave, so I want you to check the layout and defenses, and find us a good place to attack from."