"Eres!" I heard Father yell. I started moving in his direction.

I studied all of the faces as I walked by. A few of them were Spirits. Most of them were Cures or Maps. Well, they used to be Maps anyway.

When I caught up to Father he led me into a small room. The walls of the room were carved and painted into some sort of mural.

The room was quite beautiful. I guessed it was some sort of temple or place of worship.

A small stand was in the middle of the room in front of a painting of a man. I had seen something similar to the stand back home, but I wasn't sure what it was.

"What am I looking at?" I glanced at Father.

"There was a room just like this in Shena. A different person in the painting and a different color scheme, but same idea." He motioned to the stand. "That's where Commander Slena found the Stone."

I tilted my head. "That stand wouldn't hold a stone."

Then I remembered what I had seen. It wasn't the same, but this stand reminded me of the mounts we used to hold swords.

Father sighed. "Which means they don't all have stones."

I walked up to the stand. It was mostly covered in dust and one of the prongs was bent slightly out of shape. "How strong was the Stone?"

"It appears to be unbreakable. Vertez may contain magic but it can't break a magical item. Why do you ask?" He walked up behind me.

"Have the villagers given us anything?" I looked at him.

"Apparently they have no idea what the Stone even is." He touched the bent prong.

"That's almost the opposite of what the Maps said."

He shrugged. "They know they're in danger now."

I studied the stand for a moment.

A solid wooden prism held a gold-colored plate about four feet in the air. The plate had two prongs sticking up, one of which had a deep slit and the other had a slight indent almost as if it was supposed to hold a small sword or a dagger.

I noticed that the entire surface of the plate was covered in dust, except for the indent on the prong. "If they have no idea what was in here, how would you explain the missing dust?"

Father leaned over and stared at it. He ran his finger over the indent and looked at it. "This was taken recently."

I pointed at the dent in the prong. "And in a hurry."

He gave me a small smile. "And it had to be an artifact, anything else would've broken."

I nodded. "So a lot of people are lying to you."

"This is why I bring you on missions like these." He patted my back. "You'll make a great king someday."

We walked back outside towards the villagers.

I had interrogated a few of them before Father called me over. Elyse had been taken from the palace earlier today.

That was the only reason I agreed to come on this mission.

I understood that this was necessary to protect the kingdom, but Father always ended up hurting innocent people and children.

He always told me that magi were the world's biggest disgrace and I knew he was right.

They had stolen the magic from the earth for their own gain and almost destroyed everything in the process. When they first gained their magic it was either follow them or die.

Kalheim was a sanctuary. It was built to protect the powerless and the innocent.

Then the magi got greedy like they always did, and tried to take the land. So we threw them out.

I knew that we wouldn't get anywhere being nice, but seeing Father hurting children always made my blood boil.

But I never said anything. I would be a better king, I would only hurt the people who needed to be hurt.

While I was hiding in my thoughts Father had rounded up most of the children just outside of the village.

I walked over to one of the women who looked like she had some sort of power. She didn't look afraid of me, she just stared.

I grabbed her by the arm and pulled her around the corner of a cart.

I pulled my dagger from its sheath. "What do you know?"

She smiled at me. "You and your blade don't scare me."

I smirked and crouched down in front of her. "I'm not asking what your artifact is, or what it does. I just want to know if a Kalhiem prisoner was taken through here."

She raised her eyebrows. "That's all you want to know."

I twirled my dagger in my hand and stood up. "I'm not stupid. You aren't saying shit to me. I've seen people like you. I could pull out every tooth and rip out every nail, you'd rather die a painful death than talk."

She laughed. "You're good at reading people. I'm shocked you still believe the lies the crown feeds you."

I glared at her. "I don't think you're aware of who you're speaking to."

She sighed. "Alright, princess. I'll stop talking shit about your precious family. Who are you looking for?"

I brushed off the insults. If she knew where Elyse was I couldn't risk losing that information."Do multiple Kalheim prisoners pass through here a day?"

"No, but she didn't seem like your type. You're smart, you calculate every move. She refused to shut her mouth."

That would be Elyse. "Where is she?"

I heard screams, I tried my best to tune them out.

"That's a great question. I have no idea."

I narrowed my eyes at her. She wasn't lying, but she wasn't telling the full truth.

"For Celeste's sake, I'm not a book. You cannot keep trying to read me like that." She rolled her eyes. "I don't know where she is because the people who she was with are very very careful. I know where they were planning on going, but since you're here I doubt that's still the plan."

"Where where they going?"

"Did you not just hear- you know what, fine. They were planning on going to Sifa. Your friend is with a very powerful Vision and Flame, so I wouldn't even try to find her. Even if you did find them, you're dead."

"So I should just leave her alone and hope she dies a painless death?" I deadpanned.

She nodded. "Pretty much. Unless you can get a council member to help you find her." She joked.

"What the fuck is a council member?" I stared at her.

She laughed. "Somebody you hope you never meet."

"Why?" I narrowed my eyes at her, searching her face for an answer.

"I am only telling you this because I have nothing to lose, and you would've figured it out eventually. You know about the separate magi clans right?"

I nodded.

"Right, so a council member has the power of a hundred magi and can use magic from all of the clans."

At first, I thought she was joking, but she kept talking.

"The Map that took out so many of your soldiers, she was one. Her name is Mari, she's my daughter."

I struggled to find words. "Are they all that powerful?"

She smiled. "They are more powerful. That was only a fraction of her power. She knew she was going to be taken, she didn't want to give anything away."

I stumbled back. "Then why are you telling me this?"

"I may not have my magic anymore, but I am still excellent at reading people. If you go back there and tell your father about this, you have no chance of finding your friend. She's all you really care about right now, that's why you pulled me aside while your father interrogated the other villagers. And, you don't like violence. Every time you hear a child scream you flinch. You know you have no real chance at defeating us. You want to get your friend and get back to the safety of Kalheim."

I was speechless. I didn't realize I had been thinking about that until I mentioned it.

She smiled. "My advice, go tell your father you have a lead on an artifact, get on a horse and get the hell out of here. Head straight for Sifa. If you run into a council member tell them Tanthi Amara sent you. That should get them to help you."

I stared at her for a moment. "What's stopping me from telling them that and then killing or capturing them when they least expect it."

"I mean, you could kill them. But when one council member dies another is chosen. Also, if you kill a council member you are not going to live much longer. They will hunt you down. And I guess you could try to capture one, but that wouldn't help you much. Sifa is pretty far away, I would be amazed if you managed to haul someone back from there. Find your girl and call it a day."

I bit the inside of my cheek. "Fine, but she's not 'my girl.' She's just a friend."

She chuckled. "You're going to tell me I got all of that information from you, and the only thing I got wrong was that she isn't your girlfriend? It's a long ride to Sifa, I would think about your feelings on the way."

"I think I know how I feel thank you." I slipped my dagger back into its sheath.

She held her hands up. "Forgive me, I forgot that men were willing to ride across the country and face the most dangerous people known to mankind for their friends."

"She's a really close friend." I muttered.

"I'm sure, really close. I have a really close friend too actually, but I call him my husband."

"Okay, I'm done with you." I rolled my eyes and walked away.

I heard her yell something with the word 'wedding' in it. I tuned her out.

I didn't feel anything for Elyse.

She was a really close friend, she was my best friend.

She was attractive but I couldn't see myself marrying her. I couldn't even see myself living with her.

Tanthi didn't have magic, she was just assuming.

It was a little strange that I was risking my life for Elyse, but she also knew way too much about the crown. She could tell council or whatever our weaknesses.

I pushed away the thoughts. Trying to justify it made it worse.

That's what Maps do Eres, they get in your head and mess with it.

I am here to find my friend and bring her home, nothing anyone says can change what that means.

I walked up to Father. They had raided the village and set the homes on fire in the time I was gone.

Which meant they hadn't gotten any information.

My eyes fell on a group of children. They had been grouped together and pulled away from their parents.

They were closest to the blazing village. Every time an adult refused to answer a question they were pushed closer.

I pushed the disgust and tapped Father's shoulder. "I think I have a lead on the artifact."

He turned to me, almost surprised. "Really?"

I nodded. "I can leave now, I don't think these people know anything."

He frowned. "Why do you think that?"

"I think they would've said something by now if they did." I motioned to the children.

"How did you get your lead?"

"Hoofprints." I lied. If I told the truth he would keep torturing these poor people. "I think we can give these people a break, they haven't done anything."

I had seen some hoof prints leading out of the village earlier. Father trusted me, he wouldn't look into it.

"Alright." He nodded. "Who would you like to bring?"

"I think I should go alone, I don't want to have to deal with another person."

"That's dangerous, Eres." He frowned.

"I can manage."

He rubbed his chin. "Fine, but be smart."

I nodded. "I know. Think with my head."

"That's my boy." He gave me a firm smile and I turned around.

I grabbed the first horse I could find and made sure my pack was stocked.

I grabbed one of the maps from the cart and started moving in the direction of the bridge.

...

Explaining is really hard, imagine something like this on a gold plate. (without the knife ofc, this is not what the Dagger of Ahryex looks like and it was obvi not there at the time)

<3