Ruins. No matter what, the place in front of her was nothing but ruins. What used to be wasn't much, but it was surely more than what was there now. All of the baskets they spent weeks at a time to make had been toppled over, frayed and chewed through. Even all of the stones that they had carved had cracked, some of them shattered on the ground. The only thing that looked relatively untouched was the place the Sun God Sect claimed was a shrine.

In order to have reached the peak, it was supposed to be necessary to walk up countless steps. The steps would randomly trigger traps that set an intruder back to the base of the mountain or push them off of the ledge to their death. The mists that surrounded the mountain led to a lot of deaths, too, but it was all useless when they just flew up the mountain. A helicopter did wonders, apparently. Humans were weak, but they could make up for their failings by inventing.

The paragons of the Sun God Sect had already set up their tents and technology to date the relics. They might have walked away disappointed to find the recent things created. Then again, Etisian always liked to keep around things from the past. 

A few of the paragons were looking closely at the writing on the cave walls, having difficulty. Even she had a tough time reading quite a few of them. It would take them months to decipher just one. By design, the writing was meant to confuse and stall intruders. They didn't even know they were reading her name.

(Y/n) walked through slowly, observing everything with a frown. She reached out to touch one of the lanterns, narrowing her eyes when a cockroach began scurrying around inside of it. Irritated that something else had moved into something she had painstakingly made with her father, she grabbed the lantern and crushed it in her hands, roach and all. The girl then threw it to her feet, leaving it behind, but stepping into quite a few glares given to her by the paragons. Some began to question why she was even there if she was going to ruin priceless artifacts. But when they saw Orion on her heel, they could say nothing more.

Orion served his purpose, warding people off of her as she explored. No one was going to directly challenge the son of the Oracle, nor the direct descendant of their great goddess. That pretty much let the younger girl do whatever she wanted. Of course, it was her home in the first place, but they didn't know that, and she wasn't keen on letting them figure it out. She was only there to halt their progress, so whatever she did to make them turn heads, the better.

"This is incredible," Presley shivered, locking his hands together in awe, "And how did you discover that this was a place related to the Sun God?"

"These symbols right here," Cadmus mumbled, pointing to a carving with the word "fire" and then "sky", "We've learned that they mean sun. And this one means deity."

No, it didn't. The symbol the man was pointing to meant something else. Perhaps a lot of species confused the two, but it definitely did not mean "sun god" and it definitely was not a welcoming message. It was a warning. Etisian hated fire spirits with a passion. The girl scoffed as she thought how he would react to being misunderstood as one. He would have thrown everyone off the ledge. Then again, he would have done that just for them being there. He hated intruders.

"Have there been any important discoveries?"

"Everything is important if it relates to the Sun God. But, I guess, the most interesting thing we've found are these writings. We'll have to translate them slowly, but they'll hopefully show us something new."

"What about murals? Have there been any found?"

"Yes. There are some to the right of the shrine. Oh, but be careful. They're right over a ledge."

Presley took a nervous look at Orion before rushing off, clearly having a vested interest in the subject. Sona and Celith were behind (Y/n), only trying to assess her personal connection to the area. The former hadn't directly told him that the area was important to her, but, based on her actions, he assumed it must be something akin to that. After all, unless it pertained to her past, she didn't show so much spontaneous panic. The android tried to be of use to her as best as he could, but found it difficult to determine her true goal. Celith was just following because he liked her.

That left Orion and Cadmus alone. Nervously, neither would look at the other, both trying to distract themselves. The boy chose to stare over at the (h/c) haired girl, rocking anxiously on his heels, wondering if she would let him go after her. Cadmus started staring at the sign in front of him but was quick to wander over his gaze to his son. Uncertain, he couldn't say anything, but he did look at him, wondering if he was tired, cold, perhaps even scared. They were quite high up. Maybe he was just too shy to say he was worried.

The man then stared down at his cloak, hugging it tightly to his body. The thing always kept him as warm as possible, but he didn't feel cold at all. He didn't need it. That was to say, Orion could use it more. Shyly, the man began to untie the ribbons, holding the cloak in his arms. It took him a bit to work up the courage to speak, but by the time he did, Orion had already run off to cling to (Y/n), pushing Celith away with a frown. Cadmus blushed, quickly retying the accessory on himself and hiding his face with a groan.

"Berry," Celith called, trying to maneuver around the prince to get a better glimpse of her.

"She's not a fruit. Go away. Your friends are over there, aren't they?" the older male huffed, making sure the boy could not get near her, "Or better yet, just go hang out with my father. You're great at that."

"I thought you were a nice boy," the older girl sighed mindlessly, running her fingers over a familiar tree.

"I am! I am a nice boy, Miss Shiratori. I'm sorry. Please forgive me."

Orion stopped arguing and trying to get the white-haired boy to go away. Though he made a face when Celith put himself directly to her left, he didn't say anything. Rather, he just held her a little tighter, leaning his head on her arm. She guessed that he chose to say nothing since he had nothing nice to say. That wasn't a bad thing for her, so she simply let it be, moving along to trace some more of her own name.

The girl then moved to enter what they thought was the "shrine". In reality, the shallow cave, held up by moss-covered trees and boulders, was where she would sleep. She kept her eyes focused on the hanging fabric that made up her bed. As a small girl, she would curl up in the hammock while her father used his magic to rock her. All night, he would lay in front of her in anything but a deep sleep. Now the fabric was in shreds, hanging down, caked in dirt and mold. She sighed.

Across the wall, she gazed at every little thing: the silk butterflies her father made, the art she made him in return, and even the baskets they would use to gather all kinds of nuts and fruits. Everything seemed so far away to her. She could barely focus on anything, too concerned with whether she should care. It wasn't like she lived there anymore. She hadn't lived there for more than 15 years. And yet, it still weighed heavily on her for some reason, a strange aching lingering all over.

"This formation must have come into being around at least a hundred thousand years ago," Sona hummed, staring curiously at one of the vines, "These plants are ancient."

"How can you tell?" the older girl sighed, placing her hand on one of the trees holding up the cave.

"At first glance, the overall structure is much different, but if I take a small piece," the android paused, breaking off a small piece and holding it closely to his eye, "the cellular structure is very basic. I'd estimate these plants in particular have been living for hundreds of years. And these trees must be exponentially older."

Orion glared at Sona, staring at the piece of plant he had torn off. Paying him little mind, the teal-haired male continued on exploring, rattling off his findings to his ward. However, the prince seemed to take a similar attitude about the android as everyone else. No matter what, they were going to have to take a piece of the plants to study, but something about Sona doing it was so much more irritating. The orange-haired male liked Haru. He liked him a lot, but for Sona, he felt nowhere near the same. Attempting to dismiss his anger, the male chose to explore, too, bending down to pick up some tattered feathers.

"What are these?"

The older girl glanced over at the feathers, her eyes softening. Subconsciously, her hands drifted over to touch the material. They used to be so soft, but now they were coarse and filled with dirt. Smoothing it out, she heard the male give a small gasp when he realized it used to be a dress. Tiny, it was, but she was only about three when her father had it made for her. They had been out looking for honey when they came across a white peacock. He didn't want to let it go to waste, so she received a very elaborate birthday present that year.

Orion revelled in awe at the dress. It wasn't anything fancy, aside from the feathers that comprised it. In fact, the stitching on the feathers was not the best, falling apart at the seams (though that could have just been because it was almost two decades old). However, the embroidery on the linen underneath the feathers was incredible. Elaborate beyond anything he had ever seen, he couldn't help but trace his fingers over it, his eyes shining. Try as he might, but he could never make something that beautiful. Perhaps he could come close to it, but the embroidery in front of him was something only a master could make.

"Is it that incredible?" (Y/n) scoffed, prompting the boy to give a soft gasp.

"Yes. Whoever made this must have really loved the artform. Something like this...it - "

The male gave a soft grunt of pain when she shoved the dress in his arms. Panicking, he pulled it away from himself, trying to smooth it out and preserve it. His eyes still shone as he looked at it, but he did pull his gaze away for just a moment to glance at the older girl, concerned. Though he didn't know what he did, she seemed angry, lifting up a stone trapdoor before beginning to aggressively rifle through a hidden compartment. He would have questioned how she knew it was there, but he didn't want her to be even more upset at him, so he held the dress protectively and sighed.

That was when the (h/c) haired girl shoved a headpiece in his arms. She refused to look at him afterwards, crossing her arms and staring off into the distance. Still, he gawked down at the thing, trying to position it in such a way that he could understand what it was. When he finally configured it just right, he gave a long hum of curiosity. It was a headband of some sort. A thick strip of dried and interwoven plants comprised the band while small, rough gems hung down in the front, hanging by equally rough threads. In the back, many more white feathers hung down, swaying in the wind. Even if she told him what kind of beast they came from, he wouldn't believe her. No one would.

Orion's focus remained on the embroidery, this piece of work even more refined than the dress. He wondered how something could be so perfect despite being so ancient in appearance. The threads weren't even embroidered onto fabric. And, yet, still, it being stitched inbetween what seemed to be dried strips of different leaves was so stunning. His eyes continued to glimmer, prompting (Y/n) to look back and blush.

Noticing his son had been enthralled with the detailing on the attire, Cadmus had moved away from the sign. Instead, he had begun gently sifting around inside the cave, an eager look with mixed emotions on his face. He was both excited at the prospect of finding something similar and terrified that he would fail to. And while no one really knew what he was hoping to find, somehow, someway, the girl he was scared of did. She sighed, clearing her throat and motioning to the bed.

Obviously, at first, the man was quite distrustful, but when she sent him a glare for hesitating, shivers ran up his spine. Nervously, he moved to the straw bed, delicately looking under the makeshift pillow and blanket. Another cough was sent his way, the man darting his eyes back over and feeling his heart rate escalate. (Y/n) then motioned it was underneath the straw, leading to the man gently lifting some of the straw. He squeaked when some bugs came out, but ended up with the satchel therein regardless. His son even scampered over shyly because of the noise.

"Did you," the boy paused, self-consiously fiddling with his thumbs behind his back before shaking his head negatively. "Uh...what is that?"

For a moment, Cadmus completely forgot what he had been doing. Rather, as the prince neared him, the man got down on his knees. When he realized what he did, he was already flustered and Orion already had a look of dejection on his face. The man shivered a bit before offering up his finding, keeping his head down. Orion backed away as a result, holding his hand up to his mouth to obscure his expression. He lingered for a bit, his eyes darting over to the man, but nothing happened, so nothing happened. Instead, they both parted, each taking turns to throw a saddened glance that went unnoticed by the other.

Cadmus held the satchel gently in his hands, resisting his innate desire to crush it in defeat. Instead, he tried to brush some of the dirt off, wanting to see what it would look like if it were brand new. Of course, there wasn't any for him to do that on his own - not without the use of delicate machinery and chemicals - but he did it nonetheless. It gave him something to do, perhaps, prompting him to slump against a tree and hunch over the accessory.

"This isn't going to work," the girl huffed, directing her comment to the knight captain.

"You have to keep trying. We had a deal."

Rolling her eyes, the girl asked him what he wanted her to do. Of course, Presley wasn't too interested in hearing excuses, the both of them arguing for the umpteenth time. Both were too involved in their own anger to notice Celith slipping away or Orion following him. The white-haired male had picked up on something, shuffling to the back of the cave. He began to talk to himself, confused, before he started trying to push on the stone wall.

"What are you doing?" the prince frowned, prompting the boy to flinch.

Of course, he wasn't given an answer - for obvious reasons. Still, the boy tried to convey something to him, only for him to get frustrated and start pushing the older male to the wall. That was when Orion noticed a small, unnatural crack. The two of them began nudging the partition, eventually getting it to a point where they could slip in. Celith went first, giving a squeak of excitement.

On the other side of the wall was a sight Orion didn't even know was possible. One of the treasures that the royal family had were Ezdan flowers. They owned each and every one of the rare flowers. And, if one happened to be found, by imperial law, it was to be given to the royal family. A reward would be given, obviously, but, for anybody that was found to be in possession of the flower, they would be executed. It was one of the few crimes punishable by death. That was how precious and valuable they thought the flowers were.

But there, in front of him, was a tiny garden with dozens of them, glowing a pale blue in the dark. Celith began jumping around from flower to flower, extremely excited to see them, but Orion focused more on the stone ledge. He carefully stepped in-between the flowers to reach it, giving a small gasp of awe at the sight of a journal. What was incredible about it is that it was written in the language only Vethelan royalty spoke. Though rusty, he was able to read over what it said, noticing it was mainly about the flowers. There was a kind of obsession over them in the words, and, over the entire journal, the writing became less legible and more frantic.

"'I found one'," the prince mumbled, reading over the last entry before questioning, "What does that mean?"

Celith soon joined the prince, peeking his head over the ledge to gawk at the sight of a small clay container. Reaching out, he carefully took it, removing the twine and dried leaves that constituted a lid. The boy then gave a small gasp at the sight of the glowing blue liquid inside, only for it to be snatched away from him. Orion glared at him. He was not a nice boy, after all, but, did it really matter if he was a little mean when no one else could see? Besides, Celith deserved it.

The orange-haired male glanced at the liquid inside before pondering what it was. It had obviously come from the Ezdan flowers, but its purpose was dubious. The journal, luckily, had a lot on the flowers, and, as the male sifted through the pages, he found a drawing of the clay pot. Some words were blurred and others were ones that he didn't know, but, either way, it turned out to be something of interest.

The flowers are useless on their own. Maybe some of us like the courting games, but I've grown tired of it all. When there are so few females, only a fool would waste time with a game to receive favor. Of course, far from being a fool, myself, I've discovered the differences between the right and left flower. Others take interest in the right flower, but it's the left I think has more potential.

Orion glanced back at the flowers in the cave, noting that most of them only had the right flower attached. He'd never seen the Ezdan flowers without both stalks, but it made them more pigmented. Strangely, though, it made it more...unsettling. At some points, he could hear a low murmur coming from the flowers; something he could never hear with the ones at the palace. Was that because they were missing half of themselves? He winced, trying to block out the whistling sound as he read more, skipping ahead a few entries.

I was right. The left half is incredible. [redacted] reacted to it poorly. I wonder if it's because of her age. Otherwise, it might be because she's only half [redacted]. Either way, she fell down with a cold today. I'll [redacted] to spend the rest of the day watching over her. But just [redacted] I don't forget: EL - 1.5 G, W - 1 ML, T - ~ 1 yr, Temp - ~ 60°, C - will experiment further.

Squinting, the orange-haired male tried to make out four of the words, only to fail for two. Two of them were easy to decipher using context clues, but the other two were not. The first indecipherable one was simply scribbled out in a way he couldn't read. The second, on the other hand, was a word he had never learned. He didn't know the implications of that, so he didn't strain his mind trying to figure it out. Instead, again, he skipped forward a few pages, once again coming along a drawing of the container.

I didn't have to use my daughter, after all. I ended up finding an intruder yesterday, so I put him to work. After he drank the ambrosia, there were no notable side-effects. As expected, [redacted] flocked to him. Unlike what I'd taught her, she did not hide in the trees. She even came down out of curiosity. I let her linger around him to see what would happen. Unfortunately, the desired result did not come to fruition. It was more like interest than desire, and it only lasted an hour or two. Again, this could be because of her age or because of her blood purity.

Either way, I killed him. I'm not sure if it was the right choice, considering I could probably still have used him. Still, he is a he and she is a she. Purity aside, things would have taken their natural course. I think any reasonable father would have done the same. [redacted] acted strangely after his death. This may be a side-effect on her side. I'll have to see.

The more Orion read, the more he was beginning to understand what the drink was. The person who wrote the journal called it "ambrosia". Maybe it was because the name was familiar to the male. Otherwise, it was the promise of it being able to make a female attracted to him. Either way, the male hesitantly began to drink the liquid, flinching a bit at how strangely cold and slimy it was.

Celith stared at him expectantly before waddling after him, pausing as he noticed the older male was making a beeline for the older girl. He then gave a gasp, hiding behind a wall to watch. Though lacking a great deal of confidence, the prince still managed to stand in front of the (h/c) haired girl, blushing just slightly. He didn't know if he actually believed the fact that what he had just drank was a "love potion" of sorts, but he did know he wanted it to be. Because, if all he had to do was drink something to get her attention, it would have been a dream.

"Are you two still arguing?" he mumbled shyly, unable to look her in the eyes.

"No," Presley huffed.

"Yes," (Y/n) snapped.

"Oh," the prince sighed, rubbing his arm nervously, "Well, I was just wondering if we should take a break. Some food might be a good idea."

The two sent one last glare at the other before the knight commander moved to set down a picnic blanket, removing it from his luggage. Of course, Sona had also come prepared, laying down a different blanket. It was, obviously, on Sona's blanket that the girl sat down, Orion joining her. Presley remained on his blanket, pouting and crossing his arms at the sight of the prince choosing her over him.

It was when Orion scooted a little closer that the (h/c) haired girl did she begin to notice something different about him. She began to observe him closely, the younger male wiggling bashfully at her stare. And when she leaned forward, getting uncomfortably close, he had no choice but to look her in her eyes, giving a small, cute gasp. He watched as her eyes - filled with suspicion and curiosity - softened and turned into immediate desire. Excited, his heart began to beat quickly, the male squirming as she came closer, presumably for a kiss.

And then, with no warning, she abruptly left, panicking and cursing loudly to herself. Orion beamed. It worked! Excitedly, he followed after her, wanting desperately to see what she would do to him if given the chance: a hug, a kiss, or maybe even a declaration of love. Filled with anticipation, he tried to sprint to her side, only for him to give a grunt of pain as Sona stopped him. Confused, sore, and, above all else, angry, the prince glared at the android, trying to go around him. And yet, no matter which way he tried to go, the teal-haired male blocked him.

"Move. I have to - "

"Please give her space. I promise you, if she's gone off on her own, it's because she doesn't want company."

"What are you talking about?! We were just about to...to..."

"I'll repeat: please give her space."

A sudden wave of hatred came over the prince. He didn't like Sona. He had never liked Sona. And now the android - a pile of metal - was getting in his way of getting a kiss. No matter what he did, the thing wouldn't let him pass. It had been like that before, too. It seemed, in every situation, Sona would remain an obstacle. Orion wished the android remained dismembered after the attack. He even wished he felt pain from it - lots and lots of pain.

But it was alright. He would let it go that time. Because, behind the partition, there were dozens of containers just like that one - dozens of chances to get kisses from (Y/n). Still, if he wanted that to happen, perhaps it would be best to get rid of Sona. Haru wouldn't mind, right?