Chapter 307: The Vineyard Caves (1/2)
“King Invalar. My condolences.” Elfie said when they exited, bowling lightly.
“Thank you. Elf, I have heard of you and am willing to answer any question you might have. But not now. I will return in a couple weeks and then we can talk.” Maro immediately shut down the elf but to Ilea’s surprise, Elfie simply nodded.
“Then we shall wait here and train until your return. There are still monsters remaining in this dungeon?”
Ilea waved her hand, “Too dangerous for you lot. I suggest fighting something outside.”
Elfie nodded, “Well there is plenty for them to learn still. I will do my best. Will you be joining us?” His question directed at Ilea and Terok.
“No, we will return with the king.” Ilea answered for both of them.
“Hey why can’t we go too? Aren’t you visiting another dungeon?” Heranuur asked but something smashed into him from above before he convulsed in pain.
“No.” Elfie simply said with a wicked smile. “Until you can remove yourselves from my grasp, there is nothing for you but training.”
Heranuur coughed before standing up slowly, “Terok can’t do it either, why is he allowed to go?”
Elfie sighed and looked at Ilea with pleading eyes before shifting his attention back to the other elf, “He is not behaving like a human child, for one thing. It was a request by the human to have him included in the training. She is the one to decide. For you three, not so much.”
Ilea didn’t disagree, just smiling at Hera as he stared at her. “No fun.” The elf said before vanishing and dusting himself off. “I’ll find other interesting things to do.”
“Don’t fuck the monsters.” Terok said and laughed.
“He already did that.” Seviir commented, vanishing immediately after he had said it.
Cheeky bastard. Ilea chuckled.
“I’ll take care of him.” Heranuur said and vanished too while Elfie just shook his head.
Neiphato bowed lightly to both Maro and Ilea, “Good fortune on your travels. I apologize for the young hunters.”
Ilea smiled at him before Elfie stepped in front of him, “One is enough.” She shrugged in response and spread her wings.
“I trust you know where the go?” She looked at Terok who started floating as well. Maro did the same.
“I do.” The dwarf replied.
Elfie looked their way as they ascended, locking eyes with Ilea before she turned. When they reached the top of the cave, Ilea grabbed onto Maro’s shoulder. “The arcane storms are dangerous. Let’s check first.”
She moved ahead and looked around, seeing some clouds in the distance but nothing immediately around them. “See that crack there?” She pointed, Maro looking up to the sky before she tapped his chest, “The crack.”
“Yes.” He said, focusing in on the distant crevice.
“Move as fast as you can.” Ilea said, her auras spreading through her before she shot off, blinking time and time again, crossing the distance over the barren land before appearing inside the opening. Maro appeared a couple seconds later and Terok later yet again. He moved downwards immediately, Ilea waiting with Maro at the top. “We should move down too. Trust me, you don’t want to get caught up in them. Nearly killed me with a single bolt of lightning hitting dozens of meters ahead, granted before I reached three hundred.”
“Yea! Ilea go, jump into the lightning!” Terok shouted from below, scouting the crevice.
Ilea rolled her eyes, “Are you coming? You can look at the suns from below as well.”
Maro turned to her and nodded, appearing on the ground below. Ilea followed before he spoke, “There are two suns. It’s true then.”
“What do you mean?” Ilea asked.
“Well. When I was still out and about, there were three suns.”
Ilea nearly tripped, staring at him. “You guys coming?!” Terok shouted from a distance.
“I know… I considered that Tremor was moved to another realm or something but it doesn’t make any sense.” He said.
“Neither does the disappearance of a sun. Well I guess there might be some astronomic explanation but…,”
He interrupted her, “It fits with the changes in the north, the event the dark ones talk about. Catelyn and Elana talked about it quite excessively when she was down in the palace.”
“And you didn’t mean to inform me?” Ilea asked.
“Well I did now. I wanted to see it with my own eyes. How would such a fact be relevant to you anyway?”
Ilea shrugged, “No idea. So your city was moved or a sun vanished? What if it was some kind of illusion before?”
“There are several possibilities. Come, Terok’s head is exploding.” He said and started walking, “Moving a whole city like that doesn’t make sense. Maybe something did happen to the sun.”
“But such an event would be talked about for hundreds of years and every scholar would write about it for another thousand years. I haven’t heard of it. Other than the dark ones talking about their event.”
“Catelyn mentioned some versions of the story involving the sun or light being no more. Many of the creatures would have dwelt in caves or underground anyway, not putting as much importance to the stars as we humans do.” Maro rationalized.
Ilea shook her head, “I mean I never really informed myself about religions or important events in the past but I feel like someone would have at least mentioned the disappearance of a sun. I know a bunch of librarians. I can ask about it once I go back south.”
Maro nodded, “That would be an idea. Will that be soon?”
“I still want to go deeper into the Taleen dungeon, see if I can find some old friends.” She grinned. The man seemed to understand as he nodded, “Then maybe? There’s plenty of stuff to do here and while I’m more powerful now, I still haven’t ridden a dragon.”
Terok gave her a thumbs up when he stepped over a small hill, “No to the lightning but yes to dragons? Well I suppose if anybody is allowed to overestimate their own power, it’s you. If we walk in this speed, we’ll arrive in two weeks.”
“I know you don’t care about the elf but I’ll be the one feeling his wrath when I join the training again.” He added and laughed.
“Terok, do you know anything about Elos having three suns at some point?” Ilea asked.
The dwarf stopped and looked at her, “Sounds like cult talk. No. I mean there are many claiming ridiculous things like that. Or that the stars were once butterflies, that the world flowed from the womb of creation, the elder dragon placing the suns themselves. No, truth is, all of that sheit is made up and you’d better not turn into a nut chasing myths like those.”
“Well I know for a fact that Elos had three suns when Rhyvor was not a kingdom of ruins.” Maro said, shutting the dwarf up.
At least for a moment, “What? Well fucking tits. Does that mean the Worldeater Margalon will return and devour us all? By the gods…,”
Ilea rolled her eyes, “Now don’t you turn into a cult member immediately. All we know is that either Tremor was moved somehow or one sun really died out.”
“You mean the great change in the north could be related? The dark ones… well the connections are there. Many scholars theorize that the suns have an influence on how mana flows. Monster activity during the night is more frequent for one thing.” Terok explained.
Maro nodded, “That was the same back in my days. Well we lack information for now. Catelyn for one doesn’t even know how many years ago exactly this change happened. The human plains weren’t affected by it all either which raises quite a bunch of additional questions.”
Hadn’t even thought about that. Just the north? Ilea shook her head, “Well let’s go to Lisburg was it? If it’s the same town that would make the teleportation argument even less likely.”
Maro nodded, “Lead the way Terok.”