Chapter 527: Species (1/2)

She finished healing the various guards, ignoring the confusion.

Two healers in guard armor arrived and spoke with the officer who pointed at her.

“We should go soon,” Felicia said.

“I know, I know,” Ilea said and waved to the officer, stepping through the gate as a few people shouted something.

Felicia followed and immediately started breathing more quickly.

“The mana or the cold?” Ilea asked, her healing mana flowing into the woman.

“Both,” Felicia said and activated her magic.

“Can you still talk with that active?” Ilea asked.

The woman had calmed, heat and energy exuding from her. She looked at Ilea and growled.

“Oh no,” Ilea said with a sigh. “Come then, I’ll lead you,” she said and grabbed Felicia’s hand.

The woman started laughing. “I’m kidding… I’m kidding,” she said.

Ilea didn’t let go, dragging her behind her and into the temple. She ignored the various creatures staring at them from behind pillars and half closed stone doors.

“I’ll keep you safe, Felicia, don’t worry,” she said, now clad again in her bone and ash armor.

“I’m being abducted,” Felicia said in a whisper.

Ilea finally let her go.

“Where to?” Felicia asked, her eyes focused, glancing at every movement she could perceive.

“I still don’t think you’re really there,” Ilea said and teleported up the stairs.

Felicia appeared next to her. “I’m more present than normally,” she said and checked the various corpses.

“This one had a storage ring,” she said, letting go of the armored human’s hand.

“Did the pirate take it?” she asked.

“Probably,” Ilea said. “I’m sure we’ll find him wherever there is treasure here.”

“Our idea of wealth might not line up with theirs,” Felicia said, checking the other two humans. “Notebook,” she called out and waved the little booklet around.

“I really hope they think some random rubble is worthy to be stored in a vault,” Ilea said with a grin. “Written in Standard?”

“No,” Felicia said and handed it to her.

Ilea stored it in her necklace. “From the space mage?”

“Yeah, that was the one,” Felicia said.

“Why didn’t Michael already take it? The information might prove his involvement,” Ilea said.

“What do you mean?” Felicia asked.

She quickly told her about the conversation she had with the man.

“He didn’t look so good either. Maybe he made a mistake,” Felicia suggested.

“But he saved you instead?” Ilea asked. She wondered if she gave him too much credit. Felicia wasn’t much lower in level than him and even Velamyr had nearly been killed. He was probably running on fumes.

“I mean even if you prove his involvement… if anybody would get annoyed it would be Velamyr. Not that it would really be an issue even then. The gate to another realm would be seen favorable by many, even in Lys. Ryse’s views are not shared by all. If anything Michael would benefit in the end,” Felicia said. “They haven’t seen what you have. Nor do they comprehend the danger. Most nobles haven’t fought that kind of threat in their sheltered lives.”

“Really? But they’re nearly all at a high level for humans,” Ilea said.

“The wealth of a nation is not only weighed in gold, Lilith. Control over known dungeons and detailed knowledge on powerful Classes is just as important, if not more so. There are those who try to achieve high levels with their own power but many won’t risk death just to prove something. Not when an easier option exists. The gap between level one and one hundred is often even reached in secured training grounds where captured monsters get slaughtered by young heirs,” Felicia said.

Trian didn’t strike me as that inexperienced. But he said it’s family tradition to join the Hand. Which means they actually care about real experience and not just rare high level Classes.

“Not all families do it that way of course. My late father deemed us so unimportant, he had us join the training regime of the Redleaf monster factory,” Felicia said.

“Monster factory?” Ilea asked.

“Undesirable children, pushed to their limits with downright torturous training methods. Those who survived and showed promise were offered positions in various guilds, or were simply used as assassins, guards, or enforcers,” Felicia said.

“Wouldn’t they kill him or just escape once they’re strong enough?” Ilea asked.

“Some did, sure. But between being hunted as a criminal and getting a well paid job in the employ of an influential noble house, the choice is quite easy. You have to understand that most of those children didn’t chose their fate. They didn’t want to fight, did not necessarily enjoy it, like you do,” she said.

“I see. Sorry for your shit childhood,” Ilea said.

Felicia was quiet for a while.

A few ant creatures approached from one of the nearby stairwells. One of them made a few clicking sounds.

Ilea shook her head, not understanding anything.

The central ant gestured to one of the nearby bodies.

Ilea stored the three humans before she lifted one of the remaining corpses with a few ashen limbs.

The ant took a few steps back, obviously in distress. It seemed to calm down when Ilea carefully moved the corpse closer.

She put the body onto the ground and stepped away, choosing a nearby stairwell that led down.

Felicia followed, giving both the ants and Ilea a few glances.

“I appreciate the notion. It could have been better,” she said. “And yet it all forged me into who I am today.”

“Fucker could have been removed earlier though,” Ilea said.

Felicia giggled but didn’t say anything else.

Ilea tried to make contact with the creature again, getting a response immediately.

She blinked a few times and arrived in front of a destroyed stone gate.

“Once my position in Lys is more established, I’ll try to push for laws that would prevent what my father did,” Felicia said.

“I doubt you’ll get much support from the nobility,” Ilea said and entered the area.

Everything here looked a little cleaner than upstairs. Statues of various creatures lined the walls in the long corridor. Five massive stone gates lined each side of the hall, an even larger one at the end.

“That remains to be seen,” Felicia said with a grin. “The Destroyer is here.”

“I know,” Ilea said, hearing the man throw around metal or furniture.

Four of the stone gates had been destroyed already, cut apart by beams of water if she could interpret the damage correctly.

“Found the vaults?” she asked.

The man grumbled a few words in a language she didn’t speak.

“Unsure,” he finally said, popping out from behind a few chests with a large crystal held in his hand.

“Worthless,” he said and threw it behind himself.

Ilea couldn’t help but laugh. “Did you break the enchantments yourself?”

“No enchantments,” Hector said. “Someone is interfering with my activities here. Maybe that thing behind the massive gate at the end of the hall.”

“Tried to talk to it?” Ilea asked.

“I’m not a monster whisperer like you,” he said.

“You literally summon creatures,” Ilea said.

“Of the deep… the ocean, yes. Do you see water around?” he asked, glancing at her for a moment before he opened another chest. “No. Didn’t think so,” he added and threw a stone statue behind himself, the thing vanishing before it hit the ground. “Now let me go through all this crap… why even store this?” he asked as he looked at another thing before throwing it.

Ilea watched as space itself distorted, catching the thrown marble before it appeared in another section of the room.

Why not just kill him? Or push him away? she wondered. Maybe it can’t.

But it can teleport random objects here.

Ilea followed his advice, much more interested to meet the entity than going through more treasure. Especially because she couldn’t see any gold or other precious metals in the area.

Hello, she sent again.

Hello, the thought came back but distorted, imitated, and not spoken with understanding of the word itself.

She sent a calm thought to the creature, stepping out into the hall and towards the large round gate at the end of it. A few torches lit the area, flickering from time to time.

Felicia followed in silence.

A thought came back.

She saw a bustling city of stone, thousands of creatures communicating in sounds she couldn’t comprehend. She saw the distant mountains, the desert, and the sun burning down from above.

It was accompanied by feelings. Some she couldn’t grasp but others felt like pride and love.

“I think it’s showing me what this place was,” Ilea said.

“Are you talking to it?” Felicia asked.

“No… I don’t think it speaks our language,” she said.

Her companion slowed down as they approached the gate. “The air is….,” she said.

“What’s wrong?” Ilea asked and reached out with her ash.

The mana, she thought. “You might want to stay back.”

Felicia nodded and teleported towards the other end of the hall.

Ilea touched the gate, feeling power within. She couldn’t perceive any enchantments however.

Can I enter? she sent.

The being didn’t reply.

Instead she spread her ash and formed a replica of the gate and herself, making the gate open before she walked inside.

The being sent a wave of emotions that amounted to danger.

To me or it?

She didn’t know but she really wanted to see the creature. If anybody in this place had answers, it was this being. And Ilea didn’t want to wait for the spirits to reach the fissure.

Instead of opening the gate, she blinked inside. Or tried to.

The spell didn’t work and she appeared in front of the area.

She used displacement instead, appearing in a dim hallway that led deeper into the structure.

Her sphere had been able to pierce the gate but now that she appeared, she understood the warning.

The mana here was damn near physical, if such a thing was possible.

She could feel it around her.

And she could feel the presence ahead. Clearer now.

Lilith.

The thought came to her. A question? A thought?

She pointed at herself. “Lilith,” she said out loud and sent the thought at the same time.