The next day Stella buckled down again and started engraving the formation array on an actual beast core. While her sister was doing this, Lunam went out and bought a small storage ring specifically for the black Axis replica. She didn’t want it to start absorbing the items she had stored in her other rings. For the same reason, she didn’t much care for the idea of carrying it around in person either.
Surprisingly it only took Stella 3 tries to successfully engrave a poison resistance formation array on a mid-ranked beast core – which was the highest ranked core they currently had in their possession. With this being the case, the two sisters decided to meet Aria after a good night’s rest, which was still an entire day earlier than they’d originally estimated.
They’d only entered Imber 8 days previously, and they had initially thought they’d be cutting it down to the wire and meeting Aria on the 10th day.
“Do you think Master will be surprised when she finds out that I engraved this formation myself?” Stella asked her sister while they were lying down on their respective beds in the dark.
Unfortunately Lunam was already asleep so nothing but a light snore answered her sister. Rolling her eyes with a small smile, Stella shut her eyes and was soon letting her own snores drown out those of her sister’s.
* * *
After a hearty breakfast, Stella and Lunam made their way out of the inn and headed towards Aria’s current home. Hera told them where they could find her, since every time they made it to Imber their master was always living somewhere different. So far, she had never stayed in one place for more than 3 months, and she had yet to ever revisit a place as well. This had started even before she was hiding from the Royal Guard, so from this it could be seen that she was a rather ‘unique’ person.
Knocking on a tired and worn down wooden door, the two sisters took a step back and took in the whole building. The walls were painted white about 20 years previously with no care taken to preserve the colour. The roof slats were almost completely covered in moss, and the windows seemed to only be single glazed. The guttering was the only part of the entire building that seemed to be even remotely new. That being said, nothing was actually broken so instead of looking dreary, it actually gave the impression of being well loved.
When the doors opened, the inside seemed to be a lot newer and in much better condition, but neither Stella nor Lunam were paying much attention to that as they happily hugged their master who was also a kind of second mother to them.
“So you girls do know how to come home.” Aria jokingly scolded them. “It’s been long enough for me to move house three times.”
“Haha, well, you know how far away Kuk is. Personally I think we made pretty good time actually.” Stella replied with a cheeky smile.
“Well, come inside. We should catch up over a warm cup of cocoa.” Aria gestured as she welcomed them inside.
While waiting for the kettle to boil she made small talk with the girls in the kitchen and, once the large mugs were filled with hot chocolate and whipped cream, the group moved to the small conservatory. The glass walls looked out over a surprisingly well maintained and vibrant garden. There were several bright splashes of colour from the flower beds and the gravel pathways drew the eyes to each section before finally reaching a swing attached to an overhanging branch of the big plum tree in full blossom at the top of the garden.
“Master, we got you something since we haven’t seen you in a while.” Stella started, choosing not to mention that she had been the one to make it.
Handing over a small jewellery box to Aria, Stella nervously waited for the woman’s response. Lunam smiled encouragingly at her sister. She knew that their master would love it.
“Thank you girls. You didn’t have to get me anything though.” Aria blushed as she opened the case.
Seeing the enchanted beast core, she pulled it out for a closer look at the array.
“It’s a poison resistance formation? It seems to be a passive one at that.” She commented happily. “The one I had before has finally given out on me, so this is perfect timing.”
She stood up and pulled her two daughters in for another tight squeeze.
“You should thank Stella more than me. I only provided moral support.” Lunam replied with a mischievous smile.
“You made this Stella?” She was understandably surprised. “While the theory was sound, no one had actually managed to execute it!”
While this was true, a big part of it was that not many people had even tried. After all, the types of people who chose to cultivate their bodies normally wouldn’t be all that interested in sitting hunched over a desk for long periods of time. Furthermore, the few people that had actually tried were usually northmanni that hadn’t quite given up on at least being involved in the world of cultors. This being the case, they usually could only heal minor scrapes and bruises – let alone adequately activate the vast quantities of magic stored in beast cores.
“It’s not something I’ll focus on, but it’s nice to know that I can if I ever need to.” Stella replied, deflecting some of the praise.
After the atmosphere had calmed down again, the trio started talking about what had happened in their lives since they last saw each other. Stella and Lunam talked about their adventures in Kuk and about the two newcomers to Diei Noctis. They didn’t notice Aria’s slight twitch at the mention of Nihil’s name, though. Their master spoke about the different places she’d lived in, and about some of her close calls with the Royal Guard.
“It sounds like I have these boys to thank for the Royal Guard not actively trying to hunt me down recently.”Aria commented with a bright smile. “Though I’m not sure they would be all too happy to hear that.”
Once there was nothing left to say they naturally moved their conversation into the basement training area, where Aria proceed to test how much they’d improved during their time apart. Naturally she handily thrashed the two – even when they had attacked her together.
“Did you two even work on the basics at all while travelling?” Their master asked in disappointment. “No matter how powerful you get, if you fail to work on the basics every day then you will still reveal openings to your enemies. You won’t always be lucky enough to only face dumb magic beasts as your opponents. Having your body seize up or fumble in the middle of a battle could prove to be fatal. That risk can only be slightly mitigated by allies.
“Do you think those two boys you just met successfully evaded the Royal Guard for as long as they have just by sheer, dumb luck? Trust me, if they were that easy to fool then I would have long been able to leave Imber and get into contact with the inter-species council.”
Finally done with her lecture, Aria looked over to see her two students hanging their heads and blushing deeply. It seemed like her message had gotten through so she decided to let up on them and continue with some light sparring. As the fights continued, she would point out some of the girls’ flaws so they could adjust their movements accordingly.
Soon enough the sky was completely dark, save for the giant white orb that was desperately trying to drown out the surrounding stars. Only noticing this after they exited the training room, Aria invited the two girls to stay the night before leaving in the morning.
Since they already had all of their belongings with them the two girls readily agreed and Aria quickly cooked up a humble, but delicious, dinner for everyone to enjoy.
* * *
The next morning the girls said goodbye to their master before leaving to meet up with Paul, Carl, and Clark at Hera’s inn. There was a light sprinkling of rain, but it barely affected their travel through the city and they soon arrived at the inn.
The men were sitting in the dining area having breakfast by the time Stella and Lunam reached them.
“Miss Stella! Miss Lunam! How was Master Aria?” Carl asked eagerly. Though the members of Diei Noctis hadn’t actually met Aria, they had heard a lot about her from their two leaders.
“She was well enough to chew us out for slacking off in our training.” Stella laughed. “She did like our gift though, so thank you for letting me be selfish with the distribution of cores.”
At those words everyone hurried to assure their leader that it wasn’t a big deal and that all of Diei Noctis would have been in agreement with their decision as well. Smiling guiltily, Stella chose to let the subject drop and instead asked how it had gone when selling off the magic beast materials. From their smiles it could be seen that they had done better than they’d predicted, so everyone said goodbye to Hera and then headed towards the gates.
Splitting up just before the gates – just like when they had entered Imber – Stella and Lunam went slightly ahead of their party members and braced themselves for another bout of verbal assault from the guards. Surprisingly they managed to find the only non-racist member of the Royal Guards, so they were let through without any problems.
“I guess they weren’t all brainwashed upon entry into the Royal Guard.” Stella commented dryly.
“Haha, yeah it’s definitely a miracle alright.” Lunam agreed with a somewhat helpless laugh.
Soon enough the three guys were beyond the gates too and everyone met up again. After brief greetings, the group of five started heading south-east towards Flumen.
* * *
Meanwhile, Nihil and Ignis were currently in Agartha. The furthest place from Avalon’s reach that Nihil could currently remember was in a certain cave on the surface of the country mainly populated by Dwarves.
The main area of this cave had a rough stone platform with a shallow dip in the centre, and a charred dent in the centre of the floor that looked to be the remains of a fire pit. Towards the back there were the broken remains of what looked to be a stone chair, and a doorway that led into a completely bare room. Perhaps there used to be a wooden door, but it had long since crumbled away into nothing.
Currently the only source of light and warmth in this cave was Nihil’s magical flame in the ready made fire pit. There were already air vents drilled through the thick walls – plus magical fire didn’t give off any smoke – so the two wouldn’t have any problems for breathable air.
“Where is this place?” Ignis finally asked his friend.
After they had left Flumen the two fugitives ran all over Avalon, deliberately getting spotted by the Royal Guard with a different number of people every time. After each sighting, Nihil infiltrated their camps again to make sure the news got passed on to the higher ups. He had used his shikigami to make up the varying numbers and, from a distance, they looked very convincing.
Eventually Nihil had opened a gate into this cave, so Ignis was understandably confused. He’d figured out which country they were in when he had looked outside and seen a seemingly endless mountain range surrounding them. What had actually confused him, was how they were there in the first place. As far as he knew, Nihil currently didn’t remember anywhere outside of Avalon in order to transport them this far.
“We’re in Agartha. We’re not in the Dwarves’ Metropolis though, as we can still be considered to be on the surface.” Nihil replied, clearly dodging the true question that Ignis was trying to ask.
“You know that’s not what I was actually asking.” Ignis refused to back down, so he decided to cut to the chase. “What is this cave to you? Did you used to live here?”
Sighing in surrender, Nihil then took a deep breath to gather his courage before properly explaining. “Even I’m not exactly sure why I was here at the time, but this is where I was living when I got taken to that facility.
“I get the feeling that I had been sleeping for a long time when Callum showed up. To make matters worse, it seems like I had already sealed the majority of my memories just before going to sleep, so I was fairly confused when they barged in and forcibly placed their Azoth Shackles on me. I still don’t know how they managed to find me here.”
What he didn’t mention was that when he said he’d been sleeping for a ‘long time’, he literally meant for a few centuries at least. If he told Ignis this, then the obvious question would be asked – ‘what made him feel the need to sleep that long?’ And that was something Nihil just wasn’t ready to discuss yet.
Besides, it wasn’t as if Nihil clearly understood why he had been there either. One thing he did know for certain, though, was that he’d wanted to remain undisturbed for much longer than he had managed to be. Nihil also worried that if he ever undid the seals blocking his memories, then he wouldn’t be the same person any more. After all, he had clearly sealed them for a reason.
“If they know about this place, isn’t it dangerous to stay here, then?” Ignis pointed out worriedly.
“It should be fine for a while.” Nihil started. “For one thing, they don’t know that I’ve regained any of my memories from before I had already been at the facility for a while. Furthermore, even if they do somehow guess where we are, they won’t be able to reach us this quickly.”
“That’s true.” Ignis agreed easily. “But we still can’t stay here for long. We should head towards the coast. There’s no point in delaying any more.”
“Sounds good. We should go through Abraxium though as it will be easier than making our way through this mountain range.” Nihil replied. “Besides, there’s a hidden entrance just beyond the back of this cave.”
“There is!?” Ignis asked, surprised. “Wouldn’t that be classed as illegal entry, though?”
“We don’t have to worry about that apparently.” Nihil shrugged. “It seems that I have Queen Hephaestia’s signet ring in my storage ring.”
This was a storage ring that was filled with all his belongings that he had recovered along with Ignis’ void-space ring because Callum had put it to one side to look into closer once he’d completed his current project. Callum was the type of man to be overly confident in his eventual success. It made him an excellent researcher, and allowed him to persuade people that investing in him was a good plan. However, it also meant that he had a tendency to put off certain things for too long. It was also exactly this personality trait that allowed Nihil and Ignis to finally escape.
“How do you have something like that?” Ignis asked, shocked. “It won’t actually help us if it was stolen, you know.”
Ignis laughed, but he was only half joking.
“I didn’t steal it, don’t worry.” Nihil reassured his friend with an amused smile. “I only remembered this once we got here, but I was actually friends with her. I was staying here with her permission, and the entrance was made so that I could easily visit her if I woke up. However, I don’t know if the story might have changed if the monarch has changed.”
Because succession to the throne wasn’t hereditary, and instead based on suitability and achievements, it wasn’t guaranteed that a new monarch would be as friendly with Nihil. Depending on the circumstances, they might have even misunderstood the situation to believe that Nihil had stolen it. As such, this was a risky move since neither of them knew much about current affairs. They had picked up some of the bigger events happening in Avalon while on the run and while talking to the members of Diei Noctis, but they hadn’t had much time to find out about other countries.
“Would they even be able to change the monarch without their signet ring?” Ignis pointed out, effectively stumping his friend.
“Well, it shouldn’t be a problem anyway.” Nihil answered eventually. “Unless something drastic happened, she should still be alive at the very least. Plus, I don’t think she was the type to abdicate.”
The queen had only been just over 300 when he had known her and, given her realm, she still had several centuries left to live. An average Northmanni could manage to live until around 150 years old. However, a cultor that could reach the ‘Expert’ realm could live to be around 1000 years old, and the upper limits were around 2000 years old if they could reach the ‘Ancestor’ realm.
As for Queen Hephaestia, she had reached the 13th stage [Magus Expert] realm. Given that her talent was only slightly better than Lunam’s, and that she was bound to be busy with her duties as a queen, it was unlikely that she would have been able to reach the [Magus Master] realm yet. But that still meant that she could live up to the age of 1000, and even though a lot of time had passed she should still only be around 800 years old.
While thinking of all this, Nihil guided Ignis to the back of the cave, and found the mechanism to reveal the entrance. Turning round to his friend, Nihil made sure Ignis was following him before ducking through the dark hole, and emerged into a long, brightly lit tunnel. While the entrance was pretty small, the tunnel was more than tall enough to stand up straight in.
Despite Abraxium being built by dwarves, their tunnels were usually almost excessively tall enough for the other species to stand straight in as well. They may be the among the shorter species on Axis, but they also still liked open areas and high ceilings just as much as (if not more than) humans. Additionally, Abraxium had many tourists and residents that weren’t dwarves, so it wouldn’t make sense for their structures to be any smaller.
The pathway sloped down in a steady decline that gradually led deeper and deeper into Axis’ crust. Eventually they reached a security checkpoint. This would be where most people would hand over their papers (which should have been stamped at the entrance to the tunnel). However, Nihil and Ignis didn’t have anything like that, so Nihil took out the signet ring to present to the guard instead.
This guardsman happened to be a young cat-type mysterious beast that couldn’t transform into a humanoid yet. His form was that of a pure black, domestic house cat with bright green eyes, and he had been curled up on the desk as he waited for someone to come along to relieve his shift. This path was one that was rarely used, so his shifts were usually pretty relaxed. That being said, he hadn’t yet lost enough integrity that he would ever fall asleep on the job.
“Oh? Someone actually came? Will it be a blue moon tonight?” The guard joked in a strangely deep voice for his tiny body. “Well anyway, papers please.”
The guard held out his paw, so Nihil just dropped the ring onto it and calmly waited for his response.
“Huh? I asked for your papers, not this ri-“ He stopped mid word as he figured out just what he was holding. “Why do you have this!? Since when was it ever let out of the palace!?”
“Uh …” Of all things, Ignis hadn’t expected that people wouldn’t even know that the queen didn’t have it any more.
“Queen Hephaestia gave it to me a long time ago.” Nihil started to explain, but the guard wouldn’t even hear it and had already pressed a button to request for back-up.
“Save it!” He interrupted excitedly, then proceeded to shout the line he’d been wanting to say ever since he first signed up for this job. “You’re under arrest!”
This was the first incident to happen since he had become a guard. As a result, he was a bit more gung-ho than most other guards would have been in his position. He had already come to the conclusion that these two were thieves, and didn’t even bother to listen to Nihil’s explanation – let alone question why the two might have come back and flaunted the ring so blatantly.
Needless to say, this guardsman was a bit of an idiot.
Exchanging a look, the two men decided to just surrender for now until they could deal with someone slightly more intelligent.
Aerone Grey 