The afternoon of Earth’s integration
It took Raz longer to get back to Aki than he’d expected. New monsters had wandered in from elsewhere in the dungeon - or maybe they’d respawned. They weren’t supposed to respawn that deep in the dungeon, but they weren’t supposed to spawn in the first place, either, so who could tell.
Aki was still where he’d left her, of course. A foot-tall crystal encased in a complex protective cage wasn’t going to go anywhere easily, whether or not it sat on a three-foot-high pedestal.
Raz couldn’t Bind to Aki yet, but at least he had the Skill that would let them talk. It was too bad she couldn’t manifest anymore, the way she had when he was a youngling.
Aki? I got what was in the hidden area. Do you know what the key and the bag are?
No. Stallet didn’t say while he was in the dungeon. There is a message for you from Grandma Tillon.
Raz hadn’t expected a message; he’d only left her that morning, why would she have sent a message?
Please play the message, Aki.
Grandma Tillon appeared in front of him. She was dressed in armor and carrying weapons he hadn’t known she had. He’d certainly never seen her with them.
“Everyone. This is a broadcast message to all of my contacts. Stallet Center is under attack. They’ve already taken out all of the nearby clans we could have called on for help. All of them, and all in the past day.”
“The Academy is under siege, and is evacuating. Don’t send help; we’re going to hold as long as we can to get as many out as possible. The Academy’s agreed to let us use their teleporters once the students are gone, those of us who can get to them. It’ll be over before you can get here. All I have on the attackers is that they’re all wearing this symbol.”
Grandma Tillon held up a torn, charred piece of cloth.
“I don’t recognize the symbol.”
Grandma Tillon disappeared as the message ended.
Raz stood there blinking for a moment. Whoever had killed his Clan must have done it incidentally, on their way to the actual objective. That meant - Raz didn’t know what that meant.
Was Grandma Tillon even still alive?
Aki?
You should leave. You said you have a quest with a teleportation location. Bring it up and I’ll start the teleportation process.
It’s to Tzintkra. I don’t know the place. How do I get you out of this thing? I thought it’d be easy but your crystal seems to be stuck.
You want to bring me? Don’t. Leave me behind. I’m useless and may as well die here. You can find another dungeon to manage. One not so set in her ways would be better for you.
Saving you is the point.
It’s too late. Just leave me.
Raz ignored Aki. She’d said things like that before. His mother had told him to ignore Aki. Grandma Tillon had told him to let Aki die. One of Raz’s uncles had told him to “just put her out of her misery already”.
He was going to save Aki. But first, he had to get her out of this cage. He knew the cage was there to protect her from people who would accidentally smash her or steal her, but it still had to open. Somehow. Even if Aki wouldn’t tell him how.
There isn’t enough power to transport us both. I will barely be able to teleport you. Just leave me here, I’ll collapse the dungeon while the enemy is in it.
And then you’ll die.
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I’m dying anyway. This way my death will accomplish something.
Aki shouldn’t have to die.
Raz patted his pockets. Maybe there was a tool he was forgetting somewhere that would help open the cage? Wait. The key!
Raz tried the key on the cage. There wasn’t a proper keyhole, but a Status Key was supposed to work by touching the item to be locked or unlocked anyway. It didn’t work.
The rest of what he’d gotten didn’t seem helpful, either. The bag was just a bag, and the cylinder just had a message -
If all is lost, give her the cylinder. It has some secrets that only she can use, if you have to flee.
He should have remembered. Raz pulled out the cylinder and carefully threaded it through the bars until it touched Aki’s surface.
This is supposed to have a message for you. From Sunrise?
Raz didn’t hear Aki say anything for quite a while. When she finally did speak, she sounded more cheerful than he could remember her being since he’d announced he was going to follow the Keeper’s Path.
Asihanya lost a lot when Sunrise decided it would be better to let her legacy live for her than to strive for herself. You’re the closest I’ve seen to her in many generations. I’ll honor her request.
To open the cage, there’s a secret opening in the back of the pedestal. Once it’s open, just tap the depression once, it’ll make the cage retract into the pedestal. Don’t move me until the portal is open; I need the pedestal to control the teleporter.
Next is magic. I don’t have enough. Etherium would work, but - I know. Your flying carpet! It’s travel magic, so it will synergize. It’ll be consumed by the teleportation, but that’s the best I can do. Please set it in the focal point of the teleporter - no, a little to the left … there, yes. When i start the portal up, it’ll damage the carpet and let me get at the magic. Inefficient but still better than using Etherium.
Raz was amazed at the difference in Aki. He followed her instructions and waited for her to tell him what to do.
Ready? Good. I’ll start the teleport. Make sure you tuck me in a bag or something, this doesn’t look like a secure teleportation point so it won’t be safe to show a large crystal of any kind.
The portal was open. All Raz could see through it was darkness, but he gathered up Aki, tucked her in the unknown bag from Stallet - it was the only one he had that was large enough - tied it to his belt, and stepped through the portal.
[Family Quest Completed]
[Optional objective Completed]
[Reward: Sunrise Clan Torc]
The torc appeared around Raz’s neck as he teleported. It wouldn’t mean anything to anyone not of the clan - it wasn’t made of valuable materials and it didn’t have any particular enchantments - but to Raz, it held a lot of meaning.
His mother was telling him that even if she was alive, it wasn’t worth rescuing her. He was the only member of Sunrise left.
He was grateful that the teleportation would take a few minutes. He needed them to get his emotions back under control.
Shared Arrival Area, Tzintkra
The afternoon of Earth’s integration
Raz walked through the portal exit and found himself in a small covered area. He wasn’t in a building, despite the small seating area that also seemed to be under the same covering, because he could see the outside world from where he stood.
It was an outside world unlike any he’d ever seen. His very first impression was that he was looking at a beautiful, tree-lined meadow. A second look told him that his first look had been not only wrong but horribly wrong. Most of the trees were sickly-looking, with part of their bark missing and leaves that were as white as they were green. Only one tree looked healthy - the biggest of them all. It looked fine until Raz realized that it didn’t move when the wind moved the other trees. It was completely unnaturally still.
The “meadow” seemed to be an open area covered in algae and moss. Maybe it was wet?
“First time to Tzintkra?” Raz’s attention was redirected by a scarred human man standing near the portal. “Might want to step forward a bit, don’t want people running into you.” The human was tall and muscular, with dark hair, pale skin, and a lot of scarring. His face was oddly round, sort of like a very young human’s; Raz found it slightly offputting and resolved not to hold his appearance against the man.
Raz took two steps away from the portal. “Yes. I hadn’t expected this.”
“No one does, the first time. Your sponsor should have warned you. They also should be here to meet you, who’re you looking for?”
“Sponsor?”
The man shook his head. “Guess you don’t have one, then? Huh. D’you happen to have any ability to find traps? Or any skill at healing?”
Trapfinding was a basic learned skill needed for the Keeper’s Path Raz was following. “I - well, I can find traps, yeah. I’ve only got one healing spell, [Quick Heal], though. I’m not a dedicated healer.”
The man smiled and stuck out his hand. “Name’s Gustav. Why don’t you come with me, we’ll get you squared away, could use a trapfinder with some off-healing, even if you do seem a bit low Tier. What’s your name?”
“Raz. Nice to meet you.”
Raz wasn’t sure about this, but he had no idea where else to start. He could take on a dungeon by himself - that was part of the reason he had the skills he did - but only if the dungeon was easy enough. He didn’t know Tzintkra well enough to find the dungeons he could attempt. He’d hoped there would be an easy way to find out, a library or a shop, but he wasn’t even sure how to find one of those right now.
He’d hopped through the portal without a real plan, hadn’t he?
Well, it wasn’t like he’d had a lot of choices.