Some time after crossing the stream, the group is steadily approaching the village of Surling at a decent pace, with only a few isolated run-ins with hostile undead stepping into their path. Atticus and Veros are at the front, as usual.
“I'm unsure of what to expect when we reach Armasstadt.” The knight breaks the silence to air his thoughts. “I never really thought that much about it – partially because I didn't think we'd make it – until we met Lias.”
“I understand what you mean.” Veros sullenly replies. “I never once considered any sort of clergy involvement with the creation with the mist, myself.”
“You did seem quite angry as Lias was explaining things.”
“I just can't stand the thought of overly-zealous monks doing such a terrible thing.” The veteran shakes his head in frustration. “It feels like they've committed treason, but a form of it that exceeds the severity of treason against your country. It feels like they've decided to betray every living thing in the known world. I'm shocked Selick managed to seem well-adjusted enough to become a Grand Monk if he's capable of doing such a thing.”
“What has Pontiff Reticus been doing since the mist appeared?” Atticus asks as the unknowing foreigner.
“He's been trying his best to keep the people calm, but as you can guess, it's extremely difficult. Trying to keep order in the midst of catastrophe is not easy. I would know.” Veros can remember the various mayhem that he's had to endure as a city guard before the barrier was erected, and the Kudura war before that. “For the first few months of the mist's existence, crime rate at Evatica had skyrocketed. Particularly theft.”
“I've been considering the supposed strained relationship between Selick and Reticus, as Lias mentioned. Do you think it's possible Reticus has made the connection between the mist and Selick by now?”
Veros shrugs. “I can't really say. Selick and his followers left about a six months prior. It'd be difficult to simply guess the connection without any evidence. But if he did, then he's a smart man.”
“I'm a bit curious as to why a search for Selick didn't start after he left.” The knight ponders aloud. “Since you're part of the city guard, was there anything that could've been done about that?”
“Well, there's nothing necessarily illegal about monks leaving the monastery. It's ultimately a relationship between a man and his religion, not between a man and the law. Even if he and Reticus hated each other, that wouldn't be enough to make us look for him to arrest him. We'd need definitive proof that he departed with the intent of committing a crime. And we never received such a thing, obviously.”
“Fair enough.”
After a few more hours of riding, the Mistwalkers finally reach Surling. They begin their usual clearing procedure with Atticus and Veros entering and inspecting homes lining the main road cutting through the village.
One by one, they enter different houses in hopes of finding the ideal one to stay the night in. There are a handful of straggling undead scattered throughout the area, but outside of those encounters, nothing of note is discovered among the leftovers of the past lives that inhabited the ghost town.
They eventually come across a large house with fenced-in stables behind it. It's unlikely they'll come across a more appropriate home to stay in, and so they decide to rest here. Inside is similar to Lena's manor back at Terrance, featuring a long main hall with a fire pit, massive table in the center, a high ceiling, and a single, large bedroom at the back.
After the group leads their horses into the stables to unsaddle them and bring their belongings inside the house, one last patrol is done by Atticus and Veros around the immediate perimeter to guarantee that surrounding homes are clear of threats, as well. Once they deem the area safe, they return to the house and everyone finally begins eating their rationed dinners just as the sunlight begins to fade away and the impenetrable darkness of misty night shrouds the land. Their paltry meals of fruit and vegetables have begun to tire them, and they've started to crave real dishes again.
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The group is sitting at the end of the long table closest to the lit fire pit near the front door, which they've barricaded with another, smaller table for extra security through the night. The lively flame in the pit is heating a pot they found and wiped clean, then filled with the water they collected from the stream earlier to purify it. Veros, content with the length at which the water had been heated, lifts the pot and places it on the table, on top of a thick layers of cloths to not scorch the wooden surface.
“Let's wait to allow the water to cool, and we can finally quench our thirst.” Veros says as the returns to his seat at the table. “I know everyone's feeling as dry as a bone, but stay patient for a little longer.”
“I feel like it's been an eternity since the last time I ate meat.” Royd complains while biting out a massive chunk of an apple. “If we accomplish our mission and make it back to Evatica, I'm eating an entire cow, maybe with a whole pig on the side.”
“Erik.” Veros gets the attention of the listless noble. “I don't suppose any of those religious history books you read before have mentioned anything about a holy relic in Mount Armas? Or possibly any relic related to Zerruth?”
Erik narrows his eyes and racks his brain for a moment. “No, I can't say I've seen anything like that mentioned in any of those books. I've seen relics mentioned, but I don't think any of them had ties to Zerruth.”
“I can't stop thinking about that thing.” The veteran comments with a sigh. “It sounds so mysterious. An ivory egg covered in jewels? Why would such a thing be buried in the mountain? And how in the world could it have caused the mist?”
“Your guess is as good as mine.” The archer admits to ignorance on the topic.
Zyra, who's quietly listening to the conversation, furrows her brow and stares intensely at the surface of the table, completely lost in thought. Atticus, who's sitting next to her, notices.
“Zyra,” he softly calls to her, “is something wrong?”
Without looking at him, she replies with a hint of reluctance in her voice. “I... have an idea as to what that relic might be.”
Veros perks up with interest. “You do?” He asks.
“It's just a guess.” Zyra clarifies before giving her explanation. “But in the university, we're taught about magic history. There's a massive section of our curriculum dedicated to magic-based disasters, and most of it centers around the black arcane crystals.”
“Black arcane crystals?” Royd repeats. “Sounds ominous.”
“They're basically arcane stones with an insanely high amount of pure magic energy in them. They're stuffed with so much power, that they're completely unstable to the point of being both dangerous and useless, because tampering with them in any way can simply cause a catastrophe. However, it's possible to destroy them with certain spells that have been crafted specifically for that purpose.”
“How common are these black arcane crystals?” Veros asks, intrigued by the subject. “I don't think I've ever heard of these things before.”
“They're incredibly rare nowadays.” The mage answers with a slight shake of her head. “According to the texts we have at school, the last one was discovered in Drangvus about a hundred years ago. They had the sense to immediately destroy it, thankfully.”
Drangvus is Yhordran's southern neighbor, a country that rests across approximately two hundred miles of ocean. In terms of size, it has about two-and-a-half times the land area of Yhordran.
“There was one discovered in Threcia about a hundred and fifty years before that, as well.” Atticus interjects with his own limited knowledge on the subject. “I remember reading about it once. It was also destroyed soon after being found.”
“Are these crystals just found in the earth like normal arcane ore?” Veros asks.
Zyra nods. “They are. No one's sure exactly how they form. There are some theories that they're created when multiple arcane veins in the earth tangle and leak into each other for an extremely long time under the constant pressure of the ground above it. Other, more far-fetched and religiously-driven ideas suggests they're here from higher beings or are connected to the unknown.”
“What sort of disasters have these things caused?” Royd chimes in with a question of his own.
“Sometimes they stay magically linked to the veins they were to close to at the time of being excavated and cause things like earthquakes, tsunamis, or even volcanic eruptions.” Her face suddenly grows more somber. “But... mostly they just cause massive explosions that unleash all of their concentrated power – explosions big enough to turn all of Evatica into a barren wasteland, for example.”
“That's... incredibly bad news.” Royd becomes wide-eyed with fear at the thought of such a disaster striking his homeland.