The ceremony for burying Lyrissa’s body was a short and modest affair. They found a suitable spot underneath a large redwood that was still within the perimeter of the ruins, and buried her frail body deep underneath its base. Myne uttered the blessings of the dragons over her as they finished filling the hole, and they left a small pile of stones to mark the spot.
It was Alice who suggested that they try putting Cammine in the statis chamber. While they had no idea what its actual purpose was, it had managed to prolong Lyrissa’s life by a number of centuries, so surely it should be able to help out Cammine as well. How to operate it was another issue, but as it had automatically shut down when Lyrissa had passed on, perhaps it would automatically activate when someone living was placed in it? Or failing that, there were lots of things that they could push and prod, and surely the big green button started something? They were keen to try and heal Cammine, as she would be able to tell them exactly what had befallen the Southern Temple. She was also a healer, and if she wanted to stay with them afterwards she would be an asset to the party. The disappearance of Cammine’s dragon was a grave concern to Myne though, as in practice (with the main exception being herself) a Rider's dragon was near indestructible, and it usually required the Rider to perish before their dragon would also do so. That didn’t mean that they couldn’t be seriously hurt or put out of action however, as that was done easily enough, especially if the Rider was being stupid, but an early death of the dragon never happened. Izen was managing to keep her stabilized, but was also getting quite upset that she wasn’t able to do more, and that they hadn’t gotten to her sooner, her emotional attachment to it all confusing even her. So when Alice had brought up the strange technology in the depths of the ruins they had quickly agreed that it was worth a shot. It didn’t take Alice too long to work out how to open the coffin like part of it, and while they had expected the liquid inside it to pour out all over the floor, they were surprised to find that it had all drained away somewhere. Removing Lyrissa’s lifeless body, they had put Cammine’s in there, and as they had closed the lid it had come back to life, the panels all lighting up and the background hum resuming as the chamber had filled with the liquid again. A gift from the former witch. Alice had stayed to keep an eye on it as the rest of them had then gone back up to the surface to bury Lyrissa, as now all that was left was to wait.
It was five days later when Cammine finally opened her eyes, initially filled with terror and fright, likely confused as to exactly where she was and what had befallen her, relaxing somewhat when Myne and Izen had arrived, people that she recognized. With a look of peace on her face she had then fallen asleep again in the device, awakening again the following day, at which point they decided to try and extract her from the chamber, hoping that she had recovered enough. The statis chamber relinquished her easily enough when they tried to open it up, and wrapping her in a blanket they sat her on a chair that they found in the room as they clustered around her.
“Where am I?” Cammine asked, her voice still weak. She was a smaller girl, standing a head shorter than Myne. She was well endowed, with a slender and athletic figure, her attractive features fine and delicate. Her hair was a sun blonde, kept in a tidy braid that went most of the way down her back, and she was dressed in the typical Rider Skeon, though it was barely serviceable now with the number of cuts and tears in it. She had no armour summoned at the moment, whether she still could they did not know. Her baby blue eyes settled on Myne, pain and sadness clearly visible.
“You’re deep beneath the Academia de Magica,” Myne answered. “It’s an ancient ruin dating back to the beginning of the kingdoms.”
“You’re the only survivor from the Southern Temple that was still there when we arrived,” she continued. “There was a demon keeping you prisoner, but it no longer lives.”
The changes to Myne’s appearances finally registered with Cammine, a look of shock on her face. “What happened to you Myne? You have horns...” she asked.
“I ran afoul of the Demon King,” Myne gave as way of explanation.
“Who are all these people? I don’t recognize any of them. Apart from the girl. You found her.” Cammine asked, her eyes passing over all of the party.
“This is Velvet Izen, she helped keep you alive,” Myne introduced. “Laphir, Alice, Shino and Kyla. Former guild members,” she said as she then went through the remaining members of the party. “A small rabble commissioned with the worlds problems.”
“You have some interesting friends now. I’m glad.” Cammine managed a small smile.
“Are you able to tell us at all what happened at the temple?” Myne asked.
Tears filled Cammine’s eyes as she thought back to what had happened, her face filled with pain.
“You don’t have to if you don’t feel up to it,” Alice interjected.
Cammine took a deep breath, steadying herself.
“It’s all right. Talking about it might help, and you need to know.” she said.
“It’s been somewhat of a disaster since you left. The escape of the Witch and her assistant, as well as the appearance of a Prime dragon threw the entire complex into a state of chaos, and we never really recovered from it. All of the Council came down, and even one of the princesses made an appearance, but they weren’t able to learn anything more than what we already knew. Lady Knight Sorene was tasked with the investigation, but even before then they pretty much decided just to pin all the blame on you. When they eventually all left they took a number of the Sisters with them, leaving only a dozen behind. It was almost like they were getting ready to abandon the temple, even though it is the oldest one of them all.”
Cammine paused for a moment, her gaze lingering on Izen, and her two small dragons.
“They’re cute. What are they? They’re not kin,” she asked.
“They’re my familiars,” Izen answered.
Cammine nodded, not really understanding, but too tired to ask any further.
“It was fairly peaceful after that, until Lady Knight Sorene returned, with two others in tow. One was Melody, you know, the Rider who was and still is the famous musician from the capital. The other was a man I’ve never seen before. Tall, dark, and sinister. It was like his eyes were piercing straight through you. He was dressed smartly but practical, like he was a head servant, but he was definitely anything but. I think Melody called him Byron at one point.”
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“Lady Knight Sorene called all of the remaining Riders together in the remains of the temple. The balance of power was shifting, she said, and great war was coming. We would be required to fight. Not for the Clan though. For someone she called Zorthac. It was not a name that I recognized, but Alexi instantly went pale, and tried to back away from the gathering. Byron was instantly in front of her, and she collapsed to the ground dead, his blade glistening red. She never stood a chance. I started internally freaking out at that point, with no idea what was going on, but managed to keep myself composed while Sorene went on. She said she was offering us a gift of power, as we were too weak, gesturing to Alexi as an example. The only price being that we had to serve her master. If we refused, we would share Alexi’s fate, and contribute to another’s power. So essentially we had no choice.”
“Somehow Sunspot was able to make her way out of the stable, sensing my distress, and as Sorene was talking she came tearing down from the top of the temple. I knew I didn’t stand a chance, but I had to do something, so I attacked Sorene, Merilene, Lilly, and Dilasha also taking the cue and joining in. Sunpost targetted Byron and...” Cammine burst into tears, unable to contain them any longer, her sobs long and hard, her body trembling. Myne went up to her, hugging and comforting her as she let it all out. It was ten minutes later before she was able to start talking again.
“It isn’t meant to be possible for a familiar to die before its Rider, but he did just that.” Cammine stopped, taking long breaths to steady herself again before she continued on.
“The pain was excruciating, and I was unable to do anything other than curl up in a helpless ball on the ground as they killed Merilene, Lilly, and Dilasha. I don’t recall much after that, Sorene saying something about me being an example to the remaining Riders as she lay into me, and between her attacks and the pain from Sunspots death I blacked out. She certainly wasn’t holding back. The only other thing I remember is briefly coming to consciousness at one point, finding myself being attacked and thrown about by some creature as someone else commanded that it be stopped. Something about a trap. The pain from that was nothing in comparison though.”
“I don’t know how it is I am still alive. I should have died with the others.” Cammine looked down at the ground despondent.
“They had other plans for you, but I’d wager that it hasn’t worked out how they thought. You have another chance now. Zorthac, the Demon King, is trying to spread his influence, and we need to stop that. To stop him. And we’re going to need all the help we can get.” Myne gave Cammine a reassuring hug.
“We’d love to have you help us, but I know now is not the time to ask, so you don’t have to answer. Know that whatever happens we’ll look after you,” Myne stated, Cammine nodding in response.
With the contents of their wagon now at the ruins, Laphir and Alice had been busy continuing to make the place more comfortable for them. They knew that they would end up spending quite a bit of time here, the wards that Lyrissa had set up giving them a sense of safety as they would keep potential intruders away, so there wasn’t any real reason not to. They brought Cammine up to one of the rooms that they had set a bed up in, Izen and Myne staying with her for a while.
“Where is Vel’nas?” Cammine asked as she was settled into the bed.
“Zorthac destroyed him when he changed me into what I am now,” Myne answered, sadness in her voice. She doubted that she would ever get over his death, and she was sure it would be the same for Cammine.
“Will he do the same to the others?” Cammine then queried.
“I don’t know. Perhaps not, given that I am somewhat of a unique case.” Myne was very concerned however about what the events at the temple would entail long term, but there was nothing that they could do about it now. But it did make it even more important that they warn the Clan about what was going on. It also made the capital even more unattractive as their destination. If Sorene was brazen enough to take such a direct approach at the Southern Temple, she must be pretty certain about her influence at the biggest temple.
“Did Sister Melody do anything while she was at the temple?” queried Myne, noting the lack of any further mention of her in Cammine’s story.
“No, she just watched from the background. An observer.” Cammine answered.
“Hmm.”
It took another two days before Cammine was ready to get out of the bed. While they could have left her in the statis chamber, they still didn’t really know how it worked, and they figured being cooped up in that coffin while awake must be a traumatising experience in the first place. So she slept in a bed, with Izen and Myne visiting her on a regular basis, Izen doing her best to heal her, getting Cammine to try and talk her through some basic applications of healing magic. Izen picked up on them well enough, the magic helping speed up Cammine’s recovery.
The party didn’t spend long discussing their next course of action, as they knew that they still had to warn the Clan about what was going on, especially given the events at the Southern Temple. There was unanimous agreement that the capital was out of the question at this stage, and so the Western Sky Temple was deemed the next best option. Still one of the smaller temples, it was larger than the Southern Temple, and situated in the middle of Port Muir, one of the three cities of the kingdom that lay along the edge of the Central Sea. While it was a lot further away than either the capital or the Southern Temple, it was also the temple that the Riders responsible for guarding the Core resided, which presented them with the possibility of visiting the seal. Doing so could add weight to their warning to the Clan, ignoring the fact that both Izen and Myne were keen to have a look in the first place. There was also always a Council member present at the Western Sky temple, which could cause some complications depending on who it was, but they reckoned that as long as it wasn’t Sorene they had a chance. While it was likely that only the three riders would end up approaching the residing Lady Knight (technically only one Rider, one former and one unknown), Alice was uncompromising on having them all go to Port Muir. There were too many variables this time, and there was some safety in numbers. It could get a bit messy if they had to make a quick exit, but if they had to split into groups, then Ashling could always remain with the one group, as they would likely still be in range of Izen. Except if they went to the Core, in which case all of them would be going. And even given all of that, she was just really keen on visiting there, as she had never been to a port city before. In the end Izen had to relent. They’d all be going.
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Kyla sat deep in the shadows on the collapsed level, watching Velvet and Myne as they snuggled under the light of the stars, their conversation a faint whisper as Myne drank Velvet’s blood. They hadn’t noticed her when they had come up, and she hadn’t made any move to let them know that she was there. It fascinated her in a strange way when Myne fed, something that she had only seen twice, as they usually kept it to the privacy of their room. She was a little jealous of the pair, harbouring such power and such beauty, but she was more than aware now of the cost that it carried for them both. Having heard it plainly in Lyrissa’s tale, she had asked Alice about why the Witch had referred to Velvet as he, and Alice had told her that the magic had changed her when she had awakened. Whether she was male, female, or something in between, and what her true versus original form was, she did not know, but in the end it was a decision that was entirely up to Velvet. The changes that the magic had made to her identity was only a part of it, what she actually wanted to be would be the deciding factor.
"The same is true for you as well," Alice had said to Kyla. "The past forms experiences for you, but it doesn’t necessarily define who you are. That decision is yours." Kyla was struggling with all of that. She liked them all, wanted to be with them and wanted to be strong for them, but she still felt like she was lacking direction. She wanted to know what her place with them was. Even the newest addition to the party, Cammine, already had a place, being a healer, even if her power may no longer be the same as what it was without her familiar. But she was just a poor slave girl that had been rescued by circumstance.
Be strong Kyla, be strong.
She then blushed as Velvet and Myne started becoming intimate, deciding that it would be a good time to return to the lower levels.