Casey could hardly focus through the rest of their classes. They were learning something about the Ketranan Empire to the South of Decra, but all he could think about was their future trip back to the Knight’s Hall.

Both the classes and dinner passed very slowly but it was finally time to meet Ronin and head down to the hall.

Casey met Lia outside of his room and headed for the gate to the deeps.

“Wait so we’re going underground?!” Lia asked when they reached the gate. “But no one ever goes down there, I didn’t even think this thing could open.”

“It does open, though very loudly. And you’re full of questions today aren’t you?” Casey crossed his arms and leaned against the wall.

“Well you’ve only yourself to blame there. And for the record, you’ve hardly answered any of them.” Pouting, Lia fixed him with another glare.

“Hey you two!” A soft feminine voice rang out from behind them.

Upon turning around, Casey saw that Ronin and Sara had arrived. Ronin wore the same Rider uniform he always wore but Sara was wearing a casual blue dress.

“Hey! I see you decided to join us as well Sara.” He called back.

“Ah yep, I got curious, so I decided to join you.” She said as Ronin gave a slight nod in greeting.

“Well works for me, shall we go?” Casey asked, ignoring Lia who was elbowing him in the side for some reason.

Ronin grabbed a torch from the wall and gestured towards Sara. She took an old iron key out of a pouch and unlocked the gate with it. Giving the gate a strong push it swung open on its rusted hinges.

“You weren’t kidding when you said it was loud.” Lia commented.

Casey smiled and walked through the gate.

As they descended the long stairway that led down into the deeps, Ronin finally spoke. “So are you going to tell us why you wanted to go back there?” Glancing at Lia he continued, “And why you decided to bring someone else?”

“Well, that’s a little hard to explain. It has to do with the tracks we found on the ride earlier.” Pausing for a moment, he turned to Lia. “Would you tell them what you remembered?”

“Sure.”

Before she could continue Ronin cut her off, “Did you leave something out of the report?”

“Ah no, I just didn’t think of it then.” Stopping to collect her thoughts, she began telling them about the description in the book.

When she was done Sara and Ronin exchanged looks, “So you are saying that you think that you think the tracks match the description that you found?” She asked.

“Yes.”

“You rechecked the book right?” Ronin looked at her doubtfully.

Casey interrupted before Lia could answer. “Well that’s the problem, and the reason why we’re here instead of sleeping. When we went to look for the book, we learned that it went missing a few weeks ago. That’s why I decided we needed to see the mural again.”

“I should have guessed.” Sara and Ronin abruptly stopped walking and began whispering about something that he couldn’t hear.

“I’d hate to break up your little moment, but is there something we should know?” Casey called back to them.

Ronin coughed and said, “Hopefully it’s nothing. Let’s just head down there and check the mural.”

“Okay then I guess.” Casey began to pick up the pace, hurrying towards the hall.

As they walked, Casey began to notice some things that he hadn’t noticed during his first trip into the deeps. The corridor wasn’t as linear as he thought. In addition to the wooden doors they passed, there were several places where the path split off. How did I miss these? He wondered

Unable to contain his curiosity he asked aloud, “When I first came down here, I didn’t notice any of the other passages. How could I have made it to the hall as easily as I did?”

“When you’re called by an artifact, the closer you get to it the more of an influence it has on you. Especially with the more powerful ones. You probably just followed it’s instructions without a thought.” Sara answered.

“So you’re telling me that this thing controlled me? Is it Still controlling me?” He unconsciously gripped his fox clasp, ready to tear it off if necessary.

Sara giggled, “No, you don’t have to worry about your artifact controlling you. It can only draw you towards it when it’s not in your possession. That is all.”

“Still unnerving.” Casey grumbled.

“Hold on, are you saying that your cloak clasp was down here?!” Lia exclaimed having overheard their conversation.

Casey paused and glanced at Sara, who nodded.

“Yes, it was.” He finally replied.

“Why was an artifact here of all places? And don’t you dare answer with it’s complicated again.” She narrowed her eyes.

“It would probably be better to show you, we’re going there anyways. I’ll answer your questions after we finish what we came here for.”

“Fine!”

Probably deciding to ignore him until then, she hurried and caught up with Ronin who was leading the group with the torch. Leaving Casey with Sara.

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“Well it’s good to see you are making friends.” She chuckled.

“Ha I’m not sure I’d go that far…”

She glanced at him and frowned slightly. “How are you doing? We left you pretty much on your own since you arrived here.”

“As well as you might expect, being forced to leave everything I knew without so much as an explanation.” He replied, avoiding her gaze. “I’ve mostly been avoiding thinking about it, trying to focus on the positive things that have happened since coming here. Like meeting you guys.” The corners of his lips went up slightly at that.

”It’s probably really weird to hear, but you and Ronin were something like my childhood heroes. I read that book over and over again growing up. It was what I went to when I wanted to escape my troubles for a little while.”

“Oh yes it is definitely weird to hear.” She said with a laugh. “But I suppose it’s also pretty uplifting to find out that our existing could have a positive effect on someone else.”

Before they could finish talking, the entrance to the Knight’s Hall came into sight.

“Ah we’re here.” She turned to him with eyes showing her concern, “If you need someone to talk to, you are welcome to come up to my study. I know this has been very difficult for you, even if you don’t show it.

“And Ronin would help as well, he might act like he dislikes you, but that’s just how he is with everyone. You get used to it.” As she spoke his name she showed a smile that could light up even the darkest rooms, leaving Casey a little dumbstruck.

Seeing that smile he couldn’t help but think. Hah, so that’s what love’s supposed to look like.

“Hey come on, let’s get this over with.” Ronin called

“Yes, yes. We’re coming!” She yelled back.

They entered the hall to find it much the same as the last time they had been down there. Lia was particularly excited. She was running from mural to mural like a child on christmas morning.

Being a huge history buff, it didn’t take her long to figure out who was in the murals. “These are the Elemental Knights!” She exclaimed. “I get it now! The Knight’s Hall, it’s their hall!”

“Yes this was a hall built by the first Queen in their honor, 500 years ago.” Sara affirmed.

Turning to Casey, “And you! Your artifact came from here.” Her eyes lit up in excitement. “You’re one of them aren’t you? A new holder of one of their artifacts?”

Sara smiled, “I see she figured it out.” Gesturing towards Casey she said, “I suppose I should reintroduce you. Lia, meet Sir Casey Bennet, Knight of Frost, First Rider of the Queen.”

Casey couldn’t help but turn a little red at that introduction, “What was that? Why’d you have to introduce me like that?”

Laughing Sara said, “Why wouldn’t I? Those are your official titles as the Knight of Frost”

Lia stared at him unspeaking, mouth open and eyes wide.

“I think you broke her.” Ronin remarked.

Snapping out of her dumbfounded state Lia stammered, “H-hah, it’s actually an Elemental Knight, I can’t believe I’m meeting one.”

Casey poked her forehead, “Oi! It’s still me, you’ve already met me. And besides, I’m still in training. I don’t even know how to you my abilities.”

“Right, you’re right.” She sighed.

“Alright let’s get to work. It’s that mural over there.” Ronin pointed to the mural with the depiction of the Shayde.

Lia’s previously excited state abruptly halted when she reached the mural. “Wah!” She cried as she fell back slightly. “T-this is a S-Shayde!?”

“Yes that was a Shayde” Ronin answered.

“It’s d-definitely terrifying.” She took a step towards it in order to examine it more properly.

Pulling her sketchbook out of her bag she began comparing the Shaydes foot to the tracks they found. Casey joined her in examining the mural.

Its red eyes still sent shivers down his spine, but he tried to ignore it focused on the creatures feet. When compared to the remains of the people in the mural, it’s foot seemed slightly larger than theirs. He focused on its sharp claws on its foot. 1, 2, 3, 4… That can’t be right!. He frantically recounted hoping he missed a claw, but to no avail. There were only four claws on its foot.

Ronin was also examining the mural. “Don’t jump to conclusions, it’s still a little difficult to tell if the tracks match just by looking at it’s foot.” He tried to calm Casey who had grown very pale.

“Look over here!.” Lia pointed to a corner of the mural, an area of the road that was particularly muddy. In the middle of the mud, a clear footprint was sunk in the mud.

The footprint was a perfect match to the tracks they had found.

“Damn it! No matter how I look at it, it’s a perfect match!” Lia was clutching her journal so hard that her fingers had gone white.

“Let me see your sketch.” Ronin said and took the sketchbook from her hands. “There’s no mistake… the print in the mural is the same as the print in the sketch.”

“What does this mean?” Casey couldn’t help but ask.

“It means that we might have a large problem on our hands.” Ronin answered gravely.

Sara abruptly grabbed the journal and slammed it shut with a bang that echoed throughout the large hall. “Now hold on a moment! Everyone just take a breath.”

Without realizing it, Casey had been holding his own breath. When she slammed the journal shut it woke him from his stupor and he was able to breathe again.

She spoke in a low voice, “We have yet to hear anything from the Riders we sent out to track it down. Until they return, we will not jump to any conclusions.”

“But-”

“No buts! This is far too important for us to make any mistakes. For now we do our jobs. We are Riders, the Kingdom’s information network. If we are too hasty, panic will spread out of control.”

Ronin sighed and collected himself. “You’re right, we don’t have all of the information. We’ll wait for the trackers to return.”

“Is that enough?” Lia asked.

“No, for now we have to find everything we can about the Shaydes and that war.”Sara frowned. “But I imagine the only place where there are any records left is my study.”

“What do you mean? Surely there’s more out there.” Casey said.

“Like I told you, the Church banned most of the information about that war. And the books that mentioned it in the Royal Library all went missing.” Ronin rubbed his temples in frustration.

Suddenly his eyes lit up and he grabbed Casey’s collar. “Casey. If there was anything in your book about this… You need to tell us now.” His voice was low and threatening.

“Wha-” Lia tried to stop him but was silenced by a glare. Sara also just stared at him, waiting for his answer.

Feeling their eyes on him, Casey clenched his fists. “That’s just it! None of this was in the book! Absolutely none of it. There were no Elemental Knights. No Shaydes. No dangerous animal in the forest. I don’t understand any of this.”

Ronin released his hold with a sigh. Shaking his head he said, “I’m sorry Casey. That was unnecessary. You already told me the answer.”

“No it’s alright. I understand why you asked and I wish I had the right answer, but I don’t.”

“Alright, I think this is enough for tonight. For now let’s just go back to our rooms and get a good night’s rest. We’ll report this to the Captain tomorrow and see what she wants to do.” Sara stepped in and diffused the conversation.

“I really don’t understand what that was all about, but I think that is a good idea.” Lia said, retrieving her journal from Sara.

Ronin reached his hand out towards Casey, “Is this alright?”

Casey shook Ronin’s outstretched hand. “No hard feelings.”

Ronin gave an inquisitive look and pulled back his hand. “Okay, then let’s leave this place.”

As they were walking back, Sara abruptly called out, “Ah right, Casey! I’d nearly forgotten. Your magic trainer has arrived. You begin magic training tomorrow.”

With a laugh that broke the heavy atmosphere Casey punched the air, “Finally! I can finally learn magic!”