ULTRAMagic Eon 1 - Chapter 14
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Fallwater Basin was a truly gorgeous valley to the north of The Unending Forest. Lining the border of the Roaring Mountains, a great lake sat at the center of the depression, surrounded by lush forests and peaceful fauna. The remains of a long lost civilization was darted across the area, with the architecture, relics, and heraldry being unknown to most modern Unlight denizens. Individuals such as Guinevere had done some research into the ruins, discovering that it was the city of Happa-Patea, ancient even to the fallen Feuerland.
As much as Guinevere loved nature walks and archaeology, she had business to tend to. Her mother was also interested in the ruins, especially a gem that was considered a rarity in the current phase of the Cosmos. Guinevere had already found it and was taking some notes on some small things when she noticed a group of five approaching. She already had a good idea on who it was, so she swept her long, black hair aside and put away her notebook. It was within her manners to go say hello to her guests after all.
“Hello, Blood, Drago!” She called out as her group of ice cream golems joined her. “Good to see you again.”
“Hey, Guinevere,” Blood-Wraith replied. “Is it just you this time? No Eloise?”
Guinevere quietly exhaled and gave a mild look of displeasure. “As much as I love my big sister, I’d prefer she not be trasping around with me, especially in a place like this.”
Dragoslava looked around and smiled. “As one explorer to another, I fully understand where you’re coming from. Now about The Singularity Gem…”
“Oh yes, that… erm, well, there’s no getting around the fact that my mother wants it for her research.”
“Why is it so important?” Will chimed in as he stood up from a squat.
Guinevere froze upon realizing that she did not recognize the three mages accompanying Blood-Wraith and Dragoslava. Nothing in her mother’s research could explain them as she racked her brain for answers. “Bloo-Blood? Who are they?”
Blood-Wraith felt a bit of an uncontrollable smile stretch across his face. “Guinevere, this is Rostislav, Ludwig, and Will. Richter, Lance, and Shadow are from 10 years into the future…”
“A pleasure to meet you, Guinevere,” Rostislav greeted with a wave.
Ludwig gave a cordial bow. “Greetings, Guinevere. A fine day today, is it not?”
Will went and shook her hand. “Hi there. And the purple firefly is my friend, Yale, in case you’re wondering.”
“A firefly!?” Yale protested. “That's dire fairy to you, mister! Ahem, it’s nice to make your acquaintance, Guinevere.” Will was chuckling over Yale’s rustled jimmies, so he began chasing him around like an angry wasp. This made everyone else laugh.
Needing a moment to process what she had encountered, Guinevere took a breath to steady her nerves. “No matter, this is the Unlight after all…” she remarked to herself as Will and Yale settled down. “To answer your question, William, The Singularity Gem is a rare instance of a crystalized black hole. All of its normal cosmological properties are safely contained within a nigh-indestructible, mineral shell. Surely you’re familiar with what a black hole is, correct?”
“Absolutely,” he replied with a nod. “They’re incredibly fascinating to me. It’s just that, um…”
“A little stumped?” Dragoslava wondered.
“Yeah…”
“Well you could do all sorts of things with such a gem. You could study it, use it as a power source, clean up that dirt under the rug-of course given those benefits, the royal mages back at the tower are highly interested in it. Are we going to do this the easy way or the hard way, Guinevere?”
“Personally I’m partial to the fun and engaging way.” She then snapped her fingers, causing the golems to line up. “Follow me, as you’ll need my help to get to the gem.”
As they all walked down the overgrown roads of the ancient city, Guinevere explained some of what she knew about Happa-Patea. It was a civilization that had existed during the awkward transitional phase between the Epoch and the modern Cosmos, with it coming to rest in The Unlight. This trait led to information being difficult to acquire as record keeping in that era was sparse and difficult. Will noted that the alien-looking carvings in the walls reminded him of ancient mesoamerican civilizations from his Earth. Furthermore he stated that it was like he was walking through Teotihuacan if they had lived next to an ancient nordic settlement. Blood-Wraith was fascinated by this perspective and was curious to hear more later.
Upon reaching the lake at the center of the city, Guinevere gestured for a golem to hand her an engraved, stone cube the size of a softball. It fit snugly into the socket of a stone pedestal, allowing for a set of stone rings to begin moving around it. As she continued to fiddle with the contraption, Ludwig noticed something odd. Guinevere was operating the device like she had already done it before. He had a hunch as to what was going on, but was unsure if he could act upon it. Blood-Wraith was not going to be happy over him withholding information, but there was not much he could do in order to maintain the integrity of their timeline.
A pyramid and plaza arose from the depths of the lake, shaking the ground as it did. Great amounts of water poured off of the ancient stones as they breached the once calm surface of the lake. Colossal stone pillars also appeared, serving as a pathway to the temple itself. Ludwig glanced around as they all headed in, noticing an elephant in the room with the sacred structures. There was algae and kelp on the stone as to be expected, but it looked like it had already been disturbed. This all but confirmed his suspicions upon reaching the pyramid plaza. Ludwig was naturally curious to know if the others had picked up on what he was observing.
Guinevere pointed to the top of the pyramid, which was decorated with the busts of winged serpents. “The Gem is up there, but how about a little contest? Blood? William, Ludwig, and Rostislav shall face off against my golems and the winner shall be allowed to claim the gem unhindered. Are these terms agreeable to you?”
Blood-Wraith was a little perplexed as he glanced back and forth between the golems and The Future Squad. “Just like that?”
“Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth, Blood,” Dragoslava replied.
“Alright then, I guess,” Blood-Wraith said with a shrug as he went to sit down on a stone bench. “Will, Ludwig, Rostislav, you’re up.”
“Haha, let’s rock!” Rostislav proclaimed as the three stepped forward. A fiery aura that sounded like a volcano flared up around him, starting to slightly shake the air around them.
“Excuse me!” Guinevere interrupted, causing the golems to halt. “With all due respect, Rostislav, please exercise caution and refrain from using your more destructive magic.”
His aura promptly fizzled out with the smell of brimstone as he gave her an incredulous look. “But aren’t we about to fight and…”
“She means don’t destroy the ruins, Private,” Ludwig chided as he summoned a glass pane in the shape of a sword. “This is an important place after all.”
“Well you didn’t have to be so rude…” Rostislav calmly shot back as he created a gauntlet of molten rock.
“That reckless attitude of yours nearly destroyed Stonehenge Minor Beta in west Albion.”
“Ah…!” Rostislav then stopped and kicked a small stone aside in defeat. “Point taken, Captain…”
On Blood-Wraith and Guinevere’s mark, The Future Squad began their battle with the ice cream golems. Ludwig was deft with his glass magic, charging his blade with electricity and dealing powerful slashes to the golems. The ones going up against Rostislav were no match for his eruptive strength, being assaulted by his barrage of burning punches. Blood-Wraith was impressed with their skill as they each defeated two golems. He then glanced over to see how Will was doing and was immediately confused. A vanilla golem with licorice jutting out of it was chasing him around, with Will clumsily dodging its attacks.
“Will!” Blood-Wraith called out. “What are you doing? Use your magic!”
“Right-aiyee!” he replied as he narrowly evaded a punch. “Getting right on it!” Once Blood-Wraith was not looking, he tried to summon Faustus, only for nothing to happen.
Yale had been observing this issue and finally flew over to figure out what was going on. “Buddy, what’s wrong? Where’s Faustus and Mira?”
“I don’t know, I… I’m trying to call them, but they won’t respond…”
“What about Mayhem? He’s been to the Unlight before.”
“Nothing,” he answered as he threw a stone brick at the golem to distract it, hitting it in the head.
Yale thought quickly, searching for a solution. Milan had been afraid that there would be complications with Will’s magic, but Yale did not think it would be a problem. “Okay, use your alchemy then!”
“But I suck at it!” he responded as he dodged a sweeping blow.
“Oh come on, you’re not that bad at it and it’s better than nothing!” Yale then snapped his fingers and summoned what looked like a circular saw blade made of shadowy, purple energy. “Here, I’ll give you a head start!” He then threw the blade, severing the golem’s right arm. “Go for it!”
Will was confused at first, but scrambled for the arm regardless. He then focused and transmuted it into a giant, icey mace. It was sloppy and would not last long, but it was the best he could do on short notice. “Thanks, Yale!”
“Make it count, kid!” Yale cautioned as he tried to catch his breath. “That took a lot out of me…”
Charging forward, Will took the golem by surprise by whacking it in the head. He then followed up by bashing its left arm and striking it in the torso in a barrage, causing it to fall backwards. The golem then looked up, only to see Will run over and slam it in the head. The golem went limp and deactivated, with Will fist pumping to celebrate his victory. Feeling a little hungry, he pulled an ice cream chunk off of the felled golem, offered some to Yale, and began eating with a triumphant look on his face. What he did not realize was that Blood-Wraith had secretly been watching him, and he did not look pleased. Dragoslava and Guinevere personally were not sure what to think.
“Will!” Blood-Wraith scolded as he marched over to him. “What was that!?”
“Um, I won, haha!”
Blood-Wraith then made a series of incoherent, frustrated noises. “You didn’t need to be that brutal on it! We’re mages, not barbarians…”
“Was I not supposed to fight like that?”
“Well no, yes-ARGH!”
“Blood, remember what Tiberius said…” Dragoslava cut in.
“I know, sister… it’s just… we don’t need to go all out, as this specific situation isn’t that kind of battle. And I stand by that.”
Guinevere noted Dragoslava’s frustrations as she groaned and facepalmed. “Well I for one appreciate his concern. And be careful with that ice cream, William. It’s full of concentrated soul energy.”
He paused, noticed that he was more energized than usual, and ate some more. “I read you loud and clear!”
Dragoslava had a point that he was being overbearing again, so Blood-Wraith quickly looked for something else to critique. “This, this mace…”
“Yes?” Will was a little worried.
“You could have done so much more with it.”
“Really? Could you show me when we get a moment?”
Will’s earnest humbleness caught Blood-Wraith off guard. He was about to speak, but was cut off by Rostislav’s laughter. “Good show, Will!” he said as he punched his third golem. “Toss me a bone!”
“Here!” he called back as he threw the mace over.
Rostislav caught it and infused it with volcanic energy, causing it to shake and rumble. “Batter up!” He exclaimed as he slammed the golem with all of his might, causing it and the mace to explode, sending him back a little.
“Damn, Rostislav!” Will complimented as he went over to him. “That was out of the park!”
“Haha, all in a day's work!”
“Oh jeez, not him too…” Blood-Wraith quietly complained as Dragoslava patted him on the back.
Yale then calmly hovered over to Blood-Wraith. “Well to be fair we did have a slight SNAFU…”
“Excuse me, what?” Blood-Wraith did not like the sound of that, but could not get an answer as Rostislav began playfully getting on Yale’s case for buzzing around and not helping them.
Ludwig had been paying attention to the entire situation out of his peripheral vision, stabbing his blade into the last golem and electrocuting it. “Dang it, Will. Why didn’t you plan ahead?” he muttered to himself before reconvening with the group. “I believe that was the last of your golems, Guinevere. Shall we call the result of this bout?”
Guinevere paused, noticed everyone’s anticipation, and smiled. “I concede. Go and claim the gem, you’ve earned it. It will be in the center pedestal of the top layer, just rotate the device counterclockwise.”
“Hell yeah!” Rostislav cheered as he high-fived Will. “We be fast and they be slow!” they said in unison, albeit their timing was a little off.
Blood-Wraith could not help but chuckle a little. “Alright, come on you two,” he said as they started up the steps of the pyramid. “Just be careful when we get up there.”
“Don’t worry, Blood, I’ve dealt with ruins before,” Will assured. “One time while I was in Mexico with Lt. Adrien Irons…”
Dragoslava giggled as they walked away, waiting until she was sure they could not hear her before turning to face Ludwig. “So, you aware of the obvious?”
He nodded. “Yes. Guinevere, where’s the gem?”
She nervously glanced around, then produced a glowing, black gem from her satchel. “My apologies. I actually didn’t need the golems, I just wanted to see the guild’s prowess for myself.”
“I supposed we can’t convince you to give that to us?” Dragoslava inquired.
Guinevere shook her head and put it away. “I really want to study it… and, well, mother did ask for it…”
Ludwig tutted upon hearing the frustration in her voice. “Why not just come and join the guild then? If your interests are that disparate from your mother’s…”
“I… I need to convince her to stop trying to unify the Unlight. It’s a fool’s errand that will get her nowhere. I wish mom and sister would just get it through their thick heads already…” After taking a breath to calm herself down, Guinevere started to leave.
Dragoslava felt bad, but did not know how to make it up to her. “Well hey, you can always come stay at the guild if things get too crazy for you…”
She stopped for a second and smiled. “Thank you, Drago. I’ll keep that in mind. And I’ll send whatever research I can sneak out of the castle to the royal mages. Farewell for now.”
“Auf Wiedersehen,” Ludwig replied.
“Thanks, and best of luck to you!” Dragoslava then turned back to face the pyramid and sighed. “Should we tell them now or later?”
Ludwig watched as the three started to descend the steps and sighed. “Let’s wait until we either get back to the guild or they find out for themselves. Who knows? Perhaps Guinevere left us a little something for our troubles…”
Next: Chapter 15
ULTRAMagic Alternate © 2022 William Ford II (ChaoticTempleKnight)
Master Post - Patreon
Fallwater Basin was a truly gorgeous valley to the north of The Unending Forest. Lining the border of the Roaring Mountains, a great lake sat at the center of the depression, surrounded by lush forests and peaceful fauna. The remains of a long lost civilization was darted across the area, with the architecture, relics, and heraldry being unknown to most modern Unlight denizens. Individuals such as Guinevere had done some research into the ruins, discovering that it was the city of Happa-Patea, ancient even to the fallen Feuerland.
As much as Guinevere loved nature walks and archaeology, she had business to tend to. Her mother was also interested in the ruins, especially a gem that was considered a rarity in the current phase of the Cosmos. Guinevere had already found it and was taking some notes on some small things when she noticed a group of five approaching. She already had a good idea on who it was, so she swept her long, black hair aside and put away her notebook. It was within her manners to go say hello to her guests after all.
“Hello, Blood, Drago!” She called out as her group of ice cream golems joined her. “Good to see you again.”
“Hey, Guinevere,” Blood-Wraith replied. “Is it just you this time? No Eloise?”
Guinevere quietly exhaled and gave a mild look of displeasure. “As much as I love my big sister, I’d prefer she not be trasping around with me, especially in a place like this.”
Dragoslava looked around and smiled. “As one explorer to another, I fully understand where you’re coming from. Now about The Singularity Gem…”
“Oh yes, that… erm, well, there’s no getting around the fact that my mother wants it for her research.”
“Why is it so important?” Will chimed in as he stood up from a squat.
Guinevere froze upon realizing that she did not recognize the three mages accompanying Blood-Wraith and Dragoslava. Nothing in her mother’s research could explain them as she racked her brain for answers. “Bloo-Blood? Who are they?”
Blood-Wraith felt a bit of an uncontrollable smile stretch across his face. “Guinevere, this is Rostislav, Ludwig, and Will. Richter, Lance, and Shadow are from 10 years into the future…”
“A pleasure to meet you, Guinevere,” Rostislav greeted with a wave.
Ludwig gave a cordial bow. “Greetings, Guinevere. A fine day today, is it not?”
Will went and shook her hand. “Hi there. And the purple firefly is my friend, Yale, in case you’re wondering.”
“A firefly!?” Yale protested. “That's dire fairy to you, mister! Ahem, it’s nice to make your acquaintance, Guinevere.” Will was chuckling over Yale’s rustled jimmies, so he began chasing him around like an angry wasp. This made everyone else laugh.
Needing a moment to process what she had encountered, Guinevere took a breath to steady her nerves. “No matter, this is the Unlight after all…” she remarked to herself as Will and Yale settled down. “To answer your question, William, The Singularity Gem is a rare instance of a crystalized black hole. All of its normal cosmological properties are safely contained within a nigh-indestructible, mineral shell. Surely you’re familiar with what a black hole is, correct?”
“Absolutely,” he replied with a nod. “They’re incredibly fascinating to me. It’s just that, um…”
“A little stumped?” Dragoslava wondered.
“Yeah…”
“Well you could do all sorts of things with such a gem. You could study it, use it as a power source, clean up that dirt under the rug-of course given those benefits, the royal mages back at the tower are highly interested in it. Are we going to do this the easy way or the hard way, Guinevere?”
“Personally I’m partial to the fun and engaging way.” She then snapped her fingers, causing the golems to line up. “Follow me, as you’ll need my help to get to the gem.”
As they all walked down the overgrown roads of the ancient city, Guinevere explained some of what she knew about Happa-Patea. It was a civilization that had existed during the awkward transitional phase between the Epoch and the modern Cosmos, with it coming to rest in The Unlight. This trait led to information being difficult to acquire as record keeping in that era was sparse and difficult. Will noted that the alien-looking carvings in the walls reminded him of ancient mesoamerican civilizations from his Earth. Furthermore he stated that it was like he was walking through Teotihuacan if they had lived next to an ancient nordic settlement. Blood-Wraith was fascinated by this perspective and was curious to hear more later.
Upon reaching the lake at the center of the city, Guinevere gestured for a golem to hand her an engraved, stone cube the size of a softball. It fit snugly into the socket of a stone pedestal, allowing for a set of stone rings to begin moving around it. As she continued to fiddle with the contraption, Ludwig noticed something odd. Guinevere was operating the device like she had already done it before. He had a hunch as to what was going on, but was unsure if he could act upon it. Blood-Wraith was not going to be happy over him withholding information, but there was not much he could do in order to maintain the integrity of their timeline.
A pyramid and plaza arose from the depths of the lake, shaking the ground as it did. Great amounts of water poured off of the ancient stones as they breached the once calm surface of the lake. Colossal stone pillars also appeared, serving as a pathway to the temple itself. Ludwig glanced around as they all headed in, noticing an elephant in the room with the sacred structures. There was algae and kelp on the stone as to be expected, but it looked like it had already been disturbed. This all but confirmed his suspicions upon reaching the pyramid plaza. Ludwig was naturally curious to know if the others had picked up on what he was observing.
Guinevere pointed to the top of the pyramid, which was decorated with the busts of winged serpents. “The Gem is up there, but how about a little contest? Blood? William, Ludwig, and Rostislav shall face off against my golems and the winner shall be allowed to claim the gem unhindered. Are these terms agreeable to you?”
Blood-Wraith was a little perplexed as he glanced back and forth between the golems and The Future Squad. “Just like that?”
“Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth, Blood,” Dragoslava replied.
“Alright then, I guess,” Blood-Wraith said with a shrug as he went to sit down on a stone bench. “Will, Ludwig, Rostislav, you’re up.”
“Haha, let’s rock!” Rostislav proclaimed as the three stepped forward. A fiery aura that sounded like a volcano flared up around him, starting to slightly shake the air around them.
“Excuse me!” Guinevere interrupted, causing the golems to halt. “With all due respect, Rostislav, please exercise caution and refrain from using your more destructive magic.”
His aura promptly fizzled out with the smell of brimstone as he gave her an incredulous look. “But aren’t we about to fight and…”
“She means don’t destroy the ruins, Private,” Ludwig chided as he summoned a glass pane in the shape of a sword. “This is an important place after all.”
“Well you didn’t have to be so rude…” Rostislav calmly shot back as he created a gauntlet of molten rock.
“That reckless attitude of yours nearly destroyed Stonehenge Minor Beta in west Albion.”
“Ah…!” Rostislav then stopped and kicked a small stone aside in defeat. “Point taken, Captain…”
On Blood-Wraith and Guinevere’s mark, The Future Squad began their battle with the ice cream golems. Ludwig was deft with his glass magic, charging his blade with electricity and dealing powerful slashes to the golems. The ones going up against Rostislav were no match for his eruptive strength, being assaulted by his barrage of burning punches. Blood-Wraith was impressed with their skill as they each defeated two golems. He then glanced over to see how Will was doing and was immediately confused. A vanilla golem with licorice jutting out of it was chasing him around, with Will clumsily dodging its attacks.
“Will!” Blood-Wraith called out. “What are you doing? Use your magic!”
“Right-aiyee!” he replied as he narrowly evaded a punch. “Getting right on it!” Once Blood-Wraith was not looking, he tried to summon Faustus, only for nothing to happen.
Yale had been observing this issue and finally flew over to figure out what was going on. “Buddy, what’s wrong? Where’s Faustus and Mira?”
“I don’t know, I… I’m trying to call them, but they won’t respond…”
“What about Mayhem? He’s been to the Unlight before.”
“Nothing,” he answered as he threw a stone brick at the golem to distract it, hitting it in the head.
Yale thought quickly, searching for a solution. Milan had been afraid that there would be complications with Will’s magic, but Yale did not think it would be a problem. “Okay, use your alchemy then!”
“But I suck at it!” he responded as he dodged a sweeping blow.
“Oh come on, you’re not that bad at it and it’s better than nothing!” Yale then snapped his fingers and summoned what looked like a circular saw blade made of shadowy, purple energy. “Here, I’ll give you a head start!” He then threw the blade, severing the golem’s right arm. “Go for it!”
Will was confused at first, but scrambled for the arm regardless. He then focused and transmuted it into a giant, icey mace. It was sloppy and would not last long, but it was the best he could do on short notice. “Thanks, Yale!”
“Make it count, kid!” Yale cautioned as he tried to catch his breath. “That took a lot out of me…”
Charging forward, Will took the golem by surprise by whacking it in the head. He then followed up by bashing its left arm and striking it in the torso in a barrage, causing it to fall backwards. The golem then looked up, only to see Will run over and slam it in the head. The golem went limp and deactivated, with Will fist pumping to celebrate his victory. Feeling a little hungry, he pulled an ice cream chunk off of the felled golem, offered some to Yale, and began eating with a triumphant look on his face. What he did not realize was that Blood-Wraith had secretly been watching him, and he did not look pleased. Dragoslava and Guinevere personally were not sure what to think.
“Will!” Blood-Wraith scolded as he marched over to him. “What was that!?”
“Um, I won, haha!”
Blood-Wraith then made a series of incoherent, frustrated noises. “You didn’t need to be that brutal on it! We’re mages, not barbarians…”
“Was I not supposed to fight like that?”
“Well no, yes-ARGH!”
“Blood, remember what Tiberius said…” Dragoslava cut in.
“I know, sister… it’s just… we don’t need to go all out, as this specific situation isn’t that kind of battle. And I stand by that.”
Guinevere noted Dragoslava’s frustrations as she groaned and facepalmed. “Well I for one appreciate his concern. And be careful with that ice cream, William. It’s full of concentrated soul energy.”
He paused, noticed that he was more energized than usual, and ate some more. “I read you loud and clear!”
Dragoslava had a point that he was being overbearing again, so Blood-Wraith quickly looked for something else to critique. “This, this mace…”
“Yes?” Will was a little worried.
“You could have done so much more with it.”
“Really? Could you show me when we get a moment?”
Will’s earnest humbleness caught Blood-Wraith off guard. He was about to speak, but was cut off by Rostislav’s laughter. “Good show, Will!” he said as he punched his third golem. “Toss me a bone!”
“Here!” he called back as he threw the mace over.
Rostislav caught it and infused it with volcanic energy, causing it to shake and rumble. “Batter up!” He exclaimed as he slammed the golem with all of his might, causing it and the mace to explode, sending him back a little.
“Damn, Rostislav!” Will complimented as he went over to him. “That was out of the park!”
“Haha, all in a day's work!”
“Oh jeez, not him too…” Blood-Wraith quietly complained as Dragoslava patted him on the back.
Yale then calmly hovered over to Blood-Wraith. “Well to be fair we did have a slight SNAFU…”
“Excuse me, what?” Blood-Wraith did not like the sound of that, but could not get an answer as Rostislav began playfully getting on Yale’s case for buzzing around and not helping them.
Ludwig had been paying attention to the entire situation out of his peripheral vision, stabbing his blade into the last golem and electrocuting it. “Dang it, Will. Why didn’t you plan ahead?” he muttered to himself before reconvening with the group. “I believe that was the last of your golems, Guinevere. Shall we call the result of this bout?”
Guinevere paused, noticed everyone’s anticipation, and smiled. “I concede. Go and claim the gem, you’ve earned it. It will be in the center pedestal of the top layer, just rotate the device counterclockwise.”
“Hell yeah!” Rostislav cheered as he high-fived Will. “We be fast and they be slow!” they said in unison, albeit their timing was a little off.
Blood-Wraith could not help but chuckle a little. “Alright, come on you two,” he said as they started up the steps of the pyramid. “Just be careful when we get up there.”
“Don’t worry, Blood, I’ve dealt with ruins before,” Will assured. “One time while I was in Mexico with Lt. Adrien Irons…”
Dragoslava giggled as they walked away, waiting until she was sure they could not hear her before turning to face Ludwig. “So, you aware of the obvious?”
He nodded. “Yes. Guinevere, where’s the gem?”
She nervously glanced around, then produced a glowing, black gem from her satchel. “My apologies. I actually didn’t need the golems, I just wanted to see the guild’s prowess for myself.”
“I supposed we can’t convince you to give that to us?” Dragoslava inquired.
Guinevere shook her head and put it away. “I really want to study it… and, well, mother did ask for it…”
Ludwig tutted upon hearing the frustration in her voice. “Why not just come and join the guild then? If your interests are that disparate from your mother’s…”
“I… I need to convince her to stop trying to unify the Unlight. It’s a fool’s errand that will get her nowhere. I wish mom and sister would just get it through their thick heads already…” After taking a breath to calm herself down, Guinevere started to leave.
Dragoslava felt bad, but did not know how to make it up to her. “Well hey, you can always come stay at the guild if things get too crazy for you…”
She stopped for a second and smiled. “Thank you, Drago. I’ll keep that in mind. And I’ll send whatever research I can sneak out of the castle to the royal mages. Farewell for now.”
“Auf Wiedersehen,” Ludwig replied.
“Thanks, and best of luck to you!” Dragoslava then turned back to face the pyramid and sighed. “Should we tell them now or later?”
Ludwig watched as the three started to descend the steps and sighed. “Let’s wait until we either get back to the guild or they find out for themselves. Who knows? Perhaps Guinevere left us a little something for our troubles…”
Next: Chapter 15
ULTRAMagic Alternate © 2022 William Ford II (ChaoticTempleKnight)
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