Gladesbale Grove Book 3 - Chapters 19,20,21 (Patreon)

Chapter 19

Fetch your cheese

Rud was surprised by how quickly Ban could incorporate the new building. He watched as her roots connected to the Gate and integrated it into the Grove. When he had first arrived, it had taken her days, or maybe weeks, to bring a new building into the fold. But now she did it in a matter of minutes. When he questioned it, the sacred tree was happy to explain.

“The gate is a tiny structure,” Ban said. “Compared to the other things I incorporated, it takes almost no effort. The entire operational consumption of energy happens when we activate it.”

Rud approached the Gate, brushing his fingers over the wood. He traced the grain, feeling the bumps where he had etched those sigils. After a few more moments of reverence, the druid inspected the building.

[Grove Item Gate]

Rank 0 Level 1 Sacred Tree Building

Upgrade Progress: 0%

Description:

This Gate can support a weak portal when activated. The portal is designed to connect only to another Sacred Grove, and will establish a twin-Gate on the other side. Living things may not be passed through the portal.

Upgrades:
NONE

“This means we can send stuff, right?” Rud asked. The excitement building in his chest was unreal. This was a huge moment for all the Groves, and it wasn’t lost on him.

“That’s right,” Ban said. “Although, I think you should pick some upgrades first.”

The Grove had been in an absolute surplus of materials for quite some time now, and Rud intended to burn through them. He withdrew dungeon core fragments from his bag and started cramming them into the building. He felt Ban shudder under the force of their conceptual weight, and the structure rapidly increased in level, swiftly hitting Level 5. That’s when the sacred tree herself stepped in, helping him sift through the massive list of potential upgrades.

“Hard to resist an upgrade with synergy,” Ban said. “And that’s exactly what we’re going for.”

Rud nodded, inspecting the upgrade she was speaking about.

[Conservation of Power]

Grove Item Gate Upgrade

Synergize Upgrade:

[Linked Condenser]

Description:

Attach everything to the same grid and watch the power flow!

Effect:

This Gate is connected directly to the Energy Condenser, requiring less power to operate.

“Almost like you planned it,” Rud said, casting the glittering tree an untrusting look. “You know more than you’re letting on, tree!”

“Oh, and what if I do?” Ban asked playfully.

“Well, then you’re the smartest tree I know,” Rud said. “I’ll pick that one. Less power is a good thing—it’ll take the strain off of you.”

“Even with the condenser, the energy requirements are massive. We should specialize in decreased energy consumption anywhere we can,” Ban said. “Now, get to the next upgrade. It’ll be a Rank upgrade, so I’ll expect it to be far better.”

Rud did as he was told, burning through his stock of fragments to upgrade the building to Rank 1. He felt a pulse of power radiate forth, stinging his senses for a moment before subsiding. Then the system screen appeared, allowing him to select the next upgrade.

“Wild Way,” Ban said without hesitation. “Read the description on that one.”

Rud sifted through the list, finding the upgrade she spoke about. The druid let out a low whistle.

[Wild Way]

Grove Item Gate Upgrade

Description:

The ways of the world are many. Secret places where none dare walk. Harness those places to your benefit.

Effect:

Using the Wild Way, creating a Gate on the other side of yours will not consume energy.

“That upgrade functionally cuts the cost of operating the gate in half,” Ban said. “I’ve heard of the Wild Way before, but this is the first system reference I’ve ever seen. This is the same method Bent uses to move about the world.”

“Seriously?” Rud asked, his brows peaking. “This is how that silly little stag gets from his grove to ours in an instant? Yeah, of course we’ve gotta take it.”

The druid selected the upgrade without hesitation, and he felt the ground shudder beneath him. He looked around, trying to spot some sign that something had happened, but he could see no physical change to the partial tower he had constructed, nor was there any difference in the gate. After a moment, he realized there was a conceptual connection between the Gate and the Wild Way. He couldn’t tell if that was comforting or frightening.

“Let’s give it until the count of ten. If Bent emerges from a rift and gores me, we’ll know we did something wrong,” Rud said, tapping his foot like a metronome until the count of ten. He then shrugged. “I guess we’re clear, huh?”

Ban shuttered as though rocked by some substantial force. Rud could feel her branches sag slightly before perking up once again. She let out an exasperated sigh. “He contacted me. Bent felt the connection between the Gate and the Wild Way. He was concerned at first, but after I explained it, he seems to have accepted it. I hope he did, anyway.”

“Sweet. Nature-made nightmares beyond my comprehension,” Rud said, clapping in mock-excitement. “Let’s be done with this before we anger the stag any more.”

“You’re kidding, right?” Ban asked with a laugh. “Did we just put in all that effort just to not send something to Jim and Maria?”

Rud’s plan had been to make both of them care packages, but now that Ban mentioned it, he couldn’t deny his excitement about sending something through the gate. With a click of his tongue, he nodded. “Yeah, that’s a fantastic idea. Hold on, let me grab some wheels of cheese. It shouldn’t cost much energy to send cheese, should it?”

“If you send one wheel to either Grove, the consumption should be minimal compared to what I’ve managed to condense. I know we can send at least one, but hopefully we can send two,” Ban said. “Run along, little druid. Fetch your cheese.”

Rud did exactly that. He shifted into his raven form and flew off, arriving at his creamery a moment later and going through his stock of cheese. Part of his daily chores were to both milk the cows and turn that milk into cheese. While he stocked the general store within the Grove, the cheese didn’t move as quickly as he could make it, resulting in a surplus. Sure, it was just about the simplest cheese one could make, with barely any flavor, but people loved it. He hadn’t had the time to make any more complex cheese, so he selected two of the oldest wheels from his shelves and carried them along through the nearest bush. He arrived at the gate tower soon after, giggling to himself as he entered with a wheel of cheese under either arm.

“Hold on,” Rud said, carving a message into the mushroom shell of both wheels. “Dear Maria, please enjoy this cheese. More to come! And we’ll just do the same message for Jim…”

“Creative.”

“I am the most creative!” Rud shouted, holding a wheel of cheese aloft. He maintained the pose for only a few moments before clearing his throat. “Okay, tree-girl. Start that portal up.”

“I can only maintain the portal for a few seconds, so be prepared to toss the cheese inside,” Ban said, laughing softly. “Please don’t stand in front of the portal.”

“Dang, we got a Stargate situation here?” Rud asked. “I’ll need to put up some signs.”

“Better safe than sorry,” Ban said.

“Indeed,” Rud said, raising a single brow.

Rud felt the energy gathering in the Gate long before he saw anything. The magical energies swirled in the center, first creating a kaleidoscope of colors before settling on a deep hue of green. The energy glittered, releasing baubles of light that danced in the air for a few moments before falling to the ground. As instructed, he kept a healthy distance from the gate, standing to the side and clutching his cheese.

The energy coalesced into a solid sheet of power. A vortex of swirling green appeared in the center of the gate, sucking in some of the nearby air to create a slight breath. That’s when Ban shouted for him to toss the cheese in quickly, which he did without hesitation. For a moment, it seemed as though the wheel of cheese would slam into it as if it were solid. However, the second it touched the surface, the energy rippled, sucking the cheese in and causing it to vanish in an instant. Only a breath later, the portal closed with a thunderous snap that deafened the druid.

“Well, that was something else,” Rud said, digging in his ears to clear out the ringing. Of course, it didn’t help, and he was surprised when he heard Ban’s voice clearly next.

“That took far less energy than I had anticipated,” she said, her voice carrying a tone of cheerful amusement. “Are you ready for the next one?”

“I’m ready,” Rud said, clutching his cheese and preparing to toss it in.

“Here we go,” Ban said.

Rud watched, waiting for the same signs he had seen before to toss the cheese in. The energy gathered and then formed, and he was quick to toss it with as much force as he could muster. It passed through with ease, and Ban was quicker to close it this time. The druid smiled to himself, clapping like an excited child.

“I suggest making your way to the observatory,” Ban said with a soft laugh. “I’m certain you’ll be getting a call from the other custodians.”

“Good point,” Rud said, turning into his raven form and flying off without further prompting.

The druid made excellent time to the observatory, flying in through the top window and landing in his chair before shifting into his true form. Rud picked up the microphone and flicked the radio on. He gave his call sign and waited, receiving only static for a moment before realizing it would take the other custodians a minute to reach their own observatories. He only realized they would have been distracted by their cheese when the static ceased, and the sound of somebody munching on something on the other end came through the radio.

“Are you kidding?” Maria’s voice came blasting through the radio. “I thought you were going to send me some kind of trinket, or I don’t know, anything. But you sent your best stuff first: delicious enchanted cheese.”

“Rud, is this your mysterious enchanted cheese?” Jim’s voice was the next to come through the radio. The druid could hear clattering sounds within Jim’s observatory, as though he had just crashed into the radio and thumbed the button to transmit the message.

“And there’s plenty more where that came from,” Rud said, placing his hands on his hips and striking a pose as though the others could see. Of course, they couldn’t. But that didn’t stop him from preening.

“I thought it was going to take you guys longer to get the Gate working,” Maria said. The sound of munching came next, as she forgot to stop pressing the button on her microphone while taking another big bite of cheese. “I’m going to be making so many cheese dishes; you don’t even understand.”

“A few things came together quicker than we had expected,” Rud said with a shrug. “We got some fantastic upgrades that allowed us to get the portal established. Mostly it’s because this is an item-only portal. I can’t send living things through it yet.”

“Who cares? This is awesome,” Jim said. “If we send random crap to the other groves, we can get the custodians to man their towers.”

“Right. Can you send supplies through?” Maria asked. “Like fragments?”

“Yep. Shouldn’t be a problem,” Rud said. “My tree might need time to regenerate her energy, but we can do it.”

“Perfect. I’ll make a list of the other custodians and we can work from there,” Jim said, chewing noisily over the radio. “Again, great job.”

Rud puffed his chest out, feeling rather good about himself. This was the start of something big. Once he had his way, every Grove would be connected. There was nothing stopping him now.

Chapter 20

Gemstone

Getting the Gate to work was a massive win for Gladesbale Grove. The other denizens of the Grove might not understand that, but Rud allowed himself a quiet celebration. The druid soared through the air, high above the trees, catching errant currents and diving whenever he felt like it. The world fell away below him, and nothing seemed to matter as much as flapping his wings and staying aloft.

To make this plan work, Rud needed the other custodians to become part of their little council. He knew some of them would be incredibly difficult. Even as the more experienced custodians worked on getting the list together, he ran through it in his mind.

Harg was the Bear spirit, representing the Aspect of Wild. Rud understood he had a normal Grove with a custodian, but had heard little about it outside of that. Next was Aegael, the Salamander Spirit representing the Fire Aspect. Information on that grove was basically zero. Slouge was the Frog Spirit, which he knew absolutely nothing about. River was the Cleansing Aspect, and an actual river as far as the druid knew. He didn’t know what that Grove looked like. Both Bent and Land didn’t have custodians, as far as he knew.

That meant there was one spirit Rud knew nothing about, and another he knew only the spiritual form of. He knew there was a Mud Spirit, but didn’t know its name.

Even with those things as setbacks, Rud was confident they would have enough custodians to create a powerful consortium. That led to the next problem. The Druid needed to assemble them all, either by encouraging them to use their towers or by providing them with the means to create one. On paper, that was a very simple task. They only had to empower their sacred tree enough so it could construct the building; however, not every sacred tree could communicate. That information would need to be passed through the guardian of that grove, which could be tricky.

After Rud was done flying around, he headed in for dinner after making his final report of the day. Jim already claimed to have some vague form of contact with River’s Grove, and would have more information in the morning. For now, the druid allowed himself to enjoy the feast that Taz had created. It was also easy to enjoy the company of the adventurers who lingered in the Grove. They stuck around to help with the orcish threat, as well as delve into both the labyrinth and climb the tower.

Things always got a little crazy after adventurers brought out instruments. Rud excused himself from the feast after a few hours. He wasn't sure how much he could stand watching Taz's version of dancing without laughing until he cried. He climbed into bed, staring at the ceiling for far too long as he considered what would happen tomorrow. Jim was using the item portal as a lure to bring more people on board. He just hoped it worked.

***

A large pot of freshly squeezed milk boiled on one of the many stovetops. Rud stirred the contents as he got to work on another batch of his now-famous cheese. With no time to refine the recipe, he had to be happy with the basic form. After both enchanting and wrapping a few wheels in the mushroom casing, he set them to age for a bit. At least that was one way you could add a little more flavor to it, even if it didn't enhance the magical effects placed upon it. He finished the rest of his chores and headed to Taz’s mine to take stock of his fragments.

After Rud counted everything out, he was satisfied that he had enough materials to spare for the other groves, and he headed to the observatory for the morning report. He had been delaying doing so, as he felt he was rushing Jim to provide information on River’s Grove. When he sat at his chair, clicking the radio on, the druid held the microphone for a few moments too long before pressing the button.

“Rud here making my morning report,” he said nervously, letting go of the button and hesitating. “Is there any information on River’s Grove?”

Long silence interspersed with static came back at him, hissing occasionally as though the radio were trying to grab onto some air and signal. But eventually, the thing Rud wanted more than anything happened. Jim's voice filled the room.

"Good morning, Rud. I've got an update for you on the situation in Bendy Brook Grove,” Jim said. “You might love me, you might hate me.”

"Sounds like a dire situation," Rud said, forcing a laugh. "Alright, give me the update. What’s going on?"

"The good news is that I've made contact with the custodian at Bendy Brook Grove. That's the one managed by River. It wasn’t easy, but I got Basil to send a message through the network by way of Bent,” Jim said. “He got a message to Kiara, who is the custodian.”

“This all sounds like good news,” Rud said.

“Oh, right. The bad news. The stuff you use to upgrade your Grove isn’t going to work,” Jim said. “Kiara needs some extremely specific items to build her observatory, which is why she hadn’t done it before.”

"Are you kidding?" Rud asked. "That sounds like excellent news. I can find whatever item she needs. An enchanted toad? Check. A spool of vines? I've got plenty."

"Unfortunately, she needs a specific enchanted gem to finish the observatory. It's the only item left before she can make it," Jim said. "She gave me the specifications and where we might find some. But I've got to be honest with you, Rud. I don't know where you're going to find it. I don't know where any of us would find it."

Jim gave a verbal description of the item they were searching for, and Rud had to admit he had never heard of anything like that. It was a prismatic gemstone with multiple spikes and facets over the surface. Kiara over at River's Grove claimed she had spent her entire time in the Grove searching for items to upgrade her buildings, but had never found a lot of them. This had been the most difficult one for her to find.

"Okay, I've got a plan. Stand by the radio and wait for Maria to come on. If she does, give the description of the gem so she can relay it to her dwarves. I've got my own dwarf here, so my plan is to ask him about it. In the meantime, if you could make contact with more custodians, that would be great."

“I might’ve used all the favor I have with Basil and Bent,” Jim said. “But I’ll work on it.”

After a few more pleasantries, Rud finished his call and headed out. He didn't want to waste any time, so he made his way directly to the mine. This time, when he heard the sound of the pickaxe ringing against the stone walls, he delved inside, following the noise until he found Taz chipping away at the rock on one of the bottom floors. Sarya pulled a cart along, filled with the stone debris.

“Come to reinforce the mine?” Taz asked with a laugh. “Guess I could use the help…”

“For once, no,” Rud said, patting Sarya on the head. “I’m looking for a gemstone.”

Taz got a strange look on his face. He stopped working on the wall and turned to look at Rud. His eyes were both glittering with excitement and taking on a flinty appearance, as though he was guarding against something. “Anything in particular?” he asked.

Rud gave a description of the gem, the dwarf’s face becoming more confusing to read as he gave details. Eventually, Taz just snapped his fingers to silence the druid.

“You’re talking about a seriously rare gem,” he said. “Something every miner and mage hopes to find.”

Rud knew the dwarf had been discovering and pocketing gems since the moment he started working the mine. Although the druid himself hadn't found any, he knew there had to be gemstones down here, and they weren't resting in the shared storage areas near the mine. However, he had secretly hoped that Taz had already found this particular gemstone and had stashed it away, but his reaction proved he hadn't yet found one.

“So, we don’t have one?” Rud asked.

Taz sputtered, throwing his pickaxe against the wall. “No, I don’t have a King’s Gem!” he shouted, falling over and rolling on the ground. “Maybe I’ve got a pair of golden pants and a goblet that produces infinite wine!”

“You have a goblet that makes infinite—”

“No!” Taz shouted, still thrashing around.

“Is he having a fit?” Rud asked, turning to Sarya and jabbing a finger back at the dwarf. “Sir, do you require medical attention?”

"I'm going to need the world's best healer here in a moment if you keep it up," Taz said, finally getting to his feet, huffing heavily and dusting himself off. "You still somehow don’t understand how rare the gem you’re asking for is. I can look for one, but we’ll have to dig a lot deeper. And I mean a lot deeper. We’re talking about the center of the planet kind of stuff. It’s guarded by all kinds of archdemons and denizens of the deep places. This is a once-in-a-lifetime kind of adventure you’re talking about."

“Okay, cool. Let me know if you come across one,” Rud said, waving and skipping away.

Rud could hear the dwarfs' screams even after he exited the mine. It was fun messing with Taz sometimes, but the dire circumstances of finding the gem weren't lost on him. It was just that Taz had mentioned something that got the gears in his mind turning. He said that both miners and mages coveted the gem, which meant that his resident mage might know something about it. Instead of lamenting an underground adventure, he headed straight for the rest stop where Elm was staying. She had left for the day to study the various magical energy clusters that had gathered within the grove, but she was easy enough to find. The druid stepped from a bush, finding her kneeling near a nexus of swirling power. She jumped, releasing a strangled screech as a branch cracked beneath the druid's feet.

"Didn't mean to scare you," Rud said, offering a friendly wave as he approached. Even Daffodil was on edge, standing in something like a combat pose and snorting as she pawed at the ground.

Elm clutched at her chest, shaking her head. “Well, you've managed to scare me half to death. Can I help you with anything? Or are you just lurking in the forest?”

“While I do a great deal of lurking, that’s not why I’m here,” Rud said. “I have a question, then a potential follow up. Don’t worry, this is related to some pretty interesting magical stuff.”

Elm straightened up, dusting her robes off and smiling. “Well, you know how to get my attention,” she said. “Let’s hear it.”

Rud described the magical gemstone thing, and Elm nodded along. She scrunched her nose, shaking her head. “Might be a gem I’m familiar with,” she said. “There’s a crystal fragment that forms into the shape of a gem. Normally, it appears in  areas of incredible magic. They make excellent power sources.”

“Interesting,” Rud said, rubbing his chin. “Gotta be the best power source for mage stuff, right? Maybe even flying or teleporting cities?”

Elm’s expression shifted to one of even more confusion. “Yeah. I guess that’d be the case. What aren’t you telling me?”

“That’s part of my second question,” Rud said. “Wanna go on an adventure?”

Chapter 21

Chubby Bear

There were still questions about what the underground city was. Rud had quite a few questions he couldn’t answer until he got a mage of Elm’s caliber down there. One thing he knew was that the city seemed mostly untouched by anything other than the ravages of time. The druid stood in the clearing, watching as Major yawned a lazy yawn.

“Why do I gotta go?” Major asked. “Take Sarya. She’s more than eager to go back down there. And we gotta walk? No Thicket Travel.”

“No complaints, you lazy bear,” Rud said. “Everyone else is busy.”

“Watch as I complain,” Major said. “The entire time.”

“Okay,” Rud said, clapping his hands together. He turned to Elm, who had a different robe and a travel pack on her back. “We’re ready to delve into the unforgivable deep places of the world! Major is extremely excited to go.”

“Am not.”

“Wonderful!” Elm said, jumping with excitement. “How far down is it? Are we going to be traveling for long?”

“Not that long. Lazy bear doesn’t know it, but I’m going to weave some trees together to make a faster path. We can teleport all the way there, but you can’t. So, we must adapt!” Rud shouted, striking a pose.

“Wait, what?” Major asked. “You said we were walking all the way there.”

“Yeah, and I’m not lying,” Rud said. “We’re just walking down a comfy staircase made from tree roots.”

“I’ll never get used to the way you talk to the spirits,” Elm said with a shake of her head.

Truth was, Rud didn’t know if his plan to get to the underground city was gonna work. But hoofing it with Elm would be rough, taking a few days at least. And that was only because the winding nature of the passages would send them zig-zagging without making much progress. The only problem he had with the root plan was breaking through layers of rock.

It was time to see how far his Plant Magic had come.

Rud led his little group through the forest, focusing on the Grove’s energies that pierced far below them. He wasn’t planning on following the passages they had taken before. The underground city was directly below a clearing northwest of the mine. The druid started by planting a tree, growing it to its absurd size. He then gathered and grew roots below that dug through the topsoil with ease. As they went deeper, things got harder. But even after breaking through the first layer of stone, the druid found a technique that maximized the effect of the digging roots.

“I’m unsure how this tree helps us,” Major said, perhaps a bit prematurely.

After taking a short break, Rud placed his hands on the bark of the tree. He let out a steady breath as he invoked his Shape Plant spell. His senses shot through several massive oak trees, tingling the edge of his mind and forcing him to sway on the spot. The leaves on the trees above seemed to perk up, perhaps adding their own power to his efforts. Beneath their feet, the ground rumbled.

The trunk of the tree parted, revealing within it a sloped ramp that ran in a circle and down into the earth. Rud smiled to himself as he approached, druidic magic lingering behind as he etched the stairs into that ramp. It might’ve been fun to ride the slide so deep into the ground, but he didn’t think it’d be fun to come back without the stairs.

“Your druidic magic is growing by the day,” Elm said, whistling as they all stepped foot into the tree. It was wide enough that Rud and Elm could stand shoulder-to-shoulder. It was a bit tight for Major.

“That’s because I’m specializing in grove-based Plant Magic,” Rud said. “Nearly all my upgrades are based on that and my power partially scales with the power of the Grove… Which you can imagine is crazy.”

“I’d say,” Elm said, watching as the green magic wrapped around the spiral staircase. “I’ve gotta say… I’m not looking forward to walking all these stairs.”

“Better than walking the path,” Rud said. “We had a fun time going through the underground paths.”

The stairs were punishing, but Rud’s plan to use a giant tree to dig through the ground worked pretty well. When he came to a section of only rock, it took far more effort, forcing them to take a break before proceeding. Wedging a root between cracks in the rock, then allowing that root to grow and split the stone and move them out of the way. It might’ve been slow going, but it was faster than escorting Elm through the passages. That’s what the druid kept reminding himself, anyway.

“I can already sense it,” Elm said, half an hour later.

“Taking a straight shot to the site isn’t bad,” Rud said, opening his magical senses. He could faintly feel something, but the energies of the Grove were too overwhelming. Elm’s own senses must’ve been honed to a point, and the druid couldn’t help but be impressed.

“I’m tired,” Major complained.

“That’s actually your first complaint,” Rud said with a laugh. He forced another length of root down into the ground, splitting through a large fissure in the rock. The ground rumbled as the tree pushed away another chunk. Then the druid felt it clear away below them, representing a freefall into the massive chasm below.

“We’re here,” Rud said, weaving the tree into another staircase for them to follow.

Elm rushed to be first, gasping as she stepped out into the stale air of the underground city. Rud felt the rush of magic greet them, but it wasn’t the befouled energy from before. Ban had extended her own roots down here, absorbing or otherwise transforming the maligned energy into something different. It wasn’t quite the natural energies of the Grove, but it wasn’t poison either.

“What in the name of my elven forefathers am I looking at?” Elm asked, gasping again as she sent out a ball of light to dance through the air. It illuminated some of the sprawling city below them. “How did this get here!?”

“Best guess? Teleportation,” Rud said, holding his staff aloft as he extended the roots downward. He spotted the path they had originally come through, along with the underground plants he could use to teleport out of here. “Now the air is filled with purified energy. It used to be poisoned.”

“I’m sensing immense magical power coming from some of those buildings,” Elm said, squinting. “By all the gods, I can’t even imagine what could’ve happened here. Not only where it came from, but what purpose it served before it came here. Rud, this is the most amazing find I’ve seen in my lifetime.”

“Yeah, no big deal. Just a crazy city under my Grove,” Rud said, dusting his shoulders off. “And you’re my canary, okay?”

“I’ve never considered myself much of a bird, but I think I understand the reference,” Elm said, taking the last few steps. She hopped down the last one, rolling her shoulders as she looked around. Her eyes glowed with magical energy as she scanned the area. Eventually, she shook her head. “I can detect at least twelve powerful sources of energy inside the city itself. But each brick is infused with mana. If I had to guess, there were magical containment methods around power sources. The containment expired, and the city was left with an errant magic problem.”

“That sounds technical,” Rud said. He watched as Major stalked forward. The bear might’ve been grumpy about this trip, but he still did his job. He was scanning for threats and prepared to rush forward at any moment. “So, what’s our first move?”

“Excellent question,” Elm said. “Let’s start with the basics. I don’t recognize the style of construction. This isn’t from any civilization I’ve visited, although it appears close to the castles I’ve seen on the mainland. Blocky construction weaving magic into the bricks themselves.”

“Which means we don’t know where it came from. What’s next?”

“The quality of the magic. There is some of the original magic left, and I cannot tell where it came from.”

“So, you got nothing?” Rud asked.

Elm smiled, her grin widening when she locked eyes with Rud. “Long ago, there were several magical civilizations. They derived a language from the sigils and arrays of the magical world. Axpashi was universal for a few hundred years. But that was nearly 300 years ago.”

“Why is that important?” Rud asked. “Did that allow you to date the city somehow?”

“Not necessarily, but it gives us an idea,” Elm said, gesturing upward. The globe of light she had summoned followed her gaze, illuminating a sign above a nearby gate. “That’s Axpashi. Records of those magical civilizations are sparse. But I wonder if one city vanished without warning.”

“I think we can go inside now,” Rud said. “Maybe find more of those writings.”

“We can hope,” Elm said, pushing forward. “Let’s go. Lead the way, bear.”

The city itself must’ve been amazing back in its day. Although it was bordered by a modest wall, that feature had fared the worst out of everything. Even though the buildings within had mostly survived, the wall was crumbling in places. A road ran straight through, giving a view to a central spiral in the middle. Just like in the Grove, a road ran in all other directions. Perhaps they aligned with the cardinals at one point, but they were now just random lines the group used to drive their search.

“Here’s the problem,” Elm said as they neared the first of many doors. To Rud’s surprise, the wooden door was in perfect condition. The mage seemed to notice that he had sensed something was wrong. “Feel it? This building is soaked with magic. It prevents decay, which is why the door is fine.”

“I’m guessing this complicates matters,” Rud said.

“Exactly. The Sacred Tree might have taken care of the ambient mana, but the enchantments are still here. This might just be a spell that keeps a structure from aging. Or it could release an explosion that murders everyone when someone opens the door.”

“Those seem like two very different spells,” Rud said. “Do you have a method to figure that very important information out?”

“Yes, but it could take a while,” Elm said. “And I’ll need to do it for each building.”

Rud frowned as he watched the mage start her work. This was her domain, and nothing he could do would help it along. Perhaps he could purify each structure, but Elm was already on a roll. She completely oversold how dangerous the building was, and had removed the spell keeping it ageless within ten minutes.

“This one was simple,” she said, placing her hand on the door and pushing it inward. Although Elm might’ve acted brave, she still winced.

The interior of the building revealed it to be nothing more than a simple home. From the threshold, Rud could see a table, chairs, and a disused fireplace. Like the rest of the city, it appeared as though the residents had left it as it was. Unlike the city, everything was untouched. Plates were stacked on a counter, while firewood waited to be burned in the fireplace. A coat hung on a rack near the front door, along with a pair of old boots on the ground.

“This is eerie,” Major said, shivering. “I can sense ghosts.”

“You can’t sense ghosts,” Rud said. “Any ghosts should’ve been banished when Ban took care of the lingering energy.”

“You’re making that up,” Major said. “You know nothing about the necromantic horrors of this world.”

“Look, it makes sense in my head so that’s the idea I’m going with,” Rud said, finally entering the building. He swapped back to the mortal tongue. “Come on. Let’s turn this place over. There has to be some clue about what this city once was.”

Both Elm and Rud made their way into the house. They turned together when they heard muffled grunting near the entrance. Major was half-way through the entrance, growling as he bit at the door frame.

“I think your bear is too chubby to get inside,” Elm said, almost stopping herself from laughing.

“What did she say?” Major asked. “I’m not above mauling an elf.”

“She said you look cute,” Rud said, patting Major on the head. “Just stand guard outside, please.”

Major removed himself from the door, waddling off. “I am pretty cute, aren’t I?” he muttered.