CHAPTER 78: FAMILIAR FACES

Fortunately for them, it turned out that the installation crew had all the necessary materials and crew to repair the wall and replace the support beams.

"We have a mage specialising in construction on our team, so it’ll only take us half an hour to repair the entire thing and continue." The leader of the installation crew informed them. "You can go ahead and check the rest of the tunnel - and maybe inform Greenheart that the connection will be open soon."

"Will do." Alison nodded.

***

They walked for over an hour without any interruptions, which meant they had a lot of time to talk.

"From what Gary said, you need to finish installing the barrier enchancers in all the tunnels before you can move the city, but it seems like an attack from the Blightborn is inevitable." Isara pondered. "Will you be able to finish on time?"

"Almost certainly." Alfred confirmed. "The last tunnel is almost complete, and the moment it’s done we’ll send installation crews into every remaining tunnel - we should be done within a week."

"That’s awfully quick." She commented. "How long did this project take?"

"Well from an idea to now it would be almost five years, but three of them were spent on coming up with a solution that would allow us to make them, so the construction took around two years."

"What will you do after this?" Alison questioned. "You’ve worked here since you became an ambassador."

"I mean, we’ll be going back to the Order to help master, obviously."

"Immediately?"

"Well, no - I’ll wait until after the festival of course, especially since we don’t know how long our friends over there will recuperate after Lady Sylara ’helps them’."

"You have a festival?" Elira asked curiously.

"Yeah, it’s a-"

"Shush." Maya placed a hand on his mouth. "The wandering lights festival is best experienced with no context whatsoever."

"Yeah, I agree with Maya." Alison nodded. "The first time she attended she couldn’t keep her jaw off the floor."

"When is it happening?" Calen asked.

"The festival will be in a week, but the preparations will start tomorrow - it’s the only holiday commonly celebrated in Mountainfall, so people want to make it feel special."

"Well, I hope I won’t miss it because I’ll be on pain from whatever Sylara gives me."

"You don’t have to worry." Alison chuckled. "She let it slip that she was planning on giving you something completely painless."

"... that’s awfully considerate of someone who made me do menial jobs to earn her help."

"Well, she also mentioned that she’s doing that because ’you’ll feel enough pain afterwards’, whatever that means."

"She probably means the ritual." Cassian guessed.

"Wonderful."

"Speaking of which." Isara looked at Calen. "Do you have all the tenets yet?"

"For the most part - I decided on the first two, but I’m a bit torn about the third one." He hummed. "I am a bit curious what the ceremony will entail though."

"I’ve found a few hints about it in the books left by Koravel." Elira stated. "It seems that the first ritual is about you accepting the flame as your own, and binding your soul to it - it’s also said to be the most painful one."

"Great..." Then the words registered. "Wait, did you say the first ritual? There’s more than one?"

"Yes, although I couldn’t find much about the others - only that they come in specific order as you grow in power, but I’m sure Sylara will tell you more if you ask her."

"Anything else I should know about this ritual?"

Elira looked a little unsure.

"Well, there’s this one thing that could happen in a very unlikely, and rare case, to the point that it’s almost not worth mentioning it - in fact I shouldn’t have even brought it up, just forget I said anything."

"Just say it."

"Alright." She sighed. "In the extremely unlikely case that your soul would turn out to be too impure to touch the flame, it would be destroyed."

"I could die?" He didn’t like the sound of that.

"Worse, actually." Isara looked gloomy. "If your soul is destroyed it’s akin to getting erased from existence, so not only lack of any possible afterlife for you, but everyone you know would have very hard time remembering that you ever existed in the first place."

"Why does it seem like this flame has more negatives than positives?" Calen glared at the lantern attached to his belt. "How does one measure soul purity anyway?"

"Go ask a unicorn." Cassian deadpanned.

"Those went extinct long before the Sun Kingdom was established, and contrary to what the legends say they were just regular horses with a horn."

"Awww, really?" Maya looked a bit disappointed. "I kinda wished all the stories were true... what other myths lied to us?"

"I mean, most things about vampires are untrue, but you probably already know that." Calen rubbed his chin. "Lycanthropy is not a real disease but a regular curse that can’t even spread, Ghosts don’t exist and most sightings are either a prank from a bored..."

Isara jumped in to also name a few examples:

"Giants and dwarves were actually just different versions of humans created by the gods and the difference between them was nowhere near as big as in the stories."

"Damn, that’s kinda depressing." Maya admitted. "Are there even any myths that are real?"

"There are." Calen nodded. "But most of them are the horrific ones thwt you’d prefer to be fake."

"Like?"

"Well, the five hells and the demons are almost certainly real - and it’s true that doing anything related to them is a horrible idea."

"Wasn’t planning to."

"What about elves?" Alfred queried. "There are so many stories about them, they must have come from somewhere."

"Elves are a... contentious topic. There’s a myriad of evidence confirming their existence, but at the same time they were supposed to be almost as numerous as humans - which would mean that somehow half of the sapient population of our world disappeared without any trace."

"Weren’t they supposed to be connected to the stars? Maybe they travelled to another world or something."

"That is one of the leading theories for those who believe in their existence, yes - but the opposite side argues that we have no basis to assume elves possessed such abilities, of they existed at all."

Alison stopped and turned around.

"Someone is waiting for us at the end of the tunnel."

"How many people?" Calen asked.

"Two, but they seem very powerful - I know they likely came to greet us, but it would be wise to remain cautious."

"Wait, why are they permitted to enter the tunnel but the Order wasn’t?" Alfred frowned.

"Because the protection of Greenheart reaches underground, while the one on your fortress is active only within the walls."

"Actually, I have a question about that." Elira said. "From what I understand you can get corrupted by Blight by just being outside without protection, but then there are people who do stay outside and don’t get corrupted - so how does it work?"

"It’s a bit complicated, but I’ll try to simplify it - whenever you go outside of a protected area, the Blight starts to seep into your body. The speed of that process is dependent on many factors, but the main ones are the strength of your soul and body, as well as how heavily corrupted is the area."

"So some people get corrupted quicker than others?"

Alison nodded.

"It also takes time for the corruption to actually take root, so as long as you return to safety before you reach that point the residue will be expelled from your body and you won’t suffer any consequences."

"Of course there are areas where you wouldn’t survive even with protection." Maya added. "Near the capital even with your divine flame you would become corrupted instantly - at least with its current strength."

"Luckily this deep underground you need only the most basic protection to be completely safe, and you could even spend a couple hours here without anything and be safe."

As Alison explained how the corruption worked, the people waiting for them finally came into view - a certain pair of familiar druid siblings.

"I must say, I haven’t expected to meet you four again so soon" Lydia chuckled. "It’s nice to see you too Alison, Maya and- I’m afraid I don’t know your name...?"

"Alfred, 2nd grade knight of the Order." He nodded at her.

"Oh, I assume you’re the current ambassador?"

"Correct, Lady Elder."

"Bah, call me Lydia." She rolled her eyes. "I must say, we haven’t heard from the Order since they announced they had ’internal issues’ a few months ago - do you know if that’s still going on?"

"Yes and no... it’s a messy affair."

He briefly explained what happened to the druids.

"Nickolas is a good man." Baor nodded. "I whish we could help you somehow but..."

"We signed a non-interference agreement with the Order, we’re not allowed to meddle in each other’s affairs without explicit permission from the other side." Lydia finished.

"No worries, it’s not your problem to deal with after all." Alfred sighed. "Anyway we’re here to tell you that the tunnel will be ready to use in a few hours."

"Great, maybe we’ll visit for the festival - I also need to talk with Lady Sylara about something." Lydia smiled. "Well then, I guess I’ll see you again a week."