No one was out of the woods yet. Buhar appeared to be a very large place, and they had little clue how to escape. Kanae, Red, and Seven hid within someone's room to figure out their next move. It was a modest place, with only a pillow and light sheet over a stone bed, a simple wooden desk lit up by a half-spent candle, and clothes hanging from hooks on the wall.

Red had her ear to the door as footfalls raced down the corridor. When they finally passed, she signalled to them that it was clear.

"I think we're safe for now," Red said.

"What do we do? Make a run for it? We can all fly, so it should be a cinch!" Seven was raring to get out of Buhar already.

"Not so fast." Kanae shook her head. "A lot of them can fly, too. It also won't matter if we can't find the exit. Also, I can't leave before finding out how to defeat the Harpy King. Up until now, we've been facing people infused with regular elementals. When they brought me to him, and he summoned the elemental lord Uzazzsa… it felt like the sun was right in my face."

The group fell silent. The Knight of Red and Seven likely encountered Uzazzsa, too. After all, the Harpy King wanted to convince them to be infused with one. Kanae saw how Sivvy Brenhallow might be able to withstand it, given how strong she was crowned as a Battlemage. As for Seven… the Harpy King thought he was strong of heart enough to succeed.

None of them could come to agree on a proper plan of escape. Kanae wanted to sneak out, but Red seriously believed they could fight their way out. Seven left them to their discussions and sat sulking on the stone bed.

"What's the matter?" Kanae dropped down next to him after Red asked for time alone to reconsider her plan of action.

"I'm just… thinking of how stupid I was. I came all the way to Elusis to see the Harpy King… my old man. Told him that I'd do anything if he let Theena go free from his service. So, he sent me here. Said he'd do it if I agreed to taking in an elemental lord. The bastard probably never planned to from the start…" Seven sighed.

"Your heart is in the right place." She rubbed his back and smiled. "We'll figure out how to get Theena back. For what it's worth, you still have Kara! And maybe when this is all over, you can start going by your real name, Nawan."

He grimaced from hearing the name. "Ewww. Don't call me that! It sounds so cringy. Seven's better. Besides, I'm reminded that I used to have siblings. They were more family to me than the Harpy King. Now, I don't have any family… and I sure as three hells don't consider him my dad."

Kanae thought of one, but…

"Hey, what's that look? Do you know something? Tell me!" Seven dipped into her field of vision and asked.

"Well, uh… I met your grandmother. Her name is Ujit. She's nice! It's just that she… Things are kind of complicated." Kanae desperately tried to skirt around that she was undead thanks to Edina.

"I have a grandma? Really? I want to meet her! When we get out of here, take me to her! Is she the 'bake cookies for grandkids' or 'sit around all grumpy' kind of grandma?" He was practically interrogating her for information.

"Probably the first!" she exclaimed, just so that he would stop shaking her.

Seven settled down. A childlike smile adorned his face. He kicked his feet, probably thinking of the family that was still around.

"Seven, actually… Ujit is—"

The door knob rattled. Someone was trying to turn it from the other side, but Red had locked it on their way in earlier. Whoever it was muttered a curse at another person, then started pounding on the door.

Red picked up her ram-headed maul, and Kanae quietly hopped off the bed. They were bashing at the door now, demanding to be let in.

"Looks like we don't have a choice but to fight our way out now," Red said.

"There's got to be some kind of repository or library in Buhar. A place where we can find information on how to reverse the ritual of infusing elementals into a body. Damn it… Red, you get Seven out of here. I'll stay behind and search," Kanae insisted.

"Fuck that. We're stronger together. If you really want to look for a book, then I'll help. Get ready!" She unfurled her wings, wide enough that the tips touched the ends of the room.

The door burst open. A harpy soldier stumbled in. There were more outside, peering over his shoulders. Red launched herself through and knocked them all out of the way. Kanae grabbed Seven's hand, and they flew out through the opening.

Red led the way. The trio soared through the long and winding corridors of Buhar, harpy soldiers and guards hot on their trail. More rushed down the hall, and Red bashed her way through like a wrecking ball.

Below, Kanae singled out a terrified harpy mystic. An older man with graying hair draping down his back. He wore a primitive leather tunic with bone and carved wooden ornaments all over. She swooped down to him, much to his terror.

"P-Please, I'm old and frail! I probably can't even get my penis up anymore!" the shaman cried.

"Not after you for sex, but you're coming with us. Show us where you keep your ancient texts, or I'll bite your useless dick off!" Kanae demanded and lifted him into the air.

"Sheesh, Amethyst. I didn't think you were that brutal!" Red glanced over her shoulder and exclaimed.

"Yeah, Kanae. We don't have to take it that far…" Seven grimaced.

"Guys, I'm trying to scare him into… You know what? Screw it." She exerted a Charm on the harpy shaman and compelled the answer out anyway.

"We keep them… in a place called the Old Archives… Only the elders and Exalted Mystic are allowed to access it. The door is sealed by a powerful enchantment. Kaseem and Nasiri possessed a rune to open the way," he explained.

Nasiri got sucked into the Primal Planes, and Kaseem was all the way back in the dungeons. Their only choice now was to find an elder.

"Direct us to the Old Archives for now. Maybe we'll find an elder on the way," Kanae said.

Leaving a trail of Buhar's defeated defenders in their wake, the three traveled lower into Buhar. They were getting tired. Fighting to get out was going to be much harder and longer when they eventually needed to escape.

The deeper into Buhar they descended, the less man-made structures there were. Eventually, it just became an excavated tunnel. No guards and dimmer torches, if someone told Kanae this section of the temple was deserted, she would have believed them.

It wasn't long before they reached the bottom, coming faced with a large stone door that stretched the length and height of the tunnel. Strange symbols on the stonework were as smooth as a newborn's skin, etched into the surface with painstaking passion. In the center, there was a fist-sized hole that looked to be where a key would be inserted.

"What do the symbols say?" Kanae nudged her charmed captive.

"This isn't any language in our world. It is the language of elementals, spoken in the roar of fire, the ebb and flow of ocean tides, the howl of winds, grinding of stone plates in the earth, and crack of thunder. The words beseech their wisdom and strength like a plea— no. Hmm. More like a request from a servant asking their master for a reward," the shaman explained.

"I thought the Harpy King and his people controlled the elementals? Is it the other way around?" Red asked.

"You cannot control an approaching storm or wish away a tidal wave. The same is true of the elementals. They are a force of nature given form." He shuddered as if recalling a bad memory.

"The voice in the ritual room demanded a vessel. That doesn't sound like it's subservient to whoever they are bound to," Seven said.

Kanae walked up to the wall of elemental language. Kaseem and Nasiri had something to open the way. How were they going to pry this open?

The Knight of Red came up from behind her and placed a hand to the wall. She shut her eyes. Magic filled the space around them.

"There's an elemental in this door," Red finally said.

"Very perceptive," a feminine voice that rumbled like an earthquake spoke. "You are neither Kaseem nor Nasiri. I also do not sense my kin in you. Intruders, perhaps? Begone from here, or I will bury you within the earth and feed on your corpse."

"A big scary door is talking to us!" Seven yelled.

"I'm not a door, you runt!" She took shape on the door as the symbols merged together to form the shapely upper half of a female body.

"Perfect. At least we can talk to someone. Open the way. Now," Kanae demanded.

"Hah! Arrogant for one made of fragile flesh. Perhaps I'll consider opening up if you beg. On your knees, meat bag!" the elemental demanded.

Distant shouting echoed down from the end of the tunnel. They were coming, and escaping through the narrow corridor was going to be a bitch.

"If you're not going to open up, I got something to change your mind then. Take this!" Kanae shoved Cockcalibur into the gaping slot and willed it into a sand troll's dick.

"Ahh!" The elemental woman clearly felt something and jolted. "Y-Y-You! Take that out right now, or I'll bury you alive!"

"I'll take it out if you let us through. Otherwise, it's staying right here. I wonder if I give it a little push, you'll open right up?" She shoved the dildo in and out, causing the door to tremble.

"No… stop… I'll.. I'll— aaaaahhhhh!"

The symbols dispersed back to their original spots, and the door split open.

"Inside, now!" Kanae shouted.

Red and Seven jumped in as a horde of Buhar harpies rushed to catch up. Too bad for them, the door closed right back up. They pounded helplessly from the other side. Someone screamed about getting Kaseem, and calm returned to the cavern.

It seemed they had a bit of time for now.

They turned their attention to the room, and torches on the walls came alight themselves. The Old Archives wasn't anything grand like Kanae was expecting, but a chapel-sized chamber with plinths and pedestals all the way to the other end of the room. Ancient relics and artifacts sat atop each structure. Only a few emitted magic. Between each pedestal were wooden lattice bookcases, stuffed full of texts and scrolls.

"It's going to take us forever to pour through this. Coming here better be worth it. Because we're gonna have one helluva time breaking out later," Red said.

"Start with what's on the pedestals. They might be useful," Kanae suggested.

The fact that this place wasn't as big as the Illuminant Repository was a good thing. It truly would have taken forever to comb through everything. Luckily for them, some of the relics had a text of information next to them. Someone had written down their findings, judging by the ink on parchment.

A large opalescent gemstone resting on a cushion atop a plinth captured Kanae's attention. Looking into it was like peering into a watercolor painting of the galaxy. Colors seemed to shift and change depending on where she stared from. An entire essay had been written along the stone plinth. Fortunately, not in elemental language.

The core of an elemental lord. It is believed that the same giant opal jewel that glistens over Elusis belonged to a particularly old and powerful one. Now, it crowns the great city of harpies.

I, Exalted Mystic Ujit, have discovered that this may be the key to Elusis' survival. These elemental lord cores contain incredible magic. Its power can even be used to carve open a way to the Primal Planes. But they are nature themselves. However, elementals cannot exist on our plane for long. When brought to this world, they will gradually return to the Primal Planes against their volition. The same is true of their lordly counterparts. Therefore, I devised a way to imbue our mortal bodies with that of an elemental. It gives them permanence here, but do not be mistaken. The infused will not be in control. I can no more control an elemental the same way a farmer cannot call for rain upon their crops. We must beg for it. Open ourselves to them as vessels.

A disaster approaches, one that is thousands of years in the making. Nature comes to reclaim Elusis. A flood of mighty proportions that will wipe away those below the city's spires. I'm growing desperate. I'm also a terrible mother… for when I struck a bargain with Uzazzsa, I wagered my own son. Supreme One and Great Shaman Glentir, forgive me.

"Guys, I think everyone's been mistaken about the Harpy King controlling the elementals. It's the other way around. The elementals aren't obeying him. They obey Uzazzsa instead," Kanae explained.

"But what about Theena? You said she was infused, right? Is she in danger?" Seven asked.

"I don't know. I hope not." She frowned.

"Maybe not. This might be the key to stopping the Harpy King." Red beckoned from another plinth, this one containing an oil lamp.

However, coming from earth, Kanae was only able to associate its shape and bronze color to one thing in particular. A genie lamp. That suspiciously looked like it could contain a genie…

"You guys know how the previous Grand Eye sent me on a mission to Savir to help an archaeology guild? We came to Elusis, and I guarded them while they excavated a digsite. This was one of the things they found before the Harpy King went all bonkers," Red exlained.

"Bonkers over an oil lamp?" Seven tilted his head and reached out to it.

Kanae slapped his hand.

"Ow! What was that for?" He pouted.

"Don't touch things just because. It might be dangerous. So, Red? Any idea what it does or why it might help?" Kanae asked.

"No clue. It's just that the look on the Harpy King's face seared into my mind when he freaked out about the lamp. Anyway, says here on the paper not to touch it. Contains an elemental lord," Red read off the accompanying parchment.

"There's probably a good reason not much is written about the lamp. I'm willing to bet this is the key to defeating the Harpy King. Let's take it and break out of here," she insisted.

Seven threw his hands up.

"Can I grab it now?" the harpy boy asked.

"I'll hang onto it," Kanae said, but her vision distorted the moment she touched.

The world folded. Red and Seven grew distant. Kanae felt a vacuum pull her into darkness… then spat out into the terrace of a spire high above the clouds. She pushed herself up and found a human male servant in chains, in the middle of watering the garden around them.

"Ah… M-Master!" He ran away screaming.

"What the fuck?" Kanae glanced up, and a vast blue sky stretched before her. "Is this… Elusis?"

"No. But you are trespassing in my domain, succubus."

A powerful gale forced Kanae flat on the ground. The winds blew so hard that she couldn't breathe anymore. She feared opening her mouth might cause the air to blow up her lungs, too.

Descending from the upper spire was a naked pointy-eared woman with a maroonish complexion. But she was no elf. The bottom half of her body looked like a nimbus cloud. Long black hair fluttered behind her, seemingly misting off at the tips like a gas. Her lips were painted gold and streaks of the same color ran across her body like rivers over land.

"You are permitted to know my name Elirashj. You are permitted to gaze upon my form, an elemental lord. You are permitted to serve me for all of eternity or perish." Elirashj grinned.