“I’m back!” Erik entered the ruins with a bag full of goods in hand. “Tell me, did you guys miss me?”
“I was beginning to wonder if you ever would return,” Kindle voiced deadpan from her perch on a broken pillar.
“You missed me!” Erik gave a smug smirk with a nod. “It's okay to admit it!”
“I can see why Aliya thinks you are annoying,” Kindle rolled her eyes but couldn’t entirely hide her smile.
Erik glanced around tossing the bag to Terbius for the twins to rifle through the selection of alcohol bottles and food he picked up. Breyze was sitting on the ground in a corner, flipping through a couple of her notebooks, recent and older, with Pree looking down at them as well. He didn’t see Aliya around. “Where is our fair Ice Queen anyway?”
“She’s still sleeping,” Ter pointed to the room she was in.
“She seemed pretty wiped not long after you left,” Bius stated as he pulled out a bottle of whiskey, excited by the fact it wasn’t the only bottle of alcohol in there.
“I thought Spirits didn't need sleep,” Erik tilted his head curiously. Every Spirit he’d ever met never actually slept, though he could out drink some to the point of passing out so it didn’t seem too unlikely.
“Is sleeping fun? I’ve never tried it,” Breyze looked up from her books. “Aliya seems to do it a ton.”
“It does tend to fall into the things that Spirits do that are optional, since Spirits technically only need mana to survive,” Pree explained. “It still can benefit us though! It most certainly improves memory, like with humans, and allows for speedy recovery of injuries and mana.”
“Aliya has used up a lot of mana lately,” Kindle recalled Aliya’s use of multiple powerful artes, a high magic arte among them in the research facility, following that, accessing the Leylines was sure to take quite a bit out of her as well.
Erik wandered over to the entryway of the room Aliya was resting in. He leered in, curious if she actually was asleep. She was indeed sleeping peacefully, resting on the ground on her side with her back to the wall. She had removed her long jacket and rolled it up to use as a pillow while her belts and dagger were neatly piled just above her head.
Erik looked back at the others to see what they were up to. Kindle seemed to have been distracted with sorting through the collection of alcohol along with her brothers. Breyze and Pree seemed to be quietly discussing something that was in one of her notebooks judging by how intently they were looking over one.
He couldn’t help but wander into the room. No one was watching and Aliya seemed so ravishing, not having a bitter cold expression on her face for once. As he got closer he noticed a marking just under her collar bone he didn’t recall seeing before. He carefully crouched down next to her to get a better look, but her hair was in the way. He slowly ran his hand through her thick, wavy hair to brush it out of the way.
A scar that was precise but looked as though it healed poorly a long time ago ran from shoulder to shoulder. Another branched off of it straight down the center of her chest disappearing into her cleavage and her low cut black and teal strapless shirt.
Aliya stirred, having felt the movement of her hair across her skin. Her eyes cracked open for a moment, as she was reaching up to brush her hair out of the way. She looked at Erik drearily for a moment until his surprised retreat as he leaned away from her finally registered with her.
“What the hell are you doing?!” Aliya quickly sat up and punched him, knocking him backwards, to the ground. Her hostile gaze was fixed on him as she stood up.
“What? Me?” He laughed it off as he sat up trying to not show how much it hurt. She was much stronger than he’d expected. “Trying to steal a kiss of course!”
“You’re despicable!” Aliya snatched up her coat and dagger as she stormed out of the room. She noticed Kindle looking her way as she stormed past towards the ruins entrance, “I'll be out front if you need me.”
Erik heard the stone doors slam shut. He was sitting on the ground, cross legged with his broadsword resting across his lap. He needed a moment to try and process what he’d seen. He couldn’t fathom what wound could have caused a scar like that one or how much pain it had caused her.
“What did you do?” Kindle poked her head into the door and glared at the back of his head.
“Hey, Kindle?” Erik’s head remained down as he looked at the Fire Rune embedded in his sword with a pained expression. “Do you know anything about Aliya’s scar?”
“What scar?” Kindle looked at him in confusion. She tilted her head trying to recall if she ever saw a scar on Aliya, but her skin always seemed flawless to her. “She has a scar?”
“Nevermind, then…” Erik stood up a bit disappointed, resigning to the fact that his imagination would run wild thinking about what might have happened to her since he knew he wasn’t getting anything out of Aliya about it. After taking a deep breath he turned to Kindle as he placed his sword on his back. He figured if Kindle didn’t know then it would likely be a touchy subject for Aliya, after all he had the impression they were the closest in the group.
“I was just wondering what broke her heart, is all!” He said with a cocky smile.
“You’re a weird one, you know that?” Kindle leered at him as he walked past her and towards the entrance. Kindle thought it was a bad idea for him to go after her but she wasn’t going to directly stop him. “You sure you want to do that?”
“Persistence and patience is key in being a thief,” He turned and walked backwards towards the door as he smirked, pointing at the air as he explained his motives. “And I plan on stealing her heart!”
“She hates your guts!” Kindle looked at him as though he were insane.
“And?” Erik shrugged it off, turning back towards the door. Kindle shook her head at him, fully expecting to see him rather beat up if he came back at all.
The late afternoon light barely filtered through the towering treetops. Leaves rustled and fell in the swift breeze that made its way through the forest. The air outside was surprisingly warm for the shady mountain forest, a sweet floral scent filled the air, though there were no flowers in sight.
Aliya was off to the far east corner of the main building, sitting on top of a relatively tall pile of large stone blocks that looked as though they were used to build the place. She was leaning back with her arms outstretched behind her to support her. She had her eyes closed, enjoying the breeze since it reminded her of Zephyr.
She heard the heavy door to the ruins open and close again. She sighed in annoyance as she listened to the steps echoed out of the tunnel and continued on to approach her.
“Would you give it a rest?” She growled as she opened her eyes and glowered at Erik. “I came out here to get away from you.”
“And yet here I am!” Erik flashed a roguish smirk as he waved his hands in front of him with a slight bow.
“What's your deal?” Aliya hissed under her breath. This human was really getting on her nerves.
“I could ask you that,” Erik shrugged, leaning against one of the large blocks of stone that was significantly taller than him. “You have been nothing but cold to me since we met.” He didn’t sound the least bit bothered.
“What? Are you saying you don’t deserve it?” Aliya raised an eyebrow at him.
“Well it’s not like I did anything directly against you,” Erik tilted his head back to look up at her. She was leering into the forest, tilting her head with suspicion. Her attention was quickly diverted off him which made him rather concerned. “Something up?”
“Quiet!” Aliya voiced in a hushed tone as she was trying to listen carefully to the sounds in the forest. She noticed the wind had completely changed direction and speed. All of it a little too sudden a change to be natural. The leaves began to quiver and shake as the branches bowed heavily in the approaching gust.
“No way he tracked me here?!” Erik recognized the wind pattern. It wasn’t the first time he’d experienced it. Instinctively he drew his sword as he looked in the direction it was coming from. He was on edge, as a gust of wind got closer and closer.
“I guess you were useful after all,” Aliya stood up on top of the pile of stone with a slight smirk on her face. It had been a long time so she didn’t recognize it right away as her brother’s wind until it got close.
“I found you! Erik Tierney!” A deep voice was carried along with the wind. Manifesting from thin air, a Wind Spirit appeared mere feet away from Erik. He dashed straight for Erik, armed with two blades with a perpendicular handle attached a third of the way down the length of the curved blades which shared the same teal and green color, his messy shoulder length hair that was not really contained by his wide dark green headband.
“Hold it, Zephyr!” Aliya raised her voice and Zephyr immediately stopped in his tracks before they could clash blades. He looked up not having noticed Aliya was there until she spoke. She jumped down and started slowly walking towards Zephyr with a pretty neutral expression on her face.
“Aliya?! What are you doing here with him?” Zephyr pointed one of his blades in Erik’s direction, a look of disapproval in his golden eyes as he looked between the two of them. ”I do not approve!”
“You know what I don’t approve of?” Aliya smiled for a moment as she clenched her fist. Her expression quickly shifted with a fiery rage as she uppercutted Zephyr in the chin, knocking him up a few feet in the air before he landed flat on his back on the ground. Erik instantly covered his mouth in shock and to stifle his laughter not wanting to be her next target. “You bet Regulus and lost to a scumbag of a human you dare to associate me with?!” She yelled at Zephyr.
“It’s not my fault!” Zephyr’s voice wavered as he held his jaw in astonishment as he sat up. She caught him off guard and she was so much stronger than she used to be. He pointed at Erik now panicked at the wrath of his sister, “He can out drink even a Spirit! He can’t be trusted!”
“I’m well aware of that!” She shot a glare in Erik's direction and he practically jumped out of his skin. All of Erik’s instincts were screaming to run but he knew that he could never outrun both of them. He was slightly relieved when she just closed her eyes and sighed, “He betrayed Blacksong! Nearly got myself and the other Spirits with us killed. He then turned on the Empire too.”
“Is that why the knights are a buzz? Now I actually want to kill him!” Zephyr got to his feet and glared over at Erik. “Erik you better give that gun back to me now or I’m taking it off your dead body!”
“Doubt it! You’ve had plenty of chances to kill me but you haven’t yet!” Erik shrugged with a smug smirk. He saw Aliya’s fuming glower directed towards Zephyr still and figured she wasn’t through chewing him out yet.
“That was then, this is now! Now you’ve brought my little sister into this! Prepare to die!” Zephyr was about to charge him again but Aliya grabbed him by his pale green shirt with one hand and slapped him with her other.
“I’m not done with you!” Aliya yelled.
“Ow! When did you get so strong?!” Zephyr pouted as he rubbed his cheek.
“How could you wager Regulus! That gun is dangerous! Captain Thatch entrusted that to you and you gambled it away? To that guy?!” Her furious glare was accompanied by frequent waving of her hands towards Erik.
“She has a point,” Erik nodded as though he completely agreed with her but he was just glad it wasn’t him.
“Shut up! You are next!” Aliya snapped, glaring over at him. He immediately looked up and away like he was a child that did something wrong.
“I feel like I’ve been afraid of the wrong sibling until now!” Erik quietly whispered to himself looking down nervously.
“I’m sorry, you’re right…” Zephyr avoided direct eye contact with her while looking rather defeated. “Honestly after you left my self control slowly went downhill from there.”
“Don’t you put this on me!” Aliya pointed her finger at him.
“I’m not!” He raised his voice and looked her in the eye. “Look, I've been ignoring my responsibilities. I didn’t realize how much until he won that from me! I need that gun back so I can get my act together!”
“I won it fair and square!” Erik placed his hand over the gun defensively. “Also, I really enjoy using it. It’s pretty handy.”
“I challenge you again!” Zephyr pointed one of his blades in Erik’s direction. “Same thing as usual!”
“You’re on! I’ll wipe the floor with you again!” Erik perked up at the thought of challenging him without Aliya joining. He could handle Zephyr on his own no problem. The thought of Aliya going all out against him terrified him.
“Sounds like this wasn’t the first time” Aliya mumbled, crossing her arms as she rolled her eyes.
“That’s because my man, Zephyr, and I were good friends before I won this off of him!” Erik waved Regulus around in the air with a cheeky smirk on his face.
“Really?” Aliya scoffed, glancing over her shoulder at Zephyr for confirmation to which he nodded. Her expression turned a little bitter as she looked back at Erik. “Seems to me you are full of nothing but lies and betrayal!”
“Can’t be a traitor if the only side I’m on is my own!” Erik shrugged nonchalantly, but Aliya could tell he didn’t believe that from the strange look in his eye.
“If that’s true then why risk your life for me?” Aliya recalled the moment he stepped in to take the shot from the Devitalization weapon for her. It seemed so out of character for him since he’d been so egotistical and selfish since she met him.
“You kidding?” Erik scoffed as he pointed towards Zephyr, “Zephyr would have killed me for sure if I let you die. You living meant I’d survive!”
“Why’d I expect any less from you?” She sighed and shook her head. “Look, how about before you two make fools of yourselves with whatever you are about to do, you boys make a bet on me instead?”
“What do you have in mind?” Zephyr tilted his head curiously, sheathing his blades, leaving them hanging off the back of his belt.
“I'm going to open the sealed door in these ruins,” Aliya crossed her arms confidently with a slight air of adventurous curiosity in her eyes. “Whoever guesses what’s inside correctly gets the gun and if neither of you do, I decide what will be done with it.”
“Can you really open that thing?” Erik looked skeptical since the odds were definitely stacked against him. “My Rail Burst Cannon didn’t even put a scratch on the thing. What can you do to open it?”
“Not using force, for one thing,” Aliya leered at him with annoyance that he was underestimating her. “It probably has all sorts of binding magic artes on it, which is my specialty. Also, there’s always a trick to opening ancient doors. I'm sure this one is no different.”
“Hmm, whatever it is, is probably dangerous,” Zephyr placed a hand on his chin as he contemplated what could be inside based on what he knew from previous exploration of ruins from the same age.
“Or it could be valuable!” Erik beamed at the thought of some ancient treasure.
“Whatever it is, it's sealed in a temple so it's likely both,” Aliya placed her hands on her hips as she looked over the temple ruins. “So do you boys want to be more specific?”
“Well I was thinking more along the lines of a Demon,” Zephyr elaborated. “Back in the age of Darkness they used to capture dangerous Demons more often than kill them.”
“You aren't wrong,” Aliya smiled as she thought about what could be inside herself. “The Age of Darkness in particular was pretty known for that but they also regarded Masterworks or Cursed Weapons just as dangerous, sealing them away as well.”
“Couldn't they have just been saving them for a rainy day?” Erik tilted his head as he thought about it.
“Either way, it is a possibility,” Aliya shrugged, not having considered that thought before.
“Well I'll go with that if that's what you think it is!” Erik grinned.
“I never said that,” Aliya rolled her eyes as she started walking towards the entrance to the ruins. “You two picked the most likely things, though. So let's go see what it really is!” The men followed her into the ruins. She paused in the middle of the entry hall and looked at her other companions that were idling away, “Hey guys, we are heading down to open the sealed door, you guys want to come?”
“Of course!” Breyze jumped up excited about documenting the whole process.
“Can we break it?!” Terbius were both always ready to break something that was unbreakable.
“Pretty sure force won’t work from what Erik said,” Aliya laughed at their enthusiasm. “There’s probably some magic arte stopping it. But if we need any demolitions you two can cover it!”
“So, who's the breath of fresh air?” Kindle slid up next to Zephyr with a coy smirk.
“I like her already,” Zephyr laughed at her joke as he whispered to Aliya.
“Meet my brother, Zephyr,” Aliya presented her brother with both hands. “This is Kindle,” she pointed at Kindle before directing his attention to Terbius, “her brothers Terbius.” She pointed to Breyze who was hovering off the ground by the archway that led deeper into the ruins but realized she didn’t see Pree, “The floating one in the back is Breyze and her Kin is around here somewhere. His name is Pree.”
“Master just went to go look at the door,” Breyze informed. “He said it sounded familiar, in fact we were searching my notes for whatever it was but never found anything in the stories he told me.”
“I'm surprised you didn't go with,” Aliya raised an eyebrow.
“He insisted I stay,” Breyze shrugged. “I figured you would later anyway. You sounded so interested on the way here.”
“Later is now,” Aliya nodded cheerfully as she started to head further into the ruins. “Let's go! I'm going to open it.”