By the morning, the number of mortals remaining in the Grove was few. The parties that had attended the festivities the previous night had departed and were making their way over the road to the east. Only those adventurers who cleared dungeons in the southwestern reaches of the forest remained. Rud wasn't sure what he should think about it as he sat in his observatory. Jim and Maria were hatching a plan to get another custodian in the fold, but the druid couldn't focus on their conversation.

"Think you can get the stuff?" Maria asked.

"Absolutely," Rud said, snapping out of his thoughts. "What stuff am I getting?"

Maria repeated the list of materials Rud had to gather. The hardest thing for him to find was the crazy magical crystal, but the custodian of River's Grove also needed some other materials that were much easier to come by. This all meant that the druid had to put all his efforts into exploring the underground city. It was a task he wasn't looking forward to and something that would have been impossible without Elm's help.

"I'm not sure how long it'll take," Rud said, checking his list for the items. Along with the big boy crystal, there were standard fragments, dungeon core fragments, and some mundane ingots and gems. "But I'll do my best."

The rest of the conversation went well. The two other custodians had a lot more hope for the way things were going now that they were making progress. Once they tackled this first custodian, getting the others should have been much easier. It was only a matter of breaking the dam that would set everything in motion. Rud just hoped they were ready.

After signing off from the radio, Rud released a heavy sigh and slumped back into his chair. He didn't sense the pair of red eyes locked upon him, nor did he hear as the fox spirit jumped from the banister outside the door of the observatory. However, he jumped in fright when Jasper finally spoke.

"Heavy is the head," the fox spirit said, his voice a lingering drawl.

Clutching his chest, Red looked down at Jasper and shook his head. "You could have given me a heart attack!"

"You're not so weak," Jasper said. "So, what is this problem you're facing? It brings you much agitation, does it not?"

Something about Jasper made Rud not want to trust him, but that was the thing about the sacred beasts who had made a spiritual contract with the tree. It was absolutely binding, and they couldn't fight against it, which meant that he implicitly trusted the fox. Yet the druid still didn't know what Jasper's strong suits were. He seemed to have a great affinity for some type of magic and cunning, but he didn't know the depths to which those skills ran.

"Did you want to come along?" Rud asked, pushing himself from his seat and leaning against his staff. "We have to go down to a city beneath the Grove."

"An undercity?" Jasper asked. "In the Hornfen region? Surely not."

"Yup. It is a magical city, and I have no idea where it came from."

A ripple of blue fire spread across the fox's fur, but it soon settled down. He flipped his tail from side to side and gave a nod. "What are we waiting for?" he asked. "I think the elf has already begun her journey down the staircase you created."

"Jeez, I thought she'd stay for at least three seconds," Rud grumbled, heading to the banister outside. "Come on, we need to beat her there so we can have a look before she arrives."

Jasper and Rud headed through the nearest bush. A moment later, they arrived in the underground cavern. The city sprawled before them. The fox released a low growl as he looked upon it.

"I don't have to tell you this isn't normal, do I?" Jasper asked. "The magical energies here are intense. It seems our tree is infusing it with her own power, which is good… But still. That's some very advanced magic. Perhaps ascendant magic."

"Are you a mage?" Rud asked.

"Oh, something like that," Jasper said. "I've never been good at the arcane arts, but I do my best. My affinity is for fox magic. Which is a real school of magic, I promise you. Similar to illusion magic, fox magic focuses on creating things that aren't there."

"Any idea what we're dealing with here?" Rud asked.

Jasper turned, giving him a knowing look. "I'm not sure you want to know. Come, let's proceed to the central tower and I'll confirm my thoughts."

When the fox took the lead, Rud was suspicious of the level of familiarity he had. It might have been a straight shot to the central tower, but when he and Elm were exploring it before, there were a few twists and turns they had to discover by trial and error. However, Jasper expertly navigated the streets, finding his way through the alleyways and bringing them to the foot of the large tower. The outskirts of the city were where the houses were most dilapidated and affected by time. Passing into the central district, everything looked almost completely untouched. If the druid imagined hard enough, he could see guards standing at the steps of the tower.

Looking up to the top of that tower was a dizzying affair. Rud found himself stumbling backward as he gawked, only to be interrupted from his amazement by the fox's amused giggles.

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"This is the Academy of the Howling Peaks," Jasper said, his voice containing something Rud couldn't place at first. He realized after a pause that it was sadness.

"Academy. So this was a school," he asked, raising an eyebrow as he looked around. It didn't seem like much of a school, and he couldn't understand why it was underground. Last he checked, schools were usually above the ground, unless this was a dwarven academy of some kind. "I didn't know dwarves liked schools."

"They don't. This wasn't a dwarven academy, although I'm sure there were some dwarven students," Jasper said. Globes of fire spread from his fur, floating in the air and casting the area in an eerie blue glow. "This academy was a flying city. It went missing almost 500 years ago."

"Two questions," Rud said, smacking his lips. "First, how old are you? And second, how does an entire city go missing?"

"The answer to your first question is 'very old,'" Jasper said with a light chuckle. "The second one is that nobody knows. One minute it was hovering above the Borgrel region, and the next it was gone. Nobody heard anything from anybody aboard. Come to think of it, that's around the time the moons shattered…"

"Giant floating academy city, shattered moons, missing mages… Sounds about right for this world," Rud said.

"Easy to forget you're a reincarnator," Jasper said, stalking toward the entrance of the tower. One of his floating balls of flame edged toward the door, only to sizzle and vanish. "As expected, some magic lingers. I can't be sure, but I'd assume some defensive magic is still at work."

Jasper's ears twitched. He looked back nodding to the way they had come in. "Your girlfriend is here."

"Oh! Lemme go get her. She's a really good mage," Rud said, scampering off. He didn't miss the fox's smile as he ran off.

Back at the tree staircase, Rud found Elm descending the final steps. She sighed, doubling over and panting as she attempted to catch her breath. A moment later, she looked up and offered him a delighted smile. "I can't say I enjoy the stairs," she said, righting herself and stretching her back. "My legs are already on fire, and I still have to go back up."

"Just join the grove. Then you can use Thicket Travel," Rud said with a beaming smile.

Elm's face went pale, and she shook her head. "Is that an actual offer?" she asked, sounding more nervous than Rud had ever heard her.

"Of course. A nice, powerful mage in the Grove. Come on, you'd fit right in!"

Elm paused for a few tense moments. "I'll have to think about it, if that's okay with you."

"Take all the time you need," Rud said. "Come on, I'll escort you to Jasper."

"Who?"

Along the way, Rud had to explain about the fox and how he was a kind of mage. Elm didn't believe him when he said the fox used fox magic, but she accepted the possibility. It didn't take them long to make their way through the city. Not until the mage wanted to stop every so often to check out a pocket of magical energy or investigate a house they had missed on their first pass. When they were approaching the final gate leading to the central tower, the druid remembered the revelation Jasper had shared with him.

"Oh yeah, apparently this was the Academy of the Screaming Mountains," Rud said. "Or something like that. I can't remember what Jasper said."

Elm stopped in her tracks, the sound of her staff hitting the cobblestones echoing through the desolate city. "The Academy of the Howling Peaks?"

Rud snapped his fingers. "That's the one."

"I had suspected as much, but last night I referenced a few things in some books that I had, and it seems to fit the bill. How did you figure it out?"

"Jasper told me," Rud said with a shrug. "He was alive back in the heyday of the academy. Well, that's what he says anyway. It's hard to tell when that fox is telling the truth."

"This must be the exalted Elm," Jasper said, padding over. He approached the elf and bowed his head in respect, his nose pressing against the ground. "It is a pleasure to meet you."

"He says that he's happy to—" Rud was cut off before he could finish his sentence.

"I heard him," Elm said. "You speak the mortal tongue, fox?"

"No," Jasper said with a sharp laugh. "I know a spell. I can elect to talk to mortals. Which I don't often enjoy doing."

"Fox magic, was it?"

"Something like that," Jasper said. "Come, I need your opinion on the seal. It feels innocuous, but you never know with these old mages."

Elm let out a laugh of her own. "Right? This one time, my adventuring party was tasked with disabling a wizard's tower. He hadn't been there in centuries, but the defensive wards operated as though they were installed the other day."

"There is no folly in this world quite like the arrogance of mages," Jasper said.

Rud watched, open mouthed, as Elm and Jasper headed off. "I think he just stole my best friend."

"Perhaps if you stopped calling everyone your 'best' friend, you wouldn't have the issue of losing them so often," Ban said.

"Hey, a guy can have more than one bestie. There's no rule."

"I'm concerned. If Jasper is right about the city, the implications are grave," Ban said.

"And why might that be?" Rud asked. "Just because there's a magical city beneath our grove that was once a flying academy that might have destroyed the moons? Sounds totally normal."

"Oh, yes. Totally normal."

While Rud understood Ban's concern, he knew the best they could do was to get ahead of it and neutralize the magical city before it became a problem. After all, it had been beneath the region for 500 some years without causing any issues. But he knew better than to approach these issues with a relaxed attitude. It was serious business. While he might crack some jokes, there was nothing that would stop him from securing the grove… Or at least finding the right people to take care of it.

Jasper and Elm chattered about the giant tower. The mage hadn't thought it was an issue, but the fox had revealed the hidden wards that protected the area. Together, they were already working on disarming them so they could gain access to the massive tower.

"Hey, anyone need some druidic powers in this arcane-fest?" Rud asked, leaning heavily on his staff.

"Actually, yes," Elm said, passing her hands through the air. It left behind a trail of shimmering energy. She turned, grabbing him by the arm and dragging him closer. "Come. We need some roots down here."

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