"Excavation And After Action Report: Designated Myndiri Arneathan Ruins of Saclia Commissioner: [Redacted] Contact: Explorator Bernard Muller, Investigator - Pathfinders Guild

Section - 01: With the current excavation's team conclusion of activities within the Myndiri Arneathan Ruins of Saclia and the Arterian Academy's scientific expedition having ended a few months ago. It has come to our attention that the presence of hostile forces beyond lurking monsters and ruin dwellers is a wholly unnatural phenomenon. Liaisons with the local Adventurers Guild representative and a member of the Argent Curia have arrived at the conclusion that the humanoid forces faced by the original expedition that had unearthed these ruins and subsequently led to their unfortunate demise were members identified only as the 'Blotti ur Daetumus' roughly translated by Arterian scholars as 'The Cult of Repentance'. Further investigations will be done in conjunction with the Argent Curia and other scholars as detailed in section… "

- Explorator Bernard Muller, Pathfinders Guild, "Report On Saclia"

"Did you think you could hide? That I would not eventually learn the truth? Hmm? Little saboteur." Pyra tittered.

"Wha-?" Sophie stammered out, momentarily caught off guard and left confused.

Pyra slammed a fist down onto the table, making Sophie jump a little.

"My bidium nartum sister. My little fool. Now that we are alone, there is no more hiding. No lies." Pyra hissed, "Did you think my people would not notice? That they would not recognise your scent, half blood?"

What is she talking about? Sophie just stared.

"You aren't my enemy, are you?" Pyra suddenly cooled, making an exaggerated showing of her sorrow.

Uneasy and still uncertain, Sophie didn't know how to react beyond taking the opening that was offered and shook her head.

"I'm not. Or at least I don't want to be." She answered truthfully.

Pyra's face twisted into a half scowl before the princess seemed to have another thought that held the animosity back.

"A lie? An ill concealed motive?" Pyra whispered.

"None of the sort." Sophie denied.

"And you don't want to be my enemy?"

"Of course not."

"Then why…" Pyra snarled, "Why is it that my Tribune was informed that his soldiers have seen you before, hmm?" Pyra reached over to draw Sophie's attention to the praetorians.

The princess's undead guardians simply stared at her. Their piercing gaze made all the more unnerving by the other two warriors present. The two utterly unmoving warriors that no one seemed to have mentioned or even acknowledged.

Sophie held her breath. So they do remember, and they are the same ones in Saclia. Damned hells.

"Ahhh, I see that little frown of yours." Pyra chuckled, "So it's true? Is it?! Have you met my people before?!" She suddenly bellowed.

Sophie winced and hurriedly raised her hands in surrender, a futile attempt to sue for peace.

"Y-yes? But-"

"Ah-hah! She admits it!" Pyra roared in satisfaction.

"Admit what?"

"That you have seen my people before." Pyra smirked, "And?"

"And…?"

"Gah! Are you truly that much idtuss? Enough with the obfuscations!"

"I'm not! I'm not! I just want to make sure." Sophie hastily added.

"Sure? What do you need to be sure of? Your treachery?" Pyra sneered.

"What?! No! Just to be on the same page, so to speak."

"Of what? What more is needed?"

Left alone under Pyra's withering gaze and the silent judgement of the warriors, Sophie's own mind grew increasingly erratic. Lost in her own thoughts, she couldn't decipher what Pyra's goal was, nor how she was expecting her to react. Out of everyone, only Kimmie's calm but almost imperceptible nod kept her from losing herself even more.

"Your people, the soldiers, they're talking about Saclia, yes? The Myndir ruin?" She stammered out.

"Sack-li-a?" Pyra toyed with the word on her lips, "Saclia?" She mused.

"The one near Arteria, Saclia. Yes. That is where I saw them."

"Saclia." Pyra stated before chuckling, "Ahahah, so that's what the shelus ones call it? What a travesty. Oh how far they have fallen, how unfathomably distant their ambitions now are. Hah!"

Pyra planted herself against the table and loomed over Sophie. The mad princess's eyes brimming with a dangerous shine. She was like a wolf looming over its prey. Although Sophie felt cornered, she had no intention of simply rolling over either. She knew that she needed to regain some control, some momentum, anything at all to try and buy herself more time to collect her thoughts.

"What about Saclia? What exactly were you doing there that I interrupted?" Sophie asked, taking the opportunity to stand up to match Pyra's height, earning herself a raised brow from the girl.

"What… Did we do? And why would you like to know that?" Pyra clicked her tongue disdainfully, almost in disbelief that Sophie even dared to ask such a mundane question.

"Because you're making it sound like I tried to screw you guys over when that's not true! You're the one who said there shouldn't be lies and hidden truths between us." Sophie growled.

"Watch your tone when addressing the princess." Sir Lyran warned her from nearby.

Sophie felt a shiver run down her spine but didn't sit back down.

"I had no idea what the hells was happening back then. Just that some… some deranged cultists tried to attack me and I fought back." She snapped.

The praetorian moved a little closer but Pyra raised a hand to stop him, the clanking of armor coming to an abrupt halt.

"Go on." Pyra commanded.

Is she testing me? Sophie wondered, no matter, too late to take it back now.

"Like I said, no damned clue what was happening back then. Just a request to accompany an Academy expedition."

"Really? How fortuitous then, that my kin encountered you. O' clueless nartum, o' little child of discord and treasured sister of mine. How you have fumbled your way forward." Pyra snarkily proclaimed.

Sophie lowered her gaze but did not retreat.

"If that is the truth, that is, your truth. Then tell me…" Pyra's sing-song voice dropped to a threatening growl, "Back in those ruins, my people found an artifact. One that belonged to the Tuvebriva, the old elves, as you might know them. An artifact of great power." Pyra slowly drawled before she paused.

Sophie didn't even have time to sigh when Pyra reached out and jerked her head upwards, forcing their gazes to meet as they stared eye to eye.

"So tell me, what was it that drew you to it? For according to my Tribune, and he does not lie. You were the one who destroyed it!" She screamed at Sophie. Her sudden roar made Sophie flinch.

So it was about the crystal, hah. Then what the hells was their purpose in the first place? And why did I sense the touch of Arantos. Sophie ran through the different replies that she could. The truth then, and see if she believes it.

"Why?" Pyra demanded once more, an impatient snarl clawing its way across her face.

"Because…" But it sounds so ridiculous, that I… transferred? Shattered? Loosened the crystal's mana? It's absurd to me, except that I was the one who did it.

"Because? No lying, Sophie. No more hiding. Before, it was a warning, now? I tire of this… wiggling around. Speak plainly." Pyra threatened, the princess's eyes watching for every little twitch or movement. No glance or muscle would be beneath her notice at this moment.

Sophie sighed, "Fine. The reason the Myndir crystal drew my attention was because it was a part of my mission."

"Mission? Who sent you on that? The guilds? The other pointy eared kin?" Pyra narrowed her eyes.

Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

"None of them." Sophie replied.

"Dearest… sister… if you are stalling for time…" Pyra warned through gritted teeth.

"My mission, the reason that I was sent. Here, back to this world. By It, the master of the void. You can ask Ela too. Urr, that is Elaria. She will confirm it. That we were sent in part to live, but also to destroy any and all the Myndiri crystals we came across. Saclia was just a coincidence."

"How so?"

"I told you already. Part of an Academy team. I was intrigued by the Myndir at the time, persuaded them to let me tag along. Then cut through the cult and stumbled onto the crystal."

"Stumbled onto it? Do you not-"

"Of course, I knew it was practically suicide. I know I'm a bit of an idiot, but I'm not blind." Sophie hissed back, "I saw the cultists, so many more. And a few of… them." Sophie cast a discreet nod at the praetorians nearby, "But the compulsion, I couldn't help it."

Pyra did not reply immediately, the princess just letting the information soak in.

"That's it. That's the truth."

"If it is, then how did you survive?" Pyra queried.

"Pardon?"

"How did you live? How are you here?" Pyra looked her up and down, "You might be a warrior, but you don't seem any more or less than an exceptional fighter of this world. And my legion, they are well versed in the art of death."

Sophie bit her tongue. Her void given gifts was still something that she and Elaria had been able to dance around so far. Even now, she felt reluctant to reveal any more than she needed to, especially not to Pyra.

"The realm beyond worlds changed me somehow, and my sister. Against ancient magicks, we could… find the cracks and force them open, in a way. That's why the crystal exploded after I made contact." Sophie looked towards Lyran, trying to ascertain how likely he was to interject. But the soldier remained thankfully silent, so she continued, "The crystal was uhh, old. There were parts of it to exploit, and I did exactly that. Same with the warrior I fought before. Once we made contact, I managed to grapple him and break apart his… core? I am uncertain of the terminology, Lady Pyra."

"Exploiting the magicks?" Pyra muttered to herself.

Lost in her thoughts, Pyra's eyes lost focus for a moment or two, replaced by a more sympathetic look that briefly exchanged an apologetic bob of the head to follow. Thanks Anna, Sophie offered a tiny smile.

"It's like a… uhh, like I can sense the mana, and the weakness in that mana." Not the full truth, but not a lie. "Like a wave, and then seeing the break in between them."

"A wave?" Pyra growled, the princess returning to her senses with a dismissive huff following soon afterwards, "A wave? What an infantile notion." She murmured.

"You know, like a gap where the tides-"

"And I don't need you to describe it." Pyra snapped, silencing her.

Sophie held up her hands in surrender as they both backed away from each other a little. Though her gaze remained hostile, Pyra seemed to have calmed down a little.

"Still, I must admit. However preposterous your claims sound to me, something did happen. The artifact perished, as did one of mine. Hah, perhaps a demonstration then?" The princess grinned, casting a pointed glance towards her praetorians.

Sophie gulped and held her breath. The scene was almost too familiar to her. If not for the fact that she had been completely inebriated at the time, she suspected that much of the same motions were the same ones that she had experienced with the Gratian chevalier.

She watched warily as the man beside Sir Lyran slowly approached. In the princess's eyes, a strange glee and bloodlust began to form. Sophie had expected as much but still dreaded the prospect of a duel. Under the current circumstances, she was under equipped, prepared, and not even certain she could even do any damage. And she had also just relieved her ability to destroy them with a grapple, hinting at the physicality required. Something she was certain the soldier would take great lengths to avoid now.

Watching the soldier march across the room and how no one seemed to be stopping him, Sophie finally spurred herself to action. She jumped out of her seat and maintained a distance between them, keeping herself on one side of the meeting table and him on the other.

Her resolve only grew when she spied the excitement coming from Pyra. The princess was far too eager for a fight. Worse, the others in the room had begun moving, including the two black clad knights who moved just that much closer.

She tensed up, a growing sense of dread building up within her. She remembered how she had struggled back in Saclia. The disheveled and near death state that she had emerged had horrified the others of the Academy expedition. She had dueled the undead warrior and barely survived. Now there were three, maybe even four if Sir Lyran waded in. Her future was that much bleaker.

Her boot pushed up against a chair and she hastily kicked it aside. The scraping of its legs on wood signalled the attack, she had made a mistake.

With mind boggling finesse, the soldier leapt at her, not even giving her an indication that the fight had begun. She didn't even have time to process what was happening when her body moved on instinct, sending her collapsing onto the ground to avoid the blow.

She rolled off to the side to avoid another incoming strike, the soldier's sword slamming against the floor and letting out an ear piercing clang. Before the soldier could recover, she vaulted over the table to escape his immediate grasp. Undeterred, he made ready to attack once more.

Her eyes widened when the table came flying at her. She leapt to the side in an attempt to dodge and barely had time to stand back up when he rushed forward with a fury. Backed into a corner Sophie fought back by dragging a nearby chair and hastily swinging it towards him.

With relative ease, he parried the blow, using sheer force to knock it aside. But she had bought herself a few seconds. Seeing that the others didn't seem to actively join in, she looked around to search for a panic. In good faith she had come to this second day of meeting Anna without a weapon. An act of goodwill that she now dearly regretted.

This is crazy. Stupid Pyra, stupid sister, stupid damned hells. She cursed under her breath.

A sharp crack drew her attention behind her once more. The soldier had casually knocked aside a table and now advanced towards her once more, his blade poised to strike again.

Her eyes darted around the room. A bookshelf, another chair, an inkwell, some papers, a pen or two and a teapot. Nothing that really screamed for her to wield it against a heavily armored warrior.

She did notice one thing however, something that irked her even more than the threat before her. Pyra's knowing smirk, the mad princess expectantly waiting for her to prove herself or die trying. Gah, if she wasn't possessing Anna's body, fuck!

Then it hit her, all she needed to do was prove her ability to affect them, not win the duel with swordplay. In a split second she made her choice. She prepared herself to charge, her movements provoking a professional response from the warrior. The man's right leg moved back a little, the screech of metallic armor as it locked into place. He was braced for an attack, as any warrior should be when facing a foe about to advance.

So she obliged, and she charged. With a quick pivot, she launched herself at one of the black clad knights. She opened herself up, feeling the intense mana signatures flowing within the room, particularly from the princess herself. She allowed the greedy feeling within her to blossom back to life, the hunger for fresh mana and magicks. And like a coil ready to squeeze down upon its prey, she followed it towards the knight.

In a split second, she found herself staring at the ceiling, confused. Moving her fingers, she found them gripping fruitlessly at the floorboards and dust. She unwittingly let out a low groan as the dull ache that emanated from her stomach slowly overtook her.

She heard a shrill shriek of amusement from nearby and only had time to blink once when the shadow of a blade descended upon her. Hells… she sighed and closed her eyes, unwilling to grant them the satisfaction of a reaction.

A terrific clang made her wince. In the darkness of her eyelids, she heard the faintest little "oh" come from the princess. When she found the wherewithal to finally open her eyes, she found a blade directly above her. This one was slightly curved, weathered, and bearing ancient marks from a time long past. The weapon itself rested underneath a more modern, straight, but almost antiquated looking shortsword.

Tracing the weapons, she found the black knight that she had tried to attack, holding one arm out with to shield her. His other gauntlet closed into a fist, the likely cause of her current agony. Pyra's praetorian had thrown himself in the attack, and now held his pose, somewhat confused by the response as his head turned sideways towards the princess.

"So you believe her then? How curious." Pyra whistled to herself.

The silent knight did not respond, only shifting the angle of his blade a little to push the praetorian's away. Feeling this, the two combatants backed away, giving Sophie an unexpectedly large amount of space.

"What was it? Did she do something?"

The knight was silent, but he nodded.

Pyra rolled her eyes then turned her focus back to Sophie.

"Well? Stand up then. We aren't here to baby you, dearest sister of mine." Pyra commanded.

Annoyed but equally befuddled, Sophie reluctantly pushed herself off the ground, wincing in pain from the blow and letting out another soft groan.

"The unbroken, you see. That is, the one who protected, have all sworn an oath. An oath to protect those of House Kastiane. It would seem therefore, that he has deemed you worthy." Pyra explained with a hint of annoyance.

"Ugh." Sophie groaned again, nursing her aching body.

"Cheer up. It is a great honor to be acknowledged by them. I suppose, now it also means that you will be officially acknowledged by me too." Pyra snickered.

"Good… for me." Sophie sarcastically drawled, "I came here in good faith. And you just… tried to kill me? Hah. Real warm welcome for family." She scowled.

"Please. You survived, and quite foolishly too, going after my honorguard. Yet you stand, and that is proof of thy strength regardless."

The room was silent for a moment. Sophie having nothing to say to the princess and the girl clearly expecting a response that she wasn't getting. Eventually however, with the soldiers still maintaining a position around her and no real opening in sight, she sighed.

"So? What is it? You clearly aren't aiming to just… let me walk out of here." She gestured around her, "Everyone wants something, what is it that you want?"

"Such impudence!" Pyra grinned, "Finally, some boldness and defiance. Good. It… shows spirit." The girl chuckled.

Sophie just stared at her, tired from the day's events and in pain. She didn't seem to be slated to die today, and thus, she was mostly just annoyed at Pyra's antics.

"Tribune Lyran can explain the rest to you. For you see, the artifact you destroyed was rather crucial to my plan. A plan that could safeguard all of 'humanity' for the foreseeable future. A plan you disrupted. And now that the unbroken have claimed you as one of ours, dearest sister. I have a way for you to make up what you have ruined. A chance for thee to serve your rightful people."

"Serve my people?" Sophie raised an eyebrow.

"Indeed. A way to repent, one might say. For your accursed blood and the trouble it brought." Pyra beamed at her, the unnerving smile only making Sophie dread this potential assignment even more. Seeing her reaction only made Pyra more delighted, "Don't worry, my lovely little ituus. Thou art about to be blessed with many boons. For in the north, where your answers lay and where that of your companions too, thou shalt find hidden within the catacombs above the world, a secret home. One in which something extraordinarily dear to me is kept. Something that should've been here, with us, instead of there. All because of your… brave if ill informed… interruption."

Sophie snorted, "And what the hells is soooo important that you'd tell me to get it instead of, I don't, the legion of armed warriors at your command?"

"Tsk. Take care your defiance does not turn into a hindrance, sister. But consider it my offer of peace to you, if you'd see it that way. A way to build trust."

"Trust? That's rich coming from someone who-"

"Enough. I tire of this, sister… Sophie. You live, and there is work to be done. It would seem cripple is rather displeased. Especially since I put you in harm's way, and we must debate amongst ourselves." Pyra's lips curled into a frown, "So go, lest you become another annoying problem. Like I said, Tribune Lyran will explain matters to you."

"Oh sure, just waving me off when inconvenient. Great." Sophie muttered.

Pyra glared at her but said nothing more.

Next to her, the tribune in question motioned for her to follow before opening the doors at long last. With one last sigh and a small modicum of relief at being done with the princess, she took a step out of the room and didn't look back. Just happy that she was able to walk away. Goddess, how the hells am I going to explain all this?

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.