The Archaic System - 51 Revelation

Castor led the way as we left the damp underground dungeon. The image of the human’s riddled body hunted my mind as we ascended the stairs. I could hardly imagine the amount of pain he must have been in. At least I was able to end his suffering. There is nothing more I can do. It’s time to focus on what’s in front of me.

After returning to the surface, we walked to another part of the Elder Compound. Castor walked up to a door guarded by two G’eth. After entering, I saw multiple G’eth sorting through piles of burned miscellaneous items.

Castor said, “We have already started repairing the storage room. We moved everything from around the explosion into this room so we could go through it. Additionally, the human’s items are over there.”

He pointed to a corner of the room. I could see a small pile of clothes and other typical human items on a small table. One of the G’eth was carefully looking through the items.

I nodded, “I make no promises, but I will look through everything and let you know what I find.”

Castor expressed his thanks and said, “I will leave you to it. I’m going to go see how the restoration of the warehouse is going.”

I responded, “Ok. Additionally, can you have everyone else leave? I’d prefer to do this alone.”

A pained look crossed Castor’s face, “I understand.”

Castor commanded the other G’eth to leave, and soon I was alone in the room. Surrounded by silence, I looked around. As I stared at the remains of the explosion, I couldn’t help wondering why I asked Castor to make everyone leave. It’s not like they would really be in my way. I couldn’t explain it, I just felt like being alone. Almost as if anyone else’s presence was painful. It was an unsettling feeling, one I had never felt before.

After a moment of silent contemplation, I began my search. Since I had no idea what I was looking for the search would have to be slow and meticulous. The room was large, and piles of burned and broken items were strewn all over the place. I guess it’s best to start with the man’s things since they should still be intact. I walked to the corner of the room and began looking everything over. Most everything was items I’ve seen on many humans. He had leather armor and everyday human clothes as well as a small shortsword. Nothing seemed of particular interest.

I was still suspicious that this attack was connected to the Yellow Wolf Bandits and Cratagus’s betrayal. Troy had told me that the man Cratagus was talking to was secretly the leader of the Yellow Wolf Bandits. I picked up the man’s armor and flipped it around.

“Phew”

I let out a sigh. It didn’t have the marking of the bandits. Was this really a coincidence?

I continued going through the items. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. After I picked up his pants, I noticed a pile of things laying underneath. I recognized the different coins that are typical of most of Agartha. Additionally, there was some twine, bandages, and a small piece of paper. I remember how Troy said he always carries twine with him because it has so many uses. This must be the contents of his pockets.

Everything seemed normal; however, the piece of paper seemed out of place. I picked it up. It appeared to be a hand-scrawled note. The writing was in the human language. Luckily, Troy had started teaching me how to read since we met. He said it was astonishing how quickly I learned since humans spent years learning how to read.

I remember him muttering, “”Is it unique to G’eth or is it just Valerian. Must have something to do with their neural capacity.”

I didn’t really understand what he meant, but I was able to understand most human writing. I looked at the piece of paper:

Monitor the plan, discover targets condition, report back – Sergeant Marcel

Interesting, what was the target? Was it just the sun stones or was it a particular G’eth. The Grand Elder’s injuries flashed in my mind. Was Corytheius the target? I had a bad feeling. Was this a covert assassination attempt? I’ll have to let Castor know about this.

Additionally, the term Sergeant set off warning flags in my mind. Those are the same titles used for Black Lion Village mercenaries. Was this related to them after all? Then again Troy said those titles were common for humans. I decided I would express my concerns to Castor after I was done looking through everything.

With nothing left in the human’s items to look through, I began to go through the rubble and remains of the explosion. Most of it was just charred pieces of the walls, roof, and crates that were in the warehouse. The piles were extensive, and I spent the remainder of the night going through it piece by piece. Light began to stream in through the window, the morning was here. I couldn’t stay forever, and I was tempted to give up, but I decided I would continue looking until at least midday. As I was going through the pile, I felt a slowly building pain on my leg. As I looked down, I noticed a tiny bright dot of light where the pain was. The light is causing the pain?

I placed my hand in front of my leg, and the burning sensation quickly returned. Eventually, the pain became strong enough that I had to move. I looked at my hand, and there was a small burn mark. This isn’t like anything I’ve ever seen before, maybe this is related to how the humans caused the explosion. I placed my hand in front of the light and traced it back to its source.

In a giant pile near the window I followed the light to a clear round object. With hesitation, I grabbed the object. This is glass. I had seen this in many places in Black Lion Village. Multiple building had it in their windows instead of just leaving it open like we do. Troy had explained how they heat up the sand from Lake Lyenas to create it. However, I’ve never seen one shaped like this before. It was curved and thicker than the glass I had seen.

How was it causing the burning on my hand and leg? I turned it around and around, but the light dot was gone. What’s different? I looked at the spot it was laying in the rubble. Then I noticed that the light from the window was covering that area. Maybe?

I placed the glass in the light. Suddenly, the light dot returned and moved around as I moved the glass. I couldn’t help but experiment with it for a moment. It was even kind of fun. It seems the glass needs a light source, but it can concentrate the light into a small area making it stronger. However, why would this be with the rubble from the explosion?

Then it hit me. What if this was aimed at a sun stone? The concentrated light could possibly overload the stone before it could release energy. That could have caused the explosion! I figured it out! I have to go tell Castor!

I quickly left the room. Castor said he was going to the site of the explosion, so I ran over there. As I arrived, I noticed Castor directing other G’eth in repairing the warehouse.

“Castor!”

“Valerian? Did you find anything?”

He anxiously made his way over to me. I quickly explained the glass and the light dot. I told him how I thought it could be used to cause the explosion.

Castor looked shocked, “This was caused by this small piece of this glass? That is frightening. I will have a few of our people test this in a safe location. Additionally, our sun stones will be stored underground from now on. Thank you, Valerian.”

I nodded, “I better get back to. Troy I’m going to go tell Corytheius goodbye.”

I was just about to leave when I remembered the note on the paper and told Castor about it.

He nodded, “We saw the note too, but we couldn’t read it. When we were questioning the human about why they did this, we were going to ask him about it. However, he was already near collapse and must have been delirious. Between large breathes he said random words that didn’t make any sense.”

This caught my interest, “Really? What did he say?”

“I can’t remember, but I wrote it down. Hold on.”

Castor left and soon returned. He was holding a leaflet with markings. It’s kind of the G’eth version of paper. On the leaflet was written:

Overheard. Sergeant. Lieutenant. Sauer. Discover. Young. Lion. Connect. G’eth. Yellow. Wolf. Attack. Leader.

Castor continued, “This combined with what you found makes me think Corytheius was the target. I already suspected it based on him saying attack then leader, but I couldn’t confirm it.”

However, while Castor was focused, I was still looking at the other words. It may seem random to someone else, but I knew better.

I quickly pieced it all together. This is bad!

“Castor protect Corytheius! I have to go back to the human village now! Troy is in danger!”

I took off toward Black Lion Village. Please let me get there in time!