Tales of Ascension - Rise of the Primogen Chapter 1

"Te....!"

'Oh my head.'

"..luv.!" A graceful, and melodic voice shouted.

'Hmm, who is that? Who's yelling?'

"TELUVE!"

"Haaah! Hrk! Kkhh!" Teluve shot up coughing as he glanced around at his immediate surroundings.

Quickly scanning the area, Teluve discovers that he's in a cavern. The space is quite large, easily over 100 meters wide, 300 meters long, and 100 meters high with varied speleothem formations, it's like a work of arte, a natural wonder, covered in various crystalline features resembling that of marble, long curtains, stalagmites, masses of helictites, and various colorful mineral deposits of blues, greens, and whites formed all across the ceiling, the walls, and the floor, a picturesque underground landscape.

Teluve's eyes were wide, in awe of the room until a sudden rush of pain hit him, "Ah!" Teluve grimaced as he hissed in pain, he grabbed at his head, feeling it throbbing, "What happened? Where am I?" Teluve spoke aloud, his voice smooth, and confident.

Looking around further, his eyes fell upon a daughter of eloi sitting behind him. She's extremely beautiful, with a curvy hourglass figure, and smooth dark-gold hued brown skin that seemed to radiate in the dark with all but her face covered by an ornate suit of segmented plate armor.

Her armor looked to be forged of some kind of silver metal, and featured an intricate decorative design that flowed from embossed motifs of fruit bearing trees, to gold inlaid lotus flowers, and leaves, to engravings of vines, and floral filigree, as well as the edges of her armor all were leafed with gold. She boasted a multi-layered breastplate, and backplate that covered her torso, the central area of her breastplate raised, displaying a large white opal surrounded by embossed flower petals. Connected to her breastplate are her pauldrons which are quite pronounced with a sculpted edge, they covered her shoulders, and extended down her upper arms, they featured a central gold inlaid lotus flower, and in the center of the flowers is a white opal gemstone. The faulds, and tassets hung from the bottom of her breastplate covering her hips, and upper thighs, covering her forearms are her vambraces that display stunning gold inlaid panels of floral filigree, and at their center is an embossed image of a fruit bearing tree with the fruits of the tree being represented by small embedded white opal jewels. Her greaves covered her shins, and were also richly decorated with golden panels of floral filigree, and in their center is a single white opal gem. Lastly there's her helm that lie to her side, it has a rounded conical shape with a slightly pointed top, it featured no visor, and has fixed cheek guards, to the sides of the helm are integrated wings that extended back, and slightly upward, they're intricately detailed to resemble natural feathers, and in the brow of the helm lie another precious white opal stone.

Looking at her face, she has a radiant appearance with a symmetrical face, her crimson gold dilated slit pupil eyes with a golden ring that shone in the middle of her irises. Her eyes fluttered with full lashes, full eyebrows framing her eyes, her long pointed ears, her head crowned with two curled black horns that break through her wavy golden hair which cascades down to her lower back. Her small straight nose gives her a youthful cuteness, her high cheekbones heightening her elegance, her full lips amplifying her femininity, her well defined jaw adding to her sculpted beauty. A set of large wings protruded from her lower back, furled at the sides of her legs with a plumage of golden feathers. Teluve fell into a sort of trance, completely captivated by her, but quickly recovered when he noticed her eyes brimming with tears.

"Thanks be to the Ancient of Days, you're ok, I was so worried." She cried, lifting her hands; She held Teluve's face gently as tears started to stream down her face.

Teluve didn't quite understand why, but seeing her cry made his heart ache, a short moment later Teluve felt that she's familiar, then he recognized her, "Bimy? BIMY!" Teluve broke from his stupor, immediately he wrapped his arms around her to comfort her.

"Lulu, I was so worried. You weren't responding for so long. I'm so glad that you're ok." Bimy fell into Teluve's shoulder as he held her.

"It's ok Bimy, my head just hurts." Teluve, and Bimy stayed holding each other for a few minutes as Teluve comforted her, stroking her hair.

Bimy calmed herself, and regained her composure, she looked to Teluve, "To think you'd make me cry like this today." Bimy's brow furrowed in worry,  "Why'd you rush forward like that?" 

"I'm sorry Bimy." Teluve smiled bitterly, pecking her on the lips, "I'll be more careful."

"You better. I couldn't live without you, it'd break my heart Lulu." Bimy blushed lightly as she hugged Teluve tightly again, "Please be more careful."

"I will." Teluve smiled, hugging her back.

Once Teluve, and Bimy separated, something tackled him down, "Oof."

"Eee-Eee." Hearing the light shrieks Teluve looked at what knocked him over. There is a simian, an urakin that's a little over 4 feet tall, he has a lithe, and compact body with lean muscles, and a tail about 5 feet long. He has a rounded head with a prominent forehead, orange eyes, a straight nose with flat nostrils, his skin color ivory black, and covered in dark green fur. The urakin held Teluve tightly wrapping around him with his long arms, and legs.

"Oh Kedu. I'm sorry buddy. You were worried about me." Teluve realized his bond had tackled him, and began to brush Kedu's fur.

"Eee-Eee." Kedu responded with a concerned shrill.

Teluve lifted Kedu up, placing him on his shoulder, "See, I'm fine." Teluve said as he scratched Kedu under his chin.

"Squeak!", "Hiss!" Teluve heard an odd combination of sounds.

Teluve looking to see what made the strange noise saw Bimy with a leporine, a little salkin on her shoulder, he was almost a foot long with a full rounded figure, and four little paws. He had a round compacted head, two round ears, large expressive eyes, a small moist nose, with long whiskers, a delicate mouth, with slight upper lips, and a bushy tail measuring 2 feet long. To Bimy's side there was a massive serpent, a bryneor, she had a lean body 30 feet in length, and a diameter of about a foot. She slithered across the floor closer to Teluve; Covered in crimson, and obsidian scales, her head was elongated, and narrow, crowned with two black curled horns, she's pale green eyes with dilated slit pupils, nostrils, and a wide mouth.

"Ah. Flavi, Lifmy, were you worried about me too?" Teluve settled after realizing the sound came from Bimy's two bonds.

"Squeak." Lifmy let out an affirming squeak, "HISS!" while Flavi let out a disgruntled hiss.

"Oh." Bimy stroked Flavi's snout, "Looks like she's upset with you."

"Ha ha." Teluve laughed, "Seems like it." Teluve leaned over, and rubbed Flavi's head, "How about I give you something tasty when we're finished with all this?"

Flavi eyes glowed, and she perked up, nuzzling Teluve.

Bimy shook her head, "This girl is too easy to appease."

Teluve smiled at Bimy as he held Flavi's head, "I just know how to make a lady happy."

Flavi moved back as Teluve finally stood up, standing to his full 7 foot 5 inch frame. He's beautiful with smooth, and vibrant brown skin, having a strong, and compact V-shaped body, and fine smooth, and sleek overlapping scales of black, and brown layered over his skin, except for his face, and hands, with the nails of his hands each ending in a sharp bladelike tip. He had a symmetrical face, with a smooth complexion, his heterochromatic eyes were expressive, and captivating, one a light green, and the other an amber color, with dilated slit pupils, his black full-thick eyebrows contrasted with his bright eyes, his straight proportioned nose brought harmony to his face, his lips were full, not too thin, or thick, his jawline strong, and defined. His silky hair was black, and wavy, falling well past his shoulders, he wore a midnight purple jacket, a one piece high collar garment, and straight cut tapered pants, with a sleeveless robe over the top, secured at the waist with a golden waistband, all with gold piping that decorated the seams, and edges, his attire also features gold designs of leaves, lilies, lotus flowers, and vines that ran across its surface, he wore gold bracers with beautiful floral engravings of leaves, and white lilies, with crystal opal gemstone inlays for the anthers of the flowers, he also wore a golden ring with subtle runic engravings on his right pinky finger, everything giving Teluve a confident, and majestic bearing, he helped Bimy up as she stood to her full 7 foot height.

Teluve looked at Bimy, "Bimy what exactly happened?" Teluve glanced around the cavern, "How'd we end up here, why are our disguises disillusioned?"

Bimy looked at Teluve with some concern, "You don't remember Lulu?"

Teluve shook his head, "No, the last few minutes before I woke up are a bit of a haze." Teluve thought for a moment, "I remember we were pursuing that daemonized son of Mahtaan, and we cornered him, but after that I don't recall anything."

"I see." Bimy collected her thoughts, and began to explain, "We were pursuing that daemonized, the tainted mahtaan, when he ran into a cave. Then, something happened when we cornered him, he reached out grabbing at something, you rushed forward to stop him, but then a bright light flashed, and enveloped everyone. When I woke up we were the only ones here, I don't know why our disguises dropped, you were unconscious next to me, so I checked your condition. You had many internal injuries, so I administered the potions that Bele made, but even after you were healed you still didn't wake. When you finally woke up I couldn't stop my tears."

"I see, hah." Teluve felt a pang of guilt in his heart, "I've really made you worry Bimy, I'm sorry."

Bimy smiled, she moved up to Teluve, and kissed him on his cheek, "It's alright Lulu, you're fine now, and for that I'm thankful to the Ancient of Days."

Teluve smiled, then grew thoughtful, "What was that light then?"

Bimy shook her head, "I'm not sure, It happened too suddenly."

Teluve contemplated the event as he took out a bottle from his storage ring, the bottle held a simple clear liquid housed within its elegantly curved glass, tapered to a slender neck, uncorking it, Teluve drank its full contents, "Hm, It could've been some kind of spatial array?"

Bimy nodded, "That's the only good explanation. But why would there be a spatial array in some random cave. And why were you so injured even if that was the case" Bimy rubbed her temples in exasperation of the situation.

"I don't know..." An idea came to Teluve, "It's possible that the array is quite old, and hasn't been well maintained, so it grew unstable as a result."

Bimy became a bit concerned at this, "Then sister, Omani, and brother Yinor could've been seriously hurt." Bimy paused a moment, "But, Sister would have her potions, and brother Yinor has beyond a perfect affinity for the spiritual path of life, he should be able to heal any injuries they'd have with his spiritual artes."

"Yeah they'll be fine. Sister Bele always has something on hand. And my brother will survive, so long as we draw breath we sons of Enura we'll keep getting back up. And then there's Omani, I don't think anything can even hurt that beast." Teluve looked to Bimy, and reassured her "They're in the hands of the Ancient of Days."

"Right." Bimy nodded, smiling. She offered up a short prayer, "Ancient of Days, watch over, and protect them, may we be reunited quickly."

Bimy then donned her helm, and picked up her shield, and stave. Her shield is of a teardrop shaped design, 30 inches long, and 24 inches wide that provides extensive coverage to her upper body, and tapering down to protect her legs, forged of a silver colored metal, its edges reinforced with a gold leafed metal rim, the front of the shield is slightly convex, its face featuring gold inlaid lotus flowers, and the same fruit bearing tree motif of her vambraces with gemstone inlays in place of the fruits of the tree. Bimy's stave is close to 7 feet long, with a 2 inch diameter, made of a black colored wood, its ends reinforced with the same silver colored metal as her armor, and shield, the top end featured a mounted large crystal opal gem encased in an elegant metal lattice, where delicate vines were woven around the gem. The central region of the stave is wrapped with a golden colored fabric for its grip, and along its surface were subtle floral engravings, and gold inlays of vines.

"We need to be careful Bimy." Teluve looked about the cavern, "We've no idea where we are, or what dangers might be here, we'll look for sister Bele, brother, and Omani as we move. I pray they weren't transported with that maniac." Teluve looked back to Bimy, and they both grew serious

"Right, let's move quickly." Bimy looked into Teluve's eyes, "Are you ok to move Lulu?" Bimy's voice was laced with concern.

Teluve paused a moment as he executed a series of artes, he stood still as he examined himself, sending his manna inwardly, he checked the foundations of his cultivations, seeing that his body, soul, and spirit cultivations were stable he smiled, "I'm better, the potion sister Bele made healed most of my remaining injuries. Thankfully there was no shock to my foundation, what remains I'll be able to regenerate as we move."

"Good." Bimy smiled, giving Teluve a quick kiss.

But before Bimy could pull away Teluve pulled her into a deeper kiss, lasting a few seconds before they parted, "Lets go." Teluve smirked as Bimy blushed furiously.

After Teluve, and Bimy gathered themselves, and fully took in their surroundings, the darkness not bothering them, or their bonds at all, they chose a direction, and moved.

As they were walking through the cavern, and looking around they found that the cavern they were in was actually quite beautiful. The cave is a complete crystalline landscape with its ceiling nearly covered in cave curtains, and stalactites all resembling that of marble. Flowstone, and other crystals of blues, greens, and whites covered the tunnel walls, and stalagmites adorning the caves floor. There were even columns up to 100 meters in height, and nearing 30 meters in diameter throughout, it was as if they were in the hall of some alien castle.

"Wow this place is otherworldly." After really taking in where they were, Bimy was astonished at the beauty of it all.

"Yeah, it's quite charming." Teluve said before he approached a section of the wall.

Noticing Teluve was focused on something, Bimy turned to him, "Hmm, Lulu what is it?"

"Bimy come here." Bimy moved up to Teluve's side, "Look." Teluve gestured to a crystal.

"These are … " Bimy didn't recognize what she's looking at. It's some kind of transparent octahedral crystalline structure. There's also some rough material layered over it.

"Bimy these are rough diamonds." Teluve said with some excitement.

"Diamonds?" Upon a closer look Bimy recognized them, "Oh, you're right."

"Ha ha." Teluve laughed as he looked up at Bimy, "For a second, I questioned if you were really a jeweler, or not."

"Hmph, a lot happened today." Bimy grumbled as she knelt down to get a better look.

Teluve chuckled some more, "These rough diamonds will be useful for both of us, they'd be better if you could process them into a usable gemstone, but we don't have the equipment, or the time for that. The natural lattice work of the diamonds will be enough for me to augment them into a small scale array if we need it, this is a good find."

Bimy examined the rough diamonds, and thought of something, "Lulu, how are there even diamonds in this kind of environment, it's unnatural for them to appear in such a place, unless." A sudden possibility shocked Bimy, "Lulu could this place be-"

"I know Bimy I had the same thought too, but that isn't important right now, we need to find the others, and figure out how to leave this place." Teluve stated before he began to strike the sides of the wall with his bear hand *BAM!*, "We need to be careful, we have no idea why that daemon came to this place, he may even have allies here that we're unaware of, *BAM!* if that's the case then we'll need even more diamonds than this to ensure our safety." *BAM!* Teluve struck the wall once more, breaking away the cluster of rough diamonds from the cave wall.

Bimy nodded, "Ancient of Days guide our path." She then stood up and started looking around the space.

"Lulu I think there's more over here." Bimy called out only a short moment later.

"Great." Teluve gave Bimy a quick kiss on her cheek before harvesting the diamonds, storing them in his spatial crystal, an amulet with a 3 inch diameter spherical crystal opal gem, encased in a golden lattice, that hung from a golden fabric tied off at his side.

"Eee-Eee." Kedu's chattering calls got Teluve, and Bimy's attention as they moved further through the cavern.

"What is it Kedu?" Teluve walked over.

"Eee." Kedu hooted, patting another deposit of rough diamonds.

"Wow this place is a treasure field." Teluve already harvested a good amount of diamonds, enough that he was a bit more at ease, "With this we'll be fine if we encounter serious trouble here."

Teluve, and Bimy passed by many more deposits of rough diamonds, filling their storage crystals, leaving very little space left, this gave Bimy, and Teluve a lot of confidence against any enemy they might encounter. They continued on, but treaded carefully down the corridor making sure to keep a keen eye out for any potential dangers, as well as any signs of Bele, Omani, and Yinor.

They had been moving for about 10 minutes, they exited the cavern, and traversed a long tunnel before entering into another cavern, but before they continued moving Bimy stopped narrowing her eyes, and scrutinizing the scene around her.

"What is wrong Bimy?" Teluve looked back to her, and became alert.

Bimy walked over to the wall, "Lulu, we've somehow gone in a circle."

Teluve noticed the wall, it showed clear signs of abrasion, this was where he recently extracted one of the rough diamond chunks. Teluve scrutinized the whole cavern, and immediately recognized it as the same cavern they were transported to.

"But we've been moving forward this whole time. We took no turns, there wasn't even an alternate path." Teluve paused as he suddenly thought of a possibility.

"What are you thinking Lulu?" Bimy asked.

Teluve had a thoughtful posture, "I have some ideas Bimy, but I can't be certain. Let's keep moving for now."

After a series of loops, returning back to the same place over, and over, Teluve deduced two possibilities, "We're definitely in another array. But the kind is hard to pin point, we could be in an illusory array that's causing us to keep traveling in circles to confuse, and disorient us. Or we could be in a type of spatial array that's altering, and distorting the space itself, making the area into a kind of maze."

"Its most likely to be a spatial array then, right? Given how we ended up here in the first place." Bimy interjected.

"That's highly likely." Teluve looked around, "It just means we’ll have to keep walking these tunnels until we figure out the right path."

"Huh." Bimy abruptly sensed something, "Wait." Bimy held up her hand as she closed her eyes.

Teluve walked over to Bimy, "Do you sense something Bimy?"

"Do you feel that?" Bimy concentrated on the ambient manna, "The manna it's … It's subtle, but there's a slight fluctuation, it's flowing somewhere."

Teluve closed his eyes to concentrate on the ambient manna's flow, "Your right Bimy. It's almost unnoticeable, it seems that this array has deteriorated so much that it's caused a manna leak."

Bimy smiled, "If we follow the flow it should lead us to the array's core, or at least a node right Lulu?"

Teluve nodded, "Yes, If we can find and destroy a node it'll weaken the array's effects, but that's assuming this array was set up with any nodes. Best case would be a direct line to the core, once that's gone the whole array will crumble."

Teluve and Bimy followed the flow of manna and found that after traveling for some time they hadn't looped back to where they started.

"Finally, we're making some progress." Bimy cheered.

Kedu hung from Teluve's back, looking over his shoulder, scanning the surroundings, "Eee-Eee!" Kedu felt a sudden sense of danger.

"Hmm, what Kedu?" Teluve looked over his shoulder, as he was about to stop, *Hum* a delicate resonance suddenly sounded as Teluve crossed a certain threshold of the tunnel.

"Eee!" Kedu screeched as he drew his hands together, the nearby crystals erupted as the stones underneath flew forward to shield Teluve, *Boom!* an explosion of air burst forth towards Teluve, and Kedu.

"Lulu look out!" Bimy quickly reacted before Teluve, swinging her stave as she channeled her manna through it, launching her manna toward the burst of air.

When Bimy's manna clashed with the airburst the force of the two mixed for a moment before the blast dissipated into a gentle breeze that blew across Kedu's stone shield, just brushing by Kedu and Teluve's faces.

"Eee." Kedu chattered, dropping his hands, and holding onto Teluve, as he did the shield of stone broke apart, falling to the floor in chunks of rock.

"Thank you Bimy, Kedu." Teluve looked over to where the explosion originated, about 2 meters away was a small white gemstone, a quartz embedded in the wall, with faint runic markings circling around it, Teluve moved up to the stone, "An array, set with a potent spiritual arte; Composef of the laws of air. That would've caused some major damage if you hadn't reacted so quickly Bimy." Teluve smiled at her.

Bimy beamed, "Luckily I have an affinity for the spiritual path of air." Bimy looked at the gem, and grew serious, "That spiritual arte was quite high leveled Lulu, I had to drain a bit of my manna to disrupt it."

"It was, it caught me off guard." Teluve rubbed the back of his head, then he smiled at Bimy, "Good thing you noticed it in time."

"I'd never let anything happen to you Lulu." Bimy winked at Teluve, "We still have our ceremony to plan after all."

"Ha ha." Teluve smirked, "I'm looking forward to it."

Pausing there for just a moment, looking for any other arrays, Teluve looked back to the triggered array, "Given the appearance of this trap, we should be closing in on a node, or the core." Teluve looked to Bimy, "Lets focus our spiritual senses on any fluctuations in the manna's flow, they'll be subtle, but if we can manage to detect them, we can avoid triggering the arrays, and disarm them."

"Ok." Bimy nodded, she and Teluve focusing their spiritual senses on their surroundings.

As they continued down the corridor they managed to discover many more traps, disarming them, and even collecting the gems used to set up the arrays, however some were precarious, and couldn't be disarmed so they used their spiritual artes to destroy them.

Continuing forward, they were making their way through a passage, but before Bimy could take another step, "Hisss!" Flavi moved in front to block Bimy, and Teluve from advancing.

"Flavi?" Teluve followed Flavi's line of sight, and spotted another gemstone, concealed in the helictites of the tunnel, "Another array."

"Squeak!" Lifmy squeaked from Bimy's shoulder and shot out a spiritual arte from his mouth, an energy burst blasting at the gem. When Lifmy's blast hit, the area erupted with blades of wind that shot from one side of the wall to the other. The effect not ceasing for an entire minute.

"Thanks, that would've been bad." Bimy said as the cold sweat fell from her forehead.

The group continued, traveling for close to 30 minutes, encountering many more traps.

"Look out!" Teluve shouted as another array triggered. Teluve reacted quickly, he tossed Kedu forward and grabbed Bimy, diving down. Flavi, and Lifmy dashing forward as a series of wind blades shot just past them all.

"Hah, are you ok Bimy?" Teluve asked as he held Bimy in his arms.

"I'm fine Lulu." Bimy looked up, "Ah! You were hit." Bimy sat up and examined Teluve's side. There was a bloody wound that broke past his clothes, scales, and skin, opening up a layer of his flesh.

"It just grazed me, Bimy." Teluve attempted to calm her.

"You call that a graze." Bimy pulled out a jar from her ring. Opening it she took a glob of a salve, and rubbed it over Teluve's open wound. As soon as the salve made contact with his skin, the wound quickly sealed.

Teluve just sat there as Bimy treated him, not even bothering to remind her that his wound would've healed in a minute, or two, he knew she hadn't yet fully recovered from her earlier shock seeing him so injured, "How long does this path go? We've been walking for nearly 30 minutes now, and there's still no end."

Once Bimy was satisfied with her application of the salve Teluve looked at the now closed wound, "Sister Bele makes some good stuff." Teluve said as he stood up offering his hand to Bimy.

Bimy stored the jar back in her ring, and took Teluve's hand, and stood, "Hopefully we're getting close to the end. I'm worried about my sister, brother Yinor, and Omani."

Teluve nodded in agreement, "Lets keep moving."

They continued walking, disarming, and avoiding the traps they could. After about 10 more minutes of travel they came across a large room, walls, and ceiling of smooth, reflective marble with streaks of blues, greens, and whites surrounded Bimy, Teluve, and their bonds, stalactites hung from the ceiling, stalagmites sprouted from the floor, various columns filled the space, small pools were at the bases of the stalagmites, and along the floor were larger pools, all of clear water.

"The manna trail ends here. The node, or core has to be somewhere in this room." Bimy said as she looked over the room.

"Let's start searching then, but be careful." Teluve said as he looked around, "There may be more arrays set here."

They all looked about the room, but found nothing, "There's nothing." Teluve grew puzzled.

"This doesn't make sense Lulu, there's nothing, no traps, no further tunnels, or passages." Bimy scanned the room.

"Eee-Eee." Kedu's chattering echoed in the chamber.

"What are you looking at Kedu?" Teluve moved behind Kedu looking over him. Kedu was staring at something in the water of one of the larger pools, Teluve focused, and spotted something odd. There appeared to be a faint glow in the depths of the pool.

"Bimy." Teluve called Bimy over, "Kedu's found something."

Bimy moved next to Teluve, and Teluve pointed out the glow, "We're in luck. I think that's the core."

"Really?" Bimy didn't think much of the glow.

"Focus on the ambient manna density." Teluve instructed.

Bimy closed her eyes in concentration, a short moment later her eyes shot open, "The manna radiating from there is insane!" Bimy was shocked.

"Yeah. The manna that's concentrated down there is absurd. It has to be the core of this array." Teluve reached down to test the water, dipping just a finger, "Water's safe." Teluve looked over to Bimy and nodded, turning he prepared to dive in.

"Hold on Lulu." Bimy called out.

Teluve halted, and looked back to Bimy, "Hmm, what is it?"

Bimy turned to Lifmy on her shoulder, "Lifmy give Lulu some help."

"Squeak." Lifmy jumped down Bimy's shoulder running over to Teluve. Lifmy reached out his paw and touched Teluve's leg, casting a spiritual arte, a rush of vitality burst within him.

Teluve smiled at Bimy, "Smart."

Bimy returned the smile, "Best to be safe."

Teluve knelt down, and scratched under Lifmy's chin, "Thanks Lifmy."

"Squeak." Lifmy nuzzled into Teluve's hand, enjoying the scratches.

Teluve stood up, "Alright. I'll be right back." Teluve said before diving into the water towards the glow.

Teluve made it to the glow with no problem, and discovered that it was a massive 16 inch diameter quartz gem, shaped like a pearl, it was perfectly round, and seemed to be embedded into the bottom of the pool, 'Now's the hard part.' Teluve attempted to first disarm the array's latticework in the quartz pearl, injecting his manna into it in hopes that he could disrupt its manna flow, and shatter the lattice, but he failed.

'Damn, this array's too complex. Guess this is the only way left.' Teluve brought both of his hands around the pearl and attempted to crush it, his manna mobilizing, strengthening his muscles.

Moments passed, 'Come, on, break.' *Crack!* the pearl began to crack. Then, *Bam!* the pearl shattered into many pieces releasing all its remnant manna.

'This is gonna hurt' Teluve braced himself, he drove his manna forward, and condensed all the water he could around himself, forming a barrier.

All the water of the pool surged towards the pearl, before *BOOM!* a large explosion sounded as waves of water surged up in a frenzy. The once serene pool was now completely chaotic as ripples raced out in concentric circles, Teluve was launched out from the pool's center, crashing into the edge by Bimy, breaking crystal and stone with his fall.

"Ah! Lulu!" Bimy ran over to Teluve.

He was badly injured, his arms, chest, and legs were covered in burns, there's heavy trauma to his skin, the upper portion of his jacket, and robe were completely torn to shreds, and his pants were in tatters, revealing his muscular body, and skin, his black, and brown scales were more clearly seen over his form, covering most of his body excluding the front of his torso, his scales formed diamond shaped patterns that decorated his arms, back, and legs.

Bimy threw her shield, and stave to the side, grabbing hold of Teluve, and pulling him from the pool's edge, "Lulu, you're badly burned."

*Cough* Teluve coughed up a mouthful of blood, "Ack, my insides aren't much better."

"Lifmy help him!" Bimy called out to Lifmy.

*Squeak* Lifmy had already rushed over to Teluve placing his paws on him, and casting a spiritual arte, manna rushed into Teluve as the cooling sensation of Lifmy's spiritual arte of life washed over him, his injuries starting to heal, and his pain beginning to subside.

Teluve's wounds didn't fully heal, but it was better, his burns were gone, and the trauma to his body mostly restored, only some cuts, and bruises remained, "Thanks Lifmy." Teluve said as Bimy helped him to sit down.

"What happened?" Bimy asked as she sat Teluve down.

"I shattered the core, and took an explosion of manna to the face." Teluve took out another potion from his storage ring, *Gulp.* Teluve downed it quickly, "Hah."

"Why did you do that Lulu? Why didn't you just disarm it?" Bimy questioned, clearly upset.

Teluve looked at her apologetically, "Sorry Bimy. I tried, but the array was too complex for me. My only choice was to try, and break the core."

"You dummy." Bimy reprimanded Teluve as she wiped her eyes.

"Don't worry Bimy, I'm fine. Thanks to Lifmy's spiritual aret, and sister Bele's potion I'm good as new." Teluve tried to comfort Bimy.

"Doesn't mean I like seeing you get hurt." Bimy glared at Teluve.

Teluve, seeing her glare, gave her a quick kiss, "Well the sooner we get out of here the sooner I can make it up to you." Teluve smiled at Bimy, "What would you like?"

Bimy kept up her glare as she poked at Teluve's chest, "You owe me a specialty made dessert for all of this."

"Ha ha." Teluve laughed as he extended his hand to help her up, "Whatever you want."

Bimy took a moment to think, then she smirked, "I want cheesecake."

Teluve smirked, "No problem."

Bimy took Teluve's hand, standing she kissed Teluve, and hugged him tightly, "I love you Lulu."

Teluve smiled as he held Bimy tight, "I love you too Bimy."

Tales of Ascension - Rise of the Primogen Chapter 2

Teluve took a moment to change out of his ruined clothes, Bimy had turned away, just a few feet from Teluve.

Teluve quickly changed, now wearing a second set of clothes, adorned in dark purple, and gold, his clothes were made of a silk-like material, and is very ornate, depicting golden leaves, lilies, lotus flowers, and vines woven throughout its design, all with small crystal opal gems embroidered in place of the flowers anthers. He wore a high collared jacket with an ornate, and elegant design, the collar, and cuffs a solid midnight purple, the upright collar extending over his neck, the right over left folded closure, and tapered sleeves adorned with golden floral designs, the closure held together with golden buttons as Teluve passed them through gold knotted loops, gold piping decorating the seams, and edges of his jacket, having a natural luster, complementing its exceptionally smooth, and soft texture. His pants were straight cut, and tapered, with the gold floral motif covering its surface, Teluve tying off a golden drawstring at the waistband, gold thread adorning the seams, and edges. Over all this, Teluve put on a sleeveless robe, with an open faced design, revealing a portion of the face of his jacket underneath, its surface covered in the floral design with a large golden valley lily prominently displayed over his left breast, the robe tapering closed as it reached his waistband, its length falling just over the middle of his shins, its short collar framed his jacket's high collar. Teluve secured his robe with an intricate gold laced midnight purple fabric belt that he wrapped around at his waist. Teluve also donned his metal bracers over his wrists, and jacket sleeves, and replaced his mangled boots, his new boots coming up to just below his calves, made of the same midnight purple colored material as his clothing, the laces a golden color, securely tied, with golden studs, and buckles that added an appealing accent to their overall design, both embroidered with the same floral theme.

"I'm finished, Bimy." Teluve called out before he turned his attention to the pool, "Bimy look." Teluve pointed at the pool.

"The water, it's gone?" Bimy looked at the pool, seeing that all the water had disappeared, "Hm, look there Lulu." Bimy pointed to the center of the pool, at what seemed to be a tunnel.

"A tunnel? Let's take a look." Teluve led the way down the now empty pool.

Searching the area Teluve noticed that the tunnel was located where the quartz pearl had once stood, "That pearl wasn't just the core of the array, it also sealed off a tunnel, that's strange." 

Teluve looked down the vertical shaft, narrowing his eyes, descending deep down into pitch blackness, "I can't see the bottom, this shaft goes beyond my sight." Teluve thought for a moment, then lifted his hand, and placed it to the ground near the edge of the shaft, mobilizing his manna into the earth. Soon after the sound of rumbling resounded as a series of earthen blocks jutted out from the shaft walls forming a makeshift stairway.

"Eee." Kedu chattered from Teluve's back.

Teluve smiled, and patted the side of Kedu's head, "You can do the next set buddy." 

"Eee Eee." Kedu chattered happily.

"Nice work Lulu, that's an easier solution than what I had in mind." Bimy stored away a large bundle of rope that she had pulled from her storage crystal.

"It's nothing. We haven't expended too much of our manna since we've been down here, so a minor expenditure like this is negligible." Teluve said as he took a step down, turning to Bimy, he extended his hand, "Shall we."

"He he." Bimy smirked at Teluve's gesture, taking his hand, "We shall."

Bimy, Teluve, and their bonds made their way down the stone steps, every 25 to 26 feet Kedu, and Teluve alternated as they cast their spiritual artes of earth, manipulating the surrounding stone, and extending the stairs further down. After descending about 160 feet of the earthen steps they all reached the bottom.

*Splash!*, *Splash!* Bimy, and Teluve's feet stepped down onto the puddled floor of another tunnel, "How big is the network of tunnels in this place?" Bimy grew annoyed at the seemingly never ending cave network.

Teluve examined the new area, "This place is a bit frustrating, but we've no choice but to keep moving." Teluve turned, and grabbed Bimy's hand, gently squeezing her hand in a reassuring gesture, "Don't worry Bimy, we'll find them, and leave this place." 

Bimy grabbed Teluve's hand with both of hers, and smiled, "Thanks Lulu."

They continued down this new path wary as they went, cautious of potentially more traps they'd have to deal with. However, as they continued to move down this winding tunnel they encountered no more arrays, the path seemingly devoid of anything except for more of the usual environmental features; stalactites, cave curtains, stalagmites, flowstone, columns, etc. This remained the constant until Bimy, and Teluve approached a threshold in the tunnel.

Bimy slowly stepped past the threshold with Teluve, "Wow." Bimy completely in awe, as they all entered a massive cavern.

"What is this?" Teluve looked around the cavern, stunned.

Meeting their eyes is a truly massive room, it appeared to be over 5 kilometers long, the ceiling over 200 meters high, and the walls were around 150 meters wide from side to side. Everything made even more stunning as the entire room's covered in a variety of crystals, quartz pillars of varying sizes, and thicknesses were formed, running in every possible direction throughout the cavern, with feldspar, peridot, and chromite spotted along the blue garnet, and rough diamond encrusted walls of the space. Glowing crystals, interspersed, illuminated the space causing it to sparkle with whites, blues, and the occasional greens, and purples almost as if they entered a palace of ice. But, what's strange is that there were massive quartz columns uniformly shaped, and positioned in two rows going down the length of the room.

"This place is… incredible." Teluve looked around, "Blue garnet, and diamond found in the same place?" Teluve grew puzzled, examining the space, "These two crystals aren't commonly found together. Garnet is generally found in metamorphic rock deposits, while diamonds are found in kimberlite."

Bimy looked to Lulu with a serious look of concern, "Lulu this is …" 

"It's as we thought, Bimy. It's nearly impossible for the conditions needed to form these kinds of crystals to happen naturally." Teluve took a moment to think, "Someone very powerful had to have formed this place. Given the unnatural uniformity of the columns, the rooms massive size, and the entire room being covered in these different kinds of crystals. This place was created by someone, someone that can invoke a dominion, this is a Mancer's abode Bimy."

"How can that be! Lulu this is absurd, what's a Mancer even doing here?" Bimy couldn't quite believe the idea, despite the evidence. They were talking about a Mancer. Mancers held an extremely high status in every society, some were even held in higher regard than a nation's own king, and that's all because of one thing. The ability to invoke a dominion, the pinnacle of spiritual artes. A dominion gave the user absolute authority over their spiritual path, making them a walking sovereign over the laws of creation, one could hold complete authority over the air, the earth, the waters, space, time; Bending, manifesting, and manipulating them at their whim. This is what makes Mancers so highly regarded throughout the world, they're the living embodiments of a blessing, or a calamity. They could aid a country in developing its cities, its lands, or they could become walking natural disasters. It's even known in history that Mancers with substantial enough cultivation can be a major threat to entire provinces.

"I know how it sounds, Bimy. But from what we've seen, and what's before our eyes, there's no doubt." Teluve pondered with a thoughtful gesture, "It was evident from the start. But something doesn't make sense, if this is a Mancer's abode why would it be constructed in such an odd way? The arrays may have been dangerous, but they weren't insurmountable. If those arrays were truly set by such a powerful Mancer, then there's no way we could've survived even one of them. And the array core, it was odd, I didn't even think about till now, it was perfectly constructed, I couldn't find any flaw, so how was there a manna leak? And why did it cover an entrance that leads here?"

Bimy remained quiet as Teluve voiced his thoughts, Teluve looked over to her, and saw her wide eyed, "Bimy, what's wrong?" Teluve quickly moved to her side.

"Lu-Lulu what, is that?" Bimy pointed towards the end of the room with a slight tremble to her hand.

Teluve looked over. It was hard to make out, but after he focused, he saw it, "What is that?"

A massive blue structure marked the end of the room. Teluve couldn't really make out its shape, he barely took notice of it as it nearly blended in with the surrounding crystals, and was mostly obfuscated by the quartz pillars, blocking his line of sight. The only reason he spotted it is that it radiated with a bright light every so often, other than its size, color, and light Teluve couldn't make out any further details.

Teluve was baffled, "Now that just confirms it."

"What is it?" Bimy turned to Teluve, "Do you think that might be a way out of here Lulu?"

"It's possible, but it'd be quite grand to just be an exit." Teluve came to a realization that made him a bit excited, "Bimy, this place may be a Mancer's legacy."

"A, legacy." The weight of those words hung heavily on Bimy, she knew just how valuable, and life changing a legacy can be, as her father had been one of a few to have benefitted from the fruits of a legacy in recent memory. 

Legacies were incredibly rare, but weren't unknown, legacies are often the collection of treasures left over from a civilization of a previous age, or by powerful individuals. The contents of each legacy often ranging wildly, as it all depended on the founders reasons for establishing it, some were established for the preservation of knowledge, others to the protect secrets never intending to be uncovered, there were even those left by individual seeking a means of redemption to make amends for their failures. But, given that this place was the work of a Mancer, and an extremely powerful one at that, the legacy left here would have to be one of immense value, whatever its contents may be. 

"It may be Lulu." Bimy turned to Teluve, then pointed towards the blue structure, "That's our only landmark, so let's get moving."

Bimy, Teluve, and their bonds collected themselves, and began their approach towards the mysterious structure. 

As they were drawing further into the cavern, Teluve suddenly heard a noise, *Shh-shh." a slight shifting of movement. Teluve stopped Bimy, as he moved to be in-between her, and the source of the sound, "Who's there!? Show yourself!" Teluve shouted in the direction of the noise.

A brief silence hung over the air, "Ke ke, ha ha ha ha!" Before the sound of laughter could be heard as a 7 foot tall son of mahtaan walked out from behind a massive quartz crystal. He had an imposing visage, he's a trapezoid body type, a hulk of bulging muscle with a rounded belly, his skin a pale reddish gray, a mess of medium length black coily hair fell across his face. He has short pointed ears mostly obscured by his hair, dilated red eyes, somewhat bloodshot, with thick eyebrows, a wide straight nose, a heavy lower lip, and a wide jaw with a defined jawline.

"Ha ha." The daemonized son of Mahtaan brandished a disgusting looking war axe, coated in dried blood, and rust, "My ambush turned out to be a dud, what a pity it didn't quite go as planned."

"You're that tainted. How'd you get here!?" Bimy questioned as she readied her stave, and shield.

Teluve stood just 5 feet ahead of Bimy eyeing the daemonized mahtaan, prepared for any sudden moves. Flavi, Kedu, and Lifmy all grew extremely agitated with the appearance of the daemonized mahtaan, "HISS!" Flavi hissing over Teluve's shoulder as she postured just in front of Bimy, Kedu bearing his fangs as he hung, and looked over Teluve's shoulder, and Lifmy's hairs all standing up, as he stood on Bimy's right shoulder.

"Hm, who are-." The tainted Mahtaan narrowed his eyes at Bimy, and Teluve, then to the familiar beasts with them, "Ah I see, you disguised yourselves before, how interesting." The tainted Mahtaan looked at their expressions, "Ke ha, you all seem happy to see me. I've been here the whole time since that light enveloped me. Couldn't find a way out of this place, only exits are that cavern that led nowhere, and a big fucking tablet!" The tainted eyed them, "Oh, it looks like a few of you are missing, what luck! This will make things mu-"

Before the daemonized mahtaan could finish his sentence, or make a move, Teluve shot forward, appearing before him in a matter of seconds, launching a vicious strike with his dagger-like-nails towards the tainted's chest, looking to pierce through his heart. However, Teluve's strike only bypassed the daemon's shirt, gliding across his skin, leaving a mark, but doing no serious damage.

Teluve frowned, and shouted to the others, "Avoid physical attacks, hit him with soul, or spiritual artes!" 

"Hiss!" Flavi, being quick to follow behind, slithered forward, attempting to coil around the tainted, and restrain him. 

"Ha ha ah!" The tainted cackled, Flavi wrapped around the daemonized Mahtaan squeezing down on him, but he managed to overpower her, throwing her off, readying his axe to strike.

Lifmy quickly moved to a space between Bimy, and Teluve, casting a spiritual arte of life, his manna surged in a tangible aura of red mist around himself encompassing everyone within a 30 foot radius, Bimy, Flavi, Kedu, Lifmy, and Teluve all feeling a wave of warmth, followed by a buzzing sensation that filled their bodies, invigorated as their stamina, and vitality were steadily being restored.

Seeing the phenomena the daemon grew enraged, "You little pest!", and dashed at Lifmy.

Flavi, and Teluve attempted to halt the son of mahtaan, both of them lashing out at the tainted. However, Flavi, and Teluve only grazed past his skin, unable to harm him.

The tainted ran up to Lifmy as he swung his axe violently at the tiny leporine. 

Reacting to what would have been a devastating blow Lifmy deftly cast a spiritual arte of life, forming a red barrier composed of his vital essence, absorbing the kinetic energy from the blow Lifmy quickly metabolizing it, restoring the vitality he just expended.

"YOU! I'll cut you into bits!" The daemonized Mahtaan shouted.

Seeing this Kedu ran, and leaped onto the daemon grabbing hold of him. 

The tainted felt a sudden invasion of a foreign manna, he tried to suppress, and resist it, but failed, overwhelmed, Kedu's manna now rampaged in his spirit.

"AH!" The tainted glared at Kedu, "You dare place a curse on me!" The daemonized Mahtaan’s ire now shifted to Kedu.

Bimy, keeping her distance, unfurling her wings, stretching out into a 21 foot wingspan she flew into the air, channeling her manna through her stave, focusing it, then firing off a spiritual arte of chaotic energy at the daemonized Mahtaan's side. 

The tainted sensing the dangerous flow behind him quickly side stepped, dodging the attack, the blast hitting a crystal, disintegrating a portion of it. 

Going unnoticed with the tainted's focus split, Teluve rushed behind the daemon, grappling him into a chokehold.

"Ke ha! Kkhh!" The daemon struggled against Teluve, "Ke ha ah, Deliflur, I remember you, Haaah! And to think I once dreamed of a life working in the forges of your Spire."

"It's unfortunate, such a dream may have been." Teluve tightened his hold, "If only you'd let the Ancient of Days guide you, but instead you've fallen to the corruption!"

"Ha ha ha, I simply embraced it! Ke ha-haaah! I've never been so free!" The tainted smiled with fervor.

"Free?" Teluve's anger boiled over, "How can you be free!? When you've made yourself a slave, you've only thrown yourself into the arms of death!"

Flavi right behind Teluve, cast a spiritual arte of fire in the form of a blessing, a runic mark of fire appearing on Teluve's skin, it super heating Teluve's muscles, granting him a surge in strength. 

"Haaah!" The daemon instantly felt the new found strength from Teluve, the hold around his neck tightening greatly.

Lifmy disengaged from the tainted running towards Bimy, manna surged out from Lifmy into Bimy, enveloping her.

A runic mark of life formed on Bimy's skin, invigorating her, as a great level of energy began to flow through her veins, "Thanks Lifmy." Bimy quickly thanked Lifmy as she began to reposition herself.

The daemonized Mahtaan now surrounded by Flavi, and Kedu, as well as being restrained by Teluve, tried to break Teluve's hold. However, as he struggled with Teluve he got hit with an intense pain from his spirit, "GAHK!" the daemon yelped in pain as fresh blood flowed out of his nose, his eyes becoming completely bloodshot.

"Gah! This damn curse!" The daemon having failed to break free from Teluve turned his ire on the beast that cursed him, he lashed out his axe at Kedu, cutting through his flesh.

"Eee!" Kedu screeched in pain examining the fresh wound on his chest, blood now matting his fur. Kedu leaped from the tainted, dodging his second attack, and landing ahead of Bimy and Lifmy's position. Kedu then cast a spiritual arte of earth on himself, the stones, and dirt beneath the crystal landscape exploded forth, coating Kedu in layers of earthen armor, jagged stones now covering his body as he bared his fangs at the daemonized mahtaan.

Bimy moved as she continued firing off a barrage of spiritual artes at the daemonized mahtaan, unable to move, he took the bombardment to his chest, the chaotic energy disintegrating portions of his tunic, parts of his skin, and pieces of his flesh. The tainted grunted in horrible pain, as a terrible looking burn mark webbed across his torso.

"You WHOR-AH!" Before the daemon could get out his words, Teluve clamped down on him, crushing his neck, and throat. 

Now getting frantic the daemon desperately fought to escape from Teluve, 'Damn it, what's with his strength. I've crossed a major realm in body cultivation, judging by the manna density in his physique he should only be in the 2nd, or 3rd revolution of bone, and muscle cleansing. So how is he overpowering me!?' 

This scenario went against the daemonized Mahtaan's knowledge, he had reached completion in bone, and muscle cleansing, crossing a major realm in body cultivation, but someone who hasn't even reached that level is here completely overpowering him, this is even after taking into account Teluve's boost in strength through Flavi's spiritual arte. 

'This is impossible. If things keep going like this, then.' The tainted’s eyes widened, ‘Wait.’ He thought of a certain vial in his bag, he grinned, ‘That’s right I still have-”

Flavi flanked the daemonized Mahtaan, breaking his train of thought, and bit down on him, manna exploding from her mouth, fire erupting from her maw, burning the tainted's flesh. 

"AH!" He choked out a scream before kicking Flavi off, bits of his flesh being torn away with her.

Lifmy quickly moved up to Kedu, touching him with his little paws, his spiritual arte of life pulsing through him, a cooling sensation spreading across Kedu's chest, alleviating his pain, and partially healing the wound.

'This is bad, I underestimated them, and that damn salkin’s healing them.' The daemonized Mahtaan thought, then a recurrence of pain surged through his spirit, "Hfff Kaff!" he coughed up blood as it began to leak from his mouth, 'I need to get away! But, I can't get this bastard off me." The tainted stopped trying to escape from Teluve, opting to strike at him instead, he struck out with a wild swing just missing Teluve, but with his second attempt he struck Teluve's upper thigh, his axe sinking slightly into Teluve's flesh. Teluve grimaced in pain at the shallow cut, but maintained his hold on him. Seeing that Teluve still held on, the daemon began to flail wildly.

Kedu's wound healed thanks to Lifmy's aura, he then sprinted over to the tainted's blind spot, hitting his side with a palm strike, Kedu's manna flowing through his arm as a spiritual arte of nature blasted into the daemon. 

A similar feeling that the daemonized Mahtaan felt from the curse hit him hard, he could feel his body withering as his blood began to flow from his eyes.

Bimy flew to the tainted's other side, hitting him with a spiritual arte of her own. 

"RAWH!" The daemonized Mahtaan roared as he felt another invasion of manna, mobilizing his own he managed to partially resist it, suffering only minor damage, the surface of his skin cracking, and tearing.

Teluve's fresh wound already showed signs of closing up thanks to his own regeneration, and Lifmy's aura. Teluve continued to tighten his hold on the tainted, feeling the will of the daemon starting to falter.

Flavi once again bit down on the daemon, her fangs erupting fire, causing major damage to the tainted's already severely burned skin, "GAH!" The daemon leaked out another pained cry.

Lifmy moved over to Teluve touching his leg, manna surging from him into Teluve, a cooling pulse ran through Teluve, fully restoring his thigh.

Fear now colored the daemonized Mahtaan's face, once again being struck with intense pain from his spirit, 'Damn it!' The daemon thought back to the vial, he attempted to reach for his pouch, but couldn’t quite get to it, ‘I need to get a chance to get my elixir; But how?” The daemon quickly thought of a ploy

The tainted threw his weapon to the ground, "Enough! I surrender!" The daemonized mahtaan choked out these words through Teluve's hold.

"Surrender?" Teluve paused, his grip didn’t loosen, "After all you've done." Teluve applied even greater strength to his hold.

"Guh!" The tainted grabbed at Teluve's arm.

"You think we just happened upon you? We know what you did to the people of Enus!" Teluve bellowed in anger.

"You massacred them. You… You even devoured them!" Bimy grew equally agitated, her eyes growing misty just thinking back to the scenes of the half-eaten corpses, "We're here as avengers of the innocent blood you've spilled!" 

"The spirits of the people of Enus have cried out for justice!" Teluve exclaimed, "And your guilt is clear, daemon!"

"AH!" The daemonized mahtaan cried out as Teluve secured his hold, 'SHIT! SHIT! DAMN IT! I thought they merely stumbled upon me in the frontier, how'd they found out about Enus already? D-Did someone survive?' The daemon panicked, quickly casting a spiritual arte of earth on himself, similarly covering himself in layers of earthen armor like Kedu.

"Eee!" Kedu angrily chattered as he, and Bimy both hit the daemonized mahtaan with their spiritual artes, attacking his very essence. 

"GUHA!" The tainted screamed from the agony.

*RRRR-OWWW-RRRR!* The sound of a sudden, and deep resonant roar echoed throughout the space, catching the attention of all present, a massive feline, an ali'shun could be seen dashing at them. The beast was large, his body over 10 feet long, with a tail that added over an additional 3 feet to the total length of the beast. The feline easily stood over 4 feet tall, with four powerful legs, rippling with lean muscle, a beautiful coat pattern of white and silver stripes covered the beast's form, a mane of white covering his muscular neck, framing his face. A short, and wide muzzle, with a black nose at the end, whiskers protruding from the sides of his face, a powerful jaw full of sharp teeth snarled, his pale green eyes fierce as he dashed straight at the daemonized mahtaan, raking his powerful paws across his waist, gouging massive chunks of stone from the tainted's earthen armor dealing no damage to him directly, but striking him with immense fear.

What surprised Bimy, and Teluve about this situation is that they recognized this beast. 

"Omani!" Bimy couldn't help but grow excited, she knew if Yinor's bond was here then that meant that Bele, and Yinor could be close by. Bimy quickly scanned the surroundings, and noticed two figures that were a bit far off, "Lulu, it's Bele, and Yinor, they're ok!" Bimy shouted in joy.

Teluve was elated, 'Thanks be to the Ancient of Days for watching over them.' Teluve offered his thanks for a moment, then refocused on the task at hand, "Don't lose focus yet Bimy! Let's finish this!" 

Bimy eyes refocused, "Yes!"

Teluve had the daemonized Mahtaan completely tied down, clamping his arms down even further as he could feel the neck bones starting to creak, and crack from the pressure.

"HISS!" Flavi hissed as she bit the tainted with another spiritual arte of fire. 

"AHHHH!" The pain that the daemon was in grew so intense that he started to lose consciousness, fading in, and out.

Lifmy noticed the far off pair of Bele, and Yinor, sensing something he began sprinting over to them.

The daemonized Mahtaan seeing that his situation went from extremely bad to worse, he finally managed to reach into his bag pulling out a vial of black liquid, "I hope you’re prepared to die! Ke ke ha ha, I-I'll devour you all, I'll be sure to savor your taste." 

As the daemon drew the vial to his mouth ready to uncork it, his eyes went wide, another burst of pain hitting his spirit, the pain overwhelming him, 'No! No, I … I …' One last incomplete thought crossed the daemonized Mahtaan's mind before he fell unconscious from Kedu's withering curse, his earthen armor crumbling as he fell limp in Teluve's grasp, the vial dropping, tink, tink to the ground.

"People of Enus, may your spirits be at peace." *CRACK!* Teluve whispered as he snapped the neck of the tainted, "Your blood has been avenged."

Tales of Ascension - Rise of the Primogen Chapter 3

Bimy, and Teluve after concluding their battle with the daemonized mahtaan rushed over to Bele, and Yinor.

"Brother! Yinor! Bele! Sister!" Teluve, and Bimy yelled out as they ran.

As they drew closer to Yinor, a son of Enura about 7 feet 2 inches tall looked over, "You're both ok! That's a relief, thanks be to the Ancient of Days."

Yinor shared many similar features with his brother Teluve, he has a strong, and compact V shaped body, a little thinner than Teluve, smooth scales of black, and brown were seen from the visible portions of his neck, layered over his skin. He's beautiful with short wavy black hair that looked like folds of silk, his face symmetrical, with a clear complexion of brown skin, his hazel-green, dilated slit pupil eyes are bright, and gorgeous with full thick eyebrows that frame his eyes, he has a straight proportioned nose, his lips full, just slightly thinner than Teluve's, with his strong, and defined jawline adding to his masculinity.

Covering Yinor's form is an ornate suit of full plate armor, beautifully forged of a silver colored metal, upon each piece of his armor featured intricate, and delicate designs of valley lilies, and lotus flowers, surrounded by leaves, and vines, all of which transitioned from bold embossing, to embedded golden inlays, to detailed engravings, this gave the armor a rich, and textured image as it moved from the bolder motifs, to the finer elements, the armor a clear work of expert craftmanship, and artistry. He wore a segmented gorget of overlapping plates around his neck, gold inlays highlighting its edges, and articulation points, as well as a polished opal gemstone set in at its center. His pauldrons were large, guarding his shoulders, and upper arms, its edges gilded, and set in their center is a single opal. A breastplate, and backplate covered his torso, its central area raised, and featuring a large polished opal with embossed lotus petals around the gemstone, the borders all inlaid with gold, and its rivets all made of gold. The faulds, and tassets hung from the bottom of his breastplate, covering his hips, and upper thighs, each segment bordered with gilded edges. Yinor's vambraces, and couters protected his forearms, and elbows, both articulated for full range of motion, set in the central points of the couters is an opal gemstone, his vambraces also featured a gold relief panel of valley lilies, and various small opal stones embedded as the anther of the lilies. Segmented gauntlets of articulated plate covered his hands, the knuckles, and cuffs adorned with embossed motifs of valley lilies, highlighted by the golden inlays, with the finger plates showcasing the delicately etched floral filigree. Over his thighs, and knees, are the cuisses, and poleyns, each piece featuring a central motif of a fully bloomed white lily, the poleyns featured wing-like protrusions with gilded accents, while the cuisses have decorative golden rivets. Shielding his shins, calves, and feet, his greeves, and sabatons displayed panels of gold reliefs of the floral filigree, while his sabatons showcased an embossed lotus flower on its toe caps, with a raised opal in the center of each. 

Teluve after reaching his brother immediately hugged him, "All thanks be to the Ancient of Days, you're ok." 

"I'm fine brother, but Bele is-" Yinor's voice grew grave.

Teluve looked over noticing that Bele is being carried by Yinor, looking her over Teluve grew concerned, Bele's complexion is very pale. 

"BELE!" Bimy caught up, and shouted seeing the state of her sister.

Yinor carried a 7 foot 1 inch daughter of Eloi on his back, Lifmy sat on Yinor's shoulder having just finished casting a spiritual arte of life on Bele. 

Bele wore an identical set of armor as Bimy, however she didn't seem to have any other equipment. Bele shared similar features with her sister being only a year younger, an hourglass figure with smooth dark-gold hued brown skin. She's extremely beautiful, she's long pointed ears that poke past her wavy golden hair that's put up in a half tail, her hair falling to her mid-back. She has a radiant appearance muted by her condition, her face harmonious, her eyes were shut with well shaped eyebrows framing them, two black curled horns crown her head, she's a cute straight nose, high cheekbones that gave her an elegant appearance, her lips were well proportioned, a well defined jawline gave her a chiseled look. A set of large furled wings protruded from her lower back with a plumage of golden feathers, a long tail, about ten feet, loosely wrapped around her waist as she's carried. Bele exuded a beauty that very much matched her sister, but all that's been overshadowed by her current state.

Bele hearing Teluve's voice, and Bimy's scream opened her eyes, bright orbs of crimson-gold, her slit pupils dilated, and rings of gold that shone within her irises, staring at Bimy, "Sister, your ok." Bele spoke with some fatigue.

"Forget about me. What happened to you?" Bimy moved to her sister, looking her over.

"When we were caught in that light Bele, Omani, and I were transported together. When I came to, I found her hurt badly, I did all I could to heal her through my spiritual artes, I've been constantly exhausting all my manna, and the potions Bele had made. But nothing seems to be-" Yinor clenched his jaw, unable to conceal his frustrations.

Teluve put a hand on his brother's shoulder, and looked over to Bimy, "Bimy check her."

Bimy nodded, quickly injecting her manna into her sister, her manna completely washing over Bele's entire being, giving Bimy insights into every aspect of Bele's present state.

"What did you find, sister Bimy? Is Bele ok?" Yinor asked, his voice laced with concern.

Bimy smiled at Yinor, "She's fine, but her foundation is unstable. The trauma she experienced from that crumbling spatial array must have damaged her foundations." Bimy placed her hand on Yinor's shoulder, "Be at ease brother Yinor, your efforts weren't in vain, judging by the current state of her foundations, it's thanks to your constant healing that her cultivations haven't scattered already." Bimy looked at Lifmy, and scratched behind his ear, "And, thanks to my precious Lifmy's remnant manna circulating through my sister, I was able to notice that her foundation is showing signs of stabilizing."

"Squeak." Lifmy let out a happy squeal to Bimy's praise, he then jumped over to Bimy's shoulder nuzzling her hand.

Bimy fixed Bele's messy hair, "You'll need to rest for a while." Bimy then looked to Yinor, "Brother Yinor, you'll need to keep administering your spiritual artes of life on her for the next few days, it'll help to stabilize her foundations quicker."

"Hah." Yinor let an audible sigh of relief escape his lips, and mobilized his manna the moment it recovered, a warm cooling sensation washing over Bele, before he gave a nod to Bimy, "Yes sister Bimy. At least it's nothing life threatening."

"See, it's ok Yiny." Bele smiled, "I told you I'd be fine. You kept yelling at me to stay awake." Bele said in teasing tone.

"I didn't know, I was ignorant of your condition, it seemed dire, how could I not be concerned about someone I love." Yinor tried defending his actions, a little embarrassed now that he knew he had overreacted.

"Aw you really love my sister, how cute." Bimy joined in teasing Yinor.

"He he." Bele laughed lightly.

Yinor's cheeks grew red as he blushed, "O-of course I love her, we've known each other since we were kids."

"You gonna propose then?" Teluve asked as he wore a knowing smile.

"GAH!" Both Bele, and Yinor blushed.

"Oh that'd be great, you have to let me help pick out your dress sister." Bimy switched to teasing Bele.

"Ah …" Bele, completely caught off guard by the topic, didn't know what to say.

"What do you think sister Bele, do you want to marry my little brother?" Teluve asked, his smile turning into a teasing smirk.

"I … I ah-" Bele's mind overloaded, she kept looking at Yinor's face, imagining the scene.

"Oh come on Bele, you two have been in a courtship for some time now, you obviously deeply love brother Yinor, so why the hesitation?" Bimy questioned, holding her hands to her sides.

"Yeah, even before, the way you two used to always steal looks, It was obvious to anyone with any common sense, that you two have a deep affection for each other." Teluve added.

Bimy looked over to Teluve, "Exactly Lulu. I couldn't count how many times I've caught Bele staring at brother Yinor."

'They knew about that!' Bele, and Yinor simultaneously had the same thought.

Teluve smirked, "You don't have to look so shocked, you may have thought you concealed it well, but everyone knew." Teluve shook his head, "Why do you think father, and mother showed no surprise when you told them?"

"I see." Yinor wore an awkward smile.

"Anyway, what about you brother Yinor, what's your answer? You've been courting my sister for over a year now, you two should know by now if you want to proceed with marriage, right?" Bimy questioned Yinor. 

"Well, since our courtship began my love for her has only grown deeper, I do want to marry her." Yinor spoke through all his embarrassment.

"Aw, did you hear that sister?" Bimy looked over to Bele.

Bele remained quiet as she buried her head behind Yinor. 

"He he." Bimy looked at Bele, her eyes shut, and her face completely flush, "Don't worry brother Yinor, I'm sure you'll get an answer when she gets over her embarrassment."

"Hah, why must you two always tease us." Yinor complained.

"Because we want to give you two a little push." Teluve responded.

Bele looked up, still a bit flush, some color starting to return to her face, "What do you mean brother Teluve?"

"We want you two to take that final step already, honestly, I thought you two would've been engaged by now." Bimy added.

"Yiny, and I have already been discussing this for the past few months before you mentioned it sister." Bele said shyly.

Bimy looked surprised, and excited, "Really!?"

"So what happened? We were walking through this cavern, when Omani sprinted ahead suddenly." Yinor tried changing the subject as a slight flush bloomed on his face.

"Alright, we'll move on." Teluve smirked, then grew serious, "Bimy, and I were ambushed by that tainted mahtaan, Omani came in during the engagement." 

Stunned, Yinnor's eyes went wide as he quickly asked, "What! Where is he?" 

"Dead." Bimy answered.

"Then it's over." Yinor closed his eyes as a sense of calm settled on him, he slowly opened his eyes, "The blood guilt has  been resolved." 

Teluve nodded, before turning his head, "We should head back." Teluve looked to Bele, and Yinor as he started walking back, "We still need to prepare the body." 

As the group heads back, "Yinor." Bele whispered in Yinor's ear.

"What is it Bele?" Yinor whispered back as he executed another spiritual arte of life, the instance he had the manna to.

Bele raised her head as a surge of vitality rushed through her, "Do you think we're ready for marriage?"

Yinor instantly started blushing, "I-I do. Do you not feel the same? We've been talking about it these last few months."

"No, that's not it, I feel the same way." Bele quickly responded, then smiled, "I'm just really happy, I love you Yinor."

Yinor stopped, and looked back to Bele, "So you'll marry me?"

"Yes, I'll be in your care Yiny." Bele smiled brightly, nestling her head on the right side of Yinor's neck, and shoulder.

Yinor couldn't stop himself from smiling, "I'll always protect, and care for you Bele, I promise." He continued forward. 

Teluve, and Bimy just smiled as they moved on, acting as if they heard nothing.

Once they reached the location of the battle Omani rushed up to Yinor, "Rrrr." Omani let out a friendly rolling growl.

Yinor moved his hand through Omani's fur, "Hey buddy." Yinor looked over, seeing the signs of the battle, and then the son of Mahtaan's corpse.

Bele raised her head from Yinor's shoulder, looking at the still son of mahtaan, "It's sad to see. He was like any normal person, Enus village's smith, until he indulged in the corruption." Bele frowned, somewhat pitying the son of mahtaan.

"He made this choice Bele, he could've sought help from the temple priests when he felt the influence of the corruption. But, instead he corrupted himself, with the people of Enus paying the price of his sin." Yinor's brow furrowed in contempt for the mahtaan.

"I know Yiny. Hah." Bele sighed as she looked at the lifeless body of the mahtaan, "What's there to gain in evil, and wickedness? Why inflict suffering on others? I can't understand it."

"Eee-eee." Kedu ran up chattering at Teluve, holding up a vial of some kind.

"What's this?" Teluve grabbed the vial from Kedu.

It's a crystalline vial, made from quartz, its shape slender with an elongated neck that flares out to a slightly wider base, a simple matching crystal stopper sealed the vial; A simple but high quality vial, holding an odd viscous black substance inside.

"What is it brother?" Yinor moved next to Teluve, with Bele peeking over his shoulder, some more color returning to her complexion.

"Not sure." Teluve gestured to the mahtaan, "He tried drinking this before his last moments. Looks to be some kind of potion." Teluve examined the bottle.

Yinor looked over his shoulder to Bele, "What do you think Bele?" 

Bele nodded, and patted Yinor's shoulder, "Yeah let me take a look, set me down for sec Yiny."

Yinor hesitated, and looked over his shoulder to Bele, "Are you alright to?"

Bele smiled, and nodded, "I'm better now Yiny."

Yinor nodded, and sat Bele down on a flat smooth piece of gypsum, Bele then set out her alchemy tools. 

"I'll go help Bimy prepare the body.” Teluve handed Bele the vial, “Let us know what you find." 

"Alright brother Teluve." Bele nodded.

Teluve smiled and walked away towards Bimy.

"Eee." Kedu moved up to Bele and Yinor, sensing Bele's weakness he gently looked over Bele.

Flavi slithered over, "Hiss." She wrapped around Bele, resting her head on her lap.

Lifmy ran over climbing Bele's form before nestling on the top of her head.

"He he, are you all trying to comfort me?" Bele greeted them all, petting them, "I'm fine, so don't worry."

Bele continued, setting out her stirring rod she then popped the cork off the vial, the moment the vial was uncapped a rotten iron smell emitted from it.

The smell so rancid that Yinor nearly emptied his stomach, Bele however couldn't take the smell throwing up to her side, Flavi, Kedu, Lifmy, and Omani who followed behind Yinor grew extremely agitated, "HISSS!", "EEE!", "SQUEAK!", "Rrrr-OWWW-RRRR!" all of them displaying a hostile posture to the source of the smell.

"What happened!" Bimy, and Teluve stood, and called out.

"It's fine!" Bele responded, wiping her mouth.

"Are you alright Bele?" Yinor asked with concern as he tried calming the bonds down, "What's wrong Omani?"

"Whatever this substance is, it's putting them on edge." Bele picked up her small silver stirring rod.

"What could that be, they don't get this agitated." Understanding quickly came to Yinor, "Unless it's-" 

"Unless it's something daemonic." Bele finished Yinor's sentence, and began examining the contents of the vial.

Prodding the concoction with the silver rod, the strange mixture danced in the vial, hues of black and red twirling around in the bottle, "It's hard for me to tell exactly the purpose of this mixture, but I'm certain this is some kind of elixir given its concentration."

"An ELIXIR! How would a village smith get his hands on an elixir?" Yinor couldn't believe it, elixirs are the pinnacle of traditional alchemy, they're powerful concoctions comprised of the distilled essence of herbs, and minerals, used for their potency, some are even capable of regrowing lost limbs, bringing people back from the brink of death, and many more wondrous things.

"It's puzzling Yinor, this mahtaan, it's unlikely he acted alone, with the potency of this elixir, it'd be nearly impossible for a village smith to get his hands on something like this without outside help. The ingredients are even more concerning." Bele wore a grimace on her beautiful face.

Yinor grew serious, "What is it Bele?"

Bele examined the elixir further as she organized her thoughts, "There's at least three components from what I can tell Yiny, two of them are a mystery to me, but the third one I have a strong guess." Bele finished her examination of the elixir, re-corking the vial, "Given the smell of iron, the viscosity, temperature, and Flavi, Kedu, Lifmy, and Omani's reaction to the odor, it's most likely daemon blood." Bele handed the vial over to Yinor, "Here Yiny, if you can sense the essence of life from the vial, it'll confirm that one of the ingredients is daemon blood."

"Alright." Yinor grabbed the vial, and focused, a moment later Yinor sensed something, he felt a faint essence coming from the elixir, "Your right Bele, I can feel it, the essence of life, it's likely daemon blood."

Bele frowned, "This is concerning Yiny, this is strong evidence that this tainted mahtaan was in contact with a higher daemon. However, determining where exactly the blood came from, if it's from a blighted, or corrupted it wouldn't be too serious, but if the blood came from a malformed, abomination, or a horror, then."

"This could be bad. We need to talk this over with sister Bimy, and brother." Yinor said as Bele packed her equipment back into her spatial ring.

"Carry me." Bele said as she held her arms out.

"Oh, right." Yinor blushed slightly, he picked Bele up again, and walked over to where Bimy, and Teluve were. As he did he continued to use his spiritual artes of life on Bele, revitalizing her.

<Minutes Earlier>

"It's fine!" Bele shouted.

Teluve stood looking over to Bele, and Yinor, "That was odd?" 

"It was; Sister said it's fine Lulu." Bimy said before she resumed searching the body of the deceased mahtaan, "Hmm, no spatial items of any kind, he just has this basic pouch."

Bimy searched the contents of the pouch, "What's this?" Bimy pulled out a black book.

The book is rather ornate, its covering seemed to be made of some type of leather, dyed a deep black color, intricate patterns of ancient runes were embossed, and engraved over the entire cover, the borders of it were decorated with a runic silver inlay. At the center of the book is a central medallion of a black garnet, the book also featured a ribbed spine, and gilded pages, their edges leafed with silver. The book seemed to be quite dense, looking like it's at least 400 pages.

Teluve's eyes went wide, "A cultivation technique! Where'd he get one like this in Enus? The village was only established two months ago."

"This seems to be a high grade technique too Lulu, I'd guess at least peak heaven grade." Bimy said as she skimmed the pages, the pages thick, and smooth with a slight cream color.

"We can only truly determine its grade after thoroughly going over its contents. We can do that after we get out here." Teluve added as he pulled out a container from his storage crystal.

The container measured 8 feet long, 3 feet wide, and 3 feet high, and isn't very elaborate, it's simply made of a rich dark-wood, with some subtle floral reliefs carved into the surface, and some golden runes inlaid intricately across its surface.

"We've a lot of reading to do on the journey back to Durutas." Bimy stored the black book into her storage ring, searching the rest of the pouch, Bimy found a few pieces of half-eaten bread, and some silver coins, Bimy stored the coins in her storage ring, leaving the remainder of the bag on the tainted, Bimy smirked as she looked over to the container Teluve pulled out, "The food chest?"

Teluve smirked at Bimy, gesturing to the container, "Look, this is the only thing I have that's big enough to store him." Teluve turned to the chest, and frowned as he opened it, a cold breeze blowing past Teluve, the chest is only about half full with a few bottles of juices, milks, and wines, as well as different kinds of cheeses, fruits, and vegetables, all neatly organized within the chest, "Hah, we'll need to use all this quick before it spoils."

After searching the tainted mahtaan's body, and storing all the food from his food chest into his storage crystal, Teluve lifted the tainted mahtaan's corpse placing it inside the container. Closing the lid, Teluve placed his hand upon the container, and injected his manna, as he did the runic marks lit up as the array came alive across the container's surface. Once the array started functioning Teluve stored the container back into his storage crystal.

"Now the next problem." Teluve said as he, and Bimy looked at the massive blue structure.

"Sister Bimy, brother." Yinor called out.

Bimy smirked, "Aww, getting carried again, how long are you gonna make brother Yinor carry you sister?"

Bele smiled, and wrapped her arms around Yinor, "For as long as he's willing to carry me."

"He he." Bimy laughed, "I've already checked you sister, although you might be weak, and fatigued right now, you should still be able to walk." 

"Wait, are you able to walk Bele?" Yinor frowned, puzzled.

"Yes my foundation has started to recover thanks to you, I've regained some of my strength." Bele sweetly smiled, hugging Yinor as he carried her, she rested her chin over Yinor's shoulder to better look at him, "I can walk if you're tired of carrying me, you've been carrying me a lot today."

Yinor smiled, "I don't mind."

"That's my hubby" Bele kissed Yinor's cheek.

"Hubby? Seems It's official then." Teluve said with a smile.

"Yah! I'm so happy for you sister." Bimy cheered.

Bele's face grew red after she realized what she said, "Ah, I'll die from embarrassment." Bele complained, burying her face in Yinor's neck.

"At this rate you might kill your hubby from embarrassment too." Teluve pointed out, gesturing to Yinor.

Hearing that, Bele looked up at Yinor, his face completely flush, "Ah. I-I can walk." 

Bele tried to get out of Yinor's hold, but Yinor just held her tighter, "It's fine." 

Hearing that Bele's face grew completely flush as she hid her face against Yinor's neck again.

"Alright enough of that." Teluve spared Bele, and Yinor the embarrassment, and got serious, "Did you find anything out about the contents of that vial Bele?"

Bele took a breath, and gingerly got down from Yinor's back, "Hah, Yes. After examining the substance I found it to be an elixir, and Yinor was able to sense a trace of the essence of life in it, the main ingredient I believe is daemon blood."

"An elixir of daemon blood." Teluve frowned, horrified, he thought back to when the tainted had tried to consume the elixir, "Good thing Kedu's curse incapacitated him before he could drink it."

"Eee." Kedu chattered as he drummed his chest.

Teluve looked back to Bele, "Do you have any idea of what kind of daemon this blood came from?"

Bele furrowed her brow, "I'm not sure brother Teluve, but I fear it may be from a malformed, or worse."

"This is getting increasingly more complicated, first he had a high grade cultivation technique, and now there's an elixir of daemon blood." Bimy grew more concerned about the whole situation.

Yinor became unsettled hearing that the son of mahtaan had a high grade cultivation technique, and frowned, he walked up to Teluve, "Brother, If that technique is a daemonic technique, then, it's almost certain this tainted was in contact with a higher daemon, or he may have even stumbled upon a daemonic legacy."

"Right." Teluve closed his eyes, taking a moment to think, "This has grown far beyond us. We need to leave this place as soon as possible, return to Durutas, and inform hall master Diker about everything."

Bele nodded, "I think that'd be best." She held up the vial, "The more experienced alchemists of the Order could better examine the contents, and nature of this elixir than I can." 

"I agree, If a high daemon is truly involved we'll need to inform hall master Diker as soon as possible, the temple will likely get involved too." Yinor added.

"Hah, all of this when we were supposed to just be scouting the terrain, our time in Durutas was coming to an end too." Bimy frowned at the increasingly complicated situation, "It's settled then, first we need to figure out how to leave this place, then we journey back."

"Alright, let's examine that structure then." Teluve narrowed his eyes towards the direction of the blue structure, all of them moving toward their only potential exit.

Tales of Ascension - Rise of the Primogen Chapter 4

"Wow." Bele, wide eyed, couldn't help but look at the structure in awe.

This was a structure of colossal proportions, reaching a height of 100 meters, spanning over 70 meters in width. The surface was captivating, rich deep blue hues reminiscent of the ocean depths, the intricacy found adorning it was of ancient runes of gleaming gold, they hummed, and glowed, each rune a mystery as to what may lie beyond.

"What, is this?" Teluve was in awe of the intricacy, and beauty of the structures design, a testament of artistry, and craftsmanship.

Bimy approached going to place her hand on one of the symbols, as her hand drew close the runes emitted a quiet hum, Bimy noticing this pulled her hand back.

"Can you read it sister Bimy?" Yinor asked.

"This script seems so ancient, why does it look so familiar?" Bimy narrowed her eyes, tracing the symbols in the air, with her forefinger.

"Bimy." Teluve's brow raised, "Isn't this Empyrean, of the fallen Elysian Empire." 

"That's it Lulu." Bimy smiled, realization becoming clear, "No wonder it's familiar."

Empyrean was the common tongue of the fallen Elysian Empire, a nation that at one point was the preeminent power of the world, once spanning the entire continent of Lannzar, however a great catastrophe befell the Empire, little is known as to what kind of disaster the Elysian Empire faced, all that's known is that whatever is was led to the Empire's fall, leaving little record of it, except what's been uncovered through archeological findings, old manuscripts, architecture, and artifacts. It was through these manuscripts that the Empyrean language was recovered, studied, and taught. Bimy, and Teluve had spent much time studying languages as a part of their schooling, Emperyan being Teluve's fourth language, Bimy hadn't yet become fluent in the language, but was familiar with it.

"I can read a few words, what about you Lulu?" Bimy turned to Teluve.

"It's a little different from what I studied, it seems to be a different dialect, the spelling, and grammar are a little different too. It'll take me some time, but I should be able to figure out what it says." Teluve took out a book, ink, and a silver pen, from his storage ring.

"That's fine Lulu, it'll give everyone some time to rest." Bimy walked up, and kissed Teluve's cheek, "Good luck."

"Thanks." Teluve looked at Bimy, and smiled

A little over an hour had passed, "How's your progress brother?" Yinor walked up next to Teluve, drinking some water from a wineskin.

"I'm almost finished." Teluve looked at the structure with narrowed eyes, then continued to write, "Luckily the dialect doesn't have great linguistic differences from what I'm familiar with, and finished" Teluve wrote out the last lines, taking a good look at what he had.

"What does it say brother Teluve?" Bele asked.

Teluve furrowed his brow, looking over his translation, "It reads; Here lies our treasures, to whomever this finds we pray you are well, to have come this far proves you are worthy to enter our vault. Here our wealth lies, for them who hate not which the Ancient of Days has made through our origin, but hate that which is evil, and wicked. Let those who practice evil, and wickedness be barred, and destroyed under heel. Let those who seek righteousness be welcomed here, and into his presence. Let those that might receive our legacy be a blessing to their generation, that the corruption be washed away, that the fallen ones shall not rise again. Blessed are you who love the Ancient of Days, and blessed are you who love your people. You that enter here be blessed, and receive our spirit."

Bimy looked to Teluve, "It didn't say who the founder of this legacy is Lulu?" 

"No." Teluve frowned, and looked at the structure.

Bele's brow furrowed, "Who are these fallen ones mentioned, are they daemons?" 

"I don't know, whoever they are, they're likely related to the fall of the Elysian Empire." Teluve took a thoughtful posture, "Well, we know what it says now, I believed this place to be the legacy of a powerful Mancer, but it seems I've underestimated the true founders, at least two people that lived during the pinnacle of the Elysian Empire." Teluve grew puzzled, he frowned looking at the massive structure, he saw no way for it to open, it simply looked like a massive flat crystal built into the wall, "We have a criteria for how to gain entry, but there's no indication as to how we enter." 

Teluve approached the base of the structure, and went to place his hand on it, as his hand came close, *HmmmMMM." The runes once again began to hum, Teluve stopped when he registered the sound.

"The runes start reacting every time someone comes close." Bimy prodded the runes, every time her hand drew close the runes would start to hum.

Bele's eyebrows raised in curiosity, "What would happen if someone touches it?" 

"The only way to find out is to touch it, and see." Teluve drew his hand back, narrowing his eyes at the runes, then he turned to the others, "Our only potential option to leave this place is this, we've no choice but to see. I'll touch the runes." 

"Wait Lulu, we don't know what'll happen." Bimy grew concerned.

"We have to take the risk Bimy, we've yet to find another way out of here, but there may be a path beyond here. I'll be fine." Teluve glanced at Yinor.

Yinor gave a subtle nod, "My brother's right sister Bimy, we need to find a way out of here, nothing major will happen so brother will be fine." Yinor reassured Bimy.

"But-" Bimy looked at Teluve, unwillingness in her eyes.

Teluve walked up to Bimy, giving her a quick kiss, "Don't worry, remember let those who seek righteousness be welcomed here, nothing bad will happen Bimy." Teluve comforted her, and moved to the door.

Bele stood by Bimy's side, and held her sister's hand.

Teluve moved up to the golden runes, they radiated with some kind of dormant power, reaching his hand out, *HmmmMMM.* The hum of the rune started again. As Teluve moved his hand closer he began to feel a mysterious feeling start wrapping around him, almost as if the air itself was enveloping him, it was an odd feeling, not uncomfortable, and almost welcoming. Teluve closed his eyes as he placed his hand over the rune, something washed over him, like a waterfall bearing down on him, he felt suffocated, then nothing. 

"A seed has finally come." In perfect harmony, two voices sounded, one deep, and resonant, the other gentle, and melodic.

"Who-" Teluve opened his eyes, finding himself no longer in the crystal cavern but in an ornate hall of crystalline architecture all fashioned from blue garnet, 8 pedestals of gold showcased precious treasures along the hall, the hallway's interior measured around 45 meters, unfolding into 8 distinct doors that lie beside each pedestal, and at the end of the hall there's a large golden tablet.

Teluve spent a moment taking in what he heard, and is now seeing, "What was that, where am I-GAH!" Teluve was cut off as something crashed into him from behind.

"Ow, my head." Bimy sat up rubbing her head, "Oh Lulu." Bimy found herself sitting atop Teluve's back.

Teluve turned over rubbing his nose, "Oh, that hurt."

Bimy blushed as she apologized, "Sorry, you disappeared suddenly when you touched the rune, so I ran after you." 

"What about the other-WOAH!" Teluve, reacting quickly, grabbed Bimy, turning his back to shield her, "GAH!"

"EEE!" 

"HISS!" 

"SQUEAK!" 

"AHHH!" 

"LOOK OUT!" 

"Rrrr-OWW-RRR!" 

A cacophony of sound echoed in the hall as everyone fell into a pile on top of Teluve.

"You, ok, Bimy?" Teluve asked in a strained voice, holding everyone in a push up position over Bimy.

Bimy nodded, "Yeah."

Teluve smiled, "Good." Teluve then turned his head to those on his back, "Now, could you all, get off me?" 

"Sorry brother Teluve, after seeing you and sister disappearing, we all rushed after you guys." Bele explained as Yinor helped her up.

"Hiss!" Flavi let out a dissatisfied hiss as she wrapped around Bimy.

Lifmy jumped on Bimy's shoulder, "Squeak." Lifmy let out a concerned squeak.

"I'm sorry for worrying you two." Bimy comforted her bonds, as she pet them. 

"Eee." Kedu chattered as he climbed Teluve's back.

Teluve scratched the back of Kedu's ear, "Hey buddy."

"Wow, so this is the vault." Yinor took in the hall, as everyone gathered themselves.

"It's quite impressive." Bele said as she skimmed through the hall.

"It really transported us to a treasury." Bimy looked around in awe of the hall as Teluve helped her up.

Teluve's brow furrowed as he looked around the hall, "The structure must've served as a gateway, it should be an array of some kind, one I've never seen before." Teluve frowned, "But, is this the legacy?"

Yinor's head tilt, "What do you mean brother, we've entered, shouldn't this place be the legacy." 

"Although this is the vault, but I doubt this is the legacy mentioned, remember it said let those that might receive our legacy be a blessing to their generation, the founder wouldn't let just anybody obtain it." Teluve looked up, narrowing his eyes towards the golden tablet, and smirked, "So there's more."

"Wow." Bele stood in front of one of the golden pedestals, captivated.

Yinor hearing Bele moved over to her side, "What are you looking at Bele?" Yinor looked at the golden pedestal, a golden herb sat atop it, encased within a clear crystal lattice.

"Y-Yiny do you know what this is?" Bele asked in a shaky voice, unable to contain her excitement.

"No. Is it something good?" Yinor hearing Bele's voice couldn't help but look twice at the golden herb.

The golden herb is a flower about 8 inches long with a cup shaped form, six elongated petals were arranged symmetrically around a central structure, the petals giving off an intense golden hue, at the center of the flower were three crimson-red stigmas, and three golden stamens.

"Yinor this is a golden saffron, a perfection grade herb, it has an assortment of uses, but its medicinal use make it highly valued among alchemists, if its essence is refined into an elixir it can be used to even completely purify one's body."

"Wow, this little thing is something so wonderous." Yinor was surprised, a perfection grade material of any kind was extremely precious, and highly valued do to their rarity, and potency, this flowers grade alone made it a priceless treasure, but the value of body purification wasn't to be understated, any body cultivator would recognize the immense value this held, even mortal graded materials with similar effects were highly contested in the market, but this herb was perfection grade, if it's used to purify one's physique completely it would improve this very  foundations as a body cultivator to such a degree that they'd be able to fight across realms. With all these factors, this herb is a treasure that even some nations would willingly bid over. 

Bimy's eyebrows raised in surprise as she walked up next to Bele,"It really is a golden saffron, I remember reading about it from one of mama's herbals. They're extremely rare. I'm surprised there's one here." 

"If I take this, do you think I could match my brother's physical cultivation?" Yinor asked half jokingly.

"He he." Both Bele, and Bimy giggled.

Bele smiled, gesturing to the golden saffron, "Yiny while the golden saffron is a wondrous herb, it has no hope of closing the gap between your, and brother Teluve's potentials for body cultivation, not to mention brother Teluve's body aspect." 

Bimy smirked, "Brother Yinor, Lulu was determined to have perfection grade physical potential, and his aspect enhances his physical abilities to an absurd degree." Bimy's brow furrowed, "Your body potential was graded at low earth grade right? I'd say that if you took this golden saffron it'd elevate you to low, or mid heaven grade potential." Bimy turned to Bele, "What do you think sister?"

Bele nodded, "That should be close to what I'd expect." Bele looked to Yinor, "But if you're able to extract all you could from the golden saffron you may even be able to reach peak heaven, or possibly low divine grade."

Yinor looked back to the golden saffron, wide eyed, "This flower is incredible."

Teluve walked up placing his hand on Yinor's shoulder, "It would be a huge boon for you, but how do you get the flower? The lattice looks like it’s connected with the pedestal."

"I'm not sure." Bele reached for the crystal lattice to examine it.

As Bele's hand got close to the crystal lattice, “HmmMMM." A familiar humming sound emitted from it, before Bele could react her hand had already touched the crystal. When her hand made contact with the crystal lattice something interesting happened, the lattice began to dissolve, until there was no remnant of the crystal lattice, leaving the golden saffron freely sitting atop the pedestal.

Bele quickly pulled out an herb keeper, a small container made of a rich darkwood, and a silver tweezer, gingerly storing the golden saffron inside before returning the container into her storage ring.

Teluve's eyes narrowed at the phenomena, "Hm, are these pedestals set with a similar array to the gateway. Or, are we inside a massive array, and how come these arrays are still functioning?" Teluve was fascinated.

"Do they simply open upon contact?" Yinor questioned as he approached another pedestal.

Yinor placed his hand on another lattice, however this time there was no sound, no reaction at all, "Why'd nothing happen with this one?" Yinor removed his hand to look at what was contained in the crystal lattice.

What lay at the top of this pedestal was unique, a stunning ornate layered necklace resting there, the necklace made of gold, featuring intricate detailed runic engravings. The necklace has three layers in total, the first layer looked to be around 14 inches long, the second about 16 inches, with the third being around 18 inches, each layer having diamonds arranged along its length, with each layer coming to a central structure. And in the center of the necklace lies a stunning jewel, a blue diamond, the diamond measured roughly 1 inch, by 1 inch, by 3/4 inch, its color a deep dark blue, the gem radiating with manna.

"Wow, what a beautiful necklace." Bimy walked over, stunned by the beauty of the necklace.

"Bimy, what do you think of this necklace?" Yinor asked.

"I'm no expert, Lulu actually made fun of me earlier for not recognizing some rough diamonds we found, but I can tell by the design, it's crafted by a true master, a real elegant piece, and the manna that's surging around it, it must have a potent enhancement, if I could look at it more closely I may be able to tell." Bimy reached for the crystal lattice.

“HmmmMMM.” As Bimy's hand closed in on the lattice, a similar hum sounded in the room, "It's reacting!" Yinor’s eyebrows raised in surprise, "But, why is it only reacting to you?" Yinor questioned, as Bimy pulled her hand back.

"I have a theory." Teluve walked over, "It seems that these pedestals each contain within them an array, like the gateway these crystal lattices react only when someone meets a certain pre-set condition. When someone meets those requirements, the seal is released." Teluve looked to Yinor with a thoughtful gesture, "Since the requirements for each one of these lattices appear to be different, you simply failed to meet the requirements to undo the seal."

Yinor smirked, "No wonder it had no reaction to me, but then, what could the conditions be?"

"It may be determining the most suitable individual that can best make use of the item, Bele's aptitude for alchemy is certainly high, which is why I believe the seal for the golden saffron yielded to her." Teluve paused for a moment as he examined the crystal lattice, "How these arrays are measuring aptitudes I have no clue, and why the seal for this necklace reacted to Bimy." Teluve turned to Bimy, "It's likely due to your aptitude for jeweling."

Bimy smiled, "I see." 

Bele moved next to Bimy, then looked over to Teluve, "Brother Teluve, why don't we test to see if the lattice reacts as you've said? If it doesn't react to anyone else, it should be safe to assume your theory's correct." 

"That's a good idea sister Bele, let's see." Teluve drew his hand close to the lattice, after a time, "No reaction." Teluve withdrew his hand, and looked to Bele, "Your turn sister Bele."

Bele nodded, and moved her hand towards the lattice, but nothing, no reaction, "Hm, it didn't react to me." Bele looked to Bimy, and gestured to the lattice, "It only reacted to you sister."

"Right." Bimy once again reached her hand forward, *HmmmMMM." Placing her hand upon the lattice it dissolved, the necklace free to be taken.

Picking up the necklace, Bimy could instantly feel a sensation of calmness wash over her, her mind cleared, and her focus heightened.

Bimy, wide eyed, looked at the necklace, "Wow just touching the necklace has such an effect." Bimy then took out a loupe, from her storage ring, placing it to her eye she began to examine the necklace, "It's definitely augmented, there's runic engravings all across the surface, the gemstones are also very high quality, clear color, no blemishes, beautiful polish. There's an interesting phenomenon with the arrangement of the stones too, they're drawing the ambient manna into the large blue diamond." Bimy put away her loupe, and narrowed her eyes at the necklace, "Hm, unfortunately I can't tell what grade the materials of the necklace are."

Teluve examined the necklace from the side, sensing the abundant manna within the gems, and how the manna around it flowed to it, like a stream to a pool, "Should be a powerful enhancement based on how it's affecting the ambient manna, regardless it's a great item." Teluve smiled at Bimy, "Put it on Bimy."

Bimy looked to Teluve, "Can you help me?" She handed the necklace to him, turning her back to him, she pulled her hair up revealing a portion of her gorget, and fair neck.

Teluve moved behind Bimy, undoing the clasp of the necklace, he wrapped it around her neck, "There." Teluve clasped the necklace, smiling as Bimy turned around.

"Thank you Lulu." Bimy smiled, a slight blush on her face.

"You look beautiful." Teluve looked at Bimy, the necklace complementing her beauty, the gold, and diamonds contrasting with her dark-golden hued brown skin, "Do you feel anything different?"

Bimy closed her eyes, a moment later she opened them, "Other than a calming effect, and my senses being heightened, No." 

Teluve thought for a moment, "You may have to attune your manna to it."

"I'll do that later when we find a moment to rest." Bimy looked around the hall, "Lets finish exploring this place first."

Checking the rest of the pedestals in the hall, they discovered that each pedestal actually served as a key, with its held item representing what lie beyond the corresponding door, these doors actually being set with spatial arrays that when touched, after the item of their pedestal was claimed, transported them to various chambers of different sizes, the chamber of the door by the golden saffron turned out to be an alchemy lab, easily a 50 meter by 50 meter space, full of various grades of herbs, and minerals, multiple recipes, and techniques were stored upon its multiple bookshelves, the moment that Bele entered the room she nearly fainted from amazement, thankfully Yinor caught her just as he was teleported in. When Bele had calmed herself she became concerned as to how they'd be able to collect all these items, the space of their storage rings, and crystals were already close to full capacity, but then she noticed another pedestal at the center of the room, on that pedestal was an amulet, it happened to be a storage crystal, with the internal space to perfectly store all the contents of the alchemy lab inside. This process replayed for the other 7 chambers, Bimy gathering the contents of a 40 meter by 40 meter jeweler's studio, Teluve acquiring both a necklace of his own, an amulet, and a law fruit, an apple, as well as the contents of two chambers, one that was 50 meter by 50 meter space, set up as an augmentor's workshop, the other chamber a 40 meter by 40 meter kitchen space. Yinor collected a new greatsword, as well as the contents of a 70 meter by 70 meter smithy, Bimy then gained a robe, and the contents of a chamber like a 40 meter by 40 meter tailor's shop. The last two rooms were more general, one of them being an actual treasury, 30 meters by 30 meters, full of gold bars, silver bars, precious gems, Yinor acquiring a large rainbow colored gem from the pedestal outside the chamber, lastly Bele received a technique, as well as the contents of the final chamber, a 50 meter by 50 meter library, full with a multitude of techniques in the form of books, and scrolls. After harvesting everything, they acquired an assortment of treasures, ranging from precious metals, gemstones, spices, woods, wondrous items, scrolls, manuscripts, ornate boxes, relics, weapons, and armor, most of which they stored away in their newly acquired storage crystals. After extensively going over their harvest, dividing the items based on each other's strengths, and needs, some are already making use of their new-found items. Yinor equipped his new greatsword, Bele wearing a new set of earrings she got in the jeweler's studio, and Teluve wearing his new amulet, the other items they didn't don, or equip for now, simply storing them away. Once they'd finished, they turned their attention to the golden tablet that lay at the end of the hall.

The golden tablet is drastically different from everything they had seen thus far, it reached a height of 15 meters, with a width of 5 meters, like the massive blue garnet gateway it had similar runic engravings, but what's different is that this tablet radiated with an oppressive power, immense pressure suffocated anyone who tried to get close, everyone except for Omani, Teluve, and Yinor. Omani seemingly unaffected by the pressure, while Teluve, and Yinor struggled to deal with it, Omani, Teluve, and Yinor slowly made their way towards the golden tablet, while the rest waited just outside its pressure.

Bele's eyebrows raised, she looked to Bimy, "Why is Omani fine, brother Teluve, and Yiny seem to be struggling." 

Bimy closed her eyes a moment, "Hm, Omani has the greatest physical strength out of all of us so the pressure might not be affecting him much, and Lulu isn't far behind Omani, he seems to be struggling only slightly. Brother Yinor is quite strong too thanks to his powerful spirit, the pressure seems to be taking its toll."

Bele narrowed her eyes towards the golden tablet, "But why couldn't we even pass through sister? Or, at least Flavi, she's physically stronger than Yiny, but that pressure just kept forcing all of us out whenever we tried."

"Right." Bimy had a thoughtful gesture, her brow furrowing, "Could it be that the pressure has less effect on those with higher grade potentials, and aspects."

Bele looked over to Bimy, "What does that have to do with the pressure sister?"

Bimy gestured to Flavi, "It's as you said sister, Flavi is strong, even slightly stronger than brother Yinor, if even she can't pass through this pressure then that means physical strength isn't the key, so It must be something else." Bimy paused then pointed to Omani, Teluve, and Yinor, "But, if it's based on potential than it would makes sense why only those three can pass through, Omani's body potential is the highest amongst us, while Lulu's body aspect is unprecedented, the same with brother Yinor's spirit aspect."

Bele's eyes went wide, "So the pressure allows thoughts with ultimate grade potentials, or aspects to pass through, what's on that tablet for it to require such an absurd criteria?"

Bimy shrugged, "Something beyond what we could imagine, I'd expect it to be nothing less than something more life changing than all the wealth of our families combined." 

Bele stared at the golden tablet, then to Yinor, speechless.

"AH! This pressure is insane, I feel like I'm gonna collapse brother." Yinor cried out, falling to his knees.

"Rrrr!" Omani let out a rolling growl as he labored up to support Yinor.

"Come on brother, guh, don't give up, we're almost there." Teluve encouraged Yinor through gritted teeth.

Teluve had a hard time himself enduring the pressure, he felt a crushing force from every angle, every step closer to the golden tablet only getting harder as the pressure amplified in its intensity, the only reason Omani, and Teluve were able to withstand to this point is because they had significantly stronger physiques than Yinor. Yinor's powerful spirit may strengthen his overall being, but it couldn't close the gap between him, Omani, and Teluve in terms of physical strength.

Yinor threw his arm over Omani, standing with his support, he clenched his jaw, and continued moving.

One difficult step after another, Omani, Teluve, and Yinor moved closer and closer, only 30 feet separating them from the tablet, "GAH!" Pained cries escaped them, but they persisted, once they reached the tablet the pressure disappeared.

"Hah, We, hah, made it." Teluve collapsed on his hands, and knees as soon as the pressure left him.

Yinor fell beside Teluve on his back, breathing heavily, "Rrrr!" Omani chuffed, panting, as he lay down.

Taking a moment, catching their breath they now beheld the golden tablet, radiating with unbelievable power.