Sahel watched from the roof as the small group walked out of the building and headed towards Traders Square.
"Are you sure this is wise?" He asked Marcosias, who had joined him to observe their progress. "Giving him free reign in the markets? What if he gets his hands on something that could upset the balance of power on the surface?"
"Oh, I don't think it will cause too many problems. He seems to be the secretive sort to me. Unless moved by altruism, I doubt he'd share anything he'd discovered during his time here. That's not even counting the problems he will face in acquiring anything of true value."
The Coreguard furrowed his brow. "You are suggesting that our people will not be willing to sell him their wares? Surely the Settlers would."
"Perhaps, but I wouldn't be so certain. They are aware of the possible consequences. More than likely, he will end up with a few trinkets at best. Nevertheless, I have to admit I am rather impressed. He handled that situation better than I would have expected for one of his age. So well in fact, that I would normally suspect him to be a Reincarnator in disguise." The Elder replied calmly, a hint of amusement in his voice.
Sahel started. "You think he is one of those fiends? I thought they did not get involved in mortal affairs unless it was to find new victims."
"Indeed. I initially thought as much, but after getting a good look at him, I changed my mind. Now, I can safely say that, while he bears some similarities to the Unborn, he is something else entirely."
It was said that the Elders possessed a skill that allowed them to see through one's soul. They could discover a person's darkest secrets and greatest achievements with a single glance. However, they were forced to keep most of this information to themselves as part of their divine curse, which made many of their actions quite mysterious to the rest of the Asani.
"I see. Then is there anything else you would like me to do?" He asked, hoping to get back to his usual duties.
Marcosias watched the group round a corner a move out of sight and paused for a few moments as if in contemplation. Finally he said. "No, you are free to return."
Sahel saluted and turned to leave. As he was reaching the door, the Elder called out to him.
"Fifth Spear, do me a favor and carry a message to your peers. Let them know that our exodus is nearly at an end."
The Coreguard stiffened for a moment, but managed to give a brief salute and leave without saying another word. However, it was not discipline that stilled his tongue, but fear. Fear of what the Elder's message foretold, and the horrors that no doubt laid in wait for them as the end of their mission grew closer.
Steeling his nerves, he went to spread the dark news.
-----------------------------
"Whew, that was rough." Morris commented weakly as they walked through the streets of the Asani city. He was looking a little dispirited, and Mike could easily guess the reason.
"I'm sorry you didn't get a chance to ask your questions. Maybe I can see about making some inquiries before we leave the island."
The bard shook his head. "Don't worry about it. I'm getting the feeling that any knowledge I get from them would come with a price I'm not willing to pay."
"Dangerous." Tal agreed.
"No doubt." Morris continued while rubbing his shoulders as if trying to get warm. "I could tell from the second that he walked into the room that I wasn't going to be getting anything from him. A being like that, you don't ask it for favors, you just pray that it overlooks you."
Tal, and even Lily, nodded in agreement. Evidently they'd both found the experience disturbing. Sera didn't comment, but then again she'd been silent since the meeting ended.
Mike frowned. Marcosias was fairly intimidating, but he didn't seem to be all that bad. Honestly, Morris's father seemed like a more dangerous individual. Then again, there had been that strange offer which had come up in the middle of their discussion. He'd been strangely tempted to accept it, and only decided to decline after Sera tried to warn him about something.
[Maybe lower Tier people see him differently? Well, whatever. Once we leave this island, it won't matter anymore, and I doubt that we'll be coming back.]
Wanting to lighten the mood a bit, he spoke up. "We should be getting there soon. Is there anything you'd all like to look for?"
Perhaps in an effort to go along with the attempt, Morris took up the question first. "I'd love to see what kind of books they have here, although I'd probably need your help to read them. If the stuff you mentioned from before is what constitutes a basic education for the Asani, I can only imagine the kinds of secrets their normal works would have."
"Good luck." Sera muttered quietly.
The bard gave a forced laugh. "Yeah, I figured that would be one of the things they'd be most hesitant about letting us have. Considering how polite and orderly everyone's been up to this point, I'm guessing we'll find that the only bookstores are currently closed for some plausible reason, and won't be open again until long after we've left. Still, there might be a few they're willing to part with."
"That's true. I'll keep an eye for them. Speaking of which, is there anything you are looking for, Lily? I bet they have some fascinating…" Mike trailed off once he realized that she was no longer following them.
[Alright, don't panic. Nothing's exploded yet, so she can't have gotten far.]
He quickly activated Aerosense, and scanned his surroundings, locating her just as she walked through the doorway of a nearby building. Above the entrance was a sign emblazoned with the letters 'Arms Depository.' Based on the signals he was getting, not only was there no one in the building besides Lily, but many of the secure areas had been left open in the chaos that had accompanied the attack.
"Crap, crap, crap, crap…" He muttered as he raced to catch up with her, already imagining the kinds of destruction she could cause with Asani weaponry at her disposal.
The door into the depository was a few meters off of the ground in the manner of the buildings on this island, but that was little impediment to him, as he was able to easily clear the distance in a single leap.
Inside, he found a sort of checkpoint that would have prevented unauthorized visitors from traveling further inside if it had actually been manned. Instead, the heavy door that led further into the compound was left hanging ajar. Without a second thought, he ran on through.
Mike passed by several chambers which housed a vast array of weaponry. There were racks of the spears and polearms he'd seen the Asani warriors carrying, as well a variety of more esoteric armaments whose exact purpose was unclear. He finally caught up to Lily in one such room that appeared to be solely dedicated to complex looking crossbows.
While there were still long rows of bolts lying in stacks on a nearby table, she was carefully examining something a bit more complicated. For all intents and purposes, it looked a bit like a long, thin glass tube with fletching on one end, and a sort of smooth rounded point on the other. Inside were two compartments separated by another layer of glass. Each of these were filled with a different colored liquid. One was a transparent grey, while the other was distinctly yellow and practically opaque. There were hundreds more slotted into a kind of storage device on the wall behind her.
Guessing that it was probably some type of explosive, and any accident now would likely trigger a chain reaction, Mike tried his best to remain calm. "Lily, I know that looks pretty interesting, but you shouldn't be in here. The Asani probably wouldn't like you messing with their weapons like that."
Without looking up, she muttered. "This would work…"
"Maybe you could set that down for the time being. I'm sure we can figure out what's going-" He asked while slowly approaching her, trying to avoid making any sudden motions, but cut off when she casually dropped the tube, as if it didn't contain a highly volatile substance.
A quick application of Air Magic kept it from becoming a tragic event, but it was a near thing.
"I need to go back." She announced while he was gently slotted the explosive back with its fellows.
"Go back to the ship? Can it wait? There are still a few things I want to do here."
Lily gave him a blank stare for a few seconds, then shook her head. "No, cabin. I have something I need to look into."
"I see…" He replied uncertainly.
[Did she get an idea from those weapons? If so, I'm not sure if it is a good idea for her to pursue it. If she has a tendency to create havoc unintentionally when working on normal alchemical products, I can only imagine what it would be like if she actually tried to make explosives.]
That being said, he'd known Lily long enough to be aware of her stubbornness, or rather her lack of common sense when she was focused on something. He doubted that he could really convince her to drop the matter until she's tried it at least once. Even then, it would be difficult.
"For now, let's get back to the others. It would be a bit awkward to explain what we're doing here if any of the Asani show up. We can talk more about it later."
Surprisingly, she didn't protest, and allowed herself to be taken back to the rest of the party, who'd gone as far as the entry hall. After a brief exchange, they left and headed towards the region of the city referred to as Traders Square.
Sahel had told him that, although there won't be much up and running yet, the more enterprising members of his kind would likely already be selling their wares, no doubt hoping to capitalize on the destruction left behind by the crash.
Mike was initially a little skeptical, since it seemed like the civilian Asani would have enough troubles repairing all of their houses, but apparently, the entire island was riddled with underground chambers where the majority of the populace had their primary homes.
Thanks to millennia of reinforcement and maintenance, the actual structure of the Asan was quite durable, making it the ideal location to store important or valuable belongings. The same could not be said of the surface, where periodic attacks from Invaders meant that anything built there would have to be impermanent by nature.
As a result, most of the island's inhabitants ended up having two homes. An underground one meant for security, and an above ground one meant for comfort.
[That reminds me. I never did get a chance to talk to ask Sahel about that. If they've had thousands of years of experience fighting these things, why was the damage so bad this time?]
He was distracted from his thoughts when the market district came into view. Up until this point they'd been walking in deserted streets, with no sign of any life, but that changed radically once they arrived.
"Meat pies for sale! In support of the reconstruction efforts, we are having a one time deal. Buy three and get the fourth for free! Come on in and build up your strength before you start working."
"Rubble got you down? Then try our new automatic shovels! You'll be done rebuilding and sitting back with a glass of Spring Wine while your neighbors are still trying to dig out their front door."
"We know that you've suffered a terrible loss since the most recent invasion. That's why the Mason Brothers are here for you. Act now, and enjoy a one-time, fifty percent discount on your new surface home. Don't wait! We can only take on so many orders, and slots are running out quickly!"
After the quiet thoroughfares they'd been using, the chaotic market seemed like another world entirely. There were hundreds, if not thousands of the Asani occupying the square and the airspace above it.
[This...is not quite what I anticipated.]
While he was in the middle of staring upwards at the flock of avian humanoids, Morris nudged his elbow and pointed. Following his finger, Mike noticed that there was a fairly large pocket of people to one side of the area. At first, he wasn't sure what his friend was trying to let him know, but then he realized that most of the members of the crowd weren't Asani. In fact, quite a few of them were human.