If it weren't for the fact that it was but a husk of an elemental, Professor Atkinson and Dolores would have thought this Chinese lantern, whose entire body and frame were all made of solidified and crystalized energy, with almost perfect blend of lightning, wind and ice magical energy, a well crafted magical construct.
There was a source of light at the center of the lantern, but it seemed somewhat distant and fragile. Unlike actual Chinese lanterns, there were no gaps at the top or bottom for one to look inside to place candles as the source of light. And unlike the previous husk made of mostly dissipating water energy, the energy that made up this lantern was barely dissipating, if at all. It was not moving either, and was just floating in the air, like a lifeless balloon.
"Its energy is very stable." Dolores examined the lantern and said: "Too stable, I'm afraid."
"Yeah." Professor Atkinson acknowledged with a frown: "It's like it was never alive. The other husk was at least able to swim away."
"Hey, Lin'Er. My apologies for bringing this to you. But … I think we need to understand this - is this normal?" fully understanding that Lin'Er was upset by the sight of husks, Dolores had to ask her the hard question that was starting to bother her and the professor.
"Um - no, not really. I have heard of cases like this, but this is the first time I've get into contact with one." it seemed that Lin'Er could barely take a direct look at the lantern husk: "Usually, without the core to attract and stabilize the magical energy from the surrounding environment. But this - this barely makes any sense."
"My apologies, but I have one more question." Professor Atkinson asked with a soft voice: "Can you tell us how we can find someone who has experience studying and dealing with this phenomenon?"
"Yes, that - that I can do." Lin'Er sighed and nodded: "Let's do it after the ritual, shall we?"
"Yes, yes, of course." Dolores nodded and bowed: "Thank you very much! We really appreciate it."
While Dolores and Professor Atkinson slowly backed away in an attempt not to upset the very distraught Lin'Er any more, a cheer came from an altar several altars away from their position. When they turned to that direction, they saw that a butterfly with two wings that were of different sizes and colors rose to the air, and flew around the crowd that were surrounding the altar leaving a trail of sparkling particles in the air.
"Oh, finally an actual elemental." Professor Atkinson let out a breath of relief, for even though he was not that familiar with how elemental newborns presented themselves to the world, he could still clearly sense the difference between this butterfly and the lantern in his hands, still silently giving off dim light from its center.
"Yes." Lin'Er sounded more cheerful and less devastated: "Finally, let's hope it continues."
The subsequent births of elementals went relatively more smoothly, there were twenty seven new elementals, with different shapes and sizes and manifested elemental power, and three more husks, two of which barely made it through the initial shaping phase and just busted right on the altars, turning into dissipated energy in the air, and the last one became a snake with rough stone and clay scales. With the permission of the elementals, Professor Atkinson also took the snake with them. Dolores was quite surprised by the attitude, since she would imagine with the low "birth rate" of elementals they would be much more stringent on the ways in which one should treat the husks. But she did not have the heart to inquire about this of the elementals around, since though they did not appear to care much about how they treat the husks, they still appeared greatly saddened by their occurrence.
This ratio of elemental vs. husks seemed to have weighed on Lin'Er, but not to an unbearable extent. When the birthing ritual was over, she took both Professor Atkinson and Dolores to the Temple of Knowledge, one of the few original temples preserved from before the rupture.
The temple was half open air and surrounded by bunkers and watchtowers, with one half a dome on top of a pool filled with clear and still liquid at the center. The dome looked like it was damaged, as its edges look crooked, but upon careful observation it seemed that the dome was built this way. There were actual cracks on that half of a dome, but the edges to which a "missing" half seemed to be connected, were apparently designed in that way.
"Welcome to the Temple of Knowledge." the one guarding the pool was an old elemental taking the form of a tall cyclop with four arms and a hunched back sweeping the ground with a broom, whose body seemed to be made of dark grey smoke, who seemed like a Fog Dweller to Professor Atkinson and Dolores, but they didn't want to presume so they kept the questions to themselves for now.
"This is Bethemox, he's a Fog Dweller and the guardian of the Temple of Knowledge." Lin'Er bowed to the fog cyclop: "Master Bethemox, I brought the guests here. They have some questions for you. And they are here to try to get the blessings from the pool."
The fog cyclop turned to Professor Atkinson and Dolores, his giant eye was at first all blank, then two dark pupils appeared, one looking at the professor and one at Dolores.
Both of them felt a sense of unease, and not just because the slightly creepy eye with two moving and twitching pupils, but also that they sensed some information was being found out about them. There was one thing they knew would give them this feeling back home - Maykor's Sight, a rare but replicable artifact made with arcane magic in the shape of eyewear that shined of blue lights, which allows the wearers to find out information about almost anything they laid their eyes on. Only, the pupils of this Fog Dweller seemed much more powerful, yet much gentler and felt less invasive.
"You bear a great task with you, one that concerns the future of all voidborns." Bethemox said with a gentle and old voice and stepped to the side, showing Professor Atkinson and Dolores to the pool: "You shall proceed. May the pool find you worthy."