As Sydra pushed open the door to the Guildhall, he noticed that the number of people inside had dwindled in size. The remaining people were all standing next to Robert as they finished signing the contracts. Sydra walked over to Robert and glanced at the people surrounding the table.
"Has everyone else already gone to the temple ruins?" Sydra asked, moving out of the way as someone handed Robert another signed contract.
"Yeah, this is the last group here," Robert said as he motioned for one of his men to come over, "I'm going to take Sydra out back, send the rest of the people there once they're done,"
"Alright," The man says, taking the signed contracts from Robert, "Are you going to show him the guild's new runic vehicle?"
"That's right, I was thinking about using it to take the last group of people out," Robert replied as he led Sydra out of the Guildhall. The two of them headed to the back of the Guildhall, where something that resembled a futuristic tank rested, except without any guns.
The entire thing was coated in a golden-black luster, with two dark-green lines going down the center of it. The edges had been rounded to allow for better mobility, and it used treads to move across the ground.
"This is a new creation from the dwarves, called a Fluttershi, and it costed me around five thousand gold coins," Robert said as he ran his hand across the smooth metal, "It can hold a total of fifteen people at once, and reach up to speeds that can rival Emperor rank Flashing Woofhieghts,"
As Robert went off on a tangent about how he once fought with a pack of Flashing Wolfhieghts, Sydra began to study the runes engraved on the Fluttershi. The Dwarves had added several different types of runes for different effects, and Sydra was curious how they worked.
'It looks like the green ones are Gale Runes, and used to increase its aerodynamics, while the red runes at the back are Volcanic Runes, probably for increasing the speed at critical moments,' Sydra walked around to the other side of the Fluttershi, where he found even more runes, 'It even has Glacier Runes for resiting friction, Gravity Runes to keep it from tipping over, and I think those Lightning Runes are used to give it lights,'
"And that's how I was able to defeat the entire pack with only my War-Hammer, and a packet of meat," Robert said, finishing his story right as the man from earlier came out with the group of people following behind him, "Oh, are they all done, Gurud?"
"Yup, here are the contracts, signed and ready to go," Gurud responds, flapping a stack of papers in the air. Robert takes the papers away from Gurud before he can drop them, and starts scanning through them, making sure there aren't any problems.
"Alright. Thanks, Gurud, you can get back to work now. I'll take it from here," Robert said, sending the man away. "If everyone is ready, please follow me into the Fluttershi so we can head out to meet up with the others,"
Robert pulled out a small runic tablet in the shape of a crescent moon and pressed two of the runes that were on it. The runic tablet was the key to the Fluttershi, and also the only way to open the door on the side, which swung down to create a ramp for people.
The inside of the Fluttershi was more spacious than it appeared on the outside, and there were two rows of seats on each side of a path that went up to the front of the vehicle. Stepping into the vehicle, Sydra started to strap himself into one of the seats just like everyone else when Robert called him up to the front.
"Sydra, come sit up here with me," Robert said as he sat down in one of the two seats at the front. Sydra sat down in the seat next to him and looked around, noticing that there was a screen in front of him instead of a window.
'This world has both screens and systems, but the people still use swords and bows?' Sydra wondered, watching as Robert inserted the crescent-shaped runic key into a slot on the dashboard. As Robert twisted the key, lights began flashing on the dashboard, and the screen lit up, showing an image of the surrounding area around the Fluttershi.
"I can control the Fluttershi through these runes here," Robert explained, a wide smile on his face as he slid several of the runes around the dashboard, which caused the door in the back to shut, "I hope everyone is ready because we are about to go!"
Robert slid one of the runes that controlled the speed all the way to the top, causing the Fluttershi to shoot forward across the lawn. The instant movement of the Fluttershi caused several of the people in the back to scream, and one even passed out.
"Sorry about that, first time driving," Robert said, hurriedly sliding back the speed rune. Once it was back down to a decent speed, he slid another rune across the dashboard, this time changing the direction of the Fluttershi, "Alright, I think I've got the hang of it now,"
"You do know that we are headed straight towards the river, don't you?" Sydra asked, calmly watching the screen as the Fluttershi headed directly towards the town's riverbed.
"What?!" Robert shouted, pulling his gaze away from the runes to look at the screen. Seeing the river, he quickly stopped the Fluttershi from going any farther, "How the hell am I supposed to do this then?"
The problem was that Robert couldn't look at both the screen and the runic dashboard at the same time, which meant he didn't know what runes he was sliding while looking at the screen, and he didn't know where he was heading while looking at the dashboard.
"Do you mind if I try?" Sydra asked, sliding the runes to his side of the dashboard without waiting for an answer. Studying them for a few seconds, Sydra slides the speed rune back up while moving the steering rune back and forth to get the Fluttershi back on track, 'It feels like I'm playing a video game,'
Sydra drove the Fluttershi the rest of the way to the edge of the Emerald Sea Forest, where the rest of Robert's guild was busy forging a path to the Temple Ruins. Opening the door, Sydra let everyone out before looking back at Robert.
"With just a little bit of practice, I'm sure you'll be able to drive this thing just as well," Sydra said, patting Robert on the shoulder before leaving the Fluttershi himself.
"I would have figured it out... eventually," Robert muttered, glancing at the dashboard, 'It was just my first time, is all,'
Outside of the Fluttershi, Sydra heads over to the path being forged, which is wide enough that carriages and carts can travel down it once it is finished. The path is already halfway to the temple ruins, and people are using their abilities to knock down the trees. Sydra also spots several people cutting down trees with plasma weapons, the swords slicing through the tree as if it was paper.
"Why are they using swords to cut down the trees, wouldn't that damage the blade?" Sydra asked Robert, who had walked up beside him.
"That's because blades made with plasma aura are able to keep the trees from growing back overnight, so while it may damage the blades, it will be worth it if we have a path for at least a few days," Robert answered, before noticing the confused look on Sydra's face, "What is it? Why do you look so confused right now?"
"These trees can grow back overnight?" Sydra asked, glancing at the trees in disbelief, 'I hope I don't sound stupid for asking that,'
"Yeah, but I guess as a Nature Spirit, you've probably never cut down a tree before. Anyway, we don't know why these trees have the ability to grow back overnight, but at least we can get constant lumber from them," Robert said, "By the way, you can just head to the temple, I don't think we'll need you to help us cut down any trees,"
"Thanks, I'll go check it out then," Sydra said, leaving Robert behind as he quickly ran into the forest. After running for several minutes, he found himself looking at a massive wall, covered in roots and vines, 'I guess this is it, and I think I know why Robert wanted me to be one of the first people to explore it,'
When Sydra and Robert had met up for dinner, Sydra had mentioned that he had an ability called Plant Sight. The ability allowed him to connect with plants to create a sort of map in his mind, but the range wasn't very wide, which is why he didn't use the ability to try and find his way out of the forest before.
"Now how do I get inside?" Sydra wondered. He decided to follow the wall around until he reached a gate with two men standing in front of it. Both of the men were wearing Guild Tabbards that showed they were a part of Robert's Guild, and when they saw Sydra approaching they slammed the spears they were carrying into the ground.
"Halt, we need to see your insignia before we allow you to enter," The guard on the left said. Sydra pulled out the insignia from around his neck and handed it to the guard. The guard looked at it for a few seconds before glancing back at Sydra.
"Are you the one Robert hired to search the Buriel Chambers?" The man asked as he pulled out a hand-drawn map. Seeing Sydra nod, the man handed the map to him, "Alright, you'll be able to find it on the left side of the ruins. Its the one with what appears to be a man holding a flaming scythe standing in front of it,"
"Got it," Sydra said. He scanned the map of the ruins for a few seconds before handing it back to the man, "I've memorized the map, so I won't be needing that anymore,"
The layout of the temple ruins resembled that of a small kingdom, with a palace as well as a chapel for worship. However, everywhere Sydra looked was overrun with plant life. the entire place was run over by plantlife. Trees had erupted through people's homes, and roots filled the streets, making it difficult for a person to get through them.
'Whatever happened here, must have happened suddenly,' Sydra thought as he looked at the skeletons of several people trapped within the trees. Although their skulls couldn't show emotion, Sydra could imagine that they didn't die peacefully.
When he finally reached the Burial Chambers, Sydra found the man holding the scythe that the guards were talking about. Just like the Burial Chamber behind it, the statue was covered in a layer of roots, giving it a Plant Reaper appearance.
Sydra walked past the statue and up to the front door of the building, which was covered in a layer of roots. After cutting most of the roots out of his way with his dagger, Sydra crawled through the small opening he created.
'I wish I could just control the plants to move them out of my way,' Sydra thought as he slid down the rest of the roots. The interior of the Burial Chamber was much like the outside, and when Sydra pulled out his lantern, he saw that he was at the top of a staircase.
Sydra walked down the stairs and entered a large room with multiple doorways leading in different directions. Above each of the doors was a small plaque with a different title on each one.
'Let's see, Emporers, Nobels, Kingdoms Heros... Ah, here it is, Master Crafters,'
Sydra approached the doorway underneath the Master Craters plaque, believing that would be the most likely area where the forging manuscript for the Plasma weapons would be. However, before Sydra could enter the hallway, he felt the ground beneath his feet start to crack.
"Well... That's not good," Sydra said as the ground crumbled away beneath his feet. The floor had already been weakened from the roots tunneling underneath it, so when Sydra fell onto it, the already weakened floor broke completely, causing him to fall through it.
As he fell, Sydra bounced off of several roots before managing to grab onto one, which he used to slide the rest of the way down. Landing on his feet, Sydra looked back up at the hole he had just fallen through, "I don't I'll be able to climb back up there,"
"Yeah, the vines are more slippery than they seem," A voice said from behind Sydra, "By the way, you dropped your lantern,"
Whipping around, Sydra pulled out his dagger and held it to man's throat, "Who are you, and how did you get in here?"
"Whoa, hold on, I'm not going to do anything," The man said as he raised both his hands into the air, "My name is Cidre Swagger, and I'm stuck here just like you,"
Pulling back his dagger, Sydra studied the man for a few seconds. He was a few inches taller than Sydra, with red hair and a pair of spectacles. However, the thing that stuck out the most about the man was the fact that his eyes were glowing with a blue hue.
"Wait, I recognize you," Sydra said, "Your the man I met at the meat shop earlier today, but why are your eyes glowing?"