Going over to a palm tree, Sydra picked up a coconut that was on the ground and split it open. Drinking the milk inside, Sydra felt his body rejuvenating as the warm breeze washed over him. The others had started taking off their clothes, and began running towards the water.
"Haha, this is my first time seeing the sea," Robert said as he jumped into the waves and splashed in the water. The others were quick to follow suit, with Siel turning into a large sea dragon and using his tail to create small waves. Only Sydra was still on the beach, as he was looking around at the surroundings. This island was meant to be one of the ten ruins, so there must be more to it than a gateway back and forth. Sydra was hoping to find something interesting on the island and maybe locate an already made boat. If people had lived on this island before, then they were sure to have at least fishing boats.
"Hey, I'm going to explore the island and make a map at the same time. We can stay on this island for a while, as we have made quick progress over the past few days," Sydra said as he pulled out a large piece of paper and a pencil.
"Alright, if you find anything you know where we will be," Robert yelled back, before being pushed under the water by Cidre. Shaking his head at the group, Sydra summoned his crystal wings and flew up into the air. Looking around, Sydra located the middle of the island and flew to the centermost point.
'Hmm, this island seems to be around the same size as my Arbor Sanctum, but I can't see much past the foliage. I'll just do an outline of the island, before flying back down and exploring the rest on foot,' Sydra thought as he folded his legs like he was sitting down, and placed a piece of wood on his lap to act as a table. Hooking the paper up to the piece of wood, Sydra began to do a light outline of the edges of the island. He also marked out important landmarks, including a small lake in the middle of the island, the cliff on the north side, and the gateway the group had traveled through. Floating around in the air above the island, Sydra also marked down any creatures he saw roaming the island. It would be important to get an idea of how dangerous the island was.
'I don't see anything that resembles a small village, but there may be one hidden," Sydra thought as he descended from the air to get a better look at the island. Flying around the edge of the island, Sydra saw that the cliff on the north side of the island was pocketed with small holes.
"Those look like windows," Sydra said as he flew closer and looked inside one of the holes. On the other side was a small room was a large bed covered in dust in the corner of the room and a two-person dresser with a painting that had fallen over on it. Excited, Sydra grabbed onto the window sill and hopped into the room, landing softly on the floor. Once inside, Sydra looked around the room, before walking over to the painting.
'To my beautiful wife, love Parker,' Sydra read the words on the back of the painting before looking back at the front. The painting was of a sunset with a woman sitting on the edge of a cliff watching it. Sydra assumed the woman was Parker's wife, and Parker had been the one who painted it.
'I wonder why they left this behind, but there is nothing else here,' Sydra thought as he set the painting back down and headed over to the doorway. The door had rotted over time, and Sydra easily pushed it open and stepped into the hallway. Looking around, Sydra figured he was in a house that had been carved into the cliff and that house was part of a larger settlement. Except for a few pieces of furniture, nothing was left inside the house, and Sydra decided to see what the rest of the settlement looked like. There had to be something worth taking inside this place, and Sydra was determined to find it.
Exiting the house, Sydra was surprised to see that the houses were set up like a wide soup bowl, with each house being set on top of another one that was a little bigger than the last. The further down one got, the bigger the houses would be before they stopped at the bottom. In the very center of the houses was a large stone floor that had multiple stalls set up around it. It was also connected to a harbor where a few boats were floating in the water. At the far end of the harbor was an archway that led from the settlement out to the sea, and was probably the main way people went in and of the settlement. Glancing up, Sydra noticed that the ceiling was covered in roots that had light green stones that illuminated the settlement with a soft glow.
At the moment, Sydra was standing on a small walkway and he was around halfway from the bottom. If Sydra wanted to go to the harbor, he would have to use the flight of steps that were built between the houses, but he decided to check out some of the houses first. Looking around, Sydra noticed one building that stood out from the rest, and that was the one that was the closest to the roots. The building was the only one at the top, and it went around the entire ceiling, with multiple doorways allowing people to go in and out of it.
'I'll search that place first, before going down and checking out the boats,' Sydra thought as he made his way up the stairs to the building. At the top of the stairs, Sydra placed his hand on one of the decayed doors, which fell apart as he applied a bit of pressure to it. Shrugging, Sydra stepped over the pieces of the door and entered the building. The stone floor was covered in a heavy layer of dust, and there were a few wooden boxes placed against the walls. Walking over to one of the boxes, Sydra lifted the top off and looked down at the contents. The box was filled with multiple small green rocks, that looked like the ones at the ends of the roots.
"Hmm, these could be of use to me," Sydra said as he sent the box into his Arbor Sanctum. He planned on tying the rocks to string and hanging them from the branches of his tree. After sending the rest of the boxes, which also contained the stones, into his Arbor Sanctum, Sydra glanced around and noticed a door that led to another room. Surprisingly, the door wasn't rotted this time, and when Sydra opened it, it didn't fall apart.
"This door was enchanted by runes to not decay, so there must be something important inside the room," Sydra murmured as he looked at the side of the door that was covered in runes. The room on the other side of the door was dimly lit, so Sydra pulled out a few of the glowing stones and tossed them inside. With the room lit up by the stones, Sydra could see that it used to be used as an office, as there was a desk in the middle and bookcases against the walls. On top of the desk was a journal, and the name Charles was written on the cover. Picking up the journal, Sydra opened it up to the first page and began to read.
'Day 1. We have entered into an agreement with nine settlements to not attack each other anymore. This is perfect because we have finally finished the gateway to an island that is in the Astire Sea, and we don't need to worry about others attacking us at the moment.'
'Day 13. The Gatekeeper has finished setting up a seal on the island so that it is hidden from the view of others. We plan on moving our people over to build a settlement on the island, that we have named Seasun Island. It is our way of showing our respect to our founder, Asher Sun, may he rest well.'
'Day 53. The settlement is complete, and we have begun a trading route with other islands. We will bring goods from the sea to people in the ten settlements, and vice versa. There is actually another island that is close by, that has people living on it.'
'Day 103. We heard that a new group has appeared in the ten settlements, and they call themselves the Emerald Tree group. No one is certain where their base is, but there have been rumors that they are creating a seed that will birth a special type of tree. Some of the ten settlements have decided to try and attack the group and take the seed from them. We plan on helping these groups out because the seed would bring our island great gains.'
'Day 376. The attack failed, and now all ten settlements have been given a warning. Leave the area around the Cloud Ascending Tree, and never come back. Many people in our settlement are afraid and have begun packing up and leaving. If this continues, there will be no one left on Seasun Island. I must do something, so this is my last entry into the journal. I will be taking the Huilon Pearl and become one with the island.'
Closing the book and setting it back down on the desk, Sydra began to think over what he had read. It seemed that there was a lot more to the story than he had heard so far, and his curiosity was growing. While thinking, Sydra checked the rest of the building, before heading back down to the harbor when he didn't find anything.