The bright morning gave way to better thoughts than the night had left in the Marked.
Malcom waited at Maves station because the trip to be made required a long distance to be traveled.
There were still minutes before the hour was fulfilled, and inside Malcom's mind, a strange wish that that girl did not appear was found.
The young man found himself thinking that he tried to understand why he would not want to spend that time with the young woman. Still, before he could formulate an answer to that concern, Skyler appeared in front of him.
Skyler was getting off a very luxurious transporter and seeing the young man in the frame of the station entrance, she trotted a little to reach him. Malcom carried no baggage advantage of being a Materializer.
All the things he might need he carried carefully stored in his cards. He wore blue jeans ripped in the knees and his usual jacket with blue flame markings, a white short-sleeved t-shirt, and his boots with wings marking and on his head his characteristic hat.
The young woman stopped in front of him. "You never take off that hat, do you?" She asked while looking at him curiously.
The young man took the hat in his hands and, looking at it curiously, before asking, "You don't like the way I look?"
Skyler shook her head. She scrunched her nose before replying, "That hat is horrible, Malcom!"
Malcom smiled calmly and said as he started to enter the station, "You only say that because you don't know it."
The girl, confused by that answer, decided to continue ignoring the subject and asked as they went up the stairs, "Is the place we are going very far away?"
"Three hours by flight to reach the entrance to the valley," Malcom said, making it sound farther than it really was, "Then it will be six more hours by land."
The young woman stopped in her tracks at his answer, "Three hours on the fly? This place is very far away. We can't come back today, right?"
"No," Malcom answered, looking at her directly, "You are still in time to go back home…"
Skyler was thinking about the repercussions that this trip would bring. Still, with a look of determination, the young woman continued to climb.
Up in the station was a transparent platform that led to different walkways to take passengers to their departure ramps.
In it, several carts without wheels and with luminescent panels rested.
The Maves were huge cars in which 30 people could comfortably enter. They had long windows and looked a lot like the long cars of magic trains.
They had four antennas at each corner of the flying car: the luminescent reflectors that allowed the vehicle to become invisible once in the air.
This worked in case of encounters with bandits or wild creatures that could place them as their target.
Even in this age of development, the open field belonged to magical creatures.
The Maves was manned by four people who, from inside the wagon, placed their hand on the artificer panel to grant their magic power. The artificer panels under the wagon gave it the ability to fly.
A single couple was not enough to power the wagon throughout the journey, so the crew of that ship was made up of four pilots who replaced each other throughout the trip.
An observer who was in charge of making sure that the road was safe and a camouflaged man would give the reflectors power to turn the car invisible in the event of a hostile sighting along the way.
The company granted the possibility of adding one more member to the crew that covered the role of a guide if the passengers so desired. Of course, this service cost extra.
When the young people bought the tickets for the trip, it was Skyler who paid all the expenses. Malcom assured her that it was not necessary because she paid for said expedition anyway, but she insisted.
The Mave took off, and they were on the move immediately. Skyler watched the fields catching the warm morning breeze on the journey as the city grew smaller behind her. The young woman had traveled a lot in her life, but this was the first time that she decided to travel on her own and have a dangerous adventure. That kind of rebellion was not normal for her. Still, it encouraged a spirit that made her feel free.
As she watched the infinite, Malcom approached her.
"There are some things that we should talk about before doing this," he started.
Skyler looked at him seriously and then nodded.
Malcom continued, "You are going to enter an excavation with me. You must understand that here the dangers are real." When he spoke, his expression was serious, giving strong importance to his words.
The girl nodded in agreement and then said very confidently, "I come here because I want to learn. Just say what I must do, and I will do it without a doubt."
The smiling young man looked up at the sky, then muttered, "There are many kinds of magic and dangerous creatures in these places. Many of them do not pose a threat to a successor like you. But many others do. Especially in its habitat."
Malcom talked for several minutes about how dangerous creatures like trolls and Cyclopes could be. He also talked about how deceptive goblins could be and how deadly a centaur would be.
He spoke of many species and how dangerous they were, and the young woman listened carefully.
A small sound was emitted in the car, and everyone looked at the guide, who was speaking, "Good afternoon, passengers! I know you are calm and enjoying your trip, but our observer has glimpsed a dragon in the sky."
Everyone held their breath immediately, but the guide calmly continued with a smile, "Keep calm. The car has already been camouflaged, and the dragon could not detect our presence so easily. All who wish to observe him, please approach the windows on the right side of the car in an orderly manner."
Some got up to observe the creature prey to their curiosity. At the same time, other victims of fear decided to wait for that possible catastrophe to get out of their way.
Skyler watched as the dragon far away in the sky flew in the opposite direction to where the car was heading, and this caused her concern.
"Malcom! Are there chances that absurdly powerful creatures like that dragon guard those ruins?" She asked suddenly.
Malcom watched the dragon casually before replying, "Well, although it is possible, it is highly unlikely, especially since many of the traps and creatures in these places were placed there by the creators of those buildings. Reasonable ancient breeds or humans who migrated for various reasons."
"So?" Skyler frowned.
"No one uses any type of guardian that they cannot control," Malcom pointed out dismissively.
What he was saying made perfect sense, and Skyler put her eyes on the dragon as it flew away.
Malcom caught sight of her, and the thought of her gave her away with a familiar tone. He asked, "Are you thinking what it would be like to fight a Dragon?"
The girl smiled. She was playing with her hair thoughtfully.
"Like a Virtue, your responsibility is to keep people safe of those creatures!" Skyler responded while looking at Malcom.
Her mind was in a very hard dilemma. Still, she continued, "But even with all my power, I am helpless to that kind of creature. I guess I'm just thinking how strong the old virtues were. They had to fight all kinds of monsters."
Malcom watched her and then directed his gaze to the dragon and, with a smile, said, "Well, you have a weird way to think about your responsibility. Now, Virtues don't do any of that." He let go a sigh of frustration.
"Why do you hate the Virtues so much?" Skyler asked while looking at him curiously.
"They are supposed to protect everybody you know. But what do they really do? Just use that power to be as they please! While people like me have a very hard life to protect everybody, and we just received…" Malcom released a heavy sigh before he continued, "Hope you will be a different Virtue, though."
She looked at him with intensity. The evils that that boy had in his mind were so deep that she could not begin to understand them.
The life of the Marked was difficult. She was always aware of that, but it embarrassed her in a way that until now in her life, that thought was nothing more than an ornament in the background of her mind worried about her own perspectives and the problems of a life that currently did not seem so difficult.
Skyler took a deep breath. She stared at the horizon, "Maybe everything will improve in the future," she said in a longing tone.
Malcom smiled before he nodded, "That will depend on us."
And with those conversations, the three hours passed quickly.