The Tokish Academy of magic.
A man at a desk is sorting through some paperwork humming to himself.
"Headmaster, James and Charles still haven't come back yet." A woman says bursting through the door obviously worried.
A handful of papers are flung into the air in surprise at the intrusion.
"They went to explore some ruins. It's obviously a dangerous job, give them a few days to get through it." The headmaster responds shuffling through paperwork. His orangish hair along with his build makes it obvious he isn't the meddling old man type.
"But your grace, they are 3 days late. They had 2 weeks to explore the ruins and come back, the
"Charles is a strong knight, he was one of our strongest in his younger years. James is also a powerful mage in his own respect." Ornum tries to return to shuffling papers, but quickly finds that he is now thoroughly distracted.
"That being said... three days past the return date with no contact is something Charles would never do. Something must have gone awry; Send a search party immediately and tell them to get those two back here, we'll chew them out for worrying us." Headmaster Ornum says before thinking a bit, knowing if those two encountered issues, nothing short of mobilizing the army could save them unless he were to go himself.
"Yes, your grace. I shall contact the guild at once." The secretary says as she starts to step out.
"Wait a minute, I've decided to go myself. Have a few of my knights ready to ride by sundown. Also commission some adventures to come along. Tonight we ride to Brinewall tomorrow, into the sea of sands. " Ornum says standing up straightening out the papers.
"Absolutely your grace!" The Secretary says running out to make preparations.
Once the secretary leaves Ornum Tokish leans back in his chair.
"My brother is gonna be upset, James was on his way to becoming his court mage and Charles only just retired from being the kingdoms knight commander." Ornum says with a sigh as he brings out some parchment and a quill and starts writing.
"If a beast killed Charles then we might need to contact the Empire." Ornum says as he heads to the mailroom of the academy to send a letter to the King. A room which houses several different birds that can be used to deliver letters to different cities throughout the continent.
=================
In a large extravagant castle.
There is a man in his late 20s sitting at a desk reading a letter. While standing besides him is a much older man wearing a grey robe holding a large staff.
"Hey, old man. It looks like your student ran into some trouble." The Young man says
"What do you mean your majesty?" The old mage asks.
"Well, He and Charles went to investigate some ruins that were recently uncovered in the Sea of Sand." He says holding the letter out for the old court mage to read.
"Is it far from here?" He asks knowing that the Sea of Sand is a dangerous place the farther in they went into the wasteland the worse its sickness usually is.
"Well, I signed off on it hoping we could uncover some ancient magic. It's about a day's walk from Brinewall." The king says
"How you've managed to remember every village name in the kingdom I will never know your majesty." The old court mage says
"We have dispatched some adventurers, and my brother seemed content on going to search for them himself." The king says
"I hope they don't stay out too long, weaker knights and Mages get sick from extended time in the desert." He says looking over the letter.
"My brother should be fine, he is stronger than me. If it wasn't for the fact I know he has no interest in the throne I would be worried." The King says knowing that his younger brother could have easily won the right to succession, but was too interested in exploring the limits of magic.
"He is one of the pillars of this kingdom, like I was back in my prime. Though I'm still knowledgeable, I'm fairly certain Ornum has even surpassed me in magic by now." The old mage says getting a nod from the king.
Let's just hope the two are alright.
=================
Meanwhile back aboard Starship Spiro.
"How do I dispose of the bodies?" Spiro asks herself looking down at the two husks on the ground that are starting to decay.
"I could usually just eject intruders out of the airlock, but I'm not in space right now." Spiro says talking to herself because it conserves memory, and allows her to hear things besides the buzzing of the nano machines.
"I could actually, probably, I think if I just muted the sound frequencies that are higher on the spectrum it could get rid of the buzzing." Spiro says doing a facepalm.
'This all feels surprisingly human.' Spiro thinks as she limits the wave frequency the microphone picks up.