Naya's ears snapped up, and she twisted her head back in shock.
She had expected to meet Sophia outside the tower after finishing the Witch. Yet here she was. Sophia managed to pass the Gardua, which Naya thought would be a tough challenge for any other race without her physical abilities.
"Surprised to see me?" Sophia stepped closer. Though she joked, her expression was grave as she kept her gaze on Carla's corpse. "I was surprised as well for you to disappear without me. Naughty Elf."
Naya only watched her move.
Sophia stopped behind Rula and placed her hand on the halfling's shoulder. "Rula, you put on a strong front, but you were still in her care for a long time." She looked at Naya. "This is only natural."
Naya was perplexed. She didn't understand why Sophia looked at her like that, as if there was a lesson to be learned here. "What?"
Sophia took her hand off Rula and reached down to take Naya's hand instead.
Naya instinctively tried to snap it away, only to hiss in pain, and could barely move it. Her ears twitched, and her face slightly flushed at the skin contact, though she could barely feel it. "L-let go!"
Sophia gently smiled in pity. "You poor girl, look how badly you were hurt." She pulled Naya's arm up to investigate. "I'm sorry I didn't rush to get you, Naya. Then this wouldn't have happened."
A human looking at her like that grated Naya's nerves, especially from one who kept acting like Sophia did toward her, an Elf. Still, she felt embarrassment that she couldn't understand.
--She will be good for you! --Lia whispered.
"I-I'm not a child! This is nothing!" She kept trying to pull her injured arm out of Sophia's, to no avail. "I would have killed the Witch either way!" Naya grumbled.
Sophia's eyebrows quirked. "Would have?" She reached down and swiped Naya's other arm; she pulled both up and held them, then looked Naya in the eyes. "You didn't kill her?"
[Damn it! This stupid human!]
Lia giggled. --It's not like this needed to be kept a secret, though whether you want to tell her about the Devil is up to you. Remember, she already knows you can kill them.--
Naya turned away to avoid looking into Sophia's inquisitive golden eyes.
--While your behavior is adorable, this tower will be gone soon, so we should make this quick.--
Naya steeled herself. Lia was right, and Naya didn't care nor know how this information would be useful to herself alone.
She turned back to Sophia and found her still gently smiling at her with her eyes drilling holes through Nayas'.
Her ears slightly twitched again. But she pressed her shameful embarrassment down, "She was dead when I got here; the Devil said she was killed by another Elf."
Lia made the noise of sucking air through teeth. --Too blunt!--
Sophia suddenly furrowed her brows and squeezed Naya's hands, which caused Naya to hiss in pain again. "That hurts! You stupid human! Let me go!
"Oh, sorry." Sophia complied and slowly put Naya's arms back down. "But you're going to need to give me a lot more details than that, Naya." Her tone wasn't playful anymore.
The sudden tone shift briefly shocked Naya, but it wasn't as if she hadn't seen Sophia act seriously before. Though, it was hard to treat her as a high-ranking member of a supposedly famous human organization.
Naya took a calming breath and reached into her pocket. She pulled out the letter she stored from Carla's room and pushed it out toward Sophia, "This was a letter she wrote not too long ago."
"Oh?" Sophia gently grabbed it and unfolded it.
As she read, the emotion on her face disappeared, replaced by a cold frown. "One of our own Kingdoms working with the Witches? To betray not just Humans but every race on Toral... " She shook her head. "This is a grave matter; thank you for bringing it to my attention, Naya."
Naya just nodded. "The Devil told me that Carla was killed by another Elf, and-"
"Stop!" Sophia held her hand out. "How did you speak to the Witch's Devil?"
Naya shrugged. "I don't know. Even Lia didn't know. It couldn't do anything and easily died, so it was still just 3rd Circle."
"A Devil should only come out as essence then disperse shortly after until at least 5th Circle." Sophia looked at Carla's body. "Even then, it should only have the ability to speak."
Naya saw her concern but didn't mirror it. "They'll die the same way and just as easily." Naya confidently said. Though now she may end up having to talk with more Devils, which didn't please her. [I'll just kill them right away.]
--Sadly, they might have valuable information. Especially if it's a Devil of a higher circle Witch. --
Sophia didn't respond. She tapped Rula's small head, and a gentle smile returned to her face. "Come, Rula, this tower will likely fall, and we don't want to be here when that happens."
Rula's eyes were no longer watery as she stood up, replaced by a despondent look. "I wonder if my Dad's okay..." She mumbled.
"I'm sure he is; Dwarves are the most tenacious race around." Sophia pat Rula's head.
"Yeah, you're right..."
Sophia kept her smile and turned to face Naya once again. "We have a lot to discuss, Naya. But I would much rather get those arms fixed up first. Come, we have a healer."
Naya was surprised. Not by the offer but that Sophia had access to a healer who would willingly work under someone. Even among the Elves, only a few could perform healing spells, and they enjoyed luxurious positions.
It filled her with nostalgia. She had been a frequent visitor to a healer during her childhood, as she'd get into many painful situations with her friends.
--Your name will be cleared, and you will see them again, Nayalisia.--
[I can only hope.]
Sophia was suddenly right next to her, and Naya jumped. "W-what?"
"Do all Elves give away their emotions as easily as you do?" She teased, with a familiar, playful smile back on her face.
Naya's ears twitched, and Sophia's smile widened.
"S-shut up!" Naya pushed Sophia aside and began walking out the door.
Right as she neared it, the tower rumbled.
First, the walls began to ripple like drops on a still lake; all across the room, the ripples started at different points and went out continuously.
Next, the tower began to rumble steadily. The noise and sudden violent shaking led to Naya nearly stumbling down the staircase, but she stopped herself with a hiss as she painfully gripped the wall.
"Rula, Naya, the tower is collapsing; let's go now!" Sophia took command.
Sophia grabbed Naya by her shoulder and pushed her behind, where Rula stood with her sketchbook in hand.
[Why is she taking control?]
--You're far too crude to be a leader, Naya.--
Naya disagreed but didn't respond, and the trio began to walk quickly down the spiral staircase.
The tower started to crumble; long cracks formed along the walls around them, and bits of the roof fell like rain.
They quickly reached the long hallway, and it looked different.
There were no longer doors in the long stretch of red, and the lights were flickering out, making parts of the hall pitch black; the edge was pitch-black as if eaten by the void and growing steadily.
"Wait! M-my paintings are still here!" Rula shouted.
"You would not have been able to bring them out." Naya coldly said. Even if the tower wasn't crumbling, there were hundreds of them. How would they possibly get all of them out?
"B-but all those people..." Rula didn't continue, and the trio eventually reached the end of the hall, where the paintings were stacked.
Naya came to a realization, and the sight in the dark end of the hall confirmed it.
--You were granted access via a gate; there is no door out of here.--
[The apparent need not be stated.]
--Just trying to help.--
The trio stopped before a blank red wall, no door in sight.
"What do we do?" Naya asked. As confident as she usually was, even she wasn't sure how to escape. [I will not die here... ]She was feeling anxious.
Sophia paused. "Hmmm~" She did not appear concerned.
As much as Naya found her annoying, seeing her so uncaring did wonders and helped keep her calm as well.
Rula was kneeling next to her stacked paintings, agonizing over having to leave them all behind. She had tears in her eyes again, as if suffering a significant loss.
Sophia looked over to the paintings and then back to Naya; her smile was now a frown, and she looked sad. "Well, I didn't want to have to leave you so soon, Naya."
Naya's eyes widened, "What?" Did she actually believe that they were going to die here? [Surely not.]
Rula also jumped up. "What's wrong?! Are we trapped!?" she shouted anxiously.
She smiled again. "You misunderstand." She walked up to Naya and immediately reached down to grab her hand.
"What?" Naya's ears twitched. This human was getting far too comfortable touching her as if it were nothing.
"I'll teleport you guys out of here." She stared into Naya's eyes. "Naya, when you get out of here, you'll be in Cornelia, one of the largest countries in the world and where Sanctum and the Adventurers Guild are headquartered."
A piece of the ceiling slammed into the ground behind Naya, making her and Rula jump.
"I won't-" Naya was about to refuse.
A piece of the ceiling fell and slammed into the ground behind Naya, which made her and Rula jump.
"No. I'm not asking you to join Sanctum, Naya. I wouldn't dare ask that of a noble Elf." She grabbed Naya's remaining hand. "Naya, I want you to join the guild."
"Absolutely not!" Naya instantly said. If she wasn't going to join Sanctum, why did Sophia think whatever the Guild was would be any different.
The cracks on the walls were growing audibly, with dust and rock falling to the floor; the constant rumble felt like the tower would collapse any minute.
"The Guild isn't the same; there would be nobody above you, and you can come and go as you please." Perhaps sensing Naya's next interruption, Sophia quickly added, "They only exist to facilitate quests. Naya, their information network is how you can find Witches. If a no-name village in the mountains thought they saw a Witch, the Guild would be the first to know."
--She's right. You don't have to agree, just consider it. For now, I'm more interested in how she intends to get you out of here.--
Naya listened to Lia and decided not to outright reject Sophia's offer. She would investigate the Guild and then decide later if they would be helpful for her.
She didn't want to have any mortal label attached to her name.
"How will you get us out?" Teleportation magic was ridiculously costly unless she somehow had an artifact. [No way.]
Sophia smiled in satisfaction. She knew Naya had conversed with Lia, so she spoke, "Lia, you're listening too, no doubt. You know what I am saying is correct, and I only ask that you guide her to it... Anyways..." She turned away.
Sophia walked to the blank red wall, then stopped and turned back to look at Rula. "Rula, I know what those paintings mean to you, so I will give you this."
She reached into her coat pocket and pulled out a pitch-black ring with complicated circles and runes engraved on the inside, while the outside appeared a dull silver.
--A spatial storage ring!--
[Humans have those?! ]To Naya, that was the most shocking thing she's seen thus far. Those rings weren't uncommon, at least in Aleria. But those rings were invented by her Mother a century ago, and she hadn't heard of them being distributed outside Aleria.
Rula reached up and grabbed it; her sad expression changed to joy, and she brightly smiled. "Thank you so much!"
Rula quickly put it on and began sucking up all of the paintings.
Sophia smiled at Naya. "These were part of the only exchange Aleria had with the outside world in centuries." Her smirk became cocky. "Your people underestimated our own Arcanists; you didn't think we'd be able to replicate."
"You-" Naya stopped; the truth was right before her. The mortal races had recreated her Mother's artifact. She wished she still had the one her Mother hand-crafted for her, but she was forbidden from bringing it along.
"Would you like one, Little Naya?" Sophia asked haughtily.
"I will never use a mortal fake!" Naya harrumphed.
Another chunk of the wall fell, and the back of the hall disintegrated rapidly as cracks began to swim toward their location.
Sophia chuckled and turned to the wall, "Well, I knew you'd say no."
Naya was annoyed but eagerly watched, curious about what sort of artifact Sophia would use.
Sophia simply placed her open palm on the red wall.
--This... this isn't real life... --Lia sounded horrified, even more so than with the Devil.
[What?]
From Sophia's hand, pitch-black lines came from both sides of her palm and quickly went out to the left and right.
They sped around the wall in an oval shape until they connected at the bottom. When they did, a sound similar to two magnets clapping together hit Naya's ears.
Instantly, the space in the oval was filed from bottom to top in a pitch-black shade. A continuous ripple came from the center and stopped at the edges.
[Teleportation... ability!? ]
Naya was nearly as shocked as Lia. She had never heard of that before, even among known abilities. Such an individual would be an incredible boon to any race and power; Naya believed even the Tribunal would move if they knew of it.
"Yup, my secrets out. I trust you won't spill anything, though, Naya. You too, Rula." Sophia moved to the side.
"I won't! But where am I gonna go?"
"No time; you'll be going with Naya."
"Too boring!" Rula shouted her objection.
Naya glared at her, and she silenced herself. "Never mind, it'll be fun!" she fake smiled.
"Go, now." She ushered Rula through the gate.
"Woah~," Rula said as she easily phased through it.
Naya stood before it and turned to look at Sophia. "W-will you be alright?" She hesitantly asked.
Sophia smiled brightly, "Naya, I will be there shortly; try not to miss me too much." She kissed her palm and blew it toward her.
--Haha!--
"Annoying!" Naya's ears twitched, and she stepped through the gate.
"Now, then." Naya heard Sophia's cold tone but couldn't see as the portal closed behind her.