Bimy, and Teluve after concluding their battle with the daemonized mahtaan rushed over to Bele, and Yinor.
"Brother! Yinor! Bele! Sister!" Teluve, and Bimy yelled out as they ran.
As they drew closer Yinor, a son of enura about 7 feet 2 inches tall looked over, "Your both ok! That's a relief, thanks be to the Ancient of Days."
Yinor shared many similar features with his brother Teluve, he has a strong, and compact V shaped body, a little thinner than Teluve, smooth scales of black, and brown were seen from the visible portions of his neck, layered over his skin. He's beautiful with short wavy black hair that looked like folds of silk, his face symmetrical, with a clear complexion of brown skin, his hazel-green, dilated slit pupil eyes are bright, and gorgeous with full thick eyebrows that frame his eyes, he has a straight proportioned nose, his lips full, just slightly thinner than Teluve's, with his strong, and defined jawline adding to his masculinity.
Covering Yinor's form is an ornate suit of full plate armor, beautifully forged of a silver colored metal, upon each piece of his armor featured intricate, and delicate designs of valley lilies, and lotus flowers, surrounded by leaves, and vines, all of which transitioned from bold embossing, to embedded golden inlays, to detailed engravings, this gave the armor a rich, and textured image as it moved from the bolder motifs, to the finer elements, the armor a clear work of expert craftmanship, and artistry. He wore a segmented gorget of overlapping plates around his neck, gold inlays highlighting its edges, and articulation points, as well as a polished opal gemstone set in at its center. His pauldrons were large, guarding his shoulders, and upper arms, its edges gilded, and set in their center is a single opal. A breastplate, and backplate covered his torso, its central area raised, and featuring a large polished opal with embossed lotus petals around the gemstone, the borders all inlaid with gold, and its rivets all made of gold. The faulds, and tassets hung from the bottom of his breastplate, covering his hips, and upper thighs, each segment bordered with gilded edges. Yinor's vambraces, and couters protected his forearms, and elbows, both articulated for full range of motion, set in the central points of the couters is an opal gemstone, his vambraces also featured a gold relief panel of valley lilies, and various small opal stones embedded as the anther of the lilies. Segmented gauntlets of articulated plate covered his hands, the knuckles, and cuffs adorned with embossed motifs of valley lilies, highlighted by the golden inlays, with the finger plates showcasing the delicately etched floral filigree. Over his thighs, and knees, are the cuisses, and poleyns, each piece featuring a central motif of a fully bloomed white lily, the poleyns featured wing-like protrusions with gilded accents, while the cuisses has decorative golden rivets. Shielding his shins, calves, and feet, his greeves, and sabatons displayed panels of gold reliefs of the floral filigree, while his sabatons showcased an embossed lotus flower on its toe caps, with a raised opal in the center of each.
Teluve after reaching his brother immediately hugged him, "All thanks be to the Ancient of Days, your ok."
"I'm fine brother, but Bele is-" Yinor's voice grew grave.
Teluve looked over noticing that Bele is being carried by Yinor, looking her over Teluve grew concerned, Bele's complexion is very pale.
"BELE!" Bimy caught up, and shouted seeing the state of her sister.
Yinor carried a 7 foot 1 inch daughter of eloi on his back, Lifmy sat on Yinor's shoulder having just finished casting a spiritual art of life on Bele.
Bele wore an identical set of armor as Bimy, however she didn't seem to have any other equipment. Bele shared similar features with her sister being only a year younger, an hourglass figure with smooth dark-gold hued brown skin. She's extremely beautiful, she's long pointed ears that poke past her wavy golden hair that's put up in a half tail, her hair falling to her mid-back. She has a radiant appearance muted by her condition, her face harmonious, her eyes were shut with well shaped eyebrows framing them, two black curled horns crown her head, she's a cute straight nose, high cheekbones that gave her an elegant appearance, her lips were well proportioned, a well defined jawline gave her a chiseled look. A set of large furled wings protruded from her lower back with a plumage of golden feathers, a long tail, about ten feet, loosely wrapped around her waist as she's carried. Bele exuded a beauty that very much matched her sister, but all that's been overshadowed by her current state.
Bele hearing Teluve's voice, and Bimy's scream opened her eyes, bright orbs of crimson-gold, her slit pupils dilated, and rings of gold that shined within her irises, staring at Bimy, "Sister, your ok." Bele spoke with some fatigue.
"Forget about me. What happened to you?" Bimy moved to her sister, looking her over.
"When we were caught in that light Bele, Omani, and I were transported together. When I came to, I found her hurt badly, I did all I could to heal her through my spiritual arts, I've been constantly exhausting all my manna, and the potions Bele had made. But nothing seems to be-" Yinor clenched his jaw, unable to conceal his frustrations.
Teluve put a hand on his brother's shoulder, and looked over to Bimy, "Bimy check her."
Bimy nodded, quickly injecting her manna into her sister, her manna completely washing over Bele's entire being, giving Bimy insights into every aspect of Bele's present state.
"What did you find sister Bimy? Is Bele ok?" Yinor asked, his voice laced with concern.
Bimy smiled at Yinor, "She's fine, but her foundation is unstable. The trauma she experienced from that crumbling spatial array must have damaged her foundations." Bimy placed her hand on Yinor shoulder, "Be at ease brother Yinor, your efforts weren't in vain, judging by the current state of her foundations, it's thanks to your constant healing that her cultivations haven't scattered already." Bimy looked to Lifmy, and scratched behind his ear, "And, thanks to my precious Lifmy's remnant manna circulating through sister, I was able to notice that her foundations are showing signs of stabilizing."
"Squeak." Lifmy let out a happy squeal to Bimy's praise, he then jumped over to Bimy's shoulder nuzzling her hand.
Bimy fixed Bele's messy hair, "You'll need to rest for a while." Bimy then looked to Yinor, "Brother Yinor you'll need to keep administering your spiritual arts of life on her for the next few days, it'll help to stabilize her foundations quicker."
"Hah." Yinor let an audible sigh of relief escape his lips, and mobilized his manna the moment it recovered, a warm cooling sensation washing over Bele, before he gave a nod to Bimy, "Yes sister Bimy. At least it's nothing life threatening."
"See, it's ok Yiny." Bele smiled, "I told you I'd be fine. You kept yelling at me to stay awake." Bele said in teasing tone.
"I didn't know, I was ignorant of your condition, it seemed dire, how could I not be concerned about someone I love." Yinor tried defending his actions, a little embarrassed now that he knew he had overreacted.
"Aw you really love my sister, how cute." Bimy joined in teasing Yinor.
"He he." Bele laughed lightly.
Yinor's cheeks grew red as he blushed, "O-of course I love her, we've known each other since we were kids."
"You gonna propose then?" Teluve asked as he wore a knowing smile.
"GAH!" Both Bele, and Yinor blushed.
"Oh that'd be great, you have to let me help pick out your dress sister." Bimy switched to teasing Bele.
"Ah …" Bele, completely caught off guard by the topic, didn't know what to say.
"What do you think sister Bele, do you want to marry my little brother?" Teluve asked, his smile turning into a teasing smirk.
"I … I ah-" Bele's mind overloaded, she kept looking at Yinor's face, imagining the scene.
"Oh come on Bele, you two have been in a courtship for some time now, you obviously deeply love brother Yinor, so why the hesitation?" Bimy questioned, holding her hands to her sides.
"Yeah, even before, the way you two used to always steal looks, It was obvious to anyone with any common sense, that you two have a deep affection for each other." Teluve added.
Bimy looked over to Teluve, "Exactly Lulu. I couldn't count how many times I've caught Bele staring at brother Yinor."
'They knew about that!' Bele, and Yinor simultaneously had the same thought.
Teluve smirked, "You don't have to look so shocked, you may have thought you concealed it well, but everyone knew." Teluve shook his head, "Why do you think father, and mother showed no surprise when you told them?"
"I see." Yinor wore an awkward smile.
"Anyway, what about you brother Yinor, what's your answer, you've been courting sister for over a year now, you two should know by now if you want to proceed with marriage, right?" Bimy questioned Yinor.
"Well, since our courtship began my love for her has only grown deeper, I do want to marry her." Yinor spoke through all his embarrassment.
"Aw, did you her that sister?" Bimy looked over to Bele.
Bele remained quiet as she buried her head behind Yinor.
"He he." Bimy looked at Bele, her eyes shut, and her face completely flush, "Don't worry brother Yinor, I'm sure you'll get an answer when she gets over her embarrassment."
"Hah, why must you two always tease us." Yinor complained.
"Because we want to give you two a little push." Teluve responded.
Bele looked up, still a bit flush, some color starting to return to her face, "What do you mean brother Teluve?"
"We want you two to take that final step already, honestly, I thought you two would've been engaged by now." Bimy added.
"Yiny, and I have already been discussing this for the past few months before you mentioned it sister." Bele said shyly.
Bimy looked surprised, and excited, "Really!?"
"So what happened? We were walking through this cavern, when Omani sprinted ahead suddenly." Yinor tried changing the subject as a slight flush bloomed on his face.
"Alright, we'll move on." Teluve smirked, then grew serious, "Bimy, and I were ambushed by that tainted mahtaan, Omani came in during the engagement."
Stunned, Yinnor's eyes went wide as he quickly asked, "What! Where is he?"
"Dead." Bimy answered.
"Then it's over." Yinor closed his eyes as a sense of calm settled on him, he slowly opened his eyes, "The blood guilts been resolved."
Teluve nodded, before turning his head, "We should head back." Teluve looked to Bele, and Yinor as he started walking back, "We still need to prepare the body."
As the group head back, "Yinor." Bele whispered by Yinor's ear.
"What is it Bele?" Yinor whispered back as he executed another spiritual art of life the instance he had the manna to.
Bele raised her head as a surge of vitality rushed through her, "Do you think we're ready for marriage?"
Yinor instantly started blushing, "I-I do. Do you not feel the same? We've been talking about it these last few months."
"No, that's not it, I feel the same way." Bele quickly responded, then smiled, "I'm just really happy you think so too, I love you Yinor."
Yinor stopped, and looked back to Bele, "So you'll marry me?"
"Yes, I'll be in your care Yiny." Bele smiled brightly, nestling her head on the right side of Yinor's neck, and shoulder.
Yinor couldn't stop himself from smiling, "I'll always protect, and care for you Bele, I promise." He continued forward.
Teluve, and Bimy just smiled as they moved on, acting as if they heard nothing.
Once they reached the location of the battle Omani rushed up to Yinor, "Rrrr." Omani let out a friendly rolling growl.
Yinor moved his hand through Omani's fur, "Hey buddy." Yinor looked over seeing the signs of the battle, and then the son of mahtaan's corpse.
Bele raised her head from Yinor's shoulder, looking at the still son of mahtaan, "It's sad to see. He was like any normal person, Enus village's smith, until he indulged in the corruption." Bele frowned, somewhat pitying the son of mahtaan.
"He made this choice Bele, he could've sought help from the temple priests when he felt the influence of the corruption. But, instead he corrupted himself, with the people of Enus paying the price of his sin." Yinor's brow furrowed in contempt for the mahtaan.
"I know Yiny. Hah." Bele sighed as she looked at the lifeless body of the mahtaan, "What's there to gain in evil, and wickedness? Why inflict suffering on others? I can't understand it."
"Eee-eee." Kedu ran up chattering at Teluve, holding up a vial of some kind.
"What's this?" Teluve grabbed the vial from Kedu.
It's a crystalline vial, made from quartz, its shape slender with an elongated neck that flares out to a slightly wider base, a simple matching crystal stopper sealed the vial, it's of a simple make, but of a high quality, holding an odd viscous black substance inside.
"What is it brother?" Yinor moved next to Teluve, with Bele peeking over his shoulder, some more color returning to her complexion.
"Not sure." Teluve gestured to the mahtaan, "He tried drinking this before his lasts moments. Looks to be some kind of potion." Teluve said examining the bottle.
Yinor looked over his shoulder to Bele, "What do you think Bele?"
Bele nodded, and patted Yinor's shoulder, "Yeah let me take a look, set me down for sec Yiny."
Yinor hesitated, and looked over his shoulder to Bele, "Are you alright to?"
Bele smiled, and nodded, "I'm better now Yiny."
Yinor nodded, and sat Bele down on a flat smooth piece of gypsum, Bele then set out her alchemy tools as Teluve handed her the vial.
"I'll go help Bimy prepare the body, let us know what you find." Teluve said as he went over to help Bimy.
"Alright brother Teluve." Bele responded.
"Eee." Kedu moved up by Bele, and Yinor, sensing Bele's weakness he gently looked over Bele.
Flavi slithered over, "Hiss." She wrapped around Bele, resting her head on her lap.
Lifmy ran over climbing Bele's form before nestling on the top of her head.
"He he, are you all trying to comfort." Bele gave greeted them all with a gentle pet, "I'm fine, so don't worry."
Bele continued, setting out her stirring rod she then popped the cork off the vial, the moment the vial was uncapped a rotten iron smell emitted from it.
The smell so rancid that Yinor nearly emptied his stomach, Bele however couldn't take the smell throwing up to her side, Flavi, Kedu, Lifmy, and Omani who followed behind Yinor grew extremely agitated, "HISSS!", "EEE!", "SQUEAK!", "Rrrr-OWWW-RRRR!" all of them displaying a hostile posture to the source of the smell.
"What happened!" Bimy, and Teluve stood, and called out.
"It's fine!" Bele responded, wiping her mouth.
"Are you alright Bele?" Yinor asked with concern as he tried calming the bonds down, "What's wrong Omani?"
"Whatever this substance is, it's putting them on edge." Bele picked up her small silver stirring rod.
"What could that be, they don't get this agitated." Understanding quickly came to Yinor, "Unless it's-"
"Unless it's something daemonic." Bele finished Yinor's sentence, and began examining the contents of the vial.
Prodding the concoction with the silver rod, the strange mixture danced in the vial, hues of black and red twirling around in the bottle, "It's hard for me to tell exactly the purpose of this mixture, but I'm certain this is some kind of elixir given its concentration."
"An ELIXIR! How would a village smith get his hands on an elixir?" Yinor couldn't believe it, elixirs are the pinnacle of traditional alchemy, they're powerful concoctions comprised of the distilled essence of herbs, and minerals, used for their potency, some are even capable of regrowing lost limbs, bringing people back from the brink of death, and many more wonderous things.
"It's puzzling Yinor, this mahtaan, it's unlikely he acted alone, with the potency of this elixir, I'd be nearly impossible for a village smith to get his hands on something like this without outside help. The ingredients are even more concerning." Bele wore a grimace on her beautiful face.
Yinor grew serious, "What is it Bele?"
Bele examined the elixir further as she organized her thoughts, "There's at least three components from what I can tell Yiny, two of them are a mystery to me, but the third one I have a strong guess." Bele finished her examination of the elixir, recorking the vial, "Given the smell of iron, the viscosity, temperature, and Flavi, Kedu, Lifmy, and Omani's reaction to the odor, it's most likely daemon blood." Bele handed the vial over to Yinor, "Here Yiny, if you can sense the essence of life from the the vial, it'll confirm that one of the ingredients is daemon blood."
"Alright." Yinor grabbed the vial, and focused, a moment later Yinor sensed something, he felt a faint essence coming from the elixir, "Your right Bele, I can feel it, the essence of life, it's likely daemon blood."
Bele frowned, "This is concerning Yiny, this is strong evidence that this tainted mahtaan was in contact with a higher daemon. However determining where exactly the blood came from, if it's from a blighted, or corrupted it wouldn't be to serious, but if the blood came from a malformed, abomination, or a horror, then."
"This could be bad. We need to talk this over with sister Bimy, and brother." Yinor said as Bele packed her equipment back into her spatial ring.
"Carry me." Bele said as she held her arms out.
"Oh, right." Yinor blushed slightly, he picked Bele up again, and walked over to where Bimy, and Teluve were. As he did he continued to use his spiritual arts of life on Bele, revitalizing her.
"It's fine!" Bele shouted.
Teluve stood looking over to Bele, and Yinor, "That was odd?"
"It was, but sister said it's fine Lulu." Bimy said before she resumed searching the body of the deceased mahtaan, "Hmm, no spatial items of any kind, he just has this basic pouch."
Bimy searched the contents of the pouch, "What's this?" Bimy pulled out a black book.
The book is rather ornate, its covering seemed to be made of some type of leather, dyed a deep black color, intricate patterns of ancient runes were embossed, and engraved over the entire cover, the borders of it were decorated with a runic silver inlay. At the center of the book is a central medallion of a black garnet, the book also featured a ribbed spine, and gilded pages, their edges leafed with silver. The book seemed to be quite dense, looking like it's at least 400 pages.
Teluve's eyes went wide, "A cultivation technique! Where'd he get one like this in Enus? The village was only established two months ago."
"This seems to be a high grade technique too Lulu, I'd guess at least peak heaven grade." Bimy said as she skimmed the pages, the pages thick, and smooth with a slight cream color.
"We can only truely determine its grade after thoroughly going over its contents. We can do that after we get out here." Teluve added as he pulled out a container from his storage crystal.
The container measured 8 feet long, 3 feet wide, and 3 feet high, and isn't very elaborate, it's simply made of a rich dark-wood, with some subtle floral reliefs carved into the surface, and some golden runes inlayed intricately across its surface.
"We've a lot of reading to do on the journey back to Durutas." Bimy stored the black book into her storage ring, searching the rest of the pouch, Bimy found a few pieces of half-eaten bread, and some silver coins, Bimy stored the coins in her storage ring, leaving the remainder of the bag on the tainted, Bimy smirked as she looked over to the container Teluve pulled out, "The food chest?"
Teluve smirked at Bimy, gesturing to the container, "Look, this is the only thing I have that's big enough to store him." Teluve turned to the chest, and frowned as he opened it, a cold breeze blowing past Teluve, the chest is only about half full with a few bottles of juices, milks, and wines, as well as different kinds of cheeses, fruits, and vegetables, all neatly organized within the chest, "Hah, we'll need to use all this quick before it spoils."
After searching the tainted mahtaan's body, and storing all the food from his food chest into his storage crystal, Teluve lifted the tainted mahtaan's corpse placing it inside the container. Closing the lid, Teluve placed his hand upon the container, and injected his manna, as he did the runic marks lit up as the array came alive across the containers surface. Once, the array started functioning Teluve stored the container back into his storage crystal.
"Now the next problem." Teluve said as he, and Bimy looked to the massive blue structure.
"Sister Bimy, brother." Yinor called out.
Bimy smirked, "Aww, getting carried again, how long are you gonna make brother Yinor carry you sister?"
Bele smiled, and wrapped her arms around Yinor, "For as long as he's willing to carry me."
"He he." Bimy laughed, "I've already checked you sister, although you might be weak, and fatigued right now, you should still be able to walk."
"Wait, are you able to walk Bele?" Yinor frowned, puzzled.
"Yes my foundation has started to recover thanks to you, I've regained some of my strength." Bele sweetly smiled, hugging Yinor as he carried her, she rested her chin over Yinor's shoulder to better look at him, "I can walk if your tired of carrying me, you've been carrying me a lot today."
Yinor smiled, "I don't mind."
"That's my hubby" Bele kissed Yinor's cheek.
"Hubby? Seems It's official then." Teluve said with a smile.
"Yah! I'm so happy for you sister." Bimy cheered.
Bele's face grew red after she realized what she said, "Ah, I'll die from embarrassment." Bele complained, burying her face in Yinor's neck.
"At this rate you might kill your hubby from embarrassment too." Teluve pointed out, gesturing to Yinor.
Hearing that, Bele looked up at Yinor, his face completely flush, "Ah. I-I can walk."
Bele tried to get out of Yinor's hold, but Yinor just held her tighter, "It's fine."
Hearing that Bele's face grew completely flush as she hid her face against Yinor's neck again.
"Alright enough of that." Teluve spared Bele, and Yinor the embarrassment, and got serious, "Did you find anything out about the contents of that vial Bele?"
Bele took a breath, and gingerly got down from Yinor's back, "Hah, Yes. After examining the substance I found it to be an elixir, and Yinor was able to sense a trace of the essence of life in it, the main ingredient I believe is daemon blood."
"An elixir of daemon blood." Teluve frowned, horrified, he thought back to when the tainted had tried to consume the elixir, "Good thing Kedu's curse incapacitated him before he could drink it."
"Eee." Kedu chattered as he drummed his chest.
Teluve looked back to Bele, "Do you have any idea of what kind of daemon this blood came from?"
Bele furrowed her brow, "I'm not sure brother Teluve, but I fear it may be from a malformed, or worse."
"This is getting increasingly more complicated, first he had a high grade cultivation technique, and now there's an elixir of daemon blood." Bimy grew more concerned about the whole situation.
Yinor became unsettled hearing that the son of mahtaan had a high grade cultivation technique, and frowned, he walked up to Teluve, "Brother, If that technique is a daemonic technique, then, it's almost certain this tainted was in contact with a higher daemon, or he may have even stumbled upon a daemonic legacy."
"Right." Teluve closed his eyes, taking a moment to think, "This has grown far beyond us. We need to leave this place as soon as possible, return to Durutas, and inform hall master Diker about everything."
Bele nodded, "I think that'd be best." She held up the vial, "The more experienced alchemists of the Order could better examine the contents, and nature of this elixir than I can."
"I agree, If a high daemon is truly involved we'll need to inform hall master Diker as soon as possible, the temple will likely get involved too." Yinor added.
"Hah, all of this when we were supposed to just be scouting the terrain, our time in Durutas was coming to an end too." Bimy frowned at the increasingly complicated situation, "It's settled then, first we need to figure out how to leave this place, then we journey back."
"Alright, lets examine that structure then." Teluve narrowed his eyes towards the direction of the blue structure, all of them moving toward their only potential exit.