Chương 310: AF Chapter 309 – Caves and Essences

"There is a whole storeroom of pyreal ingots for making the Atlan and Isparian Weapons, but of course no one has been capable of working the forges for years. Silencia perished in the Fall, and her Golem crumbled to pieces," Lady Tallia informed me. I considered that.

"Pyreal in weapons… is not what it was, and the fatal weakness of the Atlan Weapons as Capacity-bearing Tools that can be overloaded was made lethally apparent. None will use them unless they are daft.

"We can bring some along for the base metal, they will have value you can use to trade for better goods for your people wherever you settle. At least a couple of the ingots and glyphs I will return to the Academy as study materials. Is there anything else?" Her hesitation proved that there was.

"Some of the children are adventurous, and those with Eidolons are able to avoid the attention of the Elementals. While the Crater Caves have golems-""Golums," I corrected her mildly. The newer term was actually more accurate.

"True Golems are very different things." She nodded slowly, taking me at my word.

"Golums," she repeated, "fill the Crater Caves, and will attack the Eidolons and their masters. So, the children took to, uh, exploring the Jahannan Vault.

"We have scores of the Major Smoldering Stones in the armory, although we've found no use for them." I could not help smiling broadly.

"Oh, that is going to be SO useful for you! The gems do actually have a considerable value now, if specialized. The more you have, the better! I am assuming that they are like the Shivering Stones and only pop up at dawn?"

"Yes, the Vault condenses a new one every morning," she confirmed eagerly, wincing.

"Had we known, we would have made sure to gather one every single day!" I waved it off.

"Regrets are for later. Let's see your armory, and what we can take along to help. You'll receive full value for the Stones, although I'm sure if you bid them off you'd receive considerably more from the paramounts who don't want to go traipsing through the Vault themselves."

"Hmmph!" She looked towards a certain section of the crater wall, then back at me.

"What are they used for now?"

"Princess Rantha and Commander Briggs figured out how to Socket other Weapons to receive gems of power. If you bear one of their Weapons, you can set the Elemental Stones Major and Minor in them to make a devastating Weapon of that Element!"

"And who do they make their Weapons for? The highest bidders?" Lady Tallia asked archly.

"Right now, the Stone Guard of Stonehold, the Royal Scouts and Guards of King Borelean, and the Knights of the Lost Light," I informed her.

"Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe the favor of the Commander, the Princess, and the king would be worth far more than the coins of some random paramounts who want children to do their work for them," she said archly.

"I'm of a similar opinion," I had to agree.

"Then as a loyally repatriated subject of King Borelean, I will remand the Stones that we bear into your hands." She considered the point.

"I imagine that it will be an easy way for the children to earn a fine income, if they can go into the Vault and easily retrieve more Stones."

"They are important enough and valuable enough that I would love to scribe a Teleport Seal there for exactly that purpose, but it would have to be specifically attuned to this place, which would take me some time to study."

"Or, for those who have been here years, might come quite naturally?" Lady Tallia dared to ask.

"You'll need to hit Nine in Summoner to test that out and see," I warned her.

"Then that is exactly what I will do!" she swore to me.

"Ye sure on this?" the Mick asked, lifting up his hands and eyeing the flames licking over them. The packing up of the Crater Lake Village was proceeding apace behind us. I'd brought up hundreds of Mass Disks for them to use, and all of them were being hurriedly piled up with stuff.

"I still think we should tour the Jahannan Vault on our own, as I'd like to study the ley lines filled with so much pyromana there, but I imagine I can do the same by going to the bottom of the Crater Caves instead… and we will need to return here to do so."

"The Bellows." The automated systems inside the Forges down there automatically produced a Bellows that was integral for the function of Aerlinthe Island's own pumping systems. That long chain of events was necessary to acquire more Blackfire Stones… and to reach Lady Aerefalle in her Sanctum. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

The leader of the Wind Faction of the Falatacot was at least ten thousand years late to her own funeral, and for all that she'd never taken direct action against Isparians or anyone else, her orders were responsible for a considerable amount of the machinations against us. Perhaps only the unseen Prince Geraine was a more hidden and malevolent influence than she.

Rytheran at least at moved openly when he'd chosen to take a hand in things, and was acknowledged as a teacher and sage by even the Haebran Empyreans like Asheron and Harlune, as he'd been headmaster at the Mage Academy here on the islands. A side effect of the Aerlinthe quest had been the ignition of all three major volcanoes concerned with Dereth: Esper here, Tenkarrdun on Aerlinthe Island, and Mount Lethe in the Direlands.

That was important, as a Hellfire with Essences of the Elemental Flames for each volcano would spawn at each location. However, the Crater here was already active, and it looked to me like an Elemental Lord of some kind was holding court in the center of the newly-deepened Crater Lake. I'd been pretty sure that I'd seen a towering blue-white Hellfire Elemental lounging around the huge floating halo-thing there. If so, we could pay our respects to the Lord, we might be able to do something with that.

For that purpose, I'd Exemplar Surged for Aspect of Fire, a spell I'd never really expected to use, and Cast it on the Mick. He now had bright red skin, glowing hot eyes, and was venting flames with every step, looking totally like a creature of Fire. Fire Resistance and the ability to survive fiery-hot environments without difficulty were included in the Buff, although the ability to add Flaming to one's attacks was less than effective against Fire Elementals.

"It costs us nothing but time and verification that we don't have to run around killing a bunch of Hellfire Elementals repeatedly to upgrade the Weapons of Lost Light."

"And ye can actually talk to the things?" he asked warily.

"If you listen, you'll realize that you can understand them right now, too." He blinked, turning his head as I skimmed along the surface of the lake, and he paced along the surface with the Waveskating Step, the steam a little bit thicker underneath his soles. The Elementals along the shoreline were avoiding the water religiously, as it would quickly extinguish the 'real' Elementals, and cool down the local variants.

He realized that the snaps and crackles of their flames, and the sight of the flames ebbing and flowing all constituted a language both visual and audible… and the Elementals were remarking about how powerful we must be, to so easily dare the waters that would snuff us out! I was in Fire Mode, wings out and skin not quite as red as the Mick, but clearly broadcasting that I was also a Being of Fire.

"Well, damn," he murmured in astonishment, realizing that the pulsing lights and flames all around the Crater were actually gossiping about events in a very disjointed and simple manner.

"They be talking about us…"

"Yes, they are very curious. We'd be thronged by them to test us and see if we are real if we were on the shore by now." Our straight progress across the waters towards the Inner Crater was also marked, and the Elementals had realized we were heading for their boss. A few had even run off the slopes of the Crater and across the landbridge of cooled magma to the Inner Crater to see the fun!

"So, Elementals do actually have some brains?" he asked slowly.

"The native ones tied to the System are, eh, stupid. You can tell by what they are saying. The true Elementals can be as intelligent as any normal person, although they range from animal intelligence up to genius-level for the more powerful ones," I informed him.

"They be liking yer wings," he noticed, grinning slightly.

"Even Fire Elementals are envious of the ability to fly," I nodded as we closed on the outer slopes of the Inner Crater. I held out my hand, and zipped up the slope as he grabbed on. He held on, kicking off the sheer and sharp obsidian lightly and easily, leaning on me just enough to maintain his balance and otherwise make the ascent look effortless.

Jumping twenty feet into the air between parkour kick-ups as he zipped up the slope of the Inner Crater was impressive enough to get a lot of enthusiastic comments from the Elementals watching from above and around us. On top of the rim, we paused for only a moment in the looming presence of a great serpent of Fire looking down at us in great interest. Down in the center of the place was a great Halo of some molten metal, studded at various points with glittering points of hot white light that I realized were eyes.

A vortex of flame played around the ten-foot hoop of solidified flame, the ground beneath it completely molten in a way no other Elemental was managing to do. And naturally it was looking at us, the merest flicker of its flames an open invitation to approach.

"A Primal Elemental Lord. Be respectful." Unique and not pigeon-holed as a uniform type, much like Demon Princes and the like in that regard. He looked over the towering Elder Elementals, two massive Primal Elementals in the forms of a massive bear and bull respectively, and replied quietly, "Nae problems from me on that score, lass!" he muttered back with feeling, even as he skipped easily down the sharp rocks of the slope with carefree confidence in the power of his lightfoot.

Soon enough we were standing at the bottom of the crater there, about sixty feet away from the great floating molten ring of the Primal Elemental. I knelt, and the Mick followed only a heartbeat later. He could feel the heat of the Primal Lord like it was baking his soul, and submission to a truly greater being was the proper way here. He could tell by the flames of every other Elemental about that submitting to him was only proper.

-I am Zyszaeszi, - the Lord /stated in burning telepathic words that seared the thoughts with the absoluteness and power of existence. -What come mortals of fire to my court? - he /asked in open curiosity.

"Molten Zyszaeszi, I am Devra al-Ryinth, Magos of the Lost Light. My companion is the Lord Mick, Warden of the Royal Scouts of the mortal kingdom of Freehold and Knight of the Lost Light. We heard of your presence upon this island and have naturally come to pay our respects to a Lord of Fire.

"We have also come to see if the ancient Oaths are still binding upon the Flames of Esper."