Chương 179: Family Matters

"You're Renir's older brother?" Liora gaped at the man, taking a moment to take in his appearance again. He was tall but not overly so, and had decently well built muscles. In fact, he looked more like the warrior type rather than a mage type with most of his chest exposed. The short haircut wasn't helping in that regard either.

"Don't you see the family resemblance?" Aenir asked.

"How can I? I've never seen Renir as a human," Liora said. He said it as if they were similar, so this did make Liora wonder what Renir looked like as a human. The question had entered her mind many times. She knew that he had a youthful appearance, because he—just like his older brother apparently—used some magic to extend his lifespan and keep himself looking young. He had also mentioned having red hair, but aside from that she had no clue what he could look like.

Looking at his brother, Liora couldn't help but let her imagination run wild. Unless the gene lottery had somehow gone horribly wrong—unlikely with how confident Renir was—then Renir must be at least somewhat handsome. Because this guy certainly was, even if he was a bit too bulky for Liora's tastes.

"What do you mean? You are my brother's magical familiar, are you not?" Aenir looked surprised.

"No, I am not!" Liora snapped, realizing a moment later that she should have gone along with the official lie that they had cooked up.

"You're not?"

"Uh… Well, for official purposes, yes, I am. In reality, we are more like partners!"

"Partners? My brother is partners with a bird?" Aenir seemed to grow more confused by the second. The man shook his hand and peered at Liora.

"Let's back up a little. You said you haven't even seen my brother as a human. What does that mean? What has happened to my brother? I heard that he had gone missing, but as I understood it, he had merely retreated behind the scenes, letting you handle the dirty work."

"Oh, so you don't know what happened to him," Liora muttered, then looked at Aenir suspiciously.

"How do I even know that you're actually Renir's brother. He never spoke of you!" Aenir's eyes widened, but only for a moment. His confident smirk vanished, and he ran his hand through his hair in a nervous sort of fashion.

"So he still hasn't forgiven me…"

"Forgiven you? What did you do? You fiend! You must be working with Night King goons!" Liora screeched, wondering whether now would be the right time to attack. Although his high level was a rather good deterrent.

"What? No! It's… It's a family matter. I would rather not speak of the matter if Renir hasn't spoken about it. Now can you please tell me what happened to my younger brother?" Aenir asked. His expression was contorted with genuine worry. That or he was an incredibly good actor. While Liora was skeptical, she didn't see any reason to hide that he was a gem. Not from Renir's family at least.

"He has been turned into a gem," Liora said.

"Wh-What?!"

"Yeah. The most beautiful shiny gem in the world. I recognize his beauty right away, but these mage assholes are constantly trying to steal him away. They do lots of other bad stuff too, like corrupting nature and creatures and trying to create apocalypse dungeons and the like," Liora vented. It has been a while since she actually could complain about their frustrating situation to someone.

"Slow down a bit. How did Renir become a gem?" Aenir asked. He actually looked frazzled, which actually felt nice. It wasn't every day that I could catch a powerful mage in a tizzy.

"Okay, this is going to be a long story. Do you have snacks?" After Aenir so kindly brought some nuts and delicious looking fruits, Liora went to explain what happened to Renir. Him being turned into a gem with nine-seals placed upon. How they had broken two of seals and were working to break the others all while being hunted by the crazy Order of the Night King. It was odd. Normally, Liora would be more cautious around strangers. After all, there was no definitive proof that this guy was Renir's brother.

But for some reason, she believed him. He did have this strange familiarity about him. Once Liora was done with her story, Aenir looked very tense and slightly annoyed.

"To think that he would get himself imprisoned in a gem. That foolish younger brother of mine. Where is he now?" This was where Liora drew the line.

"I'm not telling you!"

"What? I'm his brother. You're going to tell me," he demanded.

"Yes, I believe you likely are his brother. But he never told me of you. And trust me, he talks a lot! Like quite a lot. It's most definitely his favorite activity. Right after blowing stuff up with magic, although he can't do that very well in his current form." Aenir's eyebrows furrowed.

"That's… because… Ugh! It doesn't matter why he doesn't talk about me, but the point is that he's my brother. I want to help him break the seal. I'm a powerful mage. I can most certainly help." His level made that claim abundantly clear. Actually, wasn't this perfect? Aenir, the powerful mage that he was, could easily break Renir's seals, and Renir could be free again and then… Then what would happen to Liora? What would happen once Renir was human again? The question was so simple, but also horrifying.

Would they each go their own way? Renir would undoubtedly return to his Pillar duties, cleaning up the mess created by the crazy mages. But what would Liora do? What would Cee do? And Caspian? Would they all just head each a different way? Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. Liora wasn't ready for it. It felt… too soon. She didn't want that at all.

"No! I've been the one keeping Renir alive this whole time. I can't trust you. If you were a good brother, then surely he would have mentioned you by now." Aenir threw up his arms in frustration, then pointed his finger at Liora.

"You're an incredibly frustrating bird."

"It is thanks to me that your brother is even alive," Liora retorted. Aenir sighed.

"Fine, fine. I get it. You don't trust. Then why don't you go back to Renir and tell him about me. Tell him that I'll help him get his real body back, and that… I'm sorry about what happened." He sounded quite somber at the end, although Liora had no clue what had happened between the two brothers. It seemed a bit more serious than calling your little brother a stinky head and stealing his breakfast sandwich.

"Okay, I'll tell him," Liora agreed.

"But before I go, can you tell me what's going on with this kingdom and the antkin?"

"How do you know about that?" Aenir narrowed his gaze.

"I'm a bird. I can fly places, see things your puny human eyes could never hope to see. I know stuff." Aenir arched an eyebrow, but replied anyway.

"This country, as you noticed, is mostly located within the desert. However, there was a time when a large river flowed right through the center of this country. It was how it was able to thrive. However, for some reason the river has dried up."

"Okay, what does that have to do with the antkin?" Liora asked.

"The antkin have something precious in their nest that could restore the natural flow of the river. Water mana crystals."

"What's that? I never heard of such a thing."

"Really? I would have thought that Renir would have talked about mana crystals."

"I tend to zone out whenever he speaks about magic."

"Wow… Poor Renir…" Liora puffed out her feathers.

"Hey! I will let you know that I am most certainly his favorite magpie."

"I mean… he certainly hasn't made any contact with other magpies as far as I know, so that statement is likely true."

"You're just as insufferable as Renir, you know."

"Thank you," Aenir smirked, then continued.

"Mana crystals are solid crystalized mana. As you likely know, normally mana can't even be seen. It's all around us. In the air, in our bodies, everywhere. So imagine how much mana would have to gather in one spot for it to obtain a solid form."

"Quite a lot probably."

"Exactly. So by setting just a few water mana crystals in the riverbed, we could restore the river and save thousands of lives," Aenir explained.

"So… these people have been trying to invade the ants to get the mana crystals?"

"Not invade the ants. We've merely attempted to steal the mana crystals. I've teleported the men into the anthill, in hopes of getting said crystals, but that place is huge and I do not know the layout, as such our expeditions so far have been a failure."

"Why don't you go, Mister All-Powerful Mage?" Lioras asked.

"If I go and the ants find me, I won't hold back. I'd rather not slaughter a whole population of antkin if I can help it."

"I see," Liora muttered. She wondered if she could perhaps steal some of those mana crystals and bring them here. Perhaps she could, but the question was whether the antkin would notice that. Liora wasn't keen on having the whole antkin race chasing after her, even if she did feel a little sorry for the people living in this country. Perhaps, if the humans could explain themselves to the antkin… But the antkin hated humans and likely wouldn't even listen to them What a difficult situation!

"I'll figure something out. I promised the king that I would intend to keep my promise. Now, please return to my brother and tell him my message," Aenir said and stepped up to the window. The magical barrier that had been protecting it disappeared.

"What about that outer barrier?" Liora asked.

"So long as you're in this form, you should be able to get through without any issues," Aenir said.

"Next time you come, don't come crashing down in that large bird form though. It sets the people on edge." So he had seen her dracoryx form at some point. This guy was rather sly. Liora had to be careful around him. She threw a last glance at him, and flew off. Just as he had said, she passed through the barrier harmlessly and continued on, back to the anthill. Along the way back, she spotted Lau'fi flying some distance away from the settlements.

It was a good thing Liora could see so far, otherwise she might have missed her. After picking up the antkin, who was incredibly worried, they flew back to the antkin. It was already nighttime when they got back, and the ants were incredibly worried about Lau'fi.

"Sister, are you fine?"

"We worried the humans might have gotten you?"

"We were about to rush to your rescue!" Lau'fi then explained what happened, and Liora wove a colorful tale of how she was captured by a mage, but managed to escape by using her wits. The ants listened intently and were awestruck by her ingenuity.

"Amazing, amazing!"

"We must learn from Liora!"

"With her help, we surely will repel those foolish humans." Cee and Smokey, also showed up at one point, with Caspian following shortly after them. They seemed tired and worried, but were obviously relieved when they saw Liora.

"Don't you give us a scare like that!" Cee grumbled, gently nudging Lioras with her front leg.

"Where's Renir?" Liora asked, noticing that he was not with them.

"Well… he hasn't left that book."

"Wasn't he worried about me?"

"He said that you'll be fine," Cee admitted somberly. Liora felt peeved. She could have been in real danger, and he just brushed it off. Her feathers puffed up in irritation.

"I'm going to see him!" Thanks to the guild map, Liora didn't even need the ant guidance. She could mark the chamber where Renir was on the map, and then follow its direction. As a magpie she quickly made her way through the convoluted anthill, most ants not even noticing her thanks to her Shadow Glide. Actually, even Renir didn't notice her. When she flew into the room and landed on the table, Renir didn't even react, still discussing some magical mambo-jumbo with the sluggish ants.

"Renir!" Liora called out to him.

"Hey, Liora. I knew you'd get back," he said, his glowing eyes still focused on the pages in front of him.

"I need to talk to you," she said.

"Later, okay? I think we're about to decipher an important part of the ritual," he shooed her away with his tiny arm. Liora felt anger bubbling within her. She was tempted to just grab him and drag him away. But instead she did something a bit more dramatic.

"I met your brother." Renir instantly stopped and stared at Liora, the book in front of him forgotten. Liora couldn't deny that she felt a tiny bit of satisfaction at that moment. That he was finally looking at her, and not that old book.