Not long after the final steps of the emergency meeting came to a close, three individuals were making their way back to the grand spire they had left not long earlier. Having done all that they could for the present, Arthur and the two boys had determined that they should access the secret mechanisms in the Atlas Pillar, left by Echadir in a bygone era. Considering that these mechanisms had remained untouched due to an unfortunate circumstance in Luca's previous life, there was no way to know what would be inside. All that was certain was that it would not be anywhere as much of a threat as the return of demons.
"I truly hope that there is something that can change the future for the better in the Pillar. I doubt a 5000-year-old prophet would play games over the fate of her race. Wait, if I calculate the years properly, she was past 5000 in Echadir's recording. Adding the three previous eras and the 1800yrs in the Chaos Era when the Ancient Elf craftsman made the recording, she's well over 8000 now." Arthur, due to his experience as a ruler, had a mindset that worried over important details, regardless of how minor, and he fully understood what it meant to be a ruler. Though no living beings in Andor held a candle to the High Priestess of the Ancient Elves in terms of experience, for humans, he was one of the most experienced. As a human king, he was the only living one so he was certainly the most well-learned. Several other governors, mayors and chiefs had held their positions longer, but they were far smaller in scale by comparison.
"I'm almost certain that there is a way to contact the Ancient Elves at the top of the tower. Echadir made sure to emphasize the importance of that top floor in the holographic message." Luca dared not fully assume anything though. Assuming anything about a plan that had been in the making for several thousand years. "What makes me curious is the fifth keystone Echadir mentioned... There's a being that the Demon God fears? Why didn't it appear when we needed it?"
The human king grunted, "Being a ruler has made me greatly understand the word 'restrictions'. A ruler is heavily restricted in more ways than one would expect. For a being from a time before Andor, there have to be rather extreme restrictions. From what we heard, Echadir made it seem like even the High Priestess respects that being. Maybe it influenced Andor to accept them as immigrants."
At this point in the conversation, the trio had arrived at the doors to the library, which was opened easily with the Valar's signet ring. The vague directions that Echadir had given eventually directed them to a far wall on the eastern side of the library floor, where the mosaic was hung. The mosaic itself was like a cathedral stained glass window, except far more realistic in detail. The Ancient Elf depicted was female, wearing robes akin to those of a nun, save for her head. Instead of a nun's habit, she wore an ochipok, a headdress that was part of the Ukrainian traditional folk dress. While it had none of the Ukrainian embroidery, it did have the gorgeous, flowing designs of Ancient Elven artwork.
Beneath the mosaic was the inscription that Echadir had specified, engraved in the flowing script of the Ancient Elven language. On the third of the five lines written was an oddly shaped word that appeared to have part of a letter gouged out of the stone. If not for them looking closely, the trio wouldn't have noticed the oddity. The king casually removed the signet ring and lined it up with the slot. He slightly twitched in surprise when the ring was sucked into the slot following a quick blue glow from the engraving's written script.
The engraving began to magically morph like liquid, melting away the script before swirling around. After a moment, the golden liquid metal reshaped itself into a necklace, with the same design as the signet ring, though glowing blue, moulded into a pendant. On the back of the pendant was a brief phrase in the Common language, "At the tower's base, held aloft above the Sovereign, he calls for guidance from above."
"Oh great, a riddle. Just what I needed to add to my growing headache," grumbled the king as he snatched the necklace and inspected it. "Why couldn't it just be something simple?"
Luca pondered over it briefly before saying, "No, it's not a riddle... That's the instructions for how to use it... I think we need to go to the array downstairs." A quick light of realization appeared in Arthur's eyes as he looked at the pendant again. Without a word, he strode out of the library and towards the ground floor, the two boys doing their best to catch up.
It didn't take long for Arthur to reach the ground floor and move quickly to the centre of the array, with the two boys panting behind him. Reading over the inscription on the pendant, he muttered, "Above the Sovereign... I have to hold it above this array... but what do I say? 'Call for guidance from above'? Does it have to be a specific phrase?"
Luca spoke through heavy breaths, "Maybe... try saying something that might trigger for the word 'guidance'. The above should be related to the Pillar, so... that might be helpful..." The two boys just flopped on the ground, leaning on each other. Chasing after a full-grown man with great strength was far beyond what the two could handle, even if said man was only walking quickly.
The next thirty minutes consisted of Arthur trying various phrases, such as "I beseech the makers of the Pillar to bestow us your wisdom", "Give unto us the guidance of the ancient ones," and "Damn it all, please help us!" The third phrase was after numerous attempts going unsuccessful, only making him more and more frustrated. Eventually, he just angrily roared, "Why is this so f*cking difficult!? WHY!?"