The halls of the academy were lively as ever - not only did the infiltration of their hideout cause a giant ripple through the students, but Qayid seemed to have successfully managed to inspire quite the number of people to start riling up against the first noble they saw. It was mostly people from the desert that shouted proudly to not be scared of them anymore - some cheered, even some foreigners that didn't seem to come from the desert.
Haya had parted from them the moment they stepped inside; he was needed to keep the increase in activity at bay, which only left the three of them. The tension in the air seemed to go unnoticed for Skye, or rather, she didn't seem much bothered by it as she strolled casually through the halls, leading them as she occasionally peeked out of a window or into a classroom they came by on their way to the library.
Foulard was the exact opposite, even though he didn't want anyone to notice, but his slouched back made it obvious that the death of Raqisa still weighed heavy on his mind. Sighing, Midas eventually accepted him staying close at his side, seeing him hug himself while ducking from the sharp glances of the southerners that noticed him. His noble descent usually granted him favors, like better chances to start a career, more money and food, as well as much better security, but at this very moment, it could only be seen as a disadvantage.
"Come on... how long are we going to have to walk until we finally get to that library..."
His tone was a defeated hiss, frowning in stress as he glanced up at Midas, who could only return his gaze with a complicated expression. He partially was the reason why Foulard was suffering at the moment, yet he was already in hot water, as many of the people that watched him seemed to be calling him a traitor with their expressions alone.
Given Skye's nature, they had to stop again as she was busy admiring the view from the second floor of the building. In the distance lay a building that seemed like a water kingdom church, one of the many buildings that were built along the arc of the wall that surrounded the main building. Due to its sheer size that rivaled the main building and was roughly twice as tall as the training grounds on which the physical exams are held, it was most likely used for gatherings.
"Do you know where Qannas went...?"
"Not really. He told me he had a bad feeling right in the middle of that older student's speech, so he left..."
Knowing how stressed Foulard was, Midas had hoped he could keep him occupied with some chats, which could also potentially cheer him up since he had a tendency to overshare. It sounded plausible that Qannas had left right before the knights even had a chance to strike. Even though he might be blind, his ability to sense mana was much more fleshed out than anyone else he knew of, and if Midas was already capable of sensing rough shapes through walls and floors with his null ability, then Qannas most likely had seen them coming from a much greater distance.
Seeing the jolly grin on Skye's face as she strode towards them again, they eventually made it to the upper floors, using one of the wooden walkways on the fourth floor that led from one compartment to the other to get through the third and central ones that housed the library. The moment they had made it, Foulard let out a guttural breath - visibly much lighter now, as there were no murderous glances tracing him anymore.
The two of them had already hastily run through this place before; however, the sheer scale of it only became noticeable the moment Midas took his time to look up at the expansive size of the attic they found themselves in. The place had three floors in total, each riddled with bookshelves. Two sturdy wooden stairways spiraled up to reach the higher floors; from them, a few students rested their arms on the railing to look down onto the three of them.
"So... what are you two here for anyway..."
"I want to go home...!"
"I personally want to find a way to get to the western lands; with her now beside me, I might get in trouble if I stay in the water kingdom any longer, and I was told that the west is more willing to accept people from anywhere. Then there's also some business I have in the high north, which means I will have to find a way to get over those mountains, which means... we need an atlas - or at the very least a map."
"Hehe...! You're lucky you have me at your side then... because I had no friends - I mean... because I was very busy; I know my way around when it comes to this place..."
With a proud nod to himself, Foulard had announced himself as their guide as his hand wouldn't leave his chin, holding it as his eyes wandered from one bookshelf to the next as the three of them made their way through the rows of the library - the floor covered in long, expansive carpets sporting all kinds of blue and white tones.
"There... a gathering of maps after the Great Fracture by Clad Aventus himself... Oh, they even have the version that was made in the 274th Trestempo after the Fracture."
Midas and Skye quietly followed as they watched Foulard place the leather-bound book onto the table right in front of them, his fingers carefully turning the yellowish pages as maps, rivers, streets, and names written in characters he had never seen before began to appear right in front of them. Before he knew it, they were staring at a map that depicted each singular continent; he had seen this kind of map before when he visited Ajan. However, the lines of this map were much finer and detailed.
"We are currently here... Montcanal."
Foulard was pointing his finger onto a red dot that sat on the foot of a large, spanning wall of mountains; south of it was the curved shore of the gulf Midas had sailed towards - a minor, black dot most likely marked Cle'Phoria. Skye let out a delighted sound, her head sunk close towards the book as her shimmering eyes traced each shape of the continents. A thin sliver of land sat even further north of the great mountain range; to its western part was a tiny black dot that seemed to mark another settlement.
"You most likely were talking about the northern territories. Your only chance to get there is during the third of cold - that's when they open the gate that connects the northern territories to the plant kingdom. During that time, only for that third, people from both sides meet, trade, and plan to stay on one or the other side of the mountains. Just be warned though... if you do end up there, never go too far into the east."
"I see. I wouldn't be surprised if they like to tend to themselves... Why though? What lies in the east?"
"It's just a saying..."
"Right..."
Sighing at the little shrug Foulard gave him, Midas eventually looked down at the map again - the sight of the foreign bit of land reminded him of the fact that Uteli was still planning on heading there; after all, he had promised her to bring her back to her family one day. His eye wandered eventually westwards; a vast bit of ocean separated the continent he was on from the one that lay to the west. Even from the westernmost point on it, it would be sheerly impossible to head there without a boat and days' worth of supplies.
Between those two giant landmasses were a handful of tiny islands that lay at the western edge of the continent the water kingdom lay on. Trees that were drawn to signal the giant expansive forest that lay to the north of Baumfall were missing there, seemingly flat land, as the mountain ranges' westernmost point also lay in that forest - perhaps a good spot for a secret hideout. Other than that, right in the middle of the ocean was a much larger island that lay slightly more northern than both of these continents.
"...then you also mentioned that you wanted to go to the western countries. The only problem with that is that the more westwards you go, the more pirates you will run into - to add to that, the Electric Kingdom blocks any ships from the Water Kingdom before they are able to enter their naval space. So getting there is almost completely impossible."
"What if we go from the south... over the southern part of the desert... oh, those are a lot of islands."
"...and even more pirates. Javelin can tell you more about the state of the split-up part of the earth kingdom that lies on the fractured south side of the desert. But the mess of islands and archipeligos you see here that eventually lead towards this much larger, elongated landmass is the remains of the fire kingdom. Basically a lawless place, riddled with rivaling groups of pirates."
Rubbing the back of his head, Midas furrowed his brows. Going south would mean they would have to not only sail from one island to another but also survive another trek through the desert, one that was by the very least twice as long as their previous one. To add to that, the stretch of ocean that separated the main landmass of the Fire Kingdom from the two large continents in the southwest was much more expansive than the waters that separated them from the western lands - which would make the journey there much more complicated.
"Then what if we instead go east to that place from the capital of the earth kingdom - "
Just as Midas moved his finger from the body of water that separated the northern tip from the main portion of the desert towards the knot of mountains that separated it from a nearby forest, he could feel his finger tightly grasped by Skye's hand - squeezing it sharply.
"No... never go there...! If you do, they take you - cut your hair and put you in a cage for the rest of your life...
The cry she let out hulled through the entire library and startled a few nearby students; her head sunk as she stared sharply at the cluster of mountains that were drawn onto the foreign landmass, biting her lips in a way that almost made her look frustrated, before she eventually forced a dull smile - her constructed expression eventually meeting Midas confused stare.
"I see... well, then I won't go there."
He murmured softly, reassuringly looking at her for just a moment longer as he could feel the squeezing grasp she had on his finger eventually begin to loosen up, reluctantly letting her hand linger on his before she pulled away completely.
"Well. The place she doesn't seem to be fond of, is the Wind Kingdom. When it comes to technology, they are the most pristine kingdom of all - the people in power here hate to admit it, but most of the technology, armor, and weapons we use found their origin there. They are one of our most vital trading partners; the forest on the southern foot of the great mountains they live on is populated by people that sport the same type of hair and ears as she does..."
"That's my home. I will become strong and then head back there... I will free them all."
She gave the marked forest on the paper a gentle caress with her finger, looking down at it with a soft - almost fond - smile, her eyes glistening as she looked down at the drawn trees. The word 'freeing' made Midas brow furrow. The water kingdom were allies of the wind kingdom, so were they able to operate even from this place in the far southeast?
"Well, I still have the same problem then. I suppose I can forget trying to sail from the western edge of the southern desert over the entire ocean towards the west as well..."
"Exactly. Not only will your boat most likely end up as fodder for whatever lingers in these depths... you will also need to spend an entire fortune on a ship that is capable of withstanding such an expansive journey - don't even get me started on the currents; the dead center of that ocean is one giant swirl that will suck you up before you even know it."
As he explained in a low, warning tone, Foulard's finger tapped onto a sketched swirl that almost had the shape of an eye - sitting at the center of the entire map. From it, the massive bodies of water that had separated the surrounding landmasses began to grow - just by the looks of it, Midas reminded himself of the map that depicted the old world, making his eyes widen instantly.
"The place where the great fracture took place."
"Huh...? Oh, now that you mention it... Many suspect that it is. Nobody was actually brave enough yet to go there; at least we don't know of any credible sources that depict what lies there. There are many reports of a sharp increase of mana density that makes the air hard to breathe and causes creatures in the surrounding waters to behave more aggressively - possibly also causing the storms that surround it..."
"In water kingdom legend it is told that the golden knight had sacrificed himself to seal the calamity away with a relic that still resides there to this day. And due to its sheer power, the land they fought on had begun to rise up from the waters that created the great rift, as it is called today by our texts - which would also give an explanation to the massive swirl of water that began sucking up anything that came too close."
The cushioned, wooden chair creaked softly as Midas leaned back on it, his expression still focused on the eye shape that sat in the middle of the map. He had the original source right inside of his body after all - he could just ask whatever was left behind of the golden knight. Skye also watched the book for a while longer, eventually grabbing it to flip through the pages, startling Foulard as he watched her trying to find a more close-up depiction of the forest she probably used to live in.
"A relic, huh..."
"Dragonfolk possessed knowledge no human in this era has... a blade that can rob mana itself from your body... plates of stone that can store null-abilities that allow instantaneous teleportation from one corner of the world to another... a trident that doubles the force that is applied to resist its blow, capable of pinning any being to the ground... and eventually whatever I am now. You could technically call this preservation, but I'm a mere husk of who I used to be - the only thing left of me is my mana."
"And your knowledge...? Your memories...?"
"It's not as cloudy as yours... but time obviously had its effect on me as well. I told you I would not only allow you to make use of my help but also bring back as many of your memories as I could find... but your thoughts are melted together, sometimes riddled with gaping holes - a mess. The more I dig deeper into you, the greater the effects will be - however, knowing you, you probably couldn't care less about repercussions."
Gilts' screetching, metallic tone rang through his head once Midas got some alone time to think to himself. He was right; it loved to boast with its knowledge the moment it got the chance to, but even the golden skeleton was not immune to the passage of time. Not only would the dragonfolk have needed to preserve his body, but they also would've needed to resurrect him - possibly even needing to reconstruct his body, given the fight of such a measure came with lasting damage.
"So you are... incomplete in a sense. Is that the reason you want me to gather gold for you?"
"My memories are yours now too, and what is gone is gone for good... I have no real connection to gold; mana is just able to flow through it very well - if I had to guess, the dragonfolk that had their claws on me knew this as well. Before I got the rune you possess now, I used to be a metal bender capable of moving mass much greater than what I'm made of at the moment, and the more I have to bend with, the stronger I am."
"I see... so it's similar to water bending then - without water, you can't make use of the mana stone you have... Besides, now that I think about it... what is this rune actually used for?"
"Don't get cheeky; never compare me to a lousy water bender again... Runes are relics in a way as well. They were the last resort of the dragonfolk - many of their hideouts had been destroyed by the calamity, so they had to equip the people they selected as their saviors with relics that could be used in battle, while also being capable of being passed down to a next generation should it - or something of its caliber - one day return..."
"So multiple different kinds exist - that... doesn't really explain whatever mine is used for."
"Yes... there are no duplicates. I don't know how many are out there and how many of those are actively worn by somebody - don't worry, though... you got lucky."
Even though Midas tried bothering the skeleton for more answers, his attempts were only met with silence. Awoken by his thoughts as Skye squeezed his shoulders gently, he eventually looked up at her excited, deep brown eyes - having managed to slither away and stand right behind the stool he sat on while he was deep in thought.
"Okay... we got to look at maps now. Teach me how to use mana already...!"