"The Crown of the Summer Court," Tana mumbled, "But there's no way that could be true. That's just a myth."
"What are you saying? We've already found plenty of myths to be true, so tell me what you know," Emory raised an eyebrow.
"The legend goes that there was a ruling power over the Fae called the Summer Court. Some legends say a king while others say a queen, but whoever the leader was supposedly wore a silver crown," Tana stuttered, "They say with this crown, the ruler had absolute control over magik. With a single word, they could destroy civilizations. With a wave of their hands, new stars appeared in the sky. Then the Summer Court betrayed the leader, and the crown was lost forever."
Soren frowned, "That sounds unfathomable, even for one of the Ancients. Although, we have only limited information about the Ancients in the first place. Either way, that's why we need to see Ninian. All I was able to determine was that it's made of mithril, and only the Ancients have mithril."
"Before we go, I just want to quickly explain what the plan is for when the army arrives," Emory redirected the conversation, "Galle, you'll focus on training. Gwen, you're on construction. And Tana, you need to scout out some secure places to engage the enemy as needed. We'll be back later, so don't worry about us." The trio nodded as they all stood up and exited the room. Gwen had given Emory and Soren the general location where Ninian was according to where she went to let Ninian know about Emory's condition. Since it was quite a distance away, Tana suggested they take a vehicle, but Emory rejected the offer with a sly grin. Once they were outside, Emory formed her wings which caused the trio that hadn't seen them before to stare in amazement. She tapped Soren on the shoulder to refill his mana pool, so he could do the same. Then they shot into the air like rockets and flew into the distance.
With their superior speed, Emory and Soren landed at the coast in ten minutes. Surprisingly, or perhaps unsurprisingly, Ninian was already standing at the shore waiting for them. As they landed, she giggled slightly and shook her head.
Ninian warned, "You're not the subtlest person, are you niece?"
"I am who I am," Emory smirked, "If someone wanted to come for me, I wouldn't want them to waste time looking for me."
"And I see your bodyguard hasn't left your side either. He's not bad for a fairy," Ninian teased, causing Soren's face to turn bright red.
"Good to see you again, Ninian," Soren slowly bowed, "Thank you again for helping Emory with her recovery."
Ninian grinned, "Such manners. You should keep this one around, Emory. He's a good soul. But I digress; you didn't come here just to visit."
"We found a lockbox of sorts, made by one of our people," Emory started as she rifled through her bag for the box, "Inside we found a treasure of sorts, and we were hoping you could tell us more about it." Ninian's eyes opened wide when she saw the box Emory pulled out. Slowly she walked over and grazed her hands against the box like a child picking up a Christmas present.
"I can't believe you found this. I'm sure you don't know this, but this treasure is old, eons old. May I open it?" Ninian breathed to which Emory nodded. She gasped as she opened the box and saw the crown.
"We tried to look at its properties, but it said I didn't meet the requirements," Emory continued, "Do you know anything about this?"
Ninian nodded slowly, "This crown is a treasure left behind by one of the greatest fire children, the Summer Crown. It belonged to our last king."
"Wait, I thought you told me we were nomads," Emory wrinkled her brow, "What kind of nomads have a king? Who could even control a populace spread across the universe?"
"We weren't always nomads or so few either. In the early universe, we reigned supreme amongst all the early creatures. Then we fell, hard. I don't know exactly what happened as it happened long before I was born, but it centered on the last decision by the last king. He used the power of the crown to rewrite the laws of nature and extend the gift of magik to the universe. However, this use of power caused infighting, eventually leading to the collapse of our society. The legends say that the last king hid his crown due to the power it contained," Ninian slowly elaborated as she continued gazing at the crown.
Emory crossed her arms and frowned, "I thought we were supposed to be above all the petty squabbles of other races, yet we made the same mistakes everyone else does."
"What about the requirements?" Soren questioned, "Does Emory have to become a queen of the Ancients?"
"No, kings and queens of old became royalty due to a particular gift, Limitless. All the kings and queens had the gift, among other things. Though, unfortunately, I don't much beyond that," Ninian replied quietly.
"I already have the gift," Emory pouted, "So it must be more than that. I just wish we had some ideas to go on." Ninian waved her hand over the crown to reveal its powers just like Emory had.
"Level five enchantment: Arcane. Active Skill: Magik Mastery."
"This active skill cannot be used by you."
Soren raised an eyebrow as he spoke slowly, "That's not what it said when Emory did that. Why did it change?"
"If I were to guess, it's because I don't have Limitless," Ninian mused, "As I said before, all kings and queens of the past had the gift. But that does give me an idea."
"What's your idea?" Emory wondered aloud, still annoyed by the lack of information they had found.
"There are remnants of our civilization still on our home world," Ninian scratched her head, "It's possible there are records that would talk about the properties of the crown. The odds are not in our favor since over a billion years have passed since our civilization fell apart. But it's the only chance we have, besides finding a fire child much older than I am."
Emory perked up, "Would you really do that? Why would you do that for me?"
"If my niece could be the new Summer Queen, isn't that worth looking into?" Ninian answered before she stuck out her tongue, "Besides, it'll be nice to go back to where it all started again."
"Should I go with you? After all, this could change the course of history as we know it," Emory suggested.
"No, you should stay here," Ninian shook her head, "There's too much going on here that you're involved in. Besides, I can't even guess how long it will take me to dig up something useful. But I will say this: stop carrying it around in the box. It belongs on your head as a symbol to be worn proudly. And it might reveal more information as well."
With shaking hands, Emory lifted the crown out of the box and gently set it on her head. As it touched her brow, the silver frame began to light up. Then a pulse of intense magik burst from Emory and knocked Ninian and Soren to the ground while her eyes rolled back in her head. Moments later, her body lifted a few feet off the ground, and she began to convulse. Ninian and Soren tried to get up, yet their bodies acted like they were frozen to the ground. Then her whole body began glowing like a star, blinding the two on the ground. After a couple minutes, her body suddenly stopped glowing, slumped down, and fell on the ground like a sack of potatoes.
"Emory!" Soren yelled as he felt the pressure relent and rushed over to her, "Emory, come on, get up! Ninian, what's going on?"
"I don't know. Give her a few minutes. She's breathing and stable, right? Let's just watch her for a few minutes and see what happens," Ninian huffed as she struggled to get back on her feet.
Meanwhile, Emory opened her eyes and looked around to a much different setting than she had passed out in. The sky was dark except for a pale red moon overhead, and instead of ice and snow, she seemed to be in a barren forest of some sort. She sat up and turned her head in every direction only to find row after row of dead trees. Getting to her feet, she created a small fireball to light up the area around her. Much like the trees, the grass beneath her feet was pale and dead. Since she didn't want to walk around unless she had to, she tried to call out to see if anything called back. However, her voice came out as a whisper instead of a bellowing roar. So, she decided to start walking to try to figure out where she was.
So, she walked in between the dead trees for nearly fifteen minutes, looking for anything besides more dead fauna. But all around her was just more and more of the same. Then she decided that since she could use her magik, she would try to teleport. But when she tried, she just appeared in another part of the forest. Suddenly, she let out a muffled scream and began rapidly teleporting all over the barren woodland. When she finally stopped twenty minutes later, she tried to shove her fireball through one of the trees in frustration. Instead of punching a hole through the rotten tree, the orb shrunk as it approached the strange tree until it disappeared entirely. In a fit of pure rage, Emory released a wave of magik, causing a tidal wave of iridescent water to cascade through the area. However, when it encountered trees, the magik parted around them.
Then, as if awakened by the outpouring of magik, the trees closest to Emory began to change. Little buds started sprouting on the trees while the grass at her feet turned a brilliant emerald. Suddenly, a crisp step behind her back broke the silence like a popped balloon. She spun around, instantly cloaked in her fierce magik that gave her the appearance of an ethereal dragon. A figure, shrouded in shadow, crept forward with piercing golden eyes, each step crunching the blades of grass like walking on glass. Even as it got closer, Emory could only make out the figure of a person slightly taller than her cloaked in shadows and glowing eyes. When it finally stopped a couple feet away from her, Emory coughed loudly for the first time since entering this place.
"Who are you to walk in this hallowed place, fire child?" a distorted voice echoed from the darkness.
Emory firmly answered, "My name is Emory Reiss. Who are you?"
"Once they called me Tiamat Akadian," the voice replied, "I was the last king of our people. How long has it been since my reign?"
"I don't exactly know because your civilization fell apart, but it's been a billion years since that collapsed. I didn't even know that I was a fire child until a month ago," Emory explained.
"Really?" Tiamat moaned, "Still, the fact that a child of two suns stands before me means that my actions were justified."
Emory asked politely, "Where are we? One minute I put on the crown and the next I woke up here."
"We are nowhere, rather a space between places," Tiamat gestured, "However, that's not important right now. Putting on the crown has triggered an immutable sequence of events."
"Why do I get the feeling I'm not going to like this?" Emory groaned.
Tiamat chuckled, "Have no fear, you've already completed the first challenge, so you'll barely suffer any blowback from this. The second challenge is a little bit more, shall we say, aggressive. There are three requirements to activate the crown. First, you must have Limitless. The power contained by the crown can only be fueled by an infinite fuel source. Second, you must have unlocked your True Form. The crown will merge with your True Form to truly unlock the potential of it. And finally, you must be level five in both your spheres. You can't access what you haven't mastered."
"Okay, I have Limitless, but I don't have the other two," Emory frowned, "Why do I get the feeling these challenges have to do with achieving those second two requirements?"
"Indeed, that is correct. The form your cloak took when I arrived is the basis of your True Form. Though forcing your transformation like this will give you a bit of magik poisoning when you wake up. For your second challenge, you are given a time limit of one year from now. If you don't make it to top tier by the end of the year, the crown will force your body and mind to the fifth level," Tiamat grimaced.