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James and his friends, called in by the Queens, sat back on their seats and grabbed some dinner while they listened to the story. The room was completely empty of any other Ikirian; it had almost a solemn air.

"As we told you earlier," the Queens began. "Dorian-5 has a very old history. It was captured by the Void during the Origin War and was host to many of their experiments, and armies it now appears. That influence lingered long past the defeat of the Infinite Wolf, affecting many of the species that lived on the planet and even going so far as to spawn the Ikirian, a unique blend of Void and Reality. Our earliest ancestors recognized the importance and danger of the temples and rifts still remaining, and so vowed to protect them from anything that might seek to unleash their power once again. This was, and still is, the first and most important doctrine of the Ikirian. We eventually came into contact with the greater universe when we were visited by Master Dioul, who had sensed the leaking Void energy emanating from the planet. Initially, he had no idea how to talk with us. We both understood that the temples were a danger, and needed to communicate, but due to our origin, the translation spell did not work. It was lucky, then, that Lord Alcyrion had created a magical artifact in the past to deal with the cryptic Void language."

"Wait, so Lord Alcyrion created the Ulnth?"

"Yes. And, that is why it can translate the Void runes in the temples as well. It was designed to deal with the Void, and so it was used to finally allow our two sides to talk. With this barrier broken, Master Dioul saw that the Ikirian were ready to defend the temples should the need arise and decided that the safest place for Dorian-5 would be in obscurity, unknown to the rest of the mages. We agreed, as it only helped our cause, and he gifted us the Ulnth, as we were the ones best suited for its use. When he left, the ancestors then created the second decree: that the Ikirian would have no contact with mages in order to preserve the secret of the temples. We would live in isolation, separate from the rest of creation."

James put down his fruit and raised a finger. "But then why," he said, mouth still full. "is there a school of MAGES on the planet?"

The Queens sighed. "It began with something that was out of our control. The rifts underneath the temples had slowly begun to open as the years had passed and had spread Void energy across the jungle. It was much less violent and much, much slower than the situation right now, but it was still a primary issue that we were unable to deal with. We accepted the throne at this time and began to put our attention to finding a solution when two unexpected visitors arrived. A pair of a Mythical mage and a Celestial mage had sensed the Void energy and discovered Dorian-5, just like Master Dioul had before. Initially, the Ikirian were only able to observe their actions on the planet. The decree of the ancestors forbid contact with mages, and they were not attempting to use the temples' power, so we could not intervene. However, while listening to the friends arguing over how to deal with the Void energy, it came to light that they were only apprentices. Understanding the severity of the situation, we found a loophole in the decree. Nu and Phanes were not full mages yet, and the decree did not consider that apprentices would arrive in our world. Using this flaw, we made contact and explained the calamity that had befallen the rifts. Nu and Phanes spent many days working with us and managed to force the rifts shit using our magic and their knowledge of the spacial fabric. In thanks, we offered them anything they needed."

"Not the smartest idea," Lydia noted. "Didn't you give them any restrictions?"

"We did not think it necessary. Although they both had many flaws, an evil heart was not one of them. And in truth, their request reflected that. At the time, Nu and Phanes were both apprentices on a journey to expand their horizons and discover the unknown. In keeping with their mission, they asked for access to the Void temples. Their reasoning was twofold: first, they could look into the Void's secrets and prevent further calamities, which would help with our mission as well. The second was far simpler. In their mind, the Void was an unexplored frontier, a place of danger and mystery. They wanted nothing more than a chance to explore."

"We debated the request for an entire week, asking for advice from the Captains and elder Ikirian. The decision would affect the whole of the planet and could have far-reaching consequences, good or bad. As such, we needed to be certain. In the end, we granted the request, although they would need to pass all of their discoveries through us first. And so, Nu and Phanes lived among the Ikirian, venturing out to explore the temples and using the Ulnth to translate the cryptic runes. They were the ones that gave us the map of the full temples, and also many details relating to our past. They even created a method to traverse the temples safely."

"So that's what the lantern was!" Algon said.

"This story is sounding a bit too good to be true," James said. "Something went wrong."

The Queen gave a sour smile. "Correct. As time went on, Nu and Phanes began to be secretive about their work. They moved out of the Ikirian city, closer to the temples, and conducted longer and more intensive studies on the Void rifts. They grew distant, and we feared the worst. When dealing with such dangerous energies, there is no room for incorrect judgment."

"But they helped you," Lydia said. "Why would they do something like that?"

"Do not forget, at the time they were venturing out into unknown realms seeking adventure, and the Void can fulfill that. We believe that they had found something, or information about something, hidden away in the temples, and were searching for it. Nothing the Void gives is good, and so we prepared to investigate and halt their progress. But before we could, they stopped on their own."

"That seems highly unlikely," James pointed out. "If they had been determined to get the thing before, why would they have suddenly stopped?"

"We thought the same," the Queen said. "However, the reason soon became apparent. Inside the temple, they encountered an unexpected danger and both were severely injured. Nu almost lost his life and Phanes had to carry him to safety. They were found by our scouts, barely alive in the outskirts of the jungle. After spending weeks recovering, they were granted an audience with us and apologized profusely. Even Phanes, who had had an air of pride and arrogance around him, that of a man who thinks they know everything, completely lost his attitude when faced with the disasters of their decisions. After the incident, they changed their focus to the natural flora and fauna of the planet instead, having lost their appetite for danger and adventure. Eventually, Phanes returned home. Nu also left, returning to school to finish his studies. To our great surprise, he came back much later, now more mature, accompanied by Master Dioul himself. As it was one of the Primes, we violated our doctrine and granted them an audience. Nu requested that he create a school on the planet, having developed an interest in the unique ways that the Void energy interacted with the animals and plants native to the land. Having the support of Master Dioul, we confirmed his request and he founded Rioyda, operating as its headmaster. And he has remained on the planet since."

"So you think that it's Nu that's causing the rifts to open back up?"

"We are confident in that accusation, especially after considering the evidence against him presented so far. Furthermore, there was a strange event several years after Rioyda's creation. The school originally stood much closer to the Ikirian city, however, Nu petitioned us to have it moved to its current location. At the time, we thought nothing of it; he told us that it was a necessity to further their research, but now, knowing that that location was over the Omega Rift, we are looking at that request in a new light. We believe that Nu has resumed his search for the thing he and Phanes discovered in the temple and that he is close to finding it."

"And where do you suspect Chancellor Phanes fits into this? He seemed so nice when we met him."

The Queen sighed. "We do not know. There is no evidence to suggest that he is assisting Nu. In fact, we believe that he may be working to stop him. Regardless, Phanes' arrival on Rioyda is no coincidence and we must treat him as an enemy until we see otherwise."

The friends looked at each other, troubled by the statement, but understanding nonetheless. For all of his niceness, the risk that the Chancellor was working with Nu was too big to ignore.

James folded his hands and looked at the Queens. "What do you want us to do with all of this? We're just kids."

"And that is why you are the only ones that can do anything. You are the only ones we can come to for aid. Even in such dire circumstances, the doctrine laid by our ancestors is sacred and we cannot break it. However, we would understand if you do not wish to continue. You have already assisted us greatly, and the dangers posed to you all will only increase from this moment forward. If you desire, we can return you to Rioyda."

James was about to speak but was interrupted by Lydia.

"I think we need to talk about it first," she said.

"Of course," the Queen nodded. "You have had a tiring day; please, rest and discuss the matter. Return to us when you have your answer and take your time. We want you to be certain of your decision."

"Thank you."

The Queens left and the group looked at each other.

James sighed. "Well, what are we going to do?"

"I think we should head back to Rioyda," Delta said. "We aren't equipped to deal with this. And besides, we don't even know what Nu is searching for. He might not even find it. And if he does, it could just turn out to be something harmless."

Algon raised an eyebrow. "Really, you're going with that? This originated from the Void. You know, the same place where LORD ITER comes from? There's no way it's small."

"I don't think we can just sit around and do nothing. The Ikirian aren't willing to break their laws and contact some trained mages. Even if we were to go back and tell everyone, there's a very good chance that they wouldn't believe us. I mean, we don't have any evidence that proves that Nu is dangerous, and as the headmaster, he's got a bit of an advantage over us already."

"We need to find out what Nu is looking for," Algon said. "Maybe then, we can get a better idea of what we're dealing with."

"But the Queens said they don't know and we can't exactly go and ask the headmaster himself."

"Isn't it obvious?" Delta rolled his eyes. "We'd need to go to investigate the temple up north. You know, the one where they were seriously injured?!? This is what I'm talking about; exploring the last temple worked out so well and we'd need to do it again. Or did you guys already forget about the whole space-warping thing and the death-mists?"

"The guards had that lantern," James considered. "That was the artifact that Nu and Phanes made for exploring the temple. And if you remember, the temple didn't start to kill us until after they were gone."

"So we need our own, then," Algon said. He glanced at Lydia. "As a Weird, you wouldn't happen to have a Void-suppressing device in your back pocket, would you?"

She shook her head. "There's no way I can make something like that. I'd need years of research on dimensional physics and energy to even be able to think of a design, not to mention the materials."

"But we still need something that can keep us safe inside the temple. Otherwise, we'll we worse off than last time."

Everyone looked at each other, but nothing came to their minds.

"Look at that," Delta said. "Back to square one: we step into the temple and instantly die. Anyone else got ideas?"

"Let's sleep on it," James said. "Lydia, can you at least try to tackle the problem?"

"I'll give it my best shot, but don't keep your hopes up."

"K, thank you."

They left the hall and emerged into the night of Dorian-5. Although Aur wasn't in sight, they remembered the route they had taken that morning and successfully made it back to the room used for sleeping quarters. Everyone was understandably exhausted and fell asleep almost immediately.

In the morning, they all had breakfast in the hall. None of them had any ideas on how to proceed further, not even Lydia, who had used her powers to massively boost her creativity and thinking speed. The issue was just too large for them to handle and they didn't even have a base to start from.

They met with the Queens when they were finished eating and James explained the situation. They needed to investigate the temple up north but had no method to safely do so. The Queens promised that they would consider how to deal with the problem and dismissed the group.

James left his friends to visit Aur's private training room again. Once there, he unsealed his two new swords and took a much closer look at them, something he hadn't thought to do the day before. They both were constructed out of metal, with a plain hilt and unadorned blade. In fact, the only thing unusual about them was that they were much thinner than the average sword, being designed with weight in mind.

"These will break after one or two fights," James thought as he looked them over. "I guess I do have to do what that guy said, making my own blades. The guy didn't give me a spell too, which means he thinks that I can figure it out on my own. Hm."

He sat down on the ground and considered his options. "Making my own swords. What are these made out of anyway?"

He looked at them using his Pure Elementalism and was surprised to see that it was comprised of only basic elements in a simple structure. "It's less than 10 elements! Does he expect me to just grab the ones I need and form them into what I need?"

James then tried just that, trying to extract the metal from the surrounding earth and form it into a sword. Unfortunately, the end result was only a pile of mush. It was incredibly hard to purify the elements he needed from the dirt and without them, his construct wouldn't hold a decent shape.

He continued to attempt different ways to extract the elements, but nothing seemed to be working. Eventually, he shook his head and stood up.

"This is exhausting; I need a break. I wonder how Aura's doing. I never checked up on her yesterday after the Queens said that she was cured."

James left the training room and found an Ikirian guard, who helpfully led him to the infirmary. As James walked into Aura's room, he noticed with a chuckle that Delta was already there, talking with her.

"Hey, James!" Delta said, seeing his friend come in. "Nice to see you finally stop by!"

"Sorry I didn't come yesterday," he answered. "How are you feeling, Aura?"

"Much better, thanks to you and your friends. Delta told me that you saved me."

James subtlety glared at Delta, who gave a sheepish grin in response. Apparently, he liked this girl a bit more than he had let on.

"Well, I'm glad that the Ikirian's treatment worked."

"Actually, they told us that Aura was a great help," Delta said. "They haven't been able to study the Void's influence in a complete way, so they weren't able to help the other animals that were affected by the rift. Now that they've cured Aura, the Ikirian should be able to cure Ran and the others."

"That's great! Does Algon know yet?"

"Yeah, he was ecstatic. He and Ran became pretty good friends while we were training at Rioyda, so when he was twisted by the Void it hit him hard. The Ikirian already left today to go and cure the Oucu herd nearby."

"Good to hear. So, what are you going to be doing for the rest of the day?"

"Aura and I'll be talking for a bit longer, then I was planning on seeing the rest of the city. Lydia told me she'd need my help at some point as well; she's upgrading my gear some more. I didn't see you yesterday after we got back, and now you were gone this morning. What have you been working on?"

James sighed. "I'm improving my sword skills."

"You're training more with Ruin?"

James shook his head. "Apparently, that wasn't Ruin. Some mysterious man came up to me while training and pointed out at least 4 ways that it was a fake. And then he told me that it was dangerous and gave me two other swords to use instead."

"Wait, what? Who was this guy?"

"No idea. He wasn't wearing any identification sigils or clothing. Heck, he barely looked like a mage. Furthermore, the Ikirian don't have any other guests besides us. That would be breaking their doctrine."

Delta thought about it. "I don't know if you should trust this guy. He might not have your best interests in mind. And the fact that he isn't willing to tell you his name or where he's from is kind of suspicious."

"I know, but why would he be willing to help me for evil purposes. He didn't seem malicious, only slightly annoying with the way he talked. Heck, he seemed kind of friendly."

"I still wouldn't trust him, at least not until you know more about him."

"Fair enough. Well, break's over. I have to get back to my training now, especially because I'm working on something new. Tell me if the Queens come up with any ideas to help us navigate the Void temple, ok?"

"I'll come and find you if anything comes up."

"Thanks for stopping by, James," Aura said.

James nodded and headed back to the training grounds. Although it was difficult and a bit boring, he didn't have much else to do and didn't want to bother Lydia, especially if she was working on something new. Interrupting a Weird could have explosive consequences.

When he got situated, he didn't try to continue to make new swords. Instead, he pulled out the two that he already had and faced the open room.

"Alright, I've got no idea what I'm doing, which means that I've got to rely on my instincts."

He began to practice his swings, the swords slicing through the air. Side to side, a slash above and then a double strike to the front. However, it didn't feel nearly as natural as when he was fighting the man and looked more like an idiot swinging blades around wildly.

James soon stopped, panting heavily. His arms were tired; even though the swords were much lighter than his previous one, he kept having to correct his attacks mid-swing and that put extra strain on his limbs.

"Dang I miss the Darkessia right now. My instincts aren't as nearly fired up as they are when I'm in a real fight. Air doesn't make for a good sparring partner."

After continuing to make attempts to improve his dual wielding, he eventually dropped the swords and focused on his Elementalism. Before coming to Rioyda he had researched the format of multiple different spells, several from each branch of Elementalism, but hadn't had the time to practice each one and therefore didn't really have a good arsenal to use in a real fight. As Earth was his strong suit right now, he decided to save that one for last and started with an element he hadn't really touched on in the past: water.

Water Elementalism was one of the trickier magics to work with. The mages using it needed a constant supply of liquid to manipulate, which meant they had to time fights near a source or carry it on them. This was very inconvenient for most Elementalists, but they had no way of doing it any other way. However, using his knowledge of basic chemistry, James had formulated an idea back at the Quintessium that he finally wanted to try out. Water was composed of only two substances, and hypothetically he could create it by combining them.

With his Pure Elementalism, James could clearly see the elements he needed in his mind's eye. Hydrogen and oxygen, the two elements that made up water, were everywhere in the air around him, and they were much easier to purify than the metal earlier. He just had to reach out and grab them with his powers.

James sat on the ground and held out his hands. In them, air began to slowly build up and spin, eventually speeding up into a full sphere. However, it was not actually air; the right hand held a ball of pure oxygen while the left held pure hydrogen.

James then closed his eyes and visualized the elements he was holding in his mind. He took a moment to see the way that they moved and spun, the unique structure that made them different and yet compatible. This was the benefit of Pure Elementalism, something that the other branches couldn't use. With his unique magic, he could better understand the elements and have a much easier time controlling them. Of course, this took a lot of mental strength. After looking at them for a long while, he slowly cupped his hands and moved them together.

When the spinning elements met, he paused. Then, with a monumental amount of concentration, James pushed the two spheres into one another, moving at a molasses pace. As he did, he individually combined the elements together. This process took an incredibly long amount of time but finally opened his eyes to see that he was holding a rippling sphere of pure water.

James was very pleased. He hadn't expected to be successful on his first try, and here he was. He would have to train hard to speed up the time it took to make, though, otherwise he would never be able to practically use Water Elementalism in a fight. However, it was still a great achievement, as he was discovering new things that made Pure Elementalists unique.

The ball of water splashed apart when Captain Aur rushed into the room, destroying James' concentration.

"Sorry to disrupt you, but it's urgent. I've been told to come and fetch you."

"Why, what's wrong?"

"After your friend Aura was cured, a team of Ikirian went out to cure the Oucu herd in the nearby jungle."

"I know; Delta told me. What happened?"

"They were attacked by a squadron of guards. Normally, we wouldn't ask you to come and assist, but there's been a report that the lantern artifact was spotted at the scene. The Queens have order everyone not to touch it as it might be infected with Void energy. Instead, we've asked Lydia to come and take a look. She asked us to bring you along. What's more, the guards are still fighting."

James leaped up and sealed his swords. "If you can get us to the lantern, I'm sure that Algon, Delta, and I can hold off the guards long enough for Lydia to take a look at it."

"And there will be more Ikirian assisting as well. She just asked for you personally."

"Got you. Where are Delta and Algon?"

"They are already on their way." Aur unsheathed his upper arms and held out a hand. "Want to go for a flight?"