Chapter 293: Backyard

Recap: After leaving under the cover of darkness, Elero and Thomas were led by Frey towards a ruin in hopes of discovering the key to Elero's salvation. On their way however, it seems as though Thomas developed an arrogant pride from his training, a flaw quickly pointed out by Frey. Thomas apologized and went silent, wondering if he was supposed to assign blame to himself or to what he feared he was becoming.

Almost to the ruin, the three disciples encountered a group of Jackal's minions searching through the swamp, each with a specified role. Thomas crept up to listen in. He neglected to notice a snake slither behind him, and Frey revealed himself to save him. A battle ensued, with the three disciples sloppily executing their new fighting styles and techniques.

When the fight concluded, Elero threatened to kill a student for information, but Frey pulled her away. As luck would have it, they climbed up to the caves right as another group showed up. Cold, wet, and injured the three disciples traveled deep within the caverns.

Just before arriving at their destination, Frey finally revealed his and Doevm's past, and the others accepted it rather easily. Upon entering the ruin, Frey held his light crystal outwards. Thomas noticed motion. Thinking it to be Jackal's work, the three fell into a defensive formation.

And now back to the story….........................................................................

Weapons were drawn. Metallic reverberations echoed through the still, dusty air. The three disciples got into stances and waited for something to charge into their limited sightline. Elero and Frey stared directly ahead. Thomas scanned the surroundings for a good hiding place. 'How am I supposed to hide in such an open area? What am I supposed to do if I'm the one being ambushed?'

One silent second passed, then two, then dozens. Nothing. 'Did I imagine it?' Thomas thought. 'Why are they waiting?' He almost wished to hear a bowstring go taut or a sword leave its sheath. He aimed his crossbow at the closest pillar and frowned.

'Maybe they are waiting for reinforcements. We don't know the number of Jackal's men so that's definitely possible. In that case we should act now, but Elero and Frey aren't moving and they're more experienced.'

As he glanced at his friends, he noticed beads of sweat forming along their necks and cheeks. "Should I just shoot now and provoke them?" He asked aloud. Frey shrugged without looking back. Thomas took a deep breath and put his finger to the trigger.

"Hello?" Elero called out, nearly making Thomas pull the trigger. There was no response to her greeting. "Thomas, are you sure you saw something?" Life essence gathered around Elero's eyes. She scanned the area and shook her head. "It's too dark. Frey, do you have any more of those light crystals?"

Frey pulled out another light crystal and rolled it down the middle of the room, prompting the pillars' inscriptions to shift again. As the light crystal came to a stop in a pile of shattered debris, the pillars went still. "They're moving, I swear it," he insisted.

Elero frowned and let the life essence fade from her eyes. "Frey throw another light crystal, would you?"

"Can't," Frey shrugged. "I only have the two." Instead of throwing the one in his hand, he slowly walked out of the formation. The pillars' inscriptions shifted again but the other two didn't seem to react at all. "Thomas, are you seeing something we aren't?"

Thomas lowered his crossbow and sighed: "I think so." The others got out of their stances and relaxed.

"Don't scare me like that," Frey said. "This place already give me a dangerous feeling. We shouldn't stay here for very long."

"Sorry," Thomas apologized. "Can I borrow that?" He pointed to the light crystal in Frey's hand. Frey tossed it over and Thomas carefully moved around the pillars with it.

In the light, the inscriptions were intricate depictions of Draken Capital. He identified a large, circular colosseum, repeating patterns of square white stone buildings, and even the gigantic skeletal arm at the center.

In the dark however, the inscriptions changed into poorly done sketches. 'It wasn't enough to hide the ruin. The people who made this place even had to hide information within the writing. How paranoid were they? What were they hiding from?'

As Thomas ran his hand along the cold stone, he discovered that each set of inscriptions had different depths. The light-based inscriptions were shallow and delicate. Shadows twisted them into deep, jagged scribbles. It was as if the pillars were alive. A slight numbing sensation spread along the area of contact, but he paid no mind to it.

"I got an idea," Elero said. "Put the light crystals away." The others did as she instructed. She then took out charcoal from the group's campfire and a stack of paper. She placed the paper over the sloppy inscriptions and rubbed the charcoal along it. While she couldn't reach every inscription, she didn't have the paper to copy them all down. Some of the inscriptions were even destroyed. Nevertheless she took as many rubbings as she could.

"Where did you learn how to do that?" Frey asked.

"My brother taught me," Elero replied. "He was an artist, and I picked up a couple tricks from watching him."

"Huh," Frey rubbed his chin. "I don't think I have ever heard about your brother."

"My family doesn't talk about him." Elero sighed.

"I understand that far too well." Frey nodded. "If I see my family again, I'm not sure what I'd say, or what I'd do."

"It's a little more…complicated." Elero hesitated to explain. "I don't want you guys to get confused by the rumors about my brother. He and I were really close." She went quiet for several moments before continuing with a softer, distant tone of voice. "For example, he showed me how to do this after one of my sparring sessions." She gestured to the notes, which only Thomas could see since there was no light.

"At the time," Elero said. "I was struggling to get a move down and I kept accidentally hurting myself. I was so frustrated that I didn't realize my arm was about to break. That kind of injury would have taken weeks to heal, and we were reluctant to hire healers back then.

Luckily, my brother heard me cursing and ran over. He pulled me aside, plucked a leaf from the oak tree he liked to paint under, and showed me how to copy it onto paper." Only Thomas could see her pained smile. "We spent the rest of the day scouring the backyard for leaves. Now he's buried there."