Chapter 246: The Boons of the Elves

Chapter 246: The Boons of the Elves

For a while they all just stood there in the endless sand. After the intense battle, hearing nothing but the sound of wind should have been relaxing. Yet the fact that they were in the middle of nowhere didn't bode well.

"These are the Elven Wilds," Omilaena said eventually. "Probably somewhere on the western side, which is heavily sandy due to the rain shadow and the rest of the continent. Other than that, I'm not sure."

"Didn't you inspect the totem beforehand?" Zae Zin Nim took the stone fragments, which were now devoid of chakra, then threw them down in disgust.

"I confirmed it was real and wouldn't do anything fatal, but I don't know how to check if they'll send us to a random location."

"They wouldn't really do that, would they?" Kai asked. "That wouldn't make any sense, even if they were planning to betray us."

The others didn't really have an answer to that. It seemed obvious that, since nothing was happening in this random patch of desert, they should move to another one, but there was no real way to decide. They could head south toward the mountains, he supposed.

Abruptly something burst out of the sand several paces away. Kai readied his aching body for a fight, but it was only Ceryyn, wearing voluminous sand-colored robes.

"You're early!" she proclaimed. "Did something go wrong?"

"We got the thing." Omilaena lifted the top of the obelisk and Ceryyn immediately winced back.

"Ooh, it's still active. Can you please turn that off? There should be some sort of chakra mechanism..."

Between the two of them, they took guesses at how the obelisk worked until Omilaena severed something on the side. Abruptly the chakra within shifted in a way Kai struggled to put his finger on: more like a magical stone than a crystal carrying active qi. In any case, the effect seemed to have been interrupted, because Ceryyn looked as lovely as usual as she approached.

"You have no idea how much this will help us." She smiled brightly at all three of them. "We'll still be going forward with our school program, but our allies won't be ready for a mission like this for months at least. Broad weapons like this obelisk almost always sacrifice something to achieve such a strong effect, so we just need to find the weaknesses and we'll gain an edge against the demons."

"Why are we out in the desert?" Zae Zin Nim asked.Geett the latest novels at novelhall.com

"In part because it's easiest to get a totem that will take you back here. But you've all clearly worked hard, don't you want to get the boons we promised you?"

"I wanted to go back to Roseport. We need to retrieve our ship and set a false trail."

"Well, we can work on all that afterward. We'll throw in some teleportation for free." Ceryyn skipped backward, wagging a finger. "But like I said, you're early! Please wait just a little longer and then we'll show you in."

She hopped up into the air, then plunged into an area of sand that was apparently identical to all the rest. Whatever it was, she disappeared into it with just a slight ripple of sand. Kai hadn't heard about elven glamours involving actual illusions like this, but it did seem implicit in the word. While he knelt down and tried to figure it out, the others already seemed to have moved on.

"We're going to be meeting a lot of them, aren't we?" Zae Zin Nim asked. "Elders, I mean."

"These aren't the Elders elders," Omilaena said. "Not the Council that rules the Elven Wilds, I mean."

"But they'll be soul cultivators of a similar level, won't they? Is there anything that can be done about those glamours?"

"It's tricky, because such a large part of it is changing themselves in a way that's appealing, not direct mental manipulation. But there are options..." Omilaena went on to explain how some cultivation exercises could be useful, and she seemed to be injecting herself with a dark liquid. Since she didn't have any suggestions for Kai, he decided that he'd stick with what had worked so far.

They didn't have to wait terribly long before they heard a grinding sound underneath the sand and something trembled. Soon one of the dunes began to tumble and Kai realized that something underneath was shifting. As they shifted away from the movement for the sake of caution, they ended up putting themselves in a good position to see the entrance open.

A vast circle opened in the desert, revealing a stone staircase spiraling into darkness. It should have been overwhelmed by sand, but all the grains he saw were whisked away in an unnatural wind. Even before the process was complete, Ceryyn bounced up the stairs waving a hand.

"To attain the Earth Soul stage?" The man who spoke up looked even younger than Ceryyn, though it was hard to tell with elves. "Never let it be said that we are miserly. You will have your choice of any source of qi within the Elven Wilds until you achieve the next stage."

Zae Zin Nim bowed her thanks and stepped back. She looked completely serious until she moved back to where he was standing, and when their eyes met he thought he caught a hint of a smile. Her frustration with how the elves were handling things was definitely gone.

Now it was Omilaena's turn, so she strolled forward to greet the elders. She rolled her hips unnecessarily as she walked, as if trying to exude her own aura of sexuality, and the bizarre thing was that it almost seemed to work. Even Kai's animal brain thought she looked just as good as all the elves with their glamours.

"For my boon," Omilaena said grandly, "I would like a garment woven by the Primal Loom."

Her request caused immediate consternation amongst the elves. The eldest, a man with a long white beard but an unlined face, leaned forward to speak. "And how do you know of this?"

"Come now, I've heard you boast about you've made your own Insanity. I'm skeptical, but I'd love to see for myself."

"That is not an appropriate boon." The leader of the five made a rough gesture for silence. "The Primal Loom is one of our most valuable artifacts, weaving the threads of fate into objects of great power. You have done us a favor, not earned a life debt. Ask for something else."

"I'm sorry I asked too much." Omilaena shook her head slowly. "But I understand. May I have an Ethereal Lotus, then?"

Once again, her request seemed to throw the elves back, though a few discussed this one in lower voices. Again the leader cut them off. "Only a few lotuses bloom every year," he said. "This is too grandiose a request. Ask again. Ask wisely."

"Oh, very well. May I have some pure manticore venom?"

"For your Heart of Poison?" Ceryyn asked. "We can get you more than just that! Never let it be said that we're not generous. We will gladly help you with poisons, if you use them in our defense."

"I couldn't ask for more." Omilaena smiled broadly and swept another bow.

"All of your boons will be prepared shortly," the leader told them with a wave of his hand. "Until then, you are welcome in Sandflower City. Perhaps in the future we will be able to work together again."

That was a clear dismissal, so they retreated back out through the great doors, which closed behind them. Back in the hall, Omilaena stretched her arms over her head cheerfully while Zae Zin Nim frowned.

"I got what I wanted," she said, "but I hope it doesn't come with strings attached. Clearly they want us to keep working with them."

"I don't mind," Omilaena grinned as she spoke, "if they keep giving us more boons."

"Were those first two requests bluffs?" Kai asked.

"Absolutely. Don't get me wrong, I'd have been overjoyed if they actually gave me something from the Primal Loom, since it allegedly creates the strongest clothes on the continent. But the actual plan was to make them more generous when I asked for poisons."

Zae Zin Nim shifted nervously. "We shouldn't let them make us wait too long. We need to get back to Roseport and wrap up everything there."

"I wouldn't be too worried. With teleportation, we can get through even if the Brightwind sect has arrived."

If that was true, then they had finally achieved their first major objective. Technically they still needed to find a way to hide Zae Zin Nim's qi completely, but that seemed entirely possible now that they had more allies. All of the loose ends they were chasing, all the possibilities for power, all the challenges that still faced them...

The continent of Rosemount had finally opened up for them.