As they headed deeper into the crystal caverns, all of them stopped and stared at the amazing sights before them.
Crystals of all shapes, sizes, and colors jutted out from the walls, and the light they had with them reflected and refracted off of them creating a light show.
Even for Marcus, Mrazivý, and James who had seen this before, it was still breathtaking to witness.
Tully this place could be considered a natural wonder even on a world as beautiful and diverse as Mirrion.
Nevertheless, this was only the beginning, and as they headed further in the sights became even more amazing, until they eventually made it to the room where musical crystals jutted out of the floor and walls.
However, this was not the same one that Marcus and Mrazivý had found, but instead was the one that James had originally located.
Still, the room was practically identical with all of the crystals lined up in the same order and pattern.
Ding!
Hitting one of the crystals, Marcus created a resounding musical note through the cavern and everyone’s eyes lit up.
Quickly they all began testing out the notes that could be played by each crystal, and for a while it was complete pandemonium as they all just hit the crystals at random.
Eventually though they settled down, and each of them took turns playing different songs that they wanted to hear..
‘Ah now that is nostalgic.’ Marcus thought as Lyra took her turn.
She had decided to play the opening song from a show they used to watch as kids. and tears actually began falling down her face.
It brought back a swath of memories, and she was glad to share it with everyone here who had become her friends in this new world.
“That was beautiful Lyra. It made me remember the times that me and my sister spent together at your home when we were all still young.”
Wiping her tears, Lyra gave Marcus a bright smile before holding her arms out and allowing him to take his turn.
Moving up to the first crystal he began hitting it rapidly as he started the intro to the song he wanted to play.
When he finished everyone clapped as Marcus had put on quite the performance, rushing all of the place to hit each of the notes he needed.
Time counited to pass by as they enjoyed playing around in the musical crystal room, until a certain sound signaled that it was time to move on.
Looking over at the origin of this sound, everyone stared at Mrazivý whose stomach had just let out a loud growling noise.
As this happened her face flushed red, and she said, “I cannot help it. We have not eaten anything since breakfast.”
Seeing Mrazivý so flustered, Marcus began chuckling and walked up to her.
He then patted her on top of the head, and said, “Would you like me to make you something delicious for lunch?”
Puffing up her cheeks she began playfully hitting him in the chest as he continued to pat her head.
“Um could you two save that for later. You know that all of us are still here.” Lyra said, feeling a bit awkward to see the two of them acting like this.
Of course, James shared her sentiment, since that was his little sister that Marcus was flirting with right in front of his eyes.
Holding his hands up in defeat, Marcus stopped showing his affection for Mrazivý and walked over to the center of the room.
“Okay, but seriously, I think it is time that we settle down for lunch. However, this is not the right place. So, before we go, would everyone get ready to hit all of the musical crystals at once.”
Look at him curiously, everyone did as Marcus asked and got into position, while Mrazivý who knew exactly what was going on smiled.
Snapping his fingers, Marcus signaled everyone to go, and they hit all of the musical crystals at the same time.
As soon as the crystals were all hit, a cacophony of sounds blasted through the room, before everything went dead silent for a moment.
Then the crystals that had not lit up this time, burst into a far more vibrant light than before, and one of the crystals that was glowing bright green emitted the sound of a tolling below.
Just like when they did this last time in the other room, the crystals began play a wondrously beautiful song that brought a sort of peace to everyone’s hearts.
It was like the lingering fear, regrets, and anger they had within them began to wash away and all that was left was a beautiful calm.
Closing their eyes everyone listened to the song as it played, enjoying the vibrant and peaceful melody.
Unfortunately, as awe inspiring as the song was, it soon came to an end, leaving everyone wishing to hear it for just a bit longer.
Nevertheless, their attention was soon drawn to the center of the room where the ground began to shake, and a hidden passageway was revealed to them.
Heading over to it, Marcus stood on the edge of the hole, before saying, “Follow me and I will show you all where we will be eating our meal.
After saying that he jumped into the hole and began sliding downwards towards the entrance to Recha’s shrine.
Following after him with no hesitation, Mrazivý jumped down as well, and quickly everyone else followed the two veterans that seemed to know where they we going.
Soon their group of beasts, people, and spirits made it down the slide and into the long tunnel that led to the tranquil shrine.
Leading the way, Marcus took them all to their destination, and when they arrived, he opened up his arms and directed their attention out to the lake where the small musical shrine of the great spirit of sound stood.
Heading farther in, everyone who had not been here previously looked around curiously as Marcus brazenly walked up to the shrine.
Once he was close enough a loud mechanical sound hummed through the area, before music began play from the shrine and giving the already breathtaking place and even greater ambiance.
“Recha are you here? It is your fellow great spirit, Marcus.”
Calling out into the shrine, he wanted to see if Recha was here or if he could get her attention.
However, all stayed quite except for the music the shrine played, and Recha made no appearance.
Shrugging his shoulder, Marcus figured this was likely, since she did not show up last time until they accidently wrecked her shrine.
Of course, if he really wanted to talk to her, he could have done that again, but he had no wish to gain the ire of a fully realized great spirit when he was still basically an infant.
“Well, this is as good a place as any to enjoy our meal. Lilia and Lyra. if you would not mind helping me, I would be most appreciative.” Marcus said, as he pulled out his massive walk-in fridge.
The three of them swiftly got to work pulling out a number of ingredients and preparing their space for cooking.
While that was going on, the others were playing around in the water and swimming with the glowing rainbow fishes that had come to investigate the newcomers to their home.
“It is ready everyone come and dig in.” Marcus shouted out, once he and his assistants had finished cooking their meal.
It was a beautiful spread of dozens of items for everyone to enjoy, and it did not take long for everyone to dive in and eat their fill.
Naturally the beasts and Mrazivý who was now part dragon ate the most, and what had once been over a ton of food was reduced to scrapes.
“Are you sure you did not want to eat any Marcus? You worked really hard to make it.” James said, feeling a bit bad that Marcus had not eaten anything, especially when it was so delicious.
Waving his hand, he said, “Nah it is fine. I do not need to eat, and we only have so much food. Anyway, it is my cooking so I can enjoy it whenever I want when we get back.”
Unable to argue with Marcus’ logic, James relented but still felt bad to see Marcus watching them all stuff their faces.
When everyone had finished eating, James and Fallon volunteered to clean up which really surprised Marcus and Lyra.
They had not expected James to do so since he was a prince. But as they thought about it, they realized he really was nothing like some of the high and mighty royalty they had met.
‘Now that I think about it, about half of Mrazivý’s siblings are what you would expect from royalty, and the other half are rough and tumble like her and her brother.’ Marcus thought remembering all of Mrazivý’s siblings that he had met.
“So where to now? You said this is as far as you have gone before.” Quillon said as he looked in the other directions leading away from the shrine.
“Well, we came from that direction, and last time Marcus and I were here we entered from over there. Therefore, I suppose we should try one of the other two directions.” Mrazivý said as she pointed around at the four entrances and exits to the tranquil shrine.
Picking one of the two direction none in their group had ever been, they all filed down the path and headed out of the area. Until they had made their way into another cave with musical crystals.
From here they turned towards a corridor in the cavern and made their way into it. Heading deeper into the depths of the world.