TBATE Duality

Chapter 103

Jade Leywin POV

She's dead

Elder Rinia is dead

We both remained silent in front of her for several minutes

"In lieu of my pupil I would like to ask you two to bring her body back to the Elshire forest, I'm sure she would prefer to be buried there rather than here in the Hearth" Mordain told us

"Yeah, right of course, we'll make sure she'll receive the proper service" I replied absentmindedly

"Now I'm sorry to interrupt your grief but there are many things we have to talk about" he continued

"Alright, let's talk then" Arthur spoke up

"Follow me, I'll ask my clansmen to make the necessary preparations for her transportation" Mordain stated

We followed him outside of Elder Rinia's room and after a quick, silent walk we reached a massive room that looked like an amphitheatre with a central elevated stage with several levels of progressively taller balconies around it

On the stage a long rectangular table with four chairs had been prepared, three of those chairs were empty, an old woman was sitting on the last one, despite the wrinkles on her face and the plain grey robe she was wearing she still looked much more dignified and noble than any other person I have ever met

"Lady Myre" Art greeted her with a curt bow as we reached the table

"I'm surprised, to think you don't hold a grudge towards me even after everything you have learned about us" Myre stated her face as still as a stony mask

"The teachings you imparted to me in our time together in Epheotus saved my life several times and you yourself had done nothing to antagonize me" Arthur replied

"And what about you?" she addressed me

"As long as you're not a threat to my family or my friends I have no reason to treat you as an enemy lady Myre also I'm a little confused here, why is the queen of Epheotus here and what do you want from us and most of all what is this place?" I asked

We all sat down, Arthur and I on one side of the table, Myre on the other and Mordain at the head of the table

"First thing first, allow me to apologize for everything my people did" Myre stated

"You're not the one who should apologize, lady Myre" Arthur told her

"Very well then, Jade about your questions well this place is the Hearth a safe haven I and my clansmen built after our escape from Epheotus" Mordain spoke up

"Escape?"

"When I discovered Kezess's plan of exterminating the djinns I pleaded him to change his mind, I thought I could convince him but well I was wrong, Kezess attacked me and it was only thanks to a combination of my mana arts and Myre's vivum aether arts that I had managed to fake my death and escape with my clan and a few other asuras from other clans like Evascir, when we arrived in Dicathen I went to the djinns asking them to come here where I could protect them, unfortunately only a handful of them accepted to abandon their work, most of the remaining djinns wanted to finish building the Relictombs" Mordain explained

"What made tou think you could convince Kezess? I don't personally know him but he doesn't exactly sound like someone who would accept a suggestion" I observed

"Kezess and I were life long friends, for eons we collaborated to maintain peace in Epheotus"

"Hiw exactly did you become friends with a genocidal, megalomaniac tyrant?" I asked