Crossed

Chapter 7:

"Mirialla?," Ardian steps out, looking right at the Queen. "Ardian..?," the Queen looks confused," How are you- Why are you here? How... What happened?," she asks," Morris? You said they were back?," she now looks at the Dragon Guard. "Maybe we should go back to the ruins," I say," the aura or other energy completely vanished after I got back to my senses," Morris looks at the Queen and she nods. "I'll send the other Guards the message to keep looking about," Morris says and he let me and Ardian get on his back again.

Once we landed back at the ruins we all went to the spot where Ardian appeared for the first time and settled down there in a circle. "Before we start to address the situation we have right now," the Queen starts," I would like to introduce you all to my friend from a different Territory, Queen Meadow of the Saprophyte," with that a short creature makes herself known by jumping onto the ground and taking place beside our Queen. "It is my pleasure to get to know you all," she says with a nod.

"Your Majesty," Morris says and he bows his head. "Oh, no need for that," Queen Meadow says," as I understand you are Guard Morris? And you are Archimage Wren?," we both nod to her, then she looks at Ardian. "I am Ardian," he says, introducing himself," I have only been back here less than a week." "Good to know you all," the Queen says," Queen Mirialla was so friendly to take me and one of my own Guards back with here her. My Guard is inspecting these ruins at the time, so we could converse and strategize without worry for any missed information."

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"So what you say, your Majesty, is that I have been in that... place for six centuries?," Ardian looks at our Queen with the most emotionless face I had ever seen. "Yes, Ardian," she says," I am so sorry." "It will be fine," he says," that only means I lived for six hundred years inside the Middlegrounds and I am six hundred years older than when I stepped in." "You didn't know that much time passed?," I ask him. He looks up to me," no, I'm only now learning that time works differently in there. I have not aged, physically, I still look like a twenty-six year old man. Time just messes with your head in there, sometimes it goes really fast and others it slows down for who knows how long."

"That must be torture on it's own...," I say. "It is, but easier to handle than those Slain's," he says, anger showing harshly when he speaks their name. "So what do we know about them so far?," Queen Meadow asks. "They are very fast in movement, chase everything that lives," Ardian says. "They tricked me into believing to hear my partner's voice," I say," that was just now in the town. You said you knew they did that," I look at Ardian. "I forgot," he says.

"In short, fast, chases the living, impersonates," Queen Meadow says. "Yes," Ardian says. "Could I possibly ask something?," Morris speaks up. "Of course, what is it?," Queen Mirialla looks at him. "What exactly was the energy Archimage Wren and I looked after while you were on your travel?," he asks," we now know Archimage Ardian came from it but we do not know what it is exactly." "Ardian?," Queen Mirialla looks at him.

"Six hundred years ago I created a portal to the Middlegrounds, where I come from, I created a key to open it inside The Residence on one specific place. I am assuming that it was where I came back from," he pulls something from under his cloak," I used to have two of this one, however the second is not in my possession any longer." "It looks like the one I own," I say, immediately his head turns towards me and he looks at my necklace on which I put it. "That's it!," he says," I thought I recognized it!," he walks over to me and tries to grab it but I move away.

"I rather not have you touch it," I say and he steps back again," why did you make two?" "I didn't exactly make them, I remember little creatures were working on them for me while the war was going on," he says, his eyes fixated on my necklace. "May I have a look Archimage Wren?," Queen Meadow asks, I nod and walk over to her, kneeling down so she can see," This looks like Saprophyte handwork," she says after a little bit," old and not how we work with our current abilities, however the handiwork is very recognisable," she smiles and lets go of the key again," how did you acquire this piece?"

"I gave it to them," Queen Mirialla says," I made the decision to hand the key to the first Archimage Necromancer that would decide to live on my Territory," she sighs," it seemed like the most logical and safe thing to do at the time. Since the idea for the keys was created by the Archimage Necromancer before them, it was safer to have it in possession of someone with the same specialty," she explains. "What are they made of?," I ask. "I can't tell," Queen Meadow says, I look at Ardian but he stays silent.

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"Any news from the other Guards Morris?," I ask the Dragon Guard. "No, they haven't seen any of them," he says," makes me feel uneasy." I nod and then seperate the food in portions for everyone," let's get this to everyone, I'm sure they're all hungry." "I don't think I have thanked you for bringing me food while I was holding Ardian in the cage," Morris says," so thank you. You are a good cook, the food was great." "It was no problem at all," I say," I learned from the best." "Miss Iliana?," he asks quietly, I nod and swallow the tears away before we walk back into the half ruined library.

"Oh, I have never seen anything like this before," Queen Meadow says," it looks very good." "Thank you," I say with a small smile and bow to her before sitting down at the big table. Queen Mirialla did an amazing job repairing the library, most of it was standing again. It was just sad that more than half the books it possessed one day were unrepairable and no longer recognisable. I knew all the books that were once stored here, were written in this room once as well. No copies and no known authors to tell the information.