Wrath of the Empire

XII. Legends

"Well, where do we go now?" Maddie asked, referring to the story.

"Since the last part of the story so far was me talking about how we're going to find out how to destroy Infernas, why don't we go to the part where we're doing plenty of research?" Alphonse suggested.

Maddie groaned. "But that's the boring part!" she complained. 

I ignored her. "That sounds like a great idea, Alphonse," I told Alphonse. "We'll do that, since that part of the story is far from boring." 

"I'm ready when you are," Isabel reminded me.

I nodded. "Alphonse, why don't you speak for this portion of the story?"

Alphonse gladly accepted.

~Alphonse~

It was right after where Lion left off that this portion begins.

I walked out of the tent that Oculus and the children were staying in as they were hiding from the Molten Emperor. I took off the gloves that I had been wearing and looked for an appropriate spot.

There was a flat area not more than ten yards away from the other tent, so I drew a chalk circle with all of the Runes that I would need to transmute a tent as Lion watched with fascination, eating an apple.

"How do you remember all of those Runes?" he asked me, which was a valid question. I had scrawled at least thirty on the soft soil.

"Well," I replied, "when you have been using a book full of them with a very useful glossary in the back for at least sixty years, you tend to remember the ones that you use more often. I was forced to memorize these ones, as I used them to transmute all the tents that had been used in the Bull-Rock War not long ago."

Lion responded with a simple "huh," as he had nothing better to say.

He continued to watch, scanning every move I made. It was kind of strange, but I could tell he was interested in the art of Runic magic, though he was not inherently magic and only knew a dozen or so commands of combat magic. Not to mention, I was used to Crescendo waiting for me to ask him to go and grab whatever I asked him to in order to perform transmutations.

I assumed that Lion would be willing to do the same thing, but I asked him nicely, anyway.

"Lion! Would you help me with the transmutation?" I asked him. 

"Do you want me to go and get some matter so you can turn it into the tent?" he replied. I nodded.

"I'm going to need about five kilograms of mass, got that?" 

"Uh..."

"Just get me a mid-sized log or something along those lines."

"Yes, sir."

Lion ran off to go and get me a mid-sized log.

A few minutes later, I was done with the transmutation.

"Crescendo!" I shouted. "Let's get the scrolls in this tent! We need to get to researching as quickly as possible!"

And get to researching we did.

Isabel immediately strode to my aid as I called to ask if anyone wanted to research legends of heroes and ancient evil beings, and Lion expressed that he wished to join in, as well. The three of us walked inside the tent and each picked up a scroll, searching for a way to defeat Infernas.

Not more than half an hour later, Lion began to read aloud.

"Long ago, much more than several centuries, there was a great beast in the Five Lands. It was a powerful beast, one that was more than ten feet tall, a fully black figure that was covered from head to toe in muscle, with a bull's head and legs, but a man's body. The beast stared at its prey with glowing red eyes before it crushed them with a single swing of either of its mighty fists. Steam was always pouring out of its nostrils, as it was some sort of work of machine, rather than a living beast. This beast was the beast known as Rushakan," he read.