Aspiration to the Heavens: Becoming the Supreme Mage Vol 2- Descent of Darkness

Episode 119: Tablet of the Ruins

*Iah*

[Meanwhile- Within the ruins]

"It's so scary," Ciji said, hugging me tightly as we walked across a narrow corridor. It didn't help that the ground was shaking, sending dust flying down on us. Was it part of a trap or was something going on outside? All I knew was it wasn't a natural quake.

Darkness surrounded us almost completely. Only Isabelle's flame led the way.

Orichalcum and the others had gone off to the forbidden area in search of the mirror. Isabelle thankfully discovered that the map contained a hint, narrowing our search down to twenty spots. Of those, we had already searched three.

"Calm down," I said. "We're almost there."

She nodded her head but continued to cling on to me.

Was she truly scared, or did she just want an excuse to hang on to me? Guess Nyima's words hadn't completely reached her...

Nyima... I had to apologize to her for my behavior last night. I shouldn't have brushed her off like that. My jealousy once again got the best of me...

The one she liked was Lei... Lei... It was always him...

"Look, a chest!" Isabella said, pointing at a blue chest. It looked rather new compared to the ruins themselves.

"Think we might've found ourselves our first piece!" I said, walking over to the chest. My eyes peered into the lock. "Hmm, seems we need a key."

"I knew we should've taken Orichalcum with us," Isabelle said, sighing.

"We can take it with us," I said, lifting it. It was rather lightweight.

"Hey, what's that?" Ciji asked, pointing to where the chest was. The chest had hidden a crack one of the walls, though it wasn't anywhere big enough for a teenager to pass through. Even a kid Azure's age would have difficulty.

I knelt down and slid my arm through it to see if there was anything hidden there.

"Hey, be careful, what if there's rodents living there, they'll eat your arm!"

"There's no rats," I said, tapping the floor. "I would've sensed them right away."

"Well, can you sense anything within or through that crack?" Isabelle asked, kneeling beside me.

"I sense something, but it's rather far." I closed my eyes and tapped the ground. Vibrations rung through the floor. "Hmm, there's a tablet with what might be writing."

I slid my arm out while keeping my focus on the tablet itself. A piece of stone the size of a cellphone slid out from the crack. On it was what appeared to be a map, but it wasn't of this area, nor even of this continent. No, it was of Tozan Hoshi, with the spot marked on it coinciding with my own country.

"Why is Wudi marked on this? We aren't expected to go back home to get a piece of a mirror, are we?" Isabelle asked.

"This isn't part of the event," I said, eyes locked on my country. "This tablet is too old. Older than the first Xelerian Empire..."

"Ehhh?" Isabelle shouted, causing the room to shake. Her lips thinned. "Opps..."

I sighed and held my hand up, stabilizing the stone. "Let's go," I said, putting the stone tablet on top of the chest. "We got other spots to check out."

"Here it is!"

The girls dashed in front of me. Standing before us were the Mikoto and Lan siblings.