The Heritor of Illipia

Chapter 3

I have returned with another chapter. Sorry for my inactiveness. I've been a little busy but anyways, here's the next chapter...
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         Sander's heat was bad and potentially deadly, but Lanox was just dangerous. It wasn't just the heat that made (y/n) deem this to be true. Although in fact Lanox was far more heated than he imagined it should be, the problem was that the entire city was very close to an active volcano. (Y/n) had never seen a volcano before but he did know for a fact that they were highly dangerous and getting too close to one could spell death for even the strongest of warriors. It seemed that the magma for that volcano was trying to seep through the land that the city itself was built on and that greatly bothered (y/n).

         "So this is Lanox then," Elsword said as they entered the city. It wasn't anything like Sander or the Caluso tribal village. The buildings all followed a consistent color scheme although they did somewhat varry in style. "This place looks so....empty," he commented. There weren't many people that could be seen on the streets despite the many buildings there were. Perhaps if (y/n) used his abilities, he might be able to see the souls of those around them but he preferred to refrain from using his power unless necessary. It was odd to use such abilities without his former fox companion around.

         "Well it's to be expected. Lanox is a rather complicated place to live in," Ciel said. "With that volcano nearby, I don't see how these people even live here," Aisha said. "And it's way hotter here than it was in Sander. Can't something be done about this heat?" Rena complained. "You guys read my mind," (y/n) muttered. The group walked into the city without much trouble. No one seemed to question their arrival and weren't bothered by their diverse group. "It doesn't seem like anything is going on here. Sander was in far more immediate danger than Lanox now seems to be in," Elesis noticed.

         "I suggest that we find the place we'll be staying at before we do anything else. I have a feeling we'll be staying in Lanox for quite a bit of time. Does anyone object?" Elsword said. No one said a word so he gave a short nod. "The best way to go about this is finding the chief of this place. They'll know what's going on and will likely know a great place for us to lodge," Elsword continued as he began to walk ahead. His natural leadership was a thing (y/n) had noticed more often. "He is a very important person indeed, just as you are. He doesn't know it yet but he has a deep connection with the El," Illipia's voice sounded in his head.

         Her response only confirmed that she could indeed read his thoughts so he didn't bother with worrying about speaking to her aloud. "You sure do know quite a lot don't you," he thought in response to the goddess' words. "I only know what it is necessary for me to know," Illipia spoke. She was starting not to make any sense so (y/n) didn't bother adressing any more of his thoughts to her. "Hey, you group of travelers! Yes, you people in the middle of the street! Do you all need any help?" a voice called to them.

          There was no reason for any of them to find this person's outreach atempt to be suspicious but for whatever reason, several alarms of warning went of in (y/n)'s head before he even turned around to face them. "Oh, hi. Who exactly are you?" Elsword asked, adressing the woman since he was team leader. "I could ask you and your friends the same thing. I'm Ignia, the fire priestess and protector of the fire El shard," Ignia introduced. No one else visibly seemed to find her to be even remotely close to having underlying intent and yet (y/n) could not shake the thought from his head.

          "We can't trust her," he thought. He remained silent as she and Elsword discussed the situation. "We are the El Search Party. I got word that Lanox could potentially be in danger. Is there anything that you might know?" Elsword explained. Ignia looked through the group, her gaze lingering on (y/n) for longer than he would have liked. "You all seem pretty capable of handling a crisis. There have been some strange reports lately. You should go to see the chief about it. Edel isn't to far from here. She knows about everything that's been happening," Ignia said.

          "If you don't mind, could we also ask you for a favor?" Elesis chimed in. Ignia nodded for her to continue. "Could you escort us to a place of lodging. We've been traveling for a while and would like to find a place to rest before we continue with our duties," Elesis said. Some of the team members nodded in agreement. Ignia smiled at Elesis and looked around at the group once more. Again her gaze fell upon (y/n) for longer than necessary before she spoke again. "Well there sure are a lot of you. I know a place but you might have to end up sharing rooms," Ignia admitted.

         "Thank you. We really appreciate it," Elsword said. He and everyone else allowed her to pass and soon followed behind her as she led them but (y/n) still couldn't shake his suspicions. Ara suddenly pulled at the hem of his shirt to get his attention. "Are you alright?" she quietly asked likely noticing his unease. He hadn't realized that his eyes were aglow and his senses had sharpened the moment Ara had touched him. "I'm fine. Just in a new place is all. It's very different from what I'm used to," (y/n) said not wanting to completely lie to Ara.

         She didn't seem to detect anything from Ignia and if (y/n) was the only one that noticed something off about her, it could spell trouble. She clearly let him know that she also found his presence to be threatening as well. Telling Ara or anyone else on the team could potential endanger them especially if Ignia decided to take immediate action or if (y/n)'s intuition proved to be wrong. "It's really different from Isshin isn't it," Ara stated. Her words caught him off guard and he glanced at her seeing that her expression was clear of any hints of an intended reaction from him. "That's...that isn't what I meant," he quietly said.

          Isshin, or Fahrmann as he called it, was still not a place he prefered to have on his mind at certain times. "I know exactly what you meant," Ara said glancing over at him without another word. (Y/n) sighed. "Is there something you or Eun want to talk about?" he asked to go ahead and avoid any possible future conflicts. "Your mother. Ara and I are curious as to why you've been disappearing so much lately," Ara, well no, Eun immediately answered. "Another time fox girl. We've arrived at our destination," (y/n) said seeing Ara's eyes change back to their normal orange.

         He had began to find it easier to tell when Eun took over whether it be a half or full take over. He couldn't tell which of the two had shot him that irritated look but he didn't really care. "This is it. Make yourselves at home. I wish you all luck in your endevors and if you need my help, don't hesitate to ask," Ignia said. She gave everyone a smile before heading off. Assigning the rooms was simple enough. Everyone had to share except (y/n). He'd refused to share a room with anyone especially considering he already tended to wander off during the night lately and didn't want anyone questioning him.

         After things calmed down and he was safely in his room by himself, he found his thoughts drifting back to the kid he'd seen in the forest. Well...elf demon hybrid if he wanted to be technical. What did that child have to do with his mother and what was his mother doing at the moment. He didn't know and it bothered him not having the answers he sought. He had thirty minutes to rest up before the team headed out again so he remained still trying to make sense of his thoughts....until a knock was heard at his window.

        (Y/n) looked put of the closed window to see the very kid he had in mind and guess what he did. Yes, he panicked. Ykuei was an unknown and needed to remain that way to the rest of the team and yet there he was somehow floating outside of (y/n)'s second story window waving as if they were best friends or something. He wanted to tell him to go away or hide, anything to get him away from the building and out of sight but something much worse happened...well sort of. Ykuei teleported right into the room literally vabishing from outside and reappearing inside.
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It feels nice to have a chapter completed. I should start on the next one so until next time you fantastic readers!