Lowell

Chapter 21

Rita was a true spit fire kind of person. It didn't take long over the course of their long trek to the ruins to figure this out. She was a belching fire ready to blow at any moment and Yuri admired that.

"So Halfer?" She starts and Yuri sighs because he knows from the tone that Rita doesn't find the word offensive. It's completely instinctual to her and he understands why it would be. A kid raised in the empire's research labs would no doubt be prone to this sort of thinking.

"I'd prefer it if you used my real name."

Her eyes widen a bit and there's flush of embarrassment. "Sorry… Yuri… I'm curious what city you're from. Nordopolica? Dahngrest? Mantaic? Or some small town nobody talks about?"

Yuri shrugs. "Neither. I'm from Zaphias. Born and raised right in the capital."

She crosses her arms sternly. "Who'd you learn Geraios from, then?" Rita is looking over him with great curiosity. "If you were from off continent it be one thing but your telling me that you lived in Zaphias with a Krytian parent? Please. You'd have to be an idiot to buy that load of crap!"

"I grew up an orphan." Rita stops. "I didn't have anyone to teach me Geraios or Krytian culture… or anything."

"Then how can you speak it?"

"It's all in the blood." Yuri says with an innocent grin.

Rita rolls her eyes. "Sure…"

Eventually they find themselves in front of the ruins that looked to once belong to a temple in times of old. There's a hum Yuri can feel in the earth as Rita guides them up a long, cracked staircase. "These are the Shaikos Ruins."

Estelle looks about and falls to disappointment. "It looks like there aren't any Imperial Knights around."

Repede sniffs at the ground pointing out the tracks. "I think I have a scent!"

Karol runs over and closely examines the tracks. "These footprints are still fresh. There's a lot of them, too."

"Which means it's either the Knights, the thieves, or both." Yuri mutters. They walk around for a bit but there's nothing but broken marble and moss. "Looks like no one's here..."

Rita groans. "The information about the underground couldn't have gotten out, could it?"

"The underground?" Estelle asks.

"Recently, an entrance to an underground area was uncovered here. A handful of mages are supposed to be the only people who know about it..."

Yuri tilts his head and narrows his brow. "But it's okay for us to know this?"

"It's not that big of a deal. The empire is just paranoid about outsiders stumbling in. They constantly complain about us so much as publishing a paper." Rita huffs. "It's not like I would've minded letting the thieves have the ruins above ground after we finished the excavation, but it's a good thing we came here when we did."

"So how do we get it in?" Karol asks and Rita points at the large statue of the goddess. "Well then, we'd better hurry up and follow them. All we have to do is move this?" Karol pushes at the statue hopelessly and Yuri steps up to help him.

"Come on. You have to put your shoulder into it." Yuri encourages as they both push at the heavy base. "Come on, just a little...more..." Yuri huffs as they both make the final push revealing a dark passageway.

Estelle looks over the two of them with concern. "Are you okay?"

"S-sure, that was a cinch..." Karol huffs while Yuri holds his thumb up with a grin. They head slowly down the steps into the dark cavern below. The air is chill and a lake is seen below with spires of some sort of building poking from the water.