A Buried Secret

"And what is this 'it' that you speak of?" Nyana questioned, alarmed by this news.

"It's faster to show than explain it to you. But if you must know, it is a greater nature spirit," Idril responded to her query. Her answer stunned the whole group, except for Kies, who had no idea what a greater spirit was. Judging from the name, it was more powerful than a normal spirit, but that couldn't be all. The elves' reactions told him that there was more to it.

"What is a greater nature spirit?" Kies asked.

"You don't know!?" Idril sounded so shocked about it.

"You're making this sound like this is something I am supposed to know."

"Unbelievable... Nyana, where'd you find an Ancient that doesn't know about this?" she turned to the other elf.

"I mean it is not that surprising once you know that he is probably the youngest person here, besides your disciple, that is," she told her.

"What!?" Idril returned her attention to Kies. "So, you're a newly born Ancient?" she asked.

Considering that Ancients are immortal, to be called a newly born Ancient wasn't inaccurate. "Yes, I guess so," he replied. "So, what is this about the greater nature spirit that I should know that I don't?" Kies asked again, having not received an answer to the question.

"Well," Idril said in an amused voice. "If you must know, to become a greater nature spirit, you need a lot of magic.

Kies would have rolled his eyes if he could, but he was doubtful that they could see it with how his body was right now. "Yeah, they would," he agreed.

"You don't sound surprised," she joked. "But to truly answer your question, the amount of magic you need to become a greater spirit of any kind is not natural. There is more than one way to become a greater spirit. However, there is only one natural way to become a greater spirit."

"And what would that be?" Though Kies couldn't see the elf's face, he could tell that she was having a lot of fun with his question, constantly avoiding answering him directly. She was just like Nyana and he was starting to believe that the two of them were sisters or something with how many similarities they shared. If only he could see Idril's face.

"You have to be an Ancient," Idril finally answered the question literally and simply.

"..."

"That's not the reaction I was expecting," Idril said, disappointed, having hoped to get more of a reaction from him.

"So what you're saying is that this greater nature spirit was an Ancient, like me?" Kies presumed.

"...No. This one was made unnaturally," Idril said as a matter of fact. Her face darkened and she did not elaborate further. "I wouldn't mind getting rid of it, though I don't think we have the capability to."

"Yes, it's better if we avoid that thing..." Nyana and the rest of the elves all unanimously agreed.

Ending the conversation there, the group carefully descended the dark stairway. The narrow space was hardly enough for them to comfortably navigate down in. A strong musky smell lingered in the air and a cold updraft came from below. Combined with the occasional droplets falling from the ceiling and landing on their shoulders, this place made the experience of going down all the worse.

Leading the way was Idril's disciple, Selphie, who looked to be the most miserable of them all, taking the brunt of the cold winds. Despite this, she kept her complaints to herself.

"How are faring with the cold?" Idril asked her disciple seemingly randomly.

"I'm okay," Selphie responded without a hint of discomfort in her voice. "It's not as cold as your magic. But the water-" A droplet falls onto her nose and splatters all over her face. "-Where is it coming from?"

"There's a small underground spring just below the surface," Idril answered, apparently knowing the answer. "It will stop after we go a bit deeper-

"-Woah!" Selphie's foot slipped on the wet steps. The green glowing sphere in her hand rolled down and she would have followed had her master not caught her. The group watched as the glowing ball disappeared down into the darkness, its light fading out completely.

"T-thank you," Selphie said with a sigh of relief as Idril lifted her back onto her feet.

"Do pay attention to where you are stepping," Idril said, handing over to Selphie another glowing green sphere she just conjured with her magic.

"So, how deep does this go?" Nyana asked, peering into what felt like an endless stairway to the underworld. "We've been walking for almost twenty minutes now," she estimated.

"-And still counting," one of her team members added.

"We're here," Idril said as a matter of fact. She stopped Selphie and reached her arm in front of her to tap something on the side of the narrow wall. A hidden door screeched open with a shudder. "The remainder of the steps lead to the greater nature spirit I was talking about. It serves as a trap to intruders," she explained.

"I take it that those old fungi thought up this?" Nyana asked.

"Do you need to ask? You know as well as I do how they hide their secrets. But I suppose this place is an exception. If I hadn't pointed this door to you just now, you would have been walking to your doom."

"Yes, yes. Can we get out of this tiny place now? I don't know about you but being in this tight tunnel is rather uncomfortable," Nyana urged Idril to stop talking and go through the door already. The rest of the group had the same thoughts as their hair and clothes were all drenched with dirty tunnel water.

Selphie led the group out of the cramped stairways and into the side tunnel. While it was still narrow, at least there was no cold wind blowing on them and smelly groundwater dripping on their heads.

After a bit of walking, the tunnel expanded into an open area. The ceiling sloped upwards and it no longer felt so confining.

The single green light in Selphie's hand was more than enough to fill up the entire room. Everyone lined around the center at the walls, careful to not step on the magic circle that was almost the size of the room itself.

Idril shifted over to one of the smaller circles that made up the whole thing and scratched the line off with the soles of her shoe. After she was done, she looked at Kies and said, "Do the same to that part in front of you."

Kies looked down and saw the same circle on his side. With a wave of his hand, the winds blew away the medium that was used to make the marking, breaking the linkage of the circle.

Following this, Idril turned her head to Nyana and said, "Now we need blood, specifically from an elven noble. Would you do the honors, your grace?"

Everyone's gazes turned to her when they heard that. All this time that they had traveled with her, no one knew of her background. It was even the first time for Kies, who had been traveling with her for over a year now.

Nyana scowled, not fond of this attention. "You could have just told me that you needed my blood," she grudgingly said in response.

"But then you'd just ask me why I needed your blood and not any one of the other elves here," Idril responded with exactly what Nyana would have said had she not specified what type of blood was needed.

Nyana took out an arrow and cut the tip of her thumb before sliding the arrow back into the quiver. "Where do I put my blood?"

"Over there," Idril pointed at one of the circles that intersected the main circle in the center. "And there," she pointed at another circle at her feet.

Nyana dropped her blood over the two places like she was told to and turned back to Idril. "Done. Now what? This magic circle still isn't lighting up."

"The last step is the break that ring over there," Idril pointed her finger at where Selphie was standing.

Selphie rubbed the ring with her foot until with was broken and the circle lit up.

"Perfect." Idril walked into the center and gestured for everyone else to do the same. "In a few seconds, this circle should activate and take us to the lake. This circle will redraw itself when it's done so we don't have to worry about the elders finding out."

As Idril finished speaking, the lines that formed the magic circle became brighter and brother until a flash of light enveloped all of them and took them away.

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