It was as if a praying mantis sliced the temple walls into exact sections, and a steamroller dozed over the floor. If their footsteps were not magically silenced they would have echoed like musical chords of the spartan interior. Torch sconces dotted the walls intermittently, but there was little use to lighting them since the magical stone adopted a luminescence capable of illuminating itself.

The towering main hall befitted the temple's grandeur, and the size made the two stone benches near the entrance feel like toys from a dollhouse. Four hallways were mirrored on each side, sprouting to places unknown. There was no way for the layman to figure out if they were traveling towards the revelation chamber or the refuse retreat.

Lizzy pinched her invisible nose.

Definitely that way.

So there was a method, but that didn't mean it was desirable. Then there was the route on the opposite side that smelled of freshly baked bread which obviously led to a mess hall or kitchen. For some reason, knowing that the delusional cultists weren't so completely hopped on religion that they neglected basic foods was comforting. Maybe they could be reasoned with?

A shoulder tap made her turn. Eli, also invisible but outlined for Lizzy by a magic spell, pointed the furthest branching hallway. The echoing footsteps clued them into the incoming acolyte. The man carried a pickaxe as if it was a grocery bag filled with dog poo, swinging it around like an infant dragging around a sippy cup by the nozzle. Ignoring that imagery, Lizzy realized that he was also holding a tiny flake of Qwaver.

That hallway must be where they were mining, and the acolyte had gotten lucky. Or it was their vault, and he had just stolen the Qwaver while the rest of the convent was out searching for the pair of spies. Either way, the man seemed too happy to interrupt the two sleuthing spies.

Silenced and invisible, Eli led the way to the back wall. It was the perfect place to put a shrine, altar, or new room altogether. There was none of that. It was barren..

Except it wasn't.

Before coming here, Lizzy used a Sonar Mapping spell to get a better idea of what was inside the temple. The spell wasn't powerful enough to map the objects or furniture inside the room; thus, anyone who noticed the magic would think it belonged to underground creatures or rodents. What it did do was map the routes and sizes of the rooms. There wasn't much time to analyze most of Lizzy's findings, distracted as she was by the ninth branching passage hidden at the back of the main hall.

There was no magic involved here, just a trick of the eye. Once you got close enough and looked straight along the wall's curve, you would realize it dipped near the center, curving into a ninth passageway. Ingenious for Elden cultists obsessed with magic.

There was a brief moment of distraction as Eli squeezed into the passage first. All that was visible was Eli's outline, but even then, watching the way it squished, sliding into the secret hallway...

*Smack*

Lizzy smacked herself. Now wasn't the time for such thoughts, and judging by how Eli stopped moving, it was obvious she was glaring daggers. Looking around, Lizzy noted that the acolyte wandered off and hadn't returned. Coast clear, she ushered Eli to get a move on.

Disaster averted, Lizzy recalled her sonar mapping. It managed to detect the dip in the wall but not what laid beyond. It made no sense that it would stop all of a sudden, so the only explanation was that there was a second type of magic blocking her.

It's a door.

Doors were oddly rare in Elden society. Doorways without doors were standard. It was so common that most people forgot why they were called doorways. Elden had a severe home invasion problem; moving on!

"I thought you said something abnormal was blocking you. This is a door."

"I bet it's a magical door. Or a riddle door. Oooh. Those things are legendarily difficult. Let me get first try."

"Elders give me strength..."

It was five feet wide by eight feet tall. Stone. Of course. Blue stone. Not the luminescent kind that lined the walls, but actual blue-colored stone that resembled lapis lazuli. That would explain the blockage in the Sonar Mapping. The material and semi-precious stone is a magic sucker.

"How can they use this? Working it must have cost hundreds of hours. Or is this what they used the Manaless for?"

"Maybe. It would certainly be easier to shape it if the worker was used to having their mana drained constantly. The trick is how we get past it now."

"I sense the alarms but can't pinpoint them. Did they weave spells into this thing? It must be the vault; There's no other reason to go to so much trouble."

"There. That looks like a verbal passphrase. There seem to be two acceptable answers. Probably for convenience sake."

"Getting by without breaking it isn't an option, and disarming the alarm will take a day that we don't have. Do you still have the Speaker's memories?"

Eli rolled her eyes. She'd told Lizzy that wasn't how the spell worked. It only allowed her to view the recent memories of those affected and suggest they change, which was like convincing toddlers to play in the sandbox instead of the pool. The results were variable, and it all took place in an instant.

Getting into a more comfortable standing position, Eli became introspective, focusing on recalling the jumbled memories of dozens of individuals and remnants. Trying to parse the information inside was like trying to swim through a pool of garbage and find that one tarnished coin your friend had dared you to find. Never mind Lizzy's choice of childhood friends.

While Eli was working her magic, Lizzy's focus started wandering back to the recent string of events.

Cleaning up the mess made by the free-for-all wasn't as difficult as convincing the Speaker that the recent hole Lizzy dug didn't contain a body. Once that crisis was averted, the rest was smooth sailing. Spending the next day on building a cabin was the definition of smooth sailing. Sure, the Speaker got her memories back, and now they were on a ticking clock, and Lizzy was still dying to know the Speaker's real name that is almost definitely sexual in nature, but all that's in the past and big girls don't worry about the past because the past ain't got no hold over her.

Oh, and the children were all terrible at spying. Sean was the only creative one. Eli mentioned how he used illusion magic to make himself look like a coat rack. Picturing the look on his face as the parasol dangling from his arm threw her into a laughing fit.

All the children seemed to take a turn. And all of them were found. Unequivocally.

Okay. Lizzy realized her mistake when Agatha arrived to relieve Ji. However, she would never admit to Eli she forgot to check underground. That mistake would go in a box and wouldn't resurface until Lizzy was on her death bed, and even then, it would fail to squeak out of her dying breath.

"I got it."

"I knew you could do it, babe."

Eli quirked her head at Lizzy's overenthusiastic, embarrassed, and somehow frightened tone. Forgetting it, she prepared the passphrase.

"May Qwaver rise again."

The door fizzed and clicked open, automatically swinging into a new passageway. There was a sudden rush of power that scared them. The mana saturation inside was extreme, audible, even. Their minds urged them to hurry in before they were discovered, but their bodies were processing intimidating stimuli. Forcing their steps forward, they walked inside, the door shutting behind them.

With the audible locking sound covering for her, Lizzy looked into where she thought Eli's eyes were.

"Wait. What did you just say?"

=

The proceeding mental conversation was akin to a mental shouting exercise to assert dominance.

"There's no way that they're doing what you said."

"I admit that the thought of them resurrecting an Elder is more disturbing than your secret potato stash. Seriously, Lizzy. You need help."

"Lay off my potatoes. They're a delicious and essential treat to a balanced breakfast or something similar."

"At least cook them somehow. You eat them out of the ground, Lizzy."

"Are you mocking my heritage? Those were my mother's favorite meals."

"Oh, you poor thing..."

"Well, you don't have to sound so hurt by it. Anyway. Is it possible that these people are more than drug addicts? Was all that propaganda and pious talk actually genuine? They can't truly believe that such a thing is possible."

"Shush, your mental shouting is giving me a headache. I think I hear something. It's like a warble of some kind-."

*Bonk*

Eli's forehead smacked into a transparent barrier. The brief contact made it translucent. Wherever they placed their hands, a prismatic colored handprint remained for a few seconds. It was like a smooth kaleidoscopic carpet.

"A barrier. Behind a locked door. Should I be surprised?"

"It isn't blocking the energy from the other side, just our physical bodies. Though, it's worrying that they have a barrier adept."

"And why is this place all blank passageways? Is it a theme, or is it from a complete lack of creative thinking?"

"We can talk all about the crazy cultists' creative skills when we're safely back home."

"Oh, man. The thought of home was good until I realized that a sparkly white hair alien is sitting in your chair acting as the Royal Duel Substitute. I'm sorry, Eli. The Oriel Queendom has likely been run into the ground by now."

"We talked with him earlier. It's fine. He's definitely not all there, but did you see how fast he went through that paperwork? Not to mention how well he handles Weyn. Remind me to absorb the Sostro province when we get back."

"Yep, that's my Eli. By the way, I cut through the barrier."

"New record?"

"It is; thank you for noticing. After you."

"What a Gentlelady."

Lizzy held open the hole in the barrier like it was a children's pillow fort. Walking through herself, she wondered how long she'd have to stare at the blank walls of the temple interior—Oh hey, would you look at that.

The space opened up into pre-history.

"Oh my..."

"Elders..."

There was a concept held within all of Elden society. A type of mystical Eden where all life lived in harmony. It was where the First Eldens cultivated their power without interruption and became Elders; a utopia where even the simplest of children could ascend with ease. It was an otherworldly place that birthed the first Primal Node. The Primal Node was the peak of the Elders' society. It is said that the Nodes were a tool to expand their utopia to encompass the entire globe—proof of the Nodes existing lay in the cosmic leylines running throughout the planet. Civilizations rose around them. Societies existed for millennia before eventually crumbling, and ultimately, burying the Elders' legacy.

"Is that..."

"A Primal Node. It's... new."

There was no basis for how Lizzy knew. She just did.

Looking out into the massive underground cavern, they saw life in every corner. Green so vibrant that it was blue. Trees reached twice as high as Oriel Hall, which was believed to be the tallest tree-borne structure to date. Flora of all variety dotted the landscape and crawled up the cavern walls, rarer than anything either of them had ever discovered. One Yellow-Speckled Acorn could buy an entire province. A herd of fully grown Puck-Boars roamed nearby, munching on the precious acorns like common grass. Flying from the treetops were uncatalogued species of tropical birds. Each of them exuding mana even greater than an adult Puck Boar, and preying on them were hairy mammals. The marsupials swung from vines and snatched the speeding birds out of the air with practiced ease.

Even with all of that, none of it held a candle to the monumental Primal Node steadily gyrating in the center of the cavern. It was like a moon plucked straight from the night sky. Perfectly round, radiantly white, and oozing boundless power.

Lizzy felt frustrated tears come to her eyes.

"It's not fair."

No matter how she blinked them away, she couldn't separate herself from her cascading emotions. What had she been training for? To become a hero? To be the strongest? She was an insect! Lizzy was no better than the tick on the back of a roaming Puck-Boar.

"This isn't fair, Eli."

It was supposed to be all dumb and dingy hallways and stupid drug-addicted idiots. Eli understood completely, placing a comforting hand on Lizzy's shoulder.

Lizzy's heart performed a somersault as an explosion rocked the surroundings. The entire cavern vibrated from a massive, fiery blast impacting the Primal Node. The devastation slid away, revealing an unharmed relic.

When her heart caught its breath, fury built up. Primal fury. A fury instinctual to all Eldens.

"How dare they. Are they harvesting the Primal Node for power? And in such a barbaric way."

From the strength invested in squeezing her shoulder, Eli seemed to agree.

"This will be our new capital."

Eli breathed, resolved to make her words true.

"They dare."

They dare destroy this magnificent relic.

They dare disturb this wondrous paradise.

They dare desecrate this holy site for their petty, perverted power?

"They die."

"Agreed."