Kairos pushed Aisa’s head back into his scarf. Although he does not know the proper protocol, he did not want into waltz in a godling’s territory with a divine dragon unannounced. The dragon puffed up her cheeks in protest, but her attention quickly turned to the beautiful elk. This pet is really pretty. Kairos silently agreed.

After a short while, Aisa’s voice popped up in his head.

Aisa decided to name it White!

“That’s confusing.”

Then, White Horns!

“Really?”

It’s decided! It will be called the Horny White Elk!

“No!”

Kairos saw the pleading look in the creature’s eyes and sighed. It had heard everything because Aisa had roped the elk in on the conversation.

“How about Lugh? I think it meant white in another language?”

Ohhh! Good choice Kai kai, but your storybooks translated it wrongly, Lugh means light. Aisa knows Lugh, the real Lugh, but he died in the last war… Hmmm, well, Aisa thinks it is good to use his name. After all Lugh was a hero.

Kairos considered it briefly and agreed. The stories he read did depict Lugh as an honourable god of justice and had a majestic white countenance which was why he picked the name. He did not notice the astonishment that flashed across the white elk’s eyes before returning back to its normally aloof look. Aisa, as usual, did not care to pay attention.

With the elk bringing them swiftly across the forest, they arrived in less than an hour. The sight of a quaint but otherwise ordinary village came into sight.

As they approached, it become apparent that this village is anything but ordinary. The closer they got, the thicker the mana is in the air and the elements seemed so natural that everyone felt refreshed.

As the ambient mana starts to flow into him, Kairos could feel the mana in his body stirring and he involuntarily allowed them to mingle. Like a raft brought along by the river currents, magic cycled through his mana circuits rapidly, smoother and more effortless than ever before. Kairos traced the pathways that the mana flows and quickly discovered that the spell circles that he did not understand in the past seemed to make sense now. If he could stay here a bit longer, he will be able to tremendously improve his spellcasting efficiency, and this is just the ambient mana from an elf village that brought him such benefits. Kairos shudders to think how the mana would be at the elven capital.

Kairos rode the elk into the elf village, and much to his surprise, the elves there did not seem to reject his unannounced visit. Instead, they looked at the elk respectfully and allowed Kairos free passage.

When he passed the streets towards the village chief’s hut to purchase his token, he came across a little boy sitting listlessly by a great oak.

Drawn by his quiet countenance, Kairos went over and greeted him, “Hey, why are you here alone?”

The boy looked up and saw a man staring at him. For some reason he felt like sharing everything to this stranger. Thinking for a while, he sighed.

“I miss grandma. She went to a very faraway place.”

Kairos nodded and went to sit down on the other side of the tree, “You know, I also have people I miss, but to them, I am the one that went to a very faraway place.”

“Then you really should go back to them.”

“I do want to, but I am still finding my way home. I have gotten very lost.”

“Maybe it’s the same for my grandma?”

“Maybe.”

“Will you go back when you find out how?”

“Of course. Well, first, I need to save a friend. She got lost too.”

“Yes, you must help her!”

Kairos nodded again and stood up.

“I’m Kairos Astroire. What is your name?”

“Lyner Greenwoods.”

“Lyner, it is okay to be sad, but don’t stay sad, okay?”

“I… I know it’s wrong to stay sad, but sometimes I just feel better when I’m sad. When my mood gets better, I become scared that things will turn out bad, but if my mood is bad, it hardly can get worse.”

Kairos nodded. He can tell from how the boy’s careless dressing and the gaunt depressed cheeks that he had suffered for months at least.

“You know, life is too short for you to stay sad, when there are so many wonderful things waiting for you. There are beautiful sights, like the curtains of light in the northern skies, there are adorable bunnies and kittens that need you to help take care of them, there are fantastic people for you to meet that you may find them gladly willing to make you happy, and most importantly… There are great deeds meant for you to do, that will make others who are sad like you, smile.”

Kairos said every word slowly but with quiet acceptance, acknowledging Lyner’s feelings and yet had eyes set on the future.

For a moment, Lyner lifted his eyes away from his sadness and looked further beyond. He saw Kairos standing erect like a sword trying to pierce the dark clouds above to create a new ray of light that will shine down on all of them. Although Lyner cannot fully grasp what Kairos said, he decided it was important to remember.

Kairos waved at the boy then continued down his way towards the village chief’s house.

When Kairos arrived at the elder’s house, he politely knocked on the door and waited then looked around at the place. The elf village is a peaceful place and it looked rather similar to a human settlement. Besides the concentrated mana in the air, the only difference that Kairos could tell visually, is the overly large plants that decorates the street. Luminous plants instead of street lights, giant dandelions that one can hold a stalk and travel by the wind, and trees with oversized fruits by every house.

Other than that, there are also forest creatures running by, often helping out the elves with menial tasks.

The village chief came to the door moments later, but after hearing about the cultists and the manifestation of Nyarlathotep, she snorted with disbelief.

“Children these days are full of fibs,” the elven woman sneered as she brushed greying hair away from her eyes. Staring at Kairos, the elf that looks to be in her late middle age, scoffed, “If you want a teleportation token, just pay the price and be on your way.”

To that, Kairos did not bother to protest and simply nodded.

The elf continued, “Here in our lands, we have little use for currency. If you want the token, usually you will need to bring us something useful for us elves from the outside of our forest. Unfortunately, recently the nearby dungeon has a monster outbreak, so this time round it will be a little different.”

She looked at him carefully, despite Kairos’ sickly pale complexion, he gave off a powerful presence, much like a lion that would steal one’s breath away even if it was asleep.

“For a chap like you, I’d say that fifty crawlers would do.”

“Madam, consider if what I said about the black church is real, we really have no time to dawdle.”

“You best get right on it then,” the elf said then she closed her door.

Left without a choice, Kairos still must find out where is the nearby dungeon. He walked back the way he came and saw Lyner still by the tree. Only this time, the look in the boy’s eyes had changed into something more resolute.

Kairos walked over to ask about the dungeon’s location. Expectedly, Lyner warned him about the recent influx of monsters and told him to be careful.

This is technically Kairos’ first dungeon diving, since the previous times he entered a dungeon, he left without meeting a single monster – if you discount the twisted abominations created by Nyarlathotep as monsters.

With the boy seemingly knowledgeable about the place, he saw fit to ask a little more, “I have never been dungeon diving before. Why are there people going in when monsters could overwhelm them anytime? Is it just to defend the village?”

Lyner looked at Kairos with utter surprise. The existence of dungeons and their inhabitants should be common knowledge, since dungeons could spawn at any place on Axis Mundi. For Kairos to pose such a question, Lyner really doubted this human stranger might be an alien. Even as a kid, he is aware of otherworld travellers.

“There are many reasons people would go dungeon diving. Firstly, is for the monster parts. No matter the race, those parts can be useful for forging, made into magical trinkets, or used as medicine, though I think the humans prefers to sell parts to the other races. I’ve heard that they even peddle the eggs of dungeon monsters. Secondly, for us elves, we hunt dungeon monsters to learn their magic. And thirdly, for a few people, it is to study how dungeons are formed. Ever since more dungeons and more are found many started becoming afraid that one day we will all be killed by those monsters who are born in the dungeons.”

Kairos thought about it and nodded, but then he seemed to have heard something fantastic.

“You say that the elves hunt dungeon monsters to learn their magic?!”

“Yes, we do, although we seldom tell anyone we would do this, but I think you are rather special,” Lyner said as he peeked at the great white elk standing behind Kairos.

When the boy saw the brimming curiosity in the stranger’s eyes, he sighed and explained, “Although we know very little about dungeons, one thing is certain. Everything down there is magical, including the creatures that the depths spawn. Since there are lifeforms born of mana, we elves believe that those monsters might be extremely attuned to magic. Perhaps even more than us elves, which is why we will hunt them to force them to use their mana, and then we observe their magic pathways to learn their spells. All you need is a simple mana observation spell and a good memory to study these monster magic.”

Kairos, surprised again by the words Lyner said, couldn’t help but comment, “Lyner, you are surprisingly matured. Thank you for telling me all these.”

To which the elf child rolled his eyes, “You know we elves live much much longer than you humans. I may be a kid, but I have lived over two decades.”