“We are here to escort you to have an audience with the Ruler of Falladis, Eloise Reed.” –The leader of the group announced before guiding the group out of the facility, blocking the possibility for them to look around for Chronos.

“Huh? Wasn’t I talking with 2 low ranked officers from the military? I asked to see their superior and discuss matters, why are why going to see the Ruler?” –Gree quickly reacted with a confused expression while trying to pry for answers she didn’t get.

The group was escorted by the soldiers and directed out of the underground facility to a special vehicle in order to transport them to one of the Ruler’s safe houses located on the outskirts of the capital. Gree and Phil began to count every second that passed ever since they were taken from the facility and drove them to the safe house in order to keep track of where they were going. Nat was kind of internally panicking as she never thought she would meet such an important figure like a ruler in her life. Elvira and Sinns were quiet and wary of what was going to happen since they’ve only heard tales of the ruler.

Once the vehicle stopped, the group was told to get out of it and walk into an idyllic garden where an elf with a black dress eccentrically decorated was sitting behind a round table equipped with a large umbrella and sipping tea while waving at the group, motioning them to approach her. The two officers who interrogated Sinns and Gree were standing behind her, letting Gree deduce quickly they were personal guards of the ruler.

The group approached the table and Gree sat on the chair in front of the ruler, feeling rather pressured but not intimidated. After a few seconds of silence, the ruler took another sip of tea and Gree sighed as she understood the ruler was expecting her to talk. “It is an honour to have met you, my name is Grace Myers and I’m a scientist who-“ –Gree cleared her throat and began to introduce herself before being interrupted by the Ruler raising her hand as a sign for Gree to stop.

“I’m aware of the identity of everyone present here, and I also know your intentions, I just want to know what kind of information you can provide to Falladis that could be traded in exchange for our collaboration, given the information is relevant to our interests.” –Eloise spoke in a refined and serious tone, proper of royalty but not as pretentious as a corrupted politician, to then take the next sip of her tea while subtly eyeing Nat.

Gree took a moment to think carefully about her answer and came up with the memory of the files she stole before leaving Delcyt’s research facility along with Phil, approximately 10 years ago. “Delcyt’s ruler is planning to go in a war with the rest of nations using the corpse of DD and the successor.” –Gree suddenly replied. “The corpse is already in his possession but not the successor.” –She added, getting the attention of Eloise and making place her cup down.

“How do you know the successor is not being investigated already, given you didn’t have any files concerning the matter once we revised your data storage?” –Eloise asked, prying for more answers since the topic turned out to be of vital importance to her. Elvira stood behind Gree as if she was a bodyguard and Phil was looking around without moving from the spot next to Elvira. Nat didn’t dare to say anything as she felt pretty nervous but noticed how Eloise shifted her eyes to her a couple of times. At the same time, Sinns felt pretty worried due to the overly exposed environment they were in, as it was dangerous given the status of the Rulers.

“After evaluating the occurrences that happened to us in the last months, I came up with the conclusion that Chronos is the guardian of the successor but the successor died, given his testimonial.” –Gree stated very sure of herself as Nat widened her eyes lightly along with Sinns’ and Elvira. “I presume he still hosts something that produced the anomalies that lead to the Pandora’s raid. Despite lacking the proper training for it, Chronos has managed to survive and develop the second stage of magic just like Elvira who is standing behind me.” –She continued giving a brief report as Eloise stood up from her chair and turned around to talk with the officers behind her.

“Cease the testing on him; seemingly he is one of them.” –One of the officers reported through a phone before hanging up almost immediately.

“One of them? What do you mean one of them?” –Nat questioned without thinking and Eloise turned to see her. A sweet smile was drawn on the ruler’s face as she saw the worries of Nat in her eyes.

“Here in Falladis there is a library that holds tomes from people who wrote about the beginning and the end of the Prophets, they all speculated about certain harbingers of the apocalypse and such who came in the form of anomalies. Given the impact these books had, their numbers were severely reduced.” –Eloise suddenly explained as if she was telling a fairy tale. “As an exchange for your collaboration, I will allow you to enter in that Library as well as the return of personal belongings and comply with other minor demands. Francois will take you to the Library and serve as a guide through the capital.” –She pointed out while gracefully motioning to one of the officers behind her before leaving to one of the vehicles in order to go back to work.

Back in the facility, Chronos had several sensors connected superficially to his body as a scientist was comparing his reactions and general body features with the results of general infected. To her surprise, the scientist discovered Chronos biological data and the virus in his body had a similar pattern as a hive that was neutralized several years ago. Before leaving the room where Chronos was being subjected to testing, the order of ceasing experiments arrived, disabling their progress to find out more about Chronos. I am not certain, but maybe they are trying to find out how I am still alive. I have separated from the group once again and I still have a headache, thankfully it is not as intense as before. This doesn’t feel like when I used to live in the forest or hills, I don’t feel the same peace, but for some reason, I found peace when I was travelling with the group. I feel tired. –Chronos mind was swarmed by different thoughts almost at the same time, keeping him silent and making him space out as the scientist detached the machine from him and left the room.

Several hours later, Eloise entered the room where Chronos was followed by Charles. “Hello, I hope you didn’t find unpleasant your stay in this facility. My name is Eloise, and this person who I presume you already know is the one who brought you here, Charles.” –Eloise eloquently introduced herself along with Charles who waved at him before each one took a seat next to Chronos’ bed. “I happened to meet the group you travelled with and they mentioned something of vital importance to me. Do you know anything about DD?” –She asked while crossing her arms after noticing Chronos’ eyes lit up once he heard DD.

“We need you to tell us if you know anything about an egg that DD left, we suspect you are the guardian who will be in charge of raising it.” –Charles bluntly stated, going straight to the point.

Chronos, who still couldn’t properly express his emotions after what happened in Delcyt, began to tear up and clenched his fist but quickly calmed down after a deep sigh. “The egg was dead before hatching. The elf who helped me incubate it, said it never happened before, but he couldn’t tell me more about what he knew, as there was a raid that killed him.” –He narrated once again while looking at Charles who winced in regret from being so straightforward.

“So it was an egg left by DD, but it was dead before hatching, like, rotten?” –Eloise pressed on the topic in order to understand what could have happened.

“Yes, black liquids poured from it along with the dead baby.” –Chronos dully answered.

Eloise gestured to Charles and he nodded to then stand up and leave the room. After a couple of minutes in silence, Eloise began to speak in her elfic tongue and Chronos stared at her impressed that she knew he could understand. “You met Archival I suppose, and if that was the case, you must have been chosen as a candidate, correct?” –She asked, to what Chronos only nodded in response. “Then, you have a parasite in your mind, a psychological intruder that accelerated the process of learning magic. Pandora, one of the harbingers who wanted to bring doom to humanity, was also one of the triggers that started the hunt for the prophets.” –She explained while Chronos couldn’t really understand as he was trying to hold on to his task from Pandora. “Among the current rulers, 3 of us worked together in order to stop her but seemingly Archival cultivated a forest that could host her subconscious. Since it was out of my jurisdiction, the forest managed to grow under the Archival’s surveillance. According to Yan, there was an ace up his sleeve to burn it down, hence, the raid that you were involved in.” –She continued while Charles entered the room once again with a tablet in his hands.

“According to the interrogations we conducted with the rest of the team you were travelling with, the ruler of Delcyt plans on declaring war on other nations in the hope of being able to conquer them or gain military technology able to extract and replicate with more efficiency the data proportionated by the Corpse of DD” –Charles informed while reading the reports shown in the tablet. “We also investigated and confirmed most of the acquired information from the interviews. We found out you are Chronos Cinere, son of Alexander Cinere and Jean Martinez, who disappeared along with you after travelling to a place where the government didn’t even want to send soldiers to die. The vicinity of the weakened DD. Your Father’s family was involved as well and your mother only had a relative left, his name was Johan Martinez, who had a Doctor’s degree in geology and was a first stage mage.” –Charles stopped for a moment to read the report again and carefully before continuing. “He was the tutor of Natasha Martinez up until the moment of decease, making Natasha a legal relative of yours, somewhat your adopted sister.” –Charles concluded, putting the tablet down on a small counter and leaving the room once again.

At that moment Chronos remembered what Doc told him about taking Nat along. So that is why Doc wanted me to leave with her, she is my family as well…-Chronos pondered in silence while Eloise addressed his reaction.

“I have a proposal for you. You can make Falladis your home, but you will have to help us to protect it. This of course includes your safety and the safety of the ones you care about.” –Eloise pointed out while Chronos thought about it for a moment.

If what she said about Pandora is right, then I need to know more about it… I don’t lose anything by accepting. –Chronos finally accepted by shaking hands with Eloise, who then left the room after leaving the tablet closer to Chronos for him to read more about what Charles talked about.

While Chronos struggled to understand how the tablet works, Gree, Nat and Sinns were in Eloise’s personal library. Phil and Elvira kept searching for any books of interest as Gree ordered them to search for specific ones that could be related to the hunt of the Prophets. Since Nat wasn’t forced into it, she wandered around in the library to get some books about the minerals located in the cavern systems of Falladis.

“This might take us a couple of days, so tell Francois we need supplies and such.” –Gree mentioned to Sinns who nodded and quickly went away in order to search for the officer. It is too much of a coincidence that the hunt started after the harbingers appeared. But according to these books, there was no direct relation to it. It just doesn’t explain why, It is giving me a headache, ugh. –Gree thought while grunting and rubbing her temples as there was a pile of opened books in front of her.

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