Marcus and Kyrie walked to the church of the Order of the Sun after breakfast the next morning. The secretary led them into Timothy’s office after making them wait for some time.

Timothy said, “Good morning adventurers. What brings you here this time? Slay more demon lords?” And he laughed as he had told a joke. Then he stopped, looked at Marcus and Kyrie and said seriously, “You have not slayed another demon lord, have you?”

Marcus said, “No, we are here as a part of our quest. We have joined The Librarians faction and the Head Librarian Sylinine has asked us to help you in dealing with the demon situation in Opulential.”

Timothy said, “There is no demon situation in Opulential. At least, there is none till now. There have been some demon sightings, but they were outside of the Opulential and have been taken care of. I already have my knights and other adventurers scouring the region in and around Opulential for anything even slightly related to demonic activity. I know what happened in Solaris. I do not want the same to repeat in Opulential and I am doing all I can think to ensure that. The Order of the Sun does have things under control for now. Why does Sylinine think we need your help?”

Marcus shrugged and said, “Maybe she felt that you needed more adventurers. Or maybe she sent us to you because we played a part in defeating two demon lords. Maybe she thought our experience would help.”

Timothy raised his eyebrows, “Two demon lords? Which demon lord did you aid in defeating other than the one in Sosquatch forest?”

Marcus said, “We were in Solaris.”

“Ah!”, nodded Timothy, “That explains a bit.”

Timothy stood up and paced for a bit, lost in his thoughts. Marcus and Kyrie waited for him to say something. There was no sound in Timothy’s office for some time other than Timothy’s shoes clunking on the ground.

Timothy finally said, “I have an idea where we could use your help. We have set up a temporary camp just outside of Opulential, a few hundred meters away from the Northern Gate. Go talk with Captain Harraam Labuish. He is an analyst and a good one. You can help him understand demon activity and what the demons are actually planning for Opulential. Report to him. He will report your progress to me. Dismissed.”

Marcus and Kyrie were a bit surprised at the dismissal, but they stood up. They exited the building and Marcus looked at the map. Kyrie did the same. Marcus saw where they had to go.

Kyrie said, “It is a long walk. Shall we use our wyrms?”

Marcus grinned and said, “You are itching to ride them, aren’t you?”

Kyrie grinned back, “Was it that obvious.”

Marcus nodded and summoned his wyrm. Lara appeared before him and stretched. Marcus assumed they were stretching as they became straight and seemed to pull themselves at both ends.

Marcus examined his mount.

Lara

Mana Wyrm, Level 1

Health 100 / 100

It seemed that natural mounts had a level up system too. Marcus did not think he would be able to manage Lara’s progression as they level up. It would be done by them only. Marcus hoped Lara would be able to handle that on their own.

Marcus wondered where he would climb on Lara. There was no saddle on Lara and no bridle. Marcus was confused. Was he supposed to buy them?

Lara arced their back and Marcus saw a small place where he could sit near the wings. He hopped on Lara and put his hands on her back. He was surprisingly comfortable. Lara expanded her wings and launched into the air. Marcus gave out a whoop of joy as air rushed around him.

Beside him, he heard Kyrie’s cry of joy too. Soon they were soaring over Opulential. Marcus had gripped Lara hard but realized he did not need it. There was some form of magic which held him in place. He opened his map and instructed Lara where to go. Lara shot forwards and Marcus was not pulled back due to extreme acceleration. Magic had to be in play.

They reached the temporary campsite in a few minutes. The ride felt short to Marcus. They landed making the nearby soldiers gasp and walk back from the wyrms. It seemed that Lara did not want to go back just yet and so Marcus told them to fly for some time. He would summon them with the whistle. Lara took off and with them Nalana also flew.

Marcus said to a nearby soldier, “We are here to meet with Captain Labuish. We were sent by Commander Candlewick.”

The soldier led Marcus and Kyrie to a nearby large tent. They ducked under the flab to find a trapdoor in the ground. The soldier gestured at the trapdoor and Marcus and Kyrie looked at each other. Marcus then simply shrugged and opened the trapdoor.

A ladder led them underground. There was a small passage at the end of the ladder which led to a door. Marcus opened the door to an underground cavern-like place. The cavern was huge, and many soldiers and holy knights roamed around. Tables, chairs, bedrolls and various other equipment was scattered around the cavern. Screens popped out at various tables with maps of Opulential and other places Marcus had not heard of. Everyone seemed to be busy with something.

There was a stream flowing through the cavern. Marcus marveled at this place and wondered how it came to be.

Marcus and Kyrie followed the soldier to a large war table at one of the ends of the cavern. The war table had to be reached by crossing a wooden bridge across the stream.

A group of holy knights were present at the war table. Marcus examined them and found Captain Labuish immediately.

Harraam Labuish

Orc, Level 50

Health 500 / 500

Marcus cleared his throat and the attention of all the holy knights was on him.

Marcus said, “Captain Labuish. Commander Candlewick sent us to help you with analytical work regarding demons. My name is Marcus Blank and my teammate here is Kyrie Shiningstar. It is an honour to meet you.”

Harraam Labuish looked at Marcus and Kyrie for some time. Then he said, “Welcome adventurers. If you come recommended by Commander Candlewick, then you must truly be something. However, do you not wish to go and hunt some demons? This, here is boring analytical work. An adventurer would get bored with it.”

Marcus tilted his head and said, “Do you or do you not want adventurers to do analytical work?”

Harraam said, “I do but would you not prefer to hunt demons rather than find out where they are popping out of and why?”

Marcus said, “Is this what all adventurers you have dealt with do? Just rush in without any preparation and not understand why they are doing it.”

“They are doing it for the units.”

“Makes sense. But if you understand the why, then it usually solves most of your problems.”

Harraam beckoned Marcus and Kyrie forwards and gestured at the war table. A large digital map of Opulential and its surrounding area was displayed. Digital notes and pins were scattered across it.

Harraam explained, “The pins are confirmed sightings of demons. Do not worry. Adventurers dispatched them off. The notes explain the nature of demons and what exactly they were doing there. Till now we have been trying to make sense as to why demons are popping out of these locations and how they are doing it. We are following up on every rumour but not all are true. Adventurers are helping the holy knights deal with the demons, but we are not close to understanding what is happening. We know about the seals from what happened in Solaris, but we did not find any seals in our region. It would help if you could give me some insight.”

Marcus looked at the map. Then he looked at Harraam and said, “Can you send all the information that you have gathered to me. I would like to read it.”

Kyrie said, “I shall go and talk with nymphs. Maybe they would help.”

Marcus nodded and Kyrie went into the stream. She took off her clothes drawing the attention of everyone present in the cavern. She slipped into the stream and swam away.

The others went back to what they were doing when she went away. Marcus simply shook his head as Harraam handed him another pen-like object. It was another digital note. It was well organized with dates and information regarding the demon sighting. Marcus got comfortable and started to read.

Marcus and Kyrie soon settled into the cavern. Marcus read on what all information had been gathered till date. Kyrie helped him a bit but mostly went outside to talk with other nymphs to get their perspective on the demons and their behaviour. She did not get much but she was not deterred and continued her efforts.

They even went on a couple of the places with the holy knights where demons had been sighted. One of their sightings turned out to be fake while in the second location they killed 10 demons who had gathered there. Marcus’ new spells helped him a lot.

Days passed and Marcus was no closer in finding out patterns in the demon activity. Kyrie had started to go off more and more along with holy knights and other adventurers for verification of demon activity and to kill any and all demons if they were present.

Marcus got a bunk bed with the other soldiers as he was spending all his time in the cavern. Kyrie told Marcus that she had found a nook in the stream where she felt comfortable, and she went to sleep there at night.

Marcus learned a lot about the demons from Harraam and the rest of the holy knights of the Order of the Sun. He also learned a lot about the history of the Order. The Order had been extremely active during the last demon wars. After the wars, the Order had been disbanded but some of the members of the Order had kept it functioning in secret. Since the start of the demonic invasion, the Order had come back into the light and had spread across Una, recruiting new members, giving them holy powers to help them fight against the demons.

Marcus felt that all the members of the Order seemed to be working overtime just to take care of demons on Una.

Days passed and Marcus had read all the notes. He still had not figured out why the demons were seen in that specific location and how they had gotten there. In Solaris, the demon lord had been summoned through a ritual. The demons in Sosquatch forest had come from somewhere but Marcus did not know where. The destruction of the unidentified object had summoned the demon lord Cthulhim. It seemed that there was no specific way in which demons or demon lords appear. It felt all random to him.

Kyrie had not been much help either. Marcus had given Kyrie his summarized notes and even Kyrie had not been able to answer the questions which plagued Marcus.

One morning Marcus went to pick Harraam’s brain. Harraam was not in a good mood that morning. It seemed that Timothy had called him last night and chastised him for the lack of progress. The demons were still appearing, and they were still getting killed. But Harraam had not been closer to figuring out why this was happening.

Harraam said, “Tell me you have something Marcus.”

Marcus said, “I have sleep deprivation and I have lost my [Well Rested] bonus for today. I am not happy about it.”

Harraam groaned and said, “I did not mean that Marcus.”

“I know”, said Marcus, “You know. Let’s do one thing. Put up your map.”

“We have done that a thousand times already”, Harraam said but he did it anyway.

Marcus said, “Don’t want any names on it. It is cluttering the map. No notes either.”

Harraam did as requested. Marcus looked at the now clean map and smiled. He had gotten tired looking at the cluttered map on a daily basis and not understanding what to make of it.

The locations where demonic activity was confirmed were still pinned to the map. Marcus was going to ask Harraam to remove those pins when he stopped. Marcus frowned. Could it be that simple?

He said, “Harraam, could you also pin all the rumoured locations of demonic activities. You know, the ones where demonic activity was reported but not confirmed.”

Harraam said, “Why do I feel you are wasting my time?”

“Just trust me on this and do it.”

Harraam did as he was told. Marcus frowned as the number of pins increased.

Marcus said, “Can you change the shape of the pins?”

“What do you want them to be?” Harraam said with a sigh. Marcus felt that Harraam was simply entertaining Marcus because he had nothing better to do.

“Black dots”, replied Marcus.

Harraam complied. Marcus then said, “Can I somehow draw on this map?”

Harraam gave him a metal stylus. Marcus started connecting the dots on the map. It took some time but finally he had a shape. Marcus stared at the map. Harraam was gaping at what Marcus had managed to draw.

Cthulhim was staring back at Marcus from the map. There were still some dots not connected but the connected dots formed the rough outline of the demon lord Cthulhim.

“That’s Cthulhim”, said Marcus, “We killed him already. This does not make sense.”

“What are those dots on its forehead?” asked Harraam.

Marcus connected them to form a rough circle. Harraam zoomed in on the location inside the circle.

Harraam said excitedly, “It’s a village. Salinar. What does this mean?”

Marcus shrugged. He did not know.

Harraam was now a flurry of activity, “I am sending a team of holy knights to this village. Will you and Kyrie go, Marcus?”

Marcus said, “And what are we supposed to do when we get there?”

Harraam said, “Ask around about the demons. There has to be some sort of truth behind those rumours. Find out whether the village is actually plagued by demons, or it is the hallucination of the villagers. And see if you can make sense regarding why the demonic activity is happening to form the shape of Cthulhim.”

“And you think we can get answers from this village?”

“It is a lead. The first we have had in quite some time. I would like to follow up on it, see if it pans out. Will you and Kyrie go along with the holy knights?”

Marcus looked around for Kyrie who came up to the war table at that moment.

Kyrie asked, “What’s going on?”

Marcus and Harraam explained to her the situation.

Kyrie replied, “Of course we will go.”

Marcus agreed. Harraam clapped his hands and said, “Excellent. Give me an hour. I shall assemble a team of five holy knights and brief them on the situation. You get ready by that time too.”

Harraam dismissed Marcus and Kyrie who sat on one of the benches talking about the development.

Marcus said suddenly, “Salinar. Why does this name seem familiar?”

Then he took out the list of books he was supposed to find for his faction quest.

Marcus read out loud, “An Interview with a Demon by Lumina Lightweaver. Why does the title of this book sound like a slow burn fictional novel rather than a book regarding information on demons? Also, the last rumoured location for this book is in and about Salinar. Well, what a coincidence.”

“It could be a novel. You never know. Also, I think it is lucky that our major quest and faction quest coincide”, said Kyrie.

Marcus wondered about that. Kyrie could be right after all. Don’t judge a book by its cover. He should follow that. Literally.

An hour later they were ready. Harraam wished them luck and Marcus, Kyrie and five holy knights led by Lieutenant Edmund Hayes left the cavern. As they exited the cavern Marcus wondered what secrets did this village Salinar hold. He smiled. Maybe they would find some answers after all.