Even denser fog snaked through the cracks of the seemingly out-of-place trapdoor. The fragile looking lock and hinge barely appeared to do their job as anyone could break in. And without any hesitation, Essairyn kicked through the battered wooden door, snapping the corroded metal. Beneath laid crumbling stone steps leading to even murkier depths down a tunnel that had lost its lights from blown-out wall lamps. Together, the two cautiously treaded forward with a bubble of protective magic around them that cleared the path ahead of harmful demonic smoke.

  Barely ten meters inside, the tunnel opened up into a large space full of broken machinery and glass chambers. When Essairyn neared one of the shattered chambers, she quickly pinched her nose from the foul, strange colored liquid that had seeped out and then coagulated into a pool on the floor. The solidified substance looked like ash mixed with bloodied earth, and the liquid glowed ever so faintly in the color of smoldering rust.

  "What is this place...?" Essairyn inhaled sharply with bated breath. "This can't be...the experiments that Kajarn was talking about...could it?"

  "It might very well be. In fact, there might be many more places like this right under our noses for a very long time." Aispin sighed deeply with hardening eyes. "From the looks of it, whatever they are doing here, perhaps injecting some demonic energy into those animals, it exploded, releasing all of it above this place slowly while diffusing into the ground itself. And based on the direction of the wind, it scattered the demonic smoke even farther out."

  Essairyn clenched her hands with a grave expression, whispering loudly. "Then, what do we do?"

  Aispin's face darkened. "Burn this place until there isn't even ash left."

  His words and ominous tone caused Essairyn to glance over worriedly. Feeling her stare, Aispin eased his expression and smiled very slightly to reassure her. "They taught you the mid-level beginning spell, Magic Fire, right? Use that to clear out this place and also entrap the premises so that no smoke or anything else leaks from burning the debris."

  "Okay..." Essairyn turned and looked at the space around her, deliberating. Before she could gesture for Aispin to move with her back to the tunnel so that she could begin, he spoke up again.

  "Before that, I'll need to take pictures of this place with magic. We can't leave it alone due to the demonic energy leaking, but the Knights can at least examine the pictures and have some proof of Hyd'Tyml's wrongdoing. Better yet, if I could scan this place."

  "Scan it?"

  "Yes, it's much more intensive than taking pictures. Unfortunately I don't have the magic capability to—" Aispin halted as if lightning struck him. "Wait. You might be able to!" He suddenly spun around and stepped forward to hold Essairyn's shoulders in excitement. "Ah! I'm sorry!" He apologized when he realized his grip was a bit too strong.

  "Ahah, it's okay... I didn't learn scanning in my time at the Byar'non Regional Academy, but if you think I can, then I'll trust you. So, describe the process for me? Is it anything like taking a picture?"

  "Yes, somewhat. Here..." Aispin explained the differences from taking a photo, process of scanning a space, and the method of adjusting the detail level to limit magic output.

  When he finished, Essairyn's eyes seemed to glow with a brilliant light. His description of magic scanning thoroughly enraptured her. Confident, yet curious, she sharpened her gaze and initiated the process. Steadily, her vision and magic focused on one area and spread out, skimming over the surface and every nook and cranny of the underground space. Her outstretched hand guided the enveloping magic while she walked with it. The method of adjusting the detail and magic output was based on the visual information desired to be stored in the scan. Thus, someone with a sharper eyesight would be able to discern more and possibly include it. Of course, additional magic could be used to enhance the eyesight, which was why this process often took an extensive amount of magic if done with the highest amount of detail. Once Essairyn got the hang of it, the magic swiftly accelerated, creating a transparent veil that rippled over the entire space. The whole scanning process took nearly ten minutes.

  After completion, Aispin stored the scan inside a medium-sized diamond. Higher-level knights or those on important missions would be given gemstones to store magic and spells curtesy of the Order. For Aispin, both situations applied. He would transmit the scan once they reached a Relay Station at the next town. He could have also asked Essairyn to transmit the scan herself since she had enough magic to do so. But the process was too tricky for a complete beginner and could easily be messed up. He wouldn't risk the possibility of the scan being destroyed in the process or accidentally sent to who knows where.

  Tapping into the world's flow of magic made sending mail and even packages easy, but with the slightest error, the message or item in transit could implode. Needless to say, that's why large-scale devices were utilized, and humans weren't permitted to transport. In the case of Kajarn and Lyam being able to leave, it was feasible due to a rare transportation talisman. Such charms required enormous magic power and meticulous intricacy to weave the spell together so that not a single body cell of the body or fraction of the soul was lost or misplaced.

  However... Aispin frowned to himself at the memory. Lyam hasn't used a charm, but some kind of cracked pill in his mouth. Although he didn't witness the event, apparently the typical aftereffects of transportation weren't seen either. And since Aispin himself hadn't yet seen transportation in person, he couldn't deduce how or why Lyam disappeared with black specks in the aftermath.

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  Shaking his head, he cleared his mind for the situation at hand. As mage-knight, this kind of high-level magic discussion was better left for the true mages. He could only do basic magic and was limited to some magical tricks and spells with his weapon.

  "Essairyn, are you ready? Do you want to rest a bit before using Magic Fire?"

  She smiled at his consideration but rejected the offer. "It's a simple spell that doesn't take much magic. I'm only igniting a real fire anyway."

  "True, only elementals from As'fyre have innate magic fire and thus can naturally control it. Still, be careful since you'll still have to seal the space, and that does expend quite a bit of magic."

  Essairyn laughed softly. "Thanks for the concern. All right, let's move back then."

  The two retreated to the safety of the tunnel before Essairyn enclosed the ruined lab and set fire to it. As the flames grew, the explosions became violent enough to make her magic enclosure tremble. Rather than be surprised by the combustibility of the equipment, which wouldn't make it this intense, she was alarmed by the substance's extreme reaction to her magic. It couldn't be deposed of by fire, so she instead had to destroy it with just magic. Because the space was sealed, the essence of the liquid or coagulated substance appeared to rebel wildly, as if trying to escape. The sight made Essairyn involuntarily shiver. Seeing the faint beads of sweat forming on her brow and somewhat pained face, Aispin leaned over and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

  "Are you okay? I didn't expect that you'll still have to use magic to directly destroy the liquid from the glass chambers. But seeing as demonic energy seemed to emanate from it, it does make sense." With a sympathetic sigh, he transferred some of his magic to assist Essairyn, surprising her.

  "You can do that?"

  "Hm? You mean transferring magic to someone? You didn't know that?"

  "No!" She looked up at him with wide eyes. "It thought it was just to gemstones or other objects like amulets; I didn't realize—" She cut herself short and looked away, slightly blushing. He was a bit too close, and she felt sorta weird knowing that he directly transferred his magic over to help her. Although, based on his response, it seemed like a pretty common act, like akin to healing someone, she wasn't used to the partial intimacy of the action. Tightening her jaw, she swiped away any creeping thoughts on the subject and resumed focus on the task at hand.

  Some time later after the dust settled, they were content to leave the dungeon-like lab for good. That is, if this was the first and last they were to ever see of one. But they both had a gut feeling that it wouldn't be the case.

  Upon resurfacing, they immediately noted that a sector of the elliptical cloud of demonic energy had been cleared out. And it was in the direction that they had run toward the underground entrance.

  "Aispin! Essairyn! Are you nuts?!" A frantic, indignant voice resounded across the plain. "What were you two doing down there for so long?! Don't worry us like that! Thank goodness that Darren noticed you two had left your positions so that we can clear this path. But now you already came out. What was down there that occupied you so much, and why didn't you say something to us first?!"

  "Okay, Le?ss, calm down." Darren placed an arm in front of the other boy before turning toward the guilty two people. "I'm angry too, but we still have to clear out this smog and hear what they have to say. Now tell us, what did you find down there."

  Before answering Darren, Essairyn bowed her head and clasped her hands together. "I'm so sorry we ran off like that! We had noticed something strange in the fog, so without thinking we raced toward it! You're right, we should've informed you guys at least in case something bad happened." If it had been her in their shoes, she would've felt the same as them. And especially after what happened at Farinheld, tensions and emotions were still raw.

  Pacified by Essairyn, Le?ss put a hand on his hip, turned away, and scratched his head in disappearing vexation. Darren just lightly smiled and merely responded, "It's okay. So what happened?"

  Essairyn began explaining the situation, and Aispin joined in after a quick apology himself for not thinking straight. Unfortunately, they couldn't talk long, or the fog would seep into their cleared area along with the lunatic animals. They busied themselves for over an hour, and then collapsed just outside the borders of the demonic tainted ground. By now, evening would descend in a few hours.

  Since the earth was still suffused with harmful demonic energy, and Essairyn was utterly exhausted having to expend nearly all of her daily magic's quota, they decided to rest here for the night. In the early morning, Essairyn would attempt to cleanse the area.

  While the guys pitched camp and arranged an early dinner, Essairyn rested in the carriage and checked on Akari who was now awake.

  "Hum, so you finally check to see if I'm still alive, eh?"

  "I see you're feeling well. I can't say the same for me." The girl flopped onto one of the cushioned benches with half of her body sprawled out and hanging over the edge.

  Pinpricked by guilt at Essairyn's enervation, Akari backtracked on her typical sassiness. "Tough day, huh? I'm...sorry about that." She coughed a bit with a paw over her mouth.

  Essairyn chuckled and poked fun at the fox. "Don't have to apologize, haha. I could use some of your sarcastic peppiness. Besides, I'm sure it was tough for both of us. You still haven't told me just what happened to you."

  Akari stuck out her tongue. "That's because I couldn't, dummy. And you swaddled me like some baby—do you know how hard it was to get out? I nearly twisted a paw!"

  "Ahahaha, my bad, I just didn't want you to roll out while we're traveling."

  "I'm more worried about rolling away!" Akari's eyes flashed wide as emphasis, making Essairyn giggle and smile warmly. Despite Akari's prickly exterior, it seemed that she could easily make Essairyn feel better in her strange, cute fox way.

  "Mmhmm," Essairyn murmured while reaching out to pet the fox's soft ears.

  Akari flicked her ears in annoyance before quickly submitting to what she had to admit, felt nice. Only as an animal could she find this motion to be soothing. Just one of the perks in her original form. On that thought, she wondered whether she'd be able to gain enough power in this life to change form. Would you still be alive if I look for you in As'rien...? Akari inwardly sighed and laid down on her belly, placing her head on Essairyn's other arm. She blocked the latent pain from rising up in her heart. It wouldn't do any good to think about the past now.

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