This is the three-year anniversary of this book! The first part was on May 6, 2018; today is May 6, 2021! :D
I ended up not telling Laurence. Not because I didn't trust him, but because I didn't trust a few other people. He was a little upset about it but didn't try to press farther. That was 5 days ago now though. Progress had been made on our settlement, but we haven't really gone out and explored the island; a fact that was changing right now.
I was walking along with Aaron, Aphmau, and Garroth, in the opposite direction of Katelyn, Travis, and Laurence. Lucinda had stayed behind at base camp with Elenor. It was largely uneventful until we stumbled across a familiar stone tower. At least the remains of one. "What is this?" Aphmau asked.
I lightly placed a hand on the broken wall and sighed. "This was one of the buildings for the civilization that once existed here on this island. That building over there too." I motioned towards a building that was a bit farther off. They were both crumbling stone brick structures, most of the bricks cracked or not even whole anymore. The foundations of the buildings looked the best. They were covered in vines, weeds, and moss but weren't cracked as much.
Garroth and Aphmau wandered over to the farther building, something must've caught their eyes. Aaron, on the other hand, followed me around the closest building and down into what was once the basement. There were two banners, one was blank and the other had Irene's symbol on it. There are also quite a few rusty tools and weapons on the floor. "Irene's symbol..." Aaron mumbled out, probably unaware he was doing so.
"How do you know what that is?" I asked curiously.
He looked at me a bit surprised but answered anyway. "I know you've taken notice of the artifacts I've used around you. I had to get them somehow, as well as find out what they do."
I nodded as a sign of understanding. Aaron, out of everyone, was a person I talked to a lot but didn't know much about; at least not a lot about his past. He's told me bits and pieces: his history with Zane, why he stabbed through his stomach, a bit about some 'adventures' (to put it loosely). But not much more than that. He did admit that he's not the greatest person alive as well, which might be part of the reason why we got close quickly.
Laurence, Garroth, Travis, Dante, and pretty much everyone else aren't that close to me (Aphmau and Lucinda excluded from that group for very obvious reasons). I was ripped from my thoughts by a sudden shout, taking notice of the fact that Aaron and I were staring at each other. He must've noticed as well because he quickly looked away.
"WHAT'S THIS?!" Aphmau called over to us. We walked over to the other building to find it quite similar.
"This would be an armory. Weapons and armor were mostly stored here, but the occasional toolset was as well. The tower-looking structure over there would be a guard tower."
"Ok. And what about this?" Garroth pointed to a very specific brick on the most put-together wall. I stepped a bit closer to see a carving of the Irene symbol, a symbol of peace on this island.
I smiled at it and ran my finger over it very lightly. "I remember this like it was yesterday..." They gave me curious glances. "Cyprus Evergreen carved this here. I miss him a lot."
"'Cyprus Evergreen'?" Aph inquired.
"He was a former guard of Irene. Well respected and had a lot of power, Cyprus was the second in command, following me. Surprisingly, the rest of the Divine Warriors liked him as well." I ran a hand through my hair and chuckled.
"Why is that surprising?" Aaron asked.
I frowned. "They hadn't liked my picks for second in command the past 5 times I tried. Cyprus was the first they liked and he stayed in that position until he died. Before you ask, it was old age thankfully. But that amounts to nothing when compared to the fact that Irene and I are immortal."
"I'm..." Aphmau trailed off but before she could finish, Travis rushed over panting and carrying his sword.
"Guys..." He took a deep breath. "We found something that you might want to see..."
Time Skip (Fair warning: This is going to be very similar to the actual episode. I'll link it above so you know which I'm talking about. Everything from this point on is also based on a completely different episode than the stuff above.)
"What is this? A city?" Aphmau asked, completely bewildered.
Katelyn turned to her. "More like the remains of one."
I turned away, the memories flooding back to me. "It's enormous. What... is it?" Aphmau asked again.
"This place is incredible... it's beautiful from here... but, it doesn't look like anything I've ever heard of before. Katelyn, Garroth?" Laurence questioned.
Katelyn shook her head but Garroth verbally responded. "I've read plenty of books from O'khasis, same as Katelyn, but your guess would be as good as our's at this point."
"Travis?" Aphmau asked, hopeful.
I raised an eyebrow. He could know about this island? "I'm not sure... Though I'm going, to be honest, there are parts of my book that are clouded even to my eyes." Book?
"Why is that?" Katelyn prodded.
Travis sighed. "Again, I don't practice witchcraft, nor do I wish to. I was born with the talents I have, but there are parts of this book that are sealed to the eyes of the... 'less talented'."
"Then theoretically I would be able to see those parts, given I'm stronger than the Demon Warlock in some areas of magic." I crossed my arms. The tension seemed thick.
"You are?" Travis asked. I could feel the curiosity among the others too.
I nodded. "Since you can't tell us," Aphmau began, turning to me. "Would Lucinda possibly know? I mean you did inform us that Hyria also knew this island brief enough to know enough about it."
"Unfortunately, Lucinda cut ties with her mother before there were even mentionings of Hyria knowing Irene. That would also be a negative." I informed her.
"Dang..." Aphmau whispered, bringing a hand to her lips and pausing to think.
I wished so much to just run at full speed into the remains of the village, shouting about the fact I was home, but I couldn't as to not risk an imbalance in the universe. I settled for convincing everyone to go exploring. "Well, since I'm of no help, why not go find out for yourselves. You aren't learning anything by sitting here like rocks."
"Is it safe to be wandering around in those ruins?" Aaron spoke up.
I nodded. "Yes, it is. The worst that could happen is possibly getting attacked by imps. But then again they might be scared to approach this area after what happened last time..." My tone trailed off as I fell back into a sea of memories. The last time the imps tried to enter the city, it resulted in many of them being killed, quite a few by my own hands.
"Imps? Here on this island?" Travis asked.
Yet again, I nodded. "That would probably be the reason your fa---Err... the Demon Warlock--- made sure to have a map of it in the book."
After coming to an agreement, making a plan, and trusting we'll be safe, we made the trek from where we stood on the cliff down to one of the gates. "This is much bigger up close..." Aphmau looked all around her in amazement. "How are we going to explore all of this?"
Garroth and Laurence chuckled at her amazement. I smiled. "Over several days. There is no absolute possible way to explore every single thing here in one day."
"Most of the buildings will be empty, right?" Katelyn asked; I nodded in response. "Then it shouldn't take that long."
"You'd be surprised how many secrets one city can hold." I winked. "So we should separate into two groups. One heading in off to the west and the other heading into the east. We would cover more ground that way."
"Splitting up is good for covering ground, but is it the best idea to do so? I'm mean it's quite possible that there could be danger here." Garroth pointed out.
Laurence nodded. "Very true. And you seem unable to help warn us of anything that might lurk in this area, Y/N."
"I understand where you're coming from, but I can assure you that there shouldn't be anything here. The worst you might encounter is a bear and even then they wander off pretty quickly."
After debating whether we should split, we concluded that 2 groups would still be big enough to ward off anything. Laurence, Garroth, and Travis went to the west. Katelyn, Aphmau, Aaron, and I went to the east. We also came up with a signal to get the other group's attention.
Most of the exploration was barren; barely any life but plants. It was calm too. I took the opportunity to stray a bit behind the others, soaking in what it felt like to be home. I was staring up at the sky when Aaron's voice broke the silence. "What are you looking at?"
Startled, I jumped a little before looking at him instead. "The sky. It just feels so much more vibrant here."
He nodded. "I suppose so." It fell into a comfortable silence. "What have you been thinking about? You have been silent since the whole group was together."
"I've been admiring the city. I can't say much more than that, but it just feels right to be here."
My attention was caught when Aphmau spoke up. "So... what does everyone think about this place?"
I smiled. "I'm not sure what to think. It's massive, but fairly well hidden." Katelyn replied. "We didn't see it from the ship and it was as if it came out of nowhere when we rounded the mountain this morning."
They stopped walking so I sat down on a nearby ruin. Aaron stood next to me. "That's right. You guys really could have woken me up earlier. I didn't need to sleep in."
"We know." Aphmau quickly glanced at me.
"We all decided that you could have used the rest. So we were going to make use of our time and get any information that we could." Katelyn crossed her arms and sighed. "I was ready to scout out on my own, but Laurence insisted that the 3 of us should go together."
Aphmau looked to Katelyn with an exasperated expression. Katelyn spoke before me though.
"I know what you're going to say, Aphmau."
Aphmau sighed heavily. "Well, I'm going to say it anyway. You don't need to be so hard on Travis."
I could feel the tension thicken. "It seems like you've been saying that a lot recently. ...Did you know about him?"
Aph took a deep breath and looked away for a moment. "About what?"
"Him being the son of the Demon Warlock?"
Before I could interject, I got nauseous, stood up, and hurried away.
Aphmau's POV
I watched as Y/N hurried off and quickly stepped behind a building. After glancing at Aaron, he nodded and followed her. "I did. He... told me about it long before he joined us. And he also said it was a subject he was very sensitive about." I looked back at the ruin they were behind. "So, I've avoided bringing it to light unless he does it on his own." Katelyn fell silent at this knowledge. "Mmh," I smirked. "Trust me on this, Katelyn. Travis... really wants to help."