Studying Scholarly Secrets - The Keepers: Part 3
Studying Scholarly Secrets
The Keepers: Part 3
“Ah, you’re still here! Good, good…”
Khaldor returned to his study, now carrying a medium pouch filled with the storage crystals. He returned to his seat and placed the pouch right next to the tea tray, which made Cindy release a squeak before she started pouring out the lukewarm tea as she had previously forgotten all about it. Khaldor didn’t seem to mind her minor bloopers as he addressed the guests while the crystal tea cups were filled one by one.
“So, did Cindy already show you how to read the crystals?”
“Uhmm… kind of?”
Vericia replied with an unsure shrug while Eli and Thuryves tried to figure out why Khaldor was acting so differently now. The head of the Keepers nodded, almost dislodging his golden spectacles from his nose before he reached inside the pouch, gently rummaging around before he picked one and handed it to Vericia, then another to Thuryves and lastly, one to Eli. This only made them even more confused.
“Do you want us to read them?”
Khaldor nodded with an eager smile, picking up one of the tea cups and reheating the brew with his magic before having a sip of it.
“But what if we accidentally break them? Or ruin the info they hold? Our magic might be different from yours.”
Vericia wasn’t very fond of the idea of handling something so important and foreign. She was no doubt curious, just like Eli, but she was less certain in her magical abilities than her brother. Thuryves held the crystal between his claws, expecting something to happen but he felt nothing from the crystal, which made him frown in disappointment.
“How are we supposed to view it? I feel nothing.”
He was almost ready to just toss the darn thing back in the bag but Khaldor glanced at Cindy as if requesting her to help them out.
“Oh, uhmm, right, so, you need to actively extend your magic towards the crystal, this will awaken it and then you can form the connection. Just be calm and gentle about it.”
Thuryves grumbled something under his nose but decided to give it a try, he didn’t care if he accidentally broke it, it was on Khaldor for entrusting Thurr with this anyway. Eli had already started to stretch his magic towards the core of the gem in his paws, focusing hard on detecting any response he might receive at any moment. Vericia watched him, until the shard in Eli’s paws lit up with a quiet hum, indicating that Eli had established the connection.
“Huh, like the beehive.”
Eli commented, briefly looking at Vericia to see if his sister understands the reference. It took Vericia a good moment to realize what Eli was talking about, but once she did she felt so much more confident giving it a try herself by closing her eyes and focusing. Khaldor and his assistant Cindy smiled warmly when Eli had achieved the bridge with the crystal, and they were eagerly waiting for Vericia and Thuryves to also achieve it before moving on. While Thurr obviously got no help from Eli’s reference, he still somehow sensed a weak tug within the crystal. Once he responded to it, the gem awakened the same way as it did with Eli. Quite shortly after this, Vericia’s also hummed with a welcoming tone, which made Vericia open her eyes and grin widely.
“I did it! Oh wow, it feels different than our magic does, but looks like we can still connect to it.”
“Excellent! And see? You didn’t break it! Once you have the link with the crystal then it’s difficult to unintentionally ruin it, so please, have a look inside.”
Khaldor cheered and then sat on the edge of his seat, eager to see the topsiders’ reactions once they tapped in the gems, seeing or reading the information contained within. Eli seemed to be more natural at this, so soon enough, a visualisation of the contents morphed into a clear picture right in front of him, showing the terrain of the world above, but seemingly from the distant past. There was a building visible, which Eli recognized only thanks to a certain carved symbol above its entrance, which now was in ruins and only the symbol indicated it was the same place. His eyes widened in surprise, how was this possible that the Haedians had such information with them down here, so far away from the topside world? Thurr managed to conjure a visual representation of the Elder, leader of the Tyrians in the world Above, who was now smiling at him from the vision. Here he looked so much younger and slightly different, but it was him nevertheless. Lastly, Vericia submerged into the flow of info coming from her crystal, and the visual representation of it she managed to summon was a big Zataro with two babies. The assumingly mama Zataro was playing with her kids, teaching them the basics of hunting this way. All three were definitely stunned once again as they definitely didn’t expect the Keepers to have this kind of tricks in store. Khaldor seemingly received his entertaining moment as he cleared his throat to do some explaining.
“These are identical copies of some of the oldest storage crystals we have deep down in the archives. As you can see, we have some fragments of your world, but there’s still so much more we’d love to learn about. The other crystals in this pouch contain similar bits and pieces, if you’d like to have a look.”
Vericia didn’t need to be told twice as she disconnected from the crystal with ease and picked up the next one, showing everyone in the room what secrets it was hiding. Eli decided to let his sister have the fun as she got a lot more excited over learning a new skill, which she could show off right away. They went through all the crystals like that, commenting on the visuals or sharing additional thoughts they had on the matter, with the exception of Thurr who seemed to enjoy the tea more than the show. Still, he observed it all with mild curiosity. Once Vericia placed the last crystal back on the table, paw thoughtfully still on it. She looked at Khaldor with gratitude in her eyes.
“You know, I hope one day you can visit us up there, there’s so much we’d love to show you as it’s not possible to describe everything well enough with words.”
Khaldor seemed flattered by the idea and he nodded at the trio of topsiders with a genuinely happy smile.
“Yes, I would no doubt love that.”
The Egress Unveiled entry for The Keepers (1108 words)
Option 1: As the story unfolds from the crystal right in front of you, a golden marked Haedian steps up to you. They hand you a crystal without a word before stepping back.
Draw or write your Reosean recieving this crystal from Khaldor and/or viewing its contents. It could be a normal Haedian celebration, or perhaps something else than what you expected.
Khaldor gives Vericia, Eli and Thuryves a crystal each, encourraging them to try reading the contents.
Submitted By Trinanigans
for HAEDIAN EVENT: Grace Period Submissions
Submitted: 1 month ago ・
Last Updated: 1 month ago