AGH
Markus groaned into the dark tunnel, grabbing his temple, tightly squeezing his eyes before he sat up, looking forward at the end of the tunnel.
Turning to his side, he planted his hands on the ground and stood up, dusting his hair and clothes; his face regained its stone composure.
A timepiece fell from his pocket as he looked at the time before taking decisive and calm steps towards the opening. He shielded his eyes as he walked into the light.
Once his eyes had adjusted to the blinding lights, he lowered his arms and saw the origin of this light, sitting on the ground in the middle of the vast space.
For him, there was not much to see other than the sphere of blue light, but he knew what he was seeing. "To hold the entire mountain and the city of Plied and all those within her, for so long. So this is the power of the Grand Master Raghav."
His eyes narrowed as the hairs on his neck stood up. "Such a dominating presence. Even a person such as myself, who does not wield an aptitude for Mana, can feel his."
"Raghav." Aurelia called out to the man on the ground.
The meditating man opened his eyes and saw his entire team walking towards him.
"You came, I was waiting for you."
"You were? You could have sent one of your clones to us."
"I could have, but I did not want to wake you all up from your nap."
"Is it heavy?" Shin chimed in as he pointed at the ceiling.
Raghav shook his head, standing up as the group finally got to him.
"Imagine the weight of air on your body, barely noticeable. However, the effort goes into maintaining level, not pushing it too far up, nor letting the city descend."
Shifting his gaze towards Eldrain, Raghav called out to him.
"Eldrain, do you have any ideas for what we can do about this whole situation?"
Eldrain rubbed the side of his jaw with his fingers and thumb as his face scrunched up.
"We can't stay here holding this city up forever, a mana barrier or construct could fill up this space, but that is a temporary solution; there is a permanent solution, of course, create rocks and soil in the pocket dimension and dump them here, filling up this cavity."
"I was thinking about it as well, but I do not want to cheat my way out of this. We can discuss that later, right now, I want you to take a look at this. The cavity was filled with this until recently; it was all excavated out of here."
In Raghav's hand was a blue crystal shard on the brink of turning white.
"By the will of The One. I have never seen a Mana stone of such purity."
Eldrain took hold of the crystal as he sensed the Mana within it, before handing it over to An, who studied it further.
"This has to be the oldest Mana stone reserve in recorded history. It's so dense, and the reservoir is absolutely astonishing. This shard alone could power the city for a few weeks, and you are saying this filled this entire cavity?"
"As per my deduction, yes. I have an inkling of who was behind it, and when it was taken out."
"Mark." Everyone blurted out in unison as Raghav nodded with his arms crossed.
"This could be his next big plan, to use this reservoir of Mana stone to do something drastic. As per my calculations, this much Mana stone could effectively blow about a quarter of the Moon."
"Maybe more." An added as Aurelia looked down, her face hardening.
"That would be catastrophic if it happened here. The entire county could be wiped off the face of Paneria."
Her words echoed slightly in the empty chamber as Raghav blinked before looking at Eldrain.
"We will talk about the logistics with the Duke. I was thinking of another way to address this."
"What do you have in mind?"
"We could take the rift and deepen it slightly, by an extent of maybe ten metres. That would be enough to fill up this cavity. What do you say?"
"That is also a solution. Do you want to do it right now?"
"It will take time, which we do not have any to spare; it is going to be Saturday in a few hours.
"You are right, we should focus on Mark and his plan. I will place a Mana barrier holding the city, An could you please seal off the tunnels?"
"I can, so where are we going next?"
"To the Duke, also, we should take the owner of this mine with us. He should know something about this."
Collectively, the entire group followed Raghav's gaze as they looked at Markus standing there, his hair blowing in the wind.
His cold and emotionless eyes looking in their direction.
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"So, Mr. Markus, were you aware of the Mana stone found in the Mines?"
The City Commander of Plied, Opus Magner, asked Markus, leaning on the table with his fists as support on either side of Markus's hands.
Inside the room, Galreid sat in a chair with the nearly full moon behind him. Around him were members of Raghav's party and officers of the special force from Marne.
"I was aware of the Mana stone, yet I did not know when it was taken. I was going to give the details to the Count, but I discovered what was going on and put a hold on it. Today I returned to the mine, and the Mana stone was gone; none of the workers knew anything about it."
Galreid narrowed his eyes as he raised his eyebrow, looking at Raghav standing beside him with his arms crossed.
Raghav met his eyes and nodded. "He speaks the truth."
Galreid nodded and raised his hand, gesturing towards the door. "We apologise for the inconvenience. You are free to leave."
Markus joined his hands and walked out of the room.
"Hey, I know this is weird to ask, but do any of you know a black man named Jacob Smith?"
Shin asked, looking at everyone.
"A black man? Here?" Raghav asked, to which Vrisht answered. "Oh yes, Shin called him chicken boy, and that man called Shin rice man; they said it was racism."
"Oh. So there is another earthling here."
That was all Raghav would say about this matter before turning to Galreid. "Anything on your mind?"
"No, I'm just taking a small break from all this work. The city is under lockdown for the night, and the city border has been heavily reinforced. No one is escaping from here. We will resume the operation tomorrow."
Finishing his sentence, Galreid leaned back in the chair, his eyes hardly staying open. "What will you do now?"
"I was thinking of returning to the Inn, getting some work done, and then resting for a while. Tomorrow, we will join your operations and clear the city for good. Then we can focus on Sunday. I do not expect to learn anything, so we will focus on what we have on our hands now and deal with Sunday's problem on Sunday."
"It would be an honour to have you all with us."
Commander Opus said as he glanced between Raghav and Eldrain. "We would be honoured to work under your lead, Commander."
Raghav and Eldrain replied in unison, without looking at each other, then turning towards Galreid, Raghav nodded. "Rest well, Galreid."
With that, Raghav walked out of the room, followed by the rest of his party. Aurelia was the last to leave as she smiled at her uncle. "Goodnight, Uncle Galreid."
"Goodnight, Aurelia."
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Back in the warehouse beside the inn. Raghav was working on something beside the carriage, with Aurelia sitting on a stack of hay beside him.
Watching him with a smile on his face.
"What are you working on so late at night?"
"I am making something that will be useful on Sunday, since we will be going in blind. Are you not going to go to sleep?"
"Not without you going to sleep first, what if I wake up and you are gone once more?"
Raghav smiled as his face was lit up by the flame. "It will be finished soon, then we can head to our room."
Aurelia simply smiled as she hummed in response, resting her chin on her knees, which she had tucked up, wrapping her hands around her legs.
In the stable, Gati watched the two of them, alongside her was Vrisht, resting on her back. "Ah, to be young again, reminds me of a certain someone."
Gati said as Vrisht opened his eyes and looked at her, with a grin. If a wolf could grin.
A few minutes went by as Raghav closed the workshop, and he and Aurelia walked towards the inn holding hands.
In their room, Aurelia went to the bed and climbed in as Raghav walked over to her and tucked her in.
The two looked at one another with their smiles growing. "Can you sing something for me before I sleep?"
"Sure, should I sing right here or from the couch?"
"However you want to."
"Alright, what kind of song would you like? Love, sad, happy, spiritual, devotional. Energetic, party or just a melody."
"Something about Love and Devotion."
"For you?"
"Is there anyone else you would sing for?"
Raghav raised his eyebrows and shook his head. "I wrote something that you may like."
Taking a few deep breaths, Raghav began to hum in a rhythmic pattern as the utensils began to give background music to him. He then began to sing for her, a song only meant for the two, a song no one else would ever hear.
Once the song was finished, Aurelia fell asleep.
Raghav sighed, looking at her with a smile on his face.
He stood up, not tearing his eyes away from her and walked over to the couch and lay on it as he began to chant the name under his breath.
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On the Morning of Sunday, 20th of July 1238 TNW.
The Band of Heroes were gathered in the Count's office once more, now being occupied by The Duke of the West Galreid.
Raghav sat on the chair opposite Galreid, beside him Commander Opus and Jacob Smith.
The rest of the Band was sitting on the sofa along with the officers.
"Great work yesterday, especially to you, Jacob. This city will forever be grateful to you."
"I was just doing my duty, Lord Galreid. It was thanks to Lord Eldrain's assistance that we managed to catch him."
Raghav looked to his left, nodding. "Indeed, that is why I have an assignment for you today, Jacob."
Jacob's head snapped to his right, and a pop was heard, causing Jacob to grab his neck in pain. "Sorry, what can I do for you?"
Raghav leaned to the right, picking up a small box.
About the size of a briefcase, it was placed on the table. His fingers trailed along the edges and pressed two buttons as the top half opened up all the way, resting beside the bottom half.
Inside were seven metal rectangular devices, alongside them were buds.
"Ain't no way."
Jacob leaned in as Raghav handed one to him.
His eyes were wide in disbelief as he held the rectangular device in his hand. He saw four buttons, two on each of the long sides of the device. Flipping the device, he saw three shards of a black pearl attached to the back.
For a moment, Jacob chuckled as his lips curled slightly. "Is this? How did you?"
"Yes, it is. I made them on Friday night. Go ahead, and turn it on."
Jacob did as Raghav had asked and pressed the power button on the device, and blue Mana flowed into the one centimetre deep cavity on the surface of the device.
Once it was collected, it began displaying the lock screen of a phone.
"How did you get the user interface in this device?"
Jacob could not control his curiosity as he interacted with the different features and apps in the phone.
"I coded the entire UI from scratch and with a great amount of help from one of the greatest Mages to ever exist. An Exter, I etched runes into the casing to bypass some of the components, such as a motherboard and storage chip. I have also used a ring to broadcast signals on a grand scale, which will allow these devices to place calls to each other, among other things."
"Which brings me to the assignment I had for you. It would ease our burden tremendously if you could stay here with Galreid and relay to us the information that you receive. This will allow us to prioritise and divert our resources most effectively. My party knows how to use a phone, and you are the only one other than them who can use a phone."
Raghav stood up and grabbed four phones from the case, leaving two phones in the box, and closed it. "All of us will stay connected through these phones and these buds. You can place them in your ear, and they will attach to your skin, allowing us to communicate over long distances."
He walked over to the sofa and handed each of his party members a phone.
"Mark is a highly intelligent and ambitious man, his goals unknown, his motive unknown; however, one thing is certain, he has a knack for grand stages, his last two acts in Rine and Marne are something to go off, then this entire city is in danger."
Turning around, his gaze shifted back to the officers.
"However, no one outside this room can know of his existence or planning. Otherwise, it will send the entire city into chaos."
Everyone watched as he walked behind Shin, grabbing his shoulders. "Some of us have thwarted his plans before; he can plan all he wants, in the end, he cannot control us, his schemes and lies will not affect us in the slightest."
The words of encouragement were absorbed by everyone as Raghav observed them in silence.
No one would say anything, so Raghav began walking towards the door, looking back at everyone one last time.
On his face was a look that they all recognised. A serious and cold look. "Shall we?"
The occupants in the room looked at one another, with smiles on their faces as Shin stood up. "Let's do this. I am going to enjoy beating Mark with a score of Two to Zero."
He stood beside Raghav, placing a hand on his shoulder. "For that, I am teaming up with Raghav. Shall we do this like we did in that Warzone tournament?"
Raghav nodded, looking at Jacob. "The two of us are going to be covering New Plied. I entrust you guys to cover Old Plied."
"We got this side covered."
Eldrain reassured Raghav as he and Shin left the room.
Aurelia, An and Eldrain all gave a nod to Galreid before leaving the room.
Under the morning sunlight, the duo of Raghav and Shin descended the stairs of the City Hall, with the other group walking past them.
Raghav and Aurelia looked at one another as their eyes met, and for a moment, the seriousness vanished from Raghav's face as a smile replaced it.
Shin, who was looking around, saw something on Raghav's face before looking away, before snapping his head towards Raghav's forehead.
A stray drop of sweat made its way down his face.
Eyes wide, mouth wide, Shin was blown away by what he was seeing before him. 'Raghav sweating? That's a first.'
"Raghav? Is something wrong?"
"It is, I just get overwhelmed whenever I see her. I find my mind straying off out of my control and towards her."
As Aurelia turned around, Raghav smiled before taking a deep breath as the seriousness returned.
"Do you want me to forget what you just said? I mean, my lips are sealed."
"There is no need, every word that came from my mouth, I meant it. I am not ashamed of it."
Haha
Shin laughed out, exhaling as he regained his composure and tried to match Raghav's seriousness. "Time to lock in."