A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing
Chapter 719 - 719 - What could be better than that?

After waving his hand, Erik, Elora, Naeku, and Lemayian teleported to a room much akin to a library but filled with paper-sized slabs of some kind of mineral or metal.

This was the standard method of storing information in Söl and beyond. They carved letters and words in them using aetherium, but to fit all the information of a single book on these slabs, they made the letters so small, that they were impossible to read with the naked eye, even for the highest-ranking Arcanists.

So, these books were read with omnisense—which was also the reason why the books in the library of Erik's dimension were regular books, instead. After all, that dimension was supposed to have been inherited on the very first day of the awakening, when the Harbinger wouldn't have had omnisense yet.

As soon as she saw all these slabs, Elora's eyes began to shine with the thirst for knowledge. She grabbed the energy bars of her cage and nearly tried squeezing through them. Her omnisense swept forward, but she knew she couldn't read anything from there. These slabs needed a focused, close-up application of omnisense to be read.

"Heh," Lemayian chuckled at her reaction. "I see you're a typical representation of your species… Not that I can't relate. Knowledge is beautiful."

"Shut up!" she growled, her eyes narrowed. "Get me closer, so I can read!"

Lemayian sighed and shook his head, before putting her cage down on a nearby table. "You can't just read anything, remember? We're here to theorise a never-before-seen procedure, and we need to focus on that."

Grumbling, Elora sat down in her cage and reluctantly agreed, hands crossed in front of her chest indignantly.

Watching this, Erik cocked an amused eyebrow. Despite his words, Erik could see Lemayian was equally excited by all this. These two were actually somewhat alike…

Lemayian clapped his hands and glanced between Erik, Naeku, and Elora. "Alright! First, I need Elora to tell me everything about how she created this core, and Elorium itself. Meanwhile, Erik and Naeku, if you could find a few specific slabs that we'll need? I'll need you to talk about your experiences with this stuff as well, later, Erik, but I need to understand the basics first."

Erik, Naeku, and Elora glanced between each other, not exactly happy with the way this guy was ordering them around. Elora even looked at Lemayian suspiciously. Elorium was her invention. Her magnum opus! How could she share everything about it so easily?

Lemayian looked at her and snorted with an eye roll. "Come now, Elora. I'll be fully gone in a few hours. Who am I going to tell? Rather, I'll put my expertise to work to further your work, and you don't even need to credit me!"

Elora grumbled a little but also couldn't find a good counterargument.

"You seem pretty laid-back about the idea of death," Erik commented, his expression curious, and a little suspicious.

Lemayian chuckled and shrugged. "I died a long time ago, Harbinger. I don't see what will happen as death, rather, I see it as my last breath. The last chance I have to make an impact on this universe and further the goal that I gave my life for. What could be better than that?"

His voice was filled with a firmness and confidence that both surprised and impressed Erik. The man's stance was casual, even nonchalant, but filled with determination. After a moment of silence, Erik couldn't help but nod in appreciation, fully believing him. "Alright… so what are the names of these slabs you need…?"

***

For the next few hours, they researched. Or, rather, Lemayian and Elora researched, while Erik shared his experiences and submitted himself to tests and experiments, and Naeku simply did what she could to help.

…what if we…

…but then we have to…

…that could work! But then…

…we should also remember…

Erik loved watching Elora in her element and actually found himself enjoying this process. The testing and experimenting didn't bother him, either.

At the same time as all this was going on, they still found some time to ask each other questions and learn more about each other's past.

Apparently, Lemayian had been a long-time follower of Ymir and Audumla, as well as one of their most powerful and trusted.

When Ymir and Audumla came to Earth to set up shop and begin their efforts in creating Runebound, Lemayian was right there with them. He founded this city as a centre of research and debate for the express purpose of furthering the revolution that his Lord and Lady were building.

Then, when the fairies betrayed them and Yggdrasil's forces became aware of what they were doing, Yggdrasil's most powerful lieutenants invaded the planet.

A massive war broke out that lasted centuries, but in the end, the rebels were too small in number to stand against these armies that were pulled from every corner of Yggdrasil's planetary network. Yggdrasil even personally interfered in the war, though Lemayian was somewhat vague on how…

In the end, he'd personally seen Ymir being slain as the giant sent Audumla away with his last breath. At that moment, Lamayian knew the war was lost and, to his shame, fled together with most of the rebels.

After managing to survive the purge that followed, Lamayian returned to the city he'd once created as a wandering lord, to see that it'd been taken over by Yggdrasil's loyalists. At the time, he suffered from depression, having no idea what next to do with his life, even leading him to regret not dying on the battlefield.

In secret, he lived in the city for years, until Audumla suddenly returned and severed Earth from the network.

Life immediately returned to Lamayian's old bones at that moment. With Audumla in the lead, and together with many other rebels who still hid somewhere on Earth, they quickly annihilated all dissent and put the planet back under their control.

Unfortunately, by the time it was all over, Lamayian's already extremely long life was coming to a natural end… which was when he prepared for the city to be inherited, once the network was inevitably re-established.

***

In the end, it was three hours before Lamayian felt his ending approach.

In his last moments, he walked up to Erik, where he put his hand on Erik's shoulder. Or, rather, he hovered it just above, as he wasn't solid enough to touch him.

He looked into Erik's amber eyes with sincerity. "Listen, Harbinger… I don't know Lady Audumla's exact plans for you, but… Living under the tyranny of Yggdrasil is no life at all. You might not be willing to oppose them for altruistic reasons, but…"—a small grin spread across his lips—"…can you really ever rule anything, when you know Yggdrasil always looms above…?"

Slowly, Lamayian began to disappear, and Erik frowned.

"Stand tall, stand proud, stand for your own independence," the Maasai man's voice became a whisper as his form wavered. "Yggdrasil is just one world spirit… and they can't control Runebound!"

With that, he was gone, and Erik was left with a slab describing a method for putting the Elorium core somewhere else…