LU 63 - Awyr 1

### Dated during LU #59

Illios inquired to Mira about the curious man they'd talked about meeting. Awyr Raven-blood, the author of "The Empress and the Champion". The book seemed to detail her old life and contained poems by a long gone poet named Daffodil. Perhaps this young scholar knew something about the return of the trees? Illios asked Mira to take her to the school, and so they went, with Zinnia in tow. It was a cold night when they arrived and something felt off. The school (or what was built of it) looked to be abandoned. There were no lights, no sounds.. Only a sense of dread lingered in the air. They decided to try the front door, but it was barred shut with crates. They decided to go for the second door, which was wide open. How inviting.. However, Mira backed off at the last second. They did *not* vibe with this shit.

The moment Illios entered the building, she felt the temperature *drop*. It wasn't this cold outside, was it? The other thing she noticed was the smell of dust and.. something rotten she couldn't quite make out. She had her sword ready, and Zinnia was right behind her. They started to move slowly. There were crates and unlit candles scattered all over the place, and it made it difficult to move around. The rooms were empty, some doors missing, some wide open. They came to the staircase and started to climb. As she went up the steps, *Illios felt a warm breath on her neck*. Nothing except Zinnia was to be seen when she turned around. At the top of the stairs, though.. A trail of dried blood leading from the principal's office to the end of the corridor. The office was in shambles, too. Stuff all over the place, chairs knocked over. In the silence, they could hear muffled, but heavy breathing coming from the end of the corridor.

*"Zinnia.. do you hear that?"*

The window to the Staff Room was barred, but the breathing could be heard from the inside.. Until it was completely silenced. Zinnia and Illios prepared themselves, and Illios ***knocked*** the door open with a swift kick. As she did, BOOM. A gunshot. Awyr screamed at her to get back. The gunshot hadn't done much, but there was now a dent in Illios's armor right where her heart should've been. Noticing that Illios was fine and docile, Awyr sighed in relief and put his gun away.

Awyr brought three chairs for himself, Mira and Illios, and they sat outside. Awyr had locked himself up inside for a while to continue working on his book, so he hadn't seen the light of day in a while. He and Illios got acquainted, and Awyr asked Illios what she was doing here. However, Zinnia was upset that she did not get a seat, and she kept nagging Illios to take hers.

*"Just take mine and be quiet!"* barked Illios.

*"Oh, I'm.. I'm sorry."* replied Awyr.

The woman looked crazed and kept talking to herself. Only a select few people could actually see Zinnia. Awyr brushed it off, though. Nothing he hadn't seen before. Illios inquired about Awyr's books and the empire that was mentioned in them. Awyr said that the ruins of the castle were close to him, but he never got the chance to visit. He was busy trying to build the school, but the villagers he'd pay to help would always run off without even getting their payment. Illios also asked Awyr what he knew of grand, magical trees, but Awyr only knew of legends. It seems he wouldn't be of help after all.

They took a walk to the ruined cathedral opposite of the building. Awyr told Illios that it used to be a cathedral of Katharos dated shortly after the Great Collapse. The cross was missing and it was quite unrecognisable. Then, Awyr told Illios he wanted to see the castle, and asked if she'd accompany him. The castle was indeed like the myths. Grand, magnificent. However, a giant tree now stood next to it. Illios advised Awyr to not go near it, and he obliged. Inside, they found Edelle, and her and Illios greeted each other. Awyr introduced himself and remarked about her unique necklace- a cross of Katharos. Edelle said that she wasn't religious, but that it belonged to someone she cared about dearly.

Awyr wanted to explore the castle, and asked Illios if she knew where it was. She lead him straight to the library, all the while Awyr was taking notes on a notebook he had with him. He was ecstatic to see the library. Some of the books were still intact! He'd definitely have to come back in the future to make copies. In a hidden compartment, they found all sorts of books that were completely intact. One talked about Elysium, one was about a Clash of the Gods. *One of them was in Enderian and looked quite old*. Very, very interesting. He'd have to translate that one.

When they made their way to the cathedral in the castle, they found someone praying inside. Illios and Edelle recognised him immediately as Space Bean, an old acquaintance. They started to chat and bicker about how it'd been "500 years" and how the other person could survive for so long. Then, Illios asked Zinnia to hit her so she could confirm that this wasn't a dream. Awyr was shocked to see Illios actually get hit by an invisible force.

Awyr and Edelle left the two old friends to themselves and started to explore on their own. Awyr found an old contract in a hidden room above the cathedral, and pocketed it. However, he overheard something that truly sent shivers down his spine.

*"Remember how I killed that guy Amanthis? Yeah, I didn't actually kill him, he went into this sword--"*

Space was quickly shushed by Illios. The rest of the day was pretty eventful, but there were many questions on everyone's minds. It surely couldn't be a coincidence that people from Illios's old life were reappearing like this, could it? Perhaps the gods were playing tricks on her. Awyr had many questions, too. The main one being..

*How incredibly lucky was he to stumble upon this goldmine..?*