A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

"How in the hell has something like this gone undiscovered?!" Astrid exclaimed as she put a hand on one of the pillars.

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It was a fair question. Ruins like this one would usually attract all sorts of researchers, scientific or otherwise, yet there was no sign of an excavation or any kind of human interference at all.

"It's not that strange," Emily shrugged as she casually strolled around the platform. "I mean, have you seen any kind of infrastructure in the last two hours or so of traveling? No one lives here, and no one comes here. Because why would they?"

Erik, who was standing in front of the altar, looked up at the sky. "She's right. Plus, even if someone flies over this place, and just so happens to look down at the right time, they would still need to spot it through the trees, and not simply ignore it. After all, most people can't imagine there is anything left on Earth that has gone undiscovered."

Suddenly, just as Erik finished speaking, a cloud of light specks left his body and coalesced into the form of a small fairy. The fairy quickly took her place on Erik's shoulder and began speaking. "While you're all correct, I can also sense the effects of an obfuscation sigil at work."

"Elora!" Emma, who was standing next to Erik, exclaimed happily while clapping her hands. "You're alright again!"

Erik smiled warmly at the reappearance of his first wife. Naturally, he had known she was ready to make an appearance again and was not surprised she chose now. Mysterious ruins, sigils, mysteries. Elora loved this stuff.

Astrid smiled as well, although that was mostly related to Erik and Emma's happiness, as she still had her doubts about Elora.

The most negative reactions came from Alice and Emily, who both looked at Elora's appearance with weariness and caution.

Elora giggled with glee at Emma's happiness, before nodding. "Not entirely yet. For now, I'll have to stick with my small form as my physical essence can't handle the expansion yet."

"Still, you've gotta be glad to be able to leave again, right?" Emma smiled brightly as she looked at Elora.

"It's actually quite comfortable in Erik's soul, so I don't really leave it that often anyway," she shrugged casually in response. "But it does feel nice to have the choice again."

Meanwhile, Emily and Astrid also welcomed her back, with varying degrees of enthusiasm, while Alice growled softly. "So she's the one who killed dad in the end…"

She was trying to go unheard, but unfortunately, while Elora's natural senses weren't particularly powerful, her omnisense was always active.

So she turned to Alice with a curious glance, as if gauging her reaction, and nodded. "That's right. I don't believe I am responsible for his death, but I did pull the trigger, as it were." At the same time, she thought, 'Not that I would particularly care if I was responsible, but she doesn't need to know that.'

The young girl eyes opened wide in surprise when she realized Elora had heard her, but quickly composed herself again, earning her some points in Elora's mind. She snorted a little, "Right… he was going to die anyway… I know that. But I hope you don't expect me to just forgive and forget."

Elora looked at Alice with amusement, before she chuckled and shrugged, "I really don't care about your forgiveness, little Alice."

"You…!" Alice exclaimed in frustration. Yet, realizing her frustration was pointless, she turned around and softly grumbled.

"Elora…" came the softly whining voice from Emma, as she pouted at the fairy with slight indignation.

But Elora just rolled her eyes. "Come on, Emma. You know how I am. I don't deny Alice is pitiful, but I still don't need nor want her forgiveness."

Before this matter could escalate, Erik turns his head towards Emma and nudged her towards Alice. "Why don't you go talk to the girl, huh? I think she likes you most of all anyway."

She swallowing the response she had for Elora, and instead turned to Erik with a warm smile. "Alright, Master. But I'm not so sure about the last part, she's taken quite a shine to you as well…" she giggled. Than she quickly went after Alice, and pulled the young girl into a conversation with her infectious enthusiasm.

Meanwhile, Astrid and Emily approached Erik and Elora. "So what was this… obfuscation? sigil you mentioned?" Emily asked curiously. Regardless of her feelings towards the fairy, she did have a genuine interest in art of sigil craft.

"Yeah, obfuscation," Elora nodded as she entered teacher mode. "It basically makes it so that anyone who comes near this place without knowing exactly where it is would be diverted without even realizing it."

Erik frowned in thought, "I guess that could explain how no one found this place before, but… how did a sigil stay active in pre-awakening Earth? There was no aetherium yet. Even that sigil my mom used against the hunters seven years ago was kinetic in origin."

"Well, that's the real question, isn't it!" Elora grinned widely, her eyes shining with curiosity at the prospect of uncovering something new. "An obfuscation sigil doesn't need much power, but it does need at least a little!"

"And do you know what else needs at least a little aetherium?" she asked as she turned to Erik with the same enthusiastic expression.

Erik raised an eyebrow in thought, but didn't need long to realize what she meant. "You think this place is related to how my mother reached the first rank in an unawakened Earth?" he suddenly uttered in wonder.

"Yes!" Elora chuckled, happy that Erik reached the same conclusion as she did. "This sigil needed aetherium, and so did she! It can't be a coincidence!"

"Alright, well…" Erik mumbled, as he took the mysterious metal medallion that Viljar had given him from his armor storage. "I guess we'd better find out the truth than."

He was pretty sure he already knew what to do with this, because there was actually a very convenient, shallow indent in the alter in front of him. And it just so happened to have the same size as the object in his hand.

He looked around at the people with him to see if they were ready, and quickly noticed they were all looking at him with curiosity.

So he chuckled, and pressed his mother's gift into the altar without hesitation.