44. Altar

Some time passed and Isabella and Richard released their embrace. Caoilainn had a slightly suspicious look which made Richard blush. Isabella also blushed, but she was not phased by this. She put her arms behind her back and said:
- "Well, Mazanlold, Caoilainn, and Richard, I must thank you. For your trust in me and for your love." - she put her hand on her chest - "I promise to do the best in my ability everyday to bring us closer to our goal and to lead you as you trust me." - she paused - "do you all agree?"
- "Yes" - they all answered in unison.
- "Well, it is still day time, do you want to try to find the red eyed bird or should we call it a day?" - Caoilainn said:
- "Let's try a bit first. Maybe we get lucky." - and so they returned to the forest with their eyes open.

Now, they spotted blue birds, colorful macaws, more sabias and a single large brown cuckoo. Caoilainn observed the cuckoo as it jumped on the branches using its large tail to balance. It's eyes were red as blood.
- "There" - Caoilainn said in a low voice, pointing at the bird - "this cuckoo has red eyes." - the others looked at it.
- "A beautiful bird." - said Richard.
- "This may be the one we were looking for" - said Isabella. The four silently followed the bird as it flew, glided and jumped around the trees and branches.

The bird led them to a small clearing featuring a stone circle and an altar on its center. As they approached the altar, the ground rumbled and a gap opened near the altar. From it, emerged the remains of the automaton that Mazanlold destroyed. A few seconds later, the ground rumbled again, and a white onyx urn emerged.
- "So, I think this is already our prize" - said Richard. Mazanlold remarked:
- "That demon did really hijack that thing after all" - after that, Caoilainn approached and picked up the urn. It weighed a lot, she asked for Mazanlold's help and they took it to the edge of the clearing where they put it down. The other three watched as Caoilainn removed the metal lid that looked like a cork and revealed the contents of the urn.
- "This is it! This is mercury, or quicksilver, the last of the Tria Prima." - Caoilainn said.
- "Aren't you going to taste it to make sure?" - Richard asked, prompting a sour look from Caoilainn.
- "Mercury is easier to identify, as I'm sure someone like you would know." - Caoilainn shook the urn with the help of Mazanlold showing how the mercury was liquid. Isabella smiled and said:
- "Well, we found the last of the Tria Prima and according to Jacques our objective is near" - she looked back and again to her friends - "I believe it is high time we go to Mercuropolis and have some rest."
- "Yes, please!" - Caoilainn shouted and the others promptly agreed. With the help of Mazanlold, she stored the urn in her bag and they returned to Mercuropolis, arriving close to sunset.

On the inn they enjoyed a nice meal and got together to discuss their plans. They sat down on their room and Isabella took the word:
- "Well, my comrades, it seems we are near our objective. The journey itself was not long, but it was certainly perilous." - she sighed a bit - "but the question now is, what is our next step, or better, what is the next thing we need on our journey."
- "Hm" - said Caoilainn with her hand over her chin - "Jacques said something about uniting all the pieces. I am pretty sure we need to put the Tria Prima together, but maybe there is something more."
- "Well" - replied Richard - "we can take all the messages from him and gather them together, to see if there is anything we can find." - Caoilainn fetched the messages and put them on the table. Richard, Caoilainn and Isabella looked and mixed the messages up trying to find something until Caoilainn and Isabella got tired, and only Richard insisted.

Suddenly, Richard said to Caoilainn:
- "I think our solution may involve cutting the pieces of the messages and joining them like a jigsaw. Can anyone help me?"
- "Sure" - said Caoilainn, Richard started copying the notes and Caoilainn cut each in eight parts. After they were done, Richard said:
- "Also, I think there may be impurities in these papers, can you remove them, Caoilainn?
- "Yes" - Caoilainn took a moment to perform albedo on the papers, which revealed red letters on one side of the papers and red lines on the other. - "great call, Richard, there were impurities over the secrets!"
- "Let's play jigsaw!" - Caoilainn and Richard played and Isabella gave them a hand. Mazanlold just watched them, and brewed some tea. It took a matter of minutes for them to reveal Jacques's final message:

In Morirom the secret lies
The journey has made you wise
Unlock all the doors
Created a long time before
Descend the final path
And ascend your hearts
Reach Anima Mundi at the core

- "Finally!" - Caoilainn's eyes almost teared up - "we are reaching it! And in Morirom of all places!" - she turned to Isabella - "Isa, do you know where that is?"
- "I know exactly where that is" - she sipped her tea.
- "Are you teasing me? Are you serious? Please be serious."
- "Yes, I am teasing you, and yes I am serious." - Isabella took another sip - "there are some locked up places in the kingdom, where only the royal family is allowed. They are remains of the old civilization of the Erevites. We are not sure exactly why these are locked up, but it was probably meant to protect our people." - she looked at them - "one of those places is in Morirom."
- "And" - Mazanlold took the word, smiling - "as we are very brave, and you are royal family, we will simply walk into that place and take our chances."
- "Precisely" - Isabella answered sipping her tea. - "well, our final destination is determined." - she turned to Richard - "is there something else on those papers?"
- "Let me see" - Richard turned the papers around. There were some very faint and loose red lines - "this is bothering me, these lines seem like random scribbles. Despite that, everything in those messages was always done with a purpose. So it does seem fishy."

Caoilainn took a good look at all the papers and lines. She smiled and said:
- "This time, Richard, I got it, I have the solution." - Richard said:
- "I'm looking forward to it."
- "This is requiring a special alchemic process, the most advanced of all, the process that polishes things to its ideal, most perfect state. This is called rubedo."
- "Wow" - Richard replied - "and do you need any amplifiers?" - again, Caoilainn smiled.
- "Yes, but I have it already. You see, rubedo is amplified by auriver, a very special rare metal that is so perfect it is completely inert. In contrast to the lights of sun and moon, and water, it is not consumed when used as a catalyst, it simply does its work." - She picked up her staff, satisfied - "and I have it on my staff, a gift from Kado, Isabella's father and my papa also." - Caoilainn set her staff on top of the papers, and picked up a few stones with runes on her bag and started the process. The room was enveloped in a ruby light coming from her fingers and in moments, the red lines were connected, organized became clear. The light subsided and Caoilainn took a deep breath.

Richard observed in awe, before commenting:
- "That was amazing!"
- "Thank you!" - Caoilainn raised her hand.
- "Is this an alchemic circle?" - Richard asked.
- "Yes, but incomplete. The lines are very clear and have clear gaps, I think that the solution will be in our next destination."
- "If not, we can always find more information there."
- "Exactly." - Caoilainn stretched - "I am tired, can we call it a day?"
- "No" - Isabella said in a serious tone. - "we have our next destination and our next riddle and even a new alchemic circle, it seems we have everything." - Isabella smiled - "but you see, we have had some rough days and this journey has been intense. Are you up for a little pause?!"
- "Yes!" - Caoilainn shouted.
- "Not bad" - said Mazanlold - "after all, we are not sure what will happen before and after Anima Mundi, we may take much longer than expected. I say we embrace this opportunity." - Richard moved his fingers around before replying:
- "I admit I am quite anxious now, as it seems so close" - he turned to Mazanlold - "however, Mazanlold is right, this adventure may take longer than expected."
- "Well" - Isabella asked - "if we don't want to go far, we can go back to Delfinifled and spend like two days there, what about it?"
- "YES!" - Caoilainn shouted again. Mazanlold and Richard promptly agreed. They organized their things and went to sleep with their minds made up.