It Came From the Abyss

Theodore recalled that when he first saw the Stargazer Lagoon, he thought that the near-circular inlet looked akin to a large crater filled in with water. It looked as if something slammed into the planet's surface a long time ago and the Alva built a tower over it. Considering what the Alva was capable of, it could be that the island in the middle of this lagoon was artificial as well.

Be it the bending of leylines towards it or the crater-like lagoon, nothing could convince Theodore that there was nothing beneath the tower short of seeing it in person.

The construction of the tower as well should have taken a great amount of effort and resources, something that the Alva would not have attempted if they did not believe it would be worth it. To warrant something as resource intensive as the tower, the Alva must have had a constant need to move between their ship and the planet, perhaps to transport what had crashed down unto this place up to their ship.

With that in mind, whatever crashed here must have been considered precious to the Alva, not to mention vast if it required a tower of this scale to transport.

Moreover, if it came from the heavens, then it could only have come from two sources. Either it had been floating around the planet's orbit and was eventually pulled down by gravity and crashed, or it came from beyond the 'stars' that made up the Heaven's Ward, beyond the protective barrier that kept the chaotic Abyss at bay and the laws of this world intact.

If the object underneath the tower indeed came from the Abyss, then it was no wonder that the Alva had gone through the lengths they did to collect it. In the realm of chaos without laws or forms, it was no simple feat for an object to cross it without being consumed by the chaos and lose whatever physics that held said object together.

Still, with the tower abandoned by the Alva and whatever it was they were trying to dig up still very much underground, it wasn't difficult to imagine that something had happened. As to what that 'something' could be, Theodore's guess was as good as anyone's.

Of course, all of this he said to no one, especially not Kalman.

***

Kalman sat in silence as Theodore went to brew some tea, his mouth dry from all the talking. Fiana had offered to brew a pot, but Theodore insisted on brewing his own. It did not taste as good, but at least it wasn't going to be poisoned or drugged.

As Theodore took his break, Kalman began to consider everything that Theodore, the Demon Lord reincarnated, had said.

The elder's mind then went to the ruins this city was built atop of, the sewers below as well as the structures which extended further down, much of which remained unexplored to this day due to reasons undisclosed.

Had he not overlaid his Aether atop of his nervous system beforehand as a precaution, Kalman, an elder of the Mage Tower, would have begun to tremble at the thought of what lied beneath the tower, of the very ground he stood atop on, of the reason why the Alva had abandoned this place. His imagination was filling in the gaps in the most terrible of ways.

Kalman was starting to reconsider if awakening the tower was a good idea after all. Could it truly be worth it? Could his dearest wish be worth disturbing whatever that slumbered beneath?

Discreetly, Kalman turned towards Fiana, his daughter. He looked upon her troubled face, her small gestures, her subtle movements, before turning away with his eyes shut. In the pitch darkness, after no small amount of hesitation, Kalman reinforced his resolve and made his decision.

"Theodore... I once again request your aid in awakening the tower. In this, I believe that our goals are aligned. It is better that we work together than against one another, no? Not that you have much of a choice, all things considered, but I would rather not force this alliance."

"It's true, I *don't* have a choice either way. In the end, one way or another, working together with you seems to be the most optimal course of action. As I have said when you asked last time, so be it, we'll walk together on this path."

And so, the alliance was solidified, each member hiding their true agendas from one another. Make no mistake, not one individual there expected the alliance to stay true, knowing that everyone here has daggers hidden in their robes.

As a saying goes in Lancea: "There's a reason why the robes were made so thick."

***

End of Chapter 71

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