Without being asked to, Nellie went on about her discovery of four element crests in the four directions of Morroc which contained a mysterious power she has not identified. She explained the significance of the Pyramids in the Morroc Ruins, and how Mage Knight Thanatos played a large role in the founding of Morroc. Aalaiyah was listening intently, chipping in a few comments and questions based on what she studied as a child in Geffen while Penelope was trying to take part in the conversation. Cedric attempted to sound interested, but failed after the tenth minute while Hirei found himself engrossed with the patterns on the sole of his boots, trailing them with his fingers like Nellie illustrated she did to the ancient runes and scriptures written on the walls of the Sphinx outside the borders of Morroc.

‘So… What about Ymir’s Heart again?’ Hirei interrupted indifferently after deeming his boots to be boring. Nellie gasped, sliding down her comfortable armchair with guilt.

‘I’m so sorry! Oh, please, if I side tracked from the topic and rambled on too long, you must stop me immediately,’ Nellie giggled. She then ran a hand over her chest to calm herself down before raising her head with a serious look on her face. ‘All right, let me tell you a little about how the legend of Ymir’s Heart began. It was said that at the beginning of time, there was a great giant called Ymir. He was killed by the three sons of Borr, who then used his body to create our world. Ymir’s blood became the seas and lakes and his bones became the mountains. From his teeth and bone fragments stones were created and from his hair trees grew. One of Borr’s sons, Lord Odin, placed Ymir’s brain in the wind to become the clouds, while Ymir’s Heart was placed upon the highest clouds to watch over this new creation. Of course, some scientist would tell you that’s all rubbish, but one thing that has been proven to have existed since the beginning of time is a substance that we now call Ymir’s Heart. It used to be a large object, almost the size of the town of Izlude, which glows with a green, unearthly light. It sits in Valhalla, the place closest to the heavens, protecting the peace of the world. But due to some events thousands of years ago, Ymir’s Heart split into many small pieces – we don’t know how many – and spread to all corners of the world. Reports say that they are now mechanical objects emitting the same green light that keeps a piece of the Heart within, some as small as a jellopy, and others as big as a Hydrolancer – you know, that dragon-looking monster that’s almost three times bigger than a man.’

‘Caleb always talks about it being some powerful item,’ said Hirei as he glanced over at Cedric, who nodded back. ‘It sounds more like a mythical object. What does it do anyway?’

‘Relax, I was getting there,’ Nellie smiled as she took a breather, enjoying herself. ‘Even though these Heart pieces are much smaller than the actual thing, it still packs a punch. It can generate energy and manipulate the flow of energy. It absorbs energy from its surroundings and has the ability to convert it to the specific energy required. When a normal person like me and you uses magic or skills that require energy, the conversion of energy is not complete and unnatural, creating impurities in the process, which is why many objects, even the human body has a certain limit before they are exhausted. With the Heart of Ymir, pure energy can be achieved and modified in any way the user wishes it to be, and many impossible things can be made possible. It is the reason why High Wizard Nadleeh looks younger than he really is.’

Nellie turned to Aalaiyah as she nodded. Cedric, Hirei and Penelope were all confused by this statement. ‘What do you mean younger?’ Hirei started, speaking up for the three who were curious. ‘How old is your dad anyway, Aalaiyah?’

‘Well, my father told me before that he’s a Transcendent who’s been to Valhalla and back, that’s why he had a prolonged life,’ explained Aalaiyah, attempting to avoid the age question. But Hirei’s stare was too hard to ignore, and so she continued on. ‘I’m not really sure how old he is. But if I’m not mistaken, my father came back from Valhalla twenty six years ago, and they declared then that he was fourteen years old. So this year, he’d be fourty years old by name. But his biological age is… um… eighty nine years old.’

‘What?’ Hirei expressed his surprise aloud as Cedric’s eyebrows twitched and Penelope shrieked. ‘B-But he looks kinda young!’

‘It’s true! High Wizard Nadleeh has been around since my grandparents were alive. And that says something since both of them are not around anymore,’ Nellie clarified while tapping her jaws. ‘Just a little side info for you guys on Transcendents. A Transcendent such as High Wizard Nadleeh was a person; a hero who had mastered the art of their profession. Their courage and achievements had been recognized by the Valkyries, the female warriors of the god Odin. These Transcendents have read the Book of Ymir and found the forgotten path, led by the Valkyries to the Hall of Honour, Valhalla. It is there the Valkyries will grant the Transcendent with new wisdom and a fragment of the power of Ymir’s Heart. Before the Transcendents are returned to their homeland below the skies, their bodies which are exhausted are regenerated with energy, restored to their youthful selves to serve the world with their abilities again. That’s why High Wizard Nadleeh has been in our world for such a long time, but has not aged much as how you saw him in Geffen. He used to be his old self before he went to Valhalla, and as Aalaiyah said, he came back with a body of a fourteen year old, his memories and knowledge still intact. The Heart of Ymir has also granted him a better manipulation of energy, which is why his magic skills are incomparable to a normal Wizard.’

‘But didn’t you say earlier that we do not know where the fragments of Ymir’s Heart are?’ asked Penelope. ‘Yet Chief Wingstaff inherited its powers.’

‘I haven’t got the chance to explain that, have I?’ Nellie laughed cheerfully, finding pleasure in sharing her knowledge. ‘There are two ways to acquire the power of Ymir’s Heart. One would be to get your hands on the genuine Heart piece, the other would be to become a Transcendent and be rewarded with its power by the Valkyries. However, the latter does not grant a person the full potential of a genuine fragment of Ymir’s Heart. But it’s powerful enough for a human to acquire the power in such way. For researchers like me, it becomes our wish to get our hands on a fragment of Ymir’s Heart to learn more about it and utilize it in a large scale. Magicians can use them to increase to proficiency of their spells. Even fighters would be able to use them to fuel their bodies with immense energy and stretch them beyond their limits. It’s because of the wonders the Heart of Ymir holds that it has become an object of desire for everyone, whether or not they understand its abilities. Even King Tristan the Third has popularized it and offered fame and wealth, and that is the significance Ymir’s Heart hold to most of our people. If you ask me, I have no idea why Ymir’s Heart is said to bring peace to the world. From what it looks like now, everyone is fighting over it and there’s no peace at all.’

‘Maybe we would only have piece if mankind could search for all the fragments and put them together,’ said Penelope thoughtfully.

‘Then, do you have any clues where we might be able to find them?’ asked Cedric while Nellie was taking a gulp of water from a cup by her desk.

‘There’s no exact place or site where you can find the pieces of Ymir’s Heart. But I believe that you’ll have a better chance finding them in Swartzwald or Arunafeltz.’

‘Why so?’

‘First of all, I’m positive that the other two nations already have their hands on it,’ said Nellie in a hush-hush manner with her hands over her mouth. ‘We haven’t heard of anyone in Rune Midgard finding one, right? Otherwise, the King would have proudly announced it to everyone already. I used to chase after the Heart’s trails and had some leads, but…’ she paused to sigh with regret. ‘I couldn’t keep up with it. The places I needed to travel to were too dangerous for me alone, no one would join me in my search. After having little success from my work, my sponsors threatened to leave me. I can’t do anything without funds, so I gave up my search for Ymir’s Heart and pursued a different type of research here in Morroc. Anyhow… from my old documents, ancient people used to worship individual pieces of Ymir’s Heart, and some buried them. If we must look in Rune Midgard, I reckon Odin’s Shrine, Morroc and Umbala would hold some clues.’

‘Would it be okay if you shared with us all your research data?’ Aalaiyah requested. ‘I could ask father to have his wizards look into it, if you don’t mind. Or maybe, Penelope, Cedric, Hirei and I can continue your hunt for them. We’ll let you have the glory for the findings.’

Nellie gasped and jumped up from her armchair, almost dropping the cup of water in her hand. ‘Are you all serious about it? Almost everyone has failed in their efforts to find a fragment of Ymir’s Heart. It’s like finding a needle in a haystack! You either need Freya’s luck or huge excavation projects to have even the slightest chance of finding one.’

They nodded back without hesitation, almost sending Nellie into tears. ‘Oh… you don’t know how much this means to me! I’m putting all my hopes and faith in you guys by entrusting my unfinished work in your hands. First… I’ll need to clean this mess up and compile all my files and make copies of them before I can pass them down to you. And for you, Aalaiyah, I’ll throw in some of my other goodies which would be helpful in your general Mage training and studies.’

Aalaiyah clasped her hands together happily and they took turns to thank her. ‘Sheesh, I should be thanking you, this means a lot to me – oh, you don’t have to help,’ said Nellie as Penelope started to clear up some of the papers on the floor. ‘I like working this way. And there are some work like cleaning up my documents I would prefer to do alone.’

‘So, what should we do now?’ asked Hirei to no one in particular.

‘You guys should take some time looking around Morroc, it’s a really interesting place. Just wandering around the bazaar would take a whole day and trust me, you would want to. There’s tons of nice and affordable hears there if you could spot out the cons and get a good bargain. See, I got this really adorable blue hair tie from there by just trading a few pieces of yellow gemstones!’ Nellie boasted as she pulled out a little blue ribbon from her drawer and threw it on her bun to prove her point. Hirei made a soft, throat-clearing noise and Nellie quickly turned back to them, hiding the hair tie behind her back.

‘Anyway, you must be really careful while in Morroc. It is the home of the Thieves and Assassins here, and there are many of them in disguise to earn quick zennies from the curious travelers who flock here,’ Nellie warned gravely. ‘Other than that, just drop in tomorrow to check on me. But I’ll just warn you beforehand, I might take two days just clearing up this space.’

‘No rush. Thanks a lot again for today,’ said Cedric. ‘We won’t bother you further then. See you tomorrow!’

***

They spent the whole evening finding for a suitable and trustworthy inn to stay at for the next two days. There were many choices of inns in Morroc, but many of them were full and the other half looked horrible or was crowded with bad company. Finally, they settled down in a quiet inn near the weapon and armor shop at the southeast corner of Morroc. When the sun rose, they took Nellie’s suggestion and took a trip to the bazaar.

‘I’m going to put all of our money into four separate bags for the each of us,’ said Penelope, handing out brown satchels of money as they approached the stalls. ‘In the case we do get robbed, we could minimize the loss. Please take extreme care with it!’

They ventured into the bazaar with their arms hugging their body closely, cautious of the presence of everything they were carrying. Cedric stared warily at the woman who had a red hair like the tone of his own red streaks in a black cloak, who looked back at him suspiciously. They brushed against each other lightly, sending Cedric into a frenzy to check if any of his items were missing. Thankfully, nothing was stolen and it was only Cedric being paranoid. They walked down the large walkway where the stalls were neatly lined up, extending until the castle which was surrounded by the lake of water. There were smaller paths of stalls branching out of the main walkway of the bazaar to accommodate more merchants.

After a few hours of browsing and bargaining, Penelope finally bought a good quality Chain at a cut-throat price to replace her old Mace, much to Hirei’s dismay(‘Now she’s even more menacing than before. We better not mess with her at all,’ whispered Hirei unhappily to Cedric). Cedric could not decide whether or not to get a one-handed sword with a shield or go for a more damaging two-handed sword. Considering his attack speed, he opted for a Tsurugi and two second-hand Bucklers for both Penelope and himself. Hirei stocked up on his arrows, deciding that it was not yet time for a bow updgrade. Aalaiyah bought nothing as Edel had prepared new upgrades for her before she left Geffen. As the sun began to set, their money bags were lighter than before.

‘It’s lighter in a good way,’ Penelope announced gladly while proudly swinging her new Chain when she had confirmed that none of their possessions were lost. They then returned to Nellie’s place, only to find her being carried away from reading her old documents with a tinge of nostalgia shinning in her eyes. She quickly cleared up the space at once and started to compile her files.

‘Where will you guys be heading to next?’ asked Nellie as she poked her grey head out of the cupboard.

‘Well, we haven’t really decided on that yet,’ said Cedric. ‘Maybe we could visit all the cities in Rune Midgard while searching for Ymir’s Heart, then go to the Swartzwald Republic and Arunafeltz States, or even the smaller islands off the coast of Alberta.’

‘I support that last suggestions,’ Hirei piped hastily. ‘I haven’t been back to Amatsu since the sibling war ended.’

‘Definitely, I’d like to see that hometown you’ve been bragging about so much. Pink trees, cute girls and all right?’ Cedric laughed. ‘And after that, we can traverse all sorts of dungeons once we’re stronger. I bet Rei would like to go back to the Payon Dungeon and give those Soldier Skeletons a good beating.’

Penelope and Aalaiyah tittered softly, but Hirei was not amused when he thought about the enigmatic huntress they met. ‘Oh, and Cedric, shouldn’t we be searching for your brother too?’ Aalaiyah said. ‘He must know a little something about the Heart of Ymir. Besides, isn’t it always your hope to be on this journey with him? It’s our original plan to have him along, and I’d really like to meet him too.’

‘Oh yeah…’ Cedric murmured sadly as he thought about Caleb, the letter his brother left behind was still kept safely in his rucksack. ‘I almost forgot about that.’

‘For your next trip,’ Nellie spoke suddenly, placing a dusty box of envelopes on her table. ‘Why don’t you head for Al de Baran? There’s a huge event there in a two weeks, I heard. The city will be full of activity then.’

‘Al de Baran?’ said Hirei as he pursed his lips. ‘Isn’t that the northern-most city in Rune Midgard? Like, really far away northern-most?’

‘If you leave in the next few days, you should be able to make it in time,’ said Nellie. ‘It’s good training, right? On top of that, if you decide to go, I would tag along until we get to Al de Baran too!’

‘Really?’ Penelope gasped excitedly. ‘You’d do that for us?’

‘Well, that’s kind of a yes and no. I’m supposed to be meeting my sponsors there during the event, that’s why I suggested Al de Baran in the first place,’ said Nellie as she grinned sheepishly. ‘So technically, you’ll be doing me a favour if you travel to Al de Baran with me, or me with you, oh, it doesn’t matter. It’s a win-win situation, right?’

‘It sounds like a good idea. Sure, we’ll do just that,’ Cedric smiled as Nellie thanked them again happily.

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Current Word Count: 24,269

Labels: NaNoMadness, The Eminent Guardians