Black String of Fate

Cassandra wielded her flames in a manner that was generally considered impossible even for talented experts. The control, the heat, the quality… It was on a different level.

'So this is what made the Pyriel tribe so well known. Nobody can have higher flames than a mythical beast of flames, the phoenix. I've heard that the phoenix was hunted down many times for the treasures its body possessed, but apparently, nobody managed to kill it yet, all because it was said that once it was near death, it'd burn itself into ash, and come back alive whenever it wished.

Given those traits, it's not impossible that those flames could heal too…'

Cassandra, who was burning very specific spots in the ground, finally stopped and stepped back. She looked intently at the ground, which prompted Xavier and Arkham to do the same.

*RUMBLE*

The ground started shaking, and soon, a trapdoor made of thick, heavy stone appeared out of the dirt parting ways. The door had mysterious, glowing red runes, exactly the same colors as the fire, inscribed on it, glowing brightly and slowly fading away.

*CREAK*

The trapdoor slowly opened, revealing a staircase that led to complete darkness. Cassandra confidently stepped in before turning around to her other two party members and motioning with her hands to follow them.

"It's a simple formation, but probably one of the best ones they could apply in their situation. I don't believe that this Laplace would have access to phoenix flames."

"It's not so foolproof. They can kidnap someone from the tribe and force them to open the trapdoor."

Xavier commented on Arkham's opinion, truly finding it an extremely poor choice for safety. Arkham went silent, but Cassandra heard it and glared at Xavier with sharp eyes.

"Do not disrespect my people like that. They would rather bite their tongues off than spill the secrets of this hideout?"

Xavier, who found that blind trust amusing, said with a nasty smile,

"Oh? And how are you sure that they will not spill the tea? As far as I've seen, the traitors of your tribe relentlessly hunted you down. Even after getting caught, while he did try to bite his tongue, he gave in after a little bit of pain."

While calling it a 'little bit of pain' was an underestimation, Xavie got his point across and silenced Cassandra. He then continued,

"If you want to know a man, see him on the brink of inevitable death. At that point, they truly have nothing to gain and nothing to lose."

While Cassandra did not respond, Arkham imprinted those words in his mind. These were words of wisdom of an Archon, a being of legends.

"...I will discuss with the elders to improve the formation."

Cassandra gave in, but it was clear he had made her mood worse. But, well, he did not care at all. He just gave his advice as a fellow senior.

The party traveled deep down the staircase, leaving the swordsmen impressed with how secure the actual location was. The staircase seemed never ending, and Xavier was sure he had descended more than a thousand stairs by now.

Suddenly, Cassandra stopped moving forward. There were still stairs down below, but she smiled and turned to her party members, saying,

"Don't go further down, you'll be stuck forever."

Without waiting for a reply, she heated up an innocuous brick on the wall with her phoenix flames, causing it to start glowing from the sheer heat. Soon, she stopped, and the wall beside her opened up, revealing a dark corridor.

"I must say, this is a creative one. Whoever thought of this is a crafty fella." Xavier commented, impressed with such a simple yet effective way of hiding. If, by any chance, their hideout got raided, the enemies wouldn't be able to locate this completely random step accurately. If they start counting, it'll slow them down massively, and during tense situations, it would become far easier to mess up the count.

"At least you're impressed by something."

"Still useless if they have a hostage though."

"Ugh."

Arkham glanced over at Xavier. He could tell that he was secretly enjoying this, making him wonder whether such highly esteemed beings like Archons really acted this way.

'I could never imagine a Sage or Savant acting this way, much less an Archon. I imagined they'd be more wise and dignified, but I guess Xavier was an exception.'

He shook his head with a wry smile, giving up trying to understand him. It was about time he stopped being surprised over every little thing this childish Archon did.

Soon, the party saw a light at the end of the tunnel and when they emerged, the party was awestruck. It was a huge open space, filled with various tents, shops, and other things constructed of non-solid materials. At the ceiling of the hideout, there was a big

A huge population was living there, going about their daily life without any problems. Xavier noticed that everyone over there had at least some strands of reddish-orange hair, indicating their lineage as a Pyriel Tribe member.

'Those masters did not have any though. Does that mean only those blessed by the phoenix have those colors? And if my conjecture is correct, the more prevalent the color is, the stronger the blessing.'

Xavier arrived at this conclusion by seeing how the people with much more orange hair dressed a bit better, and Cassandra, the daughter of the chief, had a head full of that color.

"A society where a blessing decides your fate. It's honestly terrible."

"We have lived like this for generations, please do not insult our way of living."

"Now now, let's not argue over here. Cassandra, where should we head now?"

Arkham stepped in before the petty quibble between Xavier and Cassandra became anything serious. He was now realizing that these two had extremely incompatible personalities and views, but for the sake of his friend, he had to play the peacemaker.

"A guard will come soon. Show him that medallion, and you will be able to meet my father immediately."

Just as she said, Arkham sensed a few people hastily approaching with weapons in their hands. They were dressed in bronze armor, and their weapons, similarly, were made of bronze. What Xavier found interesting was that their weapons had designs that seemed to be like circuits for a specific type of element.

'...Should I provoke one to test it out? All are just Crafted Elites anyway, anyone below a master is not my match.'

Just then, he felt a hand on his shoulder, and when he looked up, he could see Arkham making a pleading face. No words were said, but he understood completely. Xavier sighed and released the grip from his sword.

"Halt! Identify yourselves! Why is the princess with you?"

As soon as the guards arrived, they encircled the party and pointed their weapons. Xavier could see the stress and tension in their eyes, and it was also clear that this was not just due to this situation, it was the built-up stress they had faced ever since they began living like rats underground.

"Calm down, he's an important guest." Cassandra spoke up in order to prevent the situation from escalating. After hearing that, the guards looked at each other and lowered their weapons. The design that was on their weapons also became dimmer.

"Lead us to the chief. My father must be waiting." Cassandra said, and the guards obediently got into a formation and began escorting the party to meet with the chief.

'I wonder what kind of a man he is. From what I guess, he must be at least rank 6, and a blessed wielder of the phoenix flames. He must be the best in the village too, since he's the chief.

Should I provoke him a bit? Cassandra doesn't seem skilled enough to let me truly experience those flames, so someone like the chief, who is the highest level phoenix flame wielder alive, would be able to show me things that Cassandra could not.'

Cassandra could feel that Xavier was looking down on her more and more by the second, but she couldn't figure out the reason. She decided to ignore it, trying to make sense of eccentrics like him was never a good idea.

Soon, the party arrived at a large tent. They could guess that it was where the chief lived currently. Cassandra went inside first, and only after hearing a call, they went inside too.

Xavier laid his eyes upon the supposedly strongest person of this tribe, but much to his surprise, the man he saw was bedridden, sick, frail, and tired. Ironically, despite being from the tribe of flames, it looked like the fire in his eyes was gone.

"Oh, my friend… What happened to you?"

Arkham was the one who was the most shocked. His eyes shook, seeing the man who was once mightier than himself be reduced to such a state.

The chief slowly opened his eyes, glancing at Arkham for a second, and then at Xavier, with his gaze lingering at him.