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[SeriousConcentrate]

"I'm almost a little more worried that it's not just me hallucinating all this..."

[Praefectus Screptum]

The creature shook his head in disapproval when he noticed two people leaving the area.
"I can see nothing changed. The human kind still handles the unusual in a negative manner..."
"I am sorry, I think they are just tired. We had been fighting monsters during the whole night!"
The Crystaloid floated closer to Gordon and crossed his arms against his chest, giving a little shrug to both him and Kat.
"That doesn't surprise me. Most of creatures or...'Monsters' were sealed a long time ago. So I am sure the people of Terrania tried to bury their dark past, along with what they did in an attempt to gain more power."
The creature raised one of his arms to create another shard, one that was changing right in front of them until it looked like the main structure of Terrania; the King's castle.
"Before the war, humans weren't the only creatures inhabiting these lands. There were many unusual creatures of different size and forms, but the King only saw them a burden occupying territories that could belong to him. Mernid, Rundum and Sylvinir also weren't treating them with respect, if anything they were trying to gain money over them, and that's when my kind had to step back.

As you can see, my body is composed with crystals, but they are far from being ordinary crystals you find in caves. These are crystals full of magic and energy, that's how I am alive, and how I am able to both manipulate shards or use magic...But in the eyes of those men we were nothing but jewelry, a brand new resource for them to creature magic amulets or magic weapons."
The same arm he rose moved towards the Castle, only to create small figures near it, all of them armed.
"Normally we are peaceful, but when he heard stories about Crystaloids being ambushed and well...You probably do know what happened to their corpses. That was enough to put us on alert, so we began to wander in groups, fighting back. And that's when the problem got out of hand; we became the threat they were hoping us to be, an excuse for them to go forward and try to destroy every single one of us. And as we knew fighting back wasn't going to work most of us accepted the option of being sealed."
"...And what about this town?"
"While we are frail on the physical side, we are powerful magicians so we disguised ourselves as humans for a long time. We were just waiting for the right moment, for someone to figure out a way to break the seal, and somehow your group managed to damage it! I am not sure what you did, but please you must keep it up, our kind-And many other creatures had been suffering in that prison for generations!"

[SeriousConcentrate]

"D'you think maybe we're, kinda, dooming humanity by going after these gates?"

Kat's question was directed at Vandertz, before she turned to the Crystaloid.

"Anyway, what was this about magic and it being dangerous to me?"

[Praefectus Screptum]

Vandertz tilted his head backwards before letting out a sigh.
"I...Don't know. Didn't we weaken this seal he is talking about after Lycan took part of the gates' key? So we might be doing something good here."
"Are you talking about the Gates of Rundum?"
Suddenly the creature slammed his fists together in anger.
"Of course! Now it makes sense! It requires a strong wave of energy to break the seal, and this key is probably the only way to set them free! Whoever came up with this seal spell really wanted to make sure nobody was going to break it, but now I can see some hope ahead...Please, don't  give up on your quest, you are the only group I saw passing by here that cared enough to help us, I know if you reach the Gates you will make a wish that won't harm any of us. You need to find the key before it falls on the hands of the wrong people."
"This is making me so dizzy. But I guess we can't let Adant find the key before we do, right?"
The Crystaloid returned his attention to Kat's question with a nod.
"It is quite simple. You are a caster of some kind...And apparently you were hit with a strong wave of magic, so now you have an excessive quantity of power flowing through your veins. So if I don't get rid of the excess, said power might end up...Well, corrode your flesh and turn you into a being of pure energy, that or just obliterate you. Luckily it is easy for me to get rid of it, but...I want to give you a token of my gratitude and not let all that energy be wasted."
The creature opened his arms and made the ground beneath the group glow, and in a matter of seconds the dull stone that was being carried in Gordon's backpack flew to the Crystaloid's hand.
"I will both help you to unlock your powers and transfer the excess of energy to this ore. It may look useless right now, but it used to be a very important material to create magic weapons, so after most of creatures were sealed a good part of the magic flowing around the lands was drained. Consequently all the magic ore laying around became useless, as the magic being contained in them vanished."

[SeriousConcentrate]

"A being of pure energy?"

Kat pulled at some of her hair nervously. How would that work? And... assuming it turned out that way instead of complete obliteration, would she be more useful to the group that way? But after a moment of indecision, she threw the idea away. Her body wasn't much of one, and she didn't even necessarily like who she was, but she didn't want to risk the possibility of ceasing to exist. Not yet. For good or ill, she wanted to see this through, with Vandertz and Father Duvall... and even some of the ones she didn't know that well, like Lycan and Kaarina. She looked up at Van and nodded, indicating she wanted to be put down now.

"All right. What do you need me to do with this stone? Er, do I need to do anything...?"

She pointed at the rock in the Crystaloid Elder's hand.

[Praefectus Screptum]

Vandertz glanced down at Katerina with an expression of concern when he noticed her reaction at the mention of becoming a being of pure energy. What was she pondering about? He couldn't tell for sure, but he carefully allowed her to touch the ground again when she gave that nod.

"Yes, a being of pure energy. Many humans studied ways to reach that form, but isn't easy, blasting someone with magic won't work. You need a strong magical source producing those waves, and apparently the defense towers somehow were enough to get you that far."
The Crystaloid raised his other hand towards the human and shook his head once more.
"You won't need to do anything, just hold  still. This might sting a little."
And without explaining what was going to happen next he made a gesture with that hand as if he was pulling something towards him, revealing a strong glowing rope of energy between his hand and Katerina's body. The process took at least two minutes, and the result large sphere of energy floating near his fingers.
"...This was the excess, and instead of tossing it into the air and let it explode I will use it to make this ore useful again."
He tossed the ore up before flinging the sphere against it, still resulting in an explosion that made the ground shake, besides producing a strong blinding light for a few seconds. And finally after the "transfer" was done, the now glowing rock fell on the grass.
"Use this material wisely. Once you put it against or near a weapon, it will transfer all the energy it contains."
After all of  that Vandertz was still feeling dizzy and with a hand pressed against his face.
"You could have warned us about the explosion and the lights...I feel I had been staring at the sun or something."

[SeriousConcentrate]

Katerina scooped up the rock and held it between her hands.

"It's so weird to think this was a part of me. And I do feel different. Hmm..."

The witchthief tilted her head to the side and moved the glowing stone around, examining it from all angles. After a moment she nodded and looked at the Crytaloid.

"D'you think maybe I could fashion it into an amulet of some sort? We'd have to put a hole in it for a chain to fit through..."

[Praefectus Screptum]

"...For a few hours, yes."
The Crystaloid turned around as soon as Katerina said "amulet", and after giving a long sigh he shrugged.
"It is too heavy to wear it as a necklace. But you could try to transfer the energy to a simple amulet. Just try to look for a proper blacksmith-If possible a Golem, creating magic amulets isn't as easy as creating magic weapons."
He turned his head to the side for a moment and gestured for the group to move to the tavern.
"I think we are done for now....I need to get some rest, but please don't give up. Break the seal and set the others free. For now I suggest your friends to get some rest too, stay for as long as you want and feel free to check our 'treasure'. We had been storing weapons, outfits and books we find laying around near our town."

[SeriousConcentrate]

"Mmm, too bad. I was thinking that maybe, I could put it on a chain... Then you'd always have a piece of me nearby even if something happened."

This was directed at Vandertz.

"Maybe we should all get some rest, too. After that shield went up, this place ought to be safe to take a night off before getting back on the road."

[Praefectus Screptum]

"I think having you around is much better than just a piece, so don't worry about that. If we got this far facing armies, nobody is going to stop us."
Vandertz nodded before glancing at the tavern.
"Yeah, we should. And I also think we should at least take a day off before we keep going, fighting during the night really drained me. Also we probably should check this treasure they were talking about, maybe we can find something useful there."

[SeriousConcentrate]

"Yeah, let's go check that out. We did save them all, and they want us to get to the Gates, so I think taking a few things here and there won't hurt anything."

[Caellath]

Meanwhile, Lycan was downing a mug of ale.

"Ahahah. I hope we're not missin' anything important. I'll just ask for an explanation later anyway, though. Might also apologize to the crystal-person, he might've been miffed."

[USEC_OFFICER]

"Let the others deal with that kind of stuff. I'm just here to fight and get paid. If there's anything we have to know I'm sure that they'll tell us. I'm not going to stop you if you want to apologize, but I'm doing nothing of that sort. Not my fault that he's so sensitive. It. Whatever." Kaarina was likewise nursing her own cup of booze, though obviously it wasn't doing much at the moment to mellow her attitude.

[Caellath]

"Hahaha, your grumpiness is something, Kaarina. How much booze does it take 'til you're calmer?"

[USEC_OFFICER]

"That's a good question. Obviously one cup isn't enough to cut it. Well. I'll look forward to finding it out before the night is done. Unless we have to leave to deal with some shit that is. I would ask you the same question, but you clearly don't need any help from the booze to help with your attitude."

"But then again, most people don't have my kind of attitude. So it balances out."