As Aenora channeled anima into the water, bidding it to part before the small boat that held her, Lady Suzumi, and the two shinobi she had brought with her, she took a moment to breathe in the air and listen to Xin-xia as the splash of moving water sprayed a cold mist about the small party.


    A few wild animals and monsters roamed the immediate area, and the ruins of war were everywhere—Imperial vehicles and automatons, either destroyed by the Xin-xian army during the initial invasion twenty years back or more recent wrecks from a few months ago when the Emperor seemingly died, had scattered their mechanical innards across the land, each telling a story of carnage and subjugation all its own. There were craters, too, either from the impacts of powerful siege weapons or the blasts of magic from both the Xin-xian defenders and conscripted Imperial mages who had been pressed into conquering the lands of others.


    Many who had written each tale on this proud land had not lived to tell it. The few who had lived, Imperial or a child of Xin-xia, doubtless did their best to forget such horrors.


    Yet, beyond the ugly scars of war, was a land yet untamed. Tall mesas of various stones rose through valleys between majestic mountains, the midday sun glimmering on the many waterfalls that gave Xin-xia its name in the first place: Country of Waterfalls. Tall trees and groves of wild bamboo dotted the landscape, seemingly in defiance of the ravages of the Imperial invasion, the Xin-xian people''s counterattacks, or any of the chaos that Ondun and the party that had set forth from Ahn Mexol had inflicted.


    The smell of the land, alas, told a deceptive story of the resilience of nature in opposition to the wanton cruelty of the allegedly civil races, of the war between those blessed with magicks and those who were born without. No, the smell only told part of the story. As Aenora opened her magic-sensing eyes, she saw a land whose natural anima currents were stagnant and sluggish. They hadn''t halted outright, but they weren''t behaving as they should. It was as if something had blocked the anima from flowing from being to being, stone to stone, plant to plant.


    Yet, amidst the viscous anima flows, Aenora could pick out a single luminous thread that was weakening by the moment. It was this she kept her eyes on as she carefully whispered to the water, directing the boat, with her magnificent living wood staff gently caressing the Xia-he, the waters that served as the land''s veritable artery, even as her two fluffy, triangular ears perked up, and her tail swished excitedly.


    "I have the trail. I intend to speed up. Secure yourselves," she warned. The shinobi, for their part, were already sitting but began making various seals. Immediately, the ride became extremely smooth, as the shinobi were aiding her with water jutsus.


    Suzumi nodded. "Wait not on our account, Lady Aenora."


    With a grin that could have been worked on Ondun''s handsome visage, Aenora increased the power of her spells, causing a massive burst of water to blast from the aft of the tiny boat. Away across the Xia they did fly, towards the thread of hope for the very champion who had restored theirs.


    <hr>


    The boat ride didn''t take long.


    Aenora was able to decelerate the boat with the help of the three shinobi. After they dragged the boat ashore and hid it in some brush, Aenora used some wind magicks, imbued with a tiny amount of fire, to dry everyone''s clothes. While the day was still warm enough, everyone present could appreciate the many problems that a march in soggy clothes would cause, and no one wanted to endure that.


    The four marched across Xin-xia in silence. While there were a few monsters about, none were particularly interested in Aenora or the shinobi. One monster seemed like it spotted them, but a quick jutsu created an illusion of a running child that sent the quadruped off on a wild chase that would be more than long enough for Aenora to find the end of that thread of crystal light.


    Only about four hours passed before they found the cave. The cave itself was nothing of any significant note, of course—Xin-xia had many caves. In fact, the Xin-xian Liberation Front had holed up in one that Inamai had practically been built on top of. Even so, this cave was obviously different because of the bright blue straight lines that were clearly visible from the outside.


    Aenora turned to her companions. "It seems the Allemandians had a foothold in these lands, too, though this is far more eastern than I was ever aware their empire had expanded. Accounts speak of their conquest of the southern continent, but other than the Grey Wastes to Xin-xia''s west, there should have been nothing of note at the time for them to want to conquer."


    The shinobi thought for a moment. One spoke. "Then, Lady Aenora, might this ruin be unraided?"


    Aenora mulled the question over, with Suzumi giving her a very concerned look. "While I''m sure some looting has happened over the past millennia, what scares me more isn''t lost lore or devices, but rather active defenses."


    The shinobi looked to each other and nodded. One man took off his lighter scouting gear and pulled a heavier set of Xin-xian style half-plate armor from a heavy bag and began tying it onto his gi and hakama. Once he was satisfied, he traded out his ninjetti for an uchi-gatana and an extremely small shield that fit over one bracer. He nodded to the rest of the party. "I have training in the samurai arts of Wa-xia. I will draw the ire of any foe."


    Suzumi nodded. "Kei-ichi, be light on your feet. The enemies you will face are more formidable than the automatons fielded by the Empire in our wars. Their auto-repair systems can be difficult to deal with. You will be sorely tested. Fortunately, Lady Aenora is a mistress of the healing arts. If we protect her, we should be able to follow her lead and see precisely what we are dealing with, and hopefully our next objective."


    You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    Aenora nodded. "Honorable Kei, our lives are in each other''s hands." The other two shinobi promptly turned invisible and presumably fanned out to the flanks of the small formation. Aenora nodded to Kei and began carefully stepping into the cavern and the ruins that loomed within.


    While no traps immediately activated as the natural stone of the cave gave way to the odd metallic-and-luminously-lined, sharp angles of Allemandian technology, Aenora wasn''t about to let her guard down. The Allemandians were notoriously paranoid near the end of their sick reign, as the people they claimed to protect had been revolting violently with each additional conquest.


    Yet, in this piece of history, covered in dust and detritus though it was, no beam-fences restrained the party''s movements, no bit-type automata harassed the team, and no cloned monsters assailed the party in relentless waves.


    There was just dust and silence broken only by the silence of footsteps. The only consolation was that the place felt abandoned and not like an open grave.


    Before long, the dust gave way to more pristine corridors and doors. From prior experience at Ondun''s side, Aenora knew each door would be automatic but could be locked to a person who didn''t have a badge or device that was keyed to let them in. So it was, she carefully approached each door, off to the side, while the shinobi companions quickly caught on and began investigating other doors. None was trapped, but only one opened.


    The party filtered inside to find an ancient word-slate beside a data terminal that still, after thousands of years, had power. While Aenora cursed her ill luck that Sid had been laid low by the summoning spell of the mysterious sorcerer, the woman had seen enough Allemandian devices that she could operate them, if only in the most basic of capacities. She noted that the device was pointed to a folder that had a series of files. If her High Allemandian was correct, the file names were "Diary.text," "The Emperor is a Jerk.text," and "I''m done.text."


    She looked to her companions and gave a nod. The two senior shinobi covered the door, while Suzumi began checking the rest of the room for traps or any other material of value, starting with the word slate. Even as she was rummaging, Aenora touched the files with her finger, opening one after the other...


    <hr>


    "Dear Diary, Researcher Markus Varen reporting. We were relocated to the Great Dusts facility after our cross-dimensional gate experiment...catastrophically failed. Even though we presented the Emperor with the revolutionary findings of a being who wasn''t a damned Astral beyond the gate and records of our brief conversation with it, he fed our chief researcher to the tower and basically exiled us! It seems I am in charge now."


    "We promptly abandoned our posts. It was clear we were sent there to be forgotten, so we had some people there paid off. We had a tragic accident now. We are officially dead to the great and glorious Allemandian Empire! However, we serve her still, even in this distant land. We have built this outpost to continue the experiments that failed and learn from our mistakes. To that end, we''ve managed to use an appropriated construction automaton to reprint the Porta Intermundus. We just need to secure a power source, and we can resume our experiments."


    <hr>


    Aenora frowned. "This was an off-the-books research facility. There were definitely some automata here, but minimal living presence. There''s something called the Porta Intermundus here; I suspect, based on the data we''ve gathered, that some kind of cross-dimensional experiment was done here." She then returned to her reading.


    <hr>


    "Markus here. It''s been three months since our disappearance. Some people from the Dust checked up on us and gave us some news about the war on Meraia—the last of those Astrals has finally been contained. The world is a bit safer now. Yet, our work continues."


    "We sent them back with a request to get certain runes engraved in our old laboratory. While the Emperor sealed it off, that jerk, he''s more busy playing with those shadow beasts than worrying about a few nerds he exiled. Even as he''s prodding the powers of the Dark for yet more power of his own, we''ll make a name for ourselves all on our own. We may even be able to be emperors and empresses in our own right!"


    "Still, why our fellows had to wear those creepy black robes makes no sense. Worse, I could swear I''ve seen them before...bah, probably not important. When going behind the Empire''s back, caution is the name of the game. I mean, none of the villagers in this backwater are going to be able to challenge the might of Allemand."


    <hr>


    Aenora''s eyes had gone wide. Black-robed people who seemed oddly reluctant to be found were, unfortunately, a major part of the reason the Knowing Circle had been formed. For their hand to be in this worried Aenora greatly. Yet, other than the presence of the world''s true enemy, there was little to help her with the greater goal of at least re-establishing contact with Ondun.


    So it was, she opened the final file and began to read...


    <hr>


    "Markus here. WE''VE DONE IT! The Porta Intermundus has been activated again. Elasmia went through first but yelled as she did—we''re not sure, but the thing on the other side probably pulled her through. We know it''s intelligent and capable of reason, so it can''t be a monster...but it was also hostile to the head researcher. We have logged Elasmia''s sacrifice in the name of science."


    "The bigger problem is supplies. We''re running out, and our brethren haven''t given us a delivery in quite some time. Gandard and I talked it over...we''re going to go trade some of our precious metals to one of the nearby villages for provisions. Then, we''ll go prospecting to see if this land has any Azurium deposits. We''ve had to put many of our automata on sleep mode just to conserve power."


    "...Actually hold that thought; I need to check with Gandard on if this land is supposed to have earthquakes...this one feels like it could be a big one..."


    <hr>


    Aenora sighed and lifted her head. "Another account of the fall of Allemand, and in particular the great earthquake that heralded the close of the Third Age. More to the point, we are in great luck. They were having power problems at the end. Few automata, if any, should be active."


    The shinobi gave each other a high five as Suzumi looked up from the word slate with a nod. "Should you download that for transcription later? It seems like something that would be helpful."


    Aenora nodded. "You''d make a fine archaeologist." With a smile, she took the slate and connected it to the terminal, then pressed a button that, if her reading was correct, said "Download directory," though it could also have been "Download file system."


    A brief pause rang through the room, as only those moments where something has gone terribly wrong can. Then the alarms started.


    "Warning! Intruder alert! Unauthorized file access detected! Activating local defenses."