“What is he doing?” Ksiel asked as the four of them peered around the corner.
“I don’t know, you go ask him!” Thitel grunted as he glanced back at everyone. “Not like any of us know. Right?”
Zitel nodded in agreement, but Veeyel hesitated.
“Wait, you do know?” Thitel blinked. “You have an idea what he’s doing?”
Veeyel hesitated some more. “Uh… Kinda…”
Ksiel growled, grabbed Veeyel by the arm and pulled him back around the corner. “You know something, don’t you? Is Kayel plotting something? Is he doing things behind our backs? Is he using us?”
“No!” Veeyel squeaked. “No! He’s not! He’s working on… something… to make us all better! But he begged me not to tell you three. Said he didn’t want to disappoint you all, get your hopes up or anything!”
“Something, huh? Just something that will magically fix everything?”
“Yeah…”
Ksiel tutted, then let go of Veeyel. He shouldn’t have snapped at him. Wasn’t Veeyel’s fault that yet again, Kayel was hiding things from everyone else. Really, Ksiel should have known better.
“What sort of magical fixing thing?” Zitel asked. “A magic bullet sort of thing or a simple spell or something that could go disastrously wrong should he do something incorrectly?”
“The latter…” Veeyel tried his best to explain. “I think… and I say I think because he’s barely explained it to me… I think what he wants to do is combine bits and pieces to make a spell that will turn us into super Rethans and that will fix up all our ill health and problems and stuff.”
“But… we already are super Rethans…” Thitel was even more confused. “Would- oh, hello, Kayel!”
Kayel was standing behind them all, holding a large pile of scrolls.
“Am I interrupting something?”
“N-no…” Zitel stuttered.
“Aren’t you all supposed to be practising elemental magia?”
“Pr-probably…”
Ksiel though was having none of it. He pushed past Veeyel, Thitel and Zitel, a scowl on his face.
“You’re plotting something. That’s what you do. You scheme. You have all your secrets. You only ever give us half-truths. What are you plotting?”
Kayel sighed. “You’re right, Ksiel. I do keep far too many secrets from you all. Come with me.” With a second sigh, he turned around and started walking back towards the library. He put most of the scrolls on a spare table, except for one, which he unfurled and neatly placed where he had been looking.
Unlike most of the other scrolls they had been using, this one was far older and far more weathered. It wasn’t the oldest scroll there, but it hadn’t been well looked after. The edges were tattered and one corner looked like it had been chemically burnt. There were also a lot of odd stains on it.
“I don’t want to touch that…” Veeyel muttered. “Might get an infection. You know what my immune system’s like…”
Kayel briefly smiled. “Understandable. This scroll explains how one can merge the positive traits of multiple species and apply it to a collection of individuals, essentially creating a better species, while at the same time curing the recipients of any illnesses, diseases or other problems. The reason it is not regularly done among the Thrakian population is that they already consider themselves ‘perfect’ and Thanatian DNA is pretty mixed up already.”
“You think they already had this done to them?” Veeyel interrupted.
“That’s what I believe, yes. It’s a one-off ritual-”
“Wait, a RITUAL?!” Ksiel exclaimed. “Are we talking dark, demonic forces and things like that?”
Kayel shook his head. “Not demonic forces, no. The ritual would, if I could ever work it out, involve a sacrifice to each of the three Fundamentals, and the whole thing would only go ahead if they accept the sacrifice. Otherwise it’s back to square one.”
Ksiel seemed overly angry, and could no longer seem to form proper sentences. Luckily for him, Zitel and Thitel had a ton of questions themselves.
“Fundamentals?”
“Sacrifices?”
Veeyel stepped in to try and calm everyone down. “Why don’t we all take a breather, take this outside and let Kayel explain everything? Also, Kayel, that symbol there is clearly an S, not a C, and a half-cell is clearly an unfertilized egg.”
Kayel blinked, then stared at what Veeyel was pointing at. He rubbed his eyes and looked at the symbols again.
“How the fuck did I not noticed…” His surprise turned into intrigue, as Kayel started re-reading everything, occasionally pausing to note things down on a blank scroll. After a few moments, Kayel gasped and realised that everything was now slotting together perfectly. “THAT’S IT!”
Suddenly, Kayel kissed Veeyel on the cheek, thanked him repeatedly, grabbed a bunch of scrolls, including the old one, and disappeared off to goodness knows where. The other four Rethans all stood in silence, not sure what had just happened.
“So, uh, should we go after him?” Zitel asked.
Veeyel shrugged. “Maybe it’s better to just let Kayel sort himself out. Maybe once he’s done, he’ll be able to better explain everything.”
“Let’s go get a drink then,” Ksiel sighed as he walked off. “Maybe some alcohol will help us work out what the fuck is going on…”