[Azura Rayume]

Archimedes | Ulric

Archie flips the magnifier down over his glasses, closely inspecting the crystal in his hand. It doesn't seem natural, if he's honest. All the facets seem to cleanly cut to be something that just came out of the ground, but his informant had assure him it was, in fact, a real and natural gem. He turns the device over in his other hand, his curiosity building. He had said it was magic as well, and there were few places Archie had really felt the magic of the land than the mountains. It's like the energies of the world rotate around the high peaks, and so he had brought it here, to the ruins of a temple in the Fe'gan Mountains to see if it sparked anything.

But, of course, he couldn't be here alone, no. Someone just had to follow him.

[1]

[Azura Rayume]

Ulric saunters his away over, haughty self-importance clear in his gait. He had come here to find treasures, and, unfortunately for everyone involved, had come across stuffy little Archimedes again. It seems like every times he finds somewhere promising, that little relic-sniffing archaeologist turns up as well. No matter, they might both find what they want.

He plucks the gem right out of Archie's fingers and holds it up to the light, frowning all the while. "Ones like this aren't worth much," he grumbles, dropping it back down to his palm. "Let me guess, it has 'ritualistic significance' or whatever you lot say when you don't understand something?"

[2]

[Azura Rayume]

"No," Archie snaps back, closing his gloved hand over Ulric's and prying the gem from his grasp. "It's a crystal, that's all."

Ulric arches an eyebrow skeptically. "Then why care about it so much? Shouldn't you be moving on to some dusty catacomb of old bones and cobwebs by now?"

Archie sniffs at him, clearly disgusted. "This is just as important as any find, I'll have you know. Our next foray into understanding the workings of magic, past and present, could be right here. You would miss it because it doesn't look like something you can sell!"

[3]

[Azura Rayume]

"Magic?" Ulric scoffs, wrinkling his nose in protest. "Nothing about that little rock looks magic."

"Not on its own, no." Honestly, why is he even bothering to explain this? It's not like Ulric is his friend, or even a business partner. He's a leech, if anything, a nuisance only here to bother him and possibly steal his work. "If you bothered to pay attention to anything other than your profit margins, you would realize things can be so much more than you can see on the surface."

Ulric sneers at that idea. "If it's so great, why not prove it?"

[4]

[Azura Rayume]

Archie furrows his brow. "I don't have to prove anything to you."

"Then prove it to yourself." Ulric sweeps his hands open, gesturing out to the rocky cliffs around them. "There's hardly anything magic around here, if you ask me. But if you're so convinced, it shouldn't be too much to ask for a demonstration."

Archie blinks. He's right, technically. And it's not like he hasn't wanted to test the magic for himself. "Alright, fine. All I need is to make this work." He fiddles with the device for a moment, then the crystal clicks into place and the whole thing starts to glow. "Aha-!"

And then the ground shifts with an earth-splitting crack.

[5]

[Azura Rayume]

Ulric yelps, clearly shaken in more ways than one. "What the hell was that?" His voice nervous even as he barks demands.

"Magic!" Archie says with a delighted smile, holding the device up to show. The crystal in it glows, almost golden, and the earth heaves again with the movement of his hand. "I told you it was magic! I knew it!"

"Well, bravo to you!" Ulric grabs for a sturdy looking boulder, determined to get himself away as quickly as possible. "You're going to bring the whole mountain down around us doing that!"

[6]

[Azura Rayume]

"I wonder if I can control it." Archie moves his hand, and as he does so, the stones ripple beneath him. This device is incredible, he can tell that much already. If someone found a way to harness this, they could change the way the modern world uses magic. He lifts the thing high, seeing if he can raise the ground beneath him, but the mountain rumbles higher instead.

Ulric, having finally found his footing, stomps his foot in anger. "Are you playing with it?"

"No?"

"That thing makes earthquakes! Turn it off!"

[7]

[Azura Rayume]

"Don't be silly," Archie says with a laugh, lowering his arm and cradling the device in his hands. "Earthquake is quite extreme for what it seems to do. It makes a few tremors, sure, but it isn't destructive like that."

Above them, the rumble from before sounds again, stronger and louder than the first time. Ulric rips his attention up the mountain, panic in his eyes, and his foothold staggers. "Fine. Rockslides, not earthquakes, but we have to move." The first loose stones start to tumble past them, and he rushes toward Archie. "Now!"

[8]

[Azura Rayume]

"Okay!" Archie shoves the device in his pocket and turns on his heel, running down the narrow path with practiced ease. He can hear Ulric stumbling down behind him, and that does make him smile slightly even as larger stones start to cross his path. "There's a cave around here somewhere."

Ulric whines loudly behind him. "You don't know?" he asks desperately, one hand snagging onto the back of Archie's coat. "You want to trap us in a cave, and you don't even know where it is?"

[9]

[Azura Rayume]

"Oh, I do." Archie turns again, a small opening in the cliff face coming into view ahead. On the other side of it, a large boulder crashes its way down the mountainside, and Archie speeds up enough to skirt through the entryway with Ulric right on his heels. "Though I'm not entirely sure why I'm saving you. All you ever do is steal!"

Instead of answering, Ulric presses himself to the wall closest to the corner just as another large stone crashes down, landing right outside the entrance and knocking away a section of cliffside. "What the hell is that thing?" he murmurs, slowly sliding down the wall. "Where did you get it?"

[10]

[Azura Rayume]

"If you want to talk, we should move deeper." Archie sets his hand on the opposite wall and starts to walk. If they stay too close to the entrance, anything that crashes its way in will hit them. "We don't know how long the rocks will fall, and being right by the entrance might not be the best idea."

"Oh, so, now you care." Ulric makes a teasing face, but another heavy rock cuts his protests short. He flinches and scampers away, making his way to his feet in the process. "Fine, deeper in the tunnel that goes someplace we don't know."

[11]

[Azura Rayume]

Archie laughs softly under his breath. He knows where this tunnel goes, but there's not much point in telling someone like Ulric that. He has been through these caves countless times, cataloguing the carvings and admiring what those who lived in these mountains generations ago had left behind. With the minimal light, there's no way Ulric could see it, so no way he could know there is value in the very walls.

Places like this are why he started his career in the first place. It feels good to connect with something so immeasurably older than himself, to touch the handiwork of someone from ages past and know they were alive, too, just like him. It truly is amazing and joyous and a bit sad if he thinks about it too long.

[12]

[Azura Rayume]

He follows the tunnel far enough that the light from outside is almost gone before he takes a seat himself, Ulric following his lead. "So this little thing," he says, not reaching for it again. It might affect the walls in here, too, and that would be quite the shame. "A fellow academic gave it to me, if you must know. Suggested it was something worth researching and said it needed to go someplace where the magic of the world flows. I thought of Basantha Shrine and was headed there, but the mountains are just as magic as the shrine, I think."

[13]

[Azura Rayume]

Ulric blinks at him in the dark, his confusion plain but hidden by the darkness. "Someone just... handed it to you? And expected you to go out and test it for him?" He laughs, nearly scoffing. "You academics are a curious bunch, you know that."

"Well, what would you have done?" Archie asks defensively, his brow furrowing in a pout.

Ulric shrugs. "Sold it, probably. If you're this interested in it, someone is sure to buy it."

[14]

[Azura Rayume]

"How can you know it has value if it isn't proven to work?" Honestly, he will never understand someone like Ulric, only after money no matter what.

Ulric just shrugs. "Then I sell the opportunity to find out if it does or not. Some people will buy anything as long as they have a promise that is will be worth their time. I could have even sold it to you, if you didn't know it was me anyway."

Archie crosses his arms over his chest, clearly displeased. "I would not! The integrity of my work means too much to me to do something like that."

"Of course. I'm sure you integrity holds up very well against your curiosity. My mistake."

[15]

[Crystal Synthesis Complete]