Inheritor Of Magic: The Magi King

With renewed enthusiasm, now that there was the prospect of finding some part of a lost magical array, the Continental Representatives began to comb through the wreckage, collecting most of the null stone, and searching for any signs that they had found the defensive array of the old house.

To Wolfe, this was ancient history, but most of these Demons and Fae had clothing that was older than the war between the magi and the witches. It was a strange feeling to know that all of these people were alive when his lineage was destroyed, but even more shocking to realize that the Magi ability to manipulate arrays was so rare that the loss had completely erased an entire branch of magic.

"I think that I have found it. There is writing on the stones here, and I believe that this group of stones came from right next to the door. See, there is a bit of charcoal here, that should have been the door frame." One of the Demons announced.

Wolfe came over, as the Array helped him with magical languages, then smiled when he saw what it said.

"Welcome to the Icewind Dale Public Guest House" Wolfe read out loud.

The Demon chuckled. "And they had to write that in runic script instead of common? I know they spoke the language."

All Wolfe could do was laugh along with the others. "I am guessing that it was some sort of inside joke or running gag. I've seen it before, writing common things in runes. But if that's the welcome sign, there is a good chance that there was a quality defensive array on the building, as the proprietor wouldn't have wanted to embarrass themselves with a shoddy guest house.

Let's keep looking through this area until we find proof one way or the other."

The Representatives began to check all the stones near the sign, and in only a few seconds, they had found the charred remains of the original inscription. It had been carved into the stone, and judging by the melted metal, it had probably been enchanted onto a silver ornament set into the stone inside the entryway.

The inscription was split between five stones, and the group quickly had them reassembled, but it couldn't tell them much about the actual defences.

One of the Representatives, a Fairy woman with braided grey hair, spoke up. "Well, I can say for certain that this house was burnt out with fire magic. Normal fire wouldn't have destroyed that array. There are also no signs of bones in the area, I checked with a spell, so this isn't a burial site.

If I had to hazard a guess, I would say that this house was burnt to prevent it falling into enemy hands. This might have been early in the war, or abandoned later, near the end, but it was definitely knocked over after it had been gutted by magical fire."

The other option would be that the occupants had been captured alive and the house had been burnt by the witches before being later bulldozed. Too many records of the war had been lost to know anything even resembling a timeline, much less the actual progression of the battle fronts and raids.

They were about to move on when the elderly Fairy spotted a bit of crystal in a tree growing from the rubble.

"Now what do we have here? It looks like a tiny memory crystal. The sort that you use to leave yourself memos." She wondered.

It was no bigger than the Fairy's finger, small enough a human might have set it into a lady's ring without looking gaudy. But it was a memory crystal.

She focused, then frowned and flew over to Wolfe.

"It's locked, and I can't get at the messages that are stored in there. From the location of the tree, I think that this stone was dropped in the yard. The tree is growing too far from the foundation for it to have grabbed a stone from the rubble. So, it was either tossed from a windowsill when the building fell, or it was dropped in the yard before that time." She explained.

Wolfe took the small shard of stone and channelled a gentle touch of mana to open it.

[Welcome, survivor, to the Icewind Dale Public Guest House, operated by the Cronus Family. As you can see, the house is no longer in service, but we do intend to return and rebuild once the witches have recovered from whatever bout of insanity has overcome them.

For now, the Cronus Family will be leaving to Chronheim, the home we have made on the world of Dragons. From there, we will be able to monitor the progress here. We are not many, our family has always had a difficult time bearing children, and now we are even fewer, but it is our most sincere hope that we will return to find the war over and our Patriarch waiting patiently for our return.

He has agreed with the Lightning Saint and the Undying Saint to remain here and convince the forces of the witches and humans to cease their madness.

If you need to get in contact with us, just use this spell to open a personal portal directly to our reception area. Kindly ring before entering.]

There was one single, brilliant, wonderful spell inside. The spatial magic array to open portals between worlds. Few of the Fae, and even fewer of the Demons knew the spell, and it wasn't recorded in Wolfe's inheritance, but as he read the information in the crystal, he could feel it imprinting in the database.

"Well, what does it say?" The Fairy asked impatiently.

"This was a boarding house run by the Cronus Family, who fled to another planet, a world of dragons, during the war. They said that they intended to return, but so far, there is no sign that they have." Wolfe replied.

The Fae and Demons looked at each other in horror, and Wolfe waited for someone to explain.

"The world of Dragons is not a safe place. The Magi might not have known it, but the majority of the world was overrun by the forces of an incredibly powerful evil being, and a large portion of the dragons were corrupted. If the Magi went there for refuge, there is little chance that they survived." The Fairy Representative whispered.