“I know,” said Phantasia, “Let’s go into town and meet everybody! We’ve got the afternoon off, we can afford to have some fun,”

Faye sat on the edge of the church-side pond, her legs melting into the spring water. “I shall interact with your human companions when the times comes, presently we have more important matters to attend,” she said, “I wish to examine the ruins you located beneath this sanctuary. It is imperative that we learn as much as we can about our adversaries and their plans,”

Having already fought and almost lost to one golem that morning, Phantasia was reluctant to throw herself into another confrontation. The gravel crunched under her bare feet as she paced back and forth, replaying the battle in her head. They wouldn’t have Queen Thetis to save them if they ran across another earthen automaton.

“You must not allow yourself to be troubled by your previous encounter,” said Faye, “We do not yet know the reasoning behind the attack. Perhaps these ruins will provide us with an insight,”

What good would an insight do? If another golem attacked tomorrow, it could tear them apart. Worse, it could hurt her human friends. Phantasia needed answers, not insights. She needed to know what was going on and who was behind it. Were the golems connected to the leansídhe and those renegade faeries? Was she being targeted for disrupting their plans?

“There is much you have not yet been told,” said Faye, stepping out of the pond, “Queen Thetis thought it unwise to inform you of certain events because of your reckless nature, but perhaps your troubles shall be eased if I were to explain,”

Phantasia’s face screwed up in frustration and she clenched her fists tight. Those Water elementals and their hoarding of the truth – they were as deceptive as the illusion trapping her friends! “You tell me everything and I’ll show you the ruins,” she said.

As they passed through the church and the basement filled with flotsam, Faye recounted events from the Innerworld – events Phantasia wished she’d been told about sooner.

“Lord Ophion was not alone when he embraced corruption and became a renegade,” she said, “His defection was just one of a number across the four Queendoms,”

“Yokai,” said Phantasia, “She was the handmaiden to Princess Yosei, but I met her working with Godhand. She had something to do with the leansídhe too,”

“Indeed, Lady Yokai fled the Fire Queendom at the same time Lord Ophion vanished, as did the others. The timing was not coincidental. Although we have reason to believe they had begun conspiring long before that, their public defection came three weeks ago after the theft of the Fire Queendom’s sacred treasure, the Claiomh Solais,”

“Right. Now I’m get a sneaking suspicion that everything’s somehow connected,” grumbled Phantasia as they passed through the first set of crypts. Faye’s aura swept across every surface, reading every exposed memory. “These renegade faeries, who’d they include?”

“Other than Lord Ophion and Lady Yokai: Lord Skírnir, former servant to Prince Freyr, and Prince Bezalel and Princess Djinni of the Earth Queendom. The Claiomh Solais was stolen by an individual known as Diffaith Tanio, a faerie known to have associated with Princess Yosei and Lady Yokai,”

“Princess Djinni’s a renegade? Seriously, why didn’t someone tell me all of this?”

“As I have already explained, it was for your own safety,”

“And hey, you notice there’re two Earth elementals in that list, right? And a Wind. And what’ve I had trouble with? Golems and illusions!”

Chapter 43
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