Master Of None

The mage tower seemed to be leaning just enough to smoke it appear it would fall. Yet, the more they looked at it the more it seemed that it would never fall. It was leaning just a little too perfectly. The sand also seemed to be getting finer the closer they got to the tower. "It looks like it is made from a dense and perfect yellow sand. I think I can even see the windows at the top of the tower." Alma was acting like a tourist to a new city. She couldn't help herself. She knew that a different kind of elf had once lived here. Now that she knew this she wanted to uncover their truths. 

"Who knows how they made it all. I bet that the desert elves were not the first here." Su could see the tops of some stone buildings. There were parts that seemed to have been made with the opposite designs as the others. 

"You're right. If I can find it…Here, there is a section saying that the desert elves built this city on top of some older ruins that they found. They used those ruins as the base and structures of their own building." Since this was written in the journal, the three memorized it. They would need to be able to understand the structures that they were trying to search. 

"That could make things harder. There could be more than just the sealing magic in there. If the ruins are actually older than the desert elf city, we need to be prepared for more." With this, Walker knew that there was a chance that multiple forms of ancient magic existed in the ruined city. It also explained why the desert elves were able to do amazing things written in the journal. 

"If they were able to understand the ruins that were here before them and build on them, then I bet they were able to understand their fusion magics better because of it. It must all be connected. Why would Greed want this place to be his? Other than greed of course." Alma was feeling a breakthrough. "He would want whatever was here to feed on. If it wasn't the elves, then it was the magic of the ruins. I bet he was sealed while looking for that to claim as his own." 

"I agree. Greed sounds like a demon that wants everything. If he gets a powerful ancient magic then he might be able to be the strongest demon there is. That means he could take everything as his own and spread his curse further. I doubt he was able to get the sealing magic though. He can't have since it was a magic that was able to go against him." Walker had this theory about sealing magic. He believed it completely. 

"I think that domes stone building there is the top of one attached to the tower. We should start there." Su had observed the nearest structures and picked the domed part above the sand as the best way in to the buried tower. They needed to break through but that was simple with her shield bash skill and the earth spirits' assistance. 

"I can break it using my magic. My high earth sculpting can probably just open a door and even make stairs for us." Walker thought it was pointless for Su to put so much effort in to this when he could easily do these things. 

"Oh? And you think you should use your mana even though you used a lot of it to cool the air?" The point was clear and Su used a very harsh tone. She knew that Walker was rushing this and was not going to allow mistakes. He didn't have any response other than to just nod. He hadn't thought about his mana use which was not like him. 

"Just be careful of those cacti near the edge of the dome. Their spines are pretty long." Walker still wanted Su to be safe even though her armor should protect her from the spines. 

"No, wait. Let me see those cacti." Alma went up to them and found some small pink flowers on them. She started to carefully pry at them until she was holding the flowers. She pulled petals away revealing a very tiny and easy to miss seed. "I think I can grow this. It will be weird but any plant is good right now. You refilled the water this morning too so I can use some for this, right?" 

"I don't see why not but let me appraise it before we grow a lot of them for a battle. I don't want anything bad to come of it." The only reason Walker knew Alma would just touch the cacti flowers was that she knew they weren't poisonous somehow. He didn't know if it was some secondary skill but it seemed useful. 

'Rolling cactus seed

This is a very common cactus in any desert of the world. It will row in to a round spiked ball and eventually detach before a wind storm. They roll through the sands dropping their flower petals and seeds to grow in a larger area. The next time the rain comes they grow rapidly with minimal water. They can resist very high heat, many use it to cook in if a pot is not available. The juices from this cacti are safe to drink but extremely bitter.'

"That's good to know. We don't need a pot. Not that we don't have an entire kitchen because of Walker." The slight bit of humor was enough to help them breathe away some stress. All of them were tense. "We can use a rope to get down too. When we head back up I will think about letting you use your earth sculpting." Su still wanted Walker to save his mana. She had no idea what monsters may have moved in to these sandy ruins over the years. 

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