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"This is such a huge and relaxing place…" Said Nephilim as she calmly walked by our side.
"It is… But it also gives me this desolate feeling. This place… It feels abandoned, somehow." Pyuku commented.
"Is that so?" I wondered. "I suppose the better word would be "uncharted", mankind's hands have not reached into this sanctuary of life and nature, right?"
"Indeed." Yggdra agreed, she was sitting on my shoulders, her size reduced to the height of a little fairy. "This is my home, a place uncharted with the greedy hands of mankind, and also a sanctuary. It might feel desolate and a bit abandoned because the Gods once made of this place their home, but right now… I like it like this."
"This place was never alone, Pyuku!" Lara interrupted us. "It's filled with friends and buddies everywhere! The Spirits love it here! I'm sure the other slimes do as well!"
"Hehe, I hope so, Lara. Thanks for trying to cheer me up." Pyuku smiled gently, his rainbow eyes were very pretty to look at.
"I-It's nothing! Don't worry!" Lara smiled, suddenly making a few of her spirits visible. "Here! They said they want to accompany you, so you don't feel lonely."
Suddenly, four little guys appeared.
They were Spirits of the Land, of the Wind, and the Sun, and of the Stone. They were small and adorable, unlike the usual spirits we make contracts, they were directly connected with Nature and the Landscape.
Therefore, you can't make contracts with them, but they will help Lara because she's the Saint of all Spirits, her very presence draws them closer to her.
"Oh?" Pyuku felt surprised as they walked over his body and sat over him.
"Kyuh!"
"Puwah!"
"Fuwo?"
"Awah!"
They made adorable little noises too; they were like curious children that just wanted to see the world.
Perhaps without Lara as their connection to us, they wouldn't had ever approached us to begin with… But thanks to her, they had the opportunity to greet and meet many others and learn about them.
This got to the point where they can feel our feelings and emotions and feel bad when we feel bad. They know we're Lara's friends, so they want to see us as happy as her.
They're incredibly purehearted and lovable little babies, aren't they?
"Just be grateful! They're nice and cozy." Lara smiled, vibing with her hundreds of Spirits everywhere she walked.
I guess among all of us, she's someone that has never felt alone through her entire life. She knows that wherever she goes, there will always be buddies to help her and bring her company.
"Ahaha… Okay!" Pyuku giggled. "Thank you for accompanying me…"
"Gyuh!"
"Gubu!"
"Shawa!"
"Bawa!"
The four little Spirits talked back as if they were very proud of themselves… I guess they were the only four brave enough to approach Pyuku.
As we chatted and walked across the place, suddenly…
"Huh? What's that?" Zephy pointed at the distance while he was chatting with Celica, noticing something odd.
"Oh? I can see it at as well, in several areas…" Said Nephilim.
They pointed to large piles of old rubble, overed on vegetation and sunstone. In fact, it was where the sunstone seemed to be being born from, which later expanded across the rest of the landscape from the essence the larger ones exuded.
"Those must be fragments of the Sunstone Plateau Ruins. They're all over the place." My mother explained.
"I wonder what happened here for the pieces to be scattered everywhere…" Said Pyuku. "Something big or tragic?"
"Hmm, I can't say for sure." My mother said. "We would need to investigate further! But I do have a theory."
"A theory?" My father asked.
"Yes, I believe that all these fragments of walls, ceiling, and floor that are scattered everywhere flew away when something within the ruins at the top exploded…" My mother said.
"What could have exploded there, auntie?" Wondered Celica.
"Hmmm…" My mother continued thinking. "Perhaps some sort of ancient artifact lost control and blew up. Or maybe something else is in there, a guardian, perhaps? Or monsters? We'll only find out once we explore the ruins."
"I see…" I said, while rubbing my chin. "I kind of want to find out what it is, like a little activity while we climb?"
"Good idea! I actually really wanted to investigate the rubble, but I didn't know if you would want that…" my mother sighed. "So? Are you kids up for a little challenge? Let's try to find clues about what happened by checking on every rubble we find! You are free to extract some sunstone from them, they're of higher quality and purity, so they're even more expensive than the other."
"Sure! Why not?" I wondered. "How about it?" I asked my friends.
"Sure! I'm up for it! I want to make some cash, so it benefits me!" Mist was pumped up for the money for her future with Zack.
"Alright!" Zack said. "If she wants to, I'm all for it."
"Sure? I mean, beats just glancing at the view." Celeste shrugged.
"There's a lot of shiny buddies in those brighter stones, so please don't take too many, okay? Or you might upset the shiny buddies!" Said Lara.
"There are bigger spirits in those?" Wondered Luck.
"Yeah!" Lara nodded. "It is where they're born the most… So please don't take too much, okay?"
"Okay…" Mist sighed. "Maybe I was focusing too much on getting money, sorry Lara. I won't say that again…"
"O-Oh…" Lara suddenly heard the spirits talk. "T-They say you can take a bit, so you can earn for the future! They're very worried. So they said its okay, a tiny bit though!"
"R-Really?!" Mist was excited. "Thank you so much, spirit buddies!"
These two are the cutest of our group…
"Celica, let's go explore then!" Zephy grabbed Celica's hand.
"Okay~!" Celica just went with the flow.
"Shall we?" Aquarina asked.
"Alright! Let's divide and conquer then, team!" I said.
My mother also decided to explore with my parents, while they let us go on our own path. We went mostly in pairs because there were dozens of ruins everywhere…
And as we started moving…
FLAAASH!
I felt something.
I glanced into the top of the plateau, for a split of a second, I could swear I felt a brilliant, overwhelming light.
"What… was that?"
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