Jasmine and I, along with Regis inside my core, were with Varay in front of the mansion where the ruins were found. The briefing we received earlier today gave me a pretty good idea of what type of aether art was used to protect the site. I'm pretty sure it's a Spatium art that warps the tunnel to make whoever reaches the main exit appear on a different one, but never the one that would lead to a deeper area.

As I thought about ways of disarming the art we reached the small camp that was being used as a base of operation for the archaeologists underneath the mansion. Waiting for us down here was Bairon who was tasked with protecting the people but also making sure no one who isn't supposed to know about this investigation doesn't get too close.

"I've brought the adventurer I told you about Bairon." Varay said announcing our presence.

"So I can see. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, I'm Bairon Wykes. I was told you would be of great help in this situation." He said while extending his hand.

"Note. I hope to live up to your expectations." I introduced myself and went for the handshake.

"If you two would please follow me, I would like to get working on breaking this spell as soon as possible." Bairon said, clearly tired of being stuck down here.

"Of course. Jasmine?"

"I'll sit this one out, you're the specialist in this case. Just let me know when you're done."

I gave her a nod and followed Bairon to the entrance of the tunnel. As we got closer I could feel the concentration of aether getting higher. I didn't waste the chance and started absorbing it even if my core was full. The reason for that is that even after two years I still didn't understand why I lost the extra layers but gained the increased capacity. Regis, who was inside my core every time I experimented on it, couldn't figure it out either.

After a few minutes I was pulled out of my thoughts as we had arrived at the entrance.

"Here it is. We tried everything we could, but no matter how we disrupted the mana it stayed strong." Bairon explained.

"I see. How long is the tunnel?"

"Not that long. It takes about a minute of walking to reach the main exit and a minute and a half to reach the other six."

"Is there any writing or symbols on the walls?"

"None were found so far. Why do you ask?"

"I'm just trying to figure out if this is a puzzle or a trap."

"A puzzle?" Bairon asked, his curiosity clearly piqued.

"The ancient mages were quite fond of testing people as a way to teach them their magic."

"And where did you learn that? As far as I know there are not enough vestiges of their culture left behind to know how they taught."

"Look at you talking more than you should. What if Agrona learns that you actually know something about the Djinn and aether because of it."

"It's fine. In fact, it will be good for us. He'll end up underestimating me anyways, so why not give him some information to create an even bigger false sense of security?" As I said that to him I could feel he understood my reasoning and even agreed to it.

"Context clues I found inside a few dungeons here and there." I answered Bairon and could see him contemplating what I said. "If that answers your question, I'll be taking a look around the tunnel to see if I can figure something out."

"I'll stay here. Let me know if you need anything or when you find how to progress."

"That's weird. Shouldn't he follow you to make sure you don't steal anything or something like that?" Regis asked.

"Either he'll follow me in secret or Blaine just forgot to give the order and Bairon doesn't respect him enough to do it out of his volition."

"It's option two isn't it?"

"Most certainly."

After this little interaction I reached a semicircular room with seven passages. One in the middle with a door at the end, clearly the main one, and the other six around it with three on each side.

Activating Realmheart(GR) I scanned the room for something that could give me a clue to how the art worked. Not seeing anything of interest I made my way down the main path. As I walked towards the door, a purple translucent sheen of aether became visible, probably what was transporting people to the other paths.

At a first glance this was just a simple barrier invisible to the naked eye, but with a closer look I noticed it was not only connected to the aetheric pathways I usually see with Godstep, but was also fixing it in place in similar manner to the markings I learned to use a few years back.

Taking a step back I thought about how to deactivate the art and it didn't take long to come up with a few methods. But before I could try them, my curiosity took the better of me and I stepped in the sheen. Suddenly I wasn't in front of the door but staring down a wall. The movement felt similar to Godstep, just not as smooth.

Backing away from the wall I felt myself pass through the thin layer of aether that would transport me but nothing happened, meaning it's directional. Examining the aether told me nothing new so I walked into it again, only to find myself in a different dead end. Deciding to run a little experiment I made an aether claw and scored the wall to my left with a number and moved into the aether once again.

Repeating the process a few times, making sure I didn't mark any of the walls wrongly, I noticed that every time I passed through one of the layers of aether the pathway it was connected to changed. Having enough teleporting around I made my way back to the central room and into the main path again.

Stopping just before the sheen, I started working on deactivating the art. First with Aroa's Requiem, but as soon as I began a feeling of danger overcame me and I stopped. I moved on to Godstep, trying to tug and pull at the pathway to see if it would break but the aether holding it in place didn't let it budge. I also tried using Conditional Domain in conjunction with my other runes, and you guessed it, nothing happened. Finally after trying all that I decided to go with the brute force method of either moving the aether away or just absorbing it. With a combination of both the thin translucent wall dissipated.

"Why didn't you start with that?"

"Two reasons, to test the limit of what my runes can do and because I thought I could learn something like with the keystones."

"And did you learn anything?"

"Not really, but it was with a shot. Not like we are pressed for time anyways." I paused for a moment. "Should we take a look at the door before letting Bairon know I'm done?"

"I was just about to suggest doing that."

Sending him a mental nod I moved closer to the door. I saw nothing with Realmheart so I deactivated it. Examining it closer I noticed it was made from a similar material to the keystones but that was all I could discern.

Thinking it was probably safe I went back to Bairon.

"Good news, I finished deactivating the spell on the main path." I said to announce my presence. Bairon turned around before speaking.

"Good news indeed. What about the other paths?"

"I didn't bother with them since it was just dead ends." I answered.

"Makes sense. It may even be a good thing as it gives our scholars a way to study it." He commented.

"So what now?"

"We should go back and fetch the team, then we'll move forward with the investigation."

"Off we go then, I'm quite curious about what's behind that door."

And so we did just that, but Bairon stayed behind to gerd the mansion and Varay came with us instead. Standing in front of the door, Varay and I decided to be the ones who opened the door with Jasmine right behind us in case there was something dangerous on the other side. Lucky for us it was just another room with nothing but an active portal in the middle of it.

As I looked to the portal I felt something calling for me.

"Do you feel that?" Varay asked.

"That being something calling for me? Yes, I feel it. Should we go in?"

"We should, but just the two of us for now."

"I would like to go as well." Jasmine said.

"Then the three of us will go first. If it's safe I'll come back to get the rest." Varay said and we nodded.

The three of us approached the portal and walked through it. The moment we finished the cross a voice was heard.

"Welcome Arthur-Grey and his companions, I have been waiting for you."