Of Pride and Power - 27. Interlude- Search for Avalon Part I

After Harry was born, I spent three long months greeting well-wishers and holding court in the Tower of London’s medieval hall. In the spring, I went to Cadbury Hill’s fair folk stronghold in Somerset, ostensibly to show Harry off to the fair folks there. Specifically, I wanted to take him to see Puck, Ambrose, and Edward. Puck, my close friend, had mobility issues due to what happened to him at Mary's hand, while my brother, Edward, was supposedly dead and could not show his face anywhere near London at least for a few years. After some time passed, I had intended to give Edward a new identity and raise his rank to an Earl in one of our western territories. That was my duty as a new parent, a best friend, and a sibling.

In truth, I had grown weary of the congratulations of London's noble society after three months of well-wishers and conspirators, I was tired of smiling and thanking random people for their gifts of blankets and tiny wooden swords. For my future children, I will introduce the tradition of baby showers to counter the long line of people by that point. One tiresome party rather than a long line of tiresome encounters.

In early April 1559, spring had made traveling possible again, so I wanted to start on the search for the remaining 233 cores that my partner, Robert, through his past incarnation of Merlin had hidden away somewhere. At that point, I had only 4 cores, 2 cores were actively being used on my flagship, The Dreadnaught, 1 core was being used in my factory complex in southern Wales, and the last core, also the original one discovered in Cornwall, being studied at Cadbury Hill by fair folk in various industrial and military applications. Having a power source, in its fully charged state, we could achieve things like catalyzing fusion reactions and generating gravity through artificial spin up to the point of creating time dilation at a scale of 1 minute within the facility is equivalent to 10 minutes outside for 3 minutes. The latter experiments were limited as they interrupted communications and other experiments at the facility. The core located at Cadbury Hill also had an artificial intelligence component that recognized Robert and me by our original identities with some kind, so it was far easier to get its technical assistance and even suggestions. Since the core was found in a hidden crystal cave, originally belonging to Merlin, the program was likely created by Merlin.

I left London for my western lands, forwarding requests to my second seat of government at Bristol Castle for important documents and administrative orders. William Cecil and William Paulet would run the London-based government while receiving aid from Thomas Tallis' intelligence network for counter-insurgent surveillance. William Parr with elements of his forces and my own stationed in Norwich would act as military police and garrison in case of emergency. On my journey, I brought my elite Royal Marines under Frances Howard's command, the triplets acting as military commanders of England, my partner Robert, our son Harry, and Matsudaira Takechiyo, my 15-year-old Japanese ward. Don Antonio remained in London and Francis Walsingham, my submissive lover and master of my intelligence network, returned to Navarre to continue the protection of the toddler Prince Henry of Navarre, the future Bourbon King Henry IV of France.

When I rode out, the first people I saw were Somerset Rangers, a military guard unit, who I assigned to protect the fair folk stronghold and research installation. They met me on the road entering Somerset and then alerted various barracks, forts, and training camps in the county. The news probably spread across the towns and villages throughout the region as well. By the time we were several miles from Cadbury Hill, we were greeted with full military pomp, where soldiers lined the roadsides with bolt-action rifles and civilians behind them threw flower petals into the air or offered welcoming greetings. Since Frances and the triplets were ranked as generals in my army, they took the first row of my royal procession and received a majority of the greetings. While I could receive similar treatment, I had mandated that rulers should not be given special military accolades due to rank to reduce the militancy of future national leaders. I did not want to create a new Roman Empire, where emperors constantly yearned for the next Triumph parade after a conquest. Though a ruler's offspring may choose to pursue a career in the military, they should earn these accolades. Of course, most of the civilians were likely there to greet me in any case, despite my newly established codes of military conduct. They had been my people for nearly a decade, and we had won the throne together, I couldn't fault them for wanting celebration. By this point, the secrecy and clandestine research at Cadbury Hill had become common knowledge to everyone in the county and I doubted we could keep the secrecy of the facility's research any longer. Several new facility locations were considered throughout England, Wales, and Ireland, but they had yet to be investigated.

Entering the Cadbury facility, my first goal was to check in on Puck. He was acclimating to his prosthetic foot and hand. Ambrose and Edward, both partially dressed, were also constantly at his side as if he were an invalid. Puck told me more than once they were being annoyingly clingy; though he did so often when he was ordering Edward, a former king, to peel fruit for him and Ambrose, my stout and gruff brother-in-law, to brew another kettle of tea. If he lived in my era, he would be living the ideal life of a kept boy. Though, he also wanted to do more than just research toxicology and sex with his guys. In our last coded radio conversation, I had proposed the idea of him taking care of Harry to give me and Robert time to research the location of Avalon. He agreed on the condition that he would be one of the first to receive an Omega assignment if we found Merlin's research notes and cores for that purpose. Puck was also interested in bringing new life to the world, with both his partners.

In addition to him and Peter, the asexual brother of the triplets, there were at least thousands of fair folks interested in the transformation into a body resembling my own. It would be a good thing to offer biodiversity in the gene pool for future Omegas beyond just my descendants, but I had no way of knowing if it was feasible as both Merlin and the prior research by Jack in our timeline was done under different environments. My transformation into becoming the first Omega took at least a thousand years from the time of King Arthur to complete. I was the byproduct of targeted genetic mutations and resequencing from my ancestors.

Harry whimpered and began to cry when I left him with Puck and the others, but Edward took Harry into his arms and began rocking his nephew. At first, I thought Edward had succeeded in soothing my son, but then Harry began to bite Edward's chest region. I had fed Harry using baby formula rather than breast milk after a month to ween him off; though, my son had tried to claw his way into my sensitive region more than once for small tastes. I guessed Edward as my biological half-brother must have similar features to my own, so Harry picked up on that and wanted to taste him as well. Cisgender males can produce limited amounts of breast milk, it requires a hormone spike and the usage of underdeveloped milk ducts in very rare cases. However, Edward did not want to accommodate this uncomfortable gender-divergent role when I told Puck of the biological possibility. I left the scene with a bemused smile at Harry's taste.

When I entered the old musty library of leather-bound paper folios, Robert was in the middle of going through one of the old historical records from a fair folk contemporary of Merlin. He was frowning at the account. Robert didn’t notice me when I entered the musty library, so I walked behind him, then kissed him on his earlobe.

"Let me guess, you don't like what that guy said about you," I asked, sitting down at the table next to him.

Robert chuckled at my presence. "To quote the author, he is 'aloof', and 'insufferable'."

"You? Never."

He smirked. "This is the part where you tell me how great I am and make me feel better, because we’re a married couple. Then, offer me a foot massage and cook me a great dinner."

"You don't need me to stroke your ego. Besides, I am your partner, not your housewife."

"Yeah, but it's nice to have my ego stroked, especially coming from your lips."

I laughed and mockingly answered, "You're great, and I love you."

"There we go." He leaned over to kiss me. "Love you too."

I pulled the journal from his hands. "Is this the part where you tell me we should head out immediately on a quest? I mean we’re already following so many tropes from Isekai stories, so why not start a grand quest for the Holy Grail or something like that."

"We can't." He frowned, looking down at the map on the table. "Avalon is a million times harder to find than the Holy Grail. I’m Robert Dudley in this life, not Robert Langdon. If symbology or whatever was real, it would be so easy to find a clue somewhere in these old books.”

I suggested, "Why don't we try something else? Is there a common place that these journals indicate Merlin or someone Merlin was associated with liked to go? We can try reverse tracking from other sources."

"Well, Merlin went to a lot of places in Ireland, Wales, Scotland, and Cornwall. There were also a few locations in France and Germany, too. That’s why Arthurian legends are so diverse."

Looking at my partner, I asked a sensitive topic, "Did any of those accounts reference any of Merlin's lovers?" I exhaled a breath, "You know it doesn't bother me if your past incarnation needed companionship or found someone to keep their bed warm. We're here right now and you brought me back from death, it's more than enough to beat back any jealousy."

He kissed my fingertips, as he did during our joint coronation/marriage ceremony, "That's good to hear, but Merlin was more concerned with his research, the kingdom, and the fair folk. I don't even remember reading he had anyone close to a lover...well except for one guy, who might be a booty call at best and a stalker at worst. The guy was the leader of the fair folk after the fall of Camelot. He was Arthur's little brother, Morgan, who history later called Morgan of the Fey. He wasn't a member of Arthur’s inner circle, known as the Round Table, since Morgan was too frail and lacking martial ability, so did not engage in the battles to defend the kingdom. Due to this, he survived the war and could gather the survivors. He kept sending messages to Merlin, wanting an intimate meeting, but Merlin ignored him most of the time and considered the rare encounters to be "necessary releases".”

I pondered, "Well, was there an area where Morgan and Merlin usually enjoyed having their rendezvous?"

Robert hesitated, then replied, "Merlin liked to go to a town called Glastonbury, where he was doing odd things with stones. Morgan tried to ambush him for a round of sex, but Merlin built a stronghold to keep him away according to the account. However, fair folk researchers have already been through that town several times and haven’t found anything of note."

I pondered, "Did they find the stones Merlin worked on?"

"Yes, but they were just Tor stones. No technological application at all based on the research."

"Let's try heading there then."

A short time later, after bidding farewell to my friends, we were traveling the short road towards Glastonbury, located in the county of Somerset. Glastonbury was an inland island at the confluence of several rivers. From a distance, I could see the stone walls and spire of a medieval abbey rising above the trees. It was the remains of a church constructed in the 7th century. Supposedly, Saint Michael's Church was built there to prevent a fairy king's mischief, which made me think that the ancient church was likely built by Merlin, himself, as a shelter to evade Morgan's advances. I mean who would want to have sex inside a church?

We entered the church with a smaller military contingent, a half dozen Royal Marines along with the triplets and Frances. Due to Henry VIII's seizure of church lands and the abolition of the abbeys, Glastonbury's ancient church was mostly abandoned except for a single old Vicar and a few volunteer townspeople. I looked over the structure with Robert several times, including the holy relics that they had hidden away, but nothing appeared abnormal just as the other fair folk researchers had reported in their ancient accounts.

When I stepped inside the ancient crypt, the walls were made of solid smooth stone, which while not odd for a church, was without advanced technology for masonry. The floors and ceilings were also smooth solid stone and there were no signs of edges or irregular surfaces. This was proof that Merlin was the one who created this underground chamber. It looked as if the stones had been sculpted by nature in perfect alignment. Most medieval and middle-age churches could not avoid the jagged edges of a chisel.

"Merlin's work, I believe," I told Robert and pointed to the walls and ceiling.

"Maybe," Robert nodded, his expression thoughtful. "There was some research into the construction of buildings and architecture from our era in the notes."

I pointed to the center of the crypt, where there was a raised stone platform and a set of odd stone sculptures. "Are those the Tor Stones?"

"Your majesty, they are the church’s Tor Stones. They have been here since the abbey was built. I believe they were from the Celts," Vicar explained. "There are stories of a fairy king, who supposedly built a large house at this location using glass, where he communed with spirits. He built this crypt to work on these stones away from the eyes of Angels and God. They are said to bring about calamity and unleash the forces of perdition upon the world."

I turned to Robert, "Sounds like Merlin, to me. I guess those are the weird stones he was working on."

"It makes sense," Robert smiled. "However, there’s nothing technological about those stones.”

Reviewing the stones, I confirmed the findings of the fair folk researchers. They were just ordinary stones; no more extraordinary than an uncommon rock you might find. That reminded me of something that happened between Jack and me.

I playfully bumped my shoulder against Robert, "I remember someone had a pet rock called Gerald, he took everywhere he went."

Robert wrapped an arm around my waist, clasping my hand, "Like I said before, Gerald is not a rock, he was a pink Amethyst geode. Also, I recall taking a piece of him out and giving it to someone, who wore it like a necklace everywhere."

"Who would have a pet rock or wear a rock as jewelry?" I asked, raising an eyebrow for comedic effect.

"We would," Robert teased. When we were Jack and Eric, we weren't rulers and nobles; heck we could barely afford to be teenagers with handouts and small kindnesses from my aunt. That pet rock, or pink amethyst was probably the coolest thing we shared between us. Despite the living standards of pre-modern England, we're living quite well in comparison.

Amid our reminiscing and noticeable public display of affection, the vicar coughed, “Your majesty, while your…proclivities are tolerated as the master of the realm. Please be mindful that this crypt is still part of a house of God.”

I was about to yell at the vicar and probably cause a major scandal by throwing this guy into a dungeon, but Robert smoothed things over by apologizing for his sacrilegious behavior. To be fair, we were just lightly flirting, which, as a married couple, we had a right to do like anyone else. People can reminisce with one another and make inside jokes as a sign of affection. It was not like other couples didn’t have these kinds of interactions. As the homophobic slight from a “tolerant” vicar was at the top of my mind, I still wanted to have a closer look at the Tor stones, so I had the royal guards move the Tor stones outside the church. The vicar argued vehemently about their religious order’s tradition and the threats of demonic forces being unleashed on the world if the stones were moved. I ignored him and the stones were moved to an open field outside the church.

Moving from the dim torchlight of the crypt to the sunlit surface, I noticed several interesting things. First, the Tor stones were not too symmetrical, appearing to be ordinary weathered stones, creating unrecognizable shapes and edges as a result. Second, there were several holes within the large stones, which were also shaped in an unorganized fashion. Finally, there were a series of odd irregular markings on the bottom of these stones. They looked familiar to me, but I couldn't identify them immediately, so I had the markings sketched onto pieces of paper. I had two Royal Marines guard the Tor stones and brought the paper sketches with me to a manor house of a local knight, who housed us.

Trying to figure out the patterns in the markings, I laid the sketches on the ground. Matsudaira Takechiyo, who had stayed behind at the manor house before, was following me like a puppy. When he saw the sketches on the ground, he poked me and pointed at the markings.

"Are you trying to create a clock, my Lord?" Takechiyo asked in Japanese.

I looked at them and shook my head, "No, they're not numbers, Takechiyo. They seem familiar, but I can’t figure out where they come from."

"My lord, Japanese clocks are not like the ones from…my old masters,” he paused and shivered slightly, then continued, “The Japanese base our clock on the twelve zodiac animals, these are kanji scripts," Takechiyo replied. He began writing the characters in order of their place on a Japanese clock.

For the Day:

Rabbit 卯

Dragon 辰

Snake 巳

Horse 午

Goat 未

Monkey 申

For the Night:

Rooster 酉

Dog 戌

Pig 亥

Rat 子

Ox 丑

Tiger 寅

I thought the words looked familiar, but since I did not regularly use Japanese in my daily life, it did not occur to me that these were Kanji scripts. The markings underneath the Tor stones matched the Kanji script for a particular zodiac animal. From reading manga, I was familiar with untranslated “raw” versions with Hiragana scripts, native Japanese characters, and Katakana scripts, equivalent Western-based words. Kanji scripts, Chinese-based words, were also present in manga, but calligraphy has more variation in appearance at this point in history. My encyclopedic ability told me that the Japanese used 6 periods of time throughout the day and 6 periods of time throughout the night, which was emulated from the Chinese timekeeping system. The Japanese acquired this unique timekeeping method through their cultural exchange during the Chinese Tang Dynasty around the 7^th through 9^th century, the same timeframe as Camelot. Merlin might have traveled to the Far East during this era. With the current presence of a Chinese faction and associates like Oda Nobunaga, Merlin would have needed to prepare for their arrival in a thousand years.

Merlin, being Jack, would try to create a code that would not be easy to crack, looking like gibberish to others, but he would want it to be something that I could easily recognize, like Japanese script. However, the script was merely the codex for the arrangement of the Tor stones, not the code itself.

With Takechiyo assistance, we evenly aligned the Tor stones into two circular formations like a Japanese clock. Nothing happened at first, but at dusk, the shadows of the night clock formation began to show recognizable characters. However, the shadows were not Japanese script like the markings underneath the stones, they were Norse runes.

I stared at Robert upon recognizing the Norse runes from several fantasy book series he enjoyed, "Why Norse runes?"

Robert shrugged, "You think I know?"

I chided him, "Why not just admit your love for overly complex riddles?"

The sight of the runes using the Japanese organization of time as the codex was a breakthrough. It meant that the message was meant for me specifically from Merlin. He was making sure that I was the one who cracked it and found the location of his stash of cores, maybe even his research into Omegas to complete his promise to the fair folk.

I jotted down the Norse Runes that showed up in the shadow at sunset:

ᛖ- corresponding to Rooster 酉

ᛚ corresponding to Dog 戌

ᚢ corresponding to Pig 亥

ᚻ corresponding to Rat 子

ᛏ corresponding to Ox 丑

ᚪ corresponding to Tiger 寅

The other semi-circle did not appear to form concrete Norse runes, so I guessed that it would appear during sunrise. It's an intricate code of shadows and timing, which fits my partner's tastes. We went to bed as a result and woke up before dawn to jot down the dawn runes.

ᛘ corresponding to Rabbit 卯

ᛁ corresponding to Dragon 辰

ᛏ corresponding to Snake 巳

ᛚ corresponding to Horse 午

ᚢ corresponding to Goat 未

ᛖ corresponding to Monkey 申

When I translated the runes to English equivalent letters, the dusk letters were "e, l, u, h, t, a" and the sunrise letters were "m, i, t, l, u, e". Takechiyo mentioned that I should consider that Japanese timekeeping is backward counting rather than forward counting as in Western styles. However, the order resulted in incoherent words, sadly. Then, I thought they might be anagrams, but the names that came up for locations didn't have any Arthurian links. I considered a different tact and the meaning of each Norse rune came into importance. Jack would want a Rune to start his message that would symbolize our partnership. I manipulated the "e" in the dusk letters and the "e" in the sunrise letters within the reverse order of Japanese timekeeping. As a result, I discovered the secret message left behind by Merlin. He wanted me to go to "Ultima Thule", literally the "To the End of the World", but medieval geography would place this location as somewhere in southern Greenland.

There was a school of thought that Avalon was in Greenland, being a distant location that could theoretically be reached by sail with some discomfort. In the 10^th century, the Vikings had made several settlements on that island as I recall from my love of Vinland Saga manga and anime series. Despite how harsh Viking culture was with their proclivity for pillaging, rape, and murder, they were also the first European explorers and settlers of North America. I wondered if some Vikings had seen any of Merlin's technology or Avalon itself when they arrived in Greenland.

"Where are we going now?" Robert asked, seeing the look of discovery on my face. My partner knew how to read my emotions better than anyone.

"Greenland," I replied, "I cracked the over-complicated code. Your predecessor wanted me to go to Ultima Thule. That’s Greenland in the current vernacular."

Robert smiled, "I don't know why you call me or my predecessor out. Since you broke the code after only a few days, it must have been really simple."

"You're an idiot," I laughed, pulling him in for a kiss.

"And yet, you love me anyway," Robert smirked, pressing his lips against mine, "So, we're going to Greenland, I guess we need Admiral Clinton to allocate a squadron for this expedition."

Edward Clinton, the Earl of Lincoln, was Lord High Admiral between 1551 to 1553 under Edward’s reign, but he was dismissed and served me as my chief naval advisor in Western England when Mary rose to power. When I took the throne, I made him supreme commander of all naval forces. Most people remember him as the founder of the Royal Navy alongside me. I can remember receiving late-night radio messages from “old salt” from the Dreadnaught, usually involving arguments about the rationing of alcohol allotted to our sailors. As we ran a wet navy like other nations, I codified the amount of a liquor ration based on timing and position.

In my timeline, Edward Clinton was remembered as a capable naval officer under Henry VIII and one of Elizabeth I’s best military officers, who supported her reign in various ways including putting down the Northern Rebellion.

As Admiral Clinton would need to guard England while we were on this expedition, I replied, "We shouldn't bring the flagship, it’s needed to act as a deterrent in case the Empire and Rome send a Sky Fortress. However, a Dauntless class cruiser and two knave-class frigates as escorts should be enough since Greenland is unoccupied land at the moment, unlike other areas in North America."

"And our son?" Robert asked, reminding me of our obligation to our child.

While I did not want to abandon my baby boy, I knew he would be safer here within the stronghold of the fair folk than with us on a treasure hunt in freezing temperatures, "Harry will stay with Puck, Ambrose, and Edward while we're away. They'll keep him safe."

Robert chuckled, "Yeah, Edward can keep Harry entertained."

I laughed, "Harry just has a taste for red-haired men, literally."

Robert grinned, "I think if Puck wants to be an Omega, he, Ambrose, and Edward need to get used to being parents. Harry is calm around you, but he's a handful for me and everyone else. They'll get a crash course in parenting, while we're heading off to Greenland."

(***)

We set sail from Bristol, where HMS Relentless, a Dauntless class cruiser, and two frigates, HMS Fetch and HMS Reach, were moored. It was a fascinating trip as I had never been to sea before in either lifetime. While I did feel a bout of motion sickness at first due to the rocking boat, Captain Hawkins of the Relentless had produced a generic Dramamine pill for me, which had become standard to help acclimate our sailors. I was the first English monarch in history at that point to travel across the Atlantic. Compared to my timeline, I was beating George VI's journey in 1939 to Canada and the United States by 380 years. Takechiyo was amazed by the efficiency of my navy because there was no need for direct communications between ships when we made course corrections. Instead, we were able to use the shortwave radio to send coded messages, which was a lot quicker than having to send people back and forth over rough seas. The radio intercepts I had indicated the forces of Oda Nobunaga had steam engines and advanced weaponry, while land-based radio and wireless systems connected communications from ship to ship. I brought Takechiyo with me, so he could understand what kind of forces he would have to fight in the future. He needed to know the era of the sword-wielding Samurai was dead.

The journey to Greenland took a few days and there was little excitement except for a brief encounter with a group of wooden-iron composite Spanish transport barges and protected cruisers, who were on a resource delivery mission. They were a bit startled when they saw my steel-titanium hull warships, but we passed by them without incident. Our ships were several times faster than the Spanish ships since the 3-screw propellers powered by diesel engines were more efficient than their 2-propeller coal-powered steam engines. Even if we engaged in combat, these composite-iron and wooden Spanish cruisers could be sunk within seconds several miles away, while their ships required proximity for their lower caliber gun barrels. Due to these inefficiencies in modernizing industrial output and munitions, there was a gap in our naval capacities. They were beginning to address this gap, which was why there were more reported transport deliveries to the continent over the last few months. I knew based on their resource-rich empires, the Roman Papal State and Habsburg German/Spanish/Portuguese Empire would probably take no more than a decade to reach naval parity despite their industrial output issues. At best, I could attempt to match them with English industrialization by exploiting iron, coil, and fossil fuel reserves, but lacking natural rubber, various industrial ore, and rare earth elements for advanced electronic components, it was going to be an uphill fight for capacity. They had a head start throughout the world, including in areas like Australia, New Zealand, and my future homeland of the United States, where English colonies would have begun in a few decades from my timeline. Only upper Canada beyond the Great Lakes region, Iceland, and Greenland had no presence from my foes at this point.

It was a cold and windy day with the sun still high in the sky when we arrived at the entrance of an inlet near Greenland. Interference began to develop between the three warships' radio communication equipment. There were major distortions in radio transmissions starting twenty miles away from the shoreline and ultimately full disruptions of all transmissions ten miles away from the shoreline. I used my inner sense to analyze the area and discovered a complex spread spectrum radio jammer. As a result, the naval squadron remained twenty miles offshore, while reconnaissance marine squads scouted the area of our investigation. It took nearly a day before Robert and I were granted permission to visit the site after a beachhead and defensive perimeter were established. As Robert and I were heads of state, it was not a good idea for us to enter dangerous situations, but we also held the most knowledge and various superhuman abilities, so our participation was unavoidable.

While generally, Ultima Thule referred to the large mostly frozen island of Greenland during this era, the use of Norse runes would indicate that Merlin wanted me to narrow my search to Viking settlements, the most infamous of which would be historically the settlement of Vatnahverfi. Its population had mysteriously disappeared around the 1500s, so this area was featured in several conspiracy theory documentaries during my era. As this settlement can tie links to Vikings, Runes, Arthurian legends, and a mysterious paranormal event; it was the perfect point to begin our search for Avalon. With the presence of a radio jammer in the area, I was almost certain at that point.

As we disembarked from the amphibious transport ship at a rocky beach near Vatnahverfi, I noticed the somber and barren landscape in front of us. The settlement was akin to a ghost town, where ruins of stone buildings and rotting wooden furniture stood as a memorial to their former residence. In addition to the lack of bodies, there were no utensils, axes, swords, shields, or other metal objects at the abandoned settlement either. It would be creepy if I believed in ghost stories or other things like that, but having died and returned from the void, I can't imagine something as unnecessary as undead creatures existing. I mean what would be the point of having a zombie outbreak beyond some meditation on existential human issues?

Frances and her troop had established a camp near the settlement and scouted the perimeter. She brought me and Robert to an orderly area near a church, which she identified as a cemetery due to the presence of grave markers with runes that she could not read. There were ordinary burial markers with simple runes for names and epithets, but we were directed to an area where burial markers appear to be chiseled far more finely. Using my ability, I dated the burial markers to be around 60 years old, around the time of the mass disappearance. The runes on the markers appeared to indicate two sets of numbers rather than names. Looking at the various markings, I noticed a burial marker with an imperfection near its side. Five indentations of similar depth to the burial markers were left behind.

I pointed this fact to Robert, "These grave markers were made by something akin to claw marks."

Robert was bewildered and touched the gravestone to analyze its composition, "This is solid granite, someone would need machine tools to carve something this deep on these runes on it."

"You can't deny these five indentations on the side, a being with five claw-like appendages must have created these marks," I replied in amazement and whispered under my breath, "What can put marks onto solid stone?"