Dulan 519

Gracia and Cyripus

Cyripus knew Gracia was still alive. He knew she would come after him, and now he knew she still had one Archon in her possession - almost certainly in her bow Evangarda. So instead of chasing her down and fighting on her territory, he laid a trap that would bring the Moon elf to him.

When Gracia saw the tracks and evidence of where she could find Cyripus, she weighed her options. It was too easy. She knew it was a trap, but decided to go ahead. She wasn't afraid to face her enemy. Cyripus' men captured Gracia when she walked into their ambush in a dark, forbidding forest. She let them take her bow from her, and they imprisoned her in the underground city of the vampires. The ruler there was an ancient woman named Ignatia, known as the Queen of the Dead. She had been Cyripus' ally from the beginning.

Cyripus would not face Gracia directly. He still feared the Elemental power at her command. So he communicated with her through a magical mirror, asking her questions, trying to find out what she knew about the other Archons. Gracia used this opportunity to learn as much as she could about him and about what had happened to the Archons. She knew the world could change a lot in the 500 years she had been away.

Throughout the interrogation, she gave nothing away but discovered Cyripus was in a position of power among the humans. She also found out what happened to Dikain, with his Archon of Wind; that Brumhart had been cast into a pool of lava; that the leader of the orcs wielded Gaiahon and the Archon of Earth. She became certain that the secret of the Archon buried in Dulan was still safe. When Gracia was sure she had learned as much as she could, she decided it was time to leave. She didn't care for the hospitality of the Queen of the Dead.

Gracia used her innate spirit skills to tap into the magic infused in the mirror. With that source of power, she smashed the mirror and set off an explosion that ripped through the Queen's dungeon. It also extended through to the other side of the mirror, causing destruction in Cyripus' own camp. Gracia regained Evangarda from the fallen guards and began her escape from the underground city.

She tried to sneak out quietly, but it was festival time and the vampires were all in the streets preparing for their ancient rituals. Word spread quickly of Gracia's escape from the dungeon, and her sneaking had to turn to running - then an all-out battle with Gracia and her Archon versus the entire City of the Dead. Gracia won. Most of the city was leveled, and the bridge to the outside world crumbled as Gracia raced across it. Since then, the vampires were isolated from the rest of the world for a long time, and they nursed a strong hatred of all Moon elves.

While Gracia was rekindling her old fight with Cyripus, Zian was growing famous as a warrior. When he joined the Prince's Knight Corps at the end of the year, the news spread far and wide.