Two young elves, a boy and girl, twin siblings, were carefully moving through the elven forest. They were not making a single noise or mana fluctuation, while both did their best to keep themselves hidden from sight and keeping their eyes open for their pursuer, they were being hunted by an Asura. Normally they wouldn't have anything to worry about this deep in the forest, there weren't any mana beasts that they couldn't at least escape from, but an Asura was different, this Asura was different.

They each quietly made an opening in the bush they were hiding in and looked out, the coast appeared to be clear. Quietly they low crawled out from the bottom, their clothes getting caked in mud from the heavy rain that fell the night before. Once out they pressed up against a tree, the girl, with emerald green eyes and auburn hair was looking forward, as the other, a boy with ocean blue eyes and gunmetal hair was looking back. They only worried about being seen or heard, as they had been taught how to hide the presence of their cores while still using a bit of mana by their father.

The girl kept quiet but felt relieved, ahead she saw a lake, a sign that the only safe haven was close. She tapped her brother who turned his head to face her, and she nodded to signal they were on the right path. Quickly they both dropped to the ground, they heard the whistling of something moving quickly through the wind. The hand of the Asura slammed into the tree as they fell, they then rolled back up to their feet and started sprinting to the lake.

"How did she find us?" The boy asked as he ran.

"Who cares, keep running!" His sister shot back from beside him .

The Asura was flying overhead, but keeping close. She could have caught them easily by now, but that would have caused an end to the fun, and even though she was after them, she was also hunting larger prey. Then she smirked as she saw it, the amethyst glow of aether forming underneath them.

"He just needs a little bit of a push," she thought to herself, and dove in for the capture.

Quickly she closed the distance, and reached out a hand to grab one of them. Suddenly like a demon emerging from the shadows a horned aetheric wolf burst out from underneath the little girl, leaving her in the riding position. Quickly she reached out and grabbed her brothers hand and pulled him on its back.

"REGIS!" The twins cried out excitedly.

"Did you miss me that much?" He asked proudly as he picked up speed.

"We didn't know you were out here," The girl said.

"Yeah, we thought you were still with mom and dad," added the boy.

"Are you kidding? I would never let that overgrown reptile catch you two," he replied, and took off as fast as he could towards the lake.

"I see it!" The boy called out excitedly.

"We're almost safe!" The girl added.

Sadly, it wasn't meant to be. In a flash of purple the Asura reappeared beside them, as she drop kicked Regis in the side, sending the kids into the air, and him into the lake.

As the twins came down the Asura grabbed them both around the waist and held them underneath her arms. They looked in horror as the water settled from Regis's splash, then looked up and glared at the Asura who smirked back triumphantly.

"I win," she said.

"NO FAIR SYLVIE!" They both yelled in unison.

"You're not supposed to be using aether!" The boy argued.

"And you two aren't supposed to use Regis. All I did was even the odds," Sylvie shot back.

"Ughh, and we were so close," the girl complained.

"Sorry, better luck next time," Sylvie replied casually, and began flying back towards the house.

It was a short flight so Sylvie wasn't going too fast, but still fast enough for her siblings to enjoy it and for her clothes to flap in the wind. She was currently wearing a white and blue blouse, with a matching blue skirt.

With the war over and peace having set in, she had no reason to worry about changing into her dragon form, and began to steer away from the black dresses she formed made of her scales, and began to wear normal clothes Arthur and Tess purchased. What started this was an instance when Tess was first pregnant and they were all shopping together in Zestier. Tess had seen a pink dress with berries on it, beside a black dress with the same print. Tess showed her the two dresses and asked if she would wear it if she bought it. She wanted to say no, she didn't need clothes since she could form her own, but the hopeful expression in her mama's eyes was too much and she conceded. Tess bought the dresses and they both immediately changed into them.

As they walked together she couldn't help but feel like their real daughter, and she wanted to wear more clothes to match both of them. It was a start, but as time moved on Sylvie wore more and more purchased clothes, whether it matched her parents or not.

In only a minute she was coming in for a landing at the house. The house followed a mostly elven design and was two stories tall, with seven bedrooms, a full kitchen, dining room, and a study. Beside the house was a training ground with a cutting edge mana barrier that could withstand a spell from a mid ranged white core mage, and going into the lake was a dock with both a rowboat and sail boat tied up. Between the house and the dock was a gazebo with a teleportation gate in the center that required a special artifact that acted like a key to access, to allow those with access to be able to come and go as needed since there wasn't even a village in reasonable walking distance. Attached to the back of the house was a stone patio surrounded by a short fence, to keep the smaller children from getting to the lake. On the patio was a built in grill, and a long wooden table with bench seats, and a few chairs, all underneath a wooden overhang to keep out the rain and provide shade from the sun. And in front of the house, on either side of a stone road that looped at the front door and was only there for an occasional carriage , a beautiful field of flowers. These were the same flowers given to Arthur and Tess on their wedding day, painstakingly planted by them over a month.

Many people, both noble and commoners, felt the house, though nice, was too small for a couple of Arthur and Tess' stature, and many blamed Arthur and his commoner roots. Arthur and Tess knew of the rumors and ignored them, this was their home, and it was big enough for their whole family.

As Sylvie was coming in for a landing they could all smell the freshly caught fish being grilled for lunch. She landed and released her siblings, and the twins ran to their father making the grill.

"Dad!" The twins cried together.

Arthur looked at them with a smile. "Good timing you three, lunch is almost ready. Did you two have fun?"

"Sylvie cheated!" The boy complained.

"She used aether!" His twin sister added.

"Sylvie?" Arthur questioned looking at his adopted daughter.

"Regis helped them, I just leveled the field," she complained.

Arthur looked down at the twins. "Reynolds, Cynthia, blame Regis. This was a game to help with your training, he wasn't supposed to be involved."

Reynolds and Cynthia may have only been six years old, but their cores were already in the solid red stage. Like Arthur they awoke as mages early, but because of their mixed dragon blood their awakening was natural and happened at the age of two. Of course Arthur couldn't begin training them right away, but once they were old enough to understand his instructions which happened to be when they turned four, he taught them how to meditate and refine their cores. Unsurprisingly they lacked the discipline and attention span to do it as often or long as an average newly awakened elf or human mage, but because they were able to absorb mana by instinct even when moving their progress wasn't too bad.

The training was a game of hide and seek, with them hiding while using mirage walk and trying to get back home to win. Everyone was willing to play this game with them, even Virion, who taught them how to move through the forest without making a sound.

"So Sylvie, how did they do?" Arthur asked.

"A lot better, they were able to maintain it until I scared them. After that it was like they weren't even trying," Sylvie replied.

"That's because we weren't," Reynolds replied matter of factly.

"We were too busy running," Cynthia added.

"As you do it more it'll become more natural and you'll just do it without thinking," Arthur told them, then looked up at Sylvie. "So how did you find them?"

"One of them rolled in more than mud," she replied.

The twins smelled themselves, and Reynolds jerked his head back away from himself.

"Both of you, wash up in the lake now," Arthur told them sternly while pointing.

Their eyes lit up and they took off running towards the dock. It was summer now so swimming in the lake sounded like so much fun. As they ran Regis began emerging from the water beside the dock, glaring at Sylvie with a murderous gaze.

"Regis!" The twins called out. "Come swim with us!"

"Huh?" He responded, his gaze completely melting away in an instant. "But I just got out."

"Come on, come on," they replied, completely ignoring his objection, and began pushing him towards the dock.

He had the strength to keep them from moving him, so he could have resisted. However the once majestic badass horny wolf had changed, these kids changed him. Yes he was still majestic, in a battle he was a complete badass, and put him in a room full of beautiful women with either a large chest or ass and he would flirt and try and hook up with them better than any man, but now with these kids a new title formed, uncle. Ever since the twins were born he quickly bonded with them, and decided he needed to protect them, and essentially became the "cool uncle."

Eventually he stopped resisting and ran with them, as they threw their muddy clothes off, leaving them in their under garments by the time they reached the end and jumped in the water with Regis.

"So are you planning to get them clothes and a towel?" Tess asked Arthur, as she sat in a wooden chair a few feet away while breastfeeding their youngest daughter Rinia.

Rinia was only two months old and had emerald green eyes with a little patch of gunmetal colored hair.

"Umm," he replied, and looked to Virion, who was sitting in an identical seat as Tess on his opposite side with a book in his hands.

He saw Arthur and paused his reading. "Don't look at me, we're reading," he replied, gesturing to his youngest grandson Adam, who was sitting on his lap as the old elf was reading to him.

Adam was three years old and had blue eyes and auburn hair, and loved being read to. According to Alice he actually looked just like Arthur when he was that age.

Arthur felt unable to walk away from the grill, but thankfully for him someone else arrived so he wouldn't have to. The teleportation gate activated and two people, a young man and woman wearing armor, and a large bear like mana beast walked out.

"Great timing, can one of you run into the house and get the twins towels and fresh clothes?" He called out.

"Brother, can't you say hello first?" Ellie replied with an annoyed tone.

"Hello. Can one of you help me out?"

"I'm on it!" The young man replied and he ran to the house.

"Take your boots off before you get in. The maids just mopped this morning," Arthur stated.

They didn't have full time maids at the house, but a few did come from the palace every other day to take care of the bigger cleaning tasks, as Arthur, Tess, and Alice took care of the day to day ones.

When their house was being built, Arthur and Tess invited Alice to live with them. At first Alice turned them down, saying she shouldn't be living with them as soon as they got married, and countered with the idea of her having a small house built nearby. Tess however countered this, as it was completely normal in elven society for three or even four generations to be living under the same roof.

"Hey, don't boss my boyfriend around!" Ellie shouted.

Ellie had grown up a lot over the last few years, both mentally and physically. Her body had filled out amazingly, though considering how handsome Arthur was, it was only expected that she would be gorgeous. Her beauty was often compared to a goddess, which led to a lot of broken hearts. During the first few years the first floor of the relic tomb was being developed, she had many admirers, but she turned them all down. Not because of Arthur, but she had already had her heart stolen.

"I didn't. I asked both of you and he volunteered. As for the boots, your armor and clothes look dirty even from here. Is it so wrong for me to want a clean house? And why didn't you even change, you have a house down there."

Ellie sighed. "It wasn't our fault, we were about to head to the house and change but had a rescue come in, and we didn't want to be late."

The Dicathen relictomb, even though very similar, was very different in how they were run when compared to Alacrya's. It was similar in the fact that the first floor was developed for mining and raising docile aether beasts, but in Dicathen it had grown into more. The mining operation was in full swing, pulling out a strong steady flow of ore. Thanks to this the once small mining village had expanded greatly.

Even though mining provided a reason and need for growth, that alone couldn't bring about the growth that came. In Alacrya only ascenders were allowed to enter the relic tombs, including the first two floors. However in Dicathen anyone could enter the first floor as long as they were approved by either the council or adventurer guild.

As expected by his family, Feyrith was supposed to form his own profitable business, or do something that benefited the current family business. After returning from the dive he saw the expansion of the town, and saw an opportunity. Shortly after returning Feyrith managed to get a meeting with the council, and gained permission to establish a branch of the family business on the first floor. However this was only the beginning.

It started with just a general store, but he also brought mages to tame the buffalo like aether beasts that wandered the floor. About a third of them were tamed, and were rented out to be used as labor such as pulling carriages and wagons through the village, and the cars out of the mine. The remaining became raised like cattle, so the business added a butcher shop. After the lance's weapons were completed the blacksmiths began making General weapons. Feyrith then came to an arrangement with the blacksmiths and the council, and built a forge in the village and the blacksmiths became his business partners as they began producing weapons and armor for the adventures that began diving into the lower floors. In turn Feyrith's store became the only place where the adventurers could sell anything they brought up, aside from artifacts which only the council could purchase.

Ellie remained in the relictomb as a member of the Twin Horns, as members of the Relictombs first adventurer rescue team. In Alacrya if you ran into trouble on a floor you couldn't handle you were fated to death. However in Dicathen they had a rescue team. The hidden room found on the desert floor was discovered to be on every floor as well, all complete with more of the communication artifacts. Rules were set up to descend, one being every member of the team had to have one of the communication artifacts. After the hidden room was found on the first floor the adventurer guild built their branch building right on top of it and manned the room constantly as they listened for anyone in trouble. Thanks to the artifacts in the room they were able to locate anyone who called for help, and thanks to the sphere Arthur gave Ellie, she was able to open a portal directly to them. In the beginning Ellie and Feyrith were the only ones who could use aether, so after Feyrith became skilled enough the two of them took shifts as the artifact user, and allowing the creation of a second team.

Ellie was the most skilled aether user in the relic tomb, after Arthur. She only had two god runes, Realmheart and the healing branch of Vivum, but her ability to manipulate aether was extraordinary. She learned how to use aether to create small aether barriers, swords, and arrows, giving her a huge advantage when moving with the twin horns to rescue other teams.

Because of her constant presence down there Arthur purchased a large portion of land near the edge of the town and built a similarly sized house for her and the twin horns to live in, as well as him and Tess if they were to ever visit and spend the night.

The second rescue team was originally led by Claire, with Theo, Feyrith, Thomas, and Jerry. This continued for a few years, as Kaspian became the first adventurer guild branch manager in the relic tomb, but that changed a few years after Claire and Theo married, and she became pregnant. When this happened Kaspian stepped down, and recommended her to take his place. He would have preferred her to return to the surface, but Theo had taken her place leading their team, and wanted her to be close to her husband.

Curtis, Lilia, and Kathyln never returned to the relic tombs with the intention to dive. Lilia focused on her wedding, which the date had to be moved up since their luck either ran out or spiked depending on how someone looked at it, and she became pregnant. After which time both of their priorities changed and the idea of diving into the relic tomb was no longer even an idea. As for Kathyln, after her and Lunaris' wedding, she became Dicathen's first ambassador to Alacrya, where Lunaris stayed by her side as both her bodyguard and husband. To this day she still holds this position, but Lunaris has been asking her to step down, so they could focus on making a family of their own.

As for Elijah, after things in Darv had settled down, there wasn't much that the lances needed to do. So he returned to the relic tombs, and began escorting new adventurers on their first descent, with his father. After the death of Agrona, Seris sifted through so many secret projects he had in the works, and discovered who Elijah's parents were. When Agrona decided to take Elijah as the vessel for Nico, he took him immediately after he died while being trained by his high blood adopted family. With his age he fit perfectly, and as he theorized, inserting Nico into the lifeless body not only brought him back to life, but also reduced the complications of having to suppress a consciousness. Seris revealed all of this to Arthur when they met to sign the treaty, but in the letter she sent only said that she discovered Elijah's family identity. Much to Arthur's surprise, his father was none other than the old drunk Alaric.

It was a surprise to both of them, but they tried to form some kind of father son relationship. He even cut back on his drinking in an effort to make his best impression possible. Alaric came to Dicathen with the first group of ascenders to evaluate the Xyrus Academy facilities, and determine what they would need to turn it into a proper ascender academy. During the time the others evaluated the old school, Alaric and Elijah met for the first time in years. However for Elijah it was the first time period, as he had no memories of his life before Darv. Still they tried, telling stories and trying to bridge the gap so many years created. When the school finally was ready to train Dicathen ascenders, Darv was still considered unstable, and Elijah's presence was necessary. This worked out as it kept them from trying too hard and creating ill feelings. Alaric stayed and taught small team tactics, as that was primarily how he operated in the past.

By the time Alaric finished teaching two graduating classes and training his replacement Darv had stabilized enough that Elijah wasn't needed there as constantly. So Alaric suggested a father son outing to the relictombs, as no better way to bond than fighting for your lives together. While down there they ran into Caera, who had taken a job leading new teams on their initial dive, all as an excuse to get away from her family and join other teams to dive into the Dicathen tombs more often than she ever could back home.

Unfortunately for her she wasn't able to dive with the more experienced teams as often as she liked, as there was too much of a demand for initial dive escorts, but not enough escorts. To help they agreed to take a team, and even managed to enjoy it. The two fought together, their styles complemented one another, making it very easy. They later went back down for a week-long dive, and when they returned became closer than ever. After that they chose to stay down there, leading a new team every week, while making their own dives together in between.