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Dawn had just broken over the horizon, but for the men and women on the outskirts of the capital city they had been working for several hours before then. The object of their labor was a large building half sunken into the ground, an ancient temple damaged almost beyond recognition. It wasn't the only building that had befallen such a fate, years ago a great cataclysm almost wreaked havoc across the land. It had been stopped before the kingdom fell to ruin, but damage had already been done and it had taken almost the entirety of the time since then to repair the damage to the kingdom's infrastructure. The ancient buildings that laid on the outskirts of the growing city had been the last to see a worker's touch, but now that most people had their homes and shops restored, the king ordered to try and find any relics of historical significance and to try and restore what they could of their historical sites.

With the entranceways completely covered with dirt the only route the workers could find to enter was through the roof, ropes lead down from the large hole that had been created and several workers scurried about carefully inside. One of them was a large bull that sat in the pool of light created from the sunlight streaming within, his arms crossed and his gaze wandering around the crumbling walls as a lizardman walked up to him. "I have the surveyor reports, boss," he said, holding up the parchment which the foreman merely glanced at with a snort. "They're saying it's a total loss, sir. Even without it being several feet underground, they say some critical supports have buckled and any work done on it could cause the whole thing to collapse."

"I'm not surprised," the bull replied. "The king knew that this area was one of the hardest hit, the fact this thing is standing at all is a miracle from the gods. Take the crews and do one last sweep, then mark it for demolition. The history might be gone, but we can get a couple of good acres of farmland from the silt buildup around this building. Also, make sure that when-"

A loud crash and the sound of screams caused both men's heads to snap towards the back of the building as a loud plume of dust rose up from the area. "Everyone evacuate!" the bull shouted as he ran towards the back of the building. "Structure collapse, medics with me, everyone else leave!"

People scrambled for the ropes as the air was suddenly filled with dust and pulverized stone, the floor beneath them shuddering with the sudden loss of stability as the bull ran through it. He was joined by two mages that had been brought along for the purpose of healing anyone that may come to injury and together the three reached the back of the temple to find most of the floor completely gone. The foreman looked to the magic user on the left and with a small nod the sorcerer created a ball of light that slowly floated down into the collapsed section of the building. "Anyone alive down there!?" The foreman shouted as he carefully made his way towards the edge of the sinkhole.

"Boss!" A female voice shouted up from the darkness, and as soon as the ball of light floated far enough down, the three could see several people sprawled out on the stone. "We're okay, but I think Chalin broke his leg and Markus is bleeding pretty bad! Luckily the drop only appears to be a few feet, though!"

At the prompting of the large bull he and the two mages got the extra rope from their supplies and carefully made their way down into the newly-created void, and as soon as their feet touched the ground the medics made their way to the injured workers while the foreman looked around. "Well this wasn't part of the original specs," he muttered to himself as the ball of light illuminated a large room underneath at least half of the temple's floor. "You boys got everything under control there?"

"Yeah," the mage replied as his hands glowed briefly while they hovered over a large gash on one of the worker's legs, the flesh almost instantly knitting back together. "Mostly superficial wounds, though the broken leg is going to have to get treated at an infirmary, our power isn't strong enough to heal it correctly."

The bull nodded and instructed one of them to move their orb of illumination into the room that laid underneath the temple, watching as the light filled the entire space. Most of the room was dominated with dusty tomes and old tables, what appeared to be a place of study like the arcana library back up on the surface. What caught his eye; however, was the rather pristine box that sat on a pedestal in the center of the room. He moved over to the wood and ran his hands along the polished surface, amazed at the lack of wear on the object as everything else in the room had fallen to decay. Even without the knowledge of magic he knew this box was enchanted, and despite his better judgement he took the lid and slowly opened it.

Just as he did his aide came up to his side, looking down at the contents of the velvet-lined box with wide eyes. "Sir?" he asked as the bull pulled out a roll of parchment from the inside. "Sir, what is it?"

For a few seconds the foreman stood there as he slowly unrolled it, his already wide eyes growing moreso as he looked at what was contained within. "Get to the King's Chambers and tell them we found something that he's going to want to look at," he stated as he rolled it back up and carefully put it back in the box. "Every historian, every bard, anyone that he can scrounge up, tell him to do it immediately."

"Sir?" the lizardman asked in question.

"Now!" The bull bellowed, prompting his assistant to scramble back towards the hole and climb up the rope before he looked back down at the box. "Gods help us..."

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In the corridors of the large castle the torches lit on the wall flickered slightly as a blue dragon ran hurriedly down the hallway. It had been only minutes before that he, as well as nearly everyone else in the kingdom, had received the summons from the King that they were to meet in the war room immediately. Given the urgency stated the bard had run from his previous engagement and into the castle, and when he entered the room he saw that he wasn't the only one. Several others also panted slightly as they gathered around a large oaken table, all of them seated in simple chairs save for the panda sitting at the head of it.

"Welcome Xander the Blue," the King announced as he gestured for him to take a seat. The dragon did so and as they waited he was relieved to see that he wasn't the last to make it to the meeting. After the last of the appointed men arrived the King stood up and motioned for a large bull covered in dust to come forward, the large box clutched tight in his hands before he set it down on the table itself.

"King Pandez, I must inquire to the nature of the urgency we were brought here," a naga that Xander recognized as the leader of the historian's guild said. "While we are no doubt eager and willing to assist in whatever endeavor you need, I can't imagine it's something vital to the kingdom if you've called together those of all walks of knowledge in your kingdom."

"Noted Zarthin, but wrong," King Pandez replied and, with another nod, the bull opened the box and laid the large piece of vellum out on the table. "Soon you're going to see why urgency is exactly what was needed for this."

Gasps and murmurs broke out amongst the table as they examined what looked to be a rather large map. Xander and several others leaned in close as they saw the geographical markers of their own kingdom, as well as several others that were their neighbors. What caused everyone to become both excited and frightened was the glyph that was situated in the wildlands that bordered their kingdom, a mark that many of them knew only from rumor and myth. Even the guild historian was at a loss for words as the King sat back down in his chair.

"This was found in the ruins of an ancient temple that laid outside the capital city," King Pandez explained as everyone else took their seats as well. "It had been hidden and magically protected underneath the floor for ages, but the abjuration specialists we have examining the area theorize that the cataclysm caused these wards to weaken considerably. Ladies and gentlemen, what we are looking at here is not only proof, but also the means by which to reach Ka'Le."

"That's impossible," a female vixen, whom Xander knew of as the head of the arcanum library, spoke up. "That whole city was a rumor even before most of the kingdoms had been founded. How do we know this isn't additional fabrication or folklore that tries to supplement the legend?"

"That's why you all are here," King Pandez stated simply. "You all are masters in your field, whether it's the arcana, history, lore, myth, religion... I want to attack this from every angle. Leave no stone unturned, I don't care if we need to get someone from another kingdom in here. Most importantly, though, the news of this discovery does not leave this room, save for those that you trust and are deemed absolutely necessary to continue this investigation. I'll be calling a few of you individually, feel free to examine the map while you can until you're called."

With that the meeting ended as quickly as it had begun, though no one was inclined to leave just yet as they crowded around the mythical map. Xander was included, pouring over the details as much as he could before he was called away from it. He was amazed at the level of intricacy, though the names of several of the cities were lost on him, no doubt ancient places also lost to antiquity, he did recognize a few features that helped get his bearings on several locations. Before he could go too far into it, though, the royal crier announced for him to see the King, and he forced himself away from the map and walked into the King's chambers.

There the panda sat waiting for him, and as he walked in Zarthin slithered past him and out the door. "Please, make yourself comfortable," he said as the dragon nodded and sat down. "So Xander, what do you think of all this?"

"An incredible find, if true," Xander replied. "Of course you know how legends go, often they are inflated with time. I'm wondering though what I could possibly do in order to help, though I am a member of the bardic college, my service to you is more of an... information gathering nature than anything else."

King Pandez just gave a little half-smile and stood up, walking over towards the door where many others continued to ponder over the map itself. "We are going to have a lot of people working on this," he stated simply. "I need you to look after those people and listen to make sure that no one gets overly talkative or, heavens forbid, think about trying to take matters into their own hands. You'll do what you do best and spy on the guild leaders, I've already gotten a royal writ for you to act as an information courier between them and me."

"Eyes and ears," Xander simplified as he stood up. "I won't let you down. I take it this will have priority over my other tasks?"

"Of course," the panda replied as he clasped the dragon on the shoulder. "Take your notes and submit them, but I want your full attention on this. I'm sorry about this, I know you have a few leads you wanted to follow, but needs of the kingdom beat out tracking down a potential necromancer. I hope you weren't too close to finding him."

Xander shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. "Continues to elude me despite my best efforts," he reported. "That's one shifty ferret, I have to say."

"Indeed," King Pandez replied. "You're dismissed, feel free to take another look at the map if it interests you before it goes into the vault for safekeeping. Remember though, no one finds out about this but us, okay?"

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A few minutes later Xander was outside of the castle and into the city proper, which already had the bustle of peddlers and customers bartering for their best deals. The dragon tried to avoid the crowd as best he could, maneuvering through the city streets until he finally ducked down an alley. Once he had turned the corner he paused and leaned up against the wall, attempting to look casual as he waited for a few minutes to see if anyone had followed him. Once he was sure that it was just him he walked further down past the buildings until he reached a set of stairs cut into the ground, easily missed by most pedestrians unless you specifically looked for it. After one last careful glance he made his way down and unlocked the heavy wooden door with an old brass key before he slipped in and closed it shut behind him.

The cellar itself was completely bare save for some rotted wood that had once been furniture, which Xander ignored as he moved purposefully past it to the back wall. There the stone was slightly lighter than the rest of the surrounding wall, and once he had gotten up to it, the illusion disappeared completely and revealed the hand-carved tunnel that laid beyond it. The blue dragon lit a small lantern to guide himself through the otherwise pitch dark space, pushing overgrown roots aside until he reached a second door set into the stone. Very slowly Xander reached out and carefully turned the knob, then with a gentle creak pressed it open into the next room.

"You here?" Xander whispered as he looked inside, though his question was quickly answered for him when he saw the figure hunched over the table illuminated by several candles. "Oh good, I have some news that you're going to want to hear."

"One second," a voice replied as the cloaked creature raised up a fuzzy finger, then went back to what he was working on. As Xander stood there at the threshold he watched as a haze of purple smoke drifted up from the table, followed by the smell of ash and fresh clay before it disappeared. A short while later the figure turned around and pulled back his hood, the ferret's eyes gleaming as he looked up at his guest. "Alright, done, what is it?"

"They found it, Alkali..." Xander said excitedly, which caused the ferret's face to light up. "The map to Ka'Le, it does exist. Turns out it was here in the capital this whole time, hidden under some wards that were dispelled by the damage from the potential cataclysm."

The ferret's muzzle turned up into an evil grin as he rubbed his hands together, standing up from the workbench and nearly knocking over the small pile of bones he had been working on. "This is perfect!" he exclaimed as he walked over, the two wrapping their arms around each other before they kissed.

"Do you know how long I've been searching for that damnable city?" Alkali continued on once they had broken their embrace. "Ever since I found out what may lie there, I knew if I could just get my hands on it..."

"You can destroy its source of power and rid it from the land completely in order to weaken the veil for your necromantic arts," Xander replied teasingly as they both grinned. "You've only been obsessing over it since before I met you, now we finally have the chance to make your dream come true."

Both Xander and Alkali moved their conversation over to the makeshift dining area of the ferret's secret workshop, the dragon pulling out the foodstuffs he had picked up before he arrived there. As the two ate the dragon filled him in on everything that had just happened, from the foreman finding the map to the decree of King Pandez. "He asked about you again," Xander remarked as he finished the last of his meal. "Wondering if I'm any closer to finding you out."

"Well I'm glad he cares so much about my wellbeing," Alkali smirked. "Though I have to say if he didn't set you to spy on me, we would have never met. Perhaps I'll have to send him a little gift once we're finished for everything he's done to help me."

"I'm not sure it would be well-received," Xander replied with a chuckle before his face turned serious. "He is putting all his resources towards this though, he already has every prominent player in the city trying to verify the map, and once he does you know he's going to go after it. If he sends the entire might of the kingdom's army there we won't even get a chance to see it, much less what do what you're talking about."

Alkali looked down at his own empty plate as they both grew concerned over Xander's words. They knew that if it came down to a race they would lose, the resources of the kingdom far outweighed their own. There was only chance that they could beat the panda king to the punch, and that was to strike out while they verified the map was real. Alkali already knew that such an article existed and from the details Xander provided he believed they had found the real thing, but as they continued to chew over their plan they realized it would take much more than just the two of them to pull something like this off.

"We're going to need that map first of all," Xander commented. "I got a decent look at it but there's no way I can recreate it from memory. We're also going to need someone from the arcanum library, there were some glyphs there that can help point the way to the city itself, but magic is not my forte."

"I know someone we can get for that," Alkali replied as he stood up. "I found him while I was doing some research on Ka'Le, apparently he's one of their experts. Since you have a royal writ to gather information, I think it's time we use it to pay him a visit."

"Are you sure going to the arcana library is a good idea?" Xander spoke up as Alkali moved to the door. "You know, after the incident... with the three skeletons and the acid..."

The ferret paused for a second, rubbing his muzzle. "I'm sure they forgot about that," he finally stated, which caused the dragon to give him a look. "I'll stay in the background! You're the one with the writ anyway. Now let's go, every second we waste is another second that King Pandez gets closer to finding out about Ka'Le."

The arcanum library was the capital's source of magical knowledge situated near the middle of the city, a majestic marble building where wizards and sorcerers not only from the capital, but from everywhere in the kingdom came to learn. The pulse of magic could be felt even before they stepped into the building, the wards that kept both the building and everything contained within safe caused a sharp tingle to course through Xander and Alkali's bodies as they stepped inside. The two made their way to the information desk, where an apprentice researcher stood vigilant to help people find what they needed in the expansive space.

"Hello there," Xander said as the young husky looked at them. "I was wondering if there was a warlock in by the name of-"

"Oh my gods, you're Xander the Blue!" the researcher suddenly squealed as he put his hands to his face, causing several others in the general vicinity to look their direction and for the ferret to pull his hood even moreso over his face. "I've seen your last three concerts and I'm such a huge fan! The way you told the tale of King Pandez and how he managed to stop the apocalypse with two dragons, a spoon, and several incantations of the shield other spell nearly moved me to tears! Will you please sign something for me?"

Xander casted a wary glance at Alkali before he put on a smile and took the pen and paper from the husky to sign something. "So hey, speaking of, I have this writ here from the king," he continued as he pulled out the royal document and showed it to the other male, who just let out a soft ooooh as he examined it. "It would really, really help me out if I could talk to a warlock that might have some useful information, he's a demonborn named Draggor."

"Draggor?" the researcher replied as he thought about it. "I think I know who you're talking about, not many demonborn left nowadays, terrible tragedy. Anyway, he should be in the evocation ward of the library. Do you want me to show you the way?!"

"No!" Xander almost shouted before he recomposed himself as the husky's happy face fell slightly. "I mean, you know, royal business and all. Besides, you've got to stay here and help all these other people, and I would hate for you to get in trouble on my part. Thanks for all your help though, come to my next performance and I'll make sure you can hang out with me afterwards."

Once again the researcher's face grew bright and both Xander and Alkali could see his tail wagging furiously as he pointed them in the direction they needed to go. Once they had gotten up the stairs and out of sight of the excited fan both breathed a sigh of relief to be rid of the attention, then continued to make their way inside. After a few minutes, though, they began to wonder if they shouldn't have taken him up on his offer, passing by shelves upon shelves of books marked only by an ordering system that made little sense to them. Even Alkali had grown lost, though when Xander pointed out that he had been here before, the ferret defended himself by saying he had only been interested in the books about necromancy, which had been very easy to find since they were in the part of the library no one hung around.

Finally, though, they smelt a burning odor in the air and heard small explosions further down the library, an indicator they were getting close to their goal. As soon as they arrived in the evocation wing they knew it, all the books were behind heavy wards and the entire middle of the space was completely open and shielded while apprentice evokers tested their magical prowess on the targets set up. The one they wanted to speak to was also rather easy to spot, the shining red scales of the demonic creature easily seen as he appeared to test a sorcerer on how to perform a burning hands spell. When they drew close, though, they were warned several times to stay on the other side of the shield, particularly when they informed the other magic users on who they were there to meet.

"Alright kid," Draggor said to the student as he held the bridge of his muzzle with his fingers. "You need to channel the power outwards towards the target. Outwards. Imagine you're reaching out to the target and try again."

"Hey Draggor!" Alkali shouted as he waved over to the demonborn, who looked over to see a ferret waving over at him. "We need to talk to you, you got a minute?"

"More than one," Draggor replied as he walked over to the edge of the shield that separated them. "I remember you, you were the one that was asking about Ka'Le, at least before that whole thing with the two zombie rats and the fondue pot."

"Actually that wasn't... nevermind," Alkali quickly dismissed with a wave of his hand. "Listen, are you aware of what's going on at the castle right now?"

"Of course, Serina told me about it as soon as she got back from her meeting." Draggor explained. "I should have known that you would be sniffing back around once word got out about that, but your boyfriend here should have told you-"

Suddenly there was the sound of flames erupting and the three turned back to see the student that Draggor had been tutoring suddenly burst into flames and run around screaming. "Can someone take care of that please?" Draggor shouted as he pointed, and almost immediately another warlock caused a flurry of ice and snow to engulf the student and douse the fires around him. "Thank you, call the medic... again..."

"Listen Draggor, I know that the king wants us all to keep a tight lid on the whole thing, but we could really use your help," Xander explained. "We really want to get there first and Alkali has the knowledge to unlock Ka'Le's secrets. The problem is that we need someone to help us with the deeper arcane aspects, and that's where you would come in."

"Plus think of the journey," Alkali chimed in. "I'm sure that you don't want to just spend your time here trying to keep people from blowing themselves up."

Draggor looked back as the two staff members from the infirmary helped the smoldering student onto a gurney to be lifted out, then sighed and shook his head. "You've got a point there," he sighed. "Plus my patron has been bothering me to get out of the city for awhile, you know how demons can get rather bored easily."

Alkali just nodded his head in agreement, Xander's eyes shifting back and forth between the two in slight concern. "Alright, why not," Draggor finally agreed. "Of course you know that we're going to need the map they just found, and I doubt that King Pandez is going to allow any of us to just take it or make a copy."

"Yeah well, we were sort of hoping you might have a possible solution to that," Alkali admitted as they started to walk out of the evoker training area and back into the library proper. "Xander doesn't have the pull to do it, perhaps Serina might be able to get us in there? As the head of the arcana library she might get the access to make a copy."

"I don't think she'd go along with the whole idea of trying to take the greatest find in the kingdom's history from under our king's nose," Draggor replied. "Especially if it was ever found out, the backlash from the people alone would probably get her kicked out of her position. However... I think you might be half-right on your solution. Let me pull some strings, I think I have an idea..."