The Evil Emperor's Fragile Heart

The next ten days passed in a flurry of happy activities. Mana, Raven and Jules became good friends with Fox and Vanilla. Mana got to make a series of desserts and drinks with chocolate and vanilla, and it was such a hit that her family became addicted to enjoying a cup of hot chocolate every night after dinner, and downing a glass of vanilla milk shake with breakfast every morning. Even the cakes and pastries were a huge hit – in fact, the first time Vanilla got a taste of vanilla cake, she burst into tears. And Fox loved vanilla whipped cream so much that he could finish the entire bowl in the few moments it took Mana to fetch a cake from the cooling rack! Fox's Letter Machine set for King Jaren and Jules worked beautifully even within the wards of the summer palace. Vanilla's paperwork got through and she became a citizen of the Emerald Kingdom. The cacao farm and the vanilla farm, thanks to the fertile lands and abundant earth magic of the Emerald Kingdom, were already starting to grow. Vanilla was a quick learner, and mastered the art of curing the vanilla beans and making vanilla extract in a few days. Fox's father had managed to gather everything that the hunters had picked from the ancient cave – except the gold which they had already used up. He also found that the cave had another hidden chamber which contained a lot of other things like herbs and minerals, which the hunters hadn't discovered – and was convinced that there were even more hidden things there. The transportation arrays were also shaping up nicely.

All this kept Mana and Raven quite busy, so they weren't able to devote as much time with each other as they'd have liked to. Raven spent a lot of time studying the magic scroll, which contained mixed-element magic techniques. This was the reason why single magic people saw only a blank scroll when they looked at it. Jules, with his dual earth and fire, could see a few spells, and Mana, with her triple elements of earth, fire and water, could see a few more. But Raven, with all five elements, could read it fully and learn the techniques, too. It was the most useful magic scroll he had ever seen. And even better, he accidentally found out that if he channelled the magic through his opal ring, the effect was enhanced several times. It would take time and practice to control the techniques at will and discover the optimal power levels for each spell – but Raven was delighted. His magic bloomed and his face grew radiant the more he practiced.

All in all, it was a happy team of four youngsters that made their way to the cave of the ancient master ten days later.

Mana, Raven and Jules turned up at Fox's mother's shop bright and early. Fox's father, who had reached Verdant Hills the previous evening, greeted them with polite enthusiasm, his eyes shining brightly as he watched the three royal children interact amiably with his eldest son who had been considered a fool until now.

"Father, we're ready!" Fox said impatiently. "Hurry up, hurry up!"

Fox's parents shook their heads ruefully. Fox's father quickly explained the cave's structure and the areas he had explored to the children, drawing up a crude, but easy to read map for them. Then he pulled out four transportation talismans and handed out one each to Mana, Raven, Jules and Fox.

He explained, "The array is valid for a full day, but you don't have to wait that long. Whenever you wish to return, just stand on the array and tear up the talismans and you'll be brought back here to our shop."

"That should be enough time for us," Jules said.

"We've got enough food, anyway," Fox said happily, picking up the huge food bag that had been brought along from the summer palace.

"Thank you very much for arranging everything for us," Jules said politely.

"Be careful," Fox's father said. "There is no danger and no animals lurk near the cave for some reason, but still, it is best to be careful."

"Please don't worry," Mana said calmly, reassuring the middle-aged couple. "Big Brother is really powerful and he will be communicating with Papa using Fox's Letter Machine throughout, and Papa gave us emergency talismans just in case. We'll bring Fox back safely."

"You little brat, you're the smallest amongst us!" Fox snapped at Mana.

Mana stuck out her tongue at him in response.

Fox's mother had become used to their interactions by now, so she wasn't too surprised anymore, but Fox's father was astounded. His wife had mentioned earlier that the royals of the Emerald Kingdom were rather easy-going, but this…! One of the reasons they tried to keep Fox away from other people as much as possible was because of his bluntness – he really had no filter when he spoke. He had been beaten up by his peers and teachers and seniors and neighbours and pretty much everyone who had interacted with him because of his sharp tongue more times than they could count. Fox never understood what he'd done wrong, because to him, he was simply stating the truth. Eventually, they started to restrict his movements and keep him at home as much as possible to keep him safe…and Fox himself, too, had become more and more withdrawn as he grew older.

But here, in a foreign nation where he had spent less than a month – he had already found friends. And what friends! The secret Crown Prince and the youngest princess of the Emerald Kingdom, and the famously clever prince of the Obsidian Kingdom! And he was even permitted to visit them in the imperial summer palace! And the best of the all, the king of the Emerald Kingdom and the founder of IMARI himself had offered him a seat in the dream institute!

Fox's father was pulled out of his daze by his wife's tugging. He cleared his throat in embarrassment. "Yes, I'll activate the transportation talismans now," he muttered. "Is everyone ready?"

"Ready," the four young ones intoned.

Fox's father chanted the incantation and blue light burst from the talismans, enveloping Mana, Raven, Jules and Fox.

The next instant, the four of them found themselves in an old cave. The transportation array under their feet glowed once before fading away.

The four of them looked around curiously at the walls. There was indeed some writing carved on the walls, but it was really small and densely packed, so they stepped closer to the walls to take a look.

"I've never seen this strange script," Jules said.

"Neither have I," Fox said. "But we can make a copy of it and decode it back home."

Jules nodded. The magical copying machines from the Sapphire Kingdom were highly popular everywhere. Papa had given him one last evening, and he quickly activated it to record all the writings on the walls of the cave. If Mana saw the device, she would have said it is a camera.

Mana and Raven, on the other hand, were rooted to their spots, staring at the wall in front of them with wide eyes.

"You can read this?" Fox asked Raven excitedly.

Raven shook his head and said, "I can't, but it seems to be strangely familiar."

"How is this possible?" Mana murmured absently. "How could…" Back on earth, Mana was fluent in six languages – it had always been easy for her to pick up a new language, and this is why she was able to quickly adapt to the language and script of the Emerald Kingdom, which was very similar to Latin, which she had learnt just before she entered law school.

But the writings on the wall here were in Sanskrit – an ancient language on earth which she had learnt on a whim after one of her professors had called it the most scientific language on earth.

But how was it possible for Sanskrit to appear here? All the languages in this world seemed to be Latin based. She had discussed this with Raven, who was fluent in over a dozen languages.

Jules hurried over to his little sister's side. "Mana? Can you read this?" he asked.

Mana nodded. "It's Sanskrit. It's ancient language and no one speaks it now, but how….how could it be here?!"

"What does it say?" Jules asked.

Mana read a few lines in front of her. "It seems to be about a traveller and also talks about combination magic…" she said. Her eyes went to Raven, who was still staring at the wall in front of him. "Raven! Try putting your hand on the wall!" she called out.

Raven raised his hand and touched the wall in front of him.

There was a flash of bright golden light which surrounded Raven. When it faded, all the writings disappeared, and Raven wobbled.

Jules and Mana caught him immediately.

"Are you all right?" Mana asked anxiously.

Raven nodded, trying to process the flood of information in his brain. A minute later, he smiled.. "I can read it now. This really is the cave of an ancient master!"