Kar followed Lore to a sprawling structure abutting a wide, open plaza. They passed by rows of broken and dry fountains leading up to a grand entryway.
Kar craned his neck in awe as they stepped under the shade of the balcony high above, "What is this place?" He asked.
"These are the Archives. Pretty cool right? They knew how to build stuff way back when." She leapt up a set of steps five at a time with ease.
Kar paused at the first one. How had she done that? He jumped and only reached the third step, his foot slipping underneath him.
She turned around laughing, then hopped backwards up the remaining flight of steps to the broken doors of the Archives.
Kar caught a trickle of Energia flow as she moved. She must be Focusing. That's how she could do it so easily. He was getting better at sensing when other people were using Energia. What ability did she have? And would his rings allow him to mimic it?
"Kar," Ember said, his voice faint, distant, "You have almost fully entered an area I cannot sense. If you keep going I do not think I will be able to hear or speak to you."
Kar stopped in his tracks, then shuddered as memories of Old Set and the echoing drip of water falling in that dark cavern played through his mind.
"What's the problem?" Lore called back, one foot inside the front lobby.
"Nothing, I… you sure this place is safe? I've got a bad feeling about it."
She rolled her eyes, "We've been diving this place for the last week. Besides some crystcat dens and a few other critters we haven't had any trouble."
The distant roar of what sounded to Kar like a Bastion echoed by.
"You could always hang out here," she smirked, "I wouldn't recommend it though."
Still, Kar hesitated. There wasn't anything odd or abnormal about her that he could tell. Maybe something else was at play here that explained Ember's troubles.
Lore stepped all the way inside, leaving him behind.
"I have to go inside Ember," Kar whispered as he climbed the remaining steps, "it seems ok though. I'll talk to you when I can."
"Be safe K—" The Prism's voice cut away before it could finish.
Inside the Archives Kar discovered an opulent lobby. Twin curving staircases draped with worn and faded indigo carpet bracketed a central hall on the ground level. A spacious corridor disappeared into the heart of the structure. Light from hundreds of windows along the front of the building illuminated the elaborate yet cracked tile of the main entryway floor.
"This way," Lore called out, her voice echoing loudly, "I'll introduce you to the crew."
Kar jogged after her, his pack bouncing loudly.
They walked in silence for a few minutes, passing one large room after another, most lined with various books and other objects Kar didn't recognize. He started to feel awkward, like he should say something to her. But he felt strangely nervous. There hadn't been many girls close to his age in Riftwater.
Before he could work up the nerve, she spoke up herself, "So you really can't Focus worth a lick, right? That's what Kiya told everybody."
"Well, I-"
"I mean, nothing wrong with that, it's just weird that you're supposed to be able to but can't."
Kar hunched his shoulders, "I figured out how to do some things, like how to heal myself."
She looked at him skeptically, "Heal, yourself? Never heard of anybody being able to do that."
Kar tried to deflect the conversation away from himself, "Well what can you do?"
"I, am an Enhancer."
"Yeah? And what do Enhancers do exactly?"
"We Enhance ourselves," she replied, leading him around a corner, "obviously."
Alright then.
They reached a pair of thick stone doors that were stuck ajar.
"In here." she motioned, slipping inside.
Kar followed. His pack got stuck as he tried to slide through the gap so he took it off. Inside was a square room with tall ceilings and intricate moulding. A large fire place crackled warmly on the side wall. The center of the room was filled with piles and piles of objects grouped somewhat neatly together surrounding a much larger heap of assorted things. A young man in his early to mid twenties directed several teenagers as they worked to sort through the stuff.
"Hey Gerard!" Lore shouted, "Guess what I found wandering out in the street?"
Everyone in the room stopped what they were doing and looked over. The older one directing the work stepped towards she and Kar, "Who's that?" he asked gruffly.
Gerard, Kar assumed.
"It's Kiya's lost boy." Lore responded.
Gerard scoffed, 'You're kidding me."
"I'm not, go ahead and tell em." She said, elbowing Kar in the side.
"Um, yeah, I was with Kiya the other day. Been wondering around the Ruins since."
Gerard looked him up and down skeptically, "How did you survive three days alone out here?"
Kar shrugged and scrunched his nose, feeling defensive, "Guess I'm tougher than I look."
Just then a door at the back of the room pushed in and someone dragged a canvas cloth loaded with items into the room. They turned around to pull it the rest of the way in, revealing their face.
It was Derek.
Lore pushed Kar on the shoulder, "Hey Derek, this your friend you were all sad about?"
Derek dropped what he was carrying. He smiled widely and ran to them, "Kar? I thought you had died!"
Kar laughed and embraced his friend. He realized then this was the longest he'd ever gone without seeing Derek since they'd first met as children.
"I almost did a few times," Kar said, "I can't believe you're here."
Derek shook his head, as if he didn't believe Kar was really standing there either.
"So what do you want to do with him boss?" Lore interjected.
Gerard appeared to mull it over, "Well, he was supposed to be joining our crew anyway, so let's put him to work. Derek, take him with you and finish clearing out those vaults."
"Sure thing." He told Gerard, then to Kar, "Follow me, I'll show you around."
Kar helped Derek finish pulling his sheet full of stuff into the room and they dumped it in the big pile the others were sorting through. It was a bunch of artifacts and other devices he didn't have words for. As they worked he found himself side-eying Lore as she spoke to Gerard.
She noticed him looking and waved exaggeratedly at him. Kar felt himself blush and hurried after Derek as he exited through the back door Derek had come through earlier.
"What was that about?" his friend asked, chuckling, "you think she's cute?"
"Stop it." Kar answered, shoving his friend playfully from behind.
"I want to know everything Kar," Derek said, turning serious, "Where's Isa?"
"Safe, I hope. I left her with a family. Well, a man named Morrow and his daughter."
Derek released a sigh of relief, and Kar continued, "He works for the Governor, though I think they're really captives like we are. But Morrow has a big workshop and he was teaching Isa how to Imbue things like he does, with her ability."
"How did you end up down in the city though, I thought you were supposed to be doing the same thing she was?"
Kar shrugged uncomfortably, "When Kiya found out I couldn't Focus well enough to be useful, she basically dragged me out here."
Derek slowed down, his expression changing when Kar mentioned Kiya's name, "If I get the chance to, I swear I'll kill her."
Kar was taken aback by the venom in his friend's voice. He'd never heard Derek talk that way before.
"Sorry," Derek said awkwardly, "anyways, tell me everything else that happened."
They went on, and Kar did his best to explain the events of the past few days as they passed room after room, cryst-lanterns on the walls illuminating the way.
Finally, Derek brought him into a small room off a side hallway, "So this Old Set guy full out knew your name, even though you didn't tell him?"
Kar nodded, feeling sick to his stomach.
"That is seriously messed up man."
"Tell me about it." Kar replied.
"Let me see one of those rings," Derek said, shoving him with his forearm, "also, you need to do something about your hair. It looks terrible."
Kar laughed and reached in his pouch. He pulled out two of the remaining rings. He'd grabbed five altogether from the ship and was wearing a pair himself, one on each middle finger.
"Sick," Derek said, sliding both rings on to match how Kar wore his, "so how does this work?"
"Well, I just… direct the Focusing through the ring, and when I do it comes out way stronger than if I did it the normal way."
Derek balled his hands into fists and jabbed the air playfully, "I gotta try this out. Here, I know where. Come with me."
He led Kar around the corner, "Watch your step here, the floor falls through."
Kar saw what he meant, the entire floor had partially collapsed and part of the wall as well. It revealed a lower level more sparsely lit than this one. As Derek led him down Kar saw that actual lit torches lined the walls here instead of the cryst lanterns that had been in the corridors above.
"Whoah, this place looks different." Kar said.
It looked much older than the archives above, the walls and floors a strange blue grey stone. They reached a broad stairwell leading even further below.
"Yeah, just wait till you see this vault room we found down here. All of this was hidden beneath the main complex."
They continued down one flight of stairs after another, until they reached a landing. A maze work of connecting halls led them to a large room barred off from everything else. Where the bars had been bent Derek stepped through, waving Kar after him.
Heavy doors lined either side of this room, half of them blasted to splinters. A massive, circular stone was embedded into a round frame in the far wall. It looked much different than the rest of the room, as if everything else had been built around it.
"I've gotten in to most of the side vaults," Derek told him, motioning towards the busted doors on the sides of the room, "the doors are harder than they look."
He walked up to one to demonstrate, "Here, I'll show you without the rings first." He removed and passed his two rings to Kar, then bent his knees and cocked an arm back, palm open.
Kar could sense as Derek began to Focus. His friend drove his palm forward and a concentrated blast of invisible energy drove into the still intact door. The heavy wood creaked and rocked in its frame but held.
"So that's about the best I can do," Derek said, "I've been having to hit them over and over to break them down."
"Mind if I give it a try?" Kar asked.
Derek gave him a confused expression, "I thought you were supposed to be a, what did they call it, an Imbuer? They've all been telling me you can only do one type of Focusing."
Kar shrugged his shoulder, "That's what I was told too but I've been able to do different kinds."
"Huh," Derek said, scratching his head, "Yeah, go ahead then. Let's see what you've got."
Kar took a similar stance as Derek had, only he clenched his fist and imagined the blast exploding from the ring on his right hand. He swung his fist forward and a blast of focused energy smashed against the door. Even with the ring's amplification the door barely rattled.
It was hard for Kar not to feel disappointed. Derek's blast had been significantly more powerful without any assistance.
"Ok, ok. Not bad. Now let me try out one of those rings."
Kar tossed him one and Derek went through his routine again. This time, when Derek unleashed his Focusing, the door exploded out of its frame. Boards splintered violently and the noise was deafening.
Derek screamed in pain and fell backward. Kar rushed over, his ears ringing. A large wedge of wood had bounced back and embedded itself into Derek's thigh. Blood dripped freely from the wound.
Derek yelped, then strangely started laughing, "That was so powerful!"
Kar knelt next to his friend, "That's my bad," He apologized, "I should have realized that would be dangerous. Here, move your hands." He pulled the wedge of wood free and blood rushed out of Derek's leg. Kar grabbed one of his shards, held a ringed hand over the wound, and then Focused, healing his friend.
Derek stared as his skin closed itself shut then scarred over, "I didn't know that was a thing."
Kar stood and held out a hand to help Derek to his feet, "I think there's a lot we don't know yet."
"Yeah well, you seem to have a head start in figuring things out." Derek said, peeking into the vault he'd blasted open and cringing, "Looks like I broke a bunch of stuff."
Something pulled Kar's attention to the slab of stone that dominated the rear wall of the room. He pointed toward it and asked, "You guys try getting in there yet?"
The frame of that circular vault door looked ancient; etched with elaborate patterns that looked so different than anything Kar had seen yet in the City. He walked up to it and admired the sweeping and intricate lines he found there. It was beautiful.
There was a well worn impression on the right hand side of the arched frame. Without thinking about it, Kar reached over and placed his hand there.
With a grating rumble, the circular stone door began to roll open.