"GAH," squirming under my foot, the Purple-Haired Elder realized he could no longer feel his legs or even wings, rendering him completely at my whim; well, he had been from the beginning, but now he understood there was nothing in his control any longer.
Meanwhile, my eyes scanned his body from top to bottom in search of any device that could potentially be transmitting our conversation to any eavesdropping idiots.
The worst case scenario in my mind at that moment was that another Returner was on the other end of the communication channel, listening in, and if that were the case, if I slipped up and said my name or…
’Fuck, could they have been listening in to my fight with Ryan…no, if that were the case, they would have sent more than five Elders after me.’ Shaking my head, a faint glimmering object tucked away under the Elder’s torn tunic collar drew my attention.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" I said while leaning down and snatching an object that was soon revealed to be a silver amulet filled with intricate carvings and ornate gem settings.
Seeing that I now had his treasured item in my clutches, hopelessness washed over the Purple-Haired Elder, and as he watched me examining the object, seemingly trying to figure out how it worked, the last dregs of energy left his body and he ceased to struggle any longer.
"Mic check, Mic check, one two one two, Hellloooo, can you hear meeee~?" firmly holding the circular Amulet in the palm of my right hand, I playfully squawked into it as if it were a microphone, which, in a sense, it was.
I had seen numerous medals and amulets before, mainly in the hands of the Myriad races; thus, I had a decent grasp of how they functioned and their primary use.
In the early days post-Arkadia’s Descent, a lot of information about the Myriad Races was hypothetical at best, with the biggest question on people’s minds being, how had they stayed hidden for so long, and well this little circular silver device was one of the main aids in their hiding from the world.
Communication between races was something long since achieved, and hell, there were even Accords or Contracts between each of them wherein they would be self-contained and regulated; one of the ways this was achieved was through these little mystical devices that would connect to a global scale hub and allow for orders and conversations to be passed or held from anywhere in the world.
Now, as they were incredibly difficult to make due to not having a convenient energy source such as particles, Comm Amulets, as they were called, were priceless treasures, and only high-ranking officials or the richest members of the Myriad Races owned them.
Further breaking down the Comm Amulets, it was pretty easy to differentiate their uses so long as you knew a few key details. For starters, the type of metal used, there were only three primary materials which were used, the first being Wood, the second silver, and lastly the third being Gold.
At their core, they all functioned the same, but Wood Amulets were single-use items whose purpose was strictly for emergencies; silver ones were a two-way connection, meaning they only came in pairs, and without the matching Amulet, they were practically useless, and then Gold ones acted just like cell phones, they could connect to any other Gold Amulet so long as you had a corresponding connection identifier, which was generally hidden in the intricate designs and inscriptions.
As for how these little objects were powered, I had no idea, maybe Magic or some other supernatural resource, but did it really matter? When Arkadia Descends and Particles were introduced, all old tech, including the stuff used by the Myriad Races, would become obsolete, so to me, the Amulet was merely a trinket for my amusement, a toy that I could tear apart and satiate my boredom one day.
"Human…" While lost in thought and humming a light tune and playing with the Amulet, a calm, melodic voice came through the Amulet, entering my mind directly and causing me to flinch for a moment before realizing what it was.
"Ah, so you can hear me; well, you must be pretty high up on the food chain to send out five battalions of Younglings and corresponding Elders easily. I wonder… your identity, maybe a member of the Fae-Lyn Council? Since this is only a Silver Comm Amulet, I doubt you’re the queen or anything that high up." Glancing down at the Purple-Haired Elder, I could see hope returning to his eyes, a sign that it wasn’t just me who heard the voice.
"A human strong enough to easily deal with such an attack force, I wonder…what Classification and Rank you have achieved?" the female voice asked with a slight giggle in her tone. Her words caused my expression to harden as I unhesitatingly whipped my dagger into the head of the Purple-Haired Elder, killing him instantly.
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"I have no idea what you’re talking about, Lady, Rank? Classification? I’m just a little stronger thanks to my workout routine of 100 push-ups, sit-ups, and running 10 miles a day." Stepping off the Elder’s chest, I swiped my hand toward the corpse, storing it in my inventory, and moved to begin looting all the bodies.
"Oh really now, you aren’t fooling anyone; I suppose there’s a good way to determine if I’m correct; how about we have a little Gamble: If I win, I live; if you win, I die?" The Lady Fae’s voice had turned from being pleasant to the ears to nails on a chalkboard in my head because I was convinced she was a returner.
"Lady, I don’t know if anyone ever told you this or not, but it’s not a great idea to gamble with your life," Rolling my eyes, I had to admit I was slightly curious as to what she would do or say to confirm her thoughts about me, it was a no brainer that she assumed I was a Returner.