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Nathaniel Tynian was walking through the crowded, cramped narrow streets of the city. It was one of many he had seen on his long travels; a rich port that traded in goods from across the world. The name escaped him; he rarely kept track anymore.

He was passing through a bazaar; bright colourful carpets, rugs and silks vied for dominance on stalls along side humble rush mats and pottery, both plain and lovingly painted. A thousand different scents assailed his sensitive felinoid nose; spices, incense, leather, the pungent tang of oil and polish and the powerful smell of thousands of bodies pressed close together in the cramped, stiflingly hot space. His ears were also assaulted by raised voices; a roaring tide of a thousand accents, languages and dialects from the throats of dozens of different creatures. Merchants hawking wares, men jostling and cursing, unlucky urchins and shop-boys scolded by elders, employers and the occasional guard.

Suddenly out of the chaos, he spotted something on a small stall tucked away in the corner. it was covered in odd trinkets; some magic and some not, most junk. but... that couldn't be... could it?

A glittering shard of crystal suspended from a golden chain hanging from the cloth ceiling of the stall. it caught the light and refracted it a thousand times in myriad colours. But that was not what had caught his attention; it had been a small glyph intricately carved inside the crystal itself somehow. A glyph from the script of the ancient Terelains, his ancestors... which meant the crystal could only be one thing.

Nathaniel pushed his way through the crowds, ignoring the startled, angry curses some sent his way. he had to reach that stall. He had to get that crystal.

It was an Archive, a storage device created more than fourteen millennia ago before the Cataclysm and the Breaking of the World. In it was held the lost knowledge of his ancestors, the Ancients. He wouldn't be able to activate it, and it was unlikely he would be able to understand any of it anyway, complex and vast as the Ancients' knowledge had been. But despite this it was worth more than all the gold in the kingdoms. Who knows what secrets it held? what dangerous knowledge that might fall into the wrong hands should it ever be deciphered? Besides, there was so little left of his homeland and its once-proud nation that he would do anything to preserve even this tiny piece of his lost home. Only the Gods knew how it got here, though it was unlikely the merchant knew what he had in his possession. For obvious reasons, the existence of the Archives had been a closely guarded secret of his people before their destruction and enslavement.

He reached the merchant on the stall; a swarthy dark-skinned human male, one of the natives. "That crystal necklace, how much for it?" He asked.

I'll double whatever he's offering.

Thilga's telepathic abilities linked up with the human merchant's much weaker mind to instantaneously send the message. He could feel the magic energy emanating from that artifact. Too much of that could kill a person if used in the wrong way. He wanted to get to it first, to study it and hopefully harness it.

Thilga was behind the merchant's stall, in a back alley between buildings. He quickly moved to the counter to admire the piece, and warily eyed his competitor.

The feline wanderer growled low in his throat, "It's mine, an artefact of my people, it belongs to me by right. If you know what's good for you, you'll keep your hands off." he addressed the merchant, "I'll double whatever he offers you."

Truth be told, Nate wasn't exactly a rich man. He had enough to get by, but if this man was wealthy... well he could always bluff his way through. If not, Nathaniel was not one to let such a powerful artefact go without a fight and if it came to a physical confrontation.... well... three centuries of fighting experience and training were nothing to be sniffed at.

Nate examined his rival bidder, obviously one of a magical persuasion, "You may sense its power, but you have no idea what that crystal is. I do. If you have any sense, boy, you'll give it to me."

Beneath the bazaar, there was a room dug directly into the earth. Perhaps room is too generous -- just a pocket of air in the dry dirt, windowless, doorless, lightless. If it had been dug as a grave, it would have been just wide enough to fit two coffins side by side.

The psychic ripple of two brains suddenly lusting after secret knowledge spreads outward from the market stall, quickly finding its way to the subterranean pocket, and there it is like blood in the water. Something suddenly moves, tentacles wriggling invisibly in the dark and the beak clattering with vicious hunger. Secret knowledge just happened to be a specialty of this creature.

Haggling? Not so much.

From its place of hiding, the creature reaches out its mind to observe the two that have already caught sight of the crystal. It wouldn't do for either to get hold of the artifact, no no.

And so it, too, "speaks" to the merchant telepathically, sending not words but a wave of paranoia. The furless one, it insinuates, to the merchant alone, has a weapon and is planning to rob you. You mustn't let him.

That should buy some time. Its attention turns to the crystal itself, sending pulses of psychic energy at it, trying to establish some form of link with it, trying to get it to release its information. Paying is for chumps.

Thilga glared at his rival bidder. He didn't speak, but his private telepathic link had apparently been read into. Thilga decided to establish a link with the other as well.

I was unaware there was such a hostility here. I am merely trying to examine the obvious power and apparent intelligence emanating from this probably very rare artifact. Threats are unbecoming of gentlemen such as ourselves.

He looked seriously at the bidder, praying that he doesn't lose this chance. It would make a very nice addition to the Atlantian Royal Library, even if he had to send it by way of magic and not physically transport it. Still, something like that was priceless. I assure you, I have nearly an entire treasury at my disposal. Just name your price and it's yours. In truth, Thilga did have a treasury... Back home. Here he was just a street performer, collecting change from passersby. But the other bidder didn't seem too wealthy himself. If Thilga could bluff it, he might be just lucky enough to earn it for himself.

Allow me to give you a starting bid: I offer thirty pieces of silver.

Something was wrong with the psychic air waves, however. Something else was interfering with the bid-war. It was... Sinister. Thilga detected the aura, but shrugged it off as the negative energy emanating from the very angry Mr. Old-and-Therefore-better standing next to the young knight.

The ageless feline wanderer examined the young knight for a moment, "I'm bidding thirty-five pieces of silver." He then pointed to the crystal, "That mark in there? That's the merged seals of the Great Houses of Amaar and Adhar, and this crystal was created under the guidance of my family, the House of Tynian. It is ancient and the devices used to read the information on them were destroyed long ago; it will be useless to you. I, on the other hand, am a direct descendant of its creators and I can read it."

He didn't bother mentioning that unlike most of his kind he had almost zero knowledge of magic and therefore he actually couldn't access it without one of those aforementioned lost devices. Still, there was no reason his rival needed to know that. Besides, once he got the Archive crystal he might be able to jury-rig a reading device anyway given enough practice.

Distracted as he was by the bidding war, he didn't notice the light refracting through the crystal grow brighter for a brief moment, as if the crystal itself had begun to glow for that short time. Nor did he sense the brief flash of magic that it sent towards the creature deep beneath the earth that had tried to psychically access the Archive. The Archive was a very old piece of magitechnology, but that didn't mean its internal defenses and safeguards weren't still active. The magic pulse was more an attempt to disrupt the psychic link that the creature was trying to form; a warning.

The crystal wasn't sentient, far from it, but it still had a form of awareness. It recognised that the creature, whatever it was, was not authorised to access the Archival records it stored and threfore had acted to prevent it from accessing it. The crystal could be accessed psychically, and through the use of certain spells or pieces of magitechnology, but that didn't mean it would let them.

Feeling the warning reflected back, the subterranean creature paused, considering its options. Someone needed to be authorized to access the crystal.

And what's this? Someone announcing that they are a member of the household that created it. That might be just the authorization required. The creature's beak rattles in the dark, an atrocious perversion of laughter. No holiday bargain is better than the two-for-one deal.

For the moment, it bides its time, waiting to see if the two above will try to settle their differences. What a terrible thing that would be.

Seventy. Thilga replied. He was anxious to get this crystal. He made good on his doubling of what was being offered. To prove a point, Thilga pulled a pouch full of coins from his belt and poured out the equivalent of seventy pieces of silver.

I care not for your family's history, feline. I am here to get a crystal. Its usefulness to me depends on my experience with magic- Which is plenty. I also have plenty of friends who could most likely access this crystal easily back home. They are much wiser than even I. Thilga glared at his rival bidder. There was no way he would let him win. Or so he thought.

Thilga grew tense, as people do when they are in situations like these. He wanted this crystal- A silly idea since he had only just seen it; but it was something he wanted, nonetheless.

Nathaniel glared back, equally fierce, ignoring the blatant display of wealth, "That crystal is mine by right! I will not allow such an important piece of my homeland to be taken by some...some... outlander! There is too little left of what my people once were for me to let that happen, ad I will not allow your kind to poke about with things beyond your understanding! In the hands of the ignorant, the knowledge that Archive may contain will be far too dangerous, and I won't be held responsible for your civilisation annihilating itself by meddling with things that do not concern them!" The feline took a calming breath, "If you have any love for your land and its people you will not take that crystal. There are secrets that should remain out of the hands of Younger Races, things you are not ready for."

The fact is, Nate wouldn't be able to match this man in terms of wealth. He had some silver to his name, but not enough to outbid this man. His only hope lay in convincing him that the secrets the Archive held were too dangerous. After all, no one was certain what had destroyed the First Kingdom and Nathaniel had no wish for Thilga's kind to find out for themselves just how powerful and dangerous some of the Ancient's magitechnology had been. If it came to it, then he would have no choice but to destroy the Archive. It was best that the knowledge was lost forever than for it to fall into the wrong hands.

(Wow, I'm replying super late. Sorry. >.<)

Thilga raised a brow.

If it is yours by right, then why have you not claimed it? I can clearly see your desperation, but let's not resort to such barbaric things such as yelling. It is why I prefer to keep my mouth shut.

Younger Races? Such as the Ancient Atlantians, who have lived among the Stars since Ellos Himself crafted the world from his own hands? Or did you mean the even older Stars, who have been around since before the world's creation? The ones who are Ellos' right hand? I am a member of both, and I can assure you my race is a noble, and old one. And an expert such as myself will easily be able to unlock the secrets of this crystal. Your threats of extinction mean nothing to me, only revealing your true immaturity; Resorting to threats instead of behaving like the mature member of your race you claim to be.

Thilga barely glowed with warmth, but the glow of the heat emanating from him was there. Nathaniel may feel the urge to step away: Thilga's flames boiled within him. This rival bidder had clearly struck a nerve when he insulted Thilga's heritage. Thilga's normally expressionless face showed contempt for this stranger, who clearly knew nothing about his rival.

Thilga's anger flowed from his aura, and the creature below would most likely detect it.

Nathaniel did not back down, nor did he step away, "I know not of this Ellos nor of these Stars you speak of , if your kind is as old as you say then you must know the dangers involved with magic of this order. My people lie on the verge of extinction, our nation is broken and so much of what we were has been lost... do you see? That Archive crystal is a remnant of my people, a remnant of what they once were. I cannot allow it to be taken from me, I cannot allow yet more of my people's history to be lost. The Children of Terel may yet be fading and we may yet pass into the Void, but until that time comes I will do everything in my power to protect our legacy."

Nathaniel sighed and his expression turned very weary, "I apologise for offending you, but I... I cannot stand to lose this crystal, there is a chance, slim but still present, that the information held within it could hold the key for the survival of my people, in my position would you not do the same? If the Altantian kingdom lay ruined, its people in chains, as each year a little more of their culture and their identity is worn away? We are are born of Terel, the first creation of the Old Ones, the first gods of the world. Our line is ancient beyond all others... but perhaps your own, would you see us pass forever into silence?"

There was pain in his voice, a deep and abiding despair. If he could not buy the Archive outright, then perhaps he could convince Thilga to relinquish the Archive to him.