Many pieces of the world have been lost. The accomplishments of mortals and even the knowledge of them fade from existence, in time. Wizards are said to covet these truths unknown to others, whether forgotten or yet to be discovered, and many a tale is of a spellcaster driven to madness by their single-minded pursuit of such. 

The object he withdrew with such care revealed itself as a rough-edged tablet of stone once unwrapped. It was the dull beige of desert rock, and its unassuming appearance belied an ancient majesty, not the least of which was due to the quiet reverence with which the wizards treated it. One side was indented with tightly packed rows of angular runes, tiny lines forming individual glyphs. 

“We might as well go over our translations.” Hadrian began rummaging through his pack, pulling out a sheaf of papers.

“You have spent many weeks re-reading the same lines. I do not think you will find anything new, or that our course will change at this stage of our journey.”

“What if it’s not the right place? Maybe the location the name referred to changed over time? Or what if we made a mistake somewhere.”

“Most likely not, and some of the references we checked were quite old. It is also one of relatively few peaks in the range that bears its own name. As for the translation itself, do you not recall the month we spent just collecting Old Tyrnian lexicons?” 

“That’s the thing though, if this place has a name specific enough for us to have found it through research, why could we not find any record of the palace the tablet describes, or the ruler the tablet attributes it to? The ruins of it should be unmistakable.”

Jacedi shrugged. “By our estimations, the tablet is older than the records we had access to. The libraries we visited were relatively provincial compared to those at one of the larger universities. Had we returned to Aedura, we might have discovered more.”

“Sorry, just nervous, I guess.” Hadrian sighed. “I suppose the secluded estate of some long-forgotten ruler is not so unlikely a thing to lay undiscovered for thousands of years. I can’t shake the feeling that there’s some strangeness here we haven’t quite figured out.”

“Well, we have done the best we can given the circumstances. I think it has been worth it for a shot at claiming riches and glory for ourselves.” Jacedi smiled. 

Hadrian smiled back. “You sound too mercenary. I thought we cared about academic prestige that didn’t just come from politicking and scheming.” 

“I thought you loved Aeduran politics.”

“Ha ha. Good joke.” 

Jacedi smiled as Hadrian flopped back onto a sleeping mat. 

“Let’s get some rest. We’re still several days out, right?”

“If we make excellent time each day, we can be there in two weeks. But I imagine it will likely be closer to three.” 

“Sounds good. I guess camping out here isn’t so bad anyways. It’s a bit colder than up north, but not as bad as I thought it might be.” 

The elf wizard murmured in agreement. The pair quickly slid into slumber under the night sky. The wide landscape of earth and low greenery seemed to stretch out endlessly in all directions.  The small campfire whispered and crackled for hours into the night, a single point of light upon the land beneath the many stars. 

The next morning a thin layer of dew had settled upon the world. Jacedi awoke first, getting up quickly with the dawn. He brushed at the droplets of water that had settled upon his clothing. As he did so, he pulled the dampness from himself, coalescing it into a small cloud of tiny dewdrops that hovered in front of him. He flicked his finger towards Hadrian’s sleeping figure and a cluster of globules the size of a few grapes flew through the air to splatter on his face. The rest of the water he allowed to fall at his feet.

Hadrian sputtered awake instantly. He leapt to his feet, indignant. 

“It’s barely even dawn.” he grumbled, gesticulating at the sun shyly peeking just barely over the horizon. With an intake of breath, a wave of heat washed over him, evaporating the water into steam that drifted off into the morning air with a hiss.

“Your robe’s on fire.” Jacedi pointed behind the waking wizard. 

Hadrian woozily squinted at his friend with a look that exuded disbelief and disdain. He crossed his arms, refusing to turn around. 

“What if I’m actually on fire at some point? I’d never believe you.” 

“Well, if that ever comes to pass, you better put it out quick, then.” 

Stretching his limbs, he stumbled over to the sleeping mule to begin loading the packs. 

“Hey there.” the creature stirred. “You’re my friend, right? I hope the dew doesn’t bother you too much.” He brushed a few drops off of its pinkish mane. 

The beast of burden awoke, large black eyes blinking open. It licked the moisture off of its smooth skin, its long tongue circling its eyes before it turned its attention to Hadrian. With a wet smack, the tongue collided with his face.

“Alright, alright, that’s enough friendship from you. We’re leaving soon.”

The early hours of the day were fairly comfortable to travel in for the most part. The scraggly grasses and shrubs offered no shade, and the trees that did were relatively few and far between, but an occasional conjured breeze was enough to prevent them from getting too overwhelmed by the heat. Only when it approached midday were they forced to break. The wizards once again found a spot of shade to rest in for a few hours as the sun slipped past the crest of its daily arc. They made a small meal out of their provisions and bread as they sat.

The pattern of walking and resting, making camp and meals continued for several more days. After a week had passed, jagged shapes began to encroach on the horizon. It was not long before the dark shapes rose up, taking form as a distant mountain range. From the pair’s heading, the rocky peaks seemed to stretch on endlessly to the right, before dwindling into the earth ahead of them. 

As they walked, the details of the faraway range crept into their sight. The hazy blue of distance faded into the whiteness of snow-capped summits and the deep green scrabble of forested slopes. Each step they took seemed to grant greater clarity to the imposing horizon. Another week passed, and the mountains now loomed above the small wizards, as if they had slid across the land to greet them. 

Their destination was a rather modest peak. It was not especially tall compared to its neighbors, nor was it noticeably shorter. It was situated near where the range ended to the north, yet still many miles from where the terrain leveled out enough for anyone to travel around the mountains altogether. It was simply a single crenelation in a vast wall of stone. The shrubbery and dirt of the plains behind gave way to rolling grassy hills that swaddled the base of the mountains, growing upwards until they themselves gave way to sheer faces of rock. 

“This is the place?” Hadrian shaded his eyes as he looked upwards. It was the morning of what they hoped would be the last day of the journey there. 

“I am fairly sure.”

“So we should be looking for a lake ‘nestled between two hills’. From the tablet, it should be less than a day’s trip from ‘the foot of the mountain.’ If this is the right mountain, hopefully we can make camp there tonight.”

“The hills may make it difficult to find. In the worst case, we can continue up the mountain and look back from a higher perspective.” 

“Sounds like a plan.”

The pair began their ascent with renewed confidence from approaching their destination. The first hill seemed rather unimposing, and they climbed it fairly easily. The second hill seemed the same at first, but the young human wizard stopped to catch his breath at its peak. He took off his hat and wiped at his brow before bending over to rest with his hands on his knees. Halfway up the third hill, he dropped to the ground, lying against the slope, panting with exhaustion.

“Hey Jacedi.”

“Yes?” the elf had a slightly smug expression on his face. He was clearly sweating and out of breath, but was in much better condition.

“We’ve been walking for weeks now. Why is going uphill so. much. harder.”  

“Gravity is cruel.” He shrugged. “Come on, perhaps we will be able to see something from the top.”

“Give me another minute.”

“Okay. But do not take too long, or I will have to go on without you.” 

“Shut up.” 

“We will wait for you at the top then.” he winked, before heading further up the hill, lead in hand, with the mule trailing a short distance behind him.

Hadrian sighed as he weakly waved about in the grass. He lay there for a little bit longer before pulling himself to his feet. Placing his hat back upon his head, he followed after his friend. He caught up at the hill’s summit to see Jacedi standing there with the mule. He turned back, flashing a grin at Hadrian. 

“Welcome!”

“I really am not looking forward to a whole day of this, let alone two or more.”

“I think you may be in luck then.” 

“Luck isn’t really our thing, is it?” Hadrian trailed off as Jacedi turned back to look towards the mountains. 

A patch of blue glittered between the green hills up ahead. It was smooth as glass, and the crisp reflection of the bright sky and a scattering of clouds stood out starkly among the surrounding earthen shades. 

“Maybe it is now, my friend.”