Haku and Rhaegal, accompanied by Misune, Efren and Atelas, returned to the top of the tower. There they found Zamor and Isaac waiting for them, as well as many arachnes priests, and also their sisters Tikka and Teramon. "Did you two stay here?" Haku asked them.
"No, we… I'll explain you later" Tikka answered, not wanting to risk revealing their secrets in front of the arachnes. Even if they were in every way allies, it was still better to be careful. The dragons didn't fully trust even the beastmen they'd spent several months with, let alone individuals they'd barely met. Therefore, it was better to postpone that conversation until later.
Haku easily understood that the two of them had probably abandoned their avatars momentarily; there was no other reason to keep it a secret. He could understand them: he too would have done the same if he had been there with an avatar and not with his real body. After all, maintaining control over an avatar while the mind was completely in turmoil wasn't easy. "Okay, it doesn't really matter" he said, then he looked back at Iflhet. "Supreme priest, we have to thank you. What we discovered today was really... a lot, but we are happy to have known a part of our history that was before hidden to us. So, thank you for having fulfilled your task and having preserved these tablets all this time"
Iflhet smiled, flattered as usual every time Haku complimented him. "You don't have to thank me" he replied. "We and our ancestors have accomplished an exceedingly easy task. By sending us to this ancient cave the great Akenothustar ensured our survival and gave us a place to live, and what little knowledge we had been able to retain enabled us to create this city and all the others we inhabit. The least we could do was guard the only things he entrusted to us with our own lives"
Haku nodded sympathetically. "I cannot speak for my companions, but with your permission, I would like to stay a little longer here. I wish I could study for myself the legacy that the dragon named Akenothustar left us, and also I would like to get to know you and your people better. I know I am abusing your hospitality, but I must ask you to allow me to stay here a little longer"
He was sure the arachnes wouldn't refuse, and he was asking only out of courtesy and to maintain a minimum of decorum; and in fact he was not disappointed, because Iflhet, who being the supreme priest was practically the highest authority of the society of the arachnes, bowed his head without even thinking twice. "Everything you see here is yours, my king. The lords of the world created these caves, the lords of the world created the life that fills them, the lords of the world sent us here, and the lords of the world gave us the knowledge needed to build this and all our other cities. All this is the work of the lords of the world, not ours, and it belongs to the lords of the world. The guests here aren't you and your siblings, my king, but us. You have no need to ask our permission to stay here; you can do what you want with this place"
Ok, maybe so much devotion was a little exaggerated; Iflhet's behavior was no different from a king who took off his crown and gave it to the first comer saying 'the kingdom and all its inhabitants are yours, now do whatever you want'. Haku appreciated that the arachnes had such faith in dragons, but he would have preferred that they had a modicum of attachment to a city that they had built with their own hands, even if with knowledge offered by dragons (and in a place built by a dragon, let's remember!). The strange thing was that nobody seemed to be against it: all the other priests seemed to totally agree with what the supreme priest had just said. Well, better that way: it would have been easier to get what he wanted.
"I too would like to stay" Zamor said stepping forward. "I won't abuse your hospitality more than necessary, but I feel that I could learn a lot from your people. I would like to get to know them better and fully understand your culture. Also, I am still an ambassador, and I am sure that by spending time together we could find new ways to bring our two peoples closer together. It could be the beginning of a golden age"
Haku looked at the lizardman, expecting to notice the classic posture and expression he sported when he acted for the simple reason of wanting to control the dragon's actions, but incredibly this time it was different. Zamor sported such a serious look that it seemed to Haku that he truly believed in what he was saying. Either he had become a really good actor, which was understandable after spending months together with Haku, or he really believed that Iluvatan City and the people of the arachnes could thrive by working together. Perhaps Akenothustar's words had partly inspired him. Not bad: he didn't mind having the lizardman by his side even in that mission. After all, he would have had to spend a lot of time learning what Akenothustar had left him, so it would have been handy to have someone else exploring and studying arachne society and understanding its potential benefits, or at least who could report back what they had seen in so that he could reprocess the information and reached a conclusion. "You are welcome" Iflhet answered him. "All those who wish to stay are welcome. Hospitality is an almost sacred duty for us"
"In that case, I'll stay too" Isaac said stepping forward. "I wish I could study and learn how you use magic, and I would also like you to teach me everything you know about the ancient Draconian"
Obviously, Isaac was interested in the potential new magical knowledge before him; the arachnes had proven to be quite good with it, and they certainly possessed really interesting spells, as well as a deep knowledge of the oldest languages in the world. As a mage, Isaac was fascinated by it. If he could learn some of that magic and teach it in the school he founded, or even better if he could convince some arachnes to come and teach it, he would greatly increase the magical potential of Iluvatan City.
"We'll stay too" Tikka said, and Teramon nodded. "We want to help our brother discover our past". Actually the main reason why they wanted to stay was to defend Haku in case of attack, since unlike him they were using avatars, and in the meantime to help him both to learn what Akenothustar had left them and to discover new things about the civilization of the arachnes.
Iflhet nodded happily; indeed, it could be safely said that he was over the moon. Being able to host three lords of the world in his city must have been a dream he hadn't thought of realizing in the course of his life, and instead now it had become a reality. "And you? Do you want to stay too?" he asked looking at Rhaegal.
But Rhaegal shook his head. "No, I'll go back to the surface. I have business to take care of". Now that he had seen for himself the relevant matter of the ancient scriptures, he had no more reason to stay there; on the contrary, it was only fitting that he hurry back to the surface and talk to his siblings about the fact that he was being tortured. He intended to keep his word to Haku. Also, now that he had more information about the gods, he planned to interrogate Inpu heavily to see if he knew anything.
"In that case, I'll go to the surface with you" Efren said. "Technically I'm also on the council, so I'm an ambassador myself. I'll go back and say that the negotiations went well and that Zamor and Haku stayed here to try and get more benefits". While there hadn't technically been any negotiations, it was clear that the arachnes posed no threat (at least until the dragons ordered them to do something bad, which was quite remote now), so they could just say it was all over. Well. In this way the council would have remained calm and would not have investigated further. While they were supposed to know the truth sooner or later, Efren felt it was best not to reveal everything they'd learned about dragons and gods just yet.
"I'll go with you too" Atelas said. "You're going to need someone to watch your back as we ascend, and I don't much like being out of the sun. Also, I have business at the adventurers' guild that I have to take care of... if it hasn't burned to the ground in our absence". A more than legitimate doubt, considering that they had literally left it without jurisdiction.
At that point, only Misune was left. "I too would like to stay a little longer" she said. "I want... to learn how you live here". Haku suspected that her desire wasn't really a desire to learn other people's culture, but the fact that she didn't want to go back to a society that worshiped gods so soon after what she had discovered. If she did, she probably wouldn't be able to control herself as soon as she saw someone worshiping any deity, so it was best for everyone that she remained underground for a while, the time needed for her to calm down and regain some semblance of self-control.
Seeing that everyone seemed to have made their choice, Haku turned on the communication device. "Darbi, are you still listening?" he asked, not sure if his brother had been watching after… well, after all that had happened.
Darbi's voice reached him almost immediately. "Loud and clear, brother. I heard it all"
"Would you mind rounding up our sisters and asking them if you're all okay with us staying here a little longer?" Haku asked him.
"I already did, they already know everything. And that's fine with it" Darbi answered. "Just make sure you don't do anything stupid. And remember, I'll always be listening; if you ever need anything, contact me immediately"
Haku smiled. He wasn't sure how his family would react to what they'd just heard and to his decision, but apparently they seemed to agree with him quite a bit... assuming that Darbi wasn't actually speaking for himself alone, but he doubted it seriously. His brother wasn't the type to play such tricks. "Thank you" he said, then he walked over to the tablets resting on the side of the tower. "Let's see what these metal blocks have to hide!"
As soon as he placed his paw on them again, the tablets began to shake again and the letters engraved on them again lit up with a greenish light. This time, however, nothing happened: it almost seemed as if they were waiting for further instructions. Haku remembered Akenothustar's words: now that he had claimed ownership of the ancient scriptures, they would obey his will. "First of all, I free the arachnes from the ancient spell. From now on they can speak the truth with whoever they wish!"
The tablets sizzled, then a flash of green light emerged from them and spread throughout the cavern, and then beyond; the arachnes were enveloped in a strange aura that lasted just an instant, and then there was a snap, like a chain snapping. Haku was sure that meant the arachnes were now free from Akenothustar's spell. He had made that choice because in the future he would need them as propagandists, and they couldn't do it if they couldn't talk about it; even if he could have waited for the right moment, he had preferred to deal with it immediately, at least to understand how those tablets worked. "Good. Now show me the knowledge that Akenothustar trapped here!"
The letters engraved on the tablets shone with green light, and suddenly from them emerged almost ethereal beams above which luminous squares appeared; within each of these squares, thousands of words and images began to form. The squares became tens, hundreds, then thousands; it seemed that every second a new one was generated. Haku felt excited at the thought that that was nothing but an infinite amount of information, a veritable gold mine for him. "Let's see what's in here..."