Pantaleon - Journal Entry - October 8, 2012

After reading the journal my KI flashed; a message from Dean!  Come to K'veer.  Now knowing where he is perhaps we can find a cure for Esto's illness.  I took flight through the ruins of Vamen.  Unfortunately I encountered something unexpected.  It began as a minor tremor.  The tremor increased in magnitude.  I nearly tripped on the rubble on the ground.  I had to reach my destination.  What was happening?  My KI flashed again.  This time a message from Adelia.

Before I could read it another tremor caused the ground to shake violently; structures appeared on the verge of collapse.  I was almost to the boat and off to K’veer when an earthquake with intense magnitude struck.  I was pushed forward into a wall.  By instinct I raised my hands to guard my face.  My KI took the brunt of the damage; shattered on one side.  The pathway I was following had collapsed making it impossible to return by that route.  Then some rubble fell and I took a blow to the head.

When I awoke, the cavern was calm.  I could not help but feel as though the tremors and earthquakes that occurred before were intentional.  I found my boat still intact and quickly rowed to K'veer relieved to be away from a part of the city that seemed more and more like a death-trap.  Then again, perhaps it wouldn't be safe for others to take that linking book.  What if it caused other explorers to fall prey to the same illness as Esto?  Vamen district should be under quarantine until we resolve the mystery.

When I reached K'veer, Dean was nowhere to be seen.  How long had it been since he messaged me?  At the nexus terminal I had to work with my broken KI.  There was an issue with getting it into the slot to activate.  Thankfully, I finally got it working; then Dean appeared on my KI.  He had linked to the balcony.  After I rushed up the stairs I found myself face to face with my old friend.  Had it not been for what my KI was telling me I would not even have recognized him.

Dean wore a tattered cloth shirt with the symbol of Yeesha's Journey.  He seemed different; focused on something distant.  I described Esto’s condition to Dean.  He had some idea that it could have happened.  He was worried when Esto had not contacted him in the past but did not expect his condition to be this severe.  Dean also said he had changed and that his name had changed to reflect this: MidnightSun.  This was difficult for me to accept even though the changes were apparent.  How could someone change that much?

 
Before returning to Ae'gura, Dean said he could fix my KI but I would still be unable to respond to messages.  Still, having it work even a bit more would would be enough to continue traveling through the cavern.   At least now things are looking brighter.  Now, we can save Esto.  I suspect Dean has some idea of how to snap Esto out of his condition.  We'll see when reach Tokotah II.