When the intelligent variant appeared, the defensive battle quickly turned, and they had broken through. Its prowess was clearly shown when he stepped forward, an equivalent strength of someone in the fifth or maybe even at the sixth tier of magic. Those fairies who were present, ordered by the Misfits to help out, although wanting to run away, still stayed, throwing whatever they could get their hands on right on the heads of the Undead. What frightened not just them but many of the Misfits was the true leader of the horde. His aura alone was something that affected their mind, weakening their will and, through it, their resolve and the potency of their spells.
"No, you won't!" Sion shouted, bombarding the Intelligent Undead from the wall, preventing the enemy's leader from unleashing his miasma in full, trying to influence the other Misfits even more deeply, and dealing with the remaining zombies.
"Haaaah!" Raufon roared, forming multiple seals with his hand, summoning a giant magical formation under their feet and raising up high walls around them, separating the four from the rest. Now, it was only them against the Undead leader.
"Fine by me." He spoke in a raspy voice, glancing at them and forming a cruel smile, and his human body started to transform right before their eyes. Soon, it stood three meters tall with four arms, each holding a sword made out of miasma, glowing with a sickly green hue.
Although their battle was contained in a small space, it was more intense than the war raging around them. After transforming, Raufon matched its height and physical strength, yet he was still being pushed back little by little. His punches, reinforced by his earthly armor when landing on the Undead's body, rang out like deep bells but could not leave any permanent damage on it.
While he was attacking relentlessly, bogging it down, Aurora was moving around them fast, attacking his blind spots and back, leaving deep lacerations on its body. Sadly, this also seemed useless. The monster was adept and robust, and its unnatural body regenerated faster than their attacks could injure him.
"Even if it is an Undead… its body must be from a living thing… We need to stop it from healing!" Sion thought, standing the furthest away, watching the two battle the enemy.
His latest experience in traveling through the dark, focusing on the dim light that could not be seen by any ordinary sight, has given him a new perspective. While spending time inside, it planted a thought and idea in his mind that resonated deeply with Lia's latest teachings. It came to him; that light was always there with him. Even when his senses failed to pick it up, perceive it, it was still there. In the darkest place on Meriath, the light was there to guide him. He just had to discover it.
His experience sparked something in him that made sense of all that Lia was telling them. Since returning from her trip, she shared everything she knew with the group, everything she managed to decipher from Arcus's recollections. Now, it was starting to make sense more than ever before. When he pulled the trigger, the light that burst forth from his pistols was black as night. It was not going in a straight line but spreading like a cloud of darkness, enveloping everybody, including Aurora and Raufon.
They thought it was the work of the Undead when it happened, but then the light returned... but only for them. They saw a dim ball of glow appear above them, illuminating their surroundings as if they were lost in a murky fog. It was clear that the Undead wasn't seeing it, still blind, surprised, and swinging around aimlessly, trying to hit them.
"Quick! I can't maintain it for long!" Sion groaned, concentrating on the new, unique sensation, sapping his energy at a ridiculous speed.
The two didn't need a second reminder and used it to their advantage, attacking the Undead with their full might. No matter how hard he tried to pierce through the unnatural darkness, the light was invisible to him. Worse for him, it had another effect on his puppet body. Using Hajna's spells as a basis, it damaged its Undead body in a way that stopped its rapid regeneration.
Every wound Aurora and Raufon left on its body could not heal in time before a new one had already appeared. Even the Undead realized something was wrong and decided it was time to escape. With a thought, he separated his soul, appearing like a transparent human, revealing his middle-aged appearance.
"Don't let him run!" Sion shouted, dispelling his mana and returning everybody to the natural light.
The Soulbound cultivator was about to open up a crack to No-Space and flee when a bright, orange light passed through the air, hitting it and blasting the fragile soul into pieces. It had no time to scream, extinguished utterly, making the surrounding Undead gradually start dropping like flies.
"Bullseye!" Came to a laugh belonging to Keily, who was the culprit behind sniping the fleeing soul, bringing in the reinforcement, and arriving just in time.
…
….
……
Inside the broken Realm of the ancient sect of the Eternals, Lia and Lucian were traveling from floating rock to floating rock, searching for the treasury before their target could appear and manage to do the same.
"Where will he materialize?" Lia asked, not from Lucian but from Hajna.
"He could come in at any point, honestly speaking…. I couldn't predict." She replied, her voice coming from the golden disk in Lucian's hands. "Leaving is what fixed. It won't matter if we find the treasury first! It should be somewhere around here..."
"You said the same thing an hour ago." She grumbled softly.
"The pieces around here are mixed up, so it is hard to tell which part of my home they represent… but I can sense that it is somewhere here. I just… can't pinpoint it."
"How do you sense it?" Lucian asked, feeling curious.
"I had a plate inside of it so I could appear when needed. I feel it resonating with my attempts to establish a connection. That is why I say it must be, oh… found it."
"Finally!"
When they stopped, there was nothing there besides a misshapen, house-sized, brown rock, spinning slowly, floating aimlessly in nothingness.
"This is it?" Lia questioned with raised eyebrows. "Or do we need to crack it open like an egg?"
"That would be unwise." Hajna sighed a little, sounding bittersweet and melancholic. "If its contents spill out, good luck catching them. Let me try and open it!"
Going silent with words, her golden disk started flashing in different patterns and echoing a strange melody. She did it multiple times before something finally happened: the rock trembled, and a crack appeared. It was only big enough for them to squeeze through and arrive in a strange place. It was like a brightly lit museum floor with hundreds of statues, weapon mounts on walls, and display cases standing in multiple lines. Everything was still in place, proudly holding up the treasures, potions, and books laid out on them or propped up behind glass cabinets. Yet it was also evident time was merciless, and Hajna was right.
Most of it turned into useless scrap metal. Many of their surface were littered with tiny, spiderweb-like cracks, their unique effects long dissipated and broken. When Lia touched one dagger on a rack, its hilt turned to ash in her hand, making her sigh with disappointment. Even those items that looked intact were damaged in reality, and the slightest contact transformed them into dust.
"I guessed this would happen… even when hidden, this place still felt the effects of the fire that destroyed my home. All is gone…" Hajna spoke up, breaking their silence with a dejected voice. "The realm key should be intact, though… it's bound to the Realm, making it nigh indestructible."
"That's good! Do you know where it is?" Lucian nodded, eager to find it.
"Yes," Hajna expressed, appearing and floating forward until the two came before a ten-meter-tall statue of herself. Of the last leader of the Eternals. It was standing there gracefully, holding her hand out as if it was waiting for someone to kiss it, offering the utmost respect to the ruler of this place. "The ring on the index finger. That is it."
"Pretty big!" Lia murmured, watching the golden jewelry with an amethyst gem embedded right on the top of it.
"It's not. You'll see! To get it off, you need to kiss it. At least that's how it worked the old way." Hajna explained, "If you were worthy, you got its blessing and could leave the Realm without issues and enter any of our own land. Otherwise… you had to undergo rigorous training to attune yourself to the Cosmos to not be torn apart by its energy winds."
"Let me try!" Lia chuckled, flying up and performing the gesture without hesitation. The moment her lips touched the gem, it suddenly glowed in an intense light, and the whole statue crumbled into ash the next moment. "Eh?" She blinked her eyes, surprised, a bit afraid that she screwed up something.
"On your finger!" Lucian stated, arriving next to her, and there it was, on her right hand, on her ring finger… the Realm Key."
"Ah! Really! Eh…” She tried to pull it off, but it didn't budge. "It… it's stuck? Hajna?"
"Hm." She hummed, saying nothing.
"Not just humm at me! It isn't coming off!"
No matter what she tried, it was stuck; if anything, it was her finger and teeth that hurt while trying to pry it off.
"It seems it affixed itself to you. Maybe because it has been lost for so long?" Hajna mumbled, looking on interestedly.
"You think, or you know?" Lucian asked, and Hajna refused to answer.
"Great…" Lia shrugged, giving up any further attempts to get it removed. "Now I got engaged by a dead empress's statue that crumbled to dust. Honestly speaking… I'm not impressed by it! Not at all!"
"We will find out what to do with it!" Lucian chuckled, patting her head, "Let's go… we need to hide and prepare! We still got a friend of ours who is on his way!"
"True!" She nodded, ignoring the little problem they landed themselves in, "Well, at least he can't steal it, only if he cuts off my hand!"
"I would have my own say in that!" Lucian added with a confident grin.
…
….
……
Ferrah arrived at the ancient ruins by the time it was close to midnight. Looking at the old buildings, he needs a little time to recall the memories before walking to the temples, noticing the marks the Misfits left behind when they first came here.
"It's recent…" He murmured, furrowing his brows, getting a bit annoyed and worried. It was clear that others found this place and proceeded to explore. The question was, what did they find? What did they leave with? "No… it should be good… without a proper instrument, they couldn't have found it!"
With that, he picked out the token from his pocket and spoke to it in a language that only Hajna could understand. 'Hazatértem.' And with that, he was gone, without the need to activate the temples, and instead, he was teleported straight into the same place where the Misfits initially found Hajna. Looking around, he needed time to reorient himself, and looking at the ruins, it was hard to tell whether it was recently destroyed or not. Walking out and seeing the shattered Realm and the many floating rocks, Ferrah couldn't help but let out a long sigh.
"I still remember how it looked intact… what a waste!"
It wasn't his first time coming in here. Once, he lived amongst the Eternals for years as an envoy of the Golden Claw Sect. He was a spy back then, tasked to uncover as many secrets as possible, aiming to ensure they were ahead of their competition. He couldn't find their treasure back then, but it shouldn't be an issue now.
"Lead me to it!" He grinned, using the token as a type of wayfinder, holding it out and flying towards the direction where he felt it resonate. Those places had to have proper power in them, still active, and the token should receive the most substantial feedback from the only thing that could withstand such destruction… the Realm Key.
When the intelligent variant appeared, the defensive battle quickly turned, and they had broken through. Its prowess was clearly shown when he stepped forward, an equivalent strength of someone in the fifth or maybe even at the sixth tier of magic. Those fairies who were present, ordered by the Misfits to help out, although wanting to run away, still stayed, throwing whatever they could get their hands on right on the heads of the Undead. What frightened not just them but many of the Misfits was the true leader of the horde. His aura alone was something that affected their mind, weakening their will and, through it, their resolve and the potency of their spells.
"No, you won't!" Sion shouted, bombarding the Intelligent Undead from the wall, preventing the enemy's leader from unleashing his miasma in full, trying to influence the other Misfits even more deeply, and dealing with the remaining zombies.
"Haaaah!" Raufon roared, forming multiple seals with his hand, summoning a giant magical formation under their feet and raising up high walls around them, separating the four from the rest. Now, it was only them against the Undead leader.
"Fine by me." He spoke in a raspy voice, glancing at them and forming a cruel smile, and his human body started to transform right before their eyes. Soon, it stood three meters tall with four arms, each holding a sword made out of miasma, glowing with a sickly green hue.
Although their battle was contained in a small space, it was more intense than the war raging around them. After transforming, Raufon matched its height and physical strength, yet he was still being pushed back little by little. His punches, reinforced by his earthly armor when landing on the Undead's body, rang out like deep bells but could not leave any permanent damage on it.
While he was attacking relentlessly, bogging it down, Aurora was moving around them fast, attacking his blind spots and back, leaving deep lacerations on its body. Sadly, this also seemed useless. The monster was adept and robust, and its unnatural body regenerated faster than their attacks could injure him.
"Even if it is an Undead… its body must be from a living thing… We need to stop it from healing!" Sion thought, standing the furthest away, watching the two battle the enemy.
His latest experience in traveling through the dark, focusing on the dim light that could not be seen by any ordinary sight, has given him a new perspective. While spending time inside, it planted a thought and idea in his mind that resonated deeply with Lia's latest teachings. It came to him; that light was always there with him. Even when his senses failed to pick it up, perceive it, it was still there. In the darkest place on Meriath, the light was there to guide him. He just had to discover it.
His experience sparked something in him that made sense of all that Lia was telling them. Since returning from her trip, she shared everything she knew with the group, everything she managed to decipher from Arcus's recollections. Now, it was starting to make sense more than ever before. When he pulled the trigger, the light that burst forth from his pistols was black as night. It was not going in a straight line but spreading like a cloud of darkness, enveloping everybody, including Aurora and Raufon.
They thought it was the work of the Undead when it happened, but then the light returned... but only for them. They saw a dim ball of glow appear above them, illuminating their surroundings as if they were lost in a murky fog. It was clear that the Undead wasn't seeing it, still blind, surprised, and swinging around aimlessly, trying to hit them.
"Quick! I can't maintain it for long!" Sion groaned, concentrating on the new, unique sensation, sapping his energy at a ridiculous speed.
The two didn't need a second reminder and used it to their advantage, attacking the Undead with their full might. No matter how hard he tried to pierce through the unnatural darkness, the light was invisible to him. Worse for him, it had another effect on his puppet body. Using Hajna's spells as a basis, it damaged its Undead body in a way that stopped its rapid regeneration.
Every wound Aurora and Raufon left on its body could not heal in time before a new one had already appeared. Even the Undead realized something was wrong and decided it was time to escape. With a thought, he separated his soul, appearing like a transparent human, revealing his middle-aged appearance.
"Don't let him run!" Sion shouted, dispelling his mana and returning everybody to the natural light.
The Soulbound cultivator was about to open up a crack to No-Space and flee when a bright, orange light passed through the air, hitting it and blasting the fragile soul into pieces. It had no time to scream, extinguished utterly, making the surrounding Undead gradually start dropping like flies.
"Bullseye!" Came to a laugh belonging to Keily, who was the culprit behind sniping the fleeing soul, bringing in the reinforcement, and arriving just in time.
…
….
……
Inside the broken Realm of the ancient sect of the Eternals, Lia and Lucian were traveling from floating rock to floating rock, searching for the treasury before their target could appear and manage to do the same.
"Where will he materialize?" Lia asked, not from Lucian but from Hajna.
"He could come in at any point, honestly speaking…. I couldn't predict." She replied, her voice coming from the golden disk in Lucian's hands. "Leaving is what fixed. It won't matter if we find the treasury first! It should be somewhere around here..."
"You said the same thing an hour ago." She grumbled softly.
"The pieces around here are mixed up, so it is hard to tell which part of my home they represent… but I can sense that it is somewhere here. I just… can't pinpoint it."
"How do you sense it?" Lucian asked, feeling curious.
"I had a plate inside of it so I could appear when needed. I feel it resonating with my attempts to establish a connection. That is why I say it must be, oh… found it."
"Finally!"
When they stopped, there was nothing there besides a misshapen, house-sized, brown rock, spinning slowly, floating aimlessly in nothingness.
"This is it?" Lia questioned with raised eyebrows. "Or do we need to crack it open like an egg?"
"That would be unwise." Hajna sighed a little, sounding bittersweet and melancholic. "If its contents spill out, good luck catching them. Let me try and open it!"
Going silent with words, her golden disk started flashing in different patterns and echoing a strange melody. She did it multiple times before something finally happened: the rock trembled, and a crack appeared. It was only big enough for them to squeeze through and arrive in a strange place. It was like a brightly lit museum floor with hundreds of statues, weapon mounts on walls, and display cases standing in multiple lines. Everything was still in place, proudly holding up the treasures, potions, and books laid out on them or propped up behind glass cabinets. Yet it was also evident time was merciless, and Hajna was right.
Most of it turned into useless scrap metal. Many of their surface were littered with tiny, spiderweb-like cracks, their unique effects long dissipated and broken. When Lia touched one dagger on a rack, its hilt turned to ash in her hand, making her sigh with disappointment. Even those items that looked intact were damaged in reality, and the slightest contact transformed them into dust.
"I guessed this would happen… even when hidden, this place still felt the effects of the fire that destroyed my home. All is gone…" Hajna spoke up, breaking their silence with a dejected voice. "The realm key should be intact, though… it's bound to the Realm, making it nigh indestructible."
"That's good! Do you know where it is?" Lucian nodded, eager to find it.
"Yes," Hajna expressed, appearing and floating forward until the two came before a ten-meter-tall statue of herself. Of the last leader of the Eternals. It was standing there gracefully, holding her hand out as if it was waiting for someone to kiss it, offering the utmost respect to the ruler of this place. "The ring on the index finger. That is it."
"Pretty big!" Lia murmured, watching the golden jewelry with an amethyst gem embedded right on the top of it.
"It's not. You'll see! To get it off, you need to kiss it. At least that's how it worked the old way." Hajna explained, "If you were worthy, you got its blessing and could leave the Realm without issues and enter any of our own land. Otherwise… you had to undergo rigorous training to attune yourself to the Cosmos to not be torn apart by its energy winds."
"Let me try!" Lia chuckled, flying up and performing the gesture without hesitation. The moment her lips touched the gem, it suddenly glowed in an intense light, and the whole statue crumbled into ash the next moment. "Eh?" She blinked her eyes, surprised, a bit afraid that she screwed up something.
"On your finger!" Lucian stated, arriving next to her, and there it was, on her right hand, on her ring finger… the Realm Key."
"Ah! Really! Eh…” She tried to pull it off, but it didn't budge. "It… it's stuck? Hajna?"
"Hm." She hummed, saying nothing.
"Not just humm at me! It isn't coming off!"
No matter what she tried, it was stuck; if anything, it was her finger and teeth that hurt while trying to pry it off.
"It seems it affixed itself to you. Maybe because it has been lost for so long?" Hajna mumbled, looking on interestedly.
"You think, or you know?" Lucian asked, and Hajna refused to answer.
"Great…" Lia shrugged, giving up any further attempts to get it removed. "Now I got engaged by a dead empress's statue that crumbled to dust. Honestly speaking… I'm not impressed by it! Not at all!"
"We will find out what to do with it!" Lucian chuckled, patting her head, "Let's go… we need to hide and prepare! We still got a friend of ours who is on his way!"
"True!" She nodded, ignoring the little problem they landed themselves in, "Well, at least he can't steal it, only if he cuts off my hand!"
"I would have my own say in that!" Lucian added with a confident grin.
…
….
……
Ferrah arrived at the ancient ruins by the time it was close to midnight. Looking at the old buildings, he needs a little time to recall the memories before walking to the temples, noticing the marks the Misfits left behind when they first came here.
"It's recent…" He murmured, furrowing his brows, getting a bit annoyed and worried. It was clear that others found this place and proceeded to explore. The question was, what did they find? What did they leave with? "No… it should be good… without a proper instrument, they couldn't have found it!"
With that, he picked out the token from his pocket and spoke to it in a language that only Hajna could understand. 'Hazatértem.' And with that, he was gone, without the need to activate the temples, and instead, he was teleported straight into the same place where the Misfits initially found Hajna. Looking around, he needed time to reorient himself, and looking at the ruins, it was hard to tell whether it was recently destroyed or not. Walking out and seeing the shattered Realm and the many floating rocks, Ferrah couldn't help but let out a long sigh.
"I still remember how it looked intact… what a waste!"
It wasn't his first time coming in here. Once, he lived amongst the Eternals for years as an envoy of the Golden Claw Sect. He was a spy back then, tasked to uncover as many secrets as possible, aiming to ensure they were ahead of their competition. He couldn't find their treasure back then, but it shouldn't be an issue now.
"Lead me to it!" He grinned, using the token as a type of wayfinder, holding it out and flying towards the direction where he felt it resonate. Those places had to have proper power in them, still active, and the token should receive the most substantial feedback from the only thing that could withstand such destruction… the Realm Key.
