"Of course, my lord. The Thran rained down from the heavens shortly after you left Valdis. I never would have thought any magic would make it through your barrier. Still, by the time I noticed them, they'd already numbered in the hundreds. They even tried to control me with a strange device that reminded me of the one we used to control the horde," Karak began, doing his best to recount the situation, but Ardrin's look of surprise wasn't one he'd ever seen before.
"M-My lord?" Karak asked when he noticed a blank and frightened stare on Ardrin's face. "That bastard," Ardrin seethed, causing everyone, save Taegin, to become even more confused than before. "He made his move the second he believed the others were trapped, but how could he have known?" Taegin asked, breeding even more confusion amongst the others.
"What's even more concerning to me is that we don't know how far this invasion reaches. As for how he knew, the Thran must have noticed Thoma and the others' arrival. That's the best explanation I have. But to think they were in direct contact with him…" Ardrin trailed off as he shook his head dejectedly.
"I'm sorry to have left you so defenseless, old friend," he continued, turning back to Karak and helping him to his clawed feet. "I was just doing my duty, my lord, but it seems I might have failed in keeping the citadel safe," Karak wheezed, placing a claw to where the spear once was. "What do you mean?" Taegin asked with visible concern.
Karak cracked his neck and forced his body to move as he began to proceed down one of the halls, signaling for the others to follow. As they followed the daemon down the dark halls, Trina and Wien couldn't help but marvel at the construction of the citadel. "How long has this been here?" Trina wondered, running her hand along the cold, metallic wall. "Since long before the Great Partition," Ardrin noted distantly, making her jaw drop a little before wordlessly following the others.
They eventually made their way to the library, where many of the books and scrolls were scattered around the room in a disorganized manner. Some were torn, while others had little more than scraps of paper left within their bindings. Ardrin traced his eyes loosely over the room, taking in all the devastation those creatures had left in their wake.
As he lowered his head, his aura of violet mana began to surge violently, as his elongated fingernails dug deeply into the palm of his hand. "Centuries of knowledge; gone by the whims of these barbaric creatures," he seethed as blood from the fresh wounds began to splatter on the floor.
"Brother, what's done is done," Taegin said in a calming tone, enveloping his hand in Ethereal mana to place it on his brother's shoulder. "You don't understand. I've never cared for riches, but these books and scrolls were my riches. Now they've been turned into little more than scraps by the whims of those barbaric creatures," Ardrin snapped angrily, prompting Taegin to breathe a heavy sigh.
"I do understand, brother, and you will have your revenge on them. I promise," Taegin said with a single nod, but Ardrin could only glare at him. "Mark my words, brother; these creatures will not feel their souls leaving their bodies peacefully," Ardrin said coldly, to which Taegin could only give another nod.
"I believe you, and they will suffer in time, but that time is not right now. We came here for information, and we cannot maintain the upper hand without it. Is there any other place you can think of that might have what we came here for?" Taegin asked, glancing between his brother and Karak.
A few pensive moments of silence came over them as Ardrin paced around the disheveled library and struggled to get the torrent of emotions within him under control. "There may be one place I can think of, but I don't guarantee we'll find anything useful down there," Ardrin finally said. "Down there? What do you mean by that?" Trina asked, prompting him to turn and face her and Wien.
"Trina, I'm sure you're already aware, but the Underworld, or Vareluth, as it's formally known, was where the citadel once known as Pyrdredd was brought, and with it, all the knowledge it once held. Whether that knowledge still exists is something I can only hope the Undergod hasn't destroyed," Ardrin began, causing her to raise her eyebrows in surprise.
"You can't be suggesting we go there, can you?" Wien asked nervously. "Look around you, boy. Does it look like we have any other choice?" Ardrin snarled, spreading his arms widely to gesture to the disaster beneath their feet. "We've already lost a great portion of our advantage, and it would be wise of us not to let any more of it slip away," he continued, glaring at Wien, who felt a chill run down his spine.
"What advantage are you talking about?" Trina asked after stepping in front of Wien. "You've heard of the Church of Mideia, correct?" Taegin began, receiving a nod in response. "That's who we're up against; the one who did all of this," he gestured around the room. "The Church did that?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Mideia did. He brought these creatures from Vareluth to do his bidding. We still haven't fully figured out what it is he wants, but we are a step ahead of him if we can gather whatever information he's looking for before his minions do," he continued gravely.
"You're saying that Mideia is evil? Why do we have a church based in his name, then?" she asked with visible confusion written on her face. "Because, like most other things in this realm, Trina, much of our information on what happened before the Great Partition has been lost. People will believe just about anything if you say it loudly and often enough," Ardrin chimed in with a scoff.
"So what? This Mideia is actually a god who's trying to wipe this realm from existence?" Wien asked after taking a moment to muster the courage to do so. "We're still not entirely sure of what he wants, but that's a good place to start," Taegin added, causing Wien to whistle critically.
"If that's the case, then we really don't have any other choice but to go see this Pyrdredd, do we?" Trina said with no small amount of worry in her tone. "Not if we want to survive the coming war," Ardrin lowered his head and tone, causing her to raise her eyebrows in shock when his aura of mana dissipated.
As soon as she understood the gravity of what he meant, she walked over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder, prompting him to look up at her. "Well then, we'd better get going. I don't want to fight in a war I know nothing about, and even less so one that I don't have any say in," she said with a single nod. "The question is: How do we get there?" she asked, looking around the library for a device that might allow them to do so.
"Like this," Ardrin said, raising a fistful of mana and slamming it into the ground beneath the five of them, creating a swirling, violet portal that swallowed them whole.
Wien and Trina both let out screeches of fear, though it was difficult to tell which was which, since both were roughly the same pitch.
While they were falling, Trina and Wien observed their surroundings. The twilight sky filled with infinite pathways leading to unknown realms was unlike anything they'd ever seen. Her eyes began to well with tears at the beauty, while Wien's were merely filled with awe. As their bodies raced toward Vareluth, Ardrin turned to face the two of them.
"Since this is your first time leaving your realm, I must warn you: This one is nothing like anything you've seen before, and I would advise caution when dealing with the locals," he said cryptically, causing the two of them to exchange a confused look. "You're going to see a lot that you don't understand, but I promise, it will make sense in time," Taegin added, already knowing the shock the two were undergoing, as well as their most likely reactions to what was coming.
The two of them nodded in agreement, and at Ardrin's signal, they braced for impact. The five of them slammed into the ashen ground at the same time, though Ardrin, Taegin, and Karak were well prepared to land in such a brusque manner.
Both Trina and Wien landed face-first in the ashen wasteland and had the wind knocked from their lungs. "A little more warning would have been nice," Trina said, accepting the hand Taegin presented to help her to her feet. Wien, on the other hand, paused before reaching for Karak's outstretched hand. "If I wanted to eat you, I would have done so already," he said in a tone that might have suggested otherwise. "T-Thanks," Wien said, gingerly taking the clawed hand and allowing it to pull him to his feet quickly.
Is he reconsidering what he just said? Wien thought, realizing Karak had looked him up and down more than once.
"I'm merely checking to see if you have any other injuries," Karak said, likely knowing what the man was thinking. "R-Right. O-Of course," Wien chuckled nervously before observing his surroundings. The vast wasteland of dead trees and ashen ground held little more life to it than a burned field, but there were signs that life was returning to the realm.
The vast sky above them, much less gloomy than before, still held the swirling orb of pure Vexing mana, though the clouds that once surrounded it were replaced with a bright, starry sky. "I've never seen anything quite like that," Wien said breathlessly.
"After the defeat of the Undergod, the barrier that was once placed on the world was removed, allowing life to return to it. It's a slow process, but with time, this realm will return to its former glory," Ardrin noted, while Trina raised an eyebrow. "I'm just glad that the smell is gone, at least," Taegin added with a wry grin. "What happened here? Is this realm like this because of the Great Partition?" Trina asked, trying her best to understand her surroundings.
"Partly, yes, though it's primarily due to Mideia's influence. If he succeeds in his plan, you can expect our realm to turn out much like this one," Taegin chimed in, glancing up at the sphere of mana far above him. "With the portal we used, it should have alerted the hegraphenes that we're here," Ardrin noted, turning to his brother.
"Who would come to meet us out here?" he asked, glancing around to see if he could spot any of them from a distance. "Buruz and Krozz should be joining us soon, though they already know where we're going, given the instructions I sent along with the portal," Ardrin explained.
"What do you mean by instructions?" Trina asked, not bothering to hide her confusion.