With Jashad at the head of our party, Syldir decided it would be best to move between Mom, Kalia, Bernar, Ysevel, and I to try to blend her mana signature and blur it between us. I'll be honest when I say this, but I wasn't entirely sure that was going to be enough, but when we reached the innermost chamber, it seemed it had.
Before us was a massive, tent-like structure draped in dark cloth and illuminated by green lanterns that surrounded the open area. "Huh, this reminds me a bit of Pyrdredd but with more cloth than an overwhelming sense of dread," Irun muttered as he looked around.
"Nope, the dread's still there," Athar disagreed. "Hush, you two," Mom hissed over her shoulder, putting a finger to her lips, causing Athar to flinch and Devyr to stifle a chuckle.
"That's strange," Jashad said as he moved toward the massive tent. "This whole place is strange," Athar muttered out of the corner of his mouth. "What do you mean, Jashad?" Vyra asked, noticing he was walking over to a large clay pot and putting his hand a few centimeters away from it. "This is still warm," he said, immediately prompting Syldir to react.
She moved with a speed that rivaled that of the odoruki technique, immediately transforming her hands into draconic claws and lacing them with a bright, blue mana that matched her eyes. Without anyone knowing what was going to happen, Bernar moved in and pulled Jashad to safety a few meters away, as Syldir thrust her hands forward and began to tear at an invisible wall of pure mana.
My eyes widened at the sight of her tearing a hole in the very fabric of reality, as if she were forcibly creating a portal through sheer strength alone. While the space between her talons seemingly bent to her will, the rift she opened revealed a brightly lit version of the tent we had inspected earlier.
At its center stood a large, dark-haired man, his black eyes full of genuine surprise.
With a grunt of exertion, Syldir widened the tear a bit more, then held the seams of it open with more of her mana. "Get in," she said in a voice that could have made even Ryfon obey. Quickly following her command, we all dashed through it within a matter of seconds, while Meliss was lifted and carried by Haldir.
However, I could feel a strong sense of apprehension coming from Kalia that I couldn't ignore.
The moment we crossed the threshold, Syldir pulled the seams together, allowing it to reseal as if nothing had happened. "You okay?" I asked Meliss, who gave me a quick, silent nod. "What is the meaning of this?" the large man asked, unleashing an absolutely crushing amount of mana.
Shit, I can hardly breathe, I realized, feeling as if the weight of an entire mountain was on my back. I managed to look at Ysevel and the others, who were all suffering just the same as I was. Athar and Irun, of course, were crushed flat on the floor, making me realize just how much of a gap there was between a fourth and a fifth stage caster.
"How dare you enter my domain? Do you not realize what you've done?" the large man asked, his voice booming in my ears and mind. "Stop this, you lunatic! We're here to help you, and you're going to kill them at this rate," Syldir stepped forward, her fist clenched and brow furrowed.
Hardly able to withstand it myself, I was surprised to see that Syldir was not only unaffected but also able to put up a barrier around Jashad and Meliss to protect them.
"Why didn't you put up protective measures for the rest of them? Do you genuinely care whether they live or die, Hand of the Twilight Sea?" he asked with a scowl, his Tyrant mana flaring immensely, nearly causing the pocket world we were in to collapse entirely.
Syldir froze at the mention of the name for a heartbeat, then suddenly reappeared with her hand around his throat. "I'll have you know, Mouth, that I didn't come here to kill you, as much as it would please me to do so after you abandoned us. To prove that to you, I have only protected those who are the least likely to survive your onslaught," she snarled, her mana flaring and pushing back against his.
"You expect me to believe that? After everything you've done to this realm? Blasphemy," he spat, landing a wad of saliva just off to the side of her temple. Before I could even understand what had just happened, a bright blue shield appeared before us just in time to spare us from the shockwave of her slamming him into the ground with her full force.
The tent's fabric tore and swayed violently, the rugs on the ground now entirely embedded within the stone beneath our feet, and none of us could fully comprehend the depth of what they were arguing about.
As the dust settled, the presence of his Tyrant mana lessened, while Syldir still had her ironclad grip around his throat, glaring at him from above as she readied a fist to beat him into submission. "Syldira, don't!" Jashad shouted, his voice pleading and desperate enough to make her flinch.
"Syldira? Did you give him a false name so I wouldn't know you were here? My, how you've grown," the Mouth said with a sneer, the small ornaments in his beard jingling as he chuckled.
She was anything but impressed by his candor.
"Why did you run, Mouth? Your actions forced our hands, so answer me," she snarled, tightening her grip a little to get him to focus. "If only you knew what was given me as a Revelation, you would have done no different than I, Syldira," he said with a tired look. "Then speak the Words. I will hear them, and follow the guidance of the Wheel," she replied without a single shift in her stern expression.
"Cold as ever, aren't you?" the Mouth chuckled, showing all his teeth as he did so. "Very well. I will give you all the Revelation that was given to me, but as tribute, you must bestow one upon me in return," he continued as his gaze shifted over to the box that held Ed's core.
Wait, what does he mean by Revelation? I'm so confused, I thought worriedly, wondering what he could possibly want with Ed's core.
"As you wish," Syldir replied with a heavy weight to her words. After a brief pause, the Mouth nodded, and a wide, wolfish grin appeared on his face. "Very well," he said, gingerly taking his hand and removing hers from his throat. She rose to her feet and offered him a hand to help him up.
He easily stood a head taller than her and nearly twice her width, but all the adornments and flowing robes only made him look that much more imposing. As he gave the rest of us a glance, his eyes settled on me for a half-second longer than many of the others, though I didn't understand why.
"Jashad, Child of the Underbelly, come forth," he commanded, releasing his mana and prompting Syldir to undo the shield before us. "I am here, Mouth," the man answered, kneeling just before him at the bottom of the steps.
"You have led this one to me before, have you not? If what she says is true, then I would hear your Words as well," the Mouth said, gesturing to Bernar.
"I have, Mouth. These you see before you have come to seek your assistance, as Syldira has stated. I swear this on the Wheel," he said, lowering his head even further.
The Mouth stared at him with almost kind eyes for a heartbeat, then closed them, taking in a deep breath. There was an unspoken spell in the air that was difficult to place where it was originating, though it was twice as difficult to ignore.
The air inside the tent grew still, the Mouth's beard ornaments and golden wristbands tinkling as his entire body began to shake. Suddenly, his eyes reopened, revealing tendrils of mana that crept inside the skin along the rims of his eyes.
"Heed the Revelation of the Wheel, and bear the Words I have devoured," he began, his voice booming and strong enough to tremble the ground beneath me. The others noticed it as well and took a wider stance to steady themselves.
"The Scourge of the Twilight Sea will awaken once more as Polarion's Bane. All will perish, and all will fall before The Scourge, unless he who is One with Death succeeds on his path to bring salvation," he continued, his entire body trembling with a force that rippled the air around him.
One with Death? Kalia sent us, her confusion bleeding through, though she wasn't the only one confused, as Syldir's eyes widened in surprise.