Previous chapter - Gauge, Var and Sylvarn return to a liberated Sunflower village. Gauge rests soon as the others discuss for a while.)
It's morning - sunflower village faces the nearest sun. Gauge is already up from resting early. He wakes up Var,
"Hey, Var get up. Let's move before all the villagers wake up."
Var wakes up, rubs his eyes, looks at gauge and says,
"This village is peaceful, why not stay here for a bit longer."
Gauge is frustrated now. He lifts Var up by his shoulder and shakes him,
"Don't you wanna see the planet of knowledge, come on!"
Var lies back down, dried leaves beneath him cracking.He turns to his side and closed his eyes,
"We can find about your origins after we take a few days of rest." As he eases his body to sleep. Gauge is tired from Var acting like a child. Suddenly he gets an Idea,
"Maybe.... There are scrolls about the knowledge of space, Who knows?"
Var the second he hears this, wakes up in a flash. He searches for his study bag. arranges everything inside and checked for any missing things. He was ready in a flash, Gauge had no idea what happened before his eyes - Var urges,
"What are you looking at? Let's get going, Those scrolls aren't gonna read themselves."
Gauge frowned - Var grinned. They hear another voice suddenly,
"Take me too, I'll make myself useful."
It was Sylvarn ready to go with a wooden bag that mimics Var's study bag. Gauge giggles seeing the bag. Var thinks to himself Is that what I've been carrying all my life. I thought people's weird gaze was because I was a vampire
Soon they both stopped fooling around and looked at Sylvarn. Var places his arm on one of Sylvarn's branches,
"We have done our part for this village. It's time you did your father's part."
With no further explanation, Sylvarn understood what he had to do. As Gauge and Var were about to leave he asks,
"When... will I see you both again?"
Var looks to the skies, closes his eyes for a while and thinks. As a petal of the world tree carried by wind falls before him, he answers,
"Soon.....Very soon."
Moments later in the dense forests en route to the gate
Gauge looks at Var for a while as they were walking towards the gate. Var feels disturbed by this and stops,
"What do you want?"
Gauge also stops and responds as he checks if any of the trees were listening to them. Only silence - but not absence.
"What do you mean by,'Very soon'(Imitates how Var said it)"
Var exhales sharply, also checks for any eavesdropper and pulls Gauge closer. He answers Quietly,
"Do you remember Yggdrasil(Gauge nods) She is a god of this planet - Supreme tier. she is one of the few omnipotents who were known to exist. All the others were only myths She immediately knew you were here. When I say that, I mean she must have detected a familiar form of energy in you."
Gauge was a little confused because no one except Var and Vagyros know of his powers yet. Not even Karyos, the king of Azoria. He continues to ask,
"That is not possible. The only ones who know of my magma are you and my uncle..."
Var turns back and looks the direction of village,
"She detected your presence as soon as we arrived at the village. You know who else did that, the gatekeeper. They all respond the same way, Like you are a threat. If I am right we would have to return to Floravere soon."
Gauge heeds his warning. Now that his flames have been ignited, he knows anything is possible. He is a bit more concerned about himself now, he feels as if his heart has shrunk from fear.
Var realized he pushed too far and tries to distract him. He pulls out the Gate ore he collected from thorbane's remains and shows it to gauge,
"These ores can teleport people from one ore to another, did you know that?"
(Gauge's face lights up as he pulls his too)but there's a catch, you have to be imbued with gate energy like thornbane and his minions."
Gauge is intrigued from this piece of information. Var continues,
"That is why he wanted another one, so he could teleport himself to Yggdrasil's kingdom. But we can still use it to teleport things imbued in gate energy so it might prove useful. It's a good thing you decided to grab that remaining ore from your fight with the keeper."
The gate to Xerith was now within sight. Gauge still observing the ore in his hand asks,
"But the gatekeeper.... he didn't seem like he needed 2 ores. He vanished randomly from anywhere."
Var smiles as if he knew Gauge would ask this question. replaced his ore into his bag and replied,
"Well my theory is that the gatekeeper was once a normal mortal who became an ore itself by some means."
Gauge was somehow impressed from this theory that explained all his confusions. They were at the gate but Gauge hasn't noticed. Var grabs him as he was about to walk through the gate,
"Behind these gates lie something ominous from what Zaden and Sylvarn have warned us. If it is anything higher than a medium tier God then promise me you will not fight.....If that is the case we must focus on escaping.Got it?"
Gauge nods his head and boldly says,"I promise to run away from anything I can't defeat in a combat."
Var was relieved. They both jump into the Gate and moments later landed on the hard ashridden lands of Xerith but this time they calculated their landing.The familiar smell of ash and a dark sky in spite of 4 stars illuminating the planet made Var think is this where i have been living all these years...
They landed in the heart of an ancient ruin which resembled an old kingdom. They looked around and found nothing except the Enormous gate in front of them. Around them Castle walls sealed from everywhere. It looked more like prison than just some ruins.
"There! if we can get to it before someone arrives, we can warp to Rafter in no time...."
As they start running towards the gate───────────*Zwsss*With a sound like steel tearing through glass, a figure stepped out of nothingness. From the distance they could see a Creature with glowing blue greatsword. Beneath it was a dead harpie - a large one.
It looked like a large man shrouded in the distant darkness - his glowing blue eyes look right at them....
He started walking,
"Get ready, I have a feeling this won't be easy."
Var prepares to conjure his blood, while Gauge tries to Unsheath Feryx───────────
*ZWSS* He was standing right in front of them, looking down on Gauge. Eyes glowing even brighter...
Next chapter - Trial By Combat