Ophieus blinked in surprise at the floating silver light screen hovering in front of him. It was a silver rectangle that gave off a soft light with words written in black.
It was then Ophieus felt his curiosity quickly taking over as he leaned in, moving one hand and towards the light screen. But then his hand simply slipped through the screen.
He didn't mind this as it only made him more curious, and then he spoke aloud to the light screen
"What is this?"
The silver light screen glowed as the previous words vanished and then new words appeared with a voice echoing in his mind again.
[Call me the Silver Key. I am here to help you on your journey, Master Ophieus.]
He tilted his head, studying the strange display. His brows drew together, thoughtful. "Why are you helping me? And where did you come from?"
The Silver Key's answer came instantly in a calm tone in his head once more.
[Do you recall the voice from the world of gray fog? I was sent by her.]
Ophieus blinked in surprise as he recalled the voice. Then he nodded his head as put the pieces together, realizing the voice was helping him even further. But this begs the question, why is she doing so much and for what purpose?
The more he thought about it, the more questions appeared in his thoughts and made him even more curious.
"Why is she helping me? Unless I know her?" Ophieus asked with his eyes slightly shining.
[You are one of her most loved existences]
Ophieus will blink in surprise and then say. "So, I do know her?"
[I cannot say anything else. Master Ophieus is too weak to withstand the information.]
Ophieus furrowed his brows before asking. "Are you saying… I'd lose consciousness if you told me?"
[Your mind would shatter, your body would burst, and you would distort into a terrifying creature that would wreak havoc all around. The pain itself would be far worse than what you went through in the fog before]
Silence fell in the area.
Ophieus stared blankly at the silver light screen. He leaned a bit and read the words on the screen once before then reading it again. And no matter what, the words on the screen remain to same as what he just heard.
It was a bit unbelievable to him.
"Can… can knowledge really do that?" Ophieus asked in slight wonder and curiosity.
[Information from certain existences or kind can indeed cause such things, simply because you are too weak to fully understand it. This is mostly because it's tied to higher truths or existence.]
Ophieus caressed his wavy black hair as he sighed. "Alright… since you were sent by her, you should know a method to make me strong enough to withstand it, right?"
[But of course. Here is your current information now, Master Ophieus.]
The words faded from the screen before a new set of glowing words and information appeared on the silver light screen.
[Name: Ophieus
Pathfinder: Awakening
Strength: Green (Very High)
Stamina: Green (Very High)
Agility: Green (Very High)
Perception: ???
Magic: Green (Average)
Sanity: 102
Knowledge: 14]
Ophieus stroked his chin as his golden eyes glanced over every word on the screen. "These represent my overall strength? And… What is a Pathfinder?"
[Indeed, these are your statistical information. A Pathfinder is one who breaks the limits of a normal person. You can think of it as the name of the wielders of magic in Luminous.]
Ophieus hummed as his gaze shifted to awakening then his gaze moved down to most of his stats. Most of them had the word Green with a bracket that seems to imply the degree or how strong he was in that category.
Then he looked down at perception to see it was unknown then saw Sanity had a number unlike the others. A smile flickered across his face but before he could continue looking. A new set of words appeared below the stats information in renewed urgency.
[Master, look at the Knowledge part. That represents the tiny ball of light you devoured.]
Ophieus blinked. "That tiny light was that? So what exactly is it?"
[It is a mix of the beings magic and its own knowledge. Master, you can devour these from the enemies you defeat to grow stronger.]
Ophieus nodded as he recalled the feeling of when he touched the orb. "So the more Abomination I kill, the more Knowledge I gain?"
[Not just Abomination but all beings. As long as they have Knowledge, you can devour it after killing them.]
'So, this is basically me becoming a monster that devours until I become strong enough to learn the truth.' Ophieus thought as he tilted his head. 'Lovely.'
But as he opened his mouth to ask another question, the ground beneath suddenly began to shake. His eyes glance down to the ground as his body tense and then Ophieus realizes.
It wasn't just the ground, but the trees were swaying, bushes trembling and then he heard distant growls, roars, and howls echoed from all directions.
Trouble.
Ophieus frowned as he continued glancing around while saying. "We'll have to talk about this later. How do I summon you again?"
[Simply imagine the Light Screen or ask for me in your thoughts.]
Ophieus nodded once more as the light screen dispersed into silver lights. Leading Ophieus alone in the forest that continues to shake and tremble with the growls and roars echoing from all directions.
Ophieus took a deep breath before then moving forward, his hand on the hilt of his sword as he continued forward. The thick fog passed over his form as his boots kept on breaking the twigs on the ground. The crunching sound rings out with Ophieus looking around at the tree's silhouette.
But he wasn't seeing them shaking as before. He even paused for a minute to see if the ground would shake again but it didn't.
"Is the battle done?" Ophieus muttered as he didn't think anything else could be happening in a forest this thick with fog.
It didn't help that it was hard to see more than a few inches through the fog which made everything feel smaller. As he ducked under a twisted branch reaching out like claws, Ophieus stopped and furrowed his brows. Before him were black shapes on the ground and seemed to be in a pile.
Ophieus walked closed as he thought it was broken trees, rocks or logs piled up like what he saw on the side before. But he blinked in surprise as he saw ten people on the ground close to each other. The positions and actions were different as some were curled up, others on their back, and the rest leaning against the tree.
All looking as if they were sleeping but what caught Ophieus attention as he moved even closer to get a better look. He saw these people weren't normal but their skin and clothing was all gray similar to the fog.
"... I don't think this is normal." Ophieus muttered in hesitation as he wasn't sure about this world.
He saw a man wearing a buttoned coat with black pants and a woman wearing a high-collard green dress with a scarf and leather boots. All of the people were wearing similar clothing but all of that was pure gray.
Ophieus knelt down beside a woman leaning on against the tree and he noted her dress had holes in it. He reached out to touch her arm and then flinched back as it was extremely cold. It felt like he was touching ice or a very cold stone. Now that he thought about it, the leaves he touched earlier were similar to this.
Ophieus glanced down to see a dagger in the woman's hand. He moved his down to take it out of the woman's hand and as he grasped her hands. He felt a shiver through his body from the cold but then his eyes widened as the hands began to crumble.
The tips began to break apart as if he was seeing wood shatter into dust and scattering around. But it didn't stop at the woman's hand but the braking continued up until the woman's entire forearm was gone.
Leaving behind a drifting dust of grey that passed by Ophieus face. But he didn't react at first as he blinked and then he stood up as he looked around. But as he did this, a hand brushed past a man with a hat on his head and bits of his cheek caved in.
Before breaking off into flakes.
Ophieus stared in a daze as he called the leaves he held up in hand before breaking apart in a similar way. Was all this caused by the fog? If I stay here, will I turn to dust too?
Then he heard a weak groan from around, leading Ophieus to glance around and then found a figure curled up behind the tree. It was a woman with a torn dress soaked in crimson and her body was trembling.
The woman stared up at Ophieus with her green eyes trembling in fear and tears flowing down. Her lips trembled as she tried to speak while reaching out for Ophieus who subconsciously reached out.
But then he paused as he saw the woman quickly turn grey.
The color from her face, hair, blood-soaked dress and green eyes was gone while she remained in the same position of reaching out.
"...I need to get out of this crappy forest. And then figure out what is going on." Ophieus said with a sigh as wonder just where did he ended up and why did it have to be so creepy.