“My lord!” a familiar voice called out.
I turned around and saw Raffiel running up to me, a piece of steel armor over his torso. “How have you been, Raffiel?” I asked.
“I have been well, my lord.” He bowed as he reached me.
“That is good.” I nodded, sounding a bit dazed.
“My lord, I hear we are expecting conflict to arise within our borders soon. Is this true?”
I paused for a few seconds.
“My lord?” he asked.
“It is true,” I said. “Even right now, it is highly likely there are strong forces marching up towards us. Thousands of soldiers, each of them as strong as you or stronger. The Alliances will make a move on us soon.”
“The Alliances?” he froze. “The very Alliances are coming after us?”
“That’s right,” I said. “Why, does that concern you?”
Raffiel looked at me and then snapped back to his military personality. “No, my lord!” he yelled. “The enemy will have no clue what hit them.”
“I hope so.” I smiled. “Raffiel, I know you only have forty men with you to support this village, and so I would be interested in hearing if you have any alternative battle methods to suggest.”
“Understood,” he said. “I will work on strategies and present them to you by—”
“Dusk,” I said, giving him a deadline.
Raffiel turned to the sky, noticing the sun was already making its way to the western end. He didn’t have much time left. And yet he turned to me. “Understood,” he said, his voice confident. “You can depend on me, my lord.”
“Thank you,” I said. “Let me know if you need help.”
“Certainly.”
I nodded and left him behind, walking further through the network of streets.
“He’s been very useful,” Nyx said. “He seems on top of things.”
“He does,” I said. “We may be able to depend on him more.”
“I feel that way too,” he said.
Two carts pulled by oxen passed me in the streets, the defectors from the Dark Alliance leading them away. I could see fresh vegetables as well as herbs and fruits bunched up in the back of the carts.
“Looks like the farmland has started functioning well,” I said.
“Indeed,” Nyx said. “Now if only you ate this healthy regularly.”
“We need to focus on our task at hand,” I said, ignoring his comment. “Finding the Shadow Dragon’s chambers won’t be easy.”
“Do not look to me for help,” the spirit said. “I am not well versed in matters within the realm of the Dragon Clan. I do not even know where to start our search.”
“So there are things that even you’re not good at,” I joked. In all seriousness, however, even I was unsure of how exactly we should start our search. The entrance to the chamber of the Shadow Dragon didn’t seem it would be like a simple thing to find.
I shook my head, casting aside my thoughts and heading forward. We’d walked along the streets for a few minutes when I saw that we’d come back to the village square.
“I thought we were heading back to the house to help Ijyela and the others,” Nyx said.
“I just wanted to come here first,” I said. “It’ll only be a few moments.”
I looked at the square. The fountain stood at the very center just as before, the water atop it slowly trickling down now. Moisture sprayed into the air, rising up to the sky as mist. Light refracted through it, but where I expected to see rainbows, I saw regular light once again.
How boring, I thought as I stepped towards the fountain, my eye scanning its immediate surroundings, hoping to find something that could help us out. But while I’d held out hope, I found nothing useful.
I tapped the bottom rim of the fountain with my finger, creating a short rhythm.
Where on earth could a Dragon Chamber be hidden in a place like this? I thought.
All of a sudden, I heard a sound from within the fountain, as though in response to the rhythm that I had sent into it. Tones rang into the air in a perfect symphony. A light shone into my eyes, and I realized something was forming in front of the fountain.
On a section of the ground, a small circle glowed brightly. I quickly stepped back, keeping my gaze focused on it. The surface morphed, and in seconds it had molded into what was now a crystal pillar of about three feet, standing right in front of the fountain.
“What the heck?” Nyx said.
I stepped forward, taking a closer look at it. It was nearly transparent and had nothing written or inscribed on it. It was just a chunk of smooth crystal that stood in front of the fountain. And yet, I felt great unease in its presence.
“That doesn’t look good,” I said. I opened the Ga’em menu and navigated to my Message menu. I quickly sent Freya and Ijyela each a message, asking them to come meet me at the fountain.
About two minutes later, I heard a couple of voices and the atmosphere of the space around me turned lively. Chatter ruptured the air as two voices quickly turned into six, with everyone else making their way here.
“The scroll hunt went pretty badly,” Freya said, walking up to me.
“How bad?” I asked.
“We’re nowhere closer to finding out what to do.”
“That’s okay, because I made much more progress,” I said.
“We figured.” Ijyela smiled.
“So, what exactly did you find?” Krof asked.
“That.” I pointed to the pillar that had just formed.
“That wasn’t there before.” Freya rushed up to it, her eyes glazing over as she took a look at the crystal structure.
“It’s beautiful,” Krof said.
“It just rose out of the ground,” I said. “I was tapping a rhythm on the fountain, and all of a sudden I heard sounds being played back to me. The next thing I knew, a light was glowing on the ground, and this thing rose up from the surface.”
“How odd,” the wizard said.
“Diablo,” a voice called out to me, one that felt familiar but was still foreign. I stepped forward, moving closer to the pillar, and then hesitated. I glanced at its surface and my eyes immediately widened. What had been a transparent surface was now inscribed with runes, mysterious contortions of black ink that I did not understand. I slowly brought my hand closer to it and touched the surface.
Freya stepped towards me. “Zoran, be care—”
A blast of wind gusted into the village, heading through the streets and collecting around the pillar. I instinctively tightened my grip on the top of the pillar, holding on tight. More gusts of wind quickly joined in, each one coming from a different direction. In seconds, a massive twister surged around me. My vision faded to a hazy white, and I felt faint.
I looked at the crystal in front of me. It was just I and it now.
“Diablo,” a voice called out once again.
The twister contracted, tightening its radius, and the winds smacked into me. I shifted my body weight, fighting the constant tugging.
And then, all of a sudden, everything stopped.
The winds around me died down, giving me clear vision once again. I looked up from the pillar, and my breath caught once again.
My fingers trembled, my eyes fixed on the sight before me. The sky had gone from a deep blue to a warm yellow, and creatures sailed through it.
Large, majestic Dragons flew through the air, powerful strokes of their wings sending gusts of wind down onto the land. I could see their form high up, but they were too far away to make out anything other than their shadowy silhouette. And yet, I stared at them, astounded. I could count about ten in the sky, which was ten more than I’d expected to see. They let out a thundering roar as they surged through the air, flying away at fast speeds.
“Where am I?” I mumbled, turning away from the sky.
“You won’t believe it,”’ Nyx spoke.
“Oh, thank God you’re here,” I said.
“I’m starting to think you can�
��t function without me,” he chuckled.
“Where are we?” I asked.
“From what I can tell, this is just a vision. The crystal pillar must have given you a feedback reaction and showed you the past.”
“The past?”
“Exactly,” he said. “Look around you.”
I turned around and saw massive buildings standing all over, large halls, tall towers and more. But between these giant buildings were small houses, each one maybe large enough to house a family. I stared for a second, noticing a sense of familiarity about the small structures. My eyes widened.
“Ikarius,” I realized. “This is Ikarius.”
“Three thousand years ago, yes,” Nyx said.
“What?” I blinked.
The roar of Dragons exploded into the air, echoing through the sky. A chain reaction ensued, with the Dragons roaring continuously for a few seconds. I stared at them in awe, completely taken in by their presence and by the way they carried themselves.
“They’re so majestic,” I said.
“We need to focus,” Nyx said. “What are we even doing here? Why are we in this time?”
“Fine,” I said, looking around, “How do I even begin figuring things out, though?”
“I don’t know.”
I looked to the sky, watching as the Dragons slowly disappeared into the distance. I picked myself up and ran through the street, keeping their forms in my sights until I could keep up no more.
All of a sudden, the sun began to darken, as though it was disappearing from the heavens. The yellow light all around me quickly faded away, like darkness was coming faster than we’d expected. In a few seconds, all I could see was black, black and more black.
That’s how bad it was.
“This isn’t comforting,” Nyx said.
“It’s fine,” I said. “It’ll be fine.”
“Maybe,” the spirit replied.
I looked up at the sky, squinting at all the black I could see. Not a single star shone through, leaving me under a lonely night.
“Diablo,” a voice rumbled through the darkness.
I turned around, and my heart jumped into my throat.
Large silver eyes glowed from mere feet away against the pure black of the darkness.
“A Dragon,” I said.
“Go,” the voice said. “Do what you must.”
Silver flames shot at me from all around and sank into me, scorching my skin.
When I opened my eyes, a gasp on my lips, the scenery of the past had disappeared, the image fading away fast. The next thing I knew, I was looking at the worried faces of all my friends.
“Thank God!” Ijyela shook me in relief. “That was too close. I thought we’d lost you.”
“That’s the second time within the last hour that this has happened to you,” Freya sighed. “Are you okay?”
I looked around and realized I was still in the town square. I sat up, my body immediately aching with every inch I moved. I bore the pain and stood up anyway. The pillar stood right in front of me, the inscriptions upon it no longer black, but instead a faded gray.
I felt myself drawn to the crystal once again, as though there was something there that I was meant to do. I didn’t know exactly what, so I let my instincts take over. I reached out to the inscription and tapped on it, letting my fingers brush across its grainy surface.
I felt vibrations from within the stone. All of a sudden, the fountain split apart, and the very ground began to quake.
“Everyone! Move back!” I yelled, skipping a few feet away from the pillar. The whole town square shook, the paving stones cracking one by one, as though they were playthings for the earth.
A line split straight through the middle of the fountain, cutting it into perfect halves. Two semicircles moved to the side, the halves of the fountain on each of their straight edges. Dust and rubble fell into the gaps as they moved, disappearing from sight. I held my body still, keeping myself on my feet until the vibrations died down.
When the tremors stopped, I looked ahead of me, at the circular section of darkness that now stood where the fountain had been. It was a hole about ten feet wide and God knew how many feet deep. I walked up to it, activating my Night Vision skill and looking down into it. I thought I could make out a surface, but it was just my imagination. All I could truly see was deep, black darkness.
The rumbling began once again, only this time, howling accompanied it as well. Clouds of ominous gray appeared in the sky above us, forming in just a few seconds. The sunlight turned dull, and thunder rumbled across the land.
They were all ill omens.
All of a sudden, a beam of pure white light shot out of the inner depths of the newly opened chamber and straight into the clouds, turning them from gray to pristine silver.
“Seriously, what’s with all the weather manipulation?” Nyx asked.
Out of nowhere, a massive bolt of lightning struck me where I stood, thunder accompanying it through the winds. Pain burst into me as I stood at the edge of the drop, my body frozen still, my nerves and muscles paralyzed. I felt my arms grow numb, my eyes lose sight, and then everything turned back to normal in a flash.
I gasped. “What just happened?”
DING!
Congratulations! You have broken through:
The Seal of the Eternal (2/5)!
By uniting with your Spectral Spirit, you have now broken through a part of your seal. Stats have been updated. Inventories have been updated. Skills, Subskills, and Special Moves have also been updated.
I stared at the screen, unable to believe what had just happened. I’d been searching for my Spectral Spirit for months now, and as Ijyela had suggested before, Ikarius had held it all along. I smiled to myself, finally finding a spark of happiness in the grim circumstances around me.
I’d just leveled up.
***
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
The second Seal of the Eternal.
That was something I’d been trying to figure out for the last three months. That was what I’d actually been pursuing before this whole Dragon escapade had begun. The first part of the Seal of the Eternal had been easy to break, but that was only because the first Spectral Spirit had been quite easy to find. I’d ended up stumbling across it myself.
The second part of the seal was a lot harder to break, especially since I hadn’t had the faintest clue about where to even get started on finding the Spectral Spirit that would help me break it.
And now here I was, united with the second of my Spectral Spirits, absolutely out of nowhere.
“Zoran, what just happened?” Freya asked.
“I sense a stronger presence from you,” Krof said. “Your seal?”
I nodded. “I’ve broken through the second part of the seal.”
“Then that white light…”
“Was my Spectral Spirit.”
Everyone but Nazu stared at me, completely stunned.
“You actually did it,” Ijyela whispered.
“What is a Spectral Spirit?” Nazu asked innocently, his voice bubbly as usual.
“Something important.” I smiled at him.
“So there was a Spectral Spirit hiding in this village,” Krof said. “How odd.”
“I have no clue what’s going on either,” I said. “But it’s probably best to put this aside for now, since we don’t have the time to deal with it.”
“I have one question, though,” Ijyela said. “What happened back there? You touched that pillar and fell to the ground unconscious. I tried to reach out to your subconscious and see if you were okay, but something was blocking me.”
“Oh,” I said. “It’s…complicated.”
I explained to them what had happened, how I’d had visions of Dragons flying over this town, how a beast with silver eyes had spoken to me. I told them of the city I’d seen, of the buildings and towers that’d risen high up into the sky.
“You saw the past,” Freya said, her eyes wide. “That pillar sh
owed you a vision of what Ikarius used to be, of what Dragonfall used to be.”
I nodded. “I have no clue how or why that hole opened up, though,” I said. “I just touched the pillar, and that immediately happened.”
We all turned our gaze to the wide circular gap in the ground. I still couldn’t believe my second Spectral Spirit had been inside it. How odd was that?
“How much stronger have you gotten?” Krof asked. “Is your current strength enough to take on the Dragonborn?”
“I doubt it,” I said softly. “But I can check.”
I swiped the air with my fingers, and my Ga’em menu slid down. I opened up my Stats menu and looked at my screens.
Name
Zoran Diablo
Level
783
Health
13450
Constitution
1345
Mana
16300
Intelligence
1630
Stamina
12010
Endurance
1201
Strength
1748
Wisdom
3561
Agility
2494
Dexterity
1415
Charisma
1004
Luck
34
“Holy hell!” I exclaimed, astounded by how much I’d grown. That was more than 250 levels higher than what I was before. My stats reflected the level-up too, with all of them other than my luck going up by at least 150 points. Excitement built within me as I put my finger to the screen and flicked it to the side, sliding the old data away and letting a new set of information come into my vision.
Name
Zoran Diablo
Race
Eternal
Abilities
Resurrection
Spirit King
Reanimator
Resistances
All Arts
Class
None
Alignment
Neutral
Titles
The Eternal: A Boxed Set (World of Ga'em Book 6) Page 45
