“I understand,” Virion whispered, closing his eyes.
Quietly, I got to work, destroying the earthen shelter and erasing all signs that we had ever stopped here to rest.
“So… where is this shelter, Commander Virion?” Bairon asked.
Virion used a nearby twig to draw a rough map of Dicathen, indicating our position with a circle. “The refuge that we had found is near the southern coast of the Kingdom of Darv, just along the Grand Mountains—”
“Found?” I cut in. “I thought you said you and the elders had built it.”
“Most of what seemed like a man-made cave already existed. We just built on top of it and hid it more thoroughly,” he added.
“Well, how are we going to traverse the near-thousand miles it’ll take to reach this shelter? We can’t fly; it’s too dangerous,” Bairon noted.
“You’re right. And it’ll be just as risky to try and take a teleportation gate to a city within Darv. Should we wait until nightfall?”
“How about this,” I suggested, drawing a jagged line running through Sapin. “We’re about an hour hike away from the Sehz River that flows all the way down through Darv and into the ocean. We’ll take the river down until nightfall and travel the rest by sky.”
“There are cities built along the Sehz though,” Sylvie countered. “Won’t we be a bit noticeable traveling on the water?”
“Who said anything about on the water?”
***
“This is… fascinating,” Virion marveled as we watched various aquatic animals and mana beasts pass by from the top of Sylvie’s back. We surged through the water, away from discerning eyes, while I concentrated on the multiple layers of spells I had to continually manage in order to make all of this possible.
I had to create two pockets of air, one over Sylvie’s back to allow Virion, Bairon, and I to breath and stay dry, and another encompassing Sylvie’s large draconic head. While we weren’t submerged deep enough to have to worry too much about the water pressure, it did mean that keeping the air pockets stable was quite a bit harder.
With the aid of water magic to push us faster and a fin made of mana that Sylvie had fashioned at the end of her tail, we were making great distance.
Virion was able to take this new mode of transportation in stride, but the same couldn’t be said for Bairon. The poor lance had latched himself so tightly onto Sylvie’s back that, even through her tough scales, she complained to me about the pain.
“How did you even think of such an idea as traveling underwater?” Virion asked, twisting left and right to see all around him. For a moment I was able to see the old Virion that I had grown up with back when I had first shown up in Elenoir with Tessia.
“Did you forget that I’m pretty smart?” I asked, avoiding his question.
We stayed fairly deep in the water except for the times that we had to replenish our air pockets. After the initial amazement had worn off, the four of us traveled in silence, brooding in our own minds with little desire to converse. Sylvie and I still conversed telepathically but even those conversations dwindled as each of us succumbed to our own thoughts of the bleak future.
The water around us began to darken as the sun fell, indicating to us that we’d be able to resurface soon.
Without taking a break, the four of us launched out of the lake and into the purple and deep blue sky.
Will you be okay flying with them on your back? I asked Sylvie, jumping off of her back. Virion and Bairon were both still barely able to use mana after their fight against the scythe.
‘I’ll manage,’ she replied, beating her powerful wings to accelerate.
I followed alongside them, flying on my own to lessen her burden. I watched as the land below us began turning into the desert as we crossed the border into Darv. I took one last look back, trying not to think about the battles going on and the chaos spreading for our troops as they were left without their commander.
Chapter 238: Hidden in Sand
“Here! We have to land here!” Virion cried out as we hovered over the vast deserts of Darv.
“There’s nothing here though!” Bairon argued, his head turning left and right.
Even I looked around, shielding my eyes from the sharp gusts of wind, but below were just a few odd boulders and lots and lots of sand.
Back when we had been flying above the clouds, it was easy to spot our relative location using the various peaks of the Grand Mountains as our compass, but now it was impossible to see the range of mountains because of the thick sand-carrying winds.
Sylvie descended and I followed behind them until we landed on the soft ground.
“Flying through that was… tough,” Sylvie muttered after switching to her human form. She wore all black like she usually did, but her scales had turned her outfit into a thick shawl that covered most of her face and body to combat the harsh winds.
“You did well, Lady Sylvie,” Virion said as I quickly covered his body in a thick layer of mana. “Most aerial mana beasts can’t last against the winds this far south.”
“Well I’m not a mana beast,” Sylvie rebutted with a raised brow.
“Ah—My apologies…” Virion replied.
“Come on. Let’s find this refuge of yours,” I said to him, gesturing for him to take the lead.
Virion pointed at a tall boulder that looked almost like an ancient column of some sort. “We have to head over there.”
“That thing?” Bairon pointed, his expression muddled with confusion. “It’s a bit conspicuous for a top-secret refuge shelter, isn’t it?”
“That thing isn’t the shelter, it’s the landmark Buhnd had to make to keep track of the shelter’s location,” Virion corrected, walking forward.
The rest of us followed towards the giant pillar that was riddled with scars from the sand-infused winds that were so prevalent here.
“We start from here,” Virion stated, pointing to a deep gash in the center of the pillar. “With your heel against the pillar, we take 35,651 steps forward.”
Bairon, Sylvie, and I exchanged glances before looking back to Virion. “Really? This is the only way to find the shelter?”
“For now, yes,” Virion answered. “The shelter itself branches off into various tunnels that haven’t been explored, though, so I’m hoping that more entrances can pop up.”
Sylvie nodded in agreement. “If this is the only way to get to the shelter, it’ll be almost impossible to bring normal civilians here discreetly.”
Virion let out a sigh with downcast eyes. For him, this shelter was most likely his last chance in having any hope at redemption against the Alacryans. If this plan only amounted to us and a few others being able to make it to the shelter, there was no point.
“Well, we’ve come all this way. Let’s go to this shelter first before we come to any conclusions,” I interjected, putting on the most confident expression that I could muster.
And so we began our trek through the desert. Unable to fly or use any shortcuts with magic, Virion was forced to walk heel to toe while I kept count.
It was a rough journey that usually would’ve taken days of preparation to even try. However, in a group with two lances, a silver core mage, and an asura, we were able to get by.
Fresh water, that would’ve been impossible to come by, was extracted from the clouds every so often to replenish ourselves, and our near bottomless pit of mana was able to keep us safe from the cold desert air and sharp winds.
“I can take over from here, Commander,” Bairon said on step 10,968.
“No. Your foot sizes are different,” I cut in. “It’ll throw us off.”
Bairon shot me a quick glare in response to my curt interjection, but I ignored him and si
gnalled Virion to continue walking. We travelled in silence and with my concentration solely focused on Virion, even Sylvie blocked her mental link so she wouldn’t have to hear me monotonously counting numbers in my head.
Our journey was a long and tedious one, but the counting helped my mind from wandering and overthinking. I focused on keeping track of our steps, slowing my pace to be just behind Virion’s heel-to-toe gait.
We did stop every now and then so that Virion and Bairon could stretch and rest. The two were still recovering and while their bodies had healed, the trek through the sands were still taxing for the two of them. With our feet sinking almost shin-deep with every step, it took a lot more strength to walk here than it did on flat ground.
Sylvie checked the state of their damaged mana cores every now and then to make sure they were okay, but it seemed like the only way they’d be able to recover would be by giving them time to rest.
Virion had come to terms with his injuries, but I would hear Bairon grunt in frustration every now and then after failing to use mana to the degree that he had grown used to. Virion could barely even coat his fist in mana, while Bairon was only able to shroud his body. Neither of them were able to utilize elemental magic.
After another ten thousand steps had gone by, I noticed that Virion had gotten slower. Looking up, I noticed that his body was shivering.
“Virion,” I called out, gripping his arm. I immediately sent a wave of heat and I could see blood rushing back to his pale face. “Let me know when you’re getting cold.”
“T-Thank you,” he replied with a weary smile. “And don’t worry, I’m okay.”
I watched as he walked on. His once broad shoulders seemed so narrow and weak as he hunched forward. For the first time, Virion actually appeared… old.
We continued marching through the desert, illuminated softly by the pale moon and stars. Afraid to even cast a light in the off chance that a scythe or retainer was nearby, we walked in darkness for hours on end until finally, I had reached the last number.
“We’re here,” I announced skeptically. Around us was only sand, as far as my mana-enhanced vision could see.
Bairon, Sylvie and I all looked at Virion. Our commander was bent down, sweeping his arm that was holding a white pentagonal medallion etched with designs that I couldn’t make out from this far.
“What is that?” I asked, curious.
“I’m not sure exactly what it is, but we found several of these inside the Castle when we first discovered it. It seems to be a relic from the wise mages of the past,” Virion answered, not taking his eyes off the sandy ground.
Bairon let out a gasp. “You mean the same ancient mages that had built both the floating city of Xyrus as well as the Castle?”
Virion nodded as he continued to walk in circles, waving the white medallion in his hand as if it were a magnifying glass.
I raised a brow at Bairon’s unusual tone of admiration, but said nothing. I’d heard about the ancient mages now and again. Much of the previous artifacts that helped the Dicathen civilization grow came from the ancient mages. It’s safe to say that without the teleportation gates, and the mana-rich atmosphere of the floating city of Xyrus, much of Dicathen’s lands would’ve been untamed.
Across my readings back when I was a child in this world, artificers and researchers all believed that the ancient mages had either discovered the technology to transport themselves to another world, or had wiped themselves off the face of the world while conducting a large-scale experiment of some sort.
Based on the lack of evidence that suggested either of these two things, it seemed that the researchers of Dicathen had more or less given up on finding out what had happened to our ancestors and slapped on a reasonably logical conclusion.
After a subjective hour of searching, Virion let out a frustrated grunt. “It’s not here.”
“What do you mean it’s not here?” I asked. “You said that taking 35,651 steps straight while facing away from that gash on the boulder would lead us to the shelter.”
“I know what I said!” he snapped.
“Well, maybe the wind blew the boulder back from its original position,” Bairon suggested, impatience laced in his voice.
“Not likely.” Virion shook his head. “Buhnd exhausted almost all of his monstrous mana core to make sure the boulder was large enough and was buried deep enough so that the sand and wind wouldn’t shift its position.”
I scratched my head in frustration. “Then what do we do?”
“I don’t think we have a choice… but to start over again,” Virion muttered.
Frustration turned to anger as my patience reached its limit. “No. We just wasted the better half of a day counting our footsteps because you wanted to find this refuge shelter. There has to be another way to get in.”
“Well there isn’t!” he shot back, walking towards me with a piercing hot gaze. “You think I want to be out here after my entire family was taken from me? Huh? If it was solely up to my wants, I’d much rather march with my men, face a scythe and die in battle—then, at least I would feel like I’d done what I could to avenge them. But that’s not what a leader does, Arthur. When everyone else has given up, I’m the one that has to hold onto any semblance of hope and fight for the future!”
He stabbed a long, fragile finger into my chest as he snarled out his last words. “So don’t you dare say this is what I ‘want’.”
I stood there, speechless, as Virion walked weakly away. Bairon’s expression mirrored my own while even the howling winds quieted.
“Wait,” Sylvie said, breaking the silence. My bond turned to me. “I noticed this earlier but I couldn’t quite figure out what I was feeling. I think the artifact that Virion is holding influences… aether. Arthur, can you activate Realmheart?”
I did as she asked, thrilled at the prospect of not having to take this arduous hike again. Igniting Sylvia’s dragon will, I felt a sharp pain spread out of my core and through my body and limbs from the backlash of overusing my mana and even using aether arts during my battle with the scythe.
However, as my vision shifted to monochrome and specks of color began lighting up the world around me, my heart thumped in excitement. Amidst the tiny motes of yellow, green, blue, red, and purple, I found something in the distance.
We must’ve shifted off course during our hike here because just less than a mile to my left was a clump of purple that shone like a beacon.
I felt my lips curl up into a crazed grin. “I found it. I found it!”
Sylvie’s eyes brightened at my words and thoughts. She immediately transformed into her draconic form and plucked both Virion and Bairon from the ground with her front claws.
I flew ahead just above the ground, blasting a trail of sand behind me as Sylvie followed close behind.
With our destination locked in sight, it only took a matter of minutes to reach the circular array of purple motes that represented aether.
“It’s here,” I said, pointing directly to the center of the array.
Virion hurriedly scrambled to me, holding the artifact tightly in his hands. He arrived and immediately knelt down, placing the white artifact over the sand with an expression of relief.
“You’re right. This is the place,” he said, looking at the white medallion on top of the sand.
Bairon arrived too, his brow raised in doubt. “Nothing is happen—”
Cutting the lance off mid sentence, the medallion began to vibrate. Even more amazingly, its vibrations caused pulsating waves in the sand around it, spreading several yards out in all directions. The pulses got stronger until the rolling sand soon formed small waves.
Sylvie and I exchanged wary glances but before we could do any more, the ground below us sank until we fell through the sand.
Chapter 239: Passage Of Time
Instinctively, I shrouded myself in a sphere of wind, keeping the sand away as I gently floated down to the ground. Sylvie did something similar as I saw a black sphere slowly melt to reveal a petite girl with two large horns.
Virion and Bairon, with their cores damaged and their magic widely unusable, didn’t fare as well.
Fortunately, Virion was at the epicenter of our descent so he slid down the large mountain of sand that had accumulated below him. Bairon, a figure whose lightning magic was so powerful that it heightened his reflexes, rolled down the sand dune in a fit of desperate screaming and coughing.
He flailed his arms like a drowning puppy before he realized he was on solid ground. Virion shook his head while Sylvie turned away to hide her laughter.
Bairon spat out a mouthful of sand while glaring at me with dagger-like eyes. “You! Should a lance be so selfish as to leave his… commander to plunge down into unknown dangers like that?”
“The only one that thought they were in danger was you,” Virion countered, dusting the sand off of his robe.
It was the first time I saw Bairon’s cheeks flushed in embarrassment. He quickly bolted up to his feet, wiping his sandy mouth and tongue on his sleeve as he coughed. His spiteful glare never ceased as he did this but Bairon and I both knew that he couldn’t do anything about it. With the state he was in right now, I could kill him with a slap—not that I’d want to, of course.
“Everyone,” Sylvie said, her voice echoing slightly. “Look around.”
Her words brought our attention to the mysterious underground tunnel we were in. I looked around and I finally realized that for a place without any sources of light, it was surprisingly easy to see.
“Are those glowing symbols runes? I’ve never seen anything like them,” Bairon muttered in wonder as he hovered his hand over a rune that pulsed with faint light on the wall. “It must be runes, but I don’t sense any fire or lightning affinity mana around them.”
TBATE Volume 7 Page 35
