Chapter 68

"So... remind me why we're doing this again?" Aranea asked as she marched along the dirt path, in front of her was a small group selected for a particular mission. 

In the front was Shade who didn't seem to mind the sun shining down on them despite wearing all black. behind him was Lily who looked like she'd pass out from the heat any second. Then came Laurence who was oddly calm just like Shade. Lastly was Ryder who was only a bit in front of Aranea. 

"Simple, we couldn't all go and leave the town unprotected again." Laurence spoke up, a smile on his face. "So we chose this task force to go find the key to win this game." 

"You're the tactician as usual." Ryder said looking at Aranea. "Laurence here will help in case any major lore questions pop up." 

"Okay, and what're you and Lily doing here then?" she asks with a sigh, also growing tired from the sweltering heat Resovult had during its summer season. 

"Oh, we're here to fight any monsters that show up-"

"And to make sure Shade doesn't try anything!" Lily chimed in. "You can't forget he killed a LOT of us back on the first island!" 

"I already told you I was doing that to boost a special relic to help kill the Dark Lord." Shade's voice held no remorse as he looked down at the map in his hands, trying to figure out the best path to their location. Despite having visited it before the path seemed fuzzy in his mind. "That was before knowing things were so strange this time."

"I still don't believe I'd die on the first island!" she yelled, clearly upset at this accusation.

"Well you did, several times." Shade shrugged as he looked back. "Heck your first death was actually to the real boss of the fort I was in." 

"NO WAY!" Lily now hung her head. "I lost to that thing?" 

"Well you wouldn't have been the only one I Imagine." Arcanea says calmly while looking to Shade. "Now what are we even looking for when we get to Eltherum?" 

"A frozen lake with a tree in the center, it'll let us enter a secret area where an NPC will tell us what to do next." Shade closes the map and looks forward, now a bit more sure of their path. "That's where we'll learn where the key really is."

"Okay you say that but what exactly is the key?" Aranea asks while trying to push ahead of the group. "If you told me I might be able to find it."

"Not what, but who. The Key is a person who is the pinnacle of Velstan... but I don't remember their name or where to find them." Shade looks back at the group with a rather determined glint in his eyes. "I know where to start looking though." He holds up a map for them to see, said map outlining a specific path to the top right of Eltherum, the most north eastern part of Terminus. "Up in this region is a Visionary-" 

"Really?" Laurence seemed surprised about this, his eyes even lightning up a bit. "That's an exceedingly rare trait, according to lore it hasn't been seen since the ancient era of the Crynos." 

"Yeah, because the Crynos and Phoenixes were the ones who created it and controlled it." Shade stated calmly while turning back to keep marching on the path. "Once they died out or went into hiding the trait vanished with them."

"Okay... then how does this one person have it?" Lily asked while moving up to Shade's side to question him. "I get there's this whole weird timey wimey thing going on with the areas of the map but as far as i know there's no area thats stuck that far back." 

"Which you're right about." Shade replied while keeping his eyes on the path ahead of them, scanning around for something. "However there is a way magic can still be passed on..." 

"That would be Bloodline, Records, or Artifacts, correct?" Laurence asked now trying to even imagine how this could've happened. In all his time diving into the game he'd never seen anything like this, it should've been impossible for something like this to pop up. 

"Correct, you know your stuff." Shade responded casually while slowing his steps. "Specifically this is a descendant of a phoenix, that's how they have the Visionary trait." As he says this he picks up a rock and throws it ahead much to everyone's confusion. As it flies it hits an invisible wall and bounces back at them even faster, only barely missing Shade and Lily. 

"WHAT WAS THAT?!" Lily yelled, surprised by the sudden projectile that flew by her head. "ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME?!" 

"Relax shorty, just doublechecking where the barrier was." Shade shrugs her off and steps forward, leaving a fuming Lily behind. "They blocked the path again, at least that stayed the same... hey, Ryder, you're up!" 

"Me?" Ryder, though confused, steps forward anyway. 

"Yeah, take your antimagic dagger and infuse it with the black flame, the combo of those two can dispel any barrier." Shade says nonchalantly while crossing his arms and waiting for Ryder to do as told. 

Ryder hesitantly pulls out his dagger and starts slowly infusing it with the black flame. As he does so the combination creates a strange ringing in the air and the flames begin to die down turning into... nothingness. The aura looked "grey" to Ryder's eyes but it felt empty, void of anything and everything. It made his stomach churn just looking at it and he almost dropped the dagger out of shock. 

"Perfect that combo still works even if it wasn't the original owner doing it." Shade says with a sigh of relief. "Now, break that barrier and brace yourself for a blast of cold air."

Ryder nods cautiously and moves forward before swinging down onto the barrier with the nothingness on his blade. An ear-piercing screech fills the air along with the sound of breaking glass. Next came an unforgiving blast of cold air strong enough to nearly knock the group over. Was this the winds of Eltherum? 

Though soon the winds began to calm and they could more easily see everything in front of them. 

"What the hell..." Ryder's voice barely made it to their ears as he spoke, though his tone made them more worried as they looked forward. 

The snow falling down was black in color, it bore an unnatural amount of mana as it drifted to the ground. As their eyes drifted up a strange sight came into view, one that even Shade couldn't fully understand. 

In place of the sun was a hole in reality itself, a ring of pure blue mana swirling around it. 

It felt like an unbelievable amount of mana was pouring from it, raw and unfiltered mana that could be formed into anything. 

Six spoke up in Lily's mind, giving her pause and making her afraid to move forward. 

"That's the source of all magic in this world. That is the Gap."