Chapter 17

Though their guard was up at all times while they began scouring the cave, it almost seemed unneeded.

While there were enemies seen down paths, yes, there didn't appear to be any traps at all.

No crumbling floors, pressure plates, magic turrets… nothing.

The enemies also seemed surprisingly passive, never going after them unless they walked down the path.

The deeper they walked the more apparent it became that the crystals lined every inch of this place, or perhaps it was simply made out of it?

It was a curious sight to be sure, as they'd seen nothing like it at all, even Yuria seemed surprised the further in they went.

"Someone incredibly powerful must've passed here… that or an impossibly potent spell was cast." Yuria speaks to herself while placing her hand on a crystal jutting out from the wall, her smile fading for a moment.

"Why do you say that? What's with these crystals?" Ryder asks, walking up to her, noticing the crystal glow in reaction to her.

"These aren't just any crystals… they're a magic growth, a reflection of someone's soul… what makes it even rarer is that these are clear crystals." her voice holds a tinge of excitement that she's clearly trying to hide.

"Clear? But these are glowing teal, aren't they?" he asks, a bit confused now, though quickly getting his answer from Lily.

"The reason for that is likely due to Yuria's magic, right?" her answer surprises them, not realizing Lily would actually know the answer.

"Yes, that's correct actually, these crystals glow with the color of whatever mana impacts them… though now I'm curious, what really could've caused this?" Yuria looks around for a moment, still surprised by the cavern filled with them. "Even if it was a death or spell, it would've been something no one has seen in eons…"

"Is it really that impressive?" Lily asks while picking up a fallen crystal that begins to fade its teal color. "I mean, I really don't get it, can't these just be normal crystals-" as she says that the crystal in her hand begins to glow with a colorless light, the ringing returning in full force again, the glow matching it.

Yuria quickly moves over to Lily's side, cautiously examining the crystal in her hand, an excited yet cautious smile forming on her face. "Well, I didn't realize we had a colorless among us… you truly are a rarity Lily."

"Is that special?" Lily asks while holding the crystal a bit higher, though she couldn't figure out the proper location, the unrefined crystal making the noise worse.

Sadly she drops the crystal and looks to Ryder as a glow comes from his waist, quickly she moves to him.

All the while Yuria begins her explanation.

"It is, for you see the color of one's soul denotes the type of magic they can most efficiently wield, their natural state of being if you will… though it is possible for different colors to use different elements they'll be at a disadvantage."

Yuria holds up her hand and creates a teal energy orb again, now more violently resembling a ball of air. "This color is that of the wind, the element I'm linked closest to, though I can still do many other things."

"So, does that mean we're stuck with whatever color our soul is?" Feros asks, picking up a crystal in hopes of seeing his own color. As he does so the crystal slowly begins to bleed into a deep scarlet hue.

"No, it's actually common for a soul to go through many colors and hues before they fully develop. Clear or Colorless souls are rare as that's how a soul begins, able to attune to anything and everything, usually only lasting through infancy… those that carry a clear soul are one in a trillion." Yuria's voice has become calmer, seemingly glad to be with Lily and Ryder more now.

"A Clear Soul…" Lily mutters to herself before stopping and looking at Ryder. "Ryder, what do you have on you? That glowing object I mean."

"What?" Ryder questions before looking down and pulling out the strange relic he'd picked up in the healing room.

The orb was humming violently and glowing brightly now that he'd taken it out of his pouch.

It was reacting to something or someone in this cave… something that didn't belong.

"Where did you get that?" Lily asks as she takes it from him, thousands of words filling her mind as she looks around, looking for where the shine and humming becomes clearest.

"I got it back when Aranea and I went to go look for The Forgotten's ritual room, I just didn't get the chance to tell anyone about it." he admits while keeping a close eye on Lily. "Are you alright? You're acting a bit weird."

"I'm fine…" Lily starts, still entranced on fine tuning the location. "Just looking for something specific." she states, concerning everyone while looking around until she stops, focusing on one path. "There it is, down there!"

"Why? What's down there?" Ryder asks, moving to look in the direction.

The path she pointed to was the widest part of the cave, the only section they hadn't peeked down yet for fear of getting lost.

It was also the most scarred as the crystals were chipped and broken, many scattered about on the ground.

Whatever awaited them there, it wasn't good.

"I don't know… but I'm certain it's important!" Lily exclaims while looking at all three of them, desperation in her eyes.

"Well, I trust her, after all clear souls have been known to be more in tune with the universe and what lies beyond." Yuria smiles before patting Ryder on the back as she passes, casually walking on ahead into the path. "Perhaps we'll see something truly amazing after all!"

With a shake of his head Feros quickly follows after her, wanting to make sure she doesn't get into any trouble on her own.

Leaving Ryder and Lily to slowly catch up to the two.

The atmosphere of this particular cave passage felt different than the rest, perhaps it was due to the lack of enemies thus far, or perhaps the odd humming now coming from the crystals.

Whatever it was it put Ryder on edge as he looked around for any signs of danger, yet none could be seen.

Similarly, Lily seemed even more uneased, her eyes narrowing a bit and her usual smile gone. It was hard for her to keep up appearances at this point, as the pit in her stomach grew and the magic in the air became denser it seemed like the world around her began to shift and change.

Hallucinations, both visual and auditory, began to plague her, it was as if her consciousness was blending together with someone else's.

Someone she didn't recognize.

The crystals on the wall faded in and out, replaced by intricate stone walls, ones that had to have been made by a master craftsman.

Even the floor looked hand crafted, not one inch of this place looked to be a natural formation.

It was as if she was seeing past and present melding together, one time through each eye.

Though the more she looked around the less it looked like a tomb, and more like some kind of archive or storehouse.

There were rooms that seemingly used to exist, now blocked off in the present with the crystals.

In those rooms were thousands of books, sometimes even armor and weapons.

"What is all this?" Lily asked aloud to herself, looking around in both confusion and amazement.

"What? I don't see anything…" Ryder asks, trying to follow her gaze but only seeing crystals.

Without another word Lily rests her hand on a crystal where a door should be, feeling it for a moment before knocking. Hollow, the wall sounded hollow there, confirming her suspicions of what she was seeing.

Quickly she pulls out a blank map and begins sketching the secret rooms that she's seeing, knowing that they'll need to come back to check them out.

"Lily, seriously, what's going on? What are you seeing?" Ryder asks, as he approaches her, now really concerned about the odd way she's acting.

"Look, I can't describe it, but I'm seeing this place without all the crystals in my right eye." she holds up the map to him and points to the crossed off rooms. "These are the areas we came to find, there's books and equipment lying in there, I just don't know what to do about the crystals in the way."

"Well I could always try hitting them with this." Ryder holds up a black flame fireball. "Supposedly it's supposed to feast on anything, I think…" he questions for a moment before looking at the wall.

"No, let's not test that right now, we don't know how the crystals would react… you could make a chain explosion for all we know." Lily cautions, going back to walking and marking rooms.

"Yeah, fair enough." he replies, snuffing out the flame and following her down the path towards the other two.

Just as they catch up Feros stops them dead in their tracks, holding out his blade to bar them from progressing.

In a hushed voice he asks them, "Do you hear that? Just up ahead."

Sure enough, upon listening closely, the sounds of heavy metallic footfalls echo to them, seeming to crunch the crystals underfoot.

Not only that but it sounds like they're dragging something heavy behind them, like a greatsword or a sheet of metal.

As the sound drew closer and closer each party member readied themselves for a fight, unsure of what could even be approaching them.

Though each one froze up in terror upon seeing a familiar black cloaked figure approach from around the corner, dragging with them what looked to be a large yet decaying, greatsword.

"Is that…" Ryder questions, getting ready to throw a fireball directly at the individual.

"Wait, somethings different… they may have the same equipment but I don't think that's Shade." Feros adds, motioning towards the individual. "Look, their armor is too beat up, and he didn't use a greatsword."

Just as Feros pointed out the armor on them looked to be ready to fall apart, aged beyond belief, their cloak frayed and tattered from possible years of combat.

A sharp pain shot through Lily's right eye as she looked at the figure, the feeling of familiarity filling her mind as she tried to figure out what was happening.

One single word popped into her mind as she saw another figure overlap with the lord hunter before them.

A name, one long forgotten, possibly even to the individual themselves, yet it was worth a shot.

Mustering all her courage Lily took a deep breath and called out the name echoing in her mind.

"Regis!" her voice echoed out, catching everyone off guard, now not knowing what was going on.

Once the words reached the individual it seemed to have some effect on them as they staggered back, grabbing their head with their free hand before quickly looking in Lily's direction.

Two glowing red eyes peer out from under the hood along with long raven hair.

A guttural scream escapes from them as they ready the greatsword for a fight.

[Roundtable of the Forgotten]

[Knight of Death; Regis]

A scene shoots through Lily's mind as she sees this name, a green clad figure standing above Regis, offering his hand to the knight, their greatsword broken into pieces on the ground.

The light of the moon illuminates the figure, almost making him seem like a divine entity.

Cautiously the knight takes his hand, unsure of what the future may bring.

"Now, you need not be a nameless killing machine, from this day on… you live as Regis, let your life begin anew."

"Lily! Move!"

Just as suddenly she's snapped to reality, pulled out of the way by Ryder, a blindingly fast thrust attack barely missing them.

A scarlet aura slowly forming on the crumbling greatsword.

"Now's not the time to be spacing out! We've got an angry berserker on us!" Ryder quickly states, drawing his sword and coating it in the black flames, earning another staggeringly loud shout from the knight.

"Wait! Something's not right!" Lily cautions, staring directly at the two glowing red eyes. "I don't think Regis is herself right now."

"That's a girl?! Wait, no that's not important! How would you know?!" Ryder yells back, staying ready for any sudden attacks.

"Because I can see it! She's not normally like this! This is something else, it's like the first boss we fought!" she quickly replies, trying to back away from Regis. "Something's happened and it's controlling her mind!"

"Mind control huh?" Yuria chimes in, walking up to Lily. "I can take care of that, but I'll need you three to give me a good open shot at her head." with a smirk she looks back at Feros. "Think you're up for that Ashy?"

Feros readies his saber, taking up a dueling stance with a focused look in his eyes. "If that's all it is then you can just leave the heavy lifting to me."

Before Lily could utter another word Regis began her attack.

First launching at Feros, full speed, attempting to skewer him in one fell swoop.

Sparks fly and the sound of metal on metal rings out as Feros stands his ground, deflecting the attack, managing to push the greatsword aside.

With agile ferocity he quickly returns the favor, stabbing at the weak points of the armor, slowly chipping her health down, but not doing any clear damage to the health bar.

Ryder dashes in, not wanting to give Regis a chance to recover.

He unleashes a wave of slashes at her back, the black flames easily tearing through the remaining armor and cloak, dealing good chunks of damage.

Regis lets out a loud, ear piercing scream, causing scarlet energy to explode out of her, blasting Feros and Ryder away and coating her sword in the aura.

She readies the greatsword, aiming directly at Lily now.

"Lily! Be careful!" Feros calls out as he stands up. "That aura inflicts a status effect acting like rapid poison!"

She looks to the corner in her hud, seeing Ryder and Feros' health quickly depleting, a red skull next to their names.

Lily looks back at Regis, now thoroughly terrified as the berserker begins her advance, the very feeling of death rapidly approaching.

Soon enough the greatsword was swinging at her, trails of scarlet being left behind and crystals shattering as they got in the way.

Ducking under and sidestepping each attack Lily awaited an opening, looking for any clear gap in the attacks.

Soon enough it became clear, every fifth swing had a large wind up and recovery, leaving Regis wide open for punishment.

Biding her time she kept dancing around the attacks at the last possible second, keeping the berserker's attention while Feros and Ryder recovered.

Each swing she counted, one, two, three, four… then engaged.

As Regis wound up for the heavy fifth swing, Lily dashed in, readying her knife and slicing at the weak points in the armor, making Regis falter before swinging.

In a quick followup Lily slides behind her, narrowly avoiding the attack, before retaliating with another quick series of slashes, slowly chipping down the berserker's health.

It was a dangerous game, but one Lily had to keep playing, just long enough for either the two to recover, or Yuria to work her magic.

Slash after slash, deadly attacks missing by inches, sparks flying through the air.

That was all Lily's mind took in as she became more and more absorbed in the fight.

Wanting, no, needing to win this fight.

Before anyone realized it Lily had gotten Regis down to half health, perhaps it was the critical hits or the consistent attacks, no one knew for certain how she'd done it.

Much to everyone's surprise though there didn't seem to be a phase two yet, no if anything the scarlet aura simply grew a bit larger as Regis wound up another attack.

It looked to be another thrust, aimed directly at taking Lily out once and for all.

In that moment, she dashes forward to meet the attack, jumping over the thrust and putting all her weight into a kick directly at Regis' face, connecting and knocking the berserker to the ground.

"Yuria!" Lily called out, knowing this would be their only chance.

Faster than anyone could see, Yuria appears knelt down next to Regis, her hand hovering over the berserker's face.

What happened next could only be described as pure magic, something more potent and beyond anything they'd ever seen up until that point.

Yuria's hand begins to glow with a deep azure blue hue, the natural mana in the air swirling and becoming more chaotic, the air growing heavy enough that it was nearly impossible for Lily and the others to breathe.

The crystals began glowing the same blue hue, letting out a melodic and indescribable humming noise.

As the spell grew in power so too did the feeling in the area.

Crystals cracking, unable to match the resonance, shadows lengthening as the lights die one by one… the humming now becoming full on chanting from an unknown source.

Feros, Ryder and Lily all fell to their knees, unable to even withstand whatever pressure was being put on them as they watched in awe and horror.

Regis' body began to convulse, reacting violently to the magic resting near her face. Pained cries echoing through the dim blue lighting… for the first time they saw the real Yuria.

Someone with unknown depths of magical power, bending the laws of nature to her whim and benefit, yet no malice could be felt as they watched her pull her hand away.

Her eyes now glowing bright blue, all the energy in the room swirling around her she held a red glowing object in her hand.

It was some kind of creature, convulsing like a snake or worm… yet it looked wrong, putrid, corrupted… not of this world.

As her eyes dim a bit and the energy begins to calm, Yuria glances down at the creature in her hand, clear disgust in her eyes as she viciously and mercilessly crushes it, a loud squelch being heard as the red light fades. All that remains is a mangled corpse that begins to vanish in black smoke and putrid blood pooling onto the floor.

Once the room returns to normal Ryder is the first to stand up, taking a long and deep breath of air before calmly asking. "Yuria, what the hell was that?"

"Oh right, I forgot that might've been a little potent for you three…" Yuria mumbles while wiping the blood off on her cloak. "What you felt was a high tier spell, strong enough to remove any brainwashing or in this case parasite."

Feros coughs and stands up, now raising an eyebrow. "So… high tier magic can make the room feel like that?!"

"Well, yes, but only to those who aren't on the same level as the spell… and considering you all are like children in comparison…" Yuria sheepishly says with a goofy smile. "At the very least the Death Knight here should be back to normal upon waking up."

"That's good I guess." he says while stretching a bit before putting his sword away. "I'll stay with her while you three keep moving on, I get the feeling she was the boss of the area."

"Probably." Ryder chimes in before walking over to Lily and offering her a hand. "You alright?"

Groggily she takes his hand, slowly standing up while holding her head. "I'll be fine I think… just, whatever that was made my head start ringing…"

Though the ringing did eventually subside, now it was that of a low hum, coming from a room behind Yuria.

Lily felt drawn to it, as if she needed to see what was inside of it now.

Wanting to test a theory though, Lily looks to Ryder who seems to understand and produces the orb once more, it glows brightly, the humming becoming clearer, as if responding to the room itself.

It was attracted to something, possibly what they were searching for in the first place.

Gently she pushed past Ryder and Yuria much to their confusion and up to the crystal coated door.

The hum grew louder, drawing her in further, the feeling of importance rising within as she placed her hands on the door.

As she does so the crystals begin glowing violently bright, the energy within breaking them apart and freeing the door. Now revealing it to be more dentanium, with a large symbol engraved on it now.

A burning full moon with a flower on it, the same flower they saw up in the castle.

Though now, as past and present melded in her eyes, Lily knew what it was now.

"Amaryllis…" she mutters, running her hand across the door.

"What was that?" Yuria looked at her before looking at the door again. "Wait, is that what the flower is?"

"Yeah, I- I remembered what it was…" Lily speaks up while trying to figure out the meaning behind it.

"I see, I suppose that does give us a clue for who the Forgotten was." Yuria walks up to the door and places her hand on it, slowly pushing it open. "Let's leave this door intact, shall we?"

Carefully the trio pushes the door open, a burst of freezing cold energized air rushing past them as they do so.

Though on the other side they can see that the crystals originate from a coffin in the far back, the lid remaining uncrystallized while everything else is.

"So, this is where he was laid to rest then?" Ryder asks, looking around. "I don't understand, why would an important figure be buried down here?"

"You must remember, he was a large historical figure whose name and face has been forgotten, nothing about this situation is normal." Yuria retorts, walking into the room and looking around.

"Yeah I guess that's true… hell barely anything makes sense here." he replies, crossing his arms as he walks in alongside Lily.

Upon crossing the threshold they feel the temperature drop drastically, to the point that their breath is visible.

Even the crystals and what visible stonework there is seems to be covered in frost and ice.

Even time seemed to slow a bit as looking back, they can see Feros moving much slower, almost comically so.

All the sounds seem muffled, distorted, as if they were submerged underwater without realizing it.

Each step Lily took towards the coffin she could barely make out the sound of her footsteps, even the humming became drowned out by this weird room.

Upon looking down she could see that a name was once engraved upon the coffin, though it's faded and broken away, all that remains are the initials and their titles.

[V___ A____]

[First Great Lord of Terminus]

[Uniter of Terminus]

[Astral Lord of Resovult]

[May his soul find peace on his never ending journey.]

A strong feeling of sorrow and bittersweet melancholy filled her mind, yet she could not understand why.

The humming being the only thing she could hear was that never ending, constant droning humming, filling her mind as she began to push the coffin open.

Upon doing so it was like her mind cleared in an instant, everything finally returning back to normal as she looked inside.

There was no corpse, no treasure, not even a map, it was primarily empty… save for one thing.

Inside it was glitching out, textures vanishing and blinking in and out of existence, it was clear what this was.

Even the orb was reacting to it, shining clearly and letting out a gentle note now, as if confirming what they'd found.

"Ryder! I think you'll want to see this!" She called out to him, causing the two to rush over and look inside.

"Another False Zone? What's it doing here?" he cautiously asks while examining the glitching portal.

"Perhaps these False Zones have something to do with each location?" Yuria muses before sticking her hand in, though feeling nothing upon doing so. "Strange, this one isn't pulling me in…"

One by one each member tests, gaining the same results, not a single one can seem to enter that way.

Though as Lily stares at it puzzled an idea comes to her mind.

"What if they require certain actions to trigger? The first one was just descending into it… what if this one requires the lid to be placed back on?" she points to the lid she'd slightly moved out of the way.

"It's possible… though who's going to be the test subject? If I recall, the last time Ryder seemed hypnotized, isn't that right?" Yuria asks, looking to Lily for confirmation who nods in reply. "Well then if no one is hypnotized we don't know who to send… as that's usually the sign of a strong connection."

Lily nervously looks at her. "Actually, while not hypnotized, I think I have a strong connection… I've been seeing, hearing and feeling things this entire time, even now I'm still feeling a slight draw to get in."

"Well then, by all means, hop in my dear." Yuria smiles and motions to the coffin, letting Lily climb in hesitantly.

"Are you sure about this? We don't know what'll happen…" Ryder asks, his concern clearly showing as he looks down at Lily.

She offers a slightly nervous smile and nods. "Yeah, this is the only way to be sure, and if it is, maybe we can get another guardian on our side?"

"Alright… well if it is then just wait for another one of us to come through." he replies before looking at Yuria.

"Do stay safe." Yuria offers another smile before helping Ryder slide the coffin shut.

Darkness overtaking Lily and her senses.

Slowly but surely lulling her to sleep as she begins to drift deeper and deeper into the unknown.

Little did she know this would be the last time she'd see them for a while.

Fear and panic began to fill Ryder and Yuria as they opened the Coffin once again, now seeing Lily gone along with the portal.

All that remained now was a perfectly normal, ornate stone coffin.

No matter what they tried they couldn't replicate the vanishing trick.

Whatever was there had taken her and left no trace.

All that remained of her existence now was the orb in Ryder's hands.

This was only the start of their hardships though.

As a dire message was about to make its way to them.

One that would leave them no time to wait for Lily.

[War is coming]