The Void
It had been five days since they had returned to Azor's castle, and after four sleepless nights of research and tracking runes to the gems they already found, they were disheartened. On the first day, Cyil had found a trail of symbols that led all the way to the fire gem, and Dracoa had found a poem written in those symbols on one of the Raik Mountain peaks, but Qassot said it just gave a clue to find the air gem. On the second day, Riselus had gone to a forest to the east of Azor's castle but found only symbols that led back to Qade Valley. Qassot came back on the third day from looking at the whole island through the fourth dimension but didn't say anything when she got back. She just grumpily wandered to one of the guest rooms to sleep. The others drew an obvious conclusion. They had spent the fourth day looking through scrolls and maps for clues about rune symbols, but came up with nothing. It was now the fifth day. They were now sitting around in Dracoa's room with nothing to do.
Azor walked up and told them to stop sitting around.
"It's no use to do nothing."
Riselus grunted.
"C'mon. Get up and do something useful."
Dracoa grunted.
"At least play a game or something."
Everybody grunted.
"Get up or you all have kitchen duty tonight."
It was a typical, bright, hot day without any sort of blemish in the air. Everyone went outside to a grassy field outside the castle and played a game that Aavern had just come up with.
It was basically to move five of your stones on a large grid, using five moves. You could use a move to jump over another stone and gain a point. Get jumped, lose a point. First to 10 wins and gets to sit out. Aavern had gotten 10 points in the first few turns, and Cyil finished shortly after. They were now sitting nearby, gently chucking stones at each other until they missed and were too lazy to gather more. With Riselus, Qassot, and Dracoa's complete and utter lack of strategy, the game was taking a very long time.
"Your move," Riselus grunted. He was at 6 points and kept losing points to Qassot. His strategy was to group everything in a cluster and do nothing.
"Y'know, this board kinda reminds me of those runes," Qassot said, "Just the way the stones are arranged."
She was at 8 points, but kept retreating after getting close to Dracoa's stones instead of jumping them to win.
"You need to be more aggressive," Aavern said.
"I don't want to, though."
"You're gonna lose."
"I haven't yet. Your turn, Dracoa."
Dracoa was at 3 points. Her stones were split far apart on the board and she kept using her moves to chase after single stones away from a group.
"Where'd you even learn to read those runes, anyways?" Cyil asked Qassot.
"Lemme think," Qassot said, moving her stone. Dracoa slapped her claw with her tail.
"Not your turn."
Qassot scratched her chin. "I think I found this big rock in the fourth dimension which has runes written all over it one time."
Everyone stopped.
"I copied some of the characters and learned it bit by bit. I was kinda bored."
Riselus sighed. Cyil and Aavern started getting excited. Dracoa was glaring at Qassot.
"What's wrong?" Qassot asked.
"You waited until now to say that?" Dracoa asked angrily.
-
A smile slowly spread across Azor's face as he watched the five leave his castle. Dracoa has just told him where they would find the light gem; the fourth dimension. Qassot had taught herself to read the ancient language in that place, on a stone that Kovo hid long ago. Azor had no doubt that they would bring the gem back at any cost. He knew Ezarik would be defeated eventually. He knew the orbs would be in the exact spot the gems were formerly in. He knew the five dared not mess with ancient magic so much as to remove the orbs. His smile slowly turned into a laugh.
"You hear that, Ezarik?" he shouted into the cold evening air, "They're coming for you. You will be finished soon." Another maniacal laugh escaped his lips. He left the top tower. As he went back down into his castle, he couldn't help but mutter one last parting shot.
"Everything will soon be in place."
-
The five traveled to a peaceful plain just outside the castle. The rough ground had them moving slowly, and none of them felt like moving quickly. At the top of the hill of the plain, Qassot began shifting to the fourth dimension. She warped, stretched, and right before she disappeared the five managed to group together closely. They soon all appeared in the fourth dimension. The hallucinating blackness. The void, as Dracoa now called it. Apparently, you could use it to travel anywhere, without needing to be there before or see it before, which all other teleportation methods required. It wasn't really the fourth dimension. According to Azor, they wouldn't even be able to comprehend the fourth dimension.
Qassot led them across the toroid to the center, past the gently flowing river of scenes from their world, to a dim emptiness where they saw a dark gray metallic rocky shape written with many of the strange symbols, nearly invisible in the swirling blackness around them, revealed to be glowing slightly as they got closer. The entire toroid was revolving around it.
They reached the runed rock. Qassot was happy. She was also thinking. Perhaps reading the rock aloud will make it reveal its secret. But what is its guardian? Qassot voiced her thoughts and everyone pondered. Aavern seemed uneasy.
"I don't think we should do that…" Aavern said uneasily.
"Why?" Qassot asked, "The gem's right in there!"
"I don't think this is a good idea."
The toroid spun faster.
"Why?"
An ethereal current began to blow through the dimension.
"This whole place revolves around that rock. It's like a power source. What happens when you remove a power source?"
"There's the orb, though," Dracoa said.
"We need to break it to get the gem!"
The current grew stronger.
"What's that?" Cyil butted in. He sounded nervous. He was pointing a wing out to a spot outside of the toroid.
They peered into the blackness, trying to find something in the total absence of light. They could see nothing at first, but, very slowly, something emerged at the edge of reality. There was a patch of black, somehow more black than the void they were in. It was fluid, flowing through the dimension towards them. Something about it seemed wrong.
Dracoa, clearly shaken, said, "Let's get out of here."
The world contracted at the edge of their vision.
"What is that!?" Riselus shouted.
Sounds warped and shifted as the world locked them in.
"SOMEBODY DO SOMETHING!" Aavern yelled.
Cyil attempted to throw a fireball. The fire was extinguished immediately. The black thing came closer. Before they could get a good look at it, the world sighed, exhaled, relaxed and things went back to normal. The black thing disappeared with a wisp of smoke that dissolved into the surroundings. The glowing white runes on the stone blacked out.
"What just happened?" Cyil asked. Nobody wanted to talk about it. They stood still for a moment, regaining their composure.
"I think it was a warning. If we remove this rock, this dimension will collapse," Aavern stated, "which is why we can't get it where we are right now."
"I figured out how to make portals," Dracoa offered, "So I can make a portal into the rock, leave the orb there and take the gem."
"Since when?" Cyil asked.
"Azor taught me a while ago."
"Don't you need to know where you're going to place a portal?" Aavern asked, remembering Azor's talk about teleportation methods.
"I can also place the other side of it within a few feet of the entrance. It doesn't seem very useful, but it's good for getting through walls," Dracoa said. "I tested this out every night while we were pondering how to find the light gem."
Aavern had no more arguments. Dracoa made the portal, with a strange whirring sound and a bright flash from her gem. It led into the rock. The rest followed. They were in a small, rocky room, cylindrical in shape, with no opening. A pedestal was sitting in the middle of it. On it, there was a piercingly bright orb, but no guardian.
"This feels too easy," Qssot mumbled.
"I'm not complaining," Cyil said.
They tried to walk closer to it. However, the moment they stepped forwards, an overwhelming urge to turn back entered their minds. Each of them unconsciously retreated.
Except Aavern. He seemed unaffected.
"Huh," Cyil said. "What was that?"
"It didn't want us to take it," Qassot said. She seemed to have understood something from her supernatural sense.
"Maybe the guardian will appear when I touch it," Aavern said. "Everyone get ready."
Aavern walked slowly up to the pedestal. Nothing happened. He stared at it. It suddenly became brutally clear that the orb was judging Aavern as its gentle glow washed over him. The four watched as Aavern slowly reached up. He took the orb. The orb suddenly gave off a bright flash that consumed their senses. A resounding voice resonated within their minds.
The trial has begun.
When the blindness and ringing in their ears dissipated, the four realized they were back at Azor's cottage.