Explorers

Lord Weigner assembles the Elite Forces and Rose Garden members in the main hall. It seems like he suffers from a flu today.

The Rose Garden members are wearing their new, Astral outfit. Rein and Samael try to hold their laughter as they watch Lord Weigner sneezing for the tenth time in three minutes. Melisa pinches their arm, hinting them that they should behave. Instructor Wilson is standing beside Lord Weigner, ready to provide extra information if Lord Weigner fails to explain properly due to his sickness.

"Well, I gather you all here...as you guys know...today is the day where you will raid...Memorial Park..." He sneezes, disrupting his words. Samael is shocked.

"Eh, already? Well, not like we are scared of anything though..." He does not know how to react.

"I'm up for some boss fight. Besides, what could possibly happen to us? This is just the seventh invader." Cyril is confident about defeating Fiora.

"Fiora has polluted almost the entire seventh continent. There had been news where a total of thousand adventurers tried to take her down, but got themselves transfigured into her minions. Her pollen mists are unavoidable, and it will heavily disable magic fighters and blind your vision. The important thing is, the first shard you seek lies there, in the hands of Fiora. In other words, this is your main quest that you cannot possibly abandon." Instructor Wilson explains brief details about Fiora and her trademark spell, as well as the first shard to rescue Queen Valeria.

"The first shard...then we must retrieve it from Fiora!" Melisa feels the urge to save Queen Valeria. She worries about her being imprisoned for a long time. Rein, Samael, and Cyril also feel the same.

"It will be a huge trouble for us, then. Is there any way to repel the pollen mists?" Knight Sigrun is troubled by the pollen mists. Instructor Wilson nods.

"There are ways to repel it. One way is to use an antidote, but the effect will only lasts for a short while, therefore you are still vulnerable towards the pollen mists. Second way is by my blessing, which buffs your presence against plagued surroundings. It will reduce the effects of her pollen mists and prevents you from dying by it, but you can still feel the negative disturbance, so don't be so happy." Instructor Wilson takes out a jewel. Everyone stares at the beautiful turquoise gem.

"I prepared a passport for all of you. Just show the passport to nearby port or world portal centre. The guards or workers will provide a large ship for you to travel across the ocean. On the other hand if you want fast travel, just go to the world portal centre in the town. The sorcerers will teleport you all directly to the seventh continent's world portal centre. However, you will deal with the pollen mists right after you arrived at the seventh continent, so please be prepared if you want to use the world portal. If you want longer preparations, I suggest taking the ship, which you all won't be taking...aha..." Instructor Wilson explains the details about their travel plans. He sure knows that they are eager to set path on an another adventure to fulfill their quests.

Some of the Elite Forces members smirks after hearing Instructor Wilson's words. They decide to take the world portal. It is faster, more convenient, and closer than any nearby port. Instructor Wilson hands a passport to Knight Sigrun.

"It says in this passport that Elite Forces and Rose Garden members are allowed to access into the portal without being charged with fees. Cool, a free ticket for all!" Knight Sigrun smiles widely at them. Small cheers fill the main hall, since they are blessed to have a free ticket.

"Are you guys ready now? I will cast a spell to provide slight protection from pollen mists as mentioned before. Please don't move too much." Instructor Wilson whispers an incantation only he can hear. The turquoise gem he holds emits radiant lights that shines their presence alight. All of them feel a sense of purification inside their body.

"What happened?" Warrior Pijanes does not feel any different, so as Marksman Johnson, Cyril, and Rein. Instructor Wilson notices their response and smiles lightly.

"Since you guys are mostly physical fighters, you would not be affected that much by the pollen mists. Consider yourselves lucky to have extra resistance. Brilliant Resistance is the spell I cast just now. As mentioned, it will slightly reduce the effects of Fiora's pollen mists, but be careful as you still cannot resist too much of it. Now, the spell won't last forever, so better off head to Memorial Park as soon as you can." Instructor Wilson lets out a sigh of relief. He sure talked a lot about the details today.

Knight Sigrun orders everyone to follow his lead. They leave the main hall and walk on the royal path that leads to the world portal centre.

"I guess I'm no use for today..." Lord Weigner sniffs and sneezes again.

"So we get to use the world portal? Oh my, I am so excited..." Melisa is passionate about traveling through the world portal. Paladin Von Sozou looks at her and frowns.

"You'll probably get sick on the first time." He teases her. Melisa's happy face turns sad. Siren Hilia pats her back, trying to cheer her up. Samael is chatting with Cyril at the back. Melisa approaches them and decides to ask something.

"Hey, you two...What do you think is happening in our world now...?" Her soft voice pierces their ears smoothly. Samael looks down and thinks about his home. Cyril misses his delinquent friends, but he feels slightly happy to have an adventure with Melisa.

"I miss our world, who wouldn't, right? But at the same time I feel too excited about forging an adventure with you guys. I mean, this is like a dream. Might as well make the best out of it, don't you think so, big guy?" Samael shoulders Cyril, expecting him to answer.

"Yeah, even though we don't know if these people really exist, but I feel like they are much better people than most of the reality ones. I know I should not say this, but let us stay here for now." Cyril smiles lightly. Melisa blushes as she heard her friends' response.

"Besides, if we leave now with an unfinished adventure, it feels so uneasy, you know? Queen Valeria is our concern for now. Even if this is a dream, or a fantasy, it is a good experience and we might learn a few things about this world and the people living in it. We will return to the world after our holiday ends, but if we are not finished with our quest, we should return once in a while." Rein joins the conversation. Melisa nods happily.

"Two worlds, huh...this is very interesting..." She lightens them up by giving each of them a cupcake made by herself.

"Handmade cupcake. Thanks for answering me!" She giggles afterwards. The guys are slightly embarrassed as they received the cupcake. Knight Sigrun halts his steps, hinting everyone that they have arrived at the world portal centre.

"How may I assist you, honorable sun empire forces?" One of the sorcerer greets them. Knight Sigrun hands him the passport. He then explains their purpose in the seventh continent. The sorcerer widens his eyes and nods.

"Well, time should not be wasted. Please, walk into the world portal. I will send you guys to the world portal centre in the seventh continent. I hope you can defeat the invader who spreads plague there." The sorcerer grants their access to the world portal. Everyone quickly runs to it, ready to be teleported out from the sixth continent.

After a few seconds, they are put into deep stasis, unable to regain consciousness. The world portal teleports them to the seventh continent. World portal is the only warp that applies stasis effect, since the range is far. If the stasis is not applied, the chances of mental disturbance is high.

"Where...am...I...?" Melisa opens her eyes.

"Ugh...so that's the world portal..." Samael is dizzy, unable to concentrate. Everyone regains consciousness a few minutes after the teleportation.

"Hey...this isn't the world portal centre..." Warrior Pijanes squints his eyes, feeling confused. Their surroundings are not filled with pollen mists, which is strange.

"What...how can this be possible?" Knight Sigrun widens his eyes. In front of them lies a forsaken place filled with flower silhouettes. The entrance gate almost fell apart.

"Memorial Park..." Siren Hilia remembers the place. She used to visit this place, so there is no doubt she recognizes it. However, the place is so different now that it makes her feel disgusted.

"Everyone, are you ready? We should wait until everyone is set to go, but we must not be late." Knight Sigrun fully regains his consciousness. After a few seconds, the others stand behind him, ready to enter the abandoned park.

The Rose Garden members stare at the unusual park. They find it rather scary, but at the same time they are intrigued by it. They wish to see what lies inside the huge, abandoned park. The quest to defeat Fiora and retrieve the first shard will begin once they enter the park.

The thought of how they ended up directly in front of the park instead of the world portal centre remains a mystery.

End of Chapter 8