First glimpse into the Depths (2)

"The Cult of Umbral?"

"Yes, a cult full of lunatic that all believe that the Goddess of darkness 'Umbral' would serve them salvation or something like that."

The man continued to speak in a gentle and deep voice. He faced his head to Seraphir as he paused for a short while.

"I doubt that they would pull off such a big action for a mere potion shop. Especially if you consider that they used the Tier 7 Spell 'Lonely Realm' to cut off this place completely from the outside world."

"What do you mean with cut off from the outside world?"

"The Tier 7 Spell 'Lonely Realm' is a spell that requires a few days of preparation. It isolates the sound in a specific radius and puts a visual illusion over the shop, tricking everyone into thinking that the shop is just like always and that nothing is happening here. Even though I had suspected that something was wrong, I just assumed that it was a normal occurrence in the Empire, as I am not very experienced with how the people in the Empire work."

Seraphir raised an eyebrow in response, flabbergasted by the thing he had just said.

"Why would somebody ever use a Tier 7 Spell on a potion shop?"

Another silence occurred. This time, the duration of the silence was even longer than the previous silence.

Seraphir slowly felt awkward, which was the reason why she wanted to say something. However, the first one to break the silence was the man.

"My bad."

Seraphir just sighed in response before thinking about the thing that he had previously said.

'It seems like they have infiltrated this place to either get something from here or kidnap someone, huh?..'

Wait.

Kidnap?

That's right! Why didn't she think of that earlier?

"Maybe they were here to kidnap the Elven princess, Ellen?"

The man nodded in response, agreeing with what she had just said.

"The Elven princess was here? That could be a plausible explanation. They could use the princess to blackmail the elves to hand over important artifacts, which they would then, in turn, sacrifice to their goddess, Umbral."

The man laid his chin on his hand while calmly assessing the situation. His grey eyes jumped from one place to another as if he were to follow the trail of his thoughts with his eyes.

"However, I don't think that we should jump to such conclusions. Maybe there's something else that they could be after."

While the man was calmly analyzing the possibilities, Seraphir was panicking inside. If it was true that their initial goal was Ellen, she was worried about her safety.

God, she should've stayed by her side and protected her.

Maybe then...maybe then she wouldn't have been kidnapped.

'No, no no! Calm down Sera. It's alright. I got this. Let's think this through. If she's really the target, then what the man said is probably correct. They will use her as blackmail, which just means that she will most likely be alright...for a certain time at least. Whiiiiich would also mean that I just have to get help as soon as possible. Alright. That's the plan. I got this.'

"So why don't we just hurry up? We have to get help as soon as possible!"

The man shook his head in response, seemingly refuting Seraphir's suggestion.

"That would be impossible. Another feature of the spell is that you can freely enter, but can only leave after a certain period. Of course, there are multiple ways to break out of it. However, I am not a very good magician and judging by the density of the spell, I am predicting that the spell would last for around a week, if we don't manage to destroy the realm somehow. You don't happen to be a Tier 7 mage, do you?"

"No, I'm not. Besides that...there is one thing that bothers me..."

"And that would be?"

"If they aren't able to leave this place, where did they go?"

The man stared at me with a blank facial expression. I could almost feel how he was mentally mocking my intelligence, but I couldn't help but ask, as I didn't know how they left this area then.

"Isn't it obvious? They went into the Depths."

As the man dropped the words 'Depths', Seraphir felt momentary despair. Even though they had just briefly studied the subject of the 'Depths' in the first year of Sylpheon, she knew exactly what kind of place it was.

It was an infinite place with layers that completely transcended logic and ignored the concept of physics, with each layer having different rules and concepts.

"What? The depths? How did they go to such a place?"

The man closed his eyes for a second before opening them again and focusing his attention on Seraphir.

"Before I entered the shop, I could feel a short burst of ether. I'm sure that they used an Ether Orb to create a portal to the Depths that sucked in everyone who was located on the first floor."

Seraphir couldn't believe what she had just heard. They kidnapped her best friend in the depths and she couldn't do anything to help her, despite being near her when it happened.

Goddamn. She shouldn't have been so immersed in that damn diary.

"So what are we supposed to do now!? Wait for a week before they arrive to save us and all those other people!?"

Seraphir raised her voice in frustration. It was understandable why she felt that way, but she couldn't help but regret it right after. She shouldn't have lashed out at the man like that.

He hadn't done anything wrong and only tried to explain the situation to her.

'Dammit!'

She punched a hole into a nearby shape in frustration and anger. She felt powerless and couldn't do anything to help her friend out.

"Sorry. I am...I am just really frustrated right now."

The man shook his head in an understanding manner.

"No, it's alright. It's a natural human reaction. However, I don't think that waiting would be a good idea."

"Why's that the case?"

Seraphir had a bad feeling about this. And she hoped she was wrong, even though she knew her intuition was never wrong.

"Even though the aging process is just as fast as that of the real world, the time flows much slower inside the depths. The ratio of the first layer should be around 10 to 1."

"What? You can't be serious, can you?"

Again, Seraphir's body froze up. She felt like every bone in her body turned to ice and would shatter every moment. She didn't know how to react to that information.

"So, what you mean is that I have to just pray for Ellen's safety? Unable to do anything to help her?"

The man raised one eyebrow in response, shooting a questioning look at her.

"When have I ever said that?"

"Huh?"

Now it was Seraphir's turn to be the one that was questioning the man.

"Didn't you say that we can't get any help or break the barrier?"

The man shook his head, refusing the claim that Seraphir had just made.

"While it's true that we can't get any outside help, there is a way to break down the Spell and save your friend at the same time."

Seraphir's blue eyes lighted up at that sentence. They now shone like two great sapphires. He could feel her excitement, even from the first floor.

"And what would that method be?"

"Following them and rendering the mage unable to use the magic. After that, we'll just go and rescue your friend."

Instantly, Seraphir's excitement died down. The plan might be simple, but they didn't even know the cult's location and Ellen's location. Despite that, they didn't even have a way to enter the Depths!

Still, Seraphir decided to ask, holding onto the last string of hope.

"And how are we supposed to do that?"

Her voice was weak, to which the man just responded with a small, reassuring smile.

"Due to the various...tasks that I had to solve in my past, I always have a few Ether Orbs with me."

From one moment to the other, Seraphir's mood changed instantly, and the color of her face returned.

"Does that mean that we can go and save them now?"

The man chuckled lightly at the newfound enthusiasm of Seraphir.

"Yes. Yes, we can. Normally, I would do this alone, but due to the fact that I don't know how the Elven princess looks like, I will rely on you for the task of spotting her."

Seraphir nodded energetically in response.

"Leave that task to me, Mr..."

She then stopped and realized that they haven't introduced themselves to each other, despite talking for so long.

"Mr..."

"Voidwalker. Zenith Voidwalker."

The man responded with a slight and gentle smile on his face.