Castle of Endless Shadows

The tournament progressed as usual as the family heads contemplated what to do with Lin, who remained on the ground where Old Dan had left him, heeding the instructions of Akrakus and his family head, Lin's father. To many, Lin's match ended, and another was displayed, but to the Shadow Knight, something was awry. 

He had felt the presence of a being with similar powers as his at the same time Lin's match ended. He felt the connection and was sure the other person felt him too. "What was that presence?" in a hunting territory atop a tree, Shadow Knight sat in deep thought with a gloomy expression. 

"It felt like someone of great strength peered at me through my own shadow, but I couldn't tell who it was, only that the person was insanely strong", he pondered. However, Shadow Knight did not know that the one who peered at him was surprised he discovered his presence. 

"Anyhow, it does not matter. I need to go to Aquasphere if I want to find Lin. According to the information that person gave me, Lin was sucked there a few months ago. To do that, I need to find a quantum streak tablet. That person said there were only two, and the last one was hidden in the territory of the former head of Piora." 

"In the famed abandoned castle of endless shadows. A place is wroth with dangerous shadow creatures and beings. That place is so dangerous that even high-ranked shadow element wielders could not survive for long. I will need to prepare thoroughly before going there." He sat in silence after that and just watched the stars. 

In a territory, two huge quarter moon-like structures stood facing each other. Between them, a tower several meters high suspended above what looked like a disc. It was cylindrical and had many engravings on it. At first glance, the engravings looked ordinary, but they were spells written in Sanskrit. The tower had a single door, which was below it, at its bottom. 

Above the tower stood a winged figure with outstretched hands. In its hands was a globe of light that shone so brightly it could be seen from kilometres away. Somewhere within the tower, in a large room that resembled a throne room, a golden-haired woman sat on a throne below another twice its size. She had fair skin with golden eyes, which made her look like an angel. 

Her rounded face had all look at her in awe. She was stunning. She crossed her legs as her white dress parted on one side, revealing her fair and smooth thigh. All ladies her age looked at her with envy, her chest especially, wondering how they could achieve what she had. 

Like a ruler addressing her subordinates, she looked down at those before her without moving from her seat. Her gaze was charming. "The family head sent his orders. One simple order. The order is this, 'Gather as many rankers as you can and head to the castle of endless shadows. You shall search for an item, a tablet, with an ancient text. Bring it to me, and a reward of 5,000,000,000 rubies shall be yours on return.'" She ordered and averted her gaze. 

Before her was a burly man about forty in silver armour and had a yellow band on his arm. Accompanying him were two other men and two women, all similarly dressed, except they had no armband. "The family head orders shall be carried out." They bowed and walked towards the exit. "The Clairmont family's young miss sure is frightening", one of the two men whispered as they reached the door. "Newton, did you just say something?" she asked as her gaze fell on a yellow-haired man with a slim build. He looked older than the young miss and was handsome as well. 

He froze in his spot and shook his head, "Nothing… I said nothing, young miss." He quickly said before things got worse. "Then scram!" she commanded. Before he could speak, a gust threw them out of the room, and the door shut behind them. 

"Jeez, what a temper she has", the man said as he held his head. "Newton", the burly man called. 

"Yes sir", he swallowed as a shiver ran down his spine. 

"You will run night duty alone tonight. Do you have any complaints?" 

"No sir"

"Good, and try not to disrespect the young miss again. I will not be so forgiving otherwise". The man nodded and followed them. 

The young miss had a frown on her face as she stared at a screen above the throne. It displayed the various battles going on in the bout. "Father exempted me from this bout so I can take care of the issue with the castle. I shall not fail him, but I hate babysitting these old men", she pouted at the thought. As the daughter of the former head of Piora, Adan Clairmont, she thought being cooped up in the palace was the worst she could hope for. 

When the castle of endless shadows was first discovered, it gradually consumed the lands surrounding it, hence, to stop this spread, it was agreed by Piora Adan Clairmont, the strongest wielder of light, to set up his territory there to keep the place in check. Given that, Adan Clairmont set up the territory of Helios. Without that, the majority of the territories in Terasphere would have been consumed by the shadows already. 

"But Father never concerned himself with this sort of thing, so why is he suddenly interested in that place? And how he gave that order; I have never seen him like that. Did something happen between the family heads?" The more she thought of it, the less sense it made and the more the questions that popped up. 

Meanwhile, somewhere else, in a flashing red light, a boy was strapped into a bed with an orb-like machine hanging above his head. He was teary as he looked at the enormous machines surrounding him. A warm hand touched his face and dried his tears, "Don't worry Lin, you will be fine", the person comforted. Though he could hear the person's voice clearly, he could not see the face. All he saw was a shadowy figure but could tell from the voice that it was a woman. 

Another figure approached and stood over him; holding the other figure's hands, it spoke, "We have to hurry; they are rampaging in the courtyard. The Royal Phantasm is holding them off, but I don't know how long they will last." The boy gazed at the other figure. Unlike the woman, he could see who it was. It was a crimson-haired man, his father. 

The boy shivered and cried out, "What if something bad happens? I'm scared." They held his hand and comforted him, "Don't worry Lin, we would be by your side through it all. Remember this Lin, you are the key to everything. I know this burden is too much for you to carry, but you must remember the past, what your grandparents started, Lin must put an end to it all, once and for all.", the crimson-haired man said, his voice shrouded in mystery, for the boy did not understand anything he said. 

They stepped back as the orb-like machine slipped around Lin's head. The two embraced each other as they looked on, with the woman sobbing. 

<Subject identified> 

<Would you like to continue with the procedure?> 

An announcement sounded from the machine. The crimson-haired man grabbed the woman's hand tightly as he responded, "Proceed". 

<The subject's brain power is too low for the procedure. Temporal memory loss inevitable. Will you still proceed?" another message was announced. The crimson-haired man nodded and answered, "Yes, proceed".  < p>

<Commencing memory implant> 

<Procedure 0.1% complete> 

A scream which could shake one's heart filled the room as soon as the procedure began. Waiting for it to be completed was torture for them, as Lin's screams were engraved in their memories and hearts. If not for their strong resolve, they would have lost their sanity from hearing those screams alone. 

The woman especially almost broke down and had to bury her face in the man's chest, while he shielded her ears with his abilities. However, even he could not stand those hellish screams for much longer. He felt as if his heart was being pierced by many needles. He gritted his teeth and looked on, "I can't look away; he is my son. I must face him". 

As they waited, the door suddenly blew open, and two men in pitch-black armour fell before them.