It's time

"Adagio, I'm deeply sorry that I might have to push you further, but can you describe the appearance of that being you saw?" Smith asks again, but his angelic voice was croaky for once. He didn't elaborate his concern further, but his arms laying at the side helplessly expresses his concern and fear.

"Haha...Haha…" Adagio laughs pathetically, unable to give an answer as tears gushes out of his eyes and flows down his cheeks. His body was shaking, trembling from fear as he remains petrified, unable to even utter a single word.

"Adagio please!" It isn't just one person or his army being worried for him, but everyone present here. The rank discrepancy between them might be a wall that can never be breached, but the brothership that they have will remain chained for life. To them, it may be of paramount importance to obey the orders of their brothers who are the commanders, but outside of the battlefield and they're brothers again.

The castle wasn't just magnificent and mind-blowing in the eyes of Adagio this time around, it was a demon that turned around to haunt him just because he attempted to figure out the design behind it and the creator. A forbidden secret that should have already been erased by the passage of time.

"Adagio please, wake up and tell us everything that you saw? You know that we need you and that's an indisputable fact." Lloyd asks, tears glistening in his eyes and his confused face betrayed him. He doesn't even know what he's feeling right now, is it fear or concern? Is it anger and sorrow?

It wasn't just Lloyd that was facing mixed emotions, it was everyone present except Smith who still has his eyes on that being, a sharp glint of light flashing past his eyes as he vanishes when no one was noticing.

Must we really play this game and let things come to this? That was the last thought Smith had in mind before he opens the door silently and closes it behind him.

Back in the enchanted forest which has been heavily corrupted, Ash was still walking alongside Nightin as they head towards the core area of the forest instead of trying to leave. "Hey Nightin, how are you so sure that we aren't being deceived to travel in the wrong direction?"

"Remember the compass that was given to us, I'm pretty sure that the person who passed us the compass knows about the existence of this place as well. The compass was supposed to be his since the beginning and him offering to us was all but a bait, but since we actually discovered the secret to the treasure map that he passed us, he had no choice but to pass up the opportunity to us."

Nightin's deduction wasn't that far off, Caps was currently still trapped outside in the barren desert, trying to find a way to enter the sealed barrier and steal the flower before they obtain it.

"What's going on? I'm pretty sure that I chanted the correct magic spell. There's no way that it'll fail unless they actually…"

Travelling deeper into the forest, the duo realised that there were lesser signs of corruption. The trees here were much healthier and each all of them skyrocketed to the sun, fighting for sunlight as each of them takes on the form of a gigantic tree enough to cover up the sunlight. The place was poorly illuminated and sunlight was only focused towards one area, in a circular shape of thin beam came the sun rays as the trees made way for it.

Without any doubt, that must be the hiding location of the map which gained wisdom that they're looking for. Facing each other to nod for a brief moment, they slowed down and made sure that they made absolutely no sound, they had to stealth in the dark like assassins would and await the perfect opportunity to hunt their prey down.

Arriving at the area, they realised that the map was actually trying to take on a human form, one that belongs to a middle aged man who is currently laying on a tree stump. The man was smiling, but his fists were clenched and below him, the stump and grass were covered in scarlet red as open wounds could be seen on his arms and legs including his chest.

It wasn't just open wounds that were deep down to his bones, scratches and bruises covered the man's body and the only thing about him that still remains alive are his eyes that are still open, but it didn't make him look scary

"Nightin, do we stay here to observe the changes or do we leave while we still can?" Ash asks through telepathy, his eyes still focused on what's going on ahead of him. Even up till now, he still finds it unbelievable to believe what he's seeing until now. A map gained wisdom because he burned it with some flames and it trapped them into another dimension separated from the real world and their soldiers. To make things worse, he didn't even know how this conspiracy started between that captive and the map. They had been played around by their opponent on the board, the results of their dice fixed behind their back.

"We don't have a choice. We've already been spotted" Nightin replies aloud as he turns around and swings his sword without any forewarning, surprising the opponent who ambushed them as it scrambled backwards into the darkness. To be more precise, it was a movement of scurrying instead of scrambling or retreating, it felt like what they fear most now, a spider.

"What are you waiting for? Run!" Nightin reminded Ash who was still in a daze as he quickly dashed towards the east, Ash following closely behind him.

"Where do we go now?" Ash asks in a panic as he formed two pairs of boots with his imagination law and threw one pair to Nightin. "Put it on, you'll be able to travel much faster after putting it on!"

Nightin did as told and by the time he realised, Ash had already overtaken him by quite a large margin. Dashing off again, he realised that his speed was about seven percent faster. It might seem minor, but in a life and death situation and battle between the strongest combatants, it's always that one percent that makes up for the final difference.

Without saying and words of appreciation or thanks, Nightin and Ash hurriedly heads straight for the next marker that they have memorised from the map.

They weren't sure if they were following it correctly, but this is the best they could do with the split moment they read the map before being transported here.

Traversing past murky water while causing ripples in the polluted water, they noticed that there were some lily pads close to the bank of the river which made them heave a sigh of relief.

"So, what's the plan now? I can still sense that savage being hot on our tails and if it really is a spider, we have to avoid getting into constrained areas while keeping distance or we're definitely dead. Worse, we need to be wary of any spider webs laid out in advance or ganks and even traps from other predators." Ash asked while reminding Nightin of all the details he should take note of.

"But we have a problem now, unless we manage to cooperate with someone from the outside, there's no way we can even leave this place." Nightin says solemnly, his aura fully releasing towards the thorny vines ahead of him.

"Don't disturb me right now, I might be able to contact someone." Nightin says as he dashed into the opened up area and dragged Ash in before covering it back up with the same vines by attaching them back, reinforcing them with his samsara law while concealing their auras.

"Lancelot, if you're able to hear this message from where you are right now, come and seek me alone by yourself so that I can explain everything to you. Remember, I'm in the ridges near the Voyager kingdom and if you trace my aura, you should be able to locate me in another dimension. I want you to destroy the dimension I'm in with all your strength, it's about time we meet again."

I'm sorry that I have to do this Lancelot, but there's just way too many people I have to protect, too many duties thrown onto my shoulders which are just way too heavy for me to shoulder alone.

Master, are you finally willing to meet me after a year has passed. When Nightin left at the age of seventeen, Lancelot was already sixteen years old. Now that one year have passed, Lancelot has still yet to take up the position of sect master because he believes that Nightin will return. And now, the time has come as he prepared himself to meet his master. But is it anticipation or worry that lies in wait for him? Even he doesn't have the answer towards his own question.