THE CONVENIENT PATH CLEARED

THE CONVENIENT PATH CLEARED

Fortunately for us, the Sword of Malevolence was gone after it took the hearts of the dragons. The Dark Angel's wrath was directed only on the dragons.

"Master, I told you we could have claimed the dragons' hearts easily", Meera told me with a satisfied, 'I told you so'.

"The Dark Angel's final warning was not meant for the dragons, the dragons were all dead by then", Rinna told me and commented.

"I know. It was meant for me", I replied to her.

I have the Bell of Separation from the chaos god Delirium and my mind was isolated from the Dark Angel. Although the Dark Angel couldn't read my mind, he could read the minds of those around me.

The souls of the Dark Angels in my soul realm probably read Xexgana's mind and knew of his intentions before he struck out with his Sword of Malevolence.

"Is the Sword of Malevolence formed and complete?" Sara asked me.

"Yes, it is complete now", Ratatouille replied to her on my behalf.

The Sword of Malevolence of the Dark Angel was fully formed now, ready to strike the Dark Angel's enemies at his whim.

"What are we going to do now, all the dragons are gone?" Chash asked me.

So, I went to take the Sword of Angels before we started leaving the temple.

Meera helped herself with all the books and scrolls in the temple while Ratatouille took everything else that was valuable in the temple.

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My soul realm lay shrouded in profound darkness, a darkness so consuming it seemed to devour even the faintest glimmer of hope. Within this bleak expanse, the familiar landmarks were lost, either swallowed by the shadows or transmuted beyond recognition.

Then, like a beacon cutting through the gloom, two luminous orbs pierced the blackness, like malevolent eyes fixing upon me with an unsettling intensity.

In an instant, I found myself whisked away to a place altogether different.

No longer trapped by the oppressive darkness, I stood in a playground teeming with life. People moved about, engaged in a spirited game of ball, their laughter and shouts filling the air.

It was a basketball court, a relic from my former life, a world I had thought forever lost.

Among the players, a young boy approached me, dribbling his ball with practiced ease.

"Why don't you want to join our team?" the boy asked me with an open mouth filled with braces.

"Who are you?" I asked the boy.

"I am your teammate of course. You don't play alone, you play with all of us. That is the only way to play this game, together", the boy said to me.

"Come on, let's play", another teammate asked me.

Suddenly, the ball bounced towards me, and I caught it.

As I looked at the basketball, my teammates shouted to me, "This is not a game that you play by yourself".

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"Something is not right in the mountains", Sara told us suddenly before we exited the cave to the temple of Dragons.

"What is the problem?" Rinna asked her.

Sara placed drones around the Temple of Dragos and the surrounding mountains to monitor strange activities. She found some strange activity in the mountain when we were about to leave.

"What is this fog in the mountains?" Cassandra asked us as we came out of the cave.

We were surrounded by a strange fog that clouded our vision once we came out from the cavern.

"This mountain is usually covered by fog during certain times of the year. It's quite common", Meera explained to us about the fog.

"Look, I can see a path through the fog. Perhaps we can take this path to return to Death Valley", Chash told us as he pointed to a direction where the fog was the least.

There was a clear path for us in the mountains that wasn't covered by fog. It was the most natural way to go to avoid the mysterious fog around us and leave this fog filled mountains.

"Why are we surrounded by fogs everywhere except that direction and on that path?" I asked with curiosity and also amusement.

"There is an artifact over there that dispels the fog", Sara replied to me.

"Great we should go there immediately", Cassandra suggested.

"Yes, we can inspect and acquire that magic artifact in the mountain that dispels fogs", Ratatouille told us as he rubbed his hands in glee and greed.

"Fools, don't you find it suspicious that a magic artifact that clears the fog appears right in front of us just when we needed to escape from this blinding fog?", Sara replied to them.

"Are you saying someone is trying to nudge us into that direction? For what purpose?" Cassandra asked.

"We should just take another way to leave this mountain. We won't be flying blindly, our ship has navigation tools", Chash told us.

"We could do that and leave this mountain range safely but seriously, should we miss out on all the fun that is prepared for us?" I replied to him and asked.

"What kind of fun?" Ratatouille asked me.

"It is a surprise party for us of course", I replied to him.

"Morons", Sara said to us.

------

"Master Conjurer Golrimon, our target is walking into our trap as the prince predicted", someone reported to a conjurer.

"Are you sure? The Bully managed to escape from the Temple of Dragons?" Golrimon asked.

"Yes, someone came out from the cavern to the Temple of Dragons", the scout replied.

"How many of them are they?" Golrimon asked the scout.

"Just one of them. The Bully dressed in his usual golden armor", the scout reported to him.

"My report says the Bully went to the Temple of Dragons with a group of powerful legendary conjurers and knights, why did he return alone?" Golrimon asked.

"Maybe they lost their lives inside the Temple of Dragons. Nobody survives going into the Temple to tell the tale", the scout reported to him.

"That is reasonable. I didn't believe they would survive the ordeal. It's a pity the Bully returned. Now, commence our magic arraye", Golrimon told his men.

Golrimon's men conjured their magic as the cloud filled mountains was charged with an intricate magic arraye. This magic arraye reached out through the mountains terminating at its apex on a plateau that was prepared for those who arrive here to escape from the fog.

Suddenly, the Bully stepped on the plateau planned for him.