Chapter XVIII

For now, they had to leave from where they were since they had already two battles and in one of them, there was one survivor. The only issue they have is that they only have a useless wreck boat and a nonfunctional portal. Silas thought of trying to teleport to the Deadman's Forest since he can only travel to places where he has been or seen. As Silas thought out loud, Lorelay told Silas she could extract the memories of her victims either by their blood or their bones. However, the only available bodies were the ones of the dark elves. They worried that one of them had probably survived and escaped and had probably gone to their territory, alerting whom ever had sent them to these place. Suddenly, Lorelay saw a memory that was pleasant and would be good for them to see.

Usually, the elven race, dwarven race, demi-humans, ogres race, practically every race that were close neighboring countries, except for Nosmirc and Gelida, got along for the most part. Therefore, some countries had other races living among them. One of the soldiers Lorelay had killed, used to live in the dwarven kingdom. Although he lived on the outside region by the ancient forest, which were full of magical and non-magical creatures, some parts of the country still hadn't been explored. That's what the dark elf soldier had to explore, the ancient forest, and map as much as he could. However, it wasn't an easy task since the creatures like any others, were a bit hostile toward any who choose to go into the ancient forest.

Many countries had tried to invade from the ancient forest and had failed miserably. Some of the creatures in there were way too powerful, especially since there were three dungeons on each edge of the ancient forest. Usually, if the ancient forest wasn't disturbed, the rank C monsters wouldn't attack the cities close to the forest. Even if they tried, they wouldn't be able to do much to the borders since dwarves were master craftsman and were able to use that to their advantage.

With knowledge of the cores, the security of the country was almost at the same level as the dark elf nation. The town they were going to go teleport to was named after a brilliant craftsman named Dcliub. He was born in the founder of the city and the one who found the use for monster or creature core. Although, he had never experimented with human cores or any of the races' who governed the world. The city was on the edge of the ancient forest which had a huge, colossal wall dividing the border so there weren't really any monster attacks. The wall mainly served so that no one tried to go into the Forest and disturb the inhabitants. Sometimes, the capital did send adventures occasionally. They were warned not to enter any dungeons since it's where the monsters retaliate.

Lorelay found a perfect memory of the city, but they couldn't go just yet. The attire they had were too exotic for the city, especially Lorelay's appearance since it's not a normal look. No matter how diverse the races are, she was unique in many ways. As she heard the predicament at hand, she told both Orazen and Silas not to worry because she had the ability to shapeshift into a bat.

With almost every foreseeable problem solved, she proceeded to approach what is left of the blood of the soldier to create an oval in the air. As Lorelay did what she had to do, the blood flowed in a circular motion and an image appeared within the bloody spinning oval. In the image, you could see everything in the soldier's perspective, from kids running to birds chirping. The city seemed to be very prosperous and had working machines and electrical equipment and appliances.

Silas was amazed from what she had done since it seemed to be a very complicated spell to master but for her, she did it with ease. Silas told Orazen not to stray from him and as for Lorelay, she knew her main objective was to protect the young master. Orazen felt happy and thrilled of how every step he makes, he was getting closer and closer to being able to see his parents. Even if they had separated, he would help them find that unique and wonderful love they once had for each other. With the help of Silas and Lorelay, nothing could stand in his way.

A rush of wind startled Orazen from his train of thought as he found the one responsible for the gust of wind and his doing. When a wind caressed Orazen's body, a thousand turquoise twinkles illuminated their surroundings while a magic circle formed under neath their feet slowly.

As Orazen saw Silas at work, he felt impressed of how resourceful and powerful he was. He wondered if there wasn't anything Silas wasn't able to do. He seemed to be perfect in every way. He had the looks, he was smart, kind, and caring. He had the charisma of a leader and the humility one needs to lead the people to greatness, he also has the determination many lack. There was no doubt he was a king or an emperor in his past life. Orazen wondered what he had done to deserve such great summon.

When a flash of light reached Orazen's vision, making his eyes ache a bit from the suddenness, he was startled from what he witnessed. Silas cursed quietly at himself after he teleported to the wrong place. They were in the capital of the dwarven kingdom and although it's night, they had managed to teleport right in the middle of the street attracting everyone's attention. The city was mesmerized since it was well illuminated. There where black streetlights every 12 feet with some kind of crystal-like objects inside of an emitting warm beautiful glow.

As they noticed how they weren't in a forest or primitive island like before, now there were tall buildings with huge windows either displaying clothes, food, armor, staffs, etc.… each building was unique, yet the same in their own way. There was someone who was practically kissing the street since she had never seen a brick street. She seemed to be happy since she noticed how the bricks seemed comfortable enough to walk on barefoot, instead of the scourging sand she was used to.

As Silas was about to reprimand her he noticed something very peculiar about each brick. He kneeled and touched one of the bricks and suddenly it started floating upward while Silas stood up. He started inspecting the brick, making it rotate with his finger. Now, he was also mesmerized by a stone brick just like the one he was supposed to reprimand. He knew the bricks were no normal bricks, they were special. Every single brick had a special runes carved in them.

There were 3 runes on every single brick that gave them an enchantment. Silas used appraisal on the brick and found out the enchantment. The first one gave it the power to repair itself in case of it cracking or from receiving any type of damage. The second had a type of thermal fluctuations that made it regulate the temperature of the street. While the third made it so that the carriages would move swiftly without any type of disturbance for the passengers.

As Silas was done with his inspection, he noticed how his master seemed to be scared of something. Silas's sight moved to what the young Orazen was looking at and that's when he realized they were trouble was coming. A group of soldiers rushed to surround them, 17 dwarven soldiers with enchanted armor and weapons, defenses that made them more of a problem.

A sudden pressure traveled towards Orazen, Silas, and Lorelay, giving them a great feeling of danger. Lorelay activated her blood magic as she felt the immense threat. As an object flew towards her, it wrapped itself to her wrist. Making her, Silas, and Orazen startle by the rapid speed of the object, making the crimson red flame-like power disappear instantly and somehow making her powers seal shut. Silas glanced at her flabbergasted since he wasn't able to feel a single bit of power flowing throughout her body.

As he grabbed her wrist, two more wrist bands flew rapidly, not giving Silas the chance to evade them. One of the wrist bands was meant for his young master; however, he managed to push the hand of Orazen aside, making the band fall on his other wrist. Silas fell to the ground, feeling the drained of his magic. Orazen, seeing the state of Silas, asked him what the matter was. Silas smiled and told him he was fine. Suddenly, a laugh was heard coming from right in front of them.

"Can you really believe that half pig!" A big, tall muscular dwarf with fancy armor shouted, walking towards Orazen and his companions.

"Wha…what? We mean no harm to you or anyone here!" Orazen exclaimed.

"How dare you talk back you half pig! You've invaded our territory, therefore, you shall pay with your life!" The muscular dwarf whipped out his sword.

"You maggots really think a ttrinket like this can do anything to me!" Silas said while getting up and regaining his composure.

"How did you?! No matter, you are just filthy pigs! Get ready to be slaughtered!" The dwarf said while raising his sword, getting ready to strike Silas down.

Silas laughed back to the dwarf as he sees the sword moving to strike him. As the sword rapidly traveled in his direction, the dwarf thought he had him, however, as the sword hit him, it bounced back. The dwarf's grin turned into a face of confusion as he couldn't believe that the kingdoms' treasure wasn't able to cause any harm to man in front of him.

The sword in question was a treasure, a powerful relic from the World Race War. This sword was able to piece through anything while also having a hidden power that only the king and the general of the royal army knew about. The weapon could steal the core of any who were touched by it. The name of the sword is Vita Abiens, meaning "life stealer."

The sword was forged with thousands of cores and a rare crystal that formed in the depths of an active volcano. According to ancient tales, the volcano was the home of the fire dragon, and the crystal was said to be one of the fossilized scale of a dragon. No one knew what the rare material really was, and it was actually found accidentally.

The power of the crystal was discovered when one of the dwarves in charge of retrieving it, accidentally cut himself. The cut instantly killed him. As the autopsy was performed, the forensic noticed how there was a dent on the surface of the chest of the dwarf where the heart was meant to be. As the forensic opened its chest, he noticed how his heart looked like it had exploded. As the forensic looked for the dwarf's core, he wasn't able to find it.

Somehow the core had gone missing and according to the miners' report, they didn't say anything about fighting a hostile or anything out of the ordinary. They only reported that the dwarf had cut himself with a crystal and instantly fell to the ground unconscious.

Since none of this was adding up, the forensic reported the results of the abnormal autopsy to the one in charge, the king of the dwarves. As the king called a council meeting, one of the members suggested it could have been the rare crystal. Not knowing the truth of why and how the dwarf had died made everyone in the room curious and terrified. The king was not an unjust or a vindictive person, but he needed to get to the bottom of this.