Chapter 32: Bonfire Talk

Sighing softly, he said to Yves and Atlas: "Shall we leave already? By the time the Sun rises, we should've reached Egon's mountain." Atlas instinctively looked at Yves who looked at Daemon.

After a while, Yves sighed and nodded.

"Let's leave this hellhole."

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BEYOND THE VEIL:

THE GREAT SHIFT

CHAPTER 32:

BONFIRE TALK

—••••••••••—

[September 21st, 1475 A.Y. Around 11:47 P.M.]

It had been nearly two entire days since they left Eldritch Morr. During that time, they regrouped with the rest. By the time they regrouped, it had already been September 21st around two in the morning.

Around five in the morning of the same day, they arrived near the top of Egon's Mountain inside a wide cave and set up camp. Atlas and Níels begrudgingly gathered wood and other materials to start a bonfire and tents as the cave was oddly cold.

Around seven in the morning, they set up camp and entered their tents. Yves, Godiva, and Eddward shared one tent. Daemon and Aryanna shared one tent. Hana, Cedric, Cecil, and Jean shared one tent. Atlas, Audrey, and Níels shared one tent. Augustus, Selena, Elijah, and Matthew shared two tents.

With all the living arrangements complete, Níels took the first-day shift as the rest slept. Occasionally, someone would awake from their Nightmares and briefly talk to Níels before sleeping, those were mostly Hana, Cecil, and Godiva.

This brought you to the present time, as all were awaiting, gazing at the cloudy sky.

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As the bonfire raged eternally, Yves couldn't help but ponder the fate of others he'd known in the city. The majority of them lived in high society, and seeing the High Lord's estates being burnt to ashes didn't bring much hope.

"What have you been doing these last couple of years, Daemon?" Yves was shaken out of his thoughts as he looked at the teenage girl, Selena.

Sighing softly, Daemon Eggers muttered: "To be honest, the first couple of years were hell. Life on the streets and being ostracized for things out of my control. However, my break came when a massive territorial dispute happened seven years ago." Seeing that everyone was immersed in the story, Daemon continued.

"It was between two realms, this realm - the Amos Realm, and our southern neighboring realm - the Amon Realm. Back then, all the vagabonds like myself were thrown into this multiple month-long dispute."

"It was there where I'd awakened and became the most valuable asset. It was also where I'd met this small-time Bishop of one of the Churches from a famous Royal Family, her name was something like Anna. I've forgotten, it's been so long."

Daemon felt fingers pressed onto his ribs as he muttered with a shaky voice: "She was the love of my life and her name was Aryanna Eggers!" Daemon quickly muttered as he felt the fingers move away. "Good boy," Aryanna whispered in his ear.

Matthew could only smile as he looked at his half-brother, "Never would've thought Daemon could be leashed like a dog." Elijah's lips struggled to stay close and not burst out laughing.

Selena, not noticing her half-brothers struggling to laugh, asked another question. "If you don't mind me asking, could you explain what this world is?"

Immediately, both half-brothers quietly stopped their laughter and paid attention. "It's simple, to be honest, this world brings triple the joy, but on the other side, brings triple the misery and pain. If we suffer together, we suffer hard. If we prosper together, we prosper hard - there is no in-between."

Sighing, Selena looked down and nodded as she spoke: "I see."

"Excuse my ignorance, but what exactly do you mean by saying 'this world,' Miss?" Godiva asked Selena directly, at the same time, Augustus, Matthew, and Elijah looked at each other knowingly.

It was silent for a while before Selena coughed. "Selena. That's my name. And what I mean by 'this world' is simple. I, like my two brothers and Mister Augustus, are not from this world." Silence ensued Selena's answer as no one made a sound.

"It's Earth… isn't it?" Hana, the daughter-in-law of Auden, said quietly as if he was ashamed of speaking her thoughts.

This sudden answer caused everyone to look at Hana, and subconsciously Cedric. The little boy buried himself into Hana's arms as she cleared her throat.

"My… father-in-law, Auden, was once a writer before becoming a soldier. He wrote stories of seven continents, five oceans, and over one hundred nations. He called it a land of permanent war and temporary peace. A land blessed by God, the land of Earth"

Immediately, Atlas stood up and looked at Hana with worried eyes. "Mister Auden's last words were urging me to travel to a place called the 'Sunny Archipelago,' he told me that he had a cabin there." Hana's brown eyes widened as she nodded.

"I've been there. It's the birthplace of my late husband and where his father wrote his stories." Atlas looked Hana deeply in the eyes and nodded.

Yves and Godiva shared a glimpse into each other's eyes, they both shared the same thoughts: "Is little Eddward from Earth?"

Speaking for the first time, Yves looked at Selena and her brothers. "Miss Selena, have you heard of a place on Earth called Rome or Italy?"

Selena's eyes sparked as she nodded, "Yes yes, Mister — — Yves Cassian — — Mister Yves. Rome is one of the great Empires in Earth's history, unfortunately, I wasn't born during that period, but I do have extensive knowledge of Rome and Italy."

Signing softly, Yves decided to explain himself. "Back there… when we met little Eddward, he mentioned he was from a foreign country of Rome." Yves motioned towards Eddward Aurelius who spelt peace on Godiva's lap.

"Interesting… the siblings are from Earth, along with the little boy and the brown-haired man, Atlas is most certainly from Earth as well with Auden having a possibility of being from Earth or having knowledge from a different source. Considering the Sea Rush happened during the 4th Epoch, that brute is likely to be from Earth. And of course, Mister Eggers is certainly from Earth." Cecil muttered to himself, concluding all the Earthlings and natural borns who were born here.

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Silence once again consumed the bonfire circle as the only sounds heard were the crackling of the woods and burning fire.

"Do you wish to know how this world works?" A clear and warming voice came from above them.

Looking up, they saw none other than Arthur, the Angel of Time, above the sky. He lay down as two yellow and illusory lines connecting from the cave to a nearby tree, forming a hammock. His golden-yellow eyes were closed.

This question was mostly directed at those from Earth, so without hesitation, Matthew spoke up: "Yes!"

Suddenly, the burning bonfire quickly erupted as flames formed this illusory space as a map of the world was shown.

"This is a simplified version of the map. The only complete version is of this continent, Icysylva." Suddenly, the flames formed this map of the continent they reside.

Oddly enough, the continent was formed like an upside-down fetus in the womb. Suddenly, three colored lines separated the continent into three. The cyan color formed their neighboring realm, the Adam Realm. The Adam Realm took the entire west coast of the continent as four city names were formed: LöreHeaven, Yharlanch, Adam's Hold, and Odei.

"This realm is named after the God of one of the eight Churches. This Realm's geography is horrible with plenty of mountains and hills. LöreHeaven is the capital of this realm, this realm is mostly a republic with a few dictatorships coming here and there."

Suddenly, three gray lines formed between the three realms, separating them all. "This is the Three Bones. The main landform that separates the Adam Realm and the Amos Realm. The only way to get past this landform is through the rivers going through the mountains, which are of course guarded with maximum security."

With that being said, the gray line that separates the Adam Realm and the Amon Realm formed. "This is Heaven's Wall. Unlike the Three Bones, this land wall has only the Trident of the Three to go through the other realms. This goes for the other Heaven's Wall which blocks the Amos and Amon realm from connecting." Speaking of which, the Amon realm which was colored in deep blue formed four cities.

Eldoria Prime, Queen's Bay, Serpent's Stone, and Goddesses Moon. "The Amon Realm is the smallest realm by landmass. But the only realm with mountains within the realm, splitting it into two. Three of the four cities are on the west side of the realm with only Goddesses Moon being on the east side."

Suddenly, the green line of the Amos Realm formed as ten cities: Vorgas Town, Ebrieats City, Eldritch Moor, Pugna-Urbs City, City Ruins of Old Yhester, Ruins of Old Amos, New Yhester City, Yaron City, Imassshore Port City, and the Ringed City of New Gold.

"This is by far the largest landmass of the three realms. However, the geography isn't quite as good as the others with mostly flat lands and rivers, making the Three Bones and Heaven's Wall the only defense against foreign invasion. As you've all seen, that exactly didn't work out."

As the continent of Icysylva finished, the flames zoomed out of the three-realm continent as another massive landmass equaling the size of Icysylva formed.

"This is the Old Stone. The place where life first originated, the motherland of all humans born here." The continent looked like a deformed skull with two eyes and an open mouth.

"All you have to worry about is the Saintos Islands on the far left of the continent. In my experience, it's a nasty mess of people, pollution, and government. The small gap between Icysylva and the Old Stone is known as the Symmetria Rift. The three main lands have one isle on each, these are known as the Goddess's Isle, God's Isle, and Amaryssia's Isle. Next to God's Isle is the Hunter's Range with Amaryssia's Isle having Serpent's Peak - the largest mountain in the world. Of course, there's the First Stone - the birthplace of the first civilization."

"It's getting late. So I'll indulge you all with the names of shapes of the continents with base information." Nodding thankful, Selena felt like her mind might explode with all this information.

Zooming out once again, a landform was created that went southwest from the Old Stone. "This is the Stepstones, pirates and corrupt government only remain here." Next to the Stepstones, another landform was created.

This continent was made of thousands, if not millions of small islands with three large landforms. "This is the Sunny Chain Archipelago, better known as the Sunny Archipelago. Great place, the majority of the nobles around the world spent their vacation time there. The government is active, but ruthless with a near 100% incarceration rate and a 52% death penalty rate. Crimes there equals death."

Suddenly, another continent formed beneath the Sunny Archipelago. It formed two halves, the Sun Spear and Snow Cleave. "This continent has been in a civil war with each other for the 4th Epoch with no signs of stopping. The names of the continents show the mastery that they have with Spears and Cleavers. Next up is the final continent."

As the flames zoomed out further, they saw a continent broken and shattered completely. "The Nameless Continent. A shattered and twisted continent without a trace of life. All brave enough to enter this continent never left, this was the case until Mister Merlin Ainsley had a voyage here during the 5th Epoch. However, he barely escaped with his life and swore to never explain what he'd seen there. Because of the continent's fiery state and lifeless entities, there are many nicknames for this particular continent."

Without even realizing it, Daemon became intrigued by the words of the Angel of Time. All of this was known by those who were born here, and yet, his words were so captivating.

"Cinderlorne, Cinderborne, Cindereshire, Fire-Scarred Archipelago, Inferno-Splitter, Pyro Isles, the Land of Ragnarök. There's enough nicknames even for me to know."

Suddenly, the flames completely zoomed out to reveal the entire map of the world. Seven continents: Icysylva, the Old Stone, the Stepstones, Sunny-Chain Archipelago, the Half-Stone (Sun Spear and Snow Cleave), and the Nameless Continent.

Along with the three seas: The Sea of Sacrifice, the Veiled Expanse, and the Abyss Sea.

"This is your new world — the World of Eldorath."