For Dustin and the others, passing through the five-colored light cocoon in the canyon was like leaving one nightmare only to find. themselves trapped in a far older one, heavy with primordial dread.
The stench of decay lingered, now mixed with the sharp tang of rusted metal and the dust of countless centuries. Faint light filtered through cracks in the towering rock walls above, casting patchy illumination that was enough to see what lay ahead.
It was a battlefield long abandoned, stretching endlessly into shadow. There were no banners or fresh corpses, only crushing silence, worn down by ages beyond counting.
Enormous ivory bones littered the landscape. Ribs curved overhead like archways, while skulls sat as large as buildings. They’d belonged to extinct colossal beasts, now resting among broken weapons and collapsed pillars. Despite the passage of time, the bones still radiated an oppressive presence.
Rusted, fragmented weapons and armor lay among the relics of war. Their designs were unlike anything crafted in the present day.
Dustin picked up a broken sword, its blade caked with rust. As his fingers brushed the metal, he could feel the faint spiritual energy within it had long decayed, leaving behind a hollow, bone-deep chill.
Fragments of massive shields jutted from the earth at odd angles, marked by deep claw scratches and melted sections. The ground itself was torn and fractured, pocked with craters and fissures. Some cracks plunged into absolute blackness that seemed to exhale a faint, cold breath.
Whatever battle had been fought there, it had been catastrophic.
“What… What is this place?” Judith asked, her voice trembling as she stayed close to Grace.
A profound sense of dread pressed down on them. It was born from the unknown, the immeasurable age of that place, and the sheer scale of its destruction.
She went on, “These bones and weapons… are not something possessed by ordinary warriors or armies. Could this be the legendary ancient ruins?”
Grace’s expression was grim as she scanned the area, her eyes filled with shock and confusion. Her gaze was drawn to a relatively intact section of a collapsed wall, etched with faded murals and strange, intricate script.
The group gathered around to study the worn carvings. The scenes were difficult to decipher but spoke of a cataclysmic war.
They depicted humanoid beings with light wings growing from their backs, commanding thunder and fighting ferocious giant beasts. Elsewhere, enormous magical circles harnessed the power of the stars, while titans as tall as mountains were depicted crumbling to the ground.
Despite their faded state, the murals conveyed a powerful sense of the carnage, ferocity, and grandeur of the battle.
Dustin studied the murals before settling on the unusual script. The characters were elegant yet complex, as if the fundamental laws of reality were woven into the script.
“Is this… the cloud script?” Grace murmured uncertainly. “I’ve seen something similar in the ancient manuscripts kept in the royal archives. They say it was used by the Archmages, a language that channels raw power and communicates with spirits.”
Dustin nodded slightly. While he didn’t fully understand it, he could vaguely discern a few key meanings by sensing the natural principles and residual power within the script-“Seal”, “Bind”, ” Abomination”, “Aether Garden”, “Vitalis Pool”.
“Aether Garden and Vitalis Pool?” Grace asked, her eyes flickering with hope.
“The ancient manuscript mentions both the Aether Gardens of Avalon and the Vitalis Pool of Elysium Isle,” she said. ”
They were said to be sanctums of the immortals, places where legendary treasures and elixirs of immortality are said to exist. What if the elixir we find is there?”
Dustin pondered for a moment. He pointed to an area in the mural that appeared to be the center of the island with floating structures surrounded by spiritual springs and cascading waterfalls. Nearby, fading characters for “Vitalis Pool” remained visible.
“Based on these fragments,” he said, “if such an elixir exists anywhere on this island, it’s likely in one of these two places.
‘Vitalis Pool,’ in particular, is always tied to legends of healing and eternal life.”
He then pointed to another section of the mural. It depicted a massive, indistinct monstrosity of immense malice, bound at the bottom of a chasm by countless chains and pillars of light.
Inscriptions labeled it the “Maleficar Dragon” or “Void-Tyrant Dragon”, while smaller, human-like figures reinforced the bindings with ritual tools.
“But the true secret of this place seems to lie deeper and sealed away,” Dustin added, his voice grave. “This so-called ‘Maleficar Dragon’ is likely what Elysium Isle was built to imprison.”
He paused, letting the implication sink in. ” The regenerative power of the beasts we faced earlier might be linked to whatever power is leaking from this sealed entity.”
His words cast a pall over the group’s newly kindled hope, darkening it once more. The elixir was close, but it was guarded by a primordial evil capable of untold destruction.
“There’s no turning back now,” Grace said firmly. “At least we have a direction now instead of wandering blindly. In your opinion, which way should we go?”
Dustin closed his eyes, allowing his divine sense to ripple outward like waves on the water. The interference in the ruins was less õppressive than in the canyon or fog, but still present. After a moment, he pointed ahead.
“That way. The energy there is contradictory There is a faint, serene spiritual energy intertwined with a thick, malevolent death essence. It fits what we might find at the Aether Garden or Vitalis Pool. And the trail shows that many. things’ have gone that way.”
His careful choice of words was unsettling It was obvious he didn’t mean only humans.
The team moved forward, picking their way through the vast battlefield ruin with extreme caution. They skirted hills of giant bones and crossed dry riverbeds stained a deep, bloody red.
Suddenly, a guard walking on the flank tripped over something and let out a startled shout. The others looked down and saw that beneath the disturbed dirt lay a relatively fresh corpse.
It was dressed in modern martial attire, not yet fully decomposed. The cause of death was horrifyingly clear. A massive, clean hole was punched through the chest, as if something had impaled him instantly.
