Chapter 22 — The 4th World

“We need to devise a proper strategy to procure the subject. Especially now that we know our experiment was a success,” a man clad in silver robes said to three others in the same garb.

“Indeed, had we not lent our aid to the Sundals we would likely already have full control of the subject. Now that we know our god is alive, we must spare no effort to collect him,” said one of the men.

“The loss of Archbishop Valtrous was truly unfortunate, he was our best lead. Perhaps we will need to utilize our GDF contacts,” the first man suggested.

“Indeed, do you have someone in mind for this…task?” the second man asked.

“I do,” another man spoke up. “He has just recently been offered a position as an Admiral once the Chimera is completed. He should be perfect,” he continued.

“Excellent, we’ll trust your judgement. Contact him at once and let us set up a meeting,” the first man said, a wide grin appearing under the shadow of his hood.

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“Oh, you’re here too?” Alden asked, scanning the environment.

“What the hell man…I just want to sleep,” I whined.

“Nero, you there?” Alden called.

“Yes master?” It replied.

“What’s going on here exactly?” Alden inquired, taking a look around at what we both recognized as the 4th World.

Both Alden and I were already garbed in our guardian armor for some reason, standing atop a cliff, looking down on the world around us. There were birds flying through the air, although a bit strange, there were even stranger creatures roaming the land too–yep, definitely the 4th World.

“It seems that your new found perception forces you into our world while your real body rests in yours. Do not worry master, your body and mind will be fully rested once you awaken,” Nero answered.

“Do be careful however, you’re both currently soul manifestations, any serious damage incurred here will result in losing pieces of yourself and possibly result in death,” Cadeyrn supplied helpfully.

“Perhaps that’s something you should lead off with…” I suggested.

“I will note that for next time,” Nero stated simply, causing me to give Alden a disapproving look.

“Hey man, he’s doing his best,” Alden laughed.

“Well, guess we better make the best of it. Time for some exploring?” I offered excitedly.

“Absolutely!” Alden agreed, leaping down the cliff as I followed.

We floated slowly down the cliff and started off in a random direction. There was an over abundance of animal-like creatures, almost like a video game, and a huge variety at that. Just like a video game, most of them were highly aggressive and started attacking us relentlessly.

“This is awesome!” I shouted as we ran around fighting monsters and aggressive animals.

Suddenly, a gigantic green crab burst out of the grassy ground and sprayed a cloud of bubbles towards us. With some adept movement, we managed to avoid the blast. Alden and I noticed that the bubbles corroded whatever they had made contact with, bubbling away into steam and leaving a puddle of gooey residue. Not waiting a moment longer, Alden immediately lunged at the crab, launching into his signature combination attack in effort to keep it preoccupied.

“I guess we’ll have to attack this giant enemy crab’s weak point for massive damage,” Alden yelled back to me with a grin.

I glared at him for the reference, dashed underneath the crab, and unleashed a flaming punch knocking it into the air. Alden quickly lept upwards, cutting straight through its belly appearing out the other side. Then for some reason, a thought popped into my head.

“Can we eat here? As soul manifestations or whatever?” I asked Cadeyrn as the crab’s corpse fell to the ground.

“You can, it should help increase your quanum capacity as well,” Cadeyrn replied.

“Neat,” Alden and I said, simultaneously.

As we continued our childish indulgence, we noticed a group of buildings carved out of a mountainside.

“That would be the village of the stone tribe, for obvious reasons,” Nero supplied.

“Let's go visit.” I suggested, as I began a leisurely stroll towards it.

Without warning there was a loud thunk from somewhere in the foreground, almost like that of a trebuchet, and then I noticed a large boulder tumbling out of the sky directly in front of us.

“I should add, they do not like strangers,” Nero supplied unhelpfully.

“AGAIN, YOU NEED TO LEAD WITH THOSE THINGS!” Alden and I shouted while running away from the boulder as it crashed into the ground.

As the boulder hit, the ground shook from the impact, forcing us to take to the sky. We immediately heard five more thunks as five more boulders came flying our way.

“They are way too accurate with those things,” I whined narrowly avoiding the boulders whizzing through the air.

“Any suggestions?” I asked, but Alden had already landed and seated himself on the ground, hands raised in surrender.

“Fair enough,” I said, following suit and to our surprise no more thunks were heard. Instead, the ground shook violently as large clouds of dirt began billowing into the air—in our direction…

“This better work,” I muttered between clenched teeth.

“Well, if it doesn’t you better hope we wake up soon,” Alden laughed as large stony figures in the distance started to get closer, and larger.

“I would reckon they’re about three meters tall,” Alden supplied.

“Not helping Alden, not at all,” I said, eyes wide as we could see them gliding on piles of stones in our direction.

“Well, if it’s any consolation. You did suggest we visit,” Alden chided as I glared at him.

The stony figures finally arrived, there were seven in total and they were easily three meters tall on the small end and five meters at the tallest of the seven. They observed us quietly, or as quietly as the sound of stone scraping together can get.

“Jug’l mjyg takl ver!” The tallest of the seven shouted, or said—it was hard to tell.

“It said, trespassers be gone,” Cadeyrn translated for us as the tribesmen, or women, or—whatever they were, started to discuss amongst themselves.

“Actually, I think I’m starting to understand it. Try using your soul to interpret their meaning and it just kind of makes sense,” Alden suggested.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Calming myself, I pushed my aura out, examining the tribesmen. Slowly, I gained an intuitive understanding of their words, as if before, I simply couldn’t hear them correctly.

“You said I can kill them!” One of the tribesmen said.

“No, I am the senior, it is my duty,” another argued.

“Let us make peace, they are in the form of surrender, we must not attack,” said another.

“Well…this is disconcerting,” I said, carefully observing the tribesmen.

“Perhaps, we could talk this out?” Alden offered to them, causing them to quickly turn to look at us—in…disbelief?

“You soul speak, human?” The largest of the tribesmen asked.

“We do,” Alden said.

They immediately began huddling, conferring amongst themselves once more.

“You must come to our village, we will decide your fate there,” the largest said, breaking their huddle.

“And now we’re prisoners…Great...” I complained.

“At least we’re getting our foot in the door?” Alden supplied unhelpfully as the stone tribesmen ushered us towards their village.

Upon reaching the village, we marvelled at the massive fifteen meter high mudwall surrounding it. The wall was constantly dripping downwards, as if it were still liquid, yet maintained its full size and integrity somehow. They pushed us towards the wall and a gap large enough for us to fit through opened up briefly, closing once we had passed through. A disgusting mix of earthy scents hit us in the nose as soon as we entered the village, causing my eyes to tear up as I began gagging profusely.

“You good?” Alden asked, laughing and gagging himself.

“No. No I am not. My nose was not ready for that, but I think it's dead now so it doesn’t matter anymore,” I complained, as I attempted to rub the burning sensation away.

“Hah. Weak human. Cannot appreciate fine glory of earth. It is precious and grants life,” one of the tribesmen lectured.

“Oh, we definitely appreciate it, but we’re certainly not used to it,” Alden commented.

“I don’t think anyone could appreciate it as much as you guys do…” I added.

We continued our tour of the village, we were allowed to walk unbound and unharassed as long as we minded our manners. There were shops selling diverse sculptures, extravagant plants, and an interesting assortment of tools. The sculptures were what I found most interesting, they were fully designed miniature buildings with miniature furniture inside. Upon closer inspection, the doors opened and closed, with windows that had functioning blinds, capped with a roof that had a functioning eavestrough—were they made for little people?

“Interesting,” I commented before I moved on to the plants which had an interesting amount of energy coming from them.

Alden moved in to inspect the plants as well and seemed to notice the same thing.

“The core energy of these stone tribesmen seems to contain the same energy as what’s in these plants. I guess this is what passes as food?” Alden suggested.

I just shrugged as we continued on down the main road towards a very large hole in the mountain.

“Big important structure, main road leading directly to it, big hole for the entrance. Yup, checks all the boxes,” I muttered as Alden shrugged in return.

As we approached the threshold, two large metal golems detached themselves from the wall with a loud thud. They slid towards us, sparks flying everywhere, before coming to a complete stop in front of us. The large stone tribesmen accompanying us bowed briefly and the steel golems returned back to their places without hesitation.

“Well that certainly got the blood pumping. I’m starting to understand their laxness with us being unsecured,” I said, wiping sweat from my brow. “And man is it muggy here.”

“Agreed,” Alden said, wiping his brow as well.

While we could have used quanum to combat the effects of the environment, we didn’t wish to appear hostile. Despite their appearance, these were smart and incredibly strong creatures. Alden and I could likely take one or two at a time, but that would be it. Their physical strength was certainly impressive, but we could sense both a very strong soul and quanum energy residing deep within them.

“Come humans, this way,” the tribesman said, leading us inside the large cavern.

The ground inside of the cavern was like hardened magma, and, with the open top followed by the aggressive shift in temperature, I realized where we were.

“This…Is…a volcano?” I asked incredulously.

“This place is. We control its flow to make our buildings and structures. Earth is life,” the tribesman said as if repeating a mantra. “Come, you must meet elder.”

The tribesman led us further inside and against the far wall was a large throne which held a very, very, large steel golem. It was at least twenty meters tall in a seated position with dull, red, vein-like lines coursing through its body, pulsating as if they were pumping energy like blood.

“Well, I’m sufficiently terrified,” I said, with mock horror.

“Spooky indeed,” Alden chuckled.

A small glowing sphere, at least thirty centimeters in diameter, flew out of the golem’s chest and landed in what appeared to be a tall pillar four meters high. As it landed, plants sprouted from the pillar in the form of a chair. Taking on a humanoid form, it took a seat.

“Cian, I believe, that, is a fairy,” Alden said, amused.

“Yes, yes it is,” I replied.

“Humans, identify yourselves,” a soft but loud feminine voice sang to us.

Once again using our new found soul perception we were able to understand her words.

“I’m Alden, and this is Cian. It is a pleasure to meet you,” Alden stated plainly, bowing slightly.

“Hmm, so you do have the ability to utilize your souls,” the fairy said thoughtfully, her long hair flowing outwards as if blown by currents of air that existed solely for her—it belied reality.

“How may we be of service to you?” Alden continued politely.

The fairy remained silent for a moment before floating towards Alden, flying around his body, scrying him for any secrets he may have.

“You are truly loved by the world and yet you curse its very existence,” the fairy said, and it seemed as though Alden’s face darkened in response—if only for a moment, I thought I felt a slight quiver in his aura.

“You will suffice,” she said, with a backwards glance as she flew over to examine me.

“And you, you’re a walking disaster waiting to happen. The darkness drips off your soul, infecting…regardless, you too shall suffice,” she said as she returned to her chair.

“My name is Yuenna, Fairy Queen of Olin,” and as she finished speaking, an immeasurable weight pressed down on us, forcing us to our knees.

“Warning.” Inazuma sounded. “Celestial power detected. It is recommended to vacate immediately,” it stated.

“Oh my, what a clever little device you have,” she said dryly. “Anyways…I propose a trade,” Yuenna offered as hundreds of blue wisps of energy started rising from the ground, floating about.

“I require someone to kill the Spider Witch, Kivensi, and bring me her core. If you do this, I shall answer your questions and provide you with a piece of my memories,” Yuenna said as she slumped to the side in her chair, her hand supporting her cheek with a look of intrigue painted on her face.

“I’m not certain how we would benefit from the memories of one such as yourself,” Alden forced out as politely as possible, trying to fend off Yuenna pressure.

It felt truly suffocating and I felt like gasping for breaths but suddenly the pressure vanished from around me. Somehow having abated the pressure she was exerting, I forced myself to my feet and locked eyes with her. I could feel something within beckoning me to accept her request and as our eyes met, her expression changed from intrigue to amusement.

“We’ll accept your offer,” I said, with a tone of finality.

Alden, impressively also forced himself to his feet, despite the intense pressure Yuenna exerted, and bowed, causing Yuenna to raise her tiny eyebrows in surprise.

“Excellent, however, your time here is spent. For now return to your world, acclimate to this experience and then return to complete my task,” Yuenna said, and with a wave of her hand my vision went blurry.

I found myself staring at a blue sky through a window, my blanket half off my body, and the sound of footsteps headed towards my room.

“How long are you guys going to sleep, I’ve been here for at least an hour!” I heard Nicole yelling from the hallway.

Alden jerked awake and we just stared at each other for a moment. Wordlessly, we got dressed and opened the door to see Nicole glaring at us.

“Hey, uhh, what are you doing here? Were we supposed to meet up?” I asked, rubbing my eyes.

“Shouldn’t we go over the last few months we spent with Balfrus?” She asked in confusion.

Alden and I just stared at each other for a long moment.

“You guys are doing it again…” She complained.

“If you say MENtal telepathy again…” I groaned as she continued glaring.

“Anyways, there is going to be a lot more to cover. A few things have…changed? Since we last saw each other,” Alden said, his tone and gaze hinting at a drastic change in circumstances.

Nicole was about to enter into a tirade of questions before I raised my hand interrupting her—this wasn’t something I wanted to discuss at home.

“How about a cupcake?” I offered, cheekily.

“I’m starting to regret hearing you say that…” Nicole groaned.