Professor Hentrax Vandalor’s Universal Observations Volume I of VI [Mythic]
Within this mythic tome lies the condensed knowledge of universal theory passed down from ~~~~~~ lord of extermination, and the protector of man.
Every eye in the tent widened as Jaliete picked up the book and began flicking through its pages with familiar ease. Each page shined with crimson light and Dalen could see the text moving across each page as if it was holding far more information than the tome’s already large size implied.
Jaliete stopped at a page towards the end of the tome and her face darkened.
“What is it?” Dalen asked
Jaliete looked up from the page, her eyes looking tense. She shook her head and showed everyone the page.
This page wasn’t like the others, the majority of it was an incredibly detailed drawing of a dark space with strange curving and curling ink lines that seemed to writhe in place. The moment Dalen’s eyes fell onto it his mind span. He felt as if he was about to start falling again but then the drawing changed. The lines surged across the page in a strange pattern, no, not strange at all. It was like the wind running across a grassy field but it was also so much more.
Just by glancing at the page, Dalen felt information being crammed into his mind. It was not just wind it was destruction, a finality, an ending. But that isn’t what made Dalen pale. No, what made him pale was that he had seen Kal standing in the endless dark, his arms raised as he fought for his life. And bloody liked it.
“What is it elder?” Melisia asked Dalen’s question again since he had forgotten about it and he didn’t really need the answer.
“That Melisia is The Place Between… And Kalum Lesta battles the winds of desolation,” Jaliete closed the book before grasping her temples with one hand, “It is both a miracle and curse that Kalum Lesta has somehow arrived there. The book I just showed you describes the few ways of traveling there and certain inconvenient properties.”
Dalen frowned, “Does this help us in any way? A place called The Place Between sounds like it would be easier to get to than where the demons came from.”
Jaliete shook her head, “No, quite the opposite I’m afraid. Getting there is impossible for us, only beings of tier four or above have ways of reaching a plane like The Place Between at least purposefully according to this book. The only other way of reaching it is via the path I believe Kalum Lesta has taken.”
She placed the book down on the display, “He was transported there at the moment of a plane’s destruction.”
“Are you saying that the fractured path’s plane or whatever it is got destroyed, like fully destroyed?” Dalen asked, The whole idea of a place that large being utterly destroyed was beyond him.
“No, the fractured path remains… in place. No, it must have been another.”
Dalen wasn’t a fan of how she said, “in place,” but he ignored that for now, “What about these properties you mention?”
Jaliete’s face became more serious than before and Melisia frowned at the sight of it, “What I am about to tell you must not leave the confines of this tent and the halls of The Vault. When I learned what I am about to tell you I lost my god’s blessing and was forced from my home to flee across the empire.”
Melisia paled at hearing she could lose her blessing just by learning what was within that book. Leo frowned but looked far less fussed with the idea and Dalen just shrugged, he had said before he would say it again, “If Dhoerin cares that much he can shove it. What’s he done for me lately?”
“Dalen!” Melisia said outraged, “You should say such things even if we are about to do something heretical.”
It took Dalen a second to realize it was actually a mock outrage.
Melisia smiled,” I agree, If Quotz did not wish for me to search for knowledge she was a fool to grant me her blessing in the first place.” A flash of light summoned her journal into her hand.
Leo smirked at their exchange, “I will also take the risk. If Kal truly is the one they speak of in your prophecies then we likely already work against the desires of the gods.”
Jaliete nodded, “As you wish. The Place Between is the plane that the great system uses to ferry the souls of the dead back to The Astral Falls so that they can be once more born into the world of mortal kind. Its purpose is to separate one’s soul from their body, wiping it clean of the experiences of mortal existence.”
“It is the final path. The path to the Astral Falls.”
Melisia had stopped mid-word of her speed writing to stare at Jaliete, her mouth agape, “That is part of the name of my class.”
Dalen Identified Melisia again to read the name of her class.
[Melisia Tanaruhn | Weaver of the Astral Falls 71]
Dalen had never thought about his friend’s class past it being a cool-sounding rare mage class. Plenty of mage classes had interesting names. Even Leo who didn’t have a mage class per se had an interesting class name.
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[Leo Brightwing | Phoenix Knight 82]
Obviously, Weaver of the Astral Falls was different but right now Dalen was more concerned with the whole mortal’s not being able to exist there when clearly Kal was quite happy fighting for his life in that very place.
“How is Kal there then? Shouldn’t he have been recycled or whatever?”
Jaliete nodded, “Yes he should have been but there is one way a mortal could enter that place without ending their own life. They are participating in a system-generated trial.”
“What, like the one from Hurius’s camp?”
“No, that is simply a system-sanctioned trial concocted by a prophet or lord of sufficient rank. No, it has to be a system-generated trial.”
Dalen frowned, “What does that mean for us? Will Kal be able to leave on his own?”
Jaliete nodded, “If the trial has a reward I suspect that would be the case. But there is no way to know what that trial is or how long it will take. True system trials are not like the ones we occasionally interact with, they are created for a specific purpose and individual. Your memory showed Kalum Lesta rising up to the challenge. He was losing ground but he was also improving himself. Even if we could pull him from the trial I would have advised we didn’t.”
“Where would he end up then?”
“I don’t know.”
Damn it, more and more crap keeps getting piled onto the whole situation, Dalen grumbled internally.
“Fine then I don’t see how it changes our next step. He could very well finish the trial or whatever it is and need a way back anyway.”
Everyone nodded in agreement.
“Good. Well if that’s all I’m going back to bed,” Dalen said, though he doubted he would get any sleep knowing Kal was fighting on a black metal disk in a black void…
----------------------------------------
He was right, he slept like crap and continued to sleep like crap over the following two days as well. Seeing what he had, Dalen just wanted to get on the road even more but he continued his alchemy routine of making his new Alchemical Brew of Mental Reprieve and finishing off each day with more chats with still recovering people of order.
His brew worked like a charm each time. But of course, eventually, he had to get to the harder questions. Unsurprisingly they had found out about his Mark of Wrath, it didn’t surprise him in the least these people were like the housewives in the streets he used to run in the capital, gossiping to every bloody passerby.
But thank the gods Jaliete didn't take Leo's joke seriously and name Dalen a literal prophet so the days passed easily enough. Now it was the morning of the day they would start their journey to find Elandiria. Dalen just hoped things would go as smoothly as they had hoped.
The days of near-constant alchemy had done well in decreasing the gap between his level and the rest of the order. Dalen was starting to think it was almost too fast.
[Dalen Kreet | Alchemist of the Wrathful 44]
No, actually he was damned sure of it. Both Melisia and Leo had taken years of leveling to reach their current levels. Crafting potions was leveling him far faster than brewing ever did and even when he had been killing monsters and demons with his bombs he had leveled several times. It made sense early on after gaining his class upgrade that he had gained levels significantly faster but it didn’t feel like it was slowing down in the least.
People around the camp had started commenting on his growth as well. All were equally impressed and surprised. Dalen thought it had a hand in their willingness to speak with him.
There was no doubt that Dalen had been very lucky with the order’s willingness to give him all the materials that could be put together to help him level and even send out gatherers to keep up with his spending. If he had been back in Farninghold he would have had to go back to thieving to afford the amount of herbs he was going through.
Dalen had started to become suspicious of his class. Not in a bad way but he was starting to think Kal had far more effects on him than anyone realized. He had the Mark of Wrath now sure but his class was called Alchemist of the Wrathful for god's sake.
He had no way to be sure but could being around Kal for all those years have had some kind of effect on his progression? Dalen hadn’t felt the intense ferocity from Kal back in Farninghold, only once they entered Hurius’s camp and later during the Blood Hunt spell and on the Fractured Path.
It was just another thing he would need to figure out but right now it was time to get moving. It was the morning of the day they were set to depart from the order’s camp. Dalen had packed most of his gear the night before but had left out enough to prepare a few last-minute potions for the journey.
He mainly worked on a few stamina potion recipes he had found. Dalen didn’t risk imbuing them with his anger, at least not for this generally more potent recipe. With his recent speed leveling, he had spread most of his additional points between endurance and agility to help him keep up with Leo and Melisia.
With the addition of a few stamina potions, he was pretty sure he would keep up easily enough now.
After he was finished with his last batch he stepped out of his tent to find Melisia and Leo already waiting for him. Melisia had changed from her normal blue riding dress into a far more casual-sleeved blue shirt, trousers, and even a pair of boots making her look far more like she did when he first met.
Leo wore the same dark plate mail he always did but he had removed the red-green tabard of the Van’dar Empire. It honestly made the already powerful-looking man look more intimidating but the effect was lessened a bit by the man’s still pale face,“ Are you sure you are ok to travel Leo? I can see you still aren’t well.”
Leo smirked,” I will still be miles ahead of you little prophet. I will be fine.”
Dalen could tell he was putting on a brave face. It was clear he was far from one-hundred percent but Dalen wasn’t going to tell the man to stay. It wasn’t like he could stop him from following even in his current state.
Dalen turned around and placed his entire tent into his dimensional storage. Now there was just one more thing he had to do before he left.
“Hey kids, it's time for you to get that gift I promised!”
He almost felt guilty as he handed over a small bag of sachets to each of his little potion distributors.
Almost…