T.E.A.

The two found themselves in front of a sheer cliff face near, the peak of the mountain. In front of them, secluded by a forest of hanging trees, were a pair of mechanical doors twice as tall and wide as their slab of Eternal Ice.

This door, Venry noticed, was made of the same material.

As their slab drifted over the ledge, the doors parted and permitted them inside. He quickly saw the hallowed interior and the manmade ceiling disguised as a peak. From the looks of it, this place was originally a volcano, but the heat didn’t radiate from the inside nor at all. The air-water form of the Eternal Ice kept the temperature low.

Before he could share his findings to Dystro, their ride abruptly stopped. The doors behind them closed, and now they found themselves floating in the middle of darkness, with only the dim glow far below to illuminate their surroundings.

Lava, he assumed.

A few seconds passed without anything happening, and Dystro was immediately concerned. So was he.

“Dude, are we trapped?” the former Lord Knight asked, trying to hide his panic.

Before Venry could reply, a small chime echoed in front of them. A holographic screen appeared, and the two desperately turned their attention towards it.

Unauthorized personnel detected.

Scanning for Nightmare/Void influence.

Please hold and remain calm while the scan proceeds.

Incompliance of any kind will resort to immediate containment procedures.

A small film of liquid meiyal washed over them. Venry recognized it as Imbelia at first but quickly realized it was neither Drawn by a practitioner nor did it clean them.

“Are we going to die here, Venry?” Dystro asked as a portion of the liquid meiyal splashed into his mouth, causing a hacking cough. “Oh, gods, what did I do?”

“Calm down, Dystro. You know, you’re awfully twitchy for someone who spent their time in the Nightmare Lands.” Venry paused just long enough to let the scan pass through his lips.

“I told you, man, I didn’t last long. I went back to Vyndival since my aptitude leaned towards fighting other people.”

“In any case, it’s just scanning us for Nightmare influence. As long as we comply, we shouldn’t be in any trouble.”

“But what if it’s broken? What if it suddenly detects a Nightmare influence and initiates containment procedures?” Venry mimicked quotation marks as he emphasized his words.

“Well, you better hope the containment procedure’s malfunctioning as well.”

“Knowing our luck, that might not be the case.”

The scan took a few excruciating seconds to complete. Dystro fidgeted in place the entire time. And when the screen’s chime came, he jerked out of his seat, almost falling off the slab. Venry was quick enough to get a hold of him.

“Dude, are you serious?” he asked as he pulled the former Lord Knight—less and less convincing by the second—back on their platform.

“Not good with the dark, okay?” Dystro complained, breathing frantically. “Give me a break. What did the panel say?”

Nightmare/Void influence: 5%

Influence is within expected parameters.

Emergency Addendum Protocol: Destruction Secrets is in effect.

Employing DNA scan for intruders’ origins to allow bypass of Standard Security Measures.

Do you comply? (Y/N)

Incompliance will result in immediate expulsion of intruders to protect Order of the Void’s secrets.

Venry read it aloud. Then he turned to Dystro. “We’re five percent influenced?”

“Once you’re touched by the Nightmare, you’re never really pure again,” he replied, finally calming down. “The point is, we remain under the threshold. Should we comply, though?”

“I think we should. I’m far too curious now.” Without waiting for a confirmation, Venry selected ‘yes’ on the screen.

“Hey, what—!”

Their slab was suddenly surrounded by a cube of Imbelia-looking layers of water, which instantly crystalized into ice. Venry looked down as their enclosure was quickly filled with water.

“It’s going to drown us!” Dystro cried in panic. He punched the enclosure once and their screen quickly issued a ‘final warning before expulsion’.

The Guard Knight couldn’t disagree this time. They both took a deep breath at the last second, plunging in the cold, and trying not to move much to save oxygen. Fortunately, it didn’t last long. The water quickly drained and left them amazingly dry, albeit a little cold.

The screen in front of them split into two. One of them approached Venry.

Intruder, please enter your name.

After a quick thought, the Guard Knight entered only his first name. A bunch of information appeared, providing his vitals like age, height and weight, and blood type. It even included the disciplines he was practicing which amazingly included Meiyal Armaments now. Overall, nothing really jumped at him save for the last few lines far below the screen.

Bloodline Origins: Irista (human) 88%, Oh’strol (orc) 8%, Yuma-bond 3%, Vork-bond 1%

Meiyal Marks: 53 of 100

Destiny Adhesion: 3% (INSIGNIFICANT)

Nightmare Tendencies: Averse, Vulnerable, Inconsiderate, Reluctant

Emergency Addendum Protocol: Granted

“It says here I’m seventeen percent Vork-bond and twelve Yuma-bond. What does that mean?” Dystro asked, trying to take a peek at Venry’s screen.

Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

“I don’t know either,” Venry replied. He pushed his screen towards his impromptu bodyguard and was surprised to see the floating rectangle to respond to his touch. “We might as well exchange, if you’re that interested.”

“Sure!”

Bloodline Origins: Vyndival (human) 71%, Vork-bond 17%, Yuma-bond 12%

Meiyal Layers: Five-fold

Destiny Adhesion: 3.9% (INSIGNIFICANT)

Nightmare Tendencies: Curious, Resistant, Amenable, Reluctant

Emergency Addendum Protocol: Granted

“What does this Destiny Adhesion mean?” Venry asked, slightly annoyed that Dystro’s was almost a percentage higher than his. “And how are you amenable but reluctant to the Nightmare at the same time?”

“Beats me,” the former Lord Knight—now no longer convincing—replied, smirking. “But at least we can proceed now…I think?”

They both turned to the screen again as it merged to a whole, displaying a new set of instructions.

Iristan origin detected.

Please deposit a M.O.B.I.L.E. if available. Modifications will be made for your tour.

Otherwise, please procure one of our disposable M.O.B.I.L.E.s for your temporary permits.

“Mine’s broken,” Venry commented. His fall over Mount Rindea smashed a significant portion of his device. It no longer operated, so he stored it within his Spatiera, doubtful whether it was still repairable.

A small orb floated towards them. It was like a M.O.B.I.L.E. but significantly smaller. When he activated it, it only showed a single function. At the same time, the crystalized cage melted away, freeing the slab to float down slowly.

The orb lit up and a mechanical female voice echoed from it.

“Welcome to the First Settlement, Venry and Dystro. You may address me as Tour Expert Assistant, or T.E.A. for short. I may not be a semi-sentient or full-sentient M.O.B.I.L.E., but I can help you with all your questions regarding the First Settlement. So long as it is within your permissions.”

“Hi, Tea,” Dystro said.

Venry was too stunned with the concept of sentient M.O.B.I.L.E.s to talk. But the thought faded away when the orb spoke again.

“Greetings, Dystro,” Tea replied in as scripted a fashion as possible. “Do you require any assistance?”

“Mind if you give us a full rundown of this place?”

“Certainly!” said the orb, weirdly enthusiastic for this one word before reverting back to its—her—monotone voice.

“The First Settlement functions primarily to receive new recruits from the Irista Nation. Historically this also included volunteers and recruits from the Oh’strol Continent under the Irista-Northern Orcs Alliance—known as the Irista-Norc Alliance—but Palar’gog’s resurgence and subsequent disappearance had plunged the entire Oh’strol’s civilization to a halt, eventually vanishing within the annals of history.”

“Palar’gog’s resurgence?” Venry asked.

“Correct. Palar’gog, otherwise known as one of the Sealed Ones. The Eternal Winter.”

“Palar’gog was a Sealed One?” Both Venry and Dystro exclaimed at the same time.

“Correct,” said Tea, still in her casual tone. “As part of the Destruction Secrets Protocol, you are privy to this information. The Eternal Winter Dragon was one of the Four Sealed Ones to be sealed by Evanclad and the only one to escape following the Great Dragon Kingdom Exodus.”

“Wait!” Dystro interrupted. “This is a lot of information for my brain. Slow down. What’s the Dragon Kingdom Exodus?”

As if to adhere to his request, the slab of Eternal Ice they were riding on also slowed its descent. They were entering the inner heart of the volcano. Venry could see drips of lava instantly cooling into solid rock as it touched the air-water Eternal Ice. Regardless, Tea continued her lecture.

“As you may know, a kingdom is the collective term for dragons. Palar’gog was Patriarch to four powerful kingdoms around Brymeia. We do not know exactly of the cause, but the Great Dragon Kingdom Exodus—or Dragon Exodus for short—was a recorded global event penned by Alphazzel, the faunel of History and Disasters himself.

“It is said, as per the record, that all the dragons in Brymeia were called to the skies and beyond, leaving the world entirely. It is believed that they will one day return, or that they have created a new kingdom beyond the skies, free from the meddling of lesser creatures. With regards to this prophetic assumption of the record, even Alphazzel was not sure.”

“And Palar’gog joined that Exodus?” Dystro asked.

“Correct. It is of reasonable logic to say that the entire Oh’strol Continent and even Irista Nation’s Northsnow are in perpetual winter because of Palar’gog’s continued influence, and is a sign that he is still alive somewhere where his god-like powers still reaches Brymeia.

“Nevertheless, to get back on topic, we no longer receive recruits from the Oh’strol Continent since it is now considered a wasteland, and the few that explore there are either veterans of the Order of the Void or members of the Cult of the Fallen Dragon.”

Venry looked at Dystro at the mention of the cult.

The former Lord Knight looked back at him defensively. “I know about the cult,” he said.

“Moving on then,” Venry nodded. “Is this were the new recruits train? Inside this volcano?”

“Negative,” Tea replied. “This place is only accessible to Void Lords and Ladies or higher. Granted that the permissions have changed due to the Addendum.”

“So what’s this volcano for?” he asked.

“What’s the Addendum?” Dystro interrupted.

Before the two could argue, Tea started talking.

“This entire island was raised by Mineltha Irista when she carved out the Great Sea Dividyr. It was initially purposed as a seal for a Sealed One.”

“Which one?” Venry asked.

In truth, even in their history lessons, the names of the Four Sealed Ones were never disclosed. Research was discouraged, save for a few potentials that were inevitably recruited into the Order of the Void. Needless to say, it was them who held the secrets to this stuff as part of their responsibilities.

“Your permissions do not contain enough authority for me to disclose that information,” Tea said, verifying his thoughts. “The Destruction Secrets Protocol only allows me to provide information regarding the Seal, which you may observe, if you wish. We are headed there now.”

“You’re going to show us the Sealed One, but not tell us its name?” Dystro asked this time, his confusion apparent not for lack of understanding, but for the overwhelming information swirling inside his head right now. Venry was about on the verge of spilling over mentally himself.

“Negative. I will direct you towards the source of the seal and will ask you to make your assessments as per the protocol in order to indicate if it’s still intact or not.”

“I’m sorry, what?” Venry blinked. “You’re saying the protocol’s active because the seal might not be intact?”

“Possibly. The Destruction Secrets Protocol becomes active when members of the Order of the Void are unable to perform maintenance on the area for whatever reason. The timeframe for its activation is one year, but no member has returned for more than two years now. In which case, this protocol then runs any friendly trespasser through a series of tasks which allows me to deliver information to the correct channels to update the Order somewhere on the other side of the planet.”

“But if the seal’s broken, won’t we meet the Sealed One?” Dystro asked, his voice shaking.

“If the seals are all broken,” Tea began, however, the voice was different. It sounded like a recording of someone familiar. “Then they won’t be here in the first place. If this one is broken, then they can help us know so we can check the others right away.”

“That’s Void Mother Selfiya,” Venry commented.

“Correct.”

“Wait,” Dystro said, realizing something. “You mean there are multiple seals for one Sealed One?”

“Also correct. There are eight seals in total for this Sealed One, spread across the Great Sea Dividyr. Some are particularly deep under the sea and are almost inaccessible save for a few strong members of the Order. As long as at least one remains intact, the Sealed One remains contained.”

“What happened to the other seven?” Venry asked.

“I have no records or updates that involve them.”

Finally, their slab of Eternal Ice came to a halt above a walkway made out of even more Eternal Ice. Venry touched the railing and peered over, observing flowing lava below them. The ice was still particularly cold and amazingly solid, despite being so close to the lava. He couldn’t feel even a slight hint of heat. But a constant sizzle hissed through his ears as he and Dystro were ushered out of the slab.

“This way, Venry and Dystro. And please, whatever you do, do not jump off the railing. There will be nothing I can do to save you from burning and melting to your death.”

A grotesque thought formed inside Venry’s mind as he figured out why they were so close to the lava. “Is the Sealed One underneath the lava?”

The small orb turned. He could imagine it blinking, regarding him whether he knew too much now and had to be disposed of.

Instead, it turned back and proceeded to the cavern across the walkway.

“Correct. And hopefully, it’s still there.”

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