In the darkness that enveloped her, Aria's thoughts raced. She could feel the cold, oppressive presence of the ancient evil pressing in on her from all sides. It was as if she had been swallowed by the void itself.
As her senses slowly returned, Aria realized that she was no longer in the same place. The eerie mist, the shattered tree, and the shroud were all gone. Instead, she found herself in a white space with strange black symbols revolving around her like a cage. The air was heavy with an otherworldly energy, and a sense of foreboding hung in the air.
Even though she had not been here, she immediately knew where this was. The realm of reflections, or mirror world. She had heard about this conceptual space of magic before and even learnt further about its existence from the notes in Mage Sylas's lab. Looking at the runes surrounding her, she was pissed at her folly. She was aware that the monster would not be easily restrained back into the realm of reflections easily. But her over-confidence in her skills had bitten back at her.
She was now caught in a trap of her own making. And if she did not free herself immediately, she might remain forever trapped in this white space of absolutely nothing. But she then noticed, that her backpack was not with her. And then the panic hit her.
.......
Meanwhile Outside:
Thalia had teleported away from the House of mirrors, accompanied by villager back to the safe house. Back there, with the help from the tavern lady who was rescued before and guidance from the old village head who was now recovered, the confused villagers were explained everything. Most of the villagers were in the safe house, but some were unaccounted for still. Realizing that she did not have enough time to go look out for everyone, she retrieved some scrolls from her study and handed them to the old village head.
"These scrolls are single use teleportation tickets that will send you back here on activation. As long you are holding hands with the scroll bearer, a maximum of five people can be transported using it. Find some reliable people to go out and search for the remaining members. The entity won't target the scattered individuals as long I and Aria keep its attention. So try to save them and bring them back to safety immediately. I need to go and support my friend."
She taught him the method of activation and then moved to strengthen the protection of the safe house. Aware that the entity could devour magic itself, she did not focus on erecting complex protections. No she only had to make sure the protections would last a while. Come dawn and they won't have to fear the entity any longer.
As she spread her magic, creating simple overlapping magic circles, she heard a loud crashing noise. Everyone inside the house did. And they all looked towards the direction, where the banyan tree stood.
The tavern lady, her face filled with worry approached Thalia and spoke, "I think you should go and protect you friend. We are grateful for your help, but like you said, the monster won't focus on us anymore until the two of you continue to stand in its way."
Thalia looked at her and the others. The village head also nodded at her.
Understanding that her job here was done, she turned around to exit the house. Before she left, "When dawn arrives, all our misery of past months will disappear. Hide till then."
And then she was gone.
.......
Unfortunately Thalia did not arrive at the battle scene until it was too late. The moment she appeared amidst the wreckage of the crumbling banyan tree, she was met with the sight of her friend, Aria disappearing before her eyes. As if wiped away from the canvas using a brush, Aria vanished into nothing before she could do anything. Unable to understand the situation, Thalia jumped back to create some distance from the hovering shroud, which she recognized.
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Her shock was obvious on her face as she faced the evil entity. But there was another nagging feeling at the back of her mind. Like she was forgetting something. But she would have to think about that later, as right now she felt that the situation was spiraling out of hand. With a wave, she gathered Aria's backpack in her hand. From the outer pockets, she withdrew a small red bead. Crushing it with her magic, she hung the backpack and turned to face the monster that had continued to stand its position.
She understood that Aria's plan at stalling the enemy had failed miserably and that she was trapped most likely. But unless she could defeat the evil in front of her, there was no way for her to save her.
'Constraining Magic. Thats the best way to act right now. The core of the entity seems to still be within the prison, so only a part of it is free.'
Aware that she was incapable of actually hurting it, obstructing it was the second best course of action.
"*Art thou prepared to join thy companion?*"
The ungodly voice of the monster resounded. Thalia could almost imagine it cackling. Instantly, the black mist transformed into snakes, lunging at her.
Thalia popped adjacent to the shroud and waved her hand, conjuring magic circles continuously beneath her feet as she moved. Whenever the mist got too close, she would pop away, showing her mastery of the teleportation spell. Every step of hers, she would leave a magic circle behind, carefully trying to weave a cage around the shroud.
But the entity seemed to have realized her intentions. The temperature dropped suddenly, and then all the broken pieces of the banyan tree floated up. Ice covered the branches and splinters, as they started revolving around the shroud. A storm of hail formed around it, forcing Thalia to create distance.
'Ice magic, that is unusual. The monster never used that according to mage Sylas's notes. Did it learn it by itself or always knew how to do this?'
This wasn't some magical spell or formation, but raw manipulation of elements. A hundred times more difficult that mastering any spell. Faced with this, Thalia brought of her hands together, preparing to use a big spell as well.
But something unexpected occurred then.
*"CRASHH"
"BOOOOOM"*
The temperature rose high and then it was all white.
A huge bolt of lightning dropped out of nowhere, piercing the hailstorm and striking the shroud in the center. The shockwave that emanated from the center made Thalia to teleport high to avoid the impact. She shielded her eyes using magic, piercing the blinding flash to look at the center of the disaster.
The crackling lightning had vaporized everything in the clearing, leaving no debris. The main stump of the banyan tree had somehow survived, but the shroud that was the entity was no where to be seen. Thalia could make out the silhouette of two people, standing where the shroud had floated a moment ago.
She understood immediately who they were, but remaining cautious, she slowly floated down to the edge of the clearing and asked, "Are you Apollo and Karthis, friends of Aria?"
The two of them immediately turned at her, Apollo now covered in armor, holding a large sledgehammer over his shoulder, while Karthis had a how on his back, his dark hair falling over his eyes.
The blond and jovial man replied, "You must be Thalia, The Guardian of the forest and rivers of Aranya. Pleasure to meet you, can you point us to where is the monster that needs beating and also where is my dear friend who can't keep out of trouble?"
His voice was like a symphony of bells, jovial and contagious. Thalia wondered if he used magic to empower his voice.
"Seeing that Aria isn't here with the elf, I think she already is in some trouble. Also you just smacked the monster to oblivion, why ask about it? Judging from her reaction I should be right, so we should get to rescuing my sister."
Before she could answer, a cold voice interrupted her thoughts, as the archer monologued, quickly analyzing the situation. Apollo frowned at his words, but did not argue, seemingly agreeing. They both then approached her.
"Miss Thalia, can you fill us in with what has happened in the last few hours and what is the situation of my friend?"
Thalia nodded, before staring at the stump behind them. The prison of the monster was right beneath it and a hole could be made out from here position.
"I think we should take care of the monster immediately and I'll tell you all I know at the same time. Also, is the silver tribe on the way as well?"
Apollo smiled in agreement and told her that her tribe would arrive by dawn.
"We got worried when we received the SOS from the red bead. Karthis decided to make use of a forbidden scroll from Aria's collection to immediately arrive. She is going to be so mad when she learns of that though." He laughed wildly at the idea, no hint of panic at his face at the mention of his friend who could possibly be trapped in a morbid place.
Thalia could not wrap her head around this carefree attitude of the duo, who did not seem to worry at all that something dangerous might have occurred to their friend.
Pushing these thoughts aside, the three entered the cavern below the tree stump, arriving at prison of the Ancient Evil to the scene of...