The mystery of the Stone was always something that intrigued Guinness. Questions had floated inside his head ever since he received the divine vision.

What was it?

Where was it from?

What was it for?

When he wasn't dealing with the politics of ruling a kingdom, the king would usually spend days within Valheiros’ multiple archives, hoping to find some answers. Before long, his research proved fruitless as there were no records dedicated to the study of the Stone. His chief advisor told Guinness to give up the prolonged return trips to libraries to focus on ruling the kingdom, to which he replied, “I never resigned when the Luxomuns were in shackles. I never resigned when the power of Phoenix eluded me. If I resign now, what will the people make of me? What will I make of myself?”

He stormed to the National Library as soon as he finished his sentence. As if Guinness’ determination had touched the God of Luck, later that night, the King found the lead he was looking for.

Underneath a stack of farming manuals, Guinness discovered a tattered, titleless scroll which disclosed nothing about farming techniques and everything about the history of men. According to this scroll, back in the ancient times, even before the Stone of Heaven fell down to Loktharma, there existed a kingdom of magus and wisemen who tried to mock the Lord Above’s greatness by creating an artificial Sun. But, their transactions prove to be disastrous as one day, their entire kingdom suddenly plunged into the ground. But, it was through their fall that they ascend. In the darkness of the caverns did they contemplate the universe, and in essence understood some of its secrets.

Through these forbidden knowledges they ignited their Sun once again, turning its flame blue and extending its duration everlasting. Leaving their old and barbaric name to be lost in the annals of history, these magus called themselves Abyssals, denizens of Abyssia. If there was a soul who’d be able to aid him in his pursuit of the Stone, it would be them.

Although Abyssians had sealed off the entrance to their city with energy barriers, there was still a passage to access their massive vault of knowledge. The key, quite literally, lied within the scroll. If Guinness were to burn it on a day of a full moon, a one-way portal would be opened up. As the flames flickered on through the moonlit night, so did the king’s resolve. He cast the scroll into the flames and an inferno blazed up. Guinness’ memory of the event transpired next was hazy at best. He only recalled being surrounded by curious eyes inside a dazzling blue world where the sky reflected sunlight like thousands of mirrors. And there he stood, inside the heart of Abyssia.

Of course, things weren’t as straightforward as Guinness had thought that it would be. Guinness’ sudden appearance infuriated the Abyssian leader Yuto, who was raised and taught to shun outsiders. So the king sent him into the Pit of Despair, the most horrifying trial prison in all of Loktharma. Inside this pit, waves upon waves of wicked creatures ascended from unstable Soul Rifts. But none could even graze Guinness’ skin.

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The curious Abyssians crowd gathering around the pit grew bigger with each wave Guinness repelled, which enraged Yuto. An interloper had humiliated him and besmirched his infamous prison right in front of his eyes, and the people were cheering for that alien. The venerated leader had to act, or else his reputation would crumble.

Yuto descended into the pit. With a single motion of his hand, the Liberator was knocked out cold.

When Guinness finally woke up again, he was inside a prison cell, not unlike the one that he was locked in for most of his early life. He tried to break free, but it seemed his warrior days were long past. The bars didn’t even so much as dent when he struck. He clashed his flesh against the metal over and over until he could no more. Guinness conceded that if he would spend another night behind bars, it would not be for nothing. He noticed a hole barely larger than his eye on the ceiling of the cell. Behind it, he could somehow see the stars. “Not just the stars,” as he’d concluded. One star aligned with another, and that one aligned with another. Before long, Guinness had observed it all. The galaxy. The universe. What the king would soon find out was that the Abyssals had enchanted the crystals on the ceiling of their cavern to move in accordance with the sky outside, thus creating the illusion of a gleaming night. In light of such beauty, the king couldn’t help but shed a tear. It was then that he sensed a presence in the cell and turned around, only to see an old and tattered booklet. On it, a single word:

[Hado].

In the hope that this new discovery would break him out of his confinement, Guinness started his training of Hado. Invented in the nation of Han, Hado was the act of redirecting the energy within oneself, be it outward or to a different part of the body. With this technique, one can summon the elements, enhance their physical capabilities or even prolong their life.

The Liberator knew not of the way to master the art, only of its existence. However, through the guidance of the planets, he mastered the basics in a matter of days. As he later told his followers, everything was ‘written in the stars’. He even excelled at Hado, being able to circulate energy around his entire body in a fraction of a second, something that would take decades for a normal practitioner to do. Nevertheless, he still knew that he was still missing something, evidenced by the last page that was nowhere to be seen in the instruction booklet.

On one night, while looking through the gap on the ceiling, Guinness made a breakthrough. The placement of the “stars'' resembled his inner acupuncture points, and on that night, a few of those “stars” seemed to stand out. Immediately, he started channeling his energy through those points and held them all the way to the morning. The process was exhausting but somehow, he could feel some changes within him. So, each night, Guinness would continue to gaze at the “stars” and repeat the exercise until all of his acupuncture points were broken through. Then, he turned his attention to the metal bars, the things that were holding him captive all this time. With just one simple touch, the bars crumbled and collapsed, all of their inner energy coursing into him.

It turned out that the Abyssians had invented their own school of Hado based on the movement of the galaxies, and what Guinness accidentally discovered was actually one of their secret techniques.

By freeing his energy flow through the act of breaking his accupuntures, he had fundamentally augmented his body into becoming an energy vacuum that could be activated at will. With this revelation, Guinness broke out of his prison and fought his way to Yuto, demanding answers. To Guinness’ surprise, the Abyssal leader seemed to have waited on him for all this time. Impressed by his mastery of Hado, he allowed Guinness one question, which he immediately used to inquire about the nature of the Stone.

“The Stone of Heaven was in fact not an enforcer of order, but in fact a gift from the Lord Above to humanity. But, only through the joint effort of humanity can this gift be unlocked…. Now scram!” Yuto grimaced and waved his hand outward.

A column of azure flame suddenly enveloped Guinness. Before long, he was taken back to his own room, inside of his own palace. Even more surprising was the fact that he was gone for only a day.

With nothing else better to do, Guinness collapsed onto his bed.