Dia looked around blearily as the first rays of sunlight broke through the horizon, and the misty darkness that had been absolutely everywhere began to recede in silence. The lingering aroma from Schwarz’s roasted meat continued to dance in the air, and her stomach grumbled.
Shaking her head, she got up from her sleeping bag. Everyone was currently asleep in this base made of opaque barriers, making it such that she had somewhat forgotten that she was outdoors to begin with. It was a rather luxurious way of spending the night out in the wild, in her opinion, and Dia was beginning to understand why Claud was so enthusiastic about barriers.
Even after he had grabbed Lily and gone for a long, long trip, his influence was still working very well on everyone else.
After pulling out the good old Refresher, Dia left her little room and made her way to the stone table in the middle. Dia had carved it out from a nearby rock, just so they could eat like they always did in Moon Mansion. There were, however, still a lot of lacking areas, which was quite a pity.
She glanced at the firepit outside the small barrier-building. Strips of meat had been hung above the pit, keeping it hot and smoked. The lingering aroma came from the sliced meat here, and it didn’t take much time for her to pick a strip and roll it up nicely.
Around their little building made of barriers, Nero had created a dome of mana above it, resulting in a sight not that different from Moon Mansion. This, incidentally, was why Schwarz had no qualms smoking meat above the firepit; the grassy area around this spot was not that different from a garden.
The others awakened at their own pace as Dia bit away at the rolled-up strip of meat, and after a bout of greetings and feasting, Farah took out a piece of paper.
“What’s that?” Risti asked.
“Our duties. We’re outside with a purpose, but we still need to take care of things like food,” Farah replied. “One of us will be doing miscellaneous tasks every day, while the rest head into the ancient battlefield. For obvious reasons, Nero will be exempted from these tasks, so you can stop looking at me like that.”
Nero cleared his throat. “I’m not good with little things like that.”
“You should really learn them anyway…” Farah rolled her eyes. “We have a lot of lifestyle artefacts, so the hardest part of these miscellaneous tasks lie in gathering food. Killing animals and preparing them, in other words.”
“Yeah, I can see that being tough,” Dia noted.
“Other than that, it’s mostly about using artefacts to make everyone’s life pleasant here. Washing clothes, making sure there’s a constant supply of water from the Condenser, and keeping the barriers topped up with mana.” Farah paused. “Did I miss out anything?”
“I was about to say the latrine, but we’re in the outdoors,” Schwarz replied. “Should we dig one? Or just use nature as our toilet?”
“I’m sure we can make one easily,” Risti replied. “We’re mana-users, after all.”
Dia rubbed her nose as the others talked about a latrine. As a woman, she found it a bit odd to talk about such things in the presence of the opposite gender, but maybe that was just the product of her upbringing.
After a while, everyone headed out to find a nice spot, before unleashing mana on the unfortunate area to create a bunch of pits. Nero’s face took on an odd quality as everyone else got him to make a bunch of walls, but it was the unavoidable fate of being the strongest person in their little group.
“This is the first time I’ve used my mana to make an outhouse,” Nero muttered. “And it’s not even an elegant one to boot. Bah. I’ll just hold it in…”
To be honest, Dia — and probably everyone else — had the same idea. Besides, they were mana-users, who rarely answered the call of nature to begin with. However, Farah was the kind to plan for all contingencies; what if some food was bad?
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“Okay, now that we’re all settled, we’ll head into the ancient battlefield.” Nero paused. “Today, Schwarz is on duty, right? We’ll be counting on you.”
“Yeah. You guys go ahead. I’ll take this free time to prepare more drinks and water.”
Before long, one of the huge carts that they had carried along had been loaded up with tools, containers of water and their lunch, which was more smoked meat. Leaving the blue dome. Dia and the others made their way to the ancient battlefield, which was…quite obvious in the day.
“It’s like another world,” Dia muttered.
“Indeed.” Nero pointed at the boundary that divided the nice bright sky from a grey one. “This is a ruined divine kingdom that belonged to Hope. When the God of Hope perished, his divine kingdom latched onto the land in which he fell to prolong its own existence. It fed off the essence of Hope in order to live, releasing innumerable amounts of lifeforce.”
He paused. “As if there wasn’t enough lifeforce here. I’ve briefed you guys while we made our way here, but I’m just going to say it a few more times just to be sure. There are three things to look out for in general — random outbursts of mana, echoes of the past and the God of Hope’s passing. When the last one occurs, lower your head and cease all movement. Only when the lightning really stops can you look up.”
“Yeah.” Farah’s voice carried an odd quality. “We know.”
“Good.” Nero looked around cautiously. “Best for us to maintain caution at all times, though. Don’t forget that there’s a familiar spirit that may or may not be chasing us too.”
The boundary between day and eternal gloom closed in on them as they walked, and Dia could feel a faint, oppressive power. It was different from when mana-users drove their mana; this power was one that brooked no resistance whatsoever. Simply walking closer was enough to stir her fear over and over again, but this was nothing compared to Black God’s Gaze, which had directly forced a crippling terror into her mind.
“Reminds me of the first time we approached Nachtville, doesn’t it?” Dia asked, glancing at Risti.
“What happened then?” Nero asked.
“Someone used Black God’s Gaze on us and we nearly died,” Dia replied. “Was that you?”
“…I wish I can give you a definite answer to that,” Nero replied. “Sorry.”
“Not your fault. Besides, the perpetuator is already dead.” Dia shook her head. “That’s more than good enough.”
Farah nodded. “It was quite intense, though. You were walking here like bait, while the real mastermind was watching from the shadows. And then someone killed the mastermind, and the whole scheme came crashing down.”
“Why did the Third even do that anyway?” Dia wondered. “I mean, you don’t go pulling stunts like that without a reason, right? That fellow must have a grudge or an overall goal to do so much.”
“Maybe that person had a Moon loose or something.” Nero shook his head. “Who knows?”
Their banter drew to a close as they approached the boundary that demarcated the ancient battlefield. According to Nero, this battlefield was a bit more dangerous due to the God of Hope’s death, but the rewards were far more bountiful than most other ancient battlefields. It definitely didn’t help that there were over four hundred thousand buried here, since the lifeforce that lingered here also fuelled odd visions and occurrences.
“Nervous?” Nero asked, looking at everyone. “Don’t worry. We just need to keep our wits up.”
“The first time isn’t the most dangerous time,” Risti added. “It’s when you’ve done it enough times that it seems routine. When you’ve let your guard down. As long as everyone stays vigilant throughout every trip here, and respects the dangers present, we’ll be fine.”
“Not the first time, huh.” Nero nodded. “I’ll keep those words in mind.”
“I wasn’t talking about you specifically, but you are indeed the person who is the most likely to be careless, and it’s not due to your character.”
Nero nodded. “It’s because I’m the strongest around these parts. And more importantly, because of the conception that I am strong.”
“I’m glad you got that down,” Risti replied.
“Just get me some top-quality booze from Schwarz later, and I’ll recite that mantra all day long,” Nero replied. “Okay, that was just a turn of phrase…anyway, I’ll keep my eyes peeled. You guys shouldn’t slack off either, alright? We all need to do our part.”
“Hear, hear.”
After a minute to calm their nerves, Dia and the others stepped across the boundary, and roaring thunder filled their ears. It was incredible how the fulmination caused by lightning tearing through the skies had been stopped so cleanly at the boundary.
“What are you doing?” Nero asked, glancing at Farah, who was walking back and forth.
“Isn’t it interesting? I can hear you guys in here, but a step away and all is silent…”
“It is, but we shouldn’t play around…”
“It’s just academic interest,” Farah replied. “This is really impressive, though…alright, let’s move on.”
Dia rolled her eyes and followed everyone into the depths of the ancient battlefield.