Beyond the humming veil of energy, Lucian felt the air was different… denser, older. He stepped deeper into the Sky Reach, his boots crunching softly against the strange yellow moss-covered ground. He'd already been walking for over an hour, his map gripped tightly in hand. It helped, but only a little.
World is enormous… far larger than any place he'd imagined, just seen by the map.
In his hand a map had multiple marked and named locations. "Elder Richie warmed. The world only stays open for five days…In the cold dragon pond… had smoke herbs, tigher ring mountain I need to head to before the third day, the and mist will find the world… Tenth day the world loses its color."
His fingers brushed over the half-burnt sigil etched into the map's corner...still faintly warm. Another token marker?
Then he closed the map and looked up into the sky. His chest rose, feeling light and easy.
A world where I'm not the only monster, that also unknown caution is the best now… I just to need to find that blood fang, before I'm trap frozen to this place.
Not long after…
Lucian came across, a large forest that even took long to exit that he was able to see it getting darker.
He stopped at the black obelisk, just long enough to place a finger on the glowing rune. A hum answered. So the others had passed this way.
"Grr!"
And, it became more apparent, when he heard creatures that he never heard before, he manged to dogde there approach. He was curious, how can thing like in here, how can this world be here so long, not having the outside possibilities.
Still, despite those in the past that had many deaths, and some of the deaths were avoidable, because it had worthless relics inside.
…
Hour Later…
Lucian came to a stop before a long stone bridge. It stretched high in the air, nestled among jagged cliffs near mist-veiled mountains. A cold breeze whispered between the gaps in the rocks.
His gaze settled, on a monstrous skeletal remains. What can be said colossal, not the biggest thing he saw before.
"The last creature I saw this big was a Titan…" he muttered. "They're nearly extinct now. What the hell lives in here?"
He stepped onto the bridge, the stone groaning softly under his foot. He passed beneath the gaping maw giant skull… its jaw stretched across the bridge making a archway, leading to the crumbling fortress beyond. The creature's ribcage extended behind the skull, embedded into the surrounding cliffs, like a monument to its final resting place.
The skeletal remains of a Titan lay coiled around a broken tower. Its claws etched into the stone like it died holding something back.
He ran his fingers along the moss-covered bones. A faint smell of vinegar and age clung to the stone. He didn't look closer. Some things were better left wondering.
Why does this death seem to be the entrance to a kingdom… Richie Keik Relic came from here and also something a royal person should carr…
In the mist of his walk and thought. He stopped as he heard fluttering overhead. Not the mindless kind of movement from wandering beasts, he heard previously. This sound was... deliberate.
"Damn it. They're already here…" he muttered. "And they know where they're going."
He looked back, spotted a small figure in the sky, flapping its small wing, flying swiftly toward the bridge… only a hundred meters away. He held his breath in anticipation.
Yeah, it looked small. He wasn't sure he was strong enough to face it. Not yet. So he took a risk, decided to jump over the bridge side and clung to the edge, his fingers digging into cracks between the stones as he dangled silently.
As the creature passed overhead, he heard it muttering to itself, voice filled with bitterness.
"Master always insists on me going ahead first... Always so eager to set the traps. Why? We could've just taken the token ourselves. Together."
"But no… He says we need to be patient. Strategic. To lure the token holder. Set things in motion. That's how he operates. But I wonder… couldn't we have just attacked and taken it by force?"
The creatures mind drifted back to that moment, he flew backwards looking at where, he left his master. Even Lucian frowned deeply, his eyes narrowed at the water under him.
I know there a lot of powerful people that we will come… but I didn't expect them to want to attack me first before anything is done is it them alone or the other… we this there master. How many have arrived already?
"He wanted to go first... to handle it alone. But I wanted to stay with him. Why couldn't we have just walked in, attacked, and taken it? We could have done it easily. I'm sure of it. We're strong, more than capable. He doesn't give us enough credit... why does he insist on these games?"
"Is it because I'm not... as patient? Or maybe he doesn't trust me to stay focused? I don't know. But that token…it could have been ours already. We don't need these traps, these setups. I could've attacked the token holder and we'd both have it by now. We'd be in control."
It paused, its head tilting as the words echoed around him. Lucian brows furrowed, head tiled even his gut tightened.
With a deep, almost silent breath, the creature's eyes narrowed, focusing on the path ahead.
It let out a final scream into the air, Lucian climb back onto the bridge as he saw the creature getting further away, into the haze in the sky. Had fire lightning behind his eyes.
"I needed to get there first… but that's impossible now," he muttered… "Maybe… maybe I can trigger the traps early. Let the others deal with them instead."
Without another word, he focused his mind, on how he can combat all those who arrived. His usual power, wouls have had him arrived the moment he entered.
Anyway, he still pressed forward… Maybe he is wrong and could arrive before them.
During his walk he encountered, ash that was still warm at a campsite. Three sets of footprints. Only two left the site. Even the moss was turning red, day three had begun.
A While later…
Lucian reached a new region, and a thick, eerie silence hung in the air. Before him a labyrinth of towering stone formations, jagged and ancient. There was something… off about them?
As he stepped into the maze, his breath caught... He noticed, scattered throughout were figures… men, women, and beasts frozen in stone. Statues that weren't meant to be statues. Their postures were too natural, too alive. Mid-step, even mid-motion, expressions of terror or surprise etched into their faces.
"What the hell… Frozen people again. That the second time in my life I seen this. Did owner of the crown relic once explore here to? How long have they been like this? The past owner of that relic is so powerful is he is a spirt now inside it?" He asked outloud quickly.
He had some man questions and possibilities that he could answer about the crown relic. But he needed to focus.
Lucian found a tall armored warrior, one hand reaching out, their fingers stiff and gray. Nearby, a marble-winged creature hung in mid-flight, its wings spread open, claws outstretched as if it were fleeing some invisible doom.
And stranger still… they felt warm.
Lucian reached out and touched a young woman's stone face… it was smooth, cold to the surface. But beneath? Faint heat.
"How is this… possible?" he whispered. "She was just turned… recently."
His hand reached out, stopping mid air. He continued, placing his palm against her chest. It was warm. Too warm to be from sunlight… especially here, under these looming shadows, caused by the stone structures.
Are there people still alive in here?
He remembered some tales… of a rare creature that could petrify with a mere glance. But this… this was different. This was no ordinary magic. This was a stasis… life suspended, not extinguished.
He moved to another, to that caught his attention… An elder long beard old man, hands clasped as if in prayer. His skin radiated warmth too. The transformation hadn't finished… or had been halted midway.
Why leave them in this trapped state? I'm no sure it was the owner of the crown relic… Then who was that protecting the relic and moved it?
"Was this the work of a single being? Or something... something more? A force powerful enough to create this kind of paralysis... and leave them still warm, still alive, in some twisted way?"