The group had no ti to rest.
Before they could even catch their breath, more godly-level beasts were crawling from the rocky hills like living avalanches. At least a dozen of the lizard-like monsters surged toward them.
Without access to cosmic power, the group was forced to rely solely on their soul force, artifacts, and combat techniques.
Soltz, despite being a powerful two-cosmos expert, was clearly struggling. Deprived of the cosmos’ flow, he could only form thin, flickering barriers of soul energy, barely shielding himself from the crushing jaws of the beasts.
Ery moved swiftly. He activated his [Twilight Form]; his bloodline granted him combat power beyond that of a normal magus. The Elysian roots wrapped around his arms and weapon, and with each swing of his blade, he carved deep into the approaching lizards.
To his right, Kaelyin also invoked her bloodline. A golden mane erupted down her back as her form twisted into a half-lion warrior, her claws glowing with fey enchantnts. She roared defiantly and launched herself into the fray, shielding the wounded fairies behind her.
But even she struggled.
The fey warriors, already injured from the previous fight, now lay helpless. The fairy race in particular relied heavily on the cosmic flow to wield their spells. Here, in this cursed anomaly, they were crippled—only shadows of their forr power.
Rosin Karat stood protectively near Veyarel’s unconscious form. The Supre Magus summoned what remained of his tal golems, battered from earlier, to form a defensive ring. As the lizards advanced, he coated his arms in shimring [tal Skin], steel fusing into his flesh. With a guttural yell, he launched himself barehanded into the fight. Even limited to basic spells, his mastery over elental law made every punch lethal—bones cracked, fangs shattered, and claws bent against his steel-wrapped fists.
Galale, the Ember Sage, was one who fought without restraint. His cosmic fla was a power rooted in origin itself. It flickered across his body, burning away any beast that drew near. "Co at !!" he shouted with glee, incinerating two creatures in a blaze of fire.
The dark Ery, similarly tapping into otherworldly power, writhing essence of Khaos, tore through with his void blade.
Yet for every beast they struck down, more erged. Ten beca twenty. Then thirty. Soon, each warrior was surrounded, forced to take on multiple beasts alone.
"We can’t stay here!" Ery shouted above the chaos, his gaze locking onto his dark counterpart.
It was ti to retreat. Or perish.
"I’m on it!" the dark Ery shouted back, leaping away to safety. Khaos energy coiled around his limbs as he planted his hands on the ground, summoning a spatial gate. The air distorted violently, shimring as the unnatural anomaly fought against the spell. Sweat beaded on his brow, but he gritted his teeth and pushed harder.
"Just give a minute!"
"Ha! Just don’t toss us into a worse nightmare!" Galale shouted, hurling another arc of cosmic fla that burst like a bomb across the beasts’ ranks, scattering three of them with scorched scales and furious hisses.
The ground trembled beneath the onslaught.
More lizard-beasts pressed in from all directions. Every breath ca with the sting of adrenaline. They couldn’t hold on for long.
Finally, the gate cracked open—unstable, but real. A vortex of space shimred like a tear between dinsions.
Galale was the first to reach the portal, his steps quick, almost as if he intended to abandon the others and escape on his own. But just as he reached the threshold, he skidded to a stop and let Soltz enter first. With beasts closing in behind them, Soltz stumbled forward and dove through the swirling gate. Galale, clearly uncomfortable but out of options, followed right after.
"Hurry up!!" Ery shouted as he slashed through a beast.
He was supporting Kaelyin while also cradling an unconscious fairy girl in his arms. Beside him, the deer-blooded halfborn—gritted with exhaustion but unwavering—carried another wounded fey on his back. Together, they sprinted through the chaos, dodging snapping jaws and venomous tails.
Behind them, Rosin Karat made his stand. One by one, his tal golems moved to cover the group’s rear, forming a barricade to delay any pursuing beasts. Only after the last wounded were through did the supre magus step into the portal himself.
The shimring gate pulsed once, then blinked shut behind them—leaving only silence where chaos once reigned.
They erged into a new landscape—a narrow plateau where familiar jagged rocky hills lood on one side, and on the other stretched a bleak forest, its trees gray and leafless, their bark cracked like burnt bone. The ground was dry, lifeless, and unnaturally still.
For a mont, no one spoke. Their eyes scanned the bleak surroundings, half-expecting another wave of beasts to charge from the hills.
"Into the forest," Rosin Karat said calmly, already striding forward. "We need cover."
With no better option, the group followed. They stepped cautiously in a tight formation, moving deeper beneath the canopy of brittle, leafless trees. Their branches reached like skeletal hands, creaking faintly in the windless air.
After several minutes of cautious marching, the rocky hills finally vanished behind them. Rosin raised his hand.
"Let’s stop here and rest."
Everyone nodded in agreent, sinking to the dry earth with exhausted groans. The toll of battle, the weight of the wounded, and the oppressive stillness of this place had already worn them thin.
Galale, however, didn’t sit.
Still restless, he paced the periter of their camp. His eyes glead with obsession, scanning the forest floor for anything rare or alchemical in value.
Ery noticed Kaelyn kneeling quietly in the shade of a crooked tree, her head bowed low. Silent tears stread down her cheeks. One of the two fairies they had carried into the forest—her longti companion—was breathing her final breath.
Kaelyn clutched her hand tightly, then, with a soft chant in the ancient tongue, glimring green runes lit up from her fingertips. The dying fairy gave her a final smile before her body slowly stiffened—turning first to bark, then brittle wood—and finally crumbled into a fine layer of ash.
A single wisp of ethereal light floated upward from the remains.
Ery saw it clearly—within that flickering spark was the sleeping soul of the fairy, curled up peacefully like a child. It drifted toward Kaelyn, who opened a small velvet pouch and whispered one final prayer.
When the mont passed and the group had rested enough to catch their breath, Ery turned toward the Supre Magus. "Elder... What should we do next?"
Rosin Karat took a long breath, his eyes fixed on the sky above.
Far beyond the treetops, swirling masses of cloud churned, and in the center—like the eye of a cosmic storm—was an enormous anomaly. Hundreds of long, serpentine creatures floated in and out of it, circling like living constellations.
"I believe that’s the way out," his voice grave. "When I recover more strength, I’ll fly up and investigate."
Rosin added, "Another option is to wait for Veyarel to awaken. If he regains enough strength, perhaps he can tear a rift to exit this place."
"Sounds like a plan," Galale said with a shrug, then added with a glint in his eye, "While you all do that... I’m going to search for more plants!"
His casual tone drew a few frowns from the group. Despite the danger surrounding them, the Ember Sage seed unfazed. Cloaked in his cosmic flas, Galale exuded confidence—too much, perhaps.
Ery, however, was focused elsewhere.
He turned toward his darker half, who was pacing in silence beneath a dead tree. The dark Ery’s eyes glowed faintly, as if chasing sothing just beyond reach.
"You still feel it?"
"Yes... I think it’s out there... sowhere beyond this forest."
Ery knew he couldn’t ignore it. With permission from the Supre Magus, he decided to go and check it out
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