After making preparations for several days, Wagner finally descended into the darkness.
But even with all the preparation in the world, nothing could have prepared him for what he was about to encounter.
In truth, no one could have been ready for the trials of the Dark Valley.
Wagner felt like he was falling through an endless expanse of darkness and malice. He had no sense of how long the fall lasted. When he finally ca to, he was already lying on the uneven ground of the forbidden zone.
Even before he opened his eyes to look around, otherworldly ravings started echoing in his ears.
Mad whispers drifted through the valley, seeping into the air itself. They murmured promises of power, of answers, of his deepest desires, each offered at the price of his sanity.
The voices were faint, almost subtle, but Wagner understood the danger at once.
Prolonged exposure would erode the mind, slowly and inevitably, until madness took hold. In that mont, he finally understood why the inhabitants of this world had branded this place a forbidden zone.
He felt a chill crawl down his spine as that realization struck him. He quickly weaved a series of hand seals and covered his ears. Magic circles flared to life, then a wax-like substance materialized from the material component he'd sacrificed and sealed his ear canals.
The voices faded, reduced enough to be bearable. Yet they did not vanish entirely. Through so strange magic, they still slipped past Wagner's defenses and echoed within his mind. Faint, almost imperceptible, but always present.
With a grimace on his face, Wagner slowly rose to his feet and scanned his surroundings.
The ground of the forbidden zone was uneven and warped, as if it had lted and hardened incorrectly. Jagged ridges split the land, leaving claw-like marks far too large to be natural.
The soil was dark and coarse, and each step stirred dust that floated in unnatural ways. In places, the ground bulged as if sothing beneath it was slowly breathing.
Faint whispers sotis seeped from the cracks, vanishing the mont he tried to listen. Nothing lived here, no plants, no decay, only twisted stones rising like the remains of sothing long dead.
Just what the hell is this place? Wagner thought to himself, dread gripping his heart.
Wagner looked up, wondering if he should fly back the way he ca.
Above, the sky stretched black till infinity, empty and unwelcoming. Space itself felt warped, distances bending in unsettling ways. Ti had lost all direction, flowing without rhythm or order, making the entire place feel… wrong.
The ominous voices continued to echo inside his mind. The more he heard them, the more terror filled his heart.
No, I can't be here any longer!
Without wasting another mont, he weaved the hand seals for Flight and shot upward.
Wagner flew upward into the dark, endless void above the forbidden zone. The higher he went, the farther the sky seed to stretch, the distance expanding without limit. No matter how much mana he poured into the spell, the darkness never drew closer.
Until finally, the realization hit him.
There was no way out of the forbidden zone by flying upward!
The journey back to the ground didn't take him very long. In fact, it barely took him a few seconds. Or at least, that was his perception of ti during his return journey.
Wagner's heart pounded loudly, and it pumped fear along with blood throughout his body.
Am I... trapped?
The thought struck him as he reached up and grasped his head.
Then he froze.
The skin on his hands had changed. Deep lines and creases covered them, the flesh aged and weathered. His breath caught in his throat as the truth sank in.
In the short ti he had spent trying to escape this place, decades had already been carved into his body!
The discovery only reinforced his belief that the forbidden zone was tied to the spirit world. At the sa ti, terror flooded his mind as he grasped just how severely the flow of ti had been distorted.
If ti could be twisted so casually here, then lingering any longer was utterly unthinkable. Every mont he remained in this valley was another gamble, one that could cost him years, or even his life.
The voices in his head relentlessly echoed. They did not assault him outright. They nudged him instead. They were soft, persistent, almost gentle. And that was what frightened him the most.
Wagner's eyes flashed with urgency. I must get out of this place at once!
If flying up is not an option, then…
He looked ahead, his gaze unable to pierce through the dark, ominous haze. He quickly realized that the only way was through.
And thus, he began his journey into the depths of the Dark Valley.
Wagner flew close to the ground, heading deeper and deeper. Of course, he was cautious enough to cast several concealnt spells on himself, afraid that soone or sothing might notice him in this ominous place.
But strangely enough… there was no one there.
Just him, the darkness, and the voices.
After a long stretch of flight, he sensed a vast, oppressive presence ahead. As he drew closer, its shape erged against the warped horizon.
It was not a structure shaped by hands, but sothing ancient and monstrous.
When Wagner realized what he was looking at, he sucked in a breath of cold air.
What stood before him was the remains of a colossal beast — more precisely, its rib cage. Massive bones rose from the ground, each rib thicker than a fortress wall, curving inward to form a do-like hollow.
The ribs locked naturally together, enclosing a space large enough to hold an entire town. This was no ordinary corpse, needless to say.
Wagner did not slow down to observe this deathly landmark. He couldn't afford to. With every mont spent in this forbidden zone, he could feel his life force slipping away.
He flew right past the ancient carcass, beneath its vast rib cage. Soon — or perhaps a long ti later — another ancient structure ca into view.
It was a tomb carved from a massive, horned skull…
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