The sun hadn't risen for long. The ancient city was still bleak, wrapped in a dull grey light, but the horrors of the night were gone. In their place, faint shadows moved—fluttering silently into the ruins like forgotten whispers.
Damon's sense of unease grew.
The city itself was changing.
He was beginning to see military equipnt—barricades, magic artillery emplacents, reinforced lines.
However, they weren't facing the outer walls. Instead, every barrel and turret was pointed toward the core of the city. It was as if all that firepower was there not to protect—but to contain. As if they were desperately trying to keep sothing in.
His gaze settled on the distant crystal tower deep in the city's heart. It pierced the skyline like a blade aid at the gods, reaching so high it looked as if it would pierce the heavens themselves. The city had many tall spires… but none could compare.
"What the hell even is that thing?"
He couldn't help but mutter, his thoughts trailing off as he stared in awe.
"It's the beginning of our doom."
Valarie's voice ca from his shoulder. The pair of human lips pressed together, speaking just loud enough for them to hear.
"It's a beacon… or an antenna, if you will. It was the first step to opening the gate to the taverse."
Damon jumped over a broken wall, his boots kicking dust from a cracked pillar covered in so unusual-looking moss. He was careful not to touch it.
He extended a hand, helping Sylvia over the obstacle—even though she didn't really need help.
"What's the taverse…" Sylvia asked softly, glancing at his shoulder. Damon could almost feel the warmth of her body with how close she was standing.
He shifted slightly, putting so distance between them. His action made Sylvia bite her lip a little, though he didn't seem to notice.
Valarie was quiet for a mont. Damon wouldn't have been surprised if the disembodied pair of lips said she didn't rember.
"The taverse is a place where all minds and consciousness exist. All things that have awareness… have a part of themselves in the taverse."
Damon frowned. His interest was piqued.
Valarie continued, her tone laced with dread.
"It's a horrible place. So creatures live there permanently… but even they dread it. The minds of man and god… dreams, nightmares, imagination—all of it made real. The collective consciousness of all things in the Omniverse… or so the Visitors said."
Evangeline sighed. Why was the world sounding more dangerous with each passing truth? In this place, she felt like so things were best not known at all.
Damon looked toward Valarie.
"Let guess. That's where all the monsters ca from… or at least what caused the corruption?"
Valarie was silent for a mont—apprehension lingering like a shadow.
"No… I don't rember. But the Outsiders used a massive gateway to the taverse to enter. They ca into our world by passing so unknown law… so they didn't have a physical vessel… they..or rather so of them bought the corruption, from the taverse."
Sylvia walked with slow steps. She paused, turning her head slightly.
"They possessed or found vessels, didn't they…"
She was far too familiar with what entities without physical form did to claim new ones.
Valarie's lips opened. "How did you know…"
Evangeline glanced at her. Sylvia had once been possessed by the dark spirit, Rashi Ignath.
Xander held his spear at the ready, eyes narrowed as he peered into the shadows of a nearby building. His expression was grim—ready to strike the mont anything stirred.
"So they didn't have physical bodies… these so-called Visitors or Outsiders were spiritual entities then?"
Valarie's lips twisted into a sad curve.
"No… they weren't. They had physical bodies in their own world. They discarded them to co to ours…"
Leona raised a brow, her armor gleaming under the weak light of the rising sun.
"Why? Where are they from? Is it a World Dungeon?"
Damon sighed.
Seriously, Leona? Why would she jump to such a simple-minded conclusion?
A World Dungeon was a minor realm still technically connected to theirs. Most importantly, the creatures within were typically weaker—capped at fourth or fifth class advancent. And besides that, there was a law that prevented those above a certain rank in their world from entering World Dungeons.
The Outsiders, on the other hand, were different. They were powerful. So powerful they seed like gods.
"Hahaha, you're so adorable…" Valarie laughed at Leona's words.
"A World Dungeon, huh…? As far as they're concerned, we might be the World Dungeon. They co from a higher realm. They live among the gods. They possess ranks that have surpassed the limits of this world. A type seven civilization.. or so they liked to call it."
The entire party paused—even Matia, who had been walking quietly at the rear in her full plate armor. She dismissed her helm with a stunned expression.
"There's a rank after the seventh class advancent…?"
Valarie sighed. A mory stirred—when Mugu had returned to Lysithara. He'd brought strange knowledge back with him. They shouldn't have lusted after it.
"Of course there was a rank after the seventh class… It's just that the seventh class is the limit of this world. Entities above it can't stay—and we can't leave either…"
Damon narrowed his eyes. A flicker of sothing passed through them. This was all new to him. He hadn't even known there was a rank beyond the seventh. And now she was saying they couldn't leave?
"What are you saying…"
The pair of lips on his shoulder sighed.
"I'm saying… when soone reaches the seventh class advancent, they should be able to sense a higher plane. But we can't. The reason is simple."
She paused, her lips—her entire physical existence now—seed to gaze at the sky.
"This world of ours is a cage… Behind the skyline lies the bars of that prison. It keeps everything out… and keeps us in."
She smiled faintly, though it held a bitterness that felt centuries old.
"By the end of the Zero Epoch, the Goddess sealed this world away."
"How dare re mortals like us… dare to imagine a world the Goddess doesn't want us to see?"
Valarie let out a low, hollow sigh. Even after many millennia, she still felt the sting of that betrayal. From their own creator no less. Why would she stifle them.
"That was why… when Mugu told us about Akasha, we all strived toward it. For knowledge. But more than that… because we wanted the one thing the Goddess didn't give us—choice."
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