Arcon cut through the skies of the Cloud Empire like a black arrow.
The enormous wings beat rhythmically as the winged horse glided above the sea of clouds that covered the entire territory of the empire. Far below, mountains, rivers, and forests passed slowly like distant shadows.
Kyrian remained seated in silence on the saddle.
One of his hands lightly held the reins while the other remained open before his eyes.
The mark in his palm was still there. Faint. But pulsing.
It was like a small fla burning slowly beneath his skin, guiding him.
He had felt that before. Whenever a natural formation appeared, his mark reacted.
And this ti... the reaction had been strong enough to catch his attention before departing for the Court.
For three entire days, Kyrian traveled without stopping. During the day, Arcon flew high among the clouds.
During the night, they descended onto so isolated mountain where the horse could rest for a few hours before continuing the journey.
The mark continued guiding. And slowly...
The sensation of heat in his hand began to increase. At the beginning of the fourth day, Kyrian finally noticed sothing.
The mark was burning with more intensity. He raised his hand and observed it.
"We are close."
Arcon let out a small neigh, as if he had also understood. Kyrian looked ahead. The clouds before them were denser, forming a thick white layer that covered everything below.
He took a deep breath.
"Let’s descend."
Arcon imdiately began to tilt his body downward.
The enormous wings folded partially as the winged horse dove through the sea of clouds.
For a few seconds, everything around them beca completely white.
Then... They crossed the cloud layer.
The landscape below finally appeared. And imdiately Kyrian frowned.
Sothing was wrong. Very wrong. He felt it instantly.
Even before analyzing the environnt, his eyes had already reacted. The Qi. It had disappeared. Not completely. But it had decreased drastically.
Anywhere in the world, even in regions poor in spiritual energy like on the other side of the Mountains of the End, there was still a certain amount of Qi floating in the air.
It was sothing natural. Sothing constant. But here...
Kyrian closed his eyes for a mont and opened them again, expanding his senses.
Silence. The Qi was... being drained. He opened his eyes slowly.
"This is not normal."
Arcon began to descend even further. As they approached the ground, the landscape beca clearer and clearer.
What before seed to be only a dark area now revealed its true nature.
A forest. Or rather... What had once been a forest. Now everything was dead.
The trees were dry and brittle, their trunks twisted like giant skeletons erging from the earth.
No leaf remained on the branches. The soil was gray. Lifeless.
Kyrian continued descending. Then he saw sothing that made his expression grow even colder.
Corpses. Spiritual beasts were scattered across the ground. Or rather... What remained of them.
Most had already completely decomposed, leaving only bones scattered among the dry earth.
So skeletons were still partially covered by dried skin, as if life itself had been ripped out of them.
Kyrian slowly flew over the area. He quickly estimated.
"About one kiloter..."
That entire region seed completely dead.
No plants. No living beasts. No sign of Qi.
Then... Arcon neighed loudly. The sound echoed through the air. Kyrian imdiately looked down. The winged horse was agitated.
His wings began to beat more strongly, and his body seed tense.
"Arcon?"
Another neigh. This ti, louder. Kyrian imdiately realized. Arcon was... afraid.
He lightly touched the horse’s neck.
"Calm down."
But the animal remained restless. His body seed to tremble slightly as he flew.
Kyrian frowned. Sothing in that place was affecting Arcon. He did not hesitate.
"Let’s leave here first."
Arcon quickly turned in the air and began to fly out of the dead region.
As soon as they crossed the invisible boundary of that area, sothing imdiately changed. Arcon released a long sigh. His body relaxed. His wings returned to beating normally.
Kyrian noticed sothing else. The Qi returned. It was not extrely dense, but at least it was present in the air again.
They descended onto a small hill outside the affected area. Arcon landed on the ground. As soon as he touched the soil, the horse imdiately lowered his head and breathed deeply, as if recovering from sothing heavy.
Kyrian jumped down from the saddle. He walked to the front of the animal and placed his hand on his forehead.
"Are you feeling pain?"
Arcon released a low sound. It was not a normal neigh. It sounded like... discomfort.
Kyrian thought for a mont. Then he took several spirit stones from his spatial ring.
He placed them before the horse. Arcon imdiately began devouring the stones.
The spiritual energy slowly flowed into his body. After a few minutes, his breathing finally stabilized.
Kyrian looked once again at the dead area before them. Sothing there was draining the Qi. And apparently... It was also affecting spiritual creatures.
But, curiously... Kyrian had felt almost nothing. He opened his right hand again. The mark burned. Stronger than before.
It was pointing. Directly to the center of that dead area.
Kyrian took a deep breath.
"So it is there."
He looked at Arcon.
"Stay here."
The horse raised his head, as if wanting to protest. Kyrian simply placed his hand on his mane.
"I will return soon."
Without saying anything else, he turned around.
And walked alone toward the dead forest.
As soon as he crossed the boundary of the area again... He imdiately felt it. The Qi began to disappear around him. Not only in the air.
But also... in his dantians. Kyrian narrowed his eyes.
He clearly felt a strange force trying to pull the spiritual energy from his dantians. It was as if the environnt itself was trying to drain him.
But in the next instant... His eyes glowed slightly. The strange force simply... failed.
Kyrian’s mysterious eyes reacted instinctively. Any attempt to manipulate or absorb his Qi seed to be naturally blocked by them.
"Interesting..."
He continued walking. The further he advanced... The weaker the concentration of Qi beca.
The trees around were increasingly destroyed.
So seed to have been completely hollowed out from the inside, leaving only empty shells.
The ground was also changing. Wide cracks crossed the dry earth. It was as if all the vitality of that place had been sucked away over many years.
Kyrian continued advancing. Step after step. The mark in his hand burned more and more.
Guiding him.
Finally... After several minutes of walking, Kyrian stopped.
He had arrived.
Before him was the center of the dead region.
And even before clearly seeing what was there... Kyrian already knew.
That was the core of the formation.
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