The crystal window shattered with a bang, and Francis II crashed through it, landing on a layer of soft carpet.
Carpet?
The old King instantly realized sothing was wrong, flipping over quickly—at this mont, he almost forgot he was an aging old man. In fact, he truly perford an action that his age shouldn’t have allowed—once he had steadied himself, he swiftly surveyed the surroundings. What t his eyes was the familiar lounge, with its familiar gold-red intertwined carpet and couch, while a completely regenerated monstrous creature stood not far away in a predator’s stance, with remnants of a chamberlain’s uniform hanging in strips on its twisted, deford human body. Yet the window that should have been shattered was perfectly intact.
Hallucinogens? ntal suggestion? When?
Heart pounding with alarm, Francis II had no sense of despair; he knew. Since he could still realize things were wrong, it ant his thinking remained his own—as long as he could think, the situation was still under control!
The old King swiftly sketched a few magic symbols in front of him, layering protective spells one after another on his person, while he rotated the strange ring with a swirling black cloud symbol on his left hand. anwhile, the blood and flesh monster that had completed its regeneration roared and charged.
It crashed into Francis II, knocking the aged King to the ground. Then, with a terrifying, twisted, rotten maw, it frantically bit the prey beneath its massive body, shadow dust billowing from the prey, engulfing the creature in a cloud.
A black ball of shadow suddenly erged in another corner of the room, and within it, Francis II’s figure materialized. The old King raised his left hand, a layer of misty glow floating on the surface of the strange ring, speaking in a voice seemingly mixed with nurous tones: "Born from the realm of shadows, inhabitants of the shadows, the descendant of the covenant maker requires your help!"
In the defied Fortress, within the Shadow Testing Grounds, Amber and Soldrin arrived at an open area in the center of a cave, curious to examine the region.
The terrain of this open space was elevated compared to its surroundings, thus not subrged in water. On this dry ground, one could clearly see it once housed nurous devices, evident by various grooves left by removed components and several still present power conduits distributed around the space’s outer edges. But these weren’t the things that most intrigued Amber and Soldrin.
What most intrigued them was a circular pit about ten ters in diater in the center of the open space.
The circular pit resembled tiered steps descending downward, reaching a depth of about one ter below the platform. On each tier, intricate magic patterns and mana crystals, now dimd, could be seen. At its bottom, lay a shattered ancient tal device—the core component clearly hadn’t withstood a millennium of erosion, completely transford in the cave’s unfavorable conservation conditions.
"Looks like so facility for opening space gates," Soldrin remarked with his understanding of ancient Gondor technology, "but this sort of ground-based, even embedded in the ground space gate is certainly the first I’ve seen..."
"I’ve never seen anything like it either," Amber said, looking down, "but I reckon there might be gold in those tals down there..."
Soldrin silently glanced at Amber, then turned to look around: "Speaking of Miss Tiel, where is she?"
"She said earlier that she found it comfortable here and went to find a spot to nap," Amber waved her hand, "probably soaking in a pool sowhere now. No need to worry, she’ll float up once she’s had enough."
She then furrowed her brow slightly, gazing down at the shattered tal apparatus: "Ranger, you stay here; I’m going to check the shadow realm."
Soldrin instantly beca serious: "Have you discovered sothing?"
"Not sure yet, wait till I co back."
Amber left such words behind, and her figure had already dissolved into a hazy black mist in the air, scattered by the wind.
Soldrin stared blankly as Amber smoothly entered the shadow realm, montarily taken aback: "...wasn’t it said this half-elf is usually timid?"
In the shadow realm, Amber couldn’t hear what Soldrin was saying. She let her perception swiftly dive in the state between the two realms, and in a fleeting instant, she stood firmly on the shadow realm’s land.
Long strands of black hair danced in the air without wind, her lower half enveloped in hazy shadow mist, transford into the form of a Shadow Fairy, Amber opened her eyes, curiously observing the scene before her.
The cave transford into stark black and white, with intangible light illuminating everything within, clearly visible. Before her, where there should have been a circular pit, surged a swirling black cloud.
As she sensed in the "real world" dinsion, indeed a door had opened here—only the door was located in the shadow realm.
Amber curiously studied the swirling black cloud, a hand unconsciously touching her chest: "Strange... why does that peculiar familiarity vanish again... just felt it was right here..."
Halfway through her self-talk, suddenly from within the cloud ca an aged, trembling voice: "...Residents who dwell in shadows... the descendant requires your help..."
Amber’s eyes widened, and the familiarity that defied safety, even resisting her inherent "timid" nature, sprang again from the cloud but just before she took a step forward, abruptly erging many other presences in the shadow realm forced her to halt.
Quickly retreating a few steps, and as she retreated, hazy figures erged one after another from all directions. These figures were tall and slender, draped in robes adorned with strange symbols, exhibiting characteristics vaguely akin to human forms, but their bodies seed to be composed of condensed fog. That fog roiled beneath the robes full of symbols, never settled, only describable as bizarre.
This is the indigenous inhabitants of the shadow realm—they are everywhere, yet nowhere to be seen. They can appear anywhere within the shadow realm, but almost no master of shadows has ever seen them in person. Even Amber herself has had quite limited interactions with these shadow inhabitants.
The shadow dwellers erged from so hidden phase spaces, rushing towards the door, towards the continually swirling black smoke. Many of them passed by Amber, occasionally pausing briefly to glance at her, intrigued by her unique blend of shadow and corporeal traits, but none actually stopped to converse with her.
"Ahem!" Finally unable to resist, Amber stepped forward and grabbed one of them to ask, "Where are you all going?!"
Dealing with shadow inhabitants is quite dangerous. These powerful and enigmatic beings possess knowledge and power beyond human comprehension, capable of easily tearing apart uninvited guests to the shadow realm—even the powerful or legendary among mortals—yet Amber knew these shadow dwellers wouldn’t attack her.
However, this "friendship" was limited to the fact that they wouldn’t attack her. Based on past interactions, it seed shadow dwellers had difficulty understanding beings from the real world, and their responses were strangely fragnted, making communication quite a challenge.
As she expected, the shadow dweller barely responded with a few disjointed words: "...respond...bring back...not the ti..."
The shadow dweller she held suddenly phased out, effortlessly slipping from Amber’s grasp.
Amber stared blankly at the shadow dwellers as they surged into the depths of the black mist. Almost instinctively, she slowly reached into her chest to retrieve a treasured item.
It was a strangely designed ring, a plain, grey-white tal band that looked quite unremarkable, with a spinning black pattern on its surface, seemingly identical to the black smoke vortex before her.
"Dad... Mom... is that you over there..."
The shadow dwellers around the "door" had all entered the depths of the black mist, but the black mist showed no signs of stopping. Amber hesitated in front of the mist for a long ti before finally shrouding herself in a black ball of shadow, then stepping forward.
Francis II trembled as he lowered his left hand wearing the ring. Forcibly driving the Ring of Shadow Seal despite the mismatched bloodline sent waves of pain through his nerves, yet the cost was worth it.
In the center of the room, where the creature had pounced on his shadow form, a massive rift tore through space, releasing a dozen bizarre and terrifying shadow creatures. These creatures were incredibly powerful around the rift, effortlessly tearing apart the horrific, nearly indestructible flesh monster without using any spells.
Before the shadow creatures could turn on him, Francis II decisively reversed the summoning incantation, sending those dreadful beings back to the dark world from whence they ca.
The spatial rift in the room hadn’t closed, but Francis II relaxed slightly. He approached the monster’s remains, hoping to find so clues in the torn and battered flesh to determine who was after his life.
But before he could bend down to inspect, a loud crash suddenly ca from the door.
The old King imdiately turned, tensing his nerves as he watched the door intently.
The crashing continued outside, intermixed with the sharp noise of so magic restriction being dismantled. Francis II felt the barrier enveloping the room dissipate, just as the door burst open and Master Duke, clad in the Starry Robe and drenched in sweat, rushed in.
"Your Majesty! Are you alright?!" The archMage shouted as he rushed in, imdiately catching sight of the monster at Francis II’s feet and the still gaping dark rift. "Goddess of Magic! I’ve been trapped in a magic trap for more than ten minutes! I thought all was lost!"
"Master Duke," Francis II glanced warily at the Legendary Mage who had served the royal family for decades, discreetly stroking the ring on his left hand once more, "You were trapped by a magic trap?"
"Yes," the old mage said, a look of sha on his face, "I was careless, trapped in so mirror space the mont I stepped outside. If not for Prince Edmund noticing sothing amiss and breaking the seal from outside, who knows how long I would’ve wandered those mirrors..."
"Edmund?"
"I’m here." Prince Edmund’s voice ca from the doorway. A second later, the fully ard young prince appeared before Francis II. The old King noticed a sheen of sweat on the young man’s forehead and a wound on his hand, likely sustained while breaking the seal.
"Father, thank goodness you’re safe... I almost ordered them to blast through the wall."
Francis II finally eased a little more. "Good thing I had the Ring of Shadow Seal."
"You should always wear it," the young prince smiled, walking towards the King alongside Mage Duke. "If you didn’t have it, how could Mr. Clent test his newly bred pet?"
Francis II was taken aback. "Mr. Clent?"
"The Legendary Mage Duke" stepped forward, a corrosion ray silently leaping from his fingertips, piercing through Francis II’s chest.
"That’s my real na, Your Majesty."
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