Entering the graveyard itself, the air shifted. It became heavier, more… stuffy. It felt smoky. Almost like I had entered a room where a fireplace has been left burning with no ventilation to remove the smoke from it. The atmosphere itself felt ominous, like there was something watching me at all times. The dead trees around us just added to that creepy feel — looking like a haunted forest that you'd see in a horror movie.
The ground itself gave off this low, shivering aura.
Almost like something from deep, deep underground was seeping upwards onto the surface. Keeping 'Overworld Detection' at high power, I could sense many, many moving signatures — the Wicked. Luckily, none of them seemed like they were close or coming our way, so for now… We could avoid any fighting. Though, who knows how long that will last.
Rhysta poked her head out of the carriage, awake again. "Oh…. We're here." She stated, before swiftly moving out of the carriage and joining my other side, that Avy hadn't occupied – slightly forcing me and Avy to make a bit more room so that the three of us could fit. I exhaled heavily.
"You said you knew the way to the recipient of the letter?"
"I do."
"Then it's better for you to take over the reins for us." I handed her the horse reins, which the mage eyed for a bit, before shrugging and tugging on a bit harder, causing the horses to move faster. "Leave it to me."
I nodded, before quickly joining Odale in the carriage – carefully moving into it, just to ensure I didn't accidentally kick Avy or Rhysta on my way. Back inside, I took in a deep breath before sighing and looking at the lich, who was watching the scenery behind us. "Something wrong?" I asked, moving over to him. Odale remained silent for a bit, before shaking his head and chuckling. "No, nothing. I was simply reminiscing a bit."
He moved his gaze back at the wasteland of dead trees passing by us.
"Back in the day, before the fall of my kingdom, me and my friends would often come out into the forest to test our spells. As it is a place infested with strong monsters and no life, it is the perfect testing ground for spells – especially ones that could result in many casualties." He explained, before leaning back against the carriage's structure a bit. If he wasn't a lich or masked at the moment, I believe I would be able to catch a smile on his face at this moment.
"Those days… I wish that I had appreciated them more than I did."
I remained silent.
It was clear how much those friends meant to Odale.
I imagine that before the disaster and the fall of his kingdom, the days he spent with his friends were like bliss. Paradise, even. After all, someone will only get this sentimental when they are recalling things that are close and dear to their heart. After a bit of silence, I exhaled and leaned forward, lightly hitting the lich on his left shoulder. "Hey, no need to be like that. There's no such a thing as underappreciation, especially when it comes to the time you spent with your friends. What matters is that it was important enough for you to hold those times so close to your heart." I smiled gently.
Odale looked at me, rather speechless – probably.
Then, he exhaled and chuckled, hitting me lightly on the shoulder back. "You're right Master Faofa. What matters is that those days were important to me." I nodded in response gently, before leaning back in my seat and throwing a look out the carriage at the wasteland, narrowing my eyes a bit.
Despite my usual attitude and rather 'lackluster' tone…
I was deeply worried.
Not about Odale, Avy or Rhysta per se – but about myself. That ominous feeling of being 'pulled in' was stronger than before. Now it felt akin to a fishing line – as if I had been hooked on a fishing rod and was being reeled in like a catch by something…. Or someone.
It was an uncomfortable feeling. One that felt like it was crawling up my spine like a thousand tiny spiders. "...Something will happen…. I just know it. It won't be a smooth journey."
…
We continued our journey through the graveyard at a steady pace. Thanks to Rhysta's excellent manoeuvres and knowledge of the graveyard, we managed to avoid any confrontations of the residents of the graveyard so far, however we still didn't drop our guard. At any point, something unexpected could occur. The sun was way past the midpoint in the sky, slowly approaching sunset, something that Rhysta seemed bothered about, as she kept throwing what looked a lot like nervous stares at the darkening sky.
"Something about the way she reacts to the upcoming night tells me that this place has a nasty surprise for us at night…" I commented in my mind, observing the mage. We continued our road for a little while longer, until Rhysta finally stopped the carriage.
The three of us eyed her as she hopped off of the carriage.
"We're camping here for the night."
Avy raised an eyebrow. "Why? According to the map given by the Guildmaster, we aren't very far—"
"Listen to me," Rhysta cut Avy off, looking at her with a gaze that was a mix between a serious and a nervous one. "We are camping the night, here. The graveyard is manageable during the day, however night… That is a different story." She emphasised her words heavily. Then, she turned around and moved away. "I'll go collect some usable firewood. You all keep watch and make sure none of the bastards that reside here come close." And with that, the mage practically vanished.
I couldn't help but question her a bit.
"Usable firewood? But there are plenty of dead trees around us—"
As I looked at one of them, sharpening my gaze slightly to get some information about it, I went silent upon seeing the information window. Part of me was surprised, another part of me had already sort of expected this screen. But even then, it wasn't a good one to see…
[ Information ]
Corrupted Tree
A tree that has been tainted by an unknown energy source. It pulsates with the energy and has become dangerous – direct contact with the tree is ill-advised.
[ Information ]
"Got it. That's why she said 'usable firewood'."
The trees that I hadn't thought much of and simply passed off as just some 'creepy looking objects of nature' were actually quite… dangerous. Probably infected by the same energy that is giving birth to the 'Wicked' that can be found here.
Actually, scratch that. It was definitely the same energy.
What other energy could it even be?
Avy hopped off of the carriage as well, brushing off her clothing. "I'll do a quick patrol of the area. Take care of yourselves."
"...Right…" I responded, before Avy leapt up high and disappeared into the treeline of the ominous forest around us. Odale created a small fireball in his hand for light, before picking up a black, metal lantern and placing the flame inside it, closing the small door on the lantern's side. Then he looked at me. "Come on Master Faofa. We should make some arrangements for the night before those two return."
I nodded. "Right…" Then, the two of us got out of the carriage before taking out some of the things we had in the carriage with us and laying them out. Three blankets – which would be for Avy, Rhysta and supposedly me, since Odale couldn't feel cold or hot.
A small barrel filled with some raw meat, kept fresh using a special enchantment engraved into the barrel as well as another small barrel filled with some vegetables, which… surprisingly were still fine despite being in an area where 'no life can exist'.
"Must be some sort of resistance or something spell at work." I thought, placing the two barrels out. After those two, Odale took out a pole for the lantern to be hung on from the carriage, quickly sticking it into the ground before placing the lantern on it. Within just a few minutes, we had completed the necessary 'preparations' for a night camp.
And after making sure no Wicked had snuck up on us during the 'preparations', I and Odale sat down onto a tree trunk, which Odale had brought over from not very far using his skeletal minions that he could summon. "Wonder what exactly has Miss Rhysta this worried that not even she is willing to travel through this place at night." Odale commented.
I shrugged.
"Whatever it is, must be bad news."
Out of us all right now, Rhysta most certainly was the most powerful at the moment. Odale and Avy were both stuck at using only a small portion of their prime power and I… Well, I was only born into the world a month or two ago.. Maybe even three months ago. Honestly – I can't remember.
The point is – I haven't been around for very long, and while the strength I've acquired in this little time wasn't exactly anything to scoff at, it also wasn't anything to write home about either.
After a bit, Avy and Rhysta both returned, with Rhysta bringing in several logs of firewood, which had a strange engraving on them – again, probably some sort of 'enchantment' or something to protect the logs from the energy resonating in the air around us. Once the campfire was built and started, we began cooking the meat we had with us. Rhysta cast a 'special spell' as she described it over our small camp to 'protect us' from the Wicked over the night.
Though, she did add that it was better to still be on high alert, since the Wicked were unpredictable and there was no saying when one that somehow could bypass the barrier she set up appeared.
Within a little while, the food was ready and served.
Each of us ate our fill – well, all of us apart from Odale, since not only could he not unmask himself in front of Rhysta, but as a 'Supreme Lich' he wasn't able to eat food anyway. Once everyone was done and the rest of the food that hadn't been used up was placed back inside the carriage, everyone gathered around the campfire, simply making… small talk.
I suppose that was the best way to put it. It mostly consisted of fairly unrelated topics on not that important things, until eventually… A more interesting discussion arose.
"I was actually curious." Odale stated, looking over at Rhysta, who had wrapped herself tightly in a blanket. The mage looked at Odale, slightly tilting her head to the side like a curious cat. "Besides you, who are the other Seven Masters of Magic, Miss Rhysta?" Upon him asking the question, I eyed him and then Rhysta – the latter mostly to see how she'd react to that question. There wasn't a change in her expression for a moment, before she turned away and looked at the night sky above us.
"Let's see…. There is Kryss the Jester, Halo the Praiser, Jennka the Charming, Lynn the Compassionate, Thresta the Mighty…." She started, naming off a bunch of names that sounded absurd. Like, were they actually named like that or were those simply titles that they were known by…? It probably was the latter, but even then, a little more clarification would be nice.
She went silent for a bit, thinking.
With her included, we now knew six of the seven masters… Who was the seventh?
As if hearing my question, Rhysta seemingly recalled what she was trying to remember. "Ah, and Esthan the Wise. He's also the current head of the Seven Masters, being the highest ranked." She added, lowering her head back down, before resting it onto her knees. "I'm known as Rhysta the Thunderstorm."
…Oddly enough, it fit her.
I don't know why, but upon hearing the… 'title' she held, my mind simply went: "Yeah, that makes sense."
Shaking my head, I looked at her again. "You mentioned rankings. Are the Seven Masters of Magic not equal?" Rhysta shook her head. "Unfortunately, no. While they're all mortals that have reached the highest height of magic that a mortal can reach, there's still a difference in power between each master. Esthan, as I mentioned before, is the current highest ranked one. After him, Kryss is the second highest, then Thresta…"
"And you? Where do you sit?"
Odale asked. Rhysta looked at him, before leaning back a bit and putting on a proud face. "I am officially recognised as the fourth among the seven." So basically the middle ground? For some reason I had expected her to rank lower or higher than that… Though, I suppose middle ground makes sense for her. I doubt if she was third or second she'd be able to slip away this easily to go on a…. 'Trip' to a completely different part of the world.
"After me it's Lynn, then Jennka and lastly at the bottom low rank of seven is Halo."
"Someone whose name is 'Halo the Praiser' is the weakest of the Masters? That… Is a little surprising." I commented in my mind, before leaning back a bit, propping myself onto my arms. "What is the power difference between the Masters?"
Rhysta thought about it for a second.
"Well… All I can say for sure is that there is no way I could beat Esthan. And no way I could lose to Lynn, Jennka or Halo."
"What about Thresta or Kryss?"
"Thresta is somewhat on my level, while Kryss would be quite a challenge to take on. Especially with his speciality being puppet magic." Rhysta looked away, her expression a bit like someone recalling a… traumatic? Experience.
While it wasn't by any means a good way to draw conclusions on how strong the Masters of Magic were, using her statements about having 'zero chance to beat Esthan', the current highest ranked one, made me wonder if Esthan could potentially be closer to the Grand Mages that existed in Odale's time than Rhysta. It'd make sense no?
Rhysta then exhaled heavily.
"I won't lie, Esthan sometimes annoys me greatly… The way he acts as if he's smarter and more well informed than anyone else just really ticks me off." She randomly stated, before slouching onto her knees, hugging them tightly. 'Acts like he's smarter'? Well, I would expect him to be quite knowledgeable or intelligent since she introduced him as 'Esthan the Wise'.
"Why is he known as 'the Wise'?" Odale asked.
Rhysta looked at him with an unamused expression. "Because supposedly he's a so-called 'descendant' of the Harbinger of Knowledge." Upon that name being spoken, both Odale and Avy reacted to it, with both looking confused and shocked at the same time.
"Must be another famous individual that I don't know about."
Odale shook his head.
"Impossible. The Harbinger of Knowledge had no partners or children. There is no chance he's a descendant."
"Yeah, half the magic world agrees with you." Rhysta replied, looking away, before picking up a stick and drawing random scribbles in the ground. "However, no one has been able to prove or disprove the fact. There is little to no evidence for either argument, so everyone is simply stuck with assumptions. Those that think of the Union as a great and righteous organisation support the idea of him being a descendant… At least, mostly. There are a few ugly ducklings among them."
Rhysta added, continuing her scribbles.
"However, there is an equally large school of folk who are against that idea and think it is nonsense. The reason for it varies, but for the most part it's one of two reasons — either the individual dislikes Union and what it stands for or the individual dislikes the Masters of Magic and so tries to 'find ways to humbleus'."
She finished off, emphasising the last part of her statement. Then she sighed. "Honestly, the whole debate has gotten tiresome."
"I'm not exactly familiar with this 'Harbinger of Knowledge'... Care to fill me in?"
I spoke up, slightly afraid that Rhysta would act shocked again about me not knowing. However, she... didn't. In fact, her expression was one of someone who had expected that answer. After a moment of silence, she shrugged. "Not surprised that you don't know him. His 'legend' is an uncommon thing to hear about these days. Only really scholars or magic trainees know of him. Every day folk or adventurers wouldn't know who he was." Phew… At least I'm not an outlier.
Odale cleared his 'throat' before looking at me.
"The Harbinger of Knowledge was the greatest mage to ever live." He started, before resting his hands onto his knees. "Said to be the son of the Goddess of Wisdom, the Harbinger of Knowledge gained his fame and reputation thanks to his one strange obsession — collecting knowledge."
I raised an eyebrow. "But if he was the son of the Goddess of Wisdom, wouldn't knowledge be useless to him–?"
"Despite being the son of the Goddess of Wisdom, it is said that he didn't inherit his mothers wisdom. And so, he sought out all the knowledge of the world to try and 'become' like his mother, so that he would be seen as a worthy successor to her." Odale explained, looking up a bit. "With time, he mastered magic, revolutionised magic forever by inventing sorcery which would allow those who couldn't use magic to finally cast spells as well as developed what would become the foundation of all modern magic. In a way, he was the founding father of what we now recognise as 'Magic' and 'Sorcery' as well as the system that holds the two together."
Wow…
That certainly sounds impressive. Mastering magic is one thing — but he invented sorcery? Like, he just invented it? Instead of simply staying in his line and keeping things how they were, he created a completely new form of 'magic' that would revolutionise magic forever?
That… I don't even have words to describe it.
That's simply incredible.
Odale looked back down at me. "However, after he achieved so many great things, one day, he simply vanished from the world – Never to be seen or heard from again. There was no known partner that he had, so it is assumed that he was the first and last of his bloodline."
"Known partner — Wouldn't it be possible he simply disappeared from the public eye to focus on a family that he had intentionally kept a secret?"
"Plausible… But flawed. With his reputation and fame, it would be nearly impossible to hide an entire family from the public eye." Odale pointed out. Rhysta sighed. "Well, it's unknown whether he had a partner or not. Like he said, the man simply vanished into thin air one day and that was it. Who knows, maybe he did start a family in secret and kept it that way for years."
"But then why would a potential descendant flaunt himself as being a descendant if the family supposedly would try to keep its connection to the Harbinger a secret?"
Rhysta shrugged.
"You know how it is with descendants of great people. They think that just because they come from a family whose ancestors did great things, that makes them hot shit as well. In a way, flaunting and bragging about the achievements of his ancestor as his own."
That… Was a fair point. Of course people do that – there were plenty of people who would use the achievements of their ancestors to 'boost' their own reputation. Just bragging about the achievements as their own was more common than I personally liked. After a heavy exhale, I rubbed the back of my neck. "There are theories on what may have happened to him." Odale changed the topic.
"Some say that he achieved his goal and became a true 'Demigod of Wisdom' – worthy of being called his mothers successor, others say that perhaps in his ever expanding quest to garner knowledge, he traveled to the Edge of the World and beyond it, through the primordial sea to find lands that were unknown to this world." Odale crossed his arms. "All are plausible explanations on what may have happened with the Harbinger of Knowledge, but of course, none of them have any actual evidence behind them. They're simply hypotheses expressed by those who want to know what happened to him."
Odale finished his explanation, before looking over at Rhysta, who looked a bit surprised by the theories herself – however, did not say anything. She simply sighed and looked away, resting her head onto her knees.
For a bit, it was silent.
Then Avy clapped her hands together, before yawning. "Enough of that… I'm tired. I'll go to sleep now." She stated, standing up before drowsily walking towards the carriage, nearly tripping down onto the ground, forcing me to use the shadows to catch her before guiding her inside the carriage.
"Then, I suppose I'll go to sleep as well." Rhysta stated, before wrapping herself in the blanket so much that she looked more like a cocoon than a person wrapped in a blanket. "Goodnight." She stated, poking her head out for a moment. Then, she disappeared completely, covered by the blanket. Chuckling, I looked at Odale. "You can rest as well. I'll keep watch for a while."
"Are you certain Master Faofa? I can easily keep a look out—"
"Please, it'll be fine Odale." I smiled gently.
The Fire Prince, though hesitant, simply exhaled and nodded, standing up before moving towards the carriage as well. "...Goodnight then, Master Faofa."
"Goodnight Odale." I replied to him, watching his silhouette disappear into the carriage. In no time at all, the three of them were asleep. I simply stared at the crackling fire of the campfire in front of me, occasionally adjusting the wood in it using a 'stick' I had made using 'Shadowlord' earlier. "This world certainly has a lot of history… If I am going to live here for the next who knows how many years, I should probably find a way to learn the history as much as I can." In my previous life, history played a big part in the world. Nearly every country and their culture was shaped by their shared or isolated history. I imagined this world was no different.
The world had been shaped by who knows how many years of deep history.
"Maybe I'll try finding some kind of history book at the library when I head over there with Odale…" I thought, before yawning lightly.
I sat at the fire, slightly tired for a while.
The fire was slowly beginning to die out and the silence of the wasteland around us grew more ominous. "Maybe it's a good thing we didn't travel overnight… This place is a lot more creepy when you can't see anything." I commented in my mind, before chuckling lightly. "Then again, that's almost any forest…"
Sitting there, I kept watch for a while with nothing eventful occurring – until…
Ding.
My 'Overworld Detection' went off. I immediately hopped to my feet, looking around, looking for whatever set it off. Did a Wicked find its way to us? No way right? I carefully scanned the area around us – however… Nothing. Had it been a fluke..?
No, not possible.
There was no way 'Overworld Detection' was capable of flukes like this… Right?
Then, in the corner of my eye – I noticed something. A small, golden light, slightly hidden behind one of the trees – not very far from camp. I raised an eyebrow, stepping towards it. The light, as if reacting to my movement, began to float away. "What the..?" My curiosity spiked. I wanted to run after the light, but… I couldn't simply leave the camp unattended…
After debating for a bit, I sighed and made my shadow extend.
"Arvalor."
In a moment's notice, the Chimera leapt out of my shadow and sat down – waiting like a big dog for me to say anything. "Keep watch of the camp for me will you? Make sure you protect everyone here!" I stated, patting him gently before quickly running after the golden light, morphing into my snake form half way to allow for quicker and swifter movement.
"Where is this thing heading..?"