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NINE YEARS (III)

The night had fallen . Perhaps the greatest teller of it was the overcast shade of the looming mountains toward the west that had caused thousands of gems floating inside the glassed lanterns by the roadside to light up like stars . The streets lay varied, some laden in blinding light, some with barely enough to distinguish the winding corners .

Shane and Daniel lay on their beds, both wide awake; strange thoughts traced through their minds, hundreds they had never thought of before . It had only recently dawned upon them that they were committing what was essentially high treason – a crime worth painful punishment of death, if caught . Yet, for a reason they were yet to understand, they didn’t feel fear or even tension . Perhaps a faint trace of nervousness and excitement, but within the enduring levels .

Neither fancied themselves particularly brave, so the root of their confidence, they realized, had to be that man – Ty, he called himself . The tall, lean, ever-smiling, relaxed man who managed to sneak into the Valley unnoticed twice, possessing intricate knowledge over how the formations inside the Valley functioned . The two realized then that this wasn’t his first trek, that he had most-likely already visited this place before, or at the very least places similar to this one . If it were so easy to sneak in and out of the Hallowed Valley, would all those freed of their chains at some point remain here? No, they certainly wouldn’t .

Though many spirits were broken, some remained burning in defiance . Just a month ago, one of the women managed to cleave herself away from the group and nearly bite Shane’s face off before a beastman that brought her struck her in the back of her neck, immediately killing her . Shane still shuddered at the memory; the distorted face, the burnt eyes full of rebellious will to live, and a hoarse yell of someone whose throat was as dry as a desert... it became a permanently inscribed memory, one he was certain he would never forget .

"—are you guys ready?" Shane and Daniel suddenly jumped, barely holding a fearful scream in their throats . Right where he stood today, the man was back, leaned against the wall, observing their horrified expressions with a queer smile . Had they ventured a guess at that moment, they would ascertain that the man enjoyed this... a bit too much .

"Is—is it eleven yet?" Daniel asked as the two men got off the beds and stood in front of the tall man .

"It’s always eleven with me," the man chuckled, suddenly taking out two black cloaks and handing one each to the two men . "Put these on . Make sure you cover everything except your face . "

"What is this?" Shane asked, realizing that the stats of the cloak were locked .

"An envious creation," Ty replied mysteriously, shrugging . "Put them on, quickly . "

"What about you?"

"What about me?"

"Aren’t... aren’t you going to put it on?" Daniel asked further with weaker conviction .

"What for?" Ty chuckled . "I’m already a ghost, for all intents and purposes . Come on, you two . Let’s go take a stroll . "

"—take a stroll?"

The dubiousness of the words would be broken shortly after they left the barracks . The man truly meant when he said to ’take a stroll’ – for that was exactly what they were doing . Unhurried, relaxed, as though they were ghosts . Many-a-time Daniel and Shane jumped in fear when they saw someone approaching them, yet not a single soul seemingly perceived them . For all intents and purposes, just like the man, they were ghosts . Invisible . Dauntless .

Conviction and courage soon surged within them as they headed northward, toward the exit of the valley . On two ends of the man, stone-paved road arose glistening, tall towers of might that oversaw the world around them, ensuring there were no deserters . Beyond them rows of the so-called ’Housing Centers’ arose, simple-decked, four-stories building that could house hundreds of souls at the same time . The two of them spent some time there when they first came, which made their current room seem like a vastly open hall in comparison .

Though the passing souls were few, they still encountered several dozen, all of whom ignored them entirely, as though they were not there . They glanced at the broad back of the man with incredulous eyes, wondering just what kind of an item these cloaks were . In their hearts, they believed they were effectively Empyrion’s greatest secrets, which must mean that the man in front of them wasn’t someone simple .

"How much has this place changed in the past five years?" the man asked them casually as they took a bounding turn around a circular plaza .

"—not much," Daniel replied after exchanging looks with Shane . "More ranks were added, as far as I’m aware . Different races joined . Numbers swelled . But the hierarchy remained largely the same . "

"How many Generals and above are stationed here?"

"... uh, not too sure," Daniel replied, scratching his head, trying to remember . "There are at the very least several hundred Generals, but there are only 10 Commanders that I’ve encountered in the past years . "

"Oh? Did you recognize any one of them?" Ty asked, his interest seemingly piqued at last, as he glanced back .

"—just one, Sir," Daniel said . "Lo—I mean, Bearer Erebus . "

"... Two made that shrill a commander?" Ty mumbled in faint disbelief . "What the hell..." Shrill? Daniel and Shane thought at the same time, shuddering momentarily; Commander Erebus, after all, was one of the most respected figures around, tens of thousands of souls at his beck and call... yet, the seemingly inconspicuous man in front of them had dared called him a ’shrill’ . "Though, I suppose, he did decently well during the River Layn Skirmish," Ty continued, stroking his chin . "But, then again, that was just a throwaway force . If he somehow managed to actually lose, he may as well have killed himself right after . Interesting... really interesting . Ah, we’re here . Duck in that hole . "

Following the man’s finger, the two men’s eyes landed on a bored hole in the earth next to a tall oak tree . By now they had left the confines of the makeshift city, reaching its outskirts; the trumped earth gave way to rising forests on both ends that blended into the high mountains, the entrance to the Valley closed off by an invisible gate whose outlines briefly flashed into existence once the formations made a round . From Daniel’s quick estimates, he put it at anywhere between six hundred and six thousand meters tall .

They didn’t hesitate for long before throwing themselves down into the hole; after a short rumble and tumble that resulted in a few bruises, they landed into the dark opening . Immediately after, glimmering light of the torched flames lit up the surrounding walls as they realized they’d found themselves inside an underground tunnel . It was as wide as four men and as tall as one and a half, lacking anything but the torches that gave it light in terms of decoration .

The man landed in front of them shortly after, merely signaling them to get up and follow after him as he began walking forward at a brisk pace .

"When these tunnels were first dug up," Ty said after a short silence . "Empyrion was yet to be founded, actually . I was among the few that were selected to scout the weakest points of entry into this place . Back then, if we hadn’t procured several weaknesses into the foundations of the formations, we’d stand no chance of going in and out unnoticed like this today . I gotta say, whoever is building upon the arrays... is a genius . "

"—where does the tunnel lead out to?" Shane asked .

"To Q’sar . "

"The port city?" Daniel and Shane exclaimed at the same time . "But—how is that possible?! It ought to be months of travel on foot to reach the port!"

"Eh, that’s the magic you don’t need to understand," Ty chuckled, glancing back and winking at the two men . "There is one question I’m hoping you’ll help me understand . "

"Hm?"

"The so-called ’Hub’," Ty said, his expression visibly darkening . "Who’s inside?"

"... we don’t know," Shane replied after a short hesitation . "None of the guards do . Apparently, as far as we’re aware, whoever’s in there has never left... at least as far as we’re aware of . "

"... sorry . " Daniel added, seeing Ty’s disappointed expression .

"Don’t worry about it," the man said, smiling weakly . "Nothing we can do about that . Just a bit of a personal grudge is all . "

"—if I may ask, how will we reach the Empyrion from Q’sar?" Daniel asked .

"Cross the Pilgrim’s Bay on a boat, and then use about eight or nine teleportation arrays," Ty explained . "The world is vastly smaller once you can blitz about it so easily . I remember my Master telling me she once spent months traveling on foot just to reach one city from another . I can’t even imagine it if I’m being honest . You two shouldn’t worry too much . As long as I’m here, nothing will happen to you . "

"..." though it may have sounded like empty boasting, for one reason or another, neither Daniel nor Shane doubted the strange man’s words . It wasn’t just the air of confidence that he exuded with every step and every word, but also something transcending those boundaries, something they couldn’t quite explain just yet .

The entire journey through the tunnels lasted for a few hours, including a few breaks they took on the way as well as a singular meal they had . The entire tunnel was eerily the same, seemingly no breaking point to speak of, such as the change in the soil .

Its end came abruptly as the path ended, the wall rising in its wake . It was only once they glanced upward that they saw a hole similar to the one they entered . This time around, Ty was the first to climb out, the two men following his footsteps . By the time they emerged, they were forced to close their eyes due to the blinding light shining directly into their eyes . They grabbed onto Ty’s arms as he pulled them out and lay them on the dusty ground .

Several seconds passed before they were able to open their eyes completely and take in the sight; before them, a massive body of clean-blue water stretched into the horizon, surrounded by tall and sharp cliffs on their end . To their right, a pine forest reached nearly the edge of the cliff, giving way to a few meters of empty, barren and gray rock toward the end . Though the sight was unfamiliar, the fluttering flag on their left wasn’t – the silver crown cast upon the golden background, a pole on top of which the flag rested rising high from the stone tower . There was no doubt – they were just on the outskirts of Q’sar, on a completely different end of the Sanctified Grounds, months’ worth of journey from the Hallowed Valley . How? They couldn’t even begin to fathom .