Legacy of the Dark Sage

Looking at how fast the spread of lava and magma was on land, Kyran guessed they only had a day to restore the whole plane completely. If this was the case, they had to work efficiently.

"How do you plan to activate the obelisks?" Kyran immediately asked True Void. He had an idea on how to deal with the obelisks, but since True Void knew more about the obelisks, he asked for his opinion first. He might have another way to deal with it.

[I need to go to the first obelisk and find the exact cause why it is not working.]

True Void replied.

Kyran nodded in acknowledgment. Back in his sea of consciousness, True Void told him that the Sovereign of Ruin might have built the red-blood tower to counter the obelisks. For this reason, the easiest way to deal with the situation was to destroy the tower and reactivate the obelisks. But since destroying the red-blood tower was out of the question, they could only investigate on their own.

"Okay," Kyran willed the floating island to move, and they started to search for the first obelisk.

"Was the obelisks designed to move around?" Kyran asked, recalling how the black obelisk had moved location.

[Yes! Yes! My master had limited resources at the time, so he could only design the obelisks he created to move around the plane to replenish energy points on the Grand Energy Refinement Array.]

"Grand Energy Refinement Array?" Kyran repeated with a thoughtful expression. Based on the array's name, it had something to do with refining energies. Initially, he believed the array was created to replenish magic energies, but it appeared it was designed to 'refine' it. This meant the plane did not lack energies but was unrefined to a point it was impossible to absorb.

[That's right. You already noticed there is no magic energy present in this plane's surroundings. It is because this plane has a different form of energy. In the Human plane, energies are present almost everywhere. It comes from nature and the plane itself. Here energies are in the form of—.]

"Blood, organs, basically the energy comes from the inhabitants of this plane," Kyran chimed in. He already understood this fact after seeing the beast's behavior.

True Void paused for the briefest moment. He was aware of Kyran's ability to understand concepts behind theories, which was one of a kind. His master had initially been a Magic Scholar before discovering he possessed Ancient magic. Knowing that his soon-to-be master was fast at understanding concepts made True Void remember his master and feel at ease.

[Yes. But that is a problem in itself. The only way for this plane to sustain life is by shedding blood. It was a cruel cycle. It even came to a point they had to invade other planes.]

Kyran frowned slightly as he thought of something from True Void's explanation.

"The demon invasion..." he muttered out of the blue.

True Void sighed.

[Yes. This plane's inhabitants did the second invasion the Human plane experienced. They are able to enter the Human plane through the rift my master discovered near the place where he soon built his palace.]

As Kyran expected, True Void indeed held the other half of the truth about the past.

But then, True Void's revelation made Kyran think of something, and he repeated, "A rift he found near the place where he built his palace..."

Realization hit him, and his eyes widened at once, "The Valley of Morte."

[That's right.]

True Void replied without trying to conceal the truth.

[Though that place was not called the Valley of Morte before, it is the same place. My master sealed the rift there and built a sanctuary to conceal it. But it has been a thousand years. The different law from this plane may have leaked through the seal, causing the mutation of the beasts there.]

p Kyran took a deep breath. Recalling Byron's description of the Royal Army discovering a treasure grove that belonged to his predecessor, he suddenly had a bad premonition.

What if the rift his predecessor sealed was in that place? And the Royal Army knew it all along? What were they trying to achieve?

With a sigh, Kyran temporarily ceased his train of thoughts and focused on the current situation. He still did not know many things, and jumping to conclusions at an early point was not good. All the miscalculations he made while on the run were because he overthought too much and made premature conclusions. He had to learn from those experiences and stay levelheaded.

"There's something I don't understand. If this inhabitants caused the second invasion in the Human plane, then why did my predecessor decided to help them?"

True Void chuckled.

[I don't blame you for thinking this way. But I guess... I can at least tell you that the inhabitants of this plane were also victims. The real ones who instigated their desire to invade other planes are from another plane.]

"The real invaders are called 'demons.' So the Demon plane Zephyr mentioned is another plane?"

[Yes. Those demons are the real culprit. Initially, this plane may have misgivings, but they can survive because a Great Tree keeps the balance. The demons corrupted and eventually destroyed the Great Tree, which slowly killed this plane.]

Kyran nodded in understanding. If this plane had such a vicious cycle in sustaining life, then what was the point of even having this plane? Even the Sovereign of Ruin coveted this plane; then, there must have been a very valid reason. That reason might be the Great Tree.

There were still a lot of missing pieces for Kyran to draw a conclusion. For now, he only made a mental note of this information.

"The inhabitants of this plane, are called Numas. Is the name of this plane Numa?" Kyran asked.

[Bahahaha! So unimaginative Void Halfling. It is close, though. They are called Numas because this plane is called Lignum. In their language, Lignum is translated as the Great Tree, and Numa, the tree people.]

Before, Kyran would have felt a little annoyed by True Void's teasing, but surprisingly, he did not feel annoyed nor offended. He simply smiled at his lack of 'imagination' and chuckled.

"Right. I'll keep that in mind."

True Void was rendered speechless at Kyran's response. While they were still in Kyran's sea of consciousness, he got annoyed at his teasing. This lack of response... True Void was not sure whether it was a good thing or not. He liked how calm and collected Kyran had become, but if he ended up being a boring guy, that would be no fun at all.

True Void sighed in his illusory heart. It was true what the ancients had said: 'You can't have everything.' Or, 'You win some, you lose some.'

"Do you know where the Numas lived?" Kyran's question brought True Void out of his inner thoughts.

To be honest, Kyran was worried about the Numas. If the sovereign had mistaken Kyran as a Numa, it meant their physical appearance had similarities with humans. With the current state of this plane, he was worried they had already perished. Unfortunately, he had no way of confirming it because he did not know where they were.

Most of them likely lived close to the red-blood tower, though.

Kyran's assumption was not unwarranted. It was the conclusion he came up with after the short exchange he had with the Sovereign of Ruin and the formation of his predecessor's array.

He believed his predecessor created the array and had the inhabitants live at the center of the formation to receive the full effect of the array. Currently, the center of the array was where the red-blood tower stood.

[When my master restored this plane, they lived at the center of the array formation.]

True Void answered, confirming Kyran's assumption.

"Then there's still time before the destruction gets to them," Kyran said with a sigh of relief.

His predecessor saved them, and it would be bad if he ended up killing them.

[Yes, yes.]

Kyran took a deep breath and started drawing a plan in his head. Though the Numas might be safe for the time being, they had to think of the other creatures living in this plane that did not live at the center of the array formation.

They had to move fast.

"Okay. I have come up with a plan, tell me if you can do it. If not we'll change it," Kyran told True Void.

[Sure~. Tell me what to do.]

For the next half hour, Kyran told True Void his plan to activate and restore the plane as soon as possible.

Kyran suggested they split up in checking the obelisks. Then they would meet up at the last obelisk, where True Void would start the reactivation of the obelisks, while Kyran would focus on restoring the plane.

True Void agreed. Kyran told him to take more than half of the shape-shifting plates, which the latter controlled to form two dark blue and purple puppets.

Before they split up, True Void explained how the obelisks worked.

Just as Kyran guessed earlier, the cycle that the obelisks followed was that of creation. The element of the first obelisk was fire, then earth, metal, water, and last wood.

His predecessor planned to replace the lack of this plane's Great Tree by utilizing the wood obelisk at the center.

The other four obelisks moved in a circular motion around the obelisk representing the Wood element to refine the energy points his predecessor had made. Once these energy points were refined, it would nourish the Wood element obelisks, thus, evenly distributing the energies within the array formation.

Kyran thought of the mutated beasts killing each other and trying to offer each other's internal organs o the obelisks. While these beasts appeared ruthless, he now understood they were only acting on instincts. They knew that they had to offer enough energy to the obelisks to let this plane survive.

This discovery made Kyran feel sympathy for the mutated beasts. They had done cruel things to each other, but it was all to make sure their plane kept on living.

Remembering the mutated Hydra killing off those mutated beasts to stop what they were doing, Kyran vowed to get rid of those things. Of course, he would do that if those beasts were still alive.

When Kyran and True Void were done talking, they finally split up.

True Void would use each puppet to check the earth and water obelisks, while Kyran would look for the fire obelisk and ensure all the energy points were intact.