There were no unexpected encounters as the party moved through the forest, although at several points Dallion heard sounds of creatures in the distance. Out of habit, he asked Nil what they could be of, but the old echo hadn’t the slightest idea. It was the Shield who suggested that they be dealing with a jackalear. A bear with antlers, the creature was supposed to be an apex predator that lived in such environments. Territorial and highly intelligent, the creature only appeared when threatened or certain to win. Until then, it would only follow from a distance, waiting for its chance.

Whether the creature really existed in this realm, or the shield was trying to scare Dallion with its usual strange humor, remained unclear. The group never saw an instance of it while walking, that was for sure. What they did come across were the remains of a small settlement at the edge of the forest. Initially, Dallion thought that to be human, but after a better look at the buildings, he could only come to one conclusion—the place had been occupied by gremlins… crackling gremlins.

“A crackling village?” he asked the person in front of him.

“Aha,” Emelle replied. She was roughly Dallion’s age in real time, though as true years were concerned, she could well be decades older. Quite average with the exception of her braided hazel hair, she had a very on the job attitude regarding everything else as a restriction. According to Nil, she was good at her job, but so was everyone else in the group.

“Why haven’t the remains vanished?”

“They used world materials,” the woman replied with a sigh. “Here cracklings might poof, but the things they leave behind stay forever. Animals aren’t interested, and there isn’t anyone else to loot.”

“So, there’s nothing valuable?”

“Go, check. Anything you find is yours.”

Definitely not much of a talker. Dallion decided it was best not to push his luck, although there was one thing he wanted to find out.

“When was it destroyed?”

“No idea. Must have been one of the first expeditions. I heard that the place was crawling with cracklings back then. Rusties and stinkies as well. We’ll probably get more of that later on, so enjoy the calm if it lasts.”

“Thanks.”

Dallion walked on. It was largely how he suspected, although, if the place was crawling with critters, how come they had only built a small village. Back when he had cleared the Stone Garden, it had taken the cracklings there a decade or so to reach the same level of development. The sword was supposed to be thousands of years old, at least. For something that old, and abandoned, the cracklings were supposed to have erected cities at the very least.

That’s a good question, dear boy, Nil said. However, I have one better for you. Why isn’t there anything between the starting temple and the town we’re going to?

No one bothers to build anything at the edge of a territory, Dallion replied. It’s probably just like Dherma, a village in the middle of nowhere. When the world became abandoned, there was no one to care.

Ah, but this isn’t the middle of nowhere. It’s the start of the realm, the contact point between realities. It was certain that it must have been a point of vital importance. Unless…?

The echo waited for Dallion to continue. Initially, Dallion couldn’t see his point. It was true that if this was a connection point, it would be the same as a major port city. There would be hundreds of buildings, warehouses to store goods, large roads to aid transport, and a ton of forts to protect said goods. Instead, the temple was placed on the most hostile spot there was, far from anything else with no easy access. It was almost as if…

A prison, Dallion thought. This world is a prison.

That’s one possibility, indeed, the echo agreed. And while we cannot be certain what is clear is that whoever was here didn’t put much stock in contact with the real world.

A prison realm or a realm in which people went to escape… Dallion wasn’t sure which was worse. The only way to find out was to go deeper in the hopes of finding clues.

Nil, what are the chances of there being survivors? Dallion asked.

Here? It’s difficult to say. I guess it’s possible. We’re talking about things in the realm of possibility only. World items are extremely rare and not explored. We can’t make any conclusions based on sphere items alone.

But is it possible? Realistically, I mean.

I would say yes, dear boy. It is possible, though not too probable. There’s a greater chance that we find something that lets us know what happened. And a treasure, of course. There’s always a treasure and when there’s a treasure, there’s always someone looking.

Yeah, Dallion chuckled mentally. You think that’s why the Star is so interested in this?

It has been my experience that something this old might be able to hurt even Stars. Do you know why the two moons hid themselves?

No, you never told me. On more than one occasion.

The Order consider this anathema, but there are stories that during the copyettes’ attempt to take over the world the Star presented them with a way to kill a Moon.

Kill a Moon? Dallion repeated, unable to believe it himself.

Well, maybe hurt. Mistakes are possible when translating texts that old. The important thing is that they were given something that actually managed to wound a moon.

Dallion didn’t reply. Wounding a deity was possible according to a lot of myths he remembered skimming through on Earth. But to be in a position to actually do it, considering the Moons’ power in this world. This must have been the equivalent of the atom bomb.

Which Moon did they wound? Dallion asked.

There’s some argument about that, but academics believe it to have been the Green Moon. Some speculate it might be the Purple, but I have my doubts.

Why?

There still are people born with magic. It’s rare, but it happens. Meanwhile, to my knowledge there hasn’t been anyone born with the stat of the Green Moon.

The Green moon… That was quite the coincidence. Not only was it the Moon who had approached Dallion but also one of the Moons that shone brightest in this realm. If there really was something here, that could hurt a Moon, it made Sense that a Moon that had been hurt by it wanted to keep it hidden. It also made sense that a Star would want to get it.

After the forest, the party went through a series of plains. The entire time there were barely any animals visible. In contrast, insects were quite abundant—ants, butterflies, grasshoppers, other bugs that were abundant back on Earth, though not so much in this real world.

The walking continued until the midafternoon, when in the distance the shape of a town became visible. It seemed to be a human town—medieval architecture, large stone walls protecting the houses within. The closer that Dallion got, though, the more he got the impression that the town was something recently built on the ruins of something far older. He wanted to ask Vend or Eury about it, but March had sent the gorgon to scout out the area ahead, while Vend was too close to the captain. The only remaining option was Agnii.

“Did you build that?” Dallion approached her, adding a note of joy in his words. With the level of his music skills, he had the option to make her want to share, but everything considered he wanted to be as subtle on this as possible.

“Not me. It’s been like this since the first expedition,” the woman replied. “Well, the first expedition that reached it. It took a lot of fighting to get close.”

“The locals did it?”

“That’s the belief. When things got tough, some must have gathered here and fortified the city with what they could. Statues, columns, anything that could easily be turned into a wall. It probably held off the cracklings and other monsters for a while. Maybe even generations. With time, though, everything changes.”

“Maybe they left?” Dallion suggested. “A fortified waypoint before the last stretch out of here.”

“Good one.” Agnii smiled. “Yes, it’s possible, but unlikely. If people were on the run, they wouldn't have bothered building ten smithies and five armories.”

Another hour later and the group reached the city. It was impressively old, with thick walls, rising four meters up. The door was the only thing new, created, it seemed, from iron made not more than a few decades back.

“Now that is mine,” Angii said. “As I told you, it was tough at first.”

The inside of the town was both familiar and strange. The infrastructure was exactly what one would expect of a town with its streets, small and large buildings, town squares, and whatnot. The only things missing were shops and wells. If this was a real town, the people had somehow learned not to eat or drink anything.

“We’ll rest here till evening,” March announced. “I’ll be on shift. Everyone else, get some sleep. We continue at dark.”

“What’s with the moving after dark?” Dallion whispered to Agnii.

“That’s March’s thing. She thinks it’s safer if we walk at night.”

“But why? Aren’t there more monsters then?”

“Well, yes, but the Moons are out during the night and she’s a believer. Thinks that we’ll come to less harm when they watch over us.”

Maybe for some. Dallion still wasn’t sure how he felt knowing that the Green Moon was keeping an eye on him. In fact, he wasn’t sure he would be capable of fighting if the need arose. Cracklings and other such nastiness was one thing, however, if it came to helping take down a guardian… there was a high chance that Dallion would be reminded of the Moon’s help.

A campfire was set at the largest town square. Unlike the forests, a few more conversations were held—people talking about things back home: the festival, the guild standings, and the arrival of the countess. One of the greatest points of speculation was who the arriving imperial would be. None of the names that were floated meant anything to Dallion, but he listened nonetheless. At one point, Vend approached.

“Hey,” the elite whispered. “How are you holding up?”

“I’m fine. People don’t have to ask me every hour.” Dallion was getting slightly annoyed with this. He could tell there was no malice, but even so, it was getting old. “Where’s Eury?”

“March has her scout ahead. She is a scout, after all.” There was a hint of falsehood there.

“Right.”

“The best thing for you right now is to get some rest. We’ll be facing the first guardian tomorrow. It might be rough.”

“Anything more you can share? Or do you have to be vague and cryptic?”

“Guardians are stronger here. It’s like fighting an area guardian along with a wave of blockers. The first ones March and a few more could take care of, but the rest will be a full party effort. You’ll be extremely needed, then. You’re the only person who has the ability to heal, and also…” there was a pause. “You have no limitations.”

“Limitations?”

“Not everyone can affect guardians. All of us here have kept our stats on equal levels more or less in order to be able to handle anything out there. You don’t have to. You might be weak now, but you’ve proven you can learn. In a few years you’ll be able to handle yourself like everyone else. A few more after that and you’ll be as good as any elite. If you keep leveling up the way you do, you’ll surpass me and possibly one day even March herself. However, in order to do that you must be safe now.”

“I’m a future investment,” Dallion said. “That’s why everyone is so careful with everything I do.”

“That’s part of it, yes.” Vend nodded. He was still keeping something from Dallion.

“Okay, I’ll be careful. One question, though. Why do they call this place the town of tears?”

“During the third expedition, we found a message in one of the buildings,” Vend whispered. “It was carved into one of the walls, so March had it destroyed. The message said that this was the final spot before danger and that only the tears of those sentenced to die remained. At this point we’ve no idea if it referred to people trying to get out of the artifact or further in. However, a lot of people died here, possibly even before the town was rebuilt. That’s why this is the town of tears.”