The minotaur was released by morning. Dallion didn’t learn any details on the matter. March had simply told the group to get a bit more rest, then everyone packed up and continued on. There had also been a silent disagreement between the two captains. For most people, the event was invisible, but music skills had their advantages, making almost identical discontent resonate in both. Whatever the argument had been about, it was safe to say that March and Agnii had opposite opinions. Another thing for certain was that Agnii had lost.

Walking through the hilly area almost felt as if Dallion was in the real world. So far, he had see his fair share of realms, but all of them felt distinctly smaller than the real world. Even with all magic and the tricks of illusion that went into creating them, one soon got to know what was real and what wasn't. It was as if a part of the real world was taken, cleaned from everything else, and encapsulated in its own sterile bubble. Area realms usually didn’t have insects or animals, and a very limited variety of plants. There were no ecosystems there—the realms didn’t require them. In this realm, all the small details were there. It was very subtle, one had to pay attention to it, but following Nil’s instructions, Dallion had spent a while digging up the ground and he had found worms.

Just like the real world, Dallion thought. Only better. He could use his awakened powers to the fullest here.

The group continued walking through morning, then, after a quick break for food, went on into the afternoon. This was the first time March had ordered non-stop walking for a full day. There were a few more statues along the way—mostly new and ferocious animals with a few minotaurs. Dallion had asked to have Lux unpetrified them, and to his surprise, March had allowed it.

Each time it was the same: the minotaur was surrounded, unpetrified, rendered unconscious, then bound, so that March could have a brief conversation with it. There were no secret meetings like before, but on two of the three occasions new information had been added to the map.

There didn’t seem to be new information from Eury. Whatever her task, she was focusing on it a hundred percent. That made Dallion feel a bit down. He was hoping to be able to spend more time with her. Apparently, she wasn’t joking when she said she’d seen him at the new temple and not before.

Sunset came and went, but the party kept moving. This was unusual. Whispers started circulating among the party, wondering why the sudden sense of urgency. By the sound of it, this part of the journey was pretty much uneventful—something like a blind spot between two temples.

“No need to worry,” Ezra, one of the veterans, told Dallion. He was probably the oldest person in the group when it came to true time. Dallion had seen him around the Icepicker guild. From what he knew, the man was a pure explorer, and little more. “Change is the only constant when it comes to expeditions.”

“Right.” Dallion nodded.

“You seem to be doing pretty well. Quite lucky you got Vend to teach you. He’s usually a lone wolf, but kid’s got skills. Just keep in mind he isn’t the patient type.”

“I know what you mean.”

“You’ve no idea who I am, do you?” the man asked.

“Umm, I’ve seen you about—"

“I was one of the lost.”

The information was too sudden for Dallion to react. He remembered the rescue mission. At the time that was the greatest amount of money he had received from a single mission. Also, that was the time he had fought against a chainling directly. The monster was young, barely formed, but it revealed how easy it was to create a chainling, if someone was invested.

“You helped rescue us,” Ezra continued.

“I helped, yes.”

“You found the chainling,” the man whispered as he passed by. “Come, I want to show you something.”

Nil, anything I should know about this one?

Nothing particular. As I said, these are March’s team, they don’t bother with other guild jobs for the most part.

You don’t bother with common guild activities either.

There’s a huge difference. I make sure that the members of the guild are well prepared for any potential threat. Creating and modifying training realms is extremely difficult and highly specialized, requiring a lot of skill and experience, not to mention vast amounts of theoretical knowledge. Going on realm expeditions is the same as being a hunter—valuable, though not as rare.

If you’re so valuable, why doesn’t the guild master agree with you more? Dallion followed Ezra up one of the hills.

Unfortunately, there’s more to running a guild than looking at the competencies of the people in it. While I’m the logical choice to become one of the vices, there are other factors as well.

I’m sure there are.

So far, Dallion hadn’t been in a position to meet the guild master or any of the vices. He had managed to get a glimpse a few times, but despite everything he had done for the guild—including the Star incident—he hadn’t gone beyond Estezol from an administrative point of view. Given the size of the guild—even if it wasn’t considered one of the large ones—that was to be expected. However, the more skilled Dallion became, the more he felt he ought to have such a meeting.

Upon reaching the top of the hill, Ezra stopped.

“Come along,” he said, waving to Dallion.

Semi-smile on face, Dallion rushed up until he reached the top. Mountain tops had become visible in the distance, but that wasn’t what the man wanted to show him.

“Down there.” Ezra pointed.

When Dallion looked, he instantly became speechless. The hill offered a view of the plains that went on. The second temple was visible roughly halfway between the hill and the mountains in the distance. Up to there, over a dozen settlements were scattered through the plains and valleys… or rather, they had been settlements at one time. Now, they weren’t even ruins, merely outlines of towns.

“What happened?” Dallion asked.

From what he could estimate, the settlements were the same size as the Town of Tears, maybe even larger. Not a single building remained. Everything was reduced to a giant spot of scorched rubble.

“That’s the big question,” Ezra replied. “This place was full of rust and cracklings during the fourth expedition. Even the guardian didn’t dare send minions out here. It took us several expeditions just to gain a foothold. The cracklings had built a few villages of their own. It wasn’t until we cleared those that we saw what lay beneath.”

Dallion swallowed. There was no way this was done by cracklings. From what he knew, there were only two things that could cause such distinct markings: divine smiting or modern military equipment, specifically bombers.

“According to Agnii, some of the towns are older than others. That suggests that at some point, this was considered a resource rich area. Maybe that caused some inter-city wars, but…”

Not on such a scale, Dallion thought.

As he kept on looking, imagining the potential devastation, another thought passed through Dallion’s mind. Back during his chainling hunt, the cleric had been shocked and impressed that he knew how to make rockets. What if that wasn’t just an expression, but some form of the technology existed in the world? After all, Dallion wasn’t the first person to arrive from Earth. If someone with magic skills had put their mind to it, they might well have created just that—a weapon capable of devastating destruction.

Suddenly an even more chilling possibility came to mind: who was to say that humans were the only ones coming from a technologically advanced world? The copyettes could have as well, or the furies, or any of the other races. A scary thought.

“Does anything happen when we cross that?” Dallion asked.

“We might get attacked by minions.” Ezra shrugged. “Maybe not so much with all these minotaurs.”

Why did you bring me here?

The last time someone approached Dallion to thank him for something in the past, it turned out to be a Star. Paranoia started acting up, making Dallion wonder whether the Star wasn’t making a second attempt to get him out of the expedition.

“Take a while, enjoy the view. We won’t be doing anything else for a while.”

“Oh?” Dallion took a step back.

“We’ll rest here for a while before going on. March doesn’t like the place much, so we won’t be doing any stops there either.”

“Right.” Dallion couldn’t blame her. He didn’t like the sight either.

“Get back to camp when you’ve had enough,” Ezra said, and to Dallion’s surprise, turned around and left. That was highly suspicious behavior.

Nox, do you sense anything about? Dallion asked.

The cub meowed negatively. If there was any danger, it wasn’t due to cracklings. That should have relieved Dallion somewhat, but it didn’t. There were too many new pieces of information coming too fast. He felt as if the world was closing down on him, as if—

Dallion clenched his fists.

“As if something is making me act this way,” he whispered to himself.

Music, he thought, and looked at the plain again.

The pressure of focusing on such a large area created the sensation of tension in his temples. Soon enough the tension was gone, and Dallion saw what he suspected: apart from the ruins, scattered throughout the plain, were invisible beacons of emotions, flooding the area with vibrations of curiosity and despair.

That can’t be a coincidence, Dallion thought. Lux, take me down there.

That’s outright reckless! Nil protested. You’ve seen there’s a danger. You’ve felt the effects it has on people. Why risk more by going closer?

The firebird spread its wings, but didn’t dare lift Dallion. It too was fearful.

Because this time I’m prepared.

Dallion summoned his harpsisowrd and played a chord. The sound was quickly crushed by the sea of waves coming from below. However, that didn’t make Dallion quit. On the contrary, it made him concentrate even harder. His fingers slid along the strings once more, attempting to match the opposite frequency. It wasn’t easy—there wasn’t just one sound he was trying to negate, there were several mixed in an annoying bouquet. Each time he thought he was close, he’d notice a new element causing his attempts to collapse.

Several minutes passed, but ultimately Dallion proved to be successful. The sounds from his harpsisword managed—be it temporarily—to create a bubble of silence around him. Following the blue music markers, Dallion played the chord again, duplicating the effect.

There’s nothing like a music battle. Dallion smiled. Let’s go, Lux. I promise I’ll be fine.

Thanks to Lux, Dallion swooped down along the side of the hill, heading towards the nearest set of ruins. All the time he played the harpsisword, not allowing the depression of the area take hold of him.

What exactly are you planning to do, dear boy? Nil asked. This time, it was his turn to be curious.

Me? Nothing. There’s something that Lux will do for me, though. Actually, there are several things.

Moving closer, Dallion directed Lux to one of the beacons of emotion. From what he could see with his music skills, the point of origin was a few feet underground. As tempting as it was for Dallion to stop playing and dig it out, he knew that wouldn’t end well. Instead, he had his familiar dig to the spot in question.

It took quite a while for the cub to dig through the layers of dirt. While Nox had the power to create cracks in virtually any material, digging wasn’t his strong suit. Looking at him reminded Dallion of his childhood dare to eat a bowl of rice with a straw—a pointless exercise that only proved how gullible he was.

Slow down, Dallion said once Nox got near the source of emotions. I don’t want you to destroy anything.

The crackling turned its head, glaring at Dallion with deep annoyance, but did as it was asked. Soon enough, the prize of his effort emerged. Among the loose dirt, a metallic piece let out a glint of light. Seeing it, Nox paused, then gently rolled it backward with a paw.

Lux, lift it up, Dallion thought.

Leaping off his back, the firebird lifted the metal fragment. It was small, cylindrical, vibrating in full strength now that it had been unearthed. Dallion had to play his harpsisword twice as fast to ensure that no one in the immediate vicinity would be affected.

Bolt fragment, Gen stated the obvious. Definitely a bolt fragment.

The question is, who put it here and when. Dallion took a step forward, examining it closely.

There’s one more question, dear boy, Nil added. How exactly did they create it?