The wall was cool to the touch, but as the boy placed his palm fully on the outline, the cold stone gave way to a comfortable heat. At the same time, the wall began to emit light, a sight that drew everyone’s attention.

“What did you do to it?” Xanadu asked. “Why is it glowing and everything?”

“I just pressed my hand on the indicator it provided for me,” Gaius replied.

The land began to shake. The sky changed colours rapidly, from green to blue to brown and then to red, before turning into a whirl of colour. Flashes of myriad colours dyed the land, and as the wind began to pick up, the land began to crack and break apart. Crystals, gleaming and blinding under the sunlight, broke out from the soil, growing skywards.

A spike of pain rammed through his head, gripping it and his body in a cruel hold. Gaius could feel incredible energies swirling in the wall beneath his palm — energies that were flooding into his body and coursing through every vein and cell. His nerves lit up with flares of coruscating agony, shifting from extreme cold and heat every moment. The boy dropped to his knees, but his palm remained on to the wall, even as his lungs screamed and begged for air.

His mind, already occupied by the sudden onset of blinding torment, dimly registered the sensation of his bones breaking apart and reforming. Before his eyes, the muscles on his right arm pulled themselves to pieces, turning into horrible, mangled pieces of fleshy pulp that reformed a moment later. Similar things were going on to other parts of his body, the phenomenon lasting for a few seconds before ending in a haze of pain.

“Gaius!”

“Release that thing now!” Xanadu tugged at Gaius’ right arm, but the palm remained glued to the wall. The boy was vaguely aware of some tremendous force pressing his palm onto the handprint, but strength continued to drain out of his body, replaced by what felt like boiling iron.

“He can’t,” said a robotic voice. In his addled state, Gaius couldn’t make out whether it was Xanadu’s Sprite, or his own Nexus, but his mind was unable to function much ever since he lost control of his own body. Someone, or something, was speaking to him, telling him words that Gaius couldn’t parse.

The sounds of blood rushing in his head began to subside as the boy crossed some sort of crescendo. The power surging into his palm was beginning to weaken, and the voice in his head had stopped speaking. Pain began to recede, leaving in its place an uncomfortable stiffness and chill.

As Gaius got up from his kneeling state, the wall his palm was stuck to faded away. The land rumbled once again, and spires of crystal began to break out from the ground with greater intensity. The bright sky began to dim, and an ominous wind began to blow.

A quake, one so deep that Gaius somehow felt that the whole place was beginning to fall apart, rocked the hallowed place of the great gods.

“It’s time to go!” Xanadu yelled. “This place is falling apart!”

Gaius stared at where the wall of words used to be, and began to run. Qi blasted outwards from his back and his feet, an action that was swiftly mimicked by Xanadu.

All around him, the land continued to warp and twist. Soil gave way to crystalline structures, their hue reminding him of the gemstones back at Heritage. As the exit appeared in Gaius’ vision, he rolled to the left, dodging a crystal spike that was growing outwards at a visible pace.

Spikes of luminous stone were springing up, their speed of doing so increasing by the second, and as he dodged a pillar of gemstones, a streak of dark lightning, laced with gold flickered across the sky, striking down on his back directly.

Gaius could sense a malicious will in that bolt of lightning, and with all his might, strengthened the barrier around him. The invisible layer of power around him lit up with a blinding glare, blocking the attack directly, creating an explosion that sent him flying towards the small door in his sight.

The barrier shattered as Gaius slammed onto the ground a metre or two away from the door, and as he rolled onto his back, spears of black-gold lightning appeared in his vision, hanging in the air.

Xanadu rushed past him, into the open doorway, as the spears of searing might streaked down upon Gaius. The boy reacted instantly. Qi rushed out from his body, propelling him through dirt and lush grass, sending him through the doorway and out of Takamagahara.

Golden flashes of light stabbed into the place right after the doorway into the hallowed ground, a sight that sent fear running through his nerves, even as he crashed into the wall opposite the doorway with a solid thump.

“That was close,” Gaius forced out, after a few good seconds of deep breathing. His body was still tingling with the pain he had just experienced a few minutes ago, and combined with the unexpected adrenaline rush of the sudden need to escape, the boy felt that he’d enough to not feel bored for a lifetime.

“You don’t say!” Xanadu retorted. “Why on Orb did you even touch that thing? You said it — it was glowing red! And you know what red means? Danger! Why did you even touch it!”

“I felt that it was my job to touch it!” Gaius replied.

“Oh, so you felt that it was your job? Are you crazy?” She pointed her finger at Gaius. “You, you, you—forget it, I’m done. You’re crazy and dangerous!”

She stormed off in a huff, but Gaius wasn’t really in the mood to chase her down and tell her that she’d broken their agreement. He looked at the doorway blankly, where a giant crystal wall had blocked off the passage entirely.

“I think your instincts need to recalibrate themselves, Master Gaius.”

“You too?” Gaius shook his head and got up from the ground. The wall he’d smashed into was somewhat dented, but it wasn’t anything a gold coin or two couldn’t fix, so he slotted in three gold into the cracks.

Isabelle, who was holding onto Nakama’s hand, suddenly appeared. “Gaius, I just saw the Phantom Blade run away from you. Did something happen? Are you alright?”

“Never been better,” Gaius replied automatically.

Isabelle nodded, and then took a step back as she saw the giant wall of crystal blocking the doorway. “What happened inside there?”

“It’s pretty,” Nakama murmured.

“That thing’s dangerous, so don’t touch it.” Gaius caught her outstretched arm, and a small pout appeared on his little sister’s face. “Things turned dangerous in there. I almost died too.”

“Died?”

“It’s a long story,” Gaius replied. The earlier pain now felt like a distant memory. Whatever that energy did, it had…revitalised him somewhat, but that was all. “Let’s get some grub while I tell you two about it.”