Chapter 82 - Memory Fragments (1/2)
”Sure, adventurer. One hardly ever finds someone recognized by the lords. Moreover, the prophecy that indicates dark times to start again. It would my honor to help you. Please, follow me,” said Luciophel.
He quickly led Shadow past the altar through a door. There were stairs which led downward beyond the door and these were guarded by a bunch of paladins. The guards bowed to Luciophel as they opened the door at the bottom of the stairs and let them in.
In this room, there was another altar similar to the one above it. It was also larger than the one on the floor above. ”This is the true altar of the temple. The one above channels a small amount of the power from this one,” said Luciophel. ”The true altar is extremely powerful, and we can't let every person have access to it. So, we put it in the hall to placate the followers.”
”Oh!” said Balthazar confused. He had no idea why he was brought to this area. ”What are we doing here?” he asked.
”There has been a prophecy that the dark forces which the twelve lords defeated would rise again and the land would enter a state of unrest. I only know that your mask has some relation to the lord of shadows, but what it requires you to do is something only you can figure out,” said Luciophel pointing to the altar.
”Please, touch the altar with your hands, while I activate it. Its advice is only for you to know,” said Luciophel as he began to channel mana into his hands. He soon weaved a spell as a ball of light was formed in his hand which threw at the altar.
As soon as the spell ball came into contact with the altar, the power from the ball dissipated into the altar. It began to shine as a lot of runic patterns appeared on it. They began to crawl all over the altar as a small halo began to form over it. This continued for nearly a minute till the halo expanded to a diameter of three feet. It was covered in a bright glow and looked like a spiked wheel. This slowly moved towards Balthazar till it was directly on top of him.
A circular screen of light came down from the halo forming a cylinder which covered him. By the time, Balthazar reacted he was teleported somewhere else. It was similar to the teleportation that happened during his quest underwater, except that he was transparent and like a ghost hovering in the air.
His first impression of his surroundings was that he was in vast ground filled with dead bodies and smell of blood and decay permeated the air. Though he was like a ghost, he could smell, see and feel even the movements of the air around him, but he couldn't physically or magically interact with anything.
He immediately realized that he wasn't transported to any place but that it was a memory fragment. Memory fragments were quite common in vita-nova. In later stages of the game apart from the usual video recording devices, memory recording devices were also available. It provided an experience which would make a person as he himself lived it. Moreover, he could view the memory from different positions and even float and move around in the air like a ghost.
But memory recording devices unlike normal video were extremely pricey and not easy to procure. He never expected that memory fragments like these were there from the starting day of vita-nova. He always thought that the memory recorders began after upgrades. He realized that idea was probably from the start, but players probably only came to know about them later and also recording devices were found later. Every hour, he seemed to realize that some of the things he thought were common knowledge and obvious stuff, might not be true.
”I am clearly in a memory at the site of some war,” he thought as he floated up in the air. Even at a height of some hundred feet from the ground, all he could see was fights and killing between various factions. Even the air space was filled with many entities fighting each other. As he was observing the fights, a sudden shockwave emanated from a distance which he couldn't even see.
He had no idea of the source of the shockwave, but he could clearly feel it. He floated back in its direction due to the wave for a few meters before he could stabilize himself. He could see a few bodies on the ground burst into mist and many other both on the ground and air were struck away from the source by the force of the shockwave.
He soon saw a large black mass flying towards him from what seemed to be the source of the shockwave. As it neared him, a dark mist covered it which slowed down its flight and put it on the ground. A 6-foot tall man in red armor suddenly appeared beside it and the mist disappeared into him, revealing a large black dragon. The man was also bleeding from his head.
It was bleeding from a large number of cuts and holes on its body and its wings were torn off the body. It was a gruesome sight to watch even on a large fearsome black dragon. Though he watched many death scenes and escaped the explosion in the citadel, he still found it to be very morbid.
The man caressed the dragon and started tending to its wounds. ”You were reckless. If we fought with the others, we could have avoided a lot of damage,” said the man as tried to stop the bleeding. Tears were rolling down the eye sockets of his headgear and mixed with all the blood on his gear.
”That would have caused a lot of damage to the land. Despite being outcasts, all of us were never on the same page. They would have never come here in time,” came a deep voice from the dragon.
”We were always destined to be alone, my friend. I just hoped that I would accompany you all our lives, but it looks like it might no longer be possible,” the dragon continued.
”Don't be stupid. I will save you. The others have noticed the attack and have come here and that's why I managed to come to you. We can heal you,” said the man.
”You never tell the truth. Do you? I know my condition better than anyone else. That attack even hurt my soul. I can't even be resurrected,” said the dragon as the man began openly crying and sobbing as he lay his hands against the snout caressing the dragon.
”I got a last wish. Make sure all those 13 monsters are dead. Don't let them return back and attack later. Promise me that you will never let them rest in peace,” said the dragon.
”I promise you that they shall never escape this land. Even if they do, I will follow them to the edges of the rudrum orbis to assassinate their entire lineage,” said the man as waves of mana escaped out of him as he promised in anger.
The last embers of life extinguished from the eyes of the dragon, the second the man promised to avenge her. The man closed the dragon's eyes and held the claws of the dragon in his hands and further promised, ”I will make sure their lives are taken by your own hands. This is the best I can do for you.”