Varian jumped.
He was heading toward a white spiral which was just inside the outmost black spiral. But for absolutely no reason, his body began to spin toward the outermost spiral.
"Woaah!"
The three heirs were in a similar condition.
Their vision spun as they rotated like tops on overload and they were forced to close their eyes to keep their eyes protected.
When the spinning did stop, they were still descending. The bright white light from the adjacent white spiral began to flash on them and like a car blinker being turned on and off, their vision started going pure white and pure black.
'What the fuck is this?' Varian shielded his eyes in discomfort.
As their bodies were slowly taken to the black spiral, the light coming from any other place, particularly the adjacent spiral was blocked off.
They landed on…nothing.
In front of them was the spiral of darkness. It was too big for them to see it as a spiral anyway. To sight, seemed like a world of midnight.
They were halted right in front of this weird world, one step away from a place that reeked of mystery.
"So we step in?" Varian was in a hurry but knew he couldn't be reckless.
"Hold your aura tight." Prince Sohan said something incomprehensible and stepped forward.
The darkness devoured him and he disappeared into it. The princesses followed him with a grave expression.
It looked like he was walking into just another night street without moon or lights, but the darkness around him was…alive, it enveloped him like a blanket and pressed his senses inward, suppressing his perception of his immediate vicinity.
"Shit,"
Before he could adapt to the unfriendly environment, Varian hissed as he felt something inside him click.
Like a dam that's broken, the aura inside him slammed against his body, trying to get out.
Varian held it in. The experience was certainly weird and painful. It was as if he was about to burst out from the inside, exploding like an overblown balloon.
The aura tried to leak from his pores, ears, nose, and even eyes. If he gave it even the slightest leeway, it'd begin an irreversible escapade, leaving him drained.
"What the hell is this place?" Varian couldn't believe how low and strained his voice sounded.
Even if he's beaten black and blue in a battle for three days, he wouldn't sound this pathetic.
But now, if someone heard his voice, they'd think he was holding onto his last breath and uttering his final words.
"This place…" Sohan's voice wasn't any better.
Varian could roughly sense the man's silhouette even though he was just an arm's length away.
"Spirals Of Harmony, Forgotten Abode, Mother Of Ends, it has a lot of names," Maria said in a low voice.
"Lost Spiral is older than the Alliance, the Jai Empire, and possibly even the Primordial Tribes." Prince Sohan closed his eyes and enchanted his perception of the surroundings while he spoke.
Varian could've asked a lot of things. The history of this place, the reasons behind its creation, and its functionality.
But he didn't.
They weren't readily able to speak a lot in this environment. And his blinking wedding ring was telling him that Sarah was now closer to him than before.
It was clear that she was somewhere in the inner spirals. So, Varian asked the only question he'd ask.
"How do I get to the next spiral?"
"Just w…walk." Princess Bella stuttered a little and a sizable aura leaked out of her mouth. She shut tight and stopped talking to prevent any further mishaps.
"The first spiral. Aura Sink. You just have to walk to the next spiral." Sohan explained in her stead.
Even though the darkness seemed to be practically pulling out their aura, the Prince was able to speak. It was no odd feat.
Any normal warrior would've been embroiled in a desperate tug of war for their own aura with the surroundings.
The ones who could speak this freely would be dubbed as elites of the elites—the true pillars of the Alliance—which the three of them were.
"Just walk? That's it?" Varian was also facing difficulty in this place, but he seemed significantly more relaxed than them.
Sohan didn't say anymore after that and focused on stabilizing his condition. It's not that he didn't want to speak, he couldn't. Those few words already pushed him to the edge.
Maria sighed under her breath and continued where he left. "We It's not that simple."
"How is that hard?" Varian said and instinctually titled his head.
An arrow grazed his neck, cut his skin open, and split open his flesh. A moment later, blood spurted out of the wound and Varian's perception finally caught the few shadowy figures.
They were humanoid, pitch black from head to toe, almost like a ninja drawing by a 6-year-old.
Some of them had swords, a few spears, and others bows and arrows.
They had no signs of life, not even a shred of anything that an Assimilator could devour anyway.
"It's that hard." Maria pointed to the shadows and grunted.
As if they were teleporting, the shadows reached them without even running and thrust out their weapons.
Varian punched a shadow instinctually and it didn't even last a quarter punch. Like a soap bubble, the shadow popped.
But there was no smile on Varian's face. Only panic as his aura began to leak out of his arm like the floodgates were finally open.
"Damn it!"
He wanted to fix it right away but the shadows didn't give him any respite and attacked. Killing them was easy but the aura loss with every move was concerning.
By the time he killed the tenth shadow, Varian already lost a tenth of his aura. Each attack was consuming aura worth dozens of equivalent attacks.
It was a ridiculous situation.
Varian was at least okay but the three heirs were kneeling on the ground, panting heavily.
'Oh right, I'm like this even though I have massive aura reserves. They…they lost a quarter of their aura at least.'
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