Death, Devotion, Dissonance

Endra\'s moment of death passed, but Evin wasn\'t satisfied.

"What?" 

"That\'s it?"

"Wasn\'t there a woman that sent him here somehow?"

"First of all, where are all the technologies and sciences that Endra described?"

As the countless questions appeared in his mind, the surge of memories abruptly ended. Evin\'s consciousness was pulled out of the golden plain; and after a brief moment of darkness, he found himself in his own body again.

"Is that all you need?" a voice was speaking nearby.

"Yes, of course. In fact, it\'s much more than I first expected." Lord Kena\'s voice. 

"In that case, thank you for everything you did for us."

Evin realized that it was himself speaking. His sight came back to him, and he realized he was sitting upright on the coach he fell asleep on.

"Your welcome. You should wake the boy now. Young Kal\'s Cosmic has arrived. He should at least say his goodbyes before you two depart for the Ashen Battlefield."

"I think he\'s just waking."

<What\'s going on?> Evin asked.

<Lord Kena just finished scouring through my memories. The spell made you unconscious, but since there was nothing life-threatening, we decided to continue without you,> Endra replied.

\'He doesn\'t know I saw his past?\' 

<How long did this take?>

<The spell? About three days.>

<What? That long?> 

<Yep. It also sounds like the problem with your family\'s all sorted. Now you just need to kiss them goodbye and then we\'ll head to Lady Twelve Jokes,> Endra replied.

<Alright.>

"Well, we\'ll be off then," Endra said to Lord Kena. 

"I hope she\'s able to help you out… And, my condolences. Regarding your past."

"Hah, don\'t worry about it."

With a sore body, Evin then went to say his goodbyes to his family.

The farewell did not take long. Evin gave each family member a hug and said he was sorry he couldn\'t accompany them. He told them he\'d visit them eventually, but for now, they\'d have to part. He reassured them, saying that the leader of all Northerners was going to take care of their safety personally, so there was no need for them to worry.

Honestly, most of them took the news well. Theor looked outright happy, Ssatsko looked conflicted, while Sasha and Lora looked simply too tired. It was a huge contrast to how they all looked a month ago. 

Evin felt guilty he had to make his family go through something like this, but he decided that it was better than having them dead. 

And it was going to get better. The past week was simply too adventurous for the average person. Having their home invaded, having to move to the North for safety, being chased around by some mysterious people, Evin having to fight and kill them, and now having their futures decided for them.

Thinking of the matter, Evin decided that none of the things happened was his fault. But it still didn\'t stop him from feeling guilty. 

Evin watched his family disappear through the Cosmic\'s portal with a heavy heart. He wanted to go sleep, but he knew Endra wasn\'t going to allow him the luxury. Or maybe he was?

<Can I get some sleep before we go?> Evin asked.

<But you slept for three days?> 

<I really don\'t feel like I\'ve slept for three days, though.>

<It happens to people sometimes. Sleep so much, but still feel drowsy. It\'ll pass. We wouldn\'t wanna keep an Aspect waiting, now do we?>

Reluctantly, Evin made his way towards the elevator that led outside. Sorn offered to accompany him, but he refused, feeling it\'d be awkward.

He appeared on the surface, and was met with the grisly sight of Khuutam city. Dirty, disheveled men and women of all ages were strewn across the street, each of them possessing a small, metal lump on their foreheads. The brand of prisoners. 

They looked at Evin with curiosity, their eyes gauging how easy of a target Evin would be. Evin didn\'t know what kind of laws were maintained in the city, but apparently, it was common for the prisoners to attack each other, and even some of the residents underground. 

They\'d be killed right afterwards, but they still chose to attack someone else. Evin couldn\'t get it. And to think all these people were mages and Hornbearers…

Pinching his nose, Evin made himself float, and instantly, the eyes of the onlookers steered away. They couldn\'t reach someone who flew above. The residents were all mages, but due to the metal brand on their heads, they couldn\'t take mana in. The slightest intake of mana would trigger the brand and it would penetrate their brain.

They also couldn\'t walk out of the city because of them. The moment they passed the poles which surrounded the city from all sides, the same fate would occur. 

Evin shook his head and flew westward, towards the Ashen Battlefield. Surprisingly, the flight cleared out his mind. His drowsiness cleared and he found himself in a better mood.

Half an hour later, he saw it. A vast expanse of gray land lodged into the otherwise endless green of the plains. It was an unnerving sight. Green, green, green, then suddenly gray. It was as if Evin suddenly turned colorblind. It took him some time to get used to it.

Evin tried to search for the blue-green tree from the sky, but a small mountain blocked his vision. He couldn\'t fly too high, due to how cold it got up there, so he contemplated flying around the Ashen Battlefield to search for the tree. 

He decided against it, considering that the mountain wasn\'t that far away from his side, and that it wasn\'t so tall either. If he could get atop it, surely, he\'d be able to find the tree immediately. 

Ruined remains of a building stood at the edge of the Ashen Battlefield. It wasn\'t really a fortification per se. It was a long, tall wall, which had an open row atop it. If it were hit by anything, it was going to topple Most likely, the Heavy Mages stood in a line on it and fired their spells at their enemies. 

Evin landed beside them, and sighed. The oppressiveness of the ketricite could be felt immediately. It almost felt like it was slowly expanding outwards.

It might really have been expanding. That was how they got so big in the first place, after all. No matter how much mages bombarded each other, they couldn\'t turn such a large piece of land into ketricite. In its earlier stages, a ketricite field would look like small patches of gray scattered across a battlefield. 

Soon, these small patches of gray would connect with each other, and the ketricite fields would slowly expand outwards. Evin heard that they stopped growing eventually, but Evin was still fearful of a future where the whole world would be covered in ketricite. 

Evin still stood at the edge of the field. He knew he was wasting time, but he really didn\'t want to walk in this black desert. Let alone meet this new Aspect. 

<Let\'s go,> Endra said, acting oblivious to Evin\'s worries.

Evin sighed again. \'This small bit of ketricite is nothing compared to a world without mana… Technically, I lived in one for roughly 30 years, haven\'t i?\'

Evin filled his body with World of Life energies, brought out his spear, and walked into the Ashen Battlefield. 

Even walking on ketricite felt weird. Raw ketricite was like very soft sand. It was almost like ash, but unlike ash, it didn\'t stick to your clothes and boots, and it didn\'t rise up dust so easily.

But it did take on shapes quite easily and it held its form rather strongly, as was apparent from the footsteps that Evin was leaving behind. Their shapes were so spot on that Evin even wanted to call them the most accurate footsteps he made in his entire life. 

"Huh." The thought made him realize something. 

<What?>

<I just realized I somehow ended up all alone. Didn\'t we leave the kingdom as a… what, a six-person group?>

<Well, you still got me.>

<Yeah, but what are we going to do if someone tries to ambush us here?>

<Who would do that?> Endra scoffed. <A bunch of bandits waiting for the stray traveler to walk into the ketricite field? Not even waiting. Hoping for it, coz I sincerely doubt anyone would want to come here, even if they\'re being chased.>

<But they can see my trail clear as day. What if they decide to follow me, seeing I\'m only one person?>

<We saw no one on the way here, so it\'s probably fine. And we did fly with an illusion.>

<Sigh, I guess you\'re right.>

<I am right.>

Evin shrugged and kept on walking. His worries did not dissipate. He felt naked, being unable to do half the things he could do with mana. The Apdenul energies circulating through his body helped, but there His core was still unused to the pressure of the ketricite, so perhaps he was feeling a bit antsy due to it.