The morning breeze was cold, and the sky was cloudy, a heavy silence dominated the Inn. A few adventurers could be seen seated on the bar counters having breakfast, most tables however were empty, perhaps due to how early it was.
The sound of footsteps followed by loud laughter interrupted the silence, as 2 young man and 2 woman headed down from their rooms towards the bar counter.
"Did we have to wake up this early Allen? In the name of Ysion the Gate ain't going anywhere" said Lana while rubbing her still sleepy eyes.
"For once I agree with floppy ears over here, it's way to early Allen." Added Collin yawning
"Who you calling Floppy ears?!"
"Keep it down you two, my head still hurts from all that drinking of yesterday."
"Then why wake up now you know we could at least sleep a couple more hours right miss Laura?"
Scratching her cheek in embarrassment "Oh, actually it was me who asked Allen to go early."
"Ah! Ha-Ha Why did you not say so earlier! Don't mind the lazy magician, let's go Laura!" Said Lana while grabbing Laura's hand and leading her to an Empty table, while Collin and Allen just facepalmed in defeat.
It did not take the group long before they finished their meal and embarked towards the gate. Once close to it they could see a large number of soldiers from different kingdoms stationed in camps near the entrance.
The gate itself was not fully opened, only a small part of it nonetheless it was enough for even a Dragon to enter considering the sheer size of it the opening was really insignificant, that said nothing could be seen past the entrance as it was darker then Zuhnir's realm himself.
A huge line of adventures could already be seen as they slowly disappeared past the entrance, so far none of the people that entered have come back but that did not seem to discourage anyone from going in anyways.
"God It sure is bigger once you are near it." Remarked Allen while whistling in admiration.
"Indeed"
**************
POV: Collin
It did not take long before it was our turn to enter, Laura stepped first through the door and soon vanished followed by Allen and Lana. I took a deep breath to brace myself from whatever it was to come before I took one step in and disappeared.
The feeling was strange, kind of like using a teleportation portal it left you a bit disoriented, and dizzy. It did not take long however before I regained my footing and noticed my surroundings.
Around me Laura, Lana and Allen stood dumbfounded while they inspected our surroundings, I could hardly blame them however for I was more in shock myself. All around us was a beautiful Plain, no beautiful is understatement, it was Gorgeous even that does not give the plains it's justice.
There was a small road leading us to somewhere, but it strangely stopped behind us as if where we stand was the start of the road while on both sides And behind all matters of colorful flowers could be seen each one glowing brightly like a gem, each a treasure in it's self there were even ones with colors I have never seen before in my life, and it was all as far as the eye can see a literal sea of treasures just waiting to be picked, the sky however was strange it was an eerie gray color with no sun in sight, however the whole place was strangely illuminated as if it was day...
I could already see some adventurers ahead of us who were tempted by the beauty of the flowers and were trying to take some with them, but apparently none could take even one of it's roots, I was even more tempted to go try myself as I could sense some of these flowers have huge amounts of Mana stored in them, just as I was about to step off the road and try my luck, a hand to my shoulder stopped me.
Laura Looked at me and shook her head while her hand was on my shoulder, I did not understand until she pointed at the adventures who were trying to get the flowers, they were all off the road and on top of the field of flowers, when they finally realized the futility of their actions however and wanted to go back on the road, all could find something akin to an invisible barrier stoping them from getting back on track, that sight made me stop in my tracks and retreat back to the middle of the otherwise normal dirt road.
"S-Should we move?" I asked trying to hide my nervousness.
"I think we should." Replied Allen
Lana turned her head towards Laura who was strangely quiet "What do you think Laura?"
We were all waiting for her response when she quickly took her sword out and whispered.
"Something is coming..."
At that Allen swiftly moved over in front of all of us and slammed his giant shield towards the ground, I moved back a few steps behind with Lana and started channeling my Mana in preparation for whatever it is to come.
An eerie silence soon overtook the plains as even the adventurers stuck outside of the road took notice of the strangeness of the situation, the whole world suddenly seemed to dim and absurdly turned pitch dark, all except for the road that was illuminated, everything else however was pitch black and we found ourselves unable to see anything beyond the road, the colorful field of flowers was no more, in its place was ominous darkness, as if the jaws of Zuhnir himself threatening to drag us to it's depth.
We could hear the relentless adventures stuck outside the road when suddenly far to our right one of them, a magician casted an illumination spell, we only got to briefly glance at his face before he was dragged deeper in the darkness by something, all the while he was screaming.
"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!"
"Hell If I know Lana just be ready, i'll take care of our front miss Laura, please protect our rear, and Collin snap out of It!"
"Y-yes no need to tell me!" I replied while Laura silently moved behind me and Lana which made me feel a lot safer and thank Ysion that she even agreed to join us in this hell, we barely just entered and I already found myself regretting it...