Outside the Phoenix Temple, a stone structure made of redish rock and built into the side of a volcano, the two reappeared again, and Beliar immediately flew inside.
"Innos!" he shouted. "Innos, get over here, quickly!"
Woosh!
Innos appeared in the hall by stepping out of a flaming twist of space.
"Beliar? What happened?" Innos asked calmly as he straightened his robe. "Wait, Arrav?! What happened to him?!"
Beliar almost burst into tears, placing the old man on the ground, "Innos, you have to help him! He was struck by an assassin, I can't feel his Aura anymore!"
Innos quickly crouched down and placed his hand on the old man, feeling for his Aura.
Alas…
"It's gone…" Innos whispered, "Even his Divine Soul is gone, not a strand of it is left…"
After a momentary shock, Innos quickly accepted the fact that his old friend was dead. He slowly closed Arravs eyes that remained half-opened in his death and stood up.
"Beliar… What happened?" he asked.
"Assassins… They- They attacked and… And… I failed to notice them, and they…" Beliar's words became messy and difficult to understand as he started rambling incoherently.
"It's all my fault…" he gasped in realization. "It's all my fault! I should have listened to his advice and called for reinforcements! I killed him! Aaaah!"
"Beliar!" Innos shouted and grabbed his friend by the shoulders, "Calm down, you are not making any sense!"
At that moment, Innos felt the messy Aura Beliar was exuding, and combined with his sorry state, he came to a sudden realization.
Gasp!
"You used the Pillars?!" he gasped and took a few steps back. "You fool! Do you know what you've done?! Do you realize why that technique is forbidden?!"
"I- I had no choice… There were so many of them, I… I didn't have time!" Beliar stammered. Blood kept dripping from his ravaged hands and pieces of his skin kept slowly turning to dust.
"Just look at the state of you, you are so lucky to be alive! Come, we need to stabilize your body," Innos gestured.
"No! I- I need to… I know what must be done!" Beliar suddenly exclaimed. "I have allies in Atlantis, I'll ask them to help us!"
"Atlantis?! You have gone to their world?! Beliar, don't do anything stupid, now it's not the time!"
"Yes, when I traveled the Void… I'll borrow your Gate if you don't mind." He suddenly ran to one of the chambers in the temple and started feeding a stone platform with his energy. His body started decaying faster.
"Stop! Beliar, you are not in the right state of mind! The Pillars are affecting you, we need to get you healed first! And we already called for allies! Dwarves have already agreed to lend us a hand and our brothers across the ocean are also coming, so please..." Innos pleaded.
For a moment it even seemed Beliar would listen to reason, and even his eyes regained their clarity for an instant. But…
"I'm sorry," Beliar said and tossed a white orb to Innos. "All my recent memories are in there... I'll be back soon, take care."
"Beliar!"
The hall filled with white light and a low hum reverberated through the Temple. Beliar was swallowed by the blinding light, and a few seconds later, he was gone.
"Damn it Beliar! Why do you have to be like this?!" Innos posed the question to the empty room but received no response.
"One of these days… I swear I'll beat you up one of these days! You selfish…!"
Sigh!
Getting upset further would do him no good, so Innos quickly calmed his emotions.
"…Stay safe, brother."
***
"It has been months, and Beliar is still not back. Something must have happened to him, that's for sure."
"I still can't believe he used the Pillars… Doesn't he know the consequences?!"
"Sigh, of course, he does…"
Innos sat at a stone table with a white orb in hand.
"The war is intensifying… Even with our brothers' help and Dwarven muscle, the future looks grim."
"It's time for me to join the war. I'll empty the Temple and seal it. Hopefully, Beliar will come back soon."
"Beliar, if you are seeing this and the war is over then I'm most likely dead. Don't blame yourself, it's not your fault. Most likely the rest would have also dismissed the threat and…"
Innos released a deep breath and stopped talking. He took the orb and entered a room with shelves specially made for holding crystal spheres like that one.
"I'll take my apprentices now and seal the Temple. Hopefully the Phoenix Necklace will work as intended, otherwise…"
He shook his head and hardened his resolve.
"Anyway… Goodbye my friend, may we meet in this life or the next."