Several thousand miles away, beyond the Darknar Forest, at the edge of a cliff by the raging Red River, the wind was cold, and the night was dark. However, the multitude of stars and the full moon expelled most of the darkness.
Two figures moved at incredible speed toward the cliff, coming to an abrupt halt at its edge overlooking the raging current of the Red River. "Should we jump?" one of the two female figures asked the other in a fluster as she frantically stared at the bottom of the cliff and over her shoulder.
"Do we have a choice? It's either the water or him. I'd rather take my chances with the river." "But..." She didn't wait to hear a reply as she immediately jumped off the cliff. The other female contemplated for only a second, pursing her lips in a bid to complain but ultimately deciding against it as she too jumped off the cliff into the untamed waters below.
The cliff returned to its previous calm for only a short while. Three other figures appeared in the distance, dashing towards the cliff at almost the same insane level of speed as the previous figures. They also came to a stop at the edge of the cliff, looking at the waters below. Among them were two men and a woman. The larger, well-built man asked, waiting for confirmation like a trained soldier:
"Should we jump after them?"
"No need. If they survive the jump, the current will take them towards the more dangerous region of the Darknar Forest. If the monsters don't finish them, a demon scout will," said the slimly built man with a long face and without a change in expression. He had short silver hair and dark skin with long pointed ears.
After staring at the waters below for a while, his bright golden eyes dimmed until they were now dark brown. He turned around and said to his two companions, "Let's return before we are discovered."
"Alright."
The other two nodded slightly and turned around to follow closely behind. The female who was wearing a silver mask turned her head around for a second to take a look at the river below the cliff. 'Stupid,' she thought before turning back to follow her team.
••••••••••••
Along the Red River near the Darknar Forest, two figures could be seen swimming against the now docile current, headed for land. They slowly crawled out of the water with all their strength, stood up, and walked slowly. Their movements were weak, and each step was harder than the last. Still, they managed to walk all the way to a large rock by the side of the river in order to rest. They were obviously out of breath and panting heavily.
Fighting against the river's current was hard enough, but doing so while avoiding all the dangerous monsters in the water had clearly taken a toll on them.
The first to exit the river had raven-black hair that only extended to her neck, with light green eyes and a thin face. Her nose and eyes were well-proportioned, and her lips were cherry red, a little thin but full, which complemented her dark skin and long pointy ears. Even wet and covered in dirt, it did nothing to hide her beauty.
"Are you alright, Liz? How's the leg?" she said, turning her head to look at her companion with a hint of concern in her voice. "I'm fine. My leg's not broken. I just twisted it a little in the landing," Liz said with a faint but charming smile on her face. She was a little pale; her fair skin looked almost as white as snow, but her dazzling blue eyes were glistening with life. She had soft facial features, and her long blonde hair was tied in a ponytail to allow easy movement. Even in her current condition, one could tell she was quite beautiful as well. The Red River wasn't exactly known for being clean, so the two women did not come out without being covered in dirt. Perhaps it was why monsters liked it, or maybe it was a result of their hard work.
Both ladies were wearing dark-colored, easy-to-move-in clothing. It was undoubtedly covered in dirt and hard to decipher. "Don't worry, Rain. I won't slow us down."
"That's not what I'm worried about, and you don't need to stand yet. I'm sure they won't follow us this far, but we can't stay here for long." Rain held Liz's shoulders and stopped her from standing up. She looked around, then pursed her lips and continued. "I think we can rest here for a while. The strong monsters in the forest won't approach the Red River. Anyone who does, I can easily handle myself. Once we rest for a few hours, we should head down the river to the Demon King's fallen castle. As long as we don't get spotted by scouts when sneaking in, we can rest and recover there for a month or two before seeking refuge from the Daki tribe in the Eastern borders."
After saying that, she stood up slowly and said, "Wait here a bit. I'll get some dry wood we can use to start a fire. After all, I am not a demon like you. I don't have as much resistance, and I can't see at night without magic." Rain smiled, without waiting for a response, and started to walk towards the forest in search of dry wood.
Liz wasn't able to interrupt her friend as she had already started rambling, and she talks pretty fast. She could only smile and say in a low but sweet voice, "Alright, be careful." Rain did not stop, nor did she turn her head as she just waved her hands, indicating that she was aware. She soon disappeared into the woods.
Liz was left to her thoughts and the pain she felt in her legs. She had underplayed the injury to her leg when she had jumped after Rain down the cliff. Although she did not have a broken bone, she was sure the bone in her legs had fractured. If she was human, she would have died on impact. Neither she nor Rain could use wind magic well enough to break their fall and flying would just make them an easy target. Besides, they were already out of Mana at that moment and were unable to try anything else.
'Even though all the high-level demons and the five families are fighting with each other on who would become the next demon King, they still send scouts to monitor the castle to prevent any one of them from getting desperate and doing something stupid. We should be really careful. It seems this might actually be the less dangerous plan.' Liz had let her thoughts wander as she waited for Rain to return. This region was mostly abandoned, but several key locations were claimed by the powerhouses in the demon continent. So if they got caught by one on their way, they wouldn't get off easy.
••••••••••••
Astrology magic was a technique meant to use the stars alongside one's Mana, complimented with a corresponding magic Circle to do things such as divination, fortune-telling, and many more. It could also be used to calculate the date by receiving the exact rotation of the planet you're on, by picking up on the wavelength of every single living organism that had formed a conscious network of information which can also be used to tell one's location and even time.
This kind of magic was not actually rare, but using it was a different story as most mages could only tell the time with it. To tell the date was a little more difficult, but it didn't have any special requirements as long as one knew the corresponding magic circle. It was important to picture it perfectly unlike other forms of magic that allowed for little mistakes. So as long as you could do that and were not stupid, even someone as weak in magic as Tyler would be able to use it.
As for divination, it would take someone really special to be able to receive any feedback.
After being dumbfounded for a while, Tyler took deep breaths and calmed down. After all, this was better than death by drowning, a fate he had been sure would happen. He walked back into the room and sat down on the sofa he was sitting on before. The night was cold, but it didn't bother him too much. Perhaps he was used to the cold or maybe he now had better resistance.
'Hmm, what am I supposed to do now? I've been in a coma for a thousand years, and I'm sure all my former friends are probably dead by now, right? I don't even want to go back to the Human continent again. Those assholes used me and my team as cannon fodder, and when we got captured, they didn't even bother rescuing us and just started bombarding the place.' He furrowed his brows as he had been reminded of something truly unpleasant. 'I guess I'll stay the night here and head for somewhere else by morning. It might be too dangerous to stay at the Demon King's Castle since I'm not aware of the situation in this era.'
"Umm, maybe I should go to the elf's continent?"
'No, that's probably a bad idea. After all, they don't really like humans that much. They don't care much for other races, and they didn't take any sides during the war, remaining neutral.' Tyler stood up as he paced back and forth. 'I don't know if that has changed during the last thousand years, but it's better not to take any chances. Damnit, with that logic, no continent might be safe, and with my level, I might not even make it out of the Demon continent alive.'
He went back to take a seat as he massaged his temples. 'I should try finding a weapon first, and maybe some supplies. Even though I have been awake for almost seven hours, I'm not hungry at all. But that might just be a side effect of sleeping so long, or is it more accurate to call it a coma since I hit my head on the way down.' Tyler frowned a little as he got up to explore the other areas of the castle. It was better to find anything that would be of help to him now that he was still full of energy, but as soon as he took a step forward, he noticed something. There was another door in the room next to the bathroom door.
Even though the room was very large, or maybe it was because it was so large, Tyler had carefully observed it when he first entered. There was only one other door to the room, and it was the bathroom door. The balcony had a different set of doors that looked nothing like the two other doors.
When he had entered the room, the first thing he had seen was the very large bed positioned in the far end of the room directly opposite the door. There was a desk to the right of the room as well as a small empty bookshelf and the entrance of the balcony. Opposite that was the bathroom door. Now, however, there were two doors. 'When did... is my memory still messed up?'
Tyler was stumped at first before he remembered where he was currently standing. 'That's right. Not having something strange happen in the Demon King's chambers would be the truly weird part in this.' After coming to this conclusion, he decided not to investigate the new door. After all, that's how most horror movies take a dark turn.
Tyler then headed for the door leading to the hallway. He only took a few steps when a cold breeze blew through his skin, sending a chill down his spine.
Thump, thump, thump...
His heart was beating faster and louder.
Step, step, step...
Each step he took was getting heavier as he got closer and closer to the door that led to the hallway. He took one more step, then turned his head slightly towards the strange door that had appeared out of nowhere, only to see it tightly shut as if nothing had happened. 'Was it all in my head?' He couldn't figure out what was going on, and he couldn't feel any malice or danger from the door. The only reason he wanted to leave was that this was the Demon King's chambers, although it wasn't like his intuition was that great to begin with.
Turning his attention back to the door in front of him that led to the hallway, he strangely felt a sense of danger coming from it. It was an innate fear that was creeping into his core.
He had an alarming feeling that opening this door would have terrifying consequences. 'What's going on here? Why is leaving a more dangerous choice?' Tyler was confused. He didn't know if this was some kind of deceitful spell or if he should trust his instinct. After all, he had been drifting in and out of consciousness for a thousand years. He hadn't trained for all that time, maybe his senses got crossed because he hadn't been using them for so long.
After a few seconds of deliberation, he decided to study the strange door first before making a decision. He took a couple of steps and didn't feel the pressure he felt before, so he just continued and arrived at the strange wooden door. It looked almost identical to the other two doors but had what he would consider magic runes inscribed on it.
Tyler then began to study all the little details in the door, but he didn't notice anything special about it apart from the little writings. 'Umm, it might just be a secret room that the Demon king kept his most prized possession. Did he use a concealment spell? If so, why couldn't I leave? Is it part of the spell?' Tyler came to a conclusion based on his previous experience with magic. He didn't study much, but he had a Tier 3 secret mage as one of his party members.
Secret mages were generally good at concealment spells, so he had seen a few of them in his time as an adventurer. Tyler decided to open the door after some deliberation. It wasn't because he was careless and not cautious, but because it might be the only place in the castle that was not raided.
This might be the only place he could find a weapon in the castle. That way, he wouldn't have to wander the Demon continent unarmed.
He placed his hands on the doorknob, then turned it and pushed.
Creak...
Tyler stood in front of the strange door he had just opened with vigilance, only to see the content of the room in front of him. There weren't any weapons or any signs of danger.
The interior was full of rows and rows of tall shelves filled with books, different types of books and scrolls that he had never seen before. The weird part was, unlike the rest of the castle, there wasn't a single speck of dust in the room. Or maybe it was a hall. A very large hall that looked as clean as the day it was built.
This was not what Tyler was expecting. This was a library, and judging by the books on the shelves and the carvings on the walls, this was no ordinary library.
This was a Magic Library.