Dhvani and Ajay watched the ritual of animals which seemed like they did every day. They all kneeled and then bowed their heads till they touched the ground. It would be fine if a human did it, but the animals doing the same made it magical. Where can you see such astounding moments? Tarsh, who was tagging along with them had no scruples like Dhvani did so, he quietly recorded everything. Dhvani didn't know why he bought a camera but Ajay gave him his credit card, and Tarsh went wild while buying stuff. That little guy even invested in shares. Ajay gave him a very approving look for that.
And now Dhvani gave him an approving look for his foresight and also his quick thinking to record this stuff. This kind of ritual, which no one could ever see was being staged in front of them now. So they had to savor this moment by recording it now and watching it later. Preferably with a bowl of snacks like popcorn or chips. Dhvani managed to catch her train of thought, forced it to stop, and concentrated on the scene before her. The animals hadn't noticed Ajay because they were very engrossed in their worship but, this would be deadly if someone with bad intentions was present here.
Dhvani felt that this was the kind of real worship where you concentrated on your work rather than noticing your surroundings. The energy stone, which was revealed after the animals parted the way was glowing in bright green light. The animals parted to let a bright red wolf out. That wolf seemed to be the priest because every other animal revered him. The wolf then quickly looked in the direction of Ajay, and Dhvani felt frightened by the look.
Ajay remained impassive and, Dhvani felt his attitude was admirable. Maybe this was the difference between a boss and rookie-level characters. The wolf had light grey ears and red fur and was majestic in appearance.
The wolf then howled and, all the animals quickly sat in their places. And then it spoke to Ajay.
"Esteemed outsider, what do you search for?" his voice was ethereal like a stream of water.
Dhvani felt she would be frozen if she faced this particular situation. Ajay quietly moved forward, reached where they would be standing, and gave the wolf a bow.
She knew it was etiquette. Because many people seemed to ignore this, the wolf was slightly surprised. The wolf realized his gaffe and then moved back and sat down in a leisurely manner. This, seemed like he was making up for his momentary freeze.
Ajay also sat on the ground cross-legged and Dhvani scrutinized each animal. They all look like ordinary animals but, their eyes reflect the wisdom of thousands of years. There were rabbits, deer, lions, tigers, many birds, and other animals which were behind them. Taken aback by herself, Dhvani tried to calm herself. She decided to be the audience in this matter.
"What is this place?"
"I presume that you found this place on the first try and that's why you could open the seal, "The wolf answered in a slow and leisurely way.
Dhvani analyzed this sentence and realized that if they hadn't found this place on their first try, they would have never found it in here entire lives. It's funny how fate worked. It also meant that the energy stone was not destined to stay hidden. She had no interest in it and, she felt that Ajay had the same feeling.
But the core members of the organization could be different. It didn't matter because no one would tell them the truth. They would lead their merry lives without knowing the existence of the spirit animals. And she honestly didn't want to disturb this beautiful place with human greed.
"So this place doesn't seem of this world?" Ajay got right into the topic as they conversed.
The wolf nodded lightly and, all the other animals instantly became dead still.
"We were blown into this time and space after the appearance of a comet. The comet made us all dizzy, and when we woke up, we were here. We couldn't come out of this barrier. The food here wasn't enough for us and we were nearly starving when this part of God's light appeared."
God's light? Was it the energy stone?
"Are you talking about the object of your worship?"Ajay asked him.
The wolf nodded.
"That is from your world?"
"No. Every world lives in God's light. It just changes its form. Here there is very less energy from God's light. So we couldn't survive. But after the stone came here, we can survive. "
"So each world requires this light. Then how was it broken into pieces then?"
"We think it's because the world is about to change. Or if any world changes within a realm, this kind of event happens. I have never witnessed this but it is written in the books of our temple. Each piece is golden and it will be silver when it is complete and all the pieces are fused together. "
"Is it dangerous?" Ajay asked him.
The wolf lay quiet for a long time and then sighed.
"Any change will cause chaos. But it will eventually lead to good. You can think that this is the way of nature. A rise, steady, and then fall. Like a cycle, each had to occur or there would be the end."
"How would you return to your world then?"
Ajay realized at asking questions about the future would not answer him anything but only result in getting more worries. Also, he was worried about reporting this matter. According to protocol, he should report it. But he knew that the result would be that the animals would be considered as some sort of specimen and then experimented on. He also had some kind of protective feeling towards them. Because of his affinity with the magic elements here, he felt what they said was the truth. And that they wouldn't harm others.
He could relocate them elsewhere but the question was where. Being at the top of the government and organization had its perks but it also gained him, surveillance. Any act of his would not go unnoticed. That's why he was against making Tarsh public before.
Unaware of his dilemma, Dhvani was in good spirits.
Tarsh being a naughty boy was soon attracted by a beautiful snow lion cub rolling at the end. His movement was soon felt by the other animals and they were dumbfounded when they saw the lion cub rubbing against his feet. Dhvani was dumbfounded because she felt that she was losing too much because of her virtual state. The snow lion cub was so cute that she wanted to rub his head. But when she noticed the looks of the other animals, she felt something wrong.
Ajay, for once, was on the same frequency as Dhvani. Their gaffe was broken when the wolf howled loudly and, then ran towards Tarsh. Ajay reacted quickly and rolled Tarsh into his arms. The wolf stopped and realized his impulsiveness.
"I'm sorry, but I couldn't control when we saw His Highness."
Now, what was that? Dhvani felt that this could be a worthwhile emotional rollercoaster, so she sat down on a cozy sofa and then listened attentively.
"Are you talking about Tarsh?"Ajay asked while holding the little guy out who still had chips in his mouth.
"Sir, he is a Spirit of the World. We all are like his subjects. All spirits consider him to be their ruler. Because of the fall of the Ancient Spirit Ruler, no other Spirit king was born again. It is said that once the spirit of the world is damaged, the world will be destructed. And our world is one with nature. Because of this, our world declined rapidly and now we are only pitifully left. The arrival of His Highness would turn over a new leaf for us. Our world won't be finished. We all worship His Highness as our ruler in the name of God's light. This oath is eternal and death will not undo it."
All the animals knelt before Tarsh and Ajay saw their unwavering firmness and belief. He felt happy that it wasn't his problem now but considering that it was Tarsh's problem gave him a massive headache. Tarsh was his responsibility so the question went round and round and finally landed on him.
So he decided to push this problem to the culprit first.
"System Status," he thought.
Dhvani got up and sat upright to reply to her standard answer.
["ONLINE."]
"Do you have any way to relocate all these animals?"
Dhvani had no way so she had to buy some time to think of good rhetoric.
["Analysing the problem. Please wait, host."]
She quickly contacted Tarsh and the guy disappeared. Ajay was dumbfounded and before he could utter a word, Tarsh was back.
"Tarsh, those animals want to go with you. But where can they live? What do you think?"
"Sister, they can live with me."
He answered the question well so she let him go out.
The little guy had a good way for everyone to coexist without any problem. And they were his subjects anyway.
"Brother, they can live with me. I have a space. They can live here but I have no food."
Dhvani also realized this problem but it wasn't hard for Ajay.
"I can provide food. Then it is decided."
The wolf seemed happy and conveyed everything to all the animals and they seemed to be bursting with joy.
"Thank you, Your Highness and Esteemed Visitor. Without you two, we would die with the seal broken. Not only did you break our seal, but you also gave us a way to live. We will work hard to repay our debt."
Now the problem was collecting everything here and they had no food to wait many days. Dhvani felt that she could reward Ajay for his good work.
[System Reward]
[Hiddion Mission progress]
[100-kilogram rice and vegetable gift pack]
Ajay quickly accepted it and everyone quickly cooked the food. Here Ajay noticed how each animal had the magical ability.
The Wolf Priest who was named Param had earth magic. The birds naturally had air magic. And the aquatic animals had water magic. Only the snow lions had Space magic. While foxes had fire magic. He realized how much magic was connected to everything in the world and he gradually became one with the magic being used.
They lived like this for one day before a scout bird relayed that the temperature of Ice World was decreasing. That would be a major problem if it was discovered after Ajay came on a mission here.
So all of them started to search for the reason. Ajay decided that they should all move to Tarsh's space and only Param and the eagle lord, Tej should come with them. First, Ajay asked Tarsh to move the energy stone to his space.
After they all moved to the space with their belongings, which was just Tarsh waving his hands and all the animals disappearing, Ajay set out. The four-member team consisted of three of them looking out from the ground and Tej, the eagle lord from the sky.
They moved for a long time but they didn't find anything during the day. They waited for the sun to rise before searching again. Dhvani was quite bored so she decided to check her mall again.
There were still the same items but another page was unlocked. There were many novel things this time. Like underwater breathing pill (intermediate level), face masking technique, Light in the dark, Shadow Cloak, and a pocket house.
She liked all those items but the unlocking requirements were only level 15 and 50000 skill points. She was very optimistic about this page.
The night passed without any events and when the first rays of sunlight fell, the surroundings changed slowly. No one felt this gradual change but the cooling temperature started to rise again. The team woke up and found themselves in a desert with sand dunes and bubbles floating everywhere. Looking at the endless sand, Dhvani felt she finally got her death wish fulfilled.