Worshipper Arc: Chapter 14. Ava
Valoran and the others stare at something unusual in a more open space.
"What is this?" Cera asks with curiosity.
"I-I have no idea" Sage responds nearly being speechless.
"I have never seen something like this before…" Alesia remarks.
"Stay back from it." Aleister instructs.
"Yeah…Good idea" Egor comments.
What they stare at is a giant magic crystal with a blonde female inside and her eyes are closed.
Valoran analyses the crystal and the magic being emitted from the crystal which was in fact the strange magic trail's source.
"It's an ancient spell that traps this person in this magic crystal" Valoran informs the others, stepping closer and closer toward the mysterious magic crystal.
"Can we do something to free her?" Tiara asks out of sympathy.
"No. Please stay back all of you, this crystal is dangerous. Not only is this crystal enchanted with a powerful sealing spell, but also the spell extrem (extermination magic), the moment you try to break the sealing spell, extrem (extermination magic) activates killing the person, however this variant is much stronger, so strong in fact that Gods themselves would be exterminated completely, down to the very idea of that God's existence, which leads me to believe that this spell must have been placed by a powerful God of Death" Valoran explains.
The others cannot really follow Valoran's words and stand behind him rather confused.
Valoran senses a slight sign of life from the girl sealed inside the crystal.
Valoran casts the spell astral (telepathy magic) to try and speak with her using his mind. Although the crystal cancels out any magic Valoran's telepathy still reached the girl without struggle.
"Can you hear me?" Valoran asks the girl.
Valoran after a few minutes receives a response: "Yes" A beautiful female voice can be heard inside Valoran's head.
The others can't hear one word and still are confused about what is going on.
"Do you mind if I ask you some questions?" Valoran asks.
"Not at all" The female
"Who are you? Why are you sealed in this Cave inside the magic crystal?" Valoran questions.
"My name is Ava…or I should say was. I was once a servant of the last Magic King, when he fell I was imprisoned here by a God of Death rather than killed like all the other followers" She explains in regret.
Valoran was slightly shocked to hear that after 4000 years someone who served the last Magic King was speaking to him.
"Greetings Ava. My name is Valoran Silver. You mentioned "was", are you telling me that your physical form died and we look at your astral body?" Valoran questions curiously.
"Yes. What you all see is my astral body which for reasons I don't understand will not move on to the after life" She answers.
Valoran then explains to her why this is the case: "Your body was sealed with this magic crystal using the ancient sealing spell Yuil (Sealing Magic), an Astral body is the very idea of someone's existence which looks like your physical body, filled with all your magic from your fragment"
"I see and because my Astral body contains all the magic power from my fragment, Yuli (Sealing Magic) sealed that magic in here therefore my astral body is trapped" Ava realises.
"Indeed." Valoran replies.
The others are still in the dark about what is going on in front of them.
"What do you think these two are discussing?" Cera questions.
Aleister faces her slightly. "I do not know. But I believe in that boy, he will get us out of here" He says with a smile.
"Reven saw something in that kid, I am beginning to see what he saw. It's his morals, smarts and power but most of all his kindness" Egor expresses with a smile.
Everyone now has faith in Valoran.
"I have another question if you don't mind?" Valoran questions.
"Please go ahead." Ava replies.
"From the moment we entered the cave, I sensed your magic within the cave, even the atoms making up the caves are filled with your magic. My question is, are you the reason why the cave itself changes thereby creating new paths and dead ends?" Valoran questions.
"Yes indeed. I was able to infuse some magic into the cave itself." Ava responds.
"Why? Because of that many adventurers have become lost here, because of you, countless adventures never saw the light of day again." Valoran declares rather angered.
"It was never my intention to do such a thing, I tried to protect them by cutting off the Arachantors from these adventurers, however most of the magic is sealed within the crystal, which leads to almost no control over my actions, I am so sorry for all the deaths I have caused." She apologises with regret.
Valoran who now understands and sees for himself that she is in deep regret is no longer frustrated with her.
"It's me who's to blame. I should have not spoken to you that way, knowing your kind nature I should have realised that you are pure of heart" Valoran apologises.
Ava is happy hearing those words.
Valoran then has a surprise for her: "What if I told you that I can free you from your eternal tournament, I can free your Astral body and let you find peace." Valoran explains.
Ava is speechless and cannot believe those words.
"Please don't make false claims. My torment is absolute" Ava says with deep sorrow.
"I never make a promise that I can't keep." Valoran replies.
Valoran takes a couple of steps further.
Analysing the crystal in great detail. "Let's free you from this torment" Valoran declares with determination.
Valoran stretches out his right arm, a red magic circle the size of his hand appears, and at an instant a purple magic circle appears on the magic crystal that seals Ava.
Cera, who is interested in magic, steps forward to see for herself what is happening. "This magic…it's…special" She says almost speechless.
"Wait!" Aleister instructs.
"It's fine, nothing will happen to her and any of you" Valoran reassures Aleister.
Now, following Valoran's reassurance, everyone also moves in closer to get a better look at what is going on.
Valoran faces the group of people, he sees each one of them being clueless and yet amazed to see what is going on, especially Cera has taken great interest.
He then begins to clear up the mystery: "You see, Ava here is long gone…well her physical body that is. However the magic crystal has been made up of various spells, one which is the sealing spell Yuli, this spell has the ability to seal magic itself, given that Ava was a powerful subordinate for the Magic King her astral body and of course her fragment was sealed within this crystal"
Everyone is shocked to hear that Ava served the Magic King.
"Did you just say Magic King?" Cera almost yells in disbelief.
"She must have been trapped in here for 4000 years, given that's how long it was since he was defeated" Aleister remarks.
"That poor girl." Alesia says with sympathy.
"She is strong, she endured so much suffering, please Valoran set her free" Egor asks Valoran kindly.
Valoran nods in agreement: "I have promised her that very scenario myself, and I intend to keep it"
"What are you doing right now?" Sage questions with curiosity.
"Right now I am destroying the sealing spell Yuri." Valoran replies.
"But I can sense a dangerous kind of magic, it smells of death." Tiara remarks.
"This crystal is also made out of a dangerous and powerful spell called extrem (extermination magic), the moment you try to destroy the sealing spell , it destroys the magic user by that I mean gone, the end not even your idea remains it deletes you on a level beyond being nothing. Some Gods would perish if they attempted to break the seal, which leads me to the conclusion that a seriously powerful God placed this spell." Valoran concludes.
"Is she the reason why the cave itself changed?" Aleister questions.
Valoran turns his head slightly: "Yes, she tried with the tiny portion of control she had to cut off dangerous beasts like Arachnators off from any adventures, unfortunately it was not enough and they faced those beats anyway or got lost in here." Valoran states with sorrow.
Valoran then manages to break the spell, and the crystal shatters, although extrem was activated it did not affect Valoran.
Ava's astral body begins to slowly come out of the now shattered crystal.
She levitates above Valoran and the others.
"Thank you for freeing me from this nightmare"
"She's so beautiful…" Tiara comments.
Everyone stares at Ava's beauty without saying a word, as they cannot find words to describe her beauty, the gold aura emitted from her, the beautiful golden hair and her white dress, which all cannot be touched by any one from the physical world.
She levitates closer to Valoran: "Thank you for freeing me Valoran Silver I can see that you will become the next Magic King to destroy all evil and protect the weak, that's something only you can do"
Valoran reaches out his right arm for a handshake. "I promise if I become the next Magic King I will destroy all evil that is foolish enough to stand in my way. I will protect the weak and the innocent" Valoran promises with determination.
Ava shakes his hand which is strange since no one should be able to.
After the handshake Ava's body now begins to turn into thousands of gold particles and disappears into the afterlife.
One of those particles flies directly on Valoran perhaps as a sign of Ava always being there for him as the next Magic King perhaps , or just being grateful toward him.
Now something else happens, the entire cave begins to shake and fall apart…