The gang enjoyed fresh warm pizza in a flower filled park, celebrating G's impressive victory and his new attitude. Then Chyribdys came in, seeming taller than before. His powers seemed to be reviving more now, and his he was beginning to regrow his own scales. "Ah it feels much better to be in my own body, somewhat. I'm still not able to use my power to it's fullest at least. Now everyone, time for your next lesson." he said. Everyone looked at each other wondering what he was talking about. What more was he able to teach him, draconic spells, maybe a faster way to fly? However Chyribdys clapped his hands together and the entire landscape began to suddenly go pitch black, and then show an entire cave with sharp stalactites and stalagmites all around with light shining from large holes from the surface, and the environment seemed to have been layered over with a different texture. It felt like genuine rock, but they knew they were still in the park somehow. "Welcome to the Lair of Fafnir. This is my own Magyk Zone, but it's layered over reality. Only we are inside it, like ghosts. Here we will learn about Magyk Zones, or Soul Dimensions. Or you could call them Soul Domains." he explained. No one really understood what exactly he was talking about. The concept seemed to be simple, but the inner systematic execution of it was too complex to think of. They all tried it, however they were just straining to force out a power they didn't entirely understand. Chyribdys watched for a few minutes before he made them all stop, and his Domain was gone. He then showed all of them what was inside of his own soul, and it was the cave they were just in.
Rikusa sat down, meditating about what was inside of his own soul. He wished to impress everyone by trying at his Soul Domain. He saw plant life, and saw himself, barely dressed yet powerful. However when he tried to draw that Domain outward, it was harder than he thought it was, trying to use his weapon to summon forth his Domain. He rested a bit, wondering what he was missing. Morgan gave it a try next, envisioning a realm of bright darkness, with plant life that shimmered in the dark, and fireflies fluttering around. She began to imagine the Domain coming from her body, however it wasn't working and she could barely manage to overlap it over reality. She rethought the process of how it was done, but G was already manifesting his own Domain, causing the texture to change into that of a beautiful underwater reef, full of all sorts of fish, with the sun shining over the surface of the clear waters. Everyone watched as G was swimming around freely, darting around weightlessly as he swam like a dart through open air. Suddenly the Domain disappeared, making G land on his hands before he fell flat on his face. "But I don't get it. Why didn't it stick? I did the spell right, right?" he asked. Chyribdys clarified for him. "You see, you have to put energy into it. It's a systematic spell, you must put energy in and allow it to cycle energy within itself. Think of it like extending a shadow of your soul and allowing it to cycle the energy it needs in order to thrive and advance your true power. But remember, you aren't invincible here. You must keep your defenses high and always aware of your surroundings. This power isn't a game mechanic, and no one will stupidly stand still while you use your best moves. So be smarter, for everyone's sake." he explained. Everyone agreed, but then a shadow being attacked out of nowhere, aiming for Chyribdys's head. Merlin kicked frontwards, causing the strike to hit a tree, with it's fist going straight through it.
The shadow being then looked at the group, seemingly smiling and then attacked once again, aiming for Rikusa's neck. Rikusa leaned backwards, doing a quick handstand in order to grab the black tendril with his feet and then pinned it with a cursed nail he created using an alchemical formula so it couldn't escape. Immediately after, another tendril shot out like a rocket and then split to attack Morgan and Merlin. They both stopped the tendrils by freezing space around the tendrils, causing them to freeze in their tracks, then bound it in place so it couldn't attack again. The shadow continued to smile, even though it was unable to move now, and just laughed at everyone. "Who sent you?" Chyribdys asked. The shadow didn't answer, building up it's own energy in order to explode. It absorbed the energy in the air, swelling in size and power. There wasn't enough time to get away, the shadow was swallowing too much energy too quickly, and even if they could run, the blast would be intense and destroy a large chunk of the city. Merlin then got an idea, beginning an incantation, however it wasn't for evocation this time. "I invoke the flower of shields, the transmuter, and the fierce protector. Transmuting Aias!" Merlin chanted, creating a massive pink flower made of energy and seven petals. It wrapped around the shadow as it began to explode outward with violent force and azure flames. The shield held as it was automatically transmuting the flames into air once they touched the petals. But Merlin was losing strength in his hand to hold it down. He gave it all he had for one last push, all the flames finally extinguished and the warm air blowing away in the breeze. Merlin panted softly, his hand seemingly bruised from the knockback of the explosion and the spell shattering from that much force. He was uninjured for the most part, just a bit exhausted and needed something to drink. Merlin then felt a surging pain in his eye, it began to turn black, his pupil turning a yellowish red. He then noticed something was still lingering in the aftermath of the explosion, and his eye began to absorb it in a fierce vortex. He didn't have any control over it, but whatever was absorbed was now festering within his domain like a fetus. Everyone looked and saw his eye was transformed, but didn't know what caused it, or why he seemingly absorbed nothing. Chyribdys looked closely at his eye, and was astonished at what it truly was. "Young Merlin. You've created your own Oculorum. Or rather, transformed a curse into one." he said, still examining with curious fascination. Merlin looked confused, not sure what an Oculorum was, but assumed it was a sort of ancient mystery he didn't read about yet. As his eye began to transform back to normal, Morgan slapped him on his back with a large smile on her face, congratulating him for obtaining an ancient mystery first, but reminding him that the team will get one as well. Merlin laughed, rubbing his back, and they all sat back down to eat pizza, not knowing that there was someone coming that they never encountered before.