Henry watched the girl carefully, she wore a brown top and brown pants that had many pockets, she also carried a bag that looked mostly empty. He didn't lower his guard even though she didn't look powerful, his mp was dangerously low and he was in unfamiliar territory. He was on high alert as he watched her watch him, but there was something stopping him from unleashing a [Splice] on the girl with the rest of his mp; it was the fact that she looked just as cautious as he felt, perhaps even more.
"Who are you?" the girl asked again.
After pausing for a few moments, Henry decided to send the question back to her, "Who are you."
"What?!" the girl said incredulously, "You just appeared out of thin air!"
"So?"
"So that's not normal!" She yelled.
Henry shrugged, "It's normal where I come from."
"And where is that?"
"None of your business."
Henry watched in mild amusement as the girl silently fumed, then she took a deep breath to calm herself down before sheathing her knife and continued walking up the steps. Henry chuckled slightly before following her.
The girl whipped around, "What are you doing?!"
"Whatever do you mean?" Henry blinked innocently.
The girl narrowed her eyes, "Why are you following me?"
"I'm not following you; we're just moving in the same direction."
"What?!"
"That's right," Henry jutted his chin forward, "I'm going to that weird, circular construct at the top."
"Oh, yeah," the girl crossed her arms, "and what is it called?"
Henry crossed his arms too, "I don't have to answer your questions."
The girl glared at him for a few seconds before scoffing, she turned her back to him and continued walking up the steps. Henry sped up as he followed her and was soon walking side by side with her, the girl's body clenched for a split second, then she decided to ignore him.
Henry hid his smile as he watched her, before long, they reached the top.
Now that he was nearer, Henry could finally see the construct clearly. It was a wide circle that was carved out from stone, and there were a lot of runes etched unto its surface. On the ground, in front of the construct was a small oval hole, while Henry was wondering what goes in there the girl beside him pulled out a necklace from one of her many pockets. The chain of the necklace was a dull silver, but it held an orange gem that glowed mildly. The gem was oval-shaped, Henry could guess what it was meant for.
"Wow, you just pulled that gem out without hesitation," Henry raised an eyebrow, "What if I was a thief, huh? You didn't think about that?"
The girl snorted, "You popped out of a portal a few minutes ago, if you were a thief, I wouldn't be able to do anything to you anyway. And I'm pretty sure you aren't here for me, when you appeared you clearly looked confused, like you weren't supposed to be here. It seems you made a mistake when casting your spell."
Henry smiled broadly, "You're right, I'm lost. Can you tell me where I am?"
The girl snorted softly before answering, "You're a way past the Backview Towns."
'Backview… huh?' Henry frowned in confusion. He checked the Map function in his system to see just where he was exactly and was stupefied to find himself on the other side of the kingdom.
'What? How?! Oh, shit!' Henry finally understood why the skill took so much mp, one step in the Space Between was probably equivalent to a thousand steps in the normal space!
Henry wobbled a bit, he was way too far from home, he could already Sarah's disappointed face when he returns.
"Is everything alright with you?" the girl gave him a weird look.
"I'm fine, I'm fine. It's just – " 'Wait a minute!' Henry's head abruptly cocked to the side, 'Why am I worrying so much? I can just wait until my mp is full and use [Spatial Movement] to return home!' And with the Map he wouldn't veer off course, Henry suddenly felt better.
"Are you actually insane? One second you're full of dread, then you're laughing next." The girl muttered before turning her attention the stone circle.
Henry stepped closer as well, "What is this?" He asked. He reached forward and began tracing the runes with his fingers.
"It's a gate to another dimension." The girl replied.
"Huh?" Henry looked at the girl, then back at the construct, then repeated the motion again before shaking his head, "I guess we are both insane."
"Tch, don't lump me with you, crazy boy." The girl bent down to the ground as she spoke, "And I suggest you remove your hand, if you don't want to lose it." Then she kept the gem into the oval hole then ran backwards.
The gate thrummed and vibrated soon after, Henry quickly retreated after sensing the immense magical power gathering within it. Henry couldn't stable himself on the trembling ground, the wind around them also suddenly picked up, while Henry was panicking the girl was laughing crazily.
"It's been a while since it's been activated, so it's a little bit rusty!" She shook her hair out of her face as she screamed, Henry was beginning to think she was actually insane.
Henry gasped when he suddenly sensed the dense amount of the space element the gate was gathering, a whirlpool appeared in the middle and expanded gradually until it covered the entire hole. Then the shaking stopped, and the wind ceased as abruptly as it came, apart from the grey whirlpool the only thing different was that the silver which held the orange gem had melted.
The girl jumped to her feet and clapped wildly, "Wonderful, simply wonderful. What do you think crazy boy, isn't it wonderful?" Before Henry could respond she walked straight towards the gate.
"W-wait! You're going to enter that?!" Henry asked.
"Yes, this is what I came here to do." She stopped right in front of the gate and turned her head to smirk at him, "What, are you worried about me? Do you feel like following me to protect me from unknown dangers?"
"As if." Henry scoffed.
The girl shook her head then bent down to remove the gem from its hole, then she jumped into the whirlpool. Henry gasped at the sudden action, but the girl had disappeared before he could say anything. The whirlpool started dissipating bit by bit, as Henry watched this a spark of curiosity flared in his heart, on one hand he wanted to wait until his mp restores so he could return home, on the other, he really wanted to go on an adventure. The place beyond couldn't be dangerous if a girl with no magical energy could jump in without hesitation, right?
Without wasting too much time thinking about it or worrying about unforeseen consequences, he ran forward, closed his eyes and jumped into the gate.
He felt like he had entered the eye of a storm when he opened his eyes next, the turbulent space threw him around forcefully. Thankfully, the occurrence stopped after a few seconds then he was blinded by bright sunlight.
'Wait, sunlight?!' He blinked rapidly until his eyes got used to the light, the first thing he saw after that was sand, lots and lots of sand. There was nothing but sand around him, well, that and the giant, gaping hole in front of him.
The girl was standing next to the hole, she was staring at him incredulously. Obviously, she couldn't believe he followed her, that was understandable as Henry still couldn't believe it himself. He walked towards her – but not before taking a glance behind him to make sure there was also a gate there -. The girl slow clapped as he came closer.
"You actually jumped in? You've got guts, crazy boy." She said.
Henry pointed at the sky, "Why is it so sunny? I vividly remember that the sky was cloudy before I jumped into the gate, but look now," He spread his arms out, "there's not a single cloud in sight!"
The girl chuckled, "Don't lose your mind yet! Because this is an artificially made dimension, that bright ball over there is fake."
It took a few seconds for her words to register into Henry's brain, and he couldn't be blamed, what she said was too illogical for a simple village boy.
"But that's not the most interesting part, look down there." She pointed into the wide hole.
Henry inched closer to the edge, looked down and his eyes widened in shock. He saw a sand-stained building so tall he couldn't see the end, there were numerous windows around the building, and railings circled it from top to bottom. Looking away from the building he saw a spiral staircase leading downward to what he assumed was the entrance.
"That," the girl said, breathing heavily, "is the Lost Library of Ancanti's."
Henry turned his head and really looked at her for the first time, she had an unremarkable bob haircut and a basic feminine face, but her blue eyes shone like diamonds.
"My name is Henry."
She looked at him, then smiled.
"My name is Jolene."
…
The Necromancers were setting off, they began their slow march to the various parts of the kingdom under the watchful eyes of the Enactor. The Gatekeeper walked up to Logan who was sitting on his Undead Dragon and bowed slightly,
"Everyone is heading to their destination." He said.
Logan nodded, "Good. You know where to be, keep an eye on Belinda."
"Yes." Usman said respectfully before leaving.
Logan watched serenely as he walked away, not a trace of nervousness could be seen on his face. The bag he carried on his back squirmed and a voice cooed out, he gently shook his shoulders until the squirming stopped.
Unlike the other Necromancers, Logan wasn't taking any undead other than the Bone Dragon. He was going to stock up on his way to the castle, and to avoid detection he was going to attack the castle from the back.
With his knowledge of the kingdom, they would never see him coming.