Walking through the serene forest with a sketchbook in hand, Lucius immersed himself in his surroundings. As he strolled along, he couldn't help but mutter to himself, his voice carrying a hint of skepticism and uncertainty.
"He said to focus on the road and save that for last. Can you believe I'm actually listening to a voice that claims magic exists? Ha! I must be losing my mind, turning into a schizophrenic or something."
Without Lark's presence in his head, Lucius's weakening mental state began to reveal itself. Without companionship or someone to talk to, Lucius found himself questioning the reality of it all, wondering if it was merely a figment of his imagination.
Trying to regain his focus, Lucius continued exploring and mapping the surroundings. He sketched as he walked, periodically glancing up to gauge the distance he had covered. Taking Lark's advice to heart, he worked more efficiently, mindful of not getting too caught up in the details that had previously slowed him down.
After an hour of walking, Lucius noticed the sunlight dimming, signaling the approaching darkness. Sensing that nightfall was imminent, he decided to turn back and head to camp rather than push forward. Despite having a couple more hours of daylight, he remained cautious, still wary of encountering another Magical Beast.
Leaving a noticeable mark on a tree to mark his progress, Lucius retraced his steps, keeping a watchful eye for any signs of danger. The melodious songs of the birds provided a calming backdrop to his journey. Lost in his thoughts, Lucius found himself standing on the edge of the clearing, having arrived back at camp without incident. Unconsciously, he had chewed on some leaves he had picked up along the way.
Noticing Lucius's early return, Lark called out to him. "Back already, Luke? I thought you hadn't learned your lesson when you nearly met your end, if not for my assistance. Drink this. It's a juice made from the fruit you should have seen near the pond." A wooden cup flew through the air, swiftly landing in front of Lucius.
Surprised by the cup's unexpected arrival, Lucius stared at it, wondering if his mind was playing tricks on him. Amused by Lucius's reaction, the old Saint seized the opportunity to have some fun.
"Oh, now you're gaping like a child who's just seen a dragon! Once you leave this forest with your companions, I'll teach you a trick or two. But this small trick would be nothing compared to what I could show you if I were at my full power. So, live, Luke. You have to."
After hearing Lark's ramblings, Lucius tentatively reached out and took the cup floating in front of him. He drank the orange-colored juice, pleasantly surprised by its refreshing taste, which reminded him of oranges. Feeling reinvigorated, he made his way back to the camp.
"Just toss the cup in the air, and my magic will catch it and take it for washing," Lark instructed.
Following Lark's guidance, Lucius tossed the cup into the air, watching as it was caught and swiftly transported to an area of the camp. To his surprise, the once-empty clearing now housed various wooden buckets, a stone slab table, tanning racks laden with furs, and a specially designed rack for magical beasts. It seemed like an entire workstation had materialized before his eyes.
Intrigued by the sudden appearance of these new additions, Lucius couldn't help but voice his curiosity. "Lark, if you're capable of conjuring all these things, why did you let me struggle needlessly when I first arrived?"
"It was a test, I let you do things yourself for a whole week, observing if you were a capable man with talent that matches no other. Or an ignorant, stupid fool. Turns out you weren't!"
Not accepting Larks explanation, Lucius just let go. Not wanting to argue. "Explanation for everything huh?" said Lucius as he looked around.
Noticing the sarcasm, Lark talked, defending himself. "I'm sure you've noticed it yourself Luke, your mental state is not the best. When we viewed each other's memory, I saw that your mind was unstable, doubtful, and paranoid. What do you think would've happened if I showed you all these things? It will just confirm your doubts to be true! Even now, I can feel your doubts whether this is all true or not."
As the old Saint talked, Lucius quietly walked over to a tree stump and sat down listening attentively, as Lark finished Lucius replied understandingly. "You're somewhat correct. The time I spent alone today gave me time to think things through. I know that this is now my reality, the pain I've felt because of what that bear did to me is still fresh in my mind. The time I've spent, eating, sleeping, waking up… those were all real. Yet I still have a hard time accepting it."
"Well now's a better time to accept that everything you've seen, experienced are real or else you'll grow disillusioned in time. Eat up and rest, when the night settles, I will show you something that would have been a major help in the prior days."
After this was said, the two people talked about other smaller things to pass the time, whether if Lucius managed to encounter another Magical Beast, and what Lark spent his time alone on while stuck on the camp. To which the old Saint showed him 2 small little golems, even barely reaching Lucius's waist. If anything, it reminded him of large, walking gnomes.
As they talked away, night soon started to settle. Pulling back the sleeve of jacket to look at his wrist watch, Lucius stated the time to Lark. "It's 6 o'clock now." Just as this was said, orbs of light then appeared out of nowhere, illuminating the darkening clearing.
"it's time. Quick Luke. Follow this orb and bring with you a knife, or something sharp!" The old Saint said hurriedly.
Following Larks words, Lucius quickly checked if his small steel knife was still in his person before standing up and running to follow the sphere of light. Exactly as he arrived, the ground started to shake madly, although surprised at first, Lucius deduced that it must've been Larks doing. As he gained his balance, Lucius started to look at the ground to see if anything would appear.
"Whoops… behind you Luke, I over shot the orb, sorry about that." Turning around Lucius saw a wide stone podium, that erected out of the ground standing by his waist. Maybe from watching many movies back in earth, what came inside Lucius's mind was that he needed to bleed so that the little disc on top of the podium would activate.
Out of curiosity he asked if this was indeed true. "So do I need to put my blood in that little disc?"
Hearing what Lucius said, the old Saint laughed out loud. "That's funny Luke! But to answer your question. No, do you think I'm some kind of a vampire? You offend me!"
Irritated, Lucius again asked what he needed to do. "So what do I do?"
"Use the knife I told you to bring, and stab the center of that disc. You'll be up for a surprise of what comes after!"
Not wanting to talk anymore, Lucius immediately put his arm up in the air, ready to pierce the disc. Different from what he expected of a hard surface, that could potentially chip his knife. What Lucius instead was amazing, something out of the world. What appeared by the disc's location when he pierced it wasn't a chipped out knife, or pieces of stone. Instead what appeared was a crack in the air that let out rays of white light or small white floating orbs. Before he could even voice out his surprise, the cracks in the air spread started to form a large circle, surrounding Lucius from within.
Looking behind him, he spotted a hole on the circle of cracks. Understanding that it might be his exit. He looked in a different direction, specifically around him where the cracks started to expand form that could only be interpreted as no different from doors. But instead of a doorknob or something like a wooden or metallic door. These doors were made with cracks that constantly changed in shape, shooting out rays of light and orbs around the place.
Understanding what stood before him, Lucius immediately asked in excitement. "Lark. Are those portals?!"
"Technically yes, but they are more or less dimensional cracks. Dimensional cracks that lead to my wealth when I was still alive. If you think that these dimensional cracks will take you back, then sadly I have to say that they do not. If I still had my old power as a Saint then I could send you back to where you came from."
Although the news brought Lucius great turmoil, but instead of being discouraged, he instead brushed off these emotions, calming himself. "What are they then? If these don't send me back then what are they for? Storage? These give access to different worlds maybe?"
"You guessed correctly. It is storage, my wealth is stored in these dimensional cracks from when I was alive! What you'll see there are mountains of riches!"
"Gold and silver? But what's the use of those to me? If you had tools stored within here… maybe food? Oh, maybe some magical artifacts? Magic exists, so tools powered by magic also exist, right Lark?"
"Ohh magical artifacts like you said are real Luke. Infact I have tens of thousands, or maybe hundred of thousands in them. However, a slight problem, I more or less spread them out around the world, sort of like hidden treasures. My legacy left to the world!"
"And to sadly tell you, all I have here are mostly wealth, in the form of currency and maybe a few Magic stones, ores, alloys here and there of the highest quality. And documents, lots of documents regarding my work as the Union Leader when I was still alive. However do not fret! I still have several, maybe a few dozen magical tools I've left in there. Now hurry! It must have been centuries since I last visited this place and I am excited."
Although a tad bit disappointed at what he heard, Lucius accepted things as is and walked to the door formed by nothing but cracks. Closing his eyes as he entered, feeling his insides churn that disappeared moments later, the whole process not taking longer than a second, opening his eyes, what Lucius saw before him was practically absurd. Mountains of blinding Gold that took up his entire view. Turning around to look at the mountaining beauty of the Gold and riches that lied in the dimension, with his mouth practically agape from the things he saw in front of him. But as he turned around, the mountains of Gold started to shrink, replaced by tall, and possibly hundreds of large shelves. Containing either folders of paper, or books.
"Amazing isn't it Luke? All my wealth that I've gathered and hoarded in my entire life are all stored within those Dimensional Cracks. Though as I look around here all I can see are just my Gold, and the Union documents I've told you about. The Magical Tools should be in another Dimension, for now we need to find a map. Luckily this place, if I remember correctly, has all the documents, either be it a ledger, normal documents, and classified ones, for one, like maps."
"You see that metallic post standing in front of the shelves? Go to it as that will allow you to quickly look-up the section where I stored the maps. With this things will go more smoothly rather than sifting through all this paperwork that can possibly take us decades."
Following the old Saints instructions, Lucius made his way to an area near a pile of Gold, with relative familiarity, Lucius somehow made the object activate on its own. As it activated, a light suddenly sprouted out of the small post, taking up Lucius's entire frontal view with words that were unfamiliar to him.
"Lark, can you translate them for me?"
"Wait for a second, my magic should take its effect, if you are unaware of the spell I casted upon you and your companion enables a person to comprehend any language. It just needs time to fully comprehend an unfamiliar tongue."
Exactly as the old Saint finished his explanation, the letters Lucius stared at for sometime started to make sense in his mind. Now as he took a closer look and read what the words meant, it reminded him of one of those sci-fi control panels with futuristic design over them.
"Tax, Loans, debt, classified files, documents, profiles, Land titles? And a whole other kind of paperwork? But where are the maps Lark?"
"You didn't have to read them all out Lucius. I can read just fine, long press the documents. A box should appear that contains what kind of documents would contain, from budget spending, to even blueprints. Where the map will be."
"Alright, now which region should I pick?"
"Looks like you're experienced with this kind of technology. The Empire of Eurys. Long press again and select the county of Augstadt, then the name of the forest."
"The human civilization back on Earth is an advanced one Lark. With the ability to launch a man on the space and moon. This technology is no different from what every household has back on Earth."
"Alright. I got the map, do I need to grab anything else from this place? Do magic scrolls exist here? Maybe I can grab a few?"
"Those are stored in another dimension Luke, if you want you can grab a few of those gold ingots. Although I wouldn't suggest that, for now we're finished in this dimension. If you want, you can go through the other dimensions and grab a Magical tool and grab a tour?"
"To see the achievements of the alleged Saint of Magic is much more interesting than these piles of Gold."
"You Flatter me Luke!"