It was probably the first time Arlan had taken a close look at his surroundings. He never bothered to investigate the darkness, but with the sudden silence, he focused on the strange lights that flowed like ocean currents several meters above his head.
After watching them for a while, Arlan realized that all the currents flowed in the same direction, so with some curiosity he began to follow them, walking slowly to make sure nothing around him changed.
Arlan walked through the darkness, his steps marked by white trails that faded after a few seconds.
As he got closer, the streams seemed to grow, some even merging into larger ones.
Time was confusing in this place, so Arlan didn't know how long he had been walking until practically all he could see above him were blue currents.
But something else caught his attention; it was impossible not to notice as all the currents flowed down and collided with a black orb the size of Arlan's fist.
"What is that?"
Arlan didn't know whether to approach or not as the darkness emanating from the orb made him dizzy.
At that moment, the dark world began to shake aggressively, threatening to knock Arlan to the ground.
The shaking only lasted a few seconds, and Arlan managed to steady himself by keeping his balance on his own.
Making sure that there were no lingering effects from the shaking, he turned his attention back to the strange orb.
There was a stark contrast between the miasma released by the orb, which covered the ground several meters around it with thick dark smoke, and the streams of light blue light entering the orb.
While one made him feel uncomfortable, the other invited him closer.
After debating for some time, Arlan sighed with determination.
"Whatever this orb is, it can't be worse than what's going on out there"
Arlan approached and stepped into the perimeter of the dark miasma; even if it was smoke, it seemed to have muddy properties that stopped Arlan and forced him to force his steps.
As if walking in mud, Arlan slowly approached until he stood in front of the orb.
Seeing it up close, Arlan realized that instead of energies flowing into the orb, it seemed to absorb them, swallowing them into its infinite darkness.
But there was no time to hesitate. With his fingertips, Arlan touched the dark orb and in a single moment his surroundings changed.
The wind blew hard, and the rain soaked his clothes in an instant. The thunder rumbled down, burning the trees, and sending all the animals in the area fleeing from the center of the storm.
The wind was much stronger than Arlan and pushed him towards a pillar, which he grabbed onto. He could barely see what was going on around him because of the wind and rain, but what he could see was the fall of hundreds of meters into the void.
'Where am I?!'
A stone tower in the middle of a forest that rose up beyond the clouds, a silver altar at the top with a beautiful white egg glowing as if the storm had no effect on it.
A silver aura protected it from the wind and rain, while the nearest thunder struck the pillars surrounding the altar.
If it weren't for the light from the egg, Arlan wouldn't have even been able to see where he was.
The weather seemed to get worse until even some of the pillars were destroyed by the powerful lightning.
But suddenly, the light from the egg seemed to increase exponentially, and Arlan caught a faint glimpse of a crack appearing on the surface of the egg before it was swallowed by the light.
The next moment, Arlan found himself standing in front of a large building in a gothic style, but white instead of dark tones.
The building was divided into three large structures, the central one being the largest, its roof ending in a pointed shape.
Arlan watched as people entered and exited the building for a few minutes, during which everyone seemed to ignore Arlan as if he weren't in the middle of it all.
The building was in fact a large church.
How did Arlan notice this?
A group of people dressed in white robes came out of the front door as they followed a woman dressed in the same robes, but this one with more elaborate details.
The woman walked gracefully with a neutral expression on her face. Her straight silver hair fell softly down her back.
More than a person, the woman looked to Arlan more like a doll without imperfections. Her pale face and red lips gave her an air of purity.
'…Who is she supposed to be?'
She was obviously someone important, not for nothing was there so much security around her.
Not only the other people were dressed in robes, but also several men dressed as Templars with heavy armor and large, long swords strapped to their hips.
The woman stopped suddenly, startling the others, but Arlan was even more startled when his gaze met the women directly.
It was as if Arlan was invisible to everyone but the woman.
He didn't get to enjoy the moment very much though, because in an instant his surroundings had changed again.
Arlan tried to open his eyes, only to get dust in them. Wiping his eyes with his hand, Arlan tried to keep the dust from getting into his eyes and then tried to look around.
'Where am I now?'
Arlan looked in front of him and found a stone wall, apparently, he was in a strange cave. He turned to look behind him, only to find more dust, and after the dust, a large pit with the volcano's magma moving erratically at the bottom.
What he thought was dust was not dust, but ash. Ash from a volcano that was about to explode.