Niden eyes fluttered open as pain wracked her head and body, causing her to curl up in ball and groan. After a few minutes, she willed herself to fully open her eyes, only to be greeted by darkness. Panicking, she tried to grope around in the dark before stopping and berating herself for being weak. She began to manipulate the essence of her bloodline, and soon a sphere of light rose from her palm and illuminated the room. She closed her eyes at the sudden light, and opened them a few moments later as she got used to light sphere.
Niden sat up slowly causing more waves of pain, before taking a few potions and herbs out of her bag and consuming them. She sat against the wall as the recovery process started, but she estimated it would be ten minutes before she could stand and thirty before it was safe to walk. The time passed, and Niden successfully managed to stand and made her way to the middle of the room where the altar was.
'I don't know what that was, or what happened to Hunturok', Niden told herself, 'No I need to face facts, He knocked me out and left me here. He most likely got cursed or possessed by that stone. I need to warn the village, they won't know something is wrong with him. But first let me use these image talismans to record everything in this room.'
She pulled a jade talisman out and activated it several times, capturing images of the thirteen murals and the altar. She stored the talisman and started heading out the way they had entered.
'I don't know how long I've been out for', she thought, 'Hopefully, I have enough time to help, but even if I was out for an hour, I know I can't make it there before him. I just have to let the elders know what happened and we can capture Hunturok together.'
When she arrived at the entrance of the cave, she could see the moons and stars in the sky.
'Ah, I was out for much longer than I expected', she chided herself.
She circulated her essence to dispel the cold before heading out towards her village. It took a few hours of trekking through the forest before a loud shout frightened her.
"HALT!", two of the village guards pointed spears at her and stood in a very aggressive manner.
"It's me, Niden!", she answered back.
"Niden", one of the guards said, "What happened to you. If you aren't honest, we will kill you on the spot!"
"I went out with Brother Hunturok and found a special cave", Niden explained, "But he picked up some stone we found in there, and attacked me, leaving me for dead. What happened here?"
"It's bad", the second guard replied, "When Hunturok returned he attacked and killed many villagers before the elders were forced to kill him."
"Tell me quickly", Niden asked, "Did anyone pick up the stone that Hunturok carried?"
"I think Elder Datak was responsible for Hunturok's body", the first guard.
"You have to let the others know", Niden spoke in desperation, "I believe it possesses and controls those who touch it."
"Ok we will let the others know", the second guard responded, "Unfortunately, until we verify your story, we need you to wear the suppression bracers."
Niden frowned but relented, sticking her arms out, "Fine, but hurry, if we are too slow, others will die or the elder will get away."
The guards clasped the bracers onto Niden, and she felt her bloodline and essence being suppressed. Niden and the second guard walked into the village, where she noticed the blood stains of the victims still staining the ground.
They arrived at Elder Resma's home after a few minutes and the second guard announced their presence. After a few moments an elderly woman's voice replied for them to enter.
As Niden entered the house, she felt the warmth of the fireplace and saw the familiar face of Elder Resma.
"Elder Resma, Niden has returned to the village and requested an audience", the guard told the elder.
The woman looked at Niden with an angry glare , "Are you here to confess to your crimes?"
Before Niden could answer, a voice from outside spoke, "Resma, at least hear what she has to say before you judge them."
At the entrance, an even older man made his way inside as he curiously looked at Niden.
"Fine", Resma said, we will do it your way then."
The guard and Niden saluted, "Head Elder Voden."
Voden walked over to an empty chair and sat down, "Please explain what happened to you and Hunturok today."
Niden told the story of them going out to search for investigate the area, and the appearance of the cave. She continued with room that was found, and then how Hunturok had grabbed the stone and attacked her. She finished with her waking up, healing herself, and saving images before making her way home.
The elders didn't react to her story, and once it was apparent she was finished, Elder Voden said, "Do you still have that talisman?"
"Yes head elder", she replied, "it's still in my storage bag."
"Guard Ruvak, please release Niden and return to your post", Voden ordered the guard.
"Yes Head Elder", Ruvak released the bracers on Niden's wrists before leaving the house.
Niden produced the jade talisman and activated it, the images she captured began to appear in front of the two elders.
"I've never seen this language or these murals before", Resma remarked.
"Neither have I", Voden added, "I think we need to give Elder Dayak a visit."
Resma seemed to understand, "I apologize for my early suspicion, Niden, stay here while we pay Elder Datak a visit."
The two elders left and went to the home of Elder Datak, knocking on the door when they arrived.
"Elder Datak, I wonder if I can bother you for a cup of tea?", Voden asked loudly.
When no answer came despite many attempts to call out to Datak, Voden became convinced. He approached the door, and opened it before walking in. His enhanced sense of smell could immediately detect that several dead bodies were inside but not the elder.
"Elder Resma, I don't believe that Elder Datak is here", Voden said, "Let's do a thorough search and if we can't find him, we must let the other elders and tribes know."
They both went through the house, and couldn't find Datak.
Voden said, "Let's inform the others so they don't fall prey like we did."
Sun Yi was back at the QR pod cafe again, getting ready to enter 'The Destiny of Fairy and Sword'. While he still used the other modes, this mode had fascinated him. He still went to the 'real' server to take what he learned from the mirror mode and apply it. But the 'fantasy' server was what drew him to return.
Sun Yi looked at the characters in front of him, remembering the last few days of him making each one. Each character was of different races and instead of cultivation, they used odd powers and held odd titles. Some he had heard of, such as warrior or shaman, others were alien to him, mage or bard, for example.
Sun Yi would rotate through the different characters roaming the fantasy realm alone or with others, gaining real insight into elements and abilities in a way he never experienced before.
At first, no one bothered him, but a few times of staying the pod for an extended time and forgetting to cleanse himself had his master, Sect Master Liang, coming to remind him to focus on his health and cultivation. After that, he was more mindful of his time in the QR pod.
He couldn't decided which was his favorite race or 'class' to play and experience. The merfolk had their advantages underwater, the wolves gained bonuses when fighting as a group, the eagles could fly and use superior speed to ambush enemies, and the bears had natural strength and vitality.
The 'classes' were also interesting on how each one have different styles to fight their enemies. His bard could play various instruments or even sing or dance to invoke spells that would create illusions, charm a stranger, and inspire teammates. The priest would use various talismans or artifacts to assist or heal others. He could also be a detriment to his foes by suppressing them through various methods. The warrior was a broad martial class that had people that could use all manner or armor and weapons. No two were alike as some pursued offense, defense, speed or techinal superiority. Mages were an oddity that studied the laws of the world to cast spells using artifacts or their own blood as a means. Instead of using their spells like priest did, they opted to study the elements and the mind. They could cast destructive spells, summon otherworldly beings, travel far distances, and many other feats. He didn't dive too far into the trickster class because he didn't quite like their battle style. From what he understood though they could be just as diverse as warriors. They often took advantage of situations instead of facing an opponent face to face. They were shameless in their use of poisons, illusions, or anything that would give them the leg up in a fight. While it was said they had a code, he took them for honor less dogs. Psychics were a special class that could use their mind to accomplish a wide variety of offensive and defensive feats. A proverbial all rounder, many of their abilities were the same as other classes, but psychics had more options.
Whether he was Indra the merfolk, Swiftwing the eagle, Steelpaw the bear, Blackmane the wolf, or Pyre the fox, he always felt like he was where he should be.