Izroth had caught up to his party and arrived at the now dormant Source of Despair. It was his first time seeing a magic item this huge within RML.
When the Source of Despair entered into its dormant state, the Chaos Fiends had vanished into thin air. It was only natural to conclude that the Source of Despair was behind the appearance of the Chaos Fiends.
'It may be that the Source of Despair created the Chaos Fiends as a defensive mechanism to protect itself. But…'
However, there was one thing wrong with that line of thinking. The Chaos Fiends dropped Order Fragments when they were defeated. Why would a magic item produce a way to protect itself while also making itself increasingly vulnerable at the same time?
Though at the moment, there was an even bigger issue that needed to be resolved. Valentine had not regained any of his senses when everyone else had already recovered their own, according to Luna.
This caused Izroth to revisit his speculation about the sixth door and its meaning. If it was possible to figure that out, then there was a good chance that they would be capable of finding out exactly what happened to Valentine that was different from themselves.
Plop!
'Hm?'
Izroth felt something wet touch his nose. Soon after, the sound of rain drizzling down from the skies could be heard and felt. Then only a few moments later, the rain began to pour down. At first, it was just a light sprinkle, however, it had quickly transitioned into a heavy downpour.
'Rain?'
Unlike before when it constantly cycled through environmental settings, this time it stayed raining even after a full twenty seconds. It did not appear that it was going to let up anytime soon.
"Why did it start raining all of a sudden?" Halls asked. The rain was so heavy that it made it difficult to see into the distance.
"Could it have something to do with the Source of Despair being in a dormant state?" Zi Yi speculated.
"That is a possibility, however, the strange part is that rain was not a part of the original cycle changes. Also, this seems to be a permanent change, at least for now." Luna responded.
Ding… Ding!
There was an almost melodic sound that echoed throughout Izroth and his party's surroundings. It resembled the sound that harmonious bells would make when struck with a small tool in a synchronous manner.
"What a beautiful melody…" Luna muttered to herself.
Everyone else was thinking the same thing as Luna at that moment. The melody itself was almost mesmerizing to listen to.
As the sound of the bell resonated, a pathway started to form within the heavy rain. In just a few seconds, a complete pathway had formed that was untouched by even a single drop of rain. It was unclear where the pathway led, however, it was clear that this was the way they would have to go if they wanted some answers.
"We'll follow the pathway. For now, Guan Yu will continue to carry along Valentine until we find a way to fix whatever it is that may have happened to him." Izroth instructed.
"What will we do if the Source of Despair enters into its active state again?" Zi Yi inquired. Since it was currently within a dormant state, there was a good chance that it would only temporarily remain that way.
Izroth examined the Source of Despair one last time before he decided. "Since there's no way of knowing for sure, it's just a risk we will have to take. Hopefully, it's a bridge we will not have to cross any time soon. But for now, we will not obtain anything else useful from this location."
No one had any further concerns and so, Izroth, Luna, Halls, Zi Yi, and Guan Yu who carried Valentine, started down the pathway that revealed itself within the heavy rain.
…
Izroth and his party had been walking down the pathway for around fifteen minutes now and there was no end in sight. It was as though no matter how far they walked, the end just simply did not want to show itself.
However, just as the group was becoming a little restless, a swirling vortex appeared before them. It was similar to the vortex they encountered after they first met with Zendai Proximus and the others. The only difference was that this vortex was extremely stable and looked incredibly pure.
"Could it be that someone has already reached the end and this vortex is for us to go back?" Halls was startled by the sudden appearance of the vortex.
"That's highly unlikely. We were told that we would automatically be teleported out of this place once someone reached the end. So far, it does not seem that we are being forced to step into the vortex. There is a possibility that this vortex leads to somewhere totally different." Zi Yi stated.
"There is also a chance that it could transport us out of the Chaotic Dogma Realm and we would have no way to return." Luna said.
Everyone believed that it would be unfortunate if that were the case since they would not get a chance to acquire the rewards within the Chaotic Dogma Realm. However, in the end, there was only one way to find out.
Izroth was the first to walk into the vortex. He was soon followed by Halls and then the rest of the party members. After everyone had stepped through the vortex, it disappeared and the rain had come to a sudden halt.
The Chaotic Dogma Realm felt as if it were separated into numerous worlds that had all been formed from the chaos. It was like constantly removing layer after layer only to find that there was no center or core, only chaos that was buried beneath further chaos.
When Izroth and his party rematerialized on the other side of the vortex, they were inside of a temple that closely resembled the one that was in ruins, the Unknown Temple of Ruins with six wooden doors. It was much more refined and there were not any signs of rubble or dust.
There was one major difference between this temple and the Unknown Temple of Ruins. Instead of six wooden doors, this temple had six stone tablets, each with different writings carved into them. There were no doors or portals that led to anywhere else and there was only this room that existed as if it were a world of itself.
However, what really grabbed Izroth and his party's attention was a pure black egg that sat comfortably upon a podium. The egg itself seemed as if it were created from a high-quality unblemished marble. It had no flaws in sight.
When Izroth examined the egg, he was able to discover only one piece of information about it, its name.
Name: Egg of Chaos(Unknown)
There was nothing else to determine exactly what the egg was. They did not even know if it was a magic item or not.
"There's something about this place that feels almost… Otherworldly…" Luna said without thinking.
Although the others were quietly looking around, they all agreed with Luna. Even the usually talkative Guan Yu and Halls were silent.
Izroth walked over towards the six stone tablets and swept his gaze across them.
'Sight, hearing, touch, smell, speech, and soul… Soul?'
Could it be that the sixth door represented one's soul? It would certainly explain why Valentine was unable to perform any action whatsoever. Without a soul, one's body would just be an empty shell without purpose.
Izroth reached the palm of his hand out and brushed his fingertips against the stone tablet that represented the soul. When he did, it released a powerful surge of energy.
In the next moment, a light blue orb shot from out of the stone tablet and into Valentine's forehead. The orb startled everyone, especially Guan Yu who it seemed to be headed for. However, he was surprised to see that it had ignored him and went towards Valentine instead.
Valentine's body began to glow and emit a light blue hue. A few seconds later, Valentine's body stopped glowing and his eyes started to slowly open. Soon enough, Valentine blinked a few times before realizing that he was now in a completely different place.
"He's awake!" Zi Yi was the first to make the announcement.
Valentine got down from Guan Yu's back and observed the temple they were in. "What an interesting flow of magic!" Those were the first words to leave his mouth. However, that was not the only thing to leave his mouth, drool could be seen falling out the corner of his mouth as a large smile appeared on Valentine's face.
"You- Is magic the only thing that goes on in that head of yours?!" Zi Yi felt foolish for actually being worried about Valentine. After all, they had known each other for quite a while and despite her constant rebuke of his personality and behavior, she considered Valentine one of her few true friends.
Valentine had a look on his face as if he did not know what he had done wrong.
Halls and Guan Yu could not help but laugh at Valentine's facial expression after being scolded by Zi Yi.
"Welcome back, Valentine." Luna gave a slight smile.
"Back? But I was with you guys the entire time." Valentine had a confused look on his face.
"Are you trying to trick us? You were obviously extra baggage that we had to lug around everywhere ever since we entered through those wooden doors." Zi Yi scoffed.
"?!" Valentine furrowed his brows as if he were locked in deep thought. "But that can't be… The Chaos Fiends, the environmental changes, the sphere- I was there for all of it, fighting alongside everyone." Valentine said in a serious tone.
"Impossible, maybe you were aware of what was going on around you, but you were unable to move in the slightest." Zi Yi clarified.
"What Zi Yi says is true. This entire time Guan Yu has been the one carrying you around with us. You were in no condition to help us fight, that much is a fact." Luna stated.
Valentine had a look of shock on his face. "But, it was so real… I was there and…" The look of shock was soon replaced by one of confusion and uncertainty.
"It could have just been an illusion created by the Source of Despair. However, you have returned now and we can guarantee that you are not within any illusion this time around." Izroth said as he approached the Egg of Chaos.
Valentine still had many questions, however, he pushed them to the back of his mind for now and decided to focus on the present state of things. He calmed down and gave a nod to show that he understood.
Izroth reached out to try and touch the Egg of Chaos, however, the distance between the egg and his hand appeared to be millions of miles apart! No matter how close his hand seemed to be, there was always some distance between it and the egg. It was as if he was reaching towards something that appeared close but was actually far away.
"Tell me, can you see anything unusual about this egg with your Eyes of Magic?" Izroth asked.
"I'll take a look." Valentine moved closer to the podium the Egg of Chaos sat upon and observed it carefully. Within his eyes, one could see numerous magic symbols floating about.
After he examined the Egg of Chaos for around ten seconds and noticed no changes or anything unusual, Valentine let out a helpless sigh and shook his head in disappointment. "From what I can tell, there's nothing un-" Just as Valentine was about to report that there was nothing unusual, there was a sudden spike and shift in the information his Eyes of Magic received.
"This is-"Valentine's eyes widened in amazement. It was as if he was staring into nothingness and then all of a sudden, a world was formed. It all happened in the fraction of a second before being destroyed and repeating itself.
"This egg contains an entirely new world waiting to be born!" Valentine said as he was fully immersed in the information he received.
'A new world born from chaos?'
Izroth narrowed his eyes as he set his gaze upon the Egg of Chaos. He began to piece together everything and it all started to make perfect sense. Yet at the same time, it created more questions than answers.
'For every one question answered, I discover that ten more appears.'
