Chapter 13: Chapter 13: The Calm before the storm (9)
Deep in the heart of the land, a small village named Rosegard stood alone, surrounded by a powerful barrier erected by the infamous Zeke. The magical walls cut off the village from the outside world, and without the right artifact, no one could even dream of penetrating it. Even worse, the journey from the barrier to the village itself was treacherous, requiring at least three hours of grueling travel through unforgiving terrain. And if someone wanted to travel to the nearest city, they would need to brace themselves for an epic five-day trek.
Despite the challenges, Rosegard thrived as a self-sufficient community. The villagers had learned to rely on themselves, cultivating their own food and honing their survival skills to perfection. However, they still needed some essentials that couldn't be found in their little corner of the world. So, once a month, a brave soul would venture out to the closest city to get what they needed, risking their lives on the open road.
Raoul and the soldiers rode through the darkness, their thundering hooves were the only sound piercing the eerie silence. As they pressed on through the unknown, Raoul's mind was tormented by the fate of his student and the village he had left behind.
Guilt gnawed at his heartstrings, for he had abandoned his beloved community. Yet, he knew in his heart that this was the only path he could take to save them. With every mile they traversed, he grew more resolute to uncover the true intent of the soldiers who had laid siege to his home.
As they approached the barrier, Raoul's heart pounded with anticipation. The fate of his village hung in the balance, and the tension in the air was palpable. But as they drew closer, Raoul's eyes widened in shock - for there, right before him, was a gaping hole in the barrier.
Stunned and disbelieving, Raoul stopped in his tracks. "How could this be?" thought the warrior. But before he could ponder further, a soldier barked at Raoul, "Move!" commanding him to move, but Raoul stood firm.
The soldier's tone grew more forceful, "I said move!" pushing Raoul with all his might, but Raoul did not budge an inch.
The soldier's face turned red with embarrassment, seeing that he could not make Raoul budge even an inch using all his strength.
Leon De Paul looked at Raoul without a word, taking in the scene before him. Raoul met his gaze and asked, "How did you breach this barrier?" His tone was calm and composed.
"The man who set that barrier must be very powerful. I tried to make a similar hole, but I couldn't," Leon De Paul replied, his eyes fixed on the gaping hole in the barrier.
"So you aren't the one who did this?" Raoul asked.
Leon De Paul's lips curved into a dark smile. "Do you really want to know?" he asked before dismounting his horse.
Raoul's heart sank as he watched Leon De Paul walk toward him. He knew this wasn't going to end well.
The tense silence was broken by Leon's command to the soldier on horseback, "Give it to me." Raoul's eyes followed the movement of the two strange objects that were handed over to Leon De Paul.
They looked like disks, with a blue stone in the center of each. Leon De Paul took them and threw them to the ground, the disks facing each other at a distance of about two meters. Raoul felt his heart pounding in his chest as he looked from the disks to Leon and back again.
Leon's voice was low and menacing when he spoke, "First of all, you know that the handcuffs on you are not ordinary handcuffs, right?"
Raoul nodded, his voice calm as he already knew what it was "I guessed as much, they suppress mana."
"Indeed, we call them mana suppressors," Leon replied, his eyes never leaving Raoul's. "And as long as you have them on, no matter how strong you are, you won't be able to use or gather mana."
Raoul gritted his teeth, his fists clenched in frustration. He was a skilled warrior, but without his mana, he was powerless, at least that is what he wanted Leon De paul to perceive.
Leon's voice cut through his thoughts, "And those," he said, pointing to the two disks on the ground, "will probably shock you more." He signaled to two soldiers who stepped forward and cut their hands. Raoul watched in horror as the blood dripped onto the blue stones. Two other soldiers infused a bit of mana on the stones, and Raoul felt his stomach clench in fear. He didn't understand what was happening, or what it had to do with the hole in the barrier.
Suddenly, the stones on the disks started to shine brightly, and Raoul's eyes widened in shock. "Open," Leon commanded, and the space above the disks began to distort in a spiral motion until the space itself opened. Raoul felt his mouth go dry as he saw what was inside the opened space.
"Are those warp gates?" he asked, his voice shaking with a mixture of disbelief and terror.
"Indeed. Those devices can open warp gates to a specific location," Leon replied, with a smug smile on his face.
Warp gates were portals made by high-ranking wizards, magicians, or sorcerers that allowed people to travel between a point A and B in a matter of seconds. They were usually found in big cities, and they normally looked like a big frame set in a specific location. It was normally impossible to move those warp gates.
"They are portable warp gates freshly made by our kingdom's finest wizards." Leon De Paul added with a hint of pride in his tone.
Raoul's mind raced as he tried to comprehend the implications of what he was seeing. He had never heard of portable warp gates before, let alone ones that could be opened by something as simple as blood and mana.
"As you can see, even if there were no hole in that barrier, if we really wanted to, we could still have passed through that barrier by using those devices," Leon said, with a hint of satisfaction in his voice. "But fortunately for us, it was not necessary."
Raoul's eyes were in shock, seeing a portative warp gate was indeed strange but seeing a hole in that barrier was far more concerning.
Leon De Paul signaled to his soldiers to enter the warp gate on his left. One by one, they disappeared through the portal, leaving Leon and Raoul alone in the dark. Raoul looked around and felt the darkness closing in on him. He was anxious and had many questions.
"Raoul Garcia, I know you have many questions going through your head right now, and I will answer them," said Leon, gesturing with his right arm toward the other warp gate. "This way."
Raoul looked at the two gates spiraling in front of him, wondering what lay ahead. He knew that something wasn't right, but he had questions he wanted to ask, and he knew that the only way for Leon De Paul to answer him truthfully was for him to do what Leon wanted. So, he entered the gate, Leon De Paul look at the small stone that he was holding in his hand and smiled before following behind Raoul.
The gate closed when they both reached the other side of the gate.
As Raoul emerged on the other side, the scene before him left him speechless. He stood in the middle of a desert filled with dark sands, stretching out for miles in every direction. He was standing with his back turned to Leon De Paul.
"This is where you're originally from, right?" Leon asked his mouth curling into a grin.
"Are you happy being back in the Dark Lands?" Leon asked again, his expression turning dark and perverted.
Raoul turned to face Leon and saw the twisted delight in his eyes. Something was not right, and Raoul felt his anger growing.
"Who really sent you?" Raoul demanded, his voice calm but sharp, his eyes filled with fury.
"You knew that the charges against you were false, but still decided to follow us," said Leon De Paul, disgust etched on his face. "Stupid! Weak-minded, I hate people like you the most. You didn't want your precious people to bleed, I guess."
Raoul gritted his teeth, trying to stay calm. "Who sent you?" he demanded, his voice powerful and commanding.
"I was asked by a certain someone to bring you here. Apparently, that person didn't want you to remain in that village. I'm sure he's planning to do something interesting there! You were probably a variable he wanted to remove before executing his plan," said Leon De Paul with an amused tone. He then covered his mouth with his hands, trying to stifle the laugh that wanted to come out.
With a fierce determination, Raoul refused to let Leon De Paul have the last word. "If you or anybody dares to touch even a single hair on one of my people," he snarled, pausing briefly before adding with a menacing tone, "I will kill you." A powerful surge of energy radiated from his body, and the mana-suppressing handcuffs attached to his hands shattered into pieces.
Leon De Paul's laughter rang through the desolate, unforgiving landscape. "Impressive, you really broke those" he sneered, "but that much was already within my calculation. Look around you - we are in the middle of the Darklands, the lost continent. You can struggle all you want, but you won't be able to return to our continent."
A flicker of hope flashed in Raoul's eyes. "I'm sure you have a way, or you would not have followed me here," he countered, desperate for a way out.
Leon De Paul smirked, holding up a small stone in his hand. "Indeed, Raoul. You'll need this," he said, waving the stone in front of Raoul's face. "This is called a return stone. Upon breaking it and saying a specific keyword, you'll return to the place you were before entering a warp gate. Now, Come and get it, if you can "
Without hesitation, Raoul bolted towards Leon De Paul with blinding speed, but the seasoned Meister was ready for him. "Too slow," he taunted with a smug grin, effortlessly dodging Raoul's attack.
Enraged, Raoul launched a flurry of blows at Leon De Paul, but the other man simply evaded them with ease. With a smirk, Leon De Paul stepped back, holding the stone tightly in his hand. "Hmm, I've wasted too much time here," he said with a cheeky tone before adding with a big perverted face "Farewell, Raoul Garcia."
"No!" Raoul yelled, his eyes blazing with fury. With a sudden burst of energy, he teleported himself behind Leon De Paul.
But it was too late - Leon De Paul shattered the return stone and whispered "return". With a deafening crack, Leon De Paul vanished into thin air, leaving Raoul alone and stranded in the barren wasteland, doomed to a fate worse than death.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone