Seeds of Discordia

Gimmel heard muffled sounds all around him as his mind started to stir. His body felt heavy as he tried to move his hands to touch his head. He failed at first and was confused by that until he noticed his stamina bar was at one point. He didn't know why all of his stamina had dropped to one and tried to think why.

A sharp pain pierced his head causing him to stop trying to think. After taking another look at his resources he saw his Mana Pool was at five. With some worry he looked at his health and felt relief wash over him as he saw his health was halfway full. That relief disappeared as the questions flooded back in his brain once more. Another sharp pain pulsed, but this time the pain had lessened. His Mana was now pass ten.

As he probed his mind to test out the pain he came to a realization. He couldn't see anything. His vision was dark, and it took him a while to understand that his eyes were closed before he tried to open them. Blurriness filled his sight as shadows moved about all around him. The noises that were muffled were slowly starting to become clear as his blurry vision began to refocus.

As he started making sense of the moving shadows he noticed Liam and the others were all around him. The scowls on their faces confused him as he tried to make sense of the sounds trying to fill his ears. He moved his head slightly to the right and then the left to take in more of his surroundings. Guards were pointing their weapons at his comrades and another group not too far away.

A familiar figure running away caught his attention. He recognized the man as Sebastean. He had made his way over behind the group of people who were behind Adva and Omira. He then noticed the man looking directly up above him as he grew a wicked smile. The look on his face sent a warning through his mind, but for some reason the confusion that still muddled his mind wouldn't help him understand why.

Gimmel slowly looked up at the area he believed Sebastean was staring at. At first all he saw was Horven, the Primal Beast of Ice and Water starting to reach one of its tentacles out towards the rising pool of water that had stopped and was almost connected with the other streams of water that were hovering all around them.

As he stared he felt something deep within him starting to stir. The stirring wasn't something like joy or sadness. It wasn't anger or confusion. It was urgency. The feeling deep within him was urging him to do something. What it wanted him to do was something he still couldn't remember as his mind swam around. The pain that had been dimming was still there, but almost completely gone.

As he waited for the pain to be completely gone he kept his eyes on a certain spot. That spot was an area at the top where the two giant coral trees connected. He wasn't sure why he was so fixated at that spot, but the more the pain lessened and the urgency within him grew the more he was starting to feel clarity.

As soon as his mind was free of the pain and muddiness of whatever had a hold on him, he remembered. With wide eyes, Gimmel swiftly threw himself to his feet. With as loud of a voice as he could muster, Gimmel screamed, "Horven! Stop!"

Everyone all around stopped what they were doing and turned to look at him. A few turned to look at Horven to see what the teenager was yelling about. They all watched as Horven's tentacle that was reaching out grew bright with a powerful pulse of mana. The tip of Horven's tentacle touched the exact spot where all streams of water connected. The moment it did streaks of bright pale red, sickly green, and speckles of raven black swiftly raced up the center pool.

Horven let out a terrifying and earsplitting shriek causing everyone to cover their ears and protect their hearing. Liam watched as the colors that streaked up the center pool muddy and filled the once clean waters and spread through all the streams. However, due to the mana Horven had infused where all the streams connected and all the materials and ingredients that blended in with the water, the strange and dangerous feeling colors weren't able to fully spread through all of the streams.

Liam wasn't sure if it was because of Horven's mana and everything else used in the ritual, but he guessed the mixture of all of that was working to try and cleanse the new colors that he began to see as mana. The reason why he believed it was mana that was polluting the waters from the center pool was because it felt familiar. It felt like Lolita's Decaying Mana.

However, even though Horven's mana and the other infused materials and ingredients were working hard at cleansing the Decaying Mana, it wasn't enough to full cleanse it. Small streaks of Decay Mana slipped passed the cleansing waters and began to swim away from the ritual site.

Liam was about to yell out what he saw but stopped as he noticed Horven start to sway left to right. He wasn't sure why this massive creature was doing this until he noticed the tips of the Primal Beast's tentacles. Clashing with the pure as snow white color of its skin were spots of stiff and brittle skin. Patches of bright red veins slowly grew quarter inch after quarter inch.

Knowing what was about to come, Liam shouted, "Get away from Horven! He's about to fall!"

Screams and shouts filled the area as people started moving. Liam and the others watched as Horven started to topple over to its left side. His eyes fell down to where Adva and Omira were. He was worried about them since they were the closest to Horven during the whole ritual.

As he tried to peer through the people running around he saw something strange. He saw a pair of fists banging against something that wasn't there. Liam's brows scrunched as he tried to look harder. However, the panicked people continued to make it harder to see. It also didn't help when a wave of dust washed over the area where he last saw Adva and Omira.

"Did they make it out?" Ariyana questioned as worried grew on her face and she looked back and forth from the spot she last saw the two and to Liam and the others. "Did anyone see them?"

"I don't know," Liam said as he looked at Roman and Blair. He knew their sight was either just as good or close to his thanks to their Racial Benefits. However, they too looked like how he felt. He understood the unasked question they were having.

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"Did you guys see that too?" Blair asked as she looked at Roman and Liam.

"You mean Adva slamming her fists against something?" Liam asked.

"So it wasn't just me?" Roman inquired.

"What are you guys talking about?" Avery asked, confusion growing on her face.

Before any of them could reply, a figure suddenly flew out from the cloud of dust that had formed over the area Adva and Omira were once at. Uncle Naro and Key caught the flying figure and when Liam and the others got a good look at the person their eyes widened.

The person they had caught flying out was Adva. Also to their surprise, she wasn't in the best of shape. Blood ran down the side of her face, both arms, the right side of her ribs and her left leg. From what Liam was able to see, daggers were pulled out from her leg and right arm.

Liam focused as hard as he could to hear what they were saying and what he heard made his body not only tense but also filled with anger.

"What happened?!" Uncle Naro asked, concern and worry filled his voice.

"Why are you bleeding? Where did these daggers come from?!" Key questioned.

"I was attacked while trying to free Omira," Adva stated as she tried to heal her wounds.

"Attacked!?" Key shouted.

"Free Omira?!" Uncle Naro yelled.

Adva suddenly coughed blood causing the other two to tense and grow even more worried. Before they could say anything Adva raised a hand up and stated, "I'm fine. Looks like there was poison in those daggers. It'll take some time to Detox it all out. Don't worry about me. We need to get Omira out of there. Now!"

Uncle Naro and Key looked at each other. Concern and worry was written on their faces, but they understood what the older woman was trying to say. Omira was in trouble and needed their help. They both crouched down and then sprinted forward towards the area Adva was sent flying from. However, as they entered the cloud of dust, they were suddenly sent flying backwards.

As they came to a stop while sliding backwards, Uncle Naro and Key both looked confused. They both then got ready to use an ability each to try and get past whatever had stopped them. At this point Liam had noticed everyone around them had stopped running and panicking. The area was now quiet for about a few seconds before someone called out, "I wouldn't do that if I were you."

The dust cloud finally started to disperse. After the area was finally clear of dust everyone around was able to see what was hidden. Sebastean stood tall with Omira passed out and draped over his shoulder. Behind him though were several dead bodies of guards or soldiers on the ground with daggers, spears, tridents, or swords dug into their bodies. Standing near or on top of the dead bodies were Nagas wearing chain mails shirts or leather shirts. Liam could hear the gasps and murmurs as the people all around him as they took in the scene before them.

"What the hell do you think you are doing Sebastean?" Key growled as she glared at him.

"Me?" Sebastean questioned with a mock innocent look. "Not much. Just collecting something I was tasked to grab."

"Tasked the grab?" Key asked as she suddenly saw Omira passed out over his shoulder. "So you were the one who was trying to kill Omira?!"

"Kill her?" Sebastean repeated. "Deities no. I need her alive. However, I will clarify that I was the one who facilitated those attempts on her life. However, I wasn't aiming to kill her. More like trying to set up moments for me to protect her."

"That makes no sense," Key argued. "Why would you go to such lengths to do that?"

"To get the stupid girl to rely only on me," Sebastean stated. He let out an annoyed sigh as he continued, "You don't know how long I was doing this for. For the past few years I worked for this damn family I tricked, guided, and even hinted people to try and kill the girl so I would protect her and have rely and trust only me so when this day came I would snatch her up without her knowing the better."

The annoyance on Sebastean's face suddenly turned to anger as he pointed a finger at Liam's group and shouted, "However, all that work was almost completely ruined when you and your group arrived. You have no clue how much of the work I had done was gone. You meddling in our affairs by protecting, even saving the girl from all those attempts when you did and even when I tried to frame you as an assassin that night but expertly foiled my arguments. You have no idea how much of my plan was ruined."

The scowl on his face smoothed out slowly as he took a breath in and continued, "Luckily, those three groups were enough of a distraction for me to carry out the plan in the end. I have Omira in my hands and you all are stuck outside the barrier I placed."

"That barrier won't hold forever," Uncle Naro suddenly jumped in. "Eventually it will fall, and you are surrounded by all sides."

Sebastean gave Uncle Naro a wicked smile. "That's where your wrong actually."

"What do you…," Key started to say until everyone saw a swarm of inky black blobs rain from the top of the Coral Trees and explode behind Sebastean and the Nagas.

To everyone's shock and confusion a wave of whitish blue mana crackled all around until an invisible barrier stopped it from expanding out too far. Everyone watched as volatile mana rampaged within the blocked off area. The amount of area the mana covered four hundred and seventy four feet long and two hundred and eighty three feet wide. Shortly after the area was filled with the strange and powerful mana a shadow of something massive started to rise from the ground.

As this thing started to rise the ground all around started to shake and trembled causing people to fall on their sides. It had taken a few minutes for the shaking and trembling to stop and when it did the bright and volatile mana disappeared reveal a six hundred and seventy two foot tall dark blue stoned cathedral.

To Liam's and everyone's shock that wasn't the only thing that had appeared. Right where the doors were a Blue and Black Portal formed. This made everyone understood now why Sebastean and the Nagas weren't scared and why they hadn't ran away under the cover of the dust clouds. They somehow brought forth not just a massive over grown church, but a dungeon as well.

"Wha…," Key stuttered as she stared at the structure. "How is…how is that possible?"

"It's all thanks to that girl right there," Sebastean stated as he pointed at Kala. "You really should leave so much Temporal Mana around like that you know. Someone might recognize it and collect it for their own uses."

"Temp…Temporal Mana?" Key stuttered in shock. "But that shouldn't be possible."

"Oh but it is," Sebastean smiled devilishly as his gaze turned to Lolita. "Much like the Decay Mana that was used to keep Horven at bay."

Lolita scowled as she felt every inch of her body want to kill this man in a slow and agonizing manner. However, she wasn't able to move or do anything as Key snapped out of the daze she was in and shouted, "Regardless. Even if you run into that Dungeon. We will just follow you in and kill you."

"That's if it's an Open World type Dungeon or a Wave. But I still don't think we have anything to worry about."

"What do you mean?" Uncle Naro questioned as he glared at the elf man.

"I mean. You shouldn't worry about me. I am the least of your worries right now," Sebastean replied with a cocky and calm attitude.

Before Key or Uncle Naro could say any more, bells, screams, and sirens started going off all over the island. Everyone turned around to a transparent film not too far away from the island in the shape of a dome covering over them start to flicker and slowly disintegrate.

"Did I forget to mention that the Decaying Mana used was also meant to break the barrier protecting the island and allowing the Sea Parades to freely attack? Oh. My bad," Sebastean said before turning around, laughing, and calling out before entering through the portal, "Have fun trying to save the island while knowing there was nothing you could have done for poor Miss Omira."