Unsealing Emptiness

Entering the Spatial Crack took everyone to a distorted space. Purplish hue spiraled all around them which would have made just about anyone dizzy. Fortunately, only two out of the fifteen people who had entered were able to witness this bizarre scene.

“Hm?” Kun felt something off and he was just about to look behind.

The surroundings, however, shifted again just then. The spiral of distorted stars vanished completely as if sucked by an insatiable hole! It was replaced by a sky so vast and clear that one could easily lose oneself in it.

“What...” Kun spoke with glaring eyes that seemed to be trying to learn all the secrets of his, “How did you do it?”

Before he could get any answer, a group of people with spears in their hands came rushing in and surrounded the lot. All of them were men except for one who looked to be their superior.

She approached Kun and slammed her spear into the ground with such force that it shook the bodies of those who were still unconscious.

.....

“Huh?”

“Urgh...”

...

They groaned and groggily stood up while rubbing their eyes as if they had just woken up from a good sleep after a long while now. This could be attributed to the fact that most of them rarely slept after reaching the level they were at now.

Meanwhile, Kun didn’t pursue his question any further. He merely gave Ozul a glance before turning around and disappearing from the spot!

His gaze alone was enough for Ozul to understand that this Kun could be a problem in the future. Something was telling him that Kun would surely try to keep an eye on him.

He had been so engrossed in the spiral of stars as they had gone inside the Spatial Crack that he overlooked the fact that except for him, all the others had almost instantly fallen to the ground. Though even if he did, he wouldn’t have had the time nor the energy to act like the others.

‘Sigh...’ He mentally sighed thinking that he hadn’t even arrived and already attracted trouble. Though the next second, he cleared his mind, ‘Let’s first learn about this... world.’

...

As everyone woke up, they looked around them with wariness.

The guards with silver spears in their hands didn’t help their uneasiness.

“Where are we?” asked the lady with blonde hair. She was Sarah, the princess of the fallen Silverbird Kingdom.

“Everything will be explained in a minute. Please follow me,” the lady who had saluted Kun addressed the group with a ‘please’ that didn’t make her seem like she was asking.

Ozul also noticed that she wasn’t displeased by the fact that Kun paid her no heed and left silently.

He then remembered something and looked around only to be disappointed.

‘Did she get inside or not?’ He only now realized that Jinx was missing. This time he was a little worried. Yet again, he was annoyed by the fact that he didn’t know the limits of Jinx’s abilities.

Had she entered the Spatial Crack or not? He was too lost in his own thoughts that he didn’t realize it back then. What if she hadn’t entered... would she be able to get here anyway?

To Ozul, Jinx was similar to Raven and Blaze. He couldn’t bear the thought of losing them as they were right now. Jinx even more so when he realized there was still so much to learn about her. He might not know everything, but he was certain that she was linked to him in some way.

But all his worries were for naught because just then, something brushed past his feet. The familiar touch eased his non-existent heart. He didn’t even need to look down to confirm whether it was really her, he just knew that it was.

Now that that was resolved, Ozul took a deep breath and took a wide look around him.

The starlight tore through the vast blue sky and shone upon everything brightly.

‘That isn’t the Sun. It’s not the same star.’

Because of the obvious difference in their sizes, not only Ozul, but anyone could tell it wasn’t the star they used to have at a glance. This star was much larger, and as a result, it emitted even more bright light, which irritated Ozul to no end!

No one had the time to soak in their new environment yet as they started following the guards.

Ozul, on the other hand, was lost in his thoughts as he walked behind them. He noticed that they had been standing on a raised platform earlier. From top to bottom, the gold-colored marble was etched with some unknown symbols. They took it slowly down the stairs, which were the only part free of those mysterious symbols.

‘Could they only open that Spatial Crack on that platform?’ Ozul had a theory, but he needed to learn more about this world, all of his questions would naturally be answered then... or at least he hoped so.

They had yet to test the intentions of these people who brought them here, so he had to be vigilant.

Yet the new surroundings made Ozul dive into his thoughts. The raised platform wasn’t the only one. There was another one right beside it.

These platforms were also placed in the middle of a large ground with only guards(?) roaming about. The place they seemed to be walking towards was the houses that looked to be made of wood outside this ground.

There was this certain smell in the air that made everyone feel out of place. Even the slowest of the lot had, by now, understood that they weren’t on the Mainlands.

Weren’t there stories about how humans were able to reach a Rank beyond Rank-10 and ascend as gods? And weren’t there some legends saying how the space itself cracked and those sages of the past had to enter that space to reach Heavens?

Were they in Heavens right now?

These kinds of questions clouded everyone’s mind.

No one dared to have any thoughts about becoming gods though.

They had come a long way, but they were far from gods. As for the question of whether this was Heaven, they would soon find out.

The air was fresh, and the occasional gentle breeze made them comfortable.

“I don’t feel alright,” Blaze whispered to Raven.

She didn’t reply to confirm his suspicions, but she had the same feeling.

Her eyes drifted to Ozul walking by their side, lost in his own thoughts. As always, her heart felt assured since he was by her side.

No one asked any questions and the guards coldly brought them inside the wooden manor.

Just on the first step, all of them stopped and lined themselves side by side, guarding the place instead of entering with them.

The female captain(?), however, walked them inside personally.

It was like an ancient Japanese house. There were wooden sliding doors, and even the floor was completely made up of dark wood.

The doors slid on their own, revealing a room empty of any furniture.

The room was illuminated by tiny crystals encrusted in the walls. Unlike a fire lamp, they illuminated the entire room evenly.

In the middle of the room stood two men wearing loose robes. One of them was an old man with a beard so long that it almost touched the ground! The other, however, was a young man with a bright smile on his face.

Both of their robes had the same golden lining, and a green medallion with what appeared to be a lion carved on it hung around their waists.

The old man had his eyes closed, or that’s what it looked like at least. His back was hunched and he held a thick wooden stick to support himself.

The young man, on the other hand, stood straight and proud with his hands folded behind his back.

“It was about time!” the young man spoke with unusual excitement.

Zier almost jumped back in shock. That man was being too loud for a greeting.

“You can leave,” the old man opened his mouth. His voice turned out to be crisp, yet refreshing for an old man. It gave others confidence just by listening to him.

The female guard nodded her head, bowed and turned around to leave. No questions were asked and no useless actions taken.

“Why are they being so tense?” whispered Zier with a hand on his mouth.

Blaze rolled his eyes. They were simply being straight forward. This guy was tense himself, so he perceived others as such. But he couldn’t be blamed. Considering their current situation, just about everyone would be tense.

“Oh don’t be tense, young man. No one here is any threat to you... yet.” the old man assured with a weak smile.

‘Oi! oi! What do you mean by ‘yet’?!’ Zier screamed in his head, turned towards Blaze and again whispered, “You heard him say ‘yet’ right?”

This time, he was completely ignored.

Ozul was examining the two people before him.

They were important people, at least for the time being. He was, however, attempting to assess their strength. And he wasn’t pleased when all his efforts proved futile.

‘They are just like Old Gu. But judging from everything that has happened currently and their welcoming attitude, they should be weaker than Old Gu and that Kun. Yet, I cannot sense any of their strength... is it because of the source of their powers?’

Ozul was having an internal dialogue with himself. And just when he came to that conclusion, his eyebrows raised as he realized something.

“There is no Mana in the air...” his whisper resounded in the room, attracting all eyes to him.