Chapter 3100: Possession

They found shelter within seconds of breaking free from the crevice.

Durnok’s tore a hollow straight into the ground before anyone had to ask, stone walls rising and sealing overhead in a single smooth motion. Sentries immediately took position around the entrance, while the rest gathered around the one problem that mattered most.

Soltz remained unconscious, his skin pale and gray, almost the color of ash.

"What happened to him?" Bragnir asked with real concern.

Emery already had a guess, drawn directly from what had just happened to him and Soltz condition.

A soul possession.

Something had forced its way into Soltz’s mind while they were trapped in the darkness, something powerful enough to knock a Three-Cosmos cultivator unconscious without giving him even a chance to resist.

He didn’t hesitate.

His Soul Walk carried him straight toward Soltz’s sea of consciousness, his seventh-layer Rainbow Pagoda flaring brightly as it forced a path through the spiritual barrier surrounding it. The moment Emery approached, however, a wall of darkness surged into his path. It was thick and unnaturally dense, resisting his soul with a force that immediately made him realize this was no ordinary defense.

Emery unleashed his Twilight Transformation without a second thought. Primal force surged through his body, sharpening his senses and strengthening his soul as he pushed harder against the barrier.

Something pushed back.

Hard.

The force struck him with such sudden violence that Emery was thrown clear, his soul staggering backward as he struggled to regain his balance. His breath came raggedly, and the pressure left behind a sharp ache across his consciousness.

"Who are you?!" he snarled into the darkness. "Get out of him, now!"

Receiving no response, Emery quickly thought of another way to enter Soltz’s consciousness. If he couldn’t break through the strange barrier from the outside, he would have to approach it from another direction.

He swiftly unleashed the power of Khaos and reached for the invisible thread connecting Soltz’s Khaos seed to his own domain. Through that Waypoint, Emery carefully channeled his Divine Sense into Soltz’s body, bypassing the outer barrier that had rejected him moments earlier.

The reaction was immediate.

A violent force erupted through the connection, shaking both Soltz’s body and mind. His entire body convulsed once, his muscles tightening as if an invisible force had struck him from within. His face twisted in pain, and a faint ripple of spiritual energy spread across his skin.

A second later, Soltz’s eyes suddenly snapped open.

He stared blankly at the people surrounding him, his breathing heavy and uneven. His face was pale, almost bloodless, and it took several moments before his eyes finally focused on Emery.

"...What happened?" he whispered, his voice weak and hoarse.

Emery didn’t answer immediately. He remained uneasy and continued probing through Soltz’s consciousness, carefully examining his spiritual sea and searching for any trace of the strange presence he had sensed earlier.

Minutes passed.

Emery searched again and again, but found nothing.

There was no foreign soul energy, no lingering spiritual imprint, and no sign that anything had taken control of Soltz’s consciousness. It was as if whatever had entered his mind had simply vanished without leaving a trace.

"Do you feel anything?" Emery finally asked. "Do you remember anything?"

Soltz slowly shook his head. Even that small movement seemed to make his head hurt. He raised one hand to his forehead, his fingers trembling slightly.

"I feel..." He paused, struggling to gather his thoughts. "I feel as if someone smashed my head with a hammer..."

His voice faded, and he closed his eyes again, clearly exhausted.

Emery’s expression grew heavier.

He wanted to continue the examination. But as he looked around, he could see unease spreading through the party.

They had escaped the crevice, but that did not mean they were safe.

Their underground shelter could hide them for a short time, but they had no idea what had attacked them, whether it was still nearby, or whether something else had already detected their presence.

Emery finally withdrew his Divine Sense from Soltz. Every additional moment they spent here increased the danger.

"We need to move," he said quietly.

No one argued.

His original plan had been simple enough. Let Soltz slip through the earth using his concealment technique, use the resulting Waypoint as an anchor, and then pull the rest of the group through behind him one clean jump at a time. It would be far safer than flying a group this size across the open grassland, where they could easily be spotted by Scourge scouts or other hostile creatures.

Soltz’s condition had just ended that option outright.

The map placed them two full days from the border of the Southern Isles. Flying the entire distance through open grassland, exposed and without any reliable concealment, was a risk Emery wasn’t willing to take.

"I’ll scout ahead," he said.

He knelt on the cavern floor and began laying out a simple formation, carefully placing several pieces of prepared rare material around him. His fingers moved quickly but precisely as he connected each piece with thin lines of spiritual energy, gradually forming a spatial array beneath his hands. The faint glow of the formation illuminated the surrounding stone walls as the runes linked together, eventually creating a stable spatial pattern.

The plan was straightforward. Emery would travel ahead alone, using his abilities to find the next safe location before returning to bring the others forward. By repeating the process, he could guide the entire group across the dangerous stretch of grassland without exposing everyone to the open sky at once.

Bragnir, however, immediately refused to let him go alone.

Three Two-Cosmos Grand Magus were chosen on the spot, each a specialist in concealment and experienced in moving through dangerous territory without revealing their presence. The high elf Ilvorn volunteered as well, his mastery of Wind Law making him especially useful for masking their movements and suppressing the disturbances caused by spatial travel.

Emery would have preferred to move truly alone. Five people meant more energy signatures, more chances of being detected, and more people he would have to protect if something went wrong.

But after a moment’s thought, he reconsidered.

Someone needed to watch his back while he concentrated on long-range spatial casting. Even a moment of distraction while manipulating space could be dangerous.

"Take this."

Bragnir stepped forward and pressed a rune-carved stone into Emery’s palm. The surface was cold and smooth, with tiny formations etched across it that glowed faintly beneath his fingers.

"A two-way communication stone" the dwarf lord explained.

"Tell me the instant anything happens with Soltz." Emery replied

"I will."

Emery closed his fingers around the stone, then sent a private mental warning directly to Bragnir, making sure the others couldn’t hear it. He reminded the dwarf lord to remain especially alert while he was gone, just in case whatever had touched Soltz’s mind decided to make another move.

Bragnir’s expression grew serious, and he gave a small nod.

With that, Emery gathered his chosen companions. A faint distortion spread across the cavern as space began to bend around them.

A moment later, Emery and his party of five disappeared into the distance.