Nightmare’s Call

In the Caerphabor Cave, a black sandstorm had formed a series of tornadoes, which were slowly moving across the vast red plain. They rolled up debris from the ground and tore them into pieces, some as small as dust to form part of themselves. The entire dark spirit cave had plunged into a rumble.

Over the black tower, a faint ring of gray light was protecting the tower from the ravaging tornadoes. Lin Sheng was dressed in white armor, together with Djall Demonhand, he stood quietly on the balcony on the middle floor of the black tower, overlooking the black tornadoes in the distance.

“It’s a dark and gloomy day. Natural disasters do happen in our caves sometimes. It would devastate all living things except non-physical beings like us, the pure souls. Worst-case scenario, we just get lost. The black tornadoes are relatively harmless to us,” Djall Demonhand said.

Lin Sheng nodded. He looked down at the land below in the protective range of the black tower. There, thousands of dark spirits were busy preparing a gigantic communication ritual, which he would use to connect to another dark spirit cave. If he were to travel there alone, he only needed a very simple sacrificial ceremony, giving it a little twist and it would be good to go. But he was not traveling alone. After conquering so many forces, it would be a waste if he did not bring them along.

“Is the ceremonial passage ready?”

“It is. Ready to go any time,” Djall muttered. “The ceremony is not complicated. The thing is, dark spirit caves aren’t allied with each other.”

“It’s all right. Are you worried that the other side will attack us the minute the connection is established?” Lin Sheng asked.

“What I mean is first, send a team of Darkspirit Generals. Let them scout out the place before we decide whether to send the army,” Djall suggested. “It doesn’t matter if the scout fails. The damage is minor. In case the other side finds out our intention, they won’t be fast enough to gather their troops so long as they could move quickly enough.”

Djall kept explaining how good this strategy was. Lin Sheng knew what he was up to; this guy was trying to impress. But it was entirely understandable. Djall was a Darkspirit General, and he needed to show his worth and gain the favor of his superior.

“So,” Lin Sheng said, “where is the information on the dark spirit cave?”

Djall cleared his throat and calmly took out a white and gold scroll that was tied up with a gold rope. He gently loosened the gold rope, unwound the scroll, then threw it in the air so it floated before Lin Sheng.

“It’s Pavru.

“The dark spirit cave of Pavru.”

Djall was silent for a while as if he was recalling the specific details.

“Pavru differs from Caerphabor. That place has mobile fortresses, known to be the strongest world of the dark spirits because the place has abundant resources and the powerful dark spirits known as the Helix. In many other worlds, they call these dark spirits, ‘fairies’.”

“Oh?”

It surprised Lin Sheng this time. He thought the next world of the dark spirits would be like Caerphabor. A fairy world was a surprise.

“Yes, it’s the fairy you have been thinking about in your head,” Djall said. “They also gain more strength and growth by making deals. Pavru’s Helix has improved the physique of the dark spirits. They have changed to acquiring more resources by giving the summoner special gifts. They have gone wayward, deviating from the original path of the dark spirits. They are also disdainful of conventional evil spirits like us.”

Listening to Djall’s explanation, a thought came into Lin Sheng’s mind while his eyes were still on the scroll in the air. It was showing the details of Pavru.

“Can you elaborate on what you mean by gifts?”

“Yes, Master.” Djall bowed his head.

“For the time being, let us call the dark spirits of Pavru as fairies. Their ritual has not only improved the essence of using living things as an offering but also radically changed themselves…”

…

In the fairy world of Pavru, there was a lush ancient forest. At the edge of a vast canyon, which stretched thousands of miles, stood a giant tree that looked like a taupe pointed hat.

Fluorescent green lights were surrounding the giant tree, and each dot of light was a little fairy the size of a human palm.These fairies had a human body, a pair of bee wings that made a buzzing noise when they flew around with an innocent smile on their faces.

They kept circling the giant tree with a halo around them. The halo was the life aura of the fairies. It could make living things healthier and live longer.

There were so many fairies surrounding the giant tree that they looked like the stars in the sky and the sand in the desert. They had formed a unique mist of life and aura around themselves.

Under the giant tree, between the dense and huge roots, a dark-haired man with a sword hanging from his waist walked with a determined face. He wore a well-sewn swordsman suit, with special symbols of unknown meaning on the edges of his clothes and at the back on the center of his waist. He had smooth black hair, his eyes calm and black.

“Don’t go any further, Rathi.” Above the forest came a soft and crisp female voice. “This is the Helixian Mothertree, a quiet place for His Highness Uthane.”

So the man stopped in his tracks, looking up as if he was searching for the source of the voice.

“Dear King of Fairies, I don’t agree with the ruling of Klein. I’ve come to urge the Jade Root to review its ruling. To get your support, I have brought you a piece of key evidence, an important proof that shows Klein did not commit betrayal.”

From a pouch tied around his waist, he gingerly took out a round black gemstone the size of a fingernail and threw it forward.

The gemstone pulverized to form a black magic circle mid-air. As the magic circle rotated, another smaller magic circle rose within it.

“Expand!” The man gently touched the center of the magic circle, and the two magic circles exploded at once, turning into a spinning black ring.

Footages of past events appeared in the ring. Just when the footage played, a faint tremor was felt coming from the forest in the far distance. The footage in-play flickered for a while before everything returned to normal.

However, the black-haired man and the King of the Fairies in an unknown location knew that this slight tremor was an earthquake.

“Let’s continue,” the Fairy king said.

“Aye.” The man was focused because this was the last chance to appeal. If the attempt failed, Klein and co would be left with no hope because at sunrise the next day, they would be executed in public at the altar before the Mothertree.

The footage manifested by the magic circle still continued.

About five minutes later…

“Stop, I have already understood,” the Fairy king said.

The footage froze.