A quarter of an hour had passed after Kyran’s magic went out of control, finally, all the remnant souls saw the semi-transparent purple sphere moved.
The sphere decreased in size, and Kyran’s body descended on the ground slowly.
[Monarch!]
All the remnant souls cried and ran towards Kyran as soon as the sphere disappeared.
Before they could get any closer, a voice spoke in their heads.
They suddenly stopped moving, and after a few seconds, one after another, they disappeared.
The huge purple sphere covering the whole Misty Forest also decreased in size and soon returned to its miasma form to fill the surrounding of the forest.
After the miasma settled, the light golden arrays above the whole forest disappeared one by one.
In just five minutes, the whole Misty Forest, had returned to normal as if nothing happened.
==================
At the same time, in all the nearby towns.
All the scouts stationed at each town walls saw the sudden change in Misty Forest.
An hour had not even passed from the time the misma condensed and wrapped the whole forest. Not to mention the appearance of those light golden arrays. Now the forest returned to normal and there were no signs of the miasma’s outbreak.
What caused such a phenomena?
All of them were left wondering, however, they still needed to report this incident back to their superiors. Because when the miasma condensed, all town leaders assembled at least two squads to investigate the forest.
As soon as the town leaders received the update, they were befuddled.
The forest had returned to normal?
Still, they did not dismiss their men and instead told them to work with the other towns to investigate what happened. After all, although the miasma seemed to have dispersed, they still needed to check if there was really no outbreak. Of course, they would not enter the forest at this time but would only investigate around its border.
After half an hour of preparation, these squads left their respective towns and went to the Misty Forest.
==================
It took Kyran a few more minutes before he stabilized his Draconic core. and the moment he regained consciousness, he was assaulted by pain all over his body.
“Argh…” He groaned as he slowly opened his eyes and got up to a sitting position.
The first thing he noticed was the thick miasma around him.
Just like earlier, the miasma kept a certain distance from him. This made Kyran wonder because at the moment, his magic was not activated, nor was he using any Regis technique.
The next thing he noticed, was that he was alone.
Honestly, Kyran wanted to talk more with the remnant souls. However, he did not feel any presence observing him from the within the miasma, thus he was knew all those remnant souls had left.
Where they went, he was unsure. And even if he was curious, he had no time to look for them.
It was a pity. But Kyran planned to return here in the future so he was not that disappointed. He would take his time to explore this place next time.
Taking a deep breath, Kyran surveyed his surroundings. The thick miasma blurred his sight, but he could still see the silhouette around him. He immediately noticed the destroyed ground near the edge of the ravine to his right and felt cold sweat trickled down his back. If he had sat a few feet more to his right near the edge before his magic went out of control, he might’ve fallen off the ravine and woken up at the bottom of it. Of course, that was if his body was still in one piece after falling.
‘That was really close,’ Kyran thought dryly.
Once he confirmed that there were no immediate danger around, he took out a potion bottle with light pink liquid from his pouch. He stared at it for a few seconds before deciding to put it back inside.
He was feeling weak right now, but he was not exhausted. Taking this low-grade stamina potion would not have much effect.
He then focused checking his body, and after confirming that he only had few minor cuts, he also opted not to take any healing pill. He might have stocked up for this trip, but he had to be careful in taking pills and stamina potions. He should not rely on them.
‘Let’s rest for a bit before looking for the Duali tree,’ Kyran decided while crossing his legs.
After this, he took this tome to ponder what happened inside his sea of consciousness.
The man’s image flashed in his mind and he could not help but sigh.
He covered his face with both his hands as he leaned slightly forward and rested his elbows on his knees.
Although their hair and eye colors were different, he did look like the man.
No wonder the remnant souls reacted that way when he removed his mask.
‘And he really was my predecessor,’ he thought, remembering the man’s last words before his consciousness drifted completely.
‘I did not even ask for his name. Stupid,’ he scolded himself. Honestly, referring to the man as his predecessor or the Dark Sage or the previous Void Master was such a mouthful. Why did he not ask that in the first place?
‘It’s because you pretended not to know who he was, stupid.’ He scolded himself.
He sighed and slid his hands down his face.
‘We share the same face… I’m not sure if it will be an advantage or a disadvantage once I meet others connected to him, like those remnant souls. But… ‘ He shook his head and added, ‘I’m also wanted so I had to hide my face anyway. Let’s forget that for now.’
He straightened his back and looked at his hands.
‘To think I also have a Draconic core,’ he thought with a slight frown.
Did his family know about it? If they did, they really hid a lot of things from him. He was not angry at them though. He knew they had their reasons for keeping it from him. Remembering the emotions he felt from his Draconic core, made him think that there was a deeper story his ancestor had.
He remembered one of the remnant soul’s words.
‘The Dragon Lord was the Dark Sage’s best friend, but he also wanted to kill the Dark Sage.’
Kyran scratched his head. While it appears that he had gathered new bits and pieces of information about the two, all of it were not enough for him to draw a conclusion.
But one thing he was sure of.
The regret he felt from his Draconic core was directed to his Void core. And the anger and hatred, were directed to the Royal Family.
‘Did my ancestor regret not saving his bestfriend?’ Kyran wondered. ‘Or was there another reason?’
If only he knew how the Dark Sage fell. Maybe he could draw a better conclusion that had sense. Unfortunately, there were no detailed information of the Dark Sage’s fall. The books only mentioned how the Hero Families fought hard and with the sacrifice of the Hero who belonged to the Hero Family that would become the rulers of the Ylfaen Empire, the Dark Sage finally fell.
“Let’s stop thinking about this for now,” Kyran told himself and stood up. “With too little information, and no clues I’ll just waste my time.”
He looked up to his right and saw the Chaos Palace floating above.
‘No. There are clues. Inside that palace, I am sure I can find more clues. But I can’t go there yet. As my predecessor said, I am not ready. But after I finish my initial preparations, I’ll find the right time to return to this place.’
Kyran swore in his heart.
With that resolution, he finally moved and looked for his weapons. After finding them, he went back to the forest and searched for the location of the Duali Trees.
====================
Because of what happened to the Misty Forest, the caravan that were about to leave Tarrin Town got delayed. Although they were not going in that direction, they had to listen to the town leader’s advice not to leave in case there was a miasma outbreak.
The tall, muscular man whom Kyran had a run in, crossed his arms as he stood at the front of the first caravan. He looked ahead at the end of the road with a scowl.
He was waiting for words from the men who followed the man in black clothes. However, it had been hours since they left and they had not returned yet.
‘Don’t tell me, they were ambushed?’ The man thought as his eyes grew wide in fright.
‘No, that can’t be. That man had at most a quarter of an hour lead time before our side followed his tracks.’
Then what was causing the delay of their return?
‘Something happened,’ he thought.
He turned his attention back at the caravan behind him and pondered. The route they were about to take was opposite the path leading to the Misty Forest. However, if their men encountered an ambush in that path, they had to change their route.
There was actually another path they could take where they would pass near the periphery of the Misty Forest. They travel would take longer but with the current situation, it might be a better option.
Although there was a risk of the miasma from the Misty Forest leaking because of the recent event, the tall man believed the path was not affected. Besides, even if the miasma leaked there, he was confident that the miasma would be less and they could drink detoxification potions to counter it.
It was better than being ambushed by the group his employer warned him about. Because he would not risk just their lives, but also the location of where they were about to go. And that was far more important than anything to him.
With a nod of his head, the tall, muscular man looked at the man at the head of the first caravan.
“We’re taking a detour. We’ll leave in half an hour,” he told the man.
The man saluted and replied, “Yes, Captain.”