"For now, let's go back the way I came from. If we're sneaky, we might be able to find out where they took the other battle priests." Lyla said.
"Sounds good, how many were with you when you arrived?" Chronos asked.
"Not sure. The moment I showed up we were already in combat, but there was one High Priest there. He bought me and the others time to escape when the crocodiles ambushed us mid-fight. If we're lucky, he'll still be there." Lyla replied.
Chronos was eager to find him, knowing he could free Gregory and Sariah from their petrified state. Still, they had to be cautious, or they might end up making things worse for the High Priest.
Moving across the island Chronos took note that this one was not from inside the village. It looked like it came from the Averest forest with little to no wetland, perhaps it was from the border of Dracon Fen?
Did the tear expand that far or were random lands thrown together in the dark void?
Having several questions Chronos chose to ask Lyla, who seemed to know more about what was going on. "Hey Lyla, what do you know about the tears and this dark void place?"
"Not a lot, I know that all of this happened 1000 years ago but that's not hidden knowledge. The tears themselves will devour anything that touches them which is almost everything that has curiosity. In order to devour more the tears send out dark beasts to bring more prey into them and once they have enough energy, they create thorns and expand. One of the High Priestesses was concerned about the boar touching the tear so we can assume that a strong creature can force the expansion as well, regrettably we didn't arrive in time to stop it. Even more unfortunately, I don't know how to get out of here or if it's even possible. We might be stuck until help arrives. I think there was more, but I can't remember it." Lyla explained as they got closer to the last known location of the High Priest.
"So, the church doesn't know much about the void itself?" Chronos asked.
"If they do, then I am not ranked high enough to find out. There are plenty of archives and forbidden knowledge in an organization as old as the Tri-Goddess church after all." She chuckled with an exasperated look.
"Then add this, the void pulls in lands from anywhere that has a tear. What we're walking on isn't from Dracon Fen, it's from Averest forest." He said while gesturing at the ground.
"Huh, I thought we would see more bugs among the dark beasts if it had taken in a part of the Averest forest." She replied with a confused look.
"I'm guessing that the bugs are too strong for the weaker beasts to capture, and I know that they have wicked sharp instincts. They wouldn't touch a random tear once they sense the danger." He replied.
While traveling through the forest island they had not seen any other creatures or found any trace of survivors, if anybody made it out they didn't come this way. After travelling for a time Chronos couldn't help but wonder if Lyla was lost. He was pretty sure they had crossed this path twice before.
"Are you sure we are going the right way?" He asked.
Startled, she looked sheepishly at him, "Yes, I think? I was just trying to get away before so I'm not entirely sure where I started."
Chronos sighed, he knew he should've expected this from someone that had spent most of her life inside a church. She had no clue how to leave a trail or retrace her steps.
"Hang on a second. I have a life scanner on me; it should be able to tell us where the nearest life forms are." Pulling out an object that looked like a compass he opened the top and activated it.
Its surface looked like glass, and it had five concentric circles to indicate distance from the compass. Each circle was set to be one kilometer from the next for a total of five kilometers. It wasn't as good as Chronos' nose, but the void seemed to be suppressing his sensory abilities. In this environment he could barely smell anything beyond two kilometers.
It gave off faint dinging sounds as it scanned the surroundings, after a few seconds a red dot showed up four kilometers from where they were. It was moving away from them at a fast pace like it was running from something.
"This way, there's something to bash chasing someone." Chronos called as he chased after the dot.
Lyla followed him as fast as she could, Chronos worried that she might fall behind at first but even at this fast pace she was able to keep up with him.
After running for nearly five kilometers Chronos could smell blood on the ground, someone had escaped this way and they were getting close. Picking up their pace it only took them a few minutes before they heard the clanging of wood against fangs and the hissing of beasts.
"Damn snakes, leave me alone!"
They heard swearing coming from the next clearing.
"Time for battle, you ready?" Chronos asked as he drew echoforge.
"Always." Lyla replied with a big grin on her face. Maybe she liked bashing things a little too much, well as long as she was bashing the enemy it was fine.
Bursting into the clearing there was a single young priest fighting off three dark beasts that looked like snakes.
Moving swiftly Chronos grabbed the tail of the nearest one and smashed it into the ground causing a concussion. He then stomped on its head rapidly killing it, Lyla smashed the body and head of the next serpent. These serpents were quite weak, but Chronos smelled strong poison coming from their mouths, it would be much harder to fight them if they hadn't surprised them just now.
The young priest was startled by their sudden appearance but once he realized they were here to help he attacked the last snake as viciously as he could, which amounted to him hitting it on the head with his walking stick. This man was not suited to being in combat.
"Hiiss."
Just as the snake was going to bite him Chronos stepped forward and caught it by the throat.
"These snakes are only at the beginning of the second rank. How are you struggling so much with just three of them?" He asked, holding out the snake, which Lyla cheerfully dispatched with a quick side swipe of her mace.
"Look I might be a priest, but I am a bookkeeper! I wasn't meant to leave camp; I'm supposed to keep records and assist with transfer of goods between military units. I'm not fit to be out here on the battlefield! I work for the Goddess of Wisdom not the violent fools working for the Goddess of Order." The young man crossly stated.
"Ok, calm down." Chronos motioned for him to relax, "Do you at least know where the other priests are?"
"Yes, every priest should know a spell to point us to a gathering point." He said, shooting Lyla a sideways glance.
When Chronos looked at her, she pretended to be cleaning her mace despite the fact that the dark beasts didn't leave any blood or flesh to be cleaned.
"Anyways, let's head toward the other priests. I would like to know if there is a plan for dealing with this place or at least one for getting out of here. I can't carry my friends with me all the time." Chronos said having decided he didn't want to fight off a mace again.
Nodding the young priest cast a [Guiding Light] spell which pointed them towards the edge of the island. Moving at a jog they crossed the island without any further trouble.
As they got closer to the edge, they started seeing more gathering places for shadows that had been defeated along with holy symbols drawn on trees and rocks that Lyla identified as confusion and protection symbols for a camp. At least they knew they were going the right direction if they followed the symbols, they only worked on things identified as enemies.
Arriving at the top of a cliff on the edge of the island they went the wrong direction for a time before realizing that the church's camp was the other way. Heading the right direction, it wasn't long before they heard the sounds of people cooking food and saying prayers. Coming around a bend on the shore they saw an inlet that had a small island in it with a number of priests and priestesses on it.
Including the High Priest that had bought time for Lyla earlier. As they approached the camp a bell was rung, all of the priests suddenly went on guard and the sentry's drew their weapons.
"Halt, why are you leading an enemy here?" Called the sentry's as they pointed their weapons at Chronos.
"Oh, not this again." Chronos grumbled, his ears drooping down to his head with an exasperated look on his face.