In the in-between realms, Natalak's vision becomes unclear as the entity observes with curiosity. Strangely, Natalak experiences a sensation that time has slackened; his heartbeat, his breathing, his movements, and even his thoughts feel abnormal. Even the surroundings seemed delayed. Despite attempting to speed up his mental processes, he cannot. But for the entity, Natalak can see how fluidly it moves from one corner to the other.
Moreover, when the slowness of time fades, the entity would vanish in an instant and appear on the other side of the corner. A three, then ten more, then suddenly the entity glitches at every corner.
"Strange… You carry the Stomach of Hunger, and an artefact of the old, yet I sense no magic in you. More so, you are not a holder of TimeResonance. Tell me, what are you?"
"C-can you heal me for a bit? I'm too dying to answer your question." Natalak answered, as his breath became slower, too injured to feel fear, too dying to be intrigued by the spirit's query.
The entity grasped the translucent green strings and transformed them into a glowing sphere. And with a swing of its hand, the orb was pitched at Natalak, letting his body absorb the orb. Three more followed, and quickly death's hand was no more.
"Okay, what do you want from a dying man?"
"You." The entity answered.
"Me? Care to give me an elaboration? I'm too injured to think."
The entity pauses, seemingly annoyed by his demeanour. Then, without a word, it gradually leans closer before entering freely, its black mist seeping through his eyes, nose, and mouth. It begins passing through his armour, infiltrating his body. At that moment, Natalak's body and soul are being consumed from within as he fights both mentally and spiritually.
The entity carved deeper into his body till he encounters something. The entity enters nothing but a void of darkness, and then an eye opens, staring directly at him. The spirit froze, then tries unveiling its Time Resonance, the very thing that slows time, and the one that Earth called 'Time Stop'. Still, that changed nothing as the hundreds of eyes began to fill the void.
Sensing dread, the entity shifts into casting a powerful spell, yet not even a spark would emerge from its hand. Before he could plan another step, the entity felt a distortion within itself; its essence was slowly being ripped apart, like a rubber band being stretched.
Worse than dead, the entity felt, as if its existence were being ripped apart. And with one final act, it parted itself, and while its clone was being torn asunder, screaming in agony, it made an escape.
"Who are you?" The entity said after he'd extracted himself from Natalak.
Now the spirit didn't stand as mighty as he was from the beginning; it crawls like a maggot. And Natalak could see he was in pain.
"The cube!" The entity gazed at the cube.
Perceiving the spirit's intent, Natalak swiftly jumped and snatched the cube, stuffing it into the bag before it could seize the artefact. During their struggle, Natalak struck the entity, which felt like punching a dense, cold patch of grass. This time, the spirit can't even cast a single spell, not even the Resonance of Time. Natalak used the whip on the entity, but for some reason, the whip passed through its murky body.
Now, the two are equal: one wounded in flesh, the other wounded in spirit. As Natalak sat in the corner clutching his satchel, he watched the entity struggle to stand while trying to grasp one of those floating green strings of energy. When it finally caught one, it swallowed it desperately, like a very thirsty person drinking water. Five more, and the entity recovered from its misery.
"So, what now?" Natalak said, watching the entity cling to the wall. And what follows was minutes of silence.
"Stranger, was it you who took my book?" The entity said, with a weary voice and look.
"You mean that book?" Natalak shifts his gaze to the book. "Yeah, I picked it up at some dwarven tunnel near a skeleton. Care for some explanation?"
The entity paused, and within minutes, the realm trembled with an ungodly roar. Natalak looked back at the entity and saw fear, and that dread gave Him the sense that what shook the realm was far more terrifying than the entity before him.
"I see, so it sensed the weakening of my presence." The entity muttered.
"W-what is that?" Natalak gazed above.
The entity looked back at him. "Listen, stranger, what is coming after us is more dangerous than you can imagine. I'll offer an escape, but I'll need you to cast a teleportation spell while I link us to the material world."
"I-I…" Natalak pants heavily whilst giving a faint smile. "I cannot cast a spell, nor do I have the slightest magic. You see, I'm just an average man."
"Listen here, stranger, this isn't the time to make jokes—"
"I'm not joking." Natalak retaliates. "I don't have magic—"
Just before he could continue, the sky full of stars and galaxies begins to dwindle as the atmosphere trembled.
"Any other plans?" He gazed back at the entity, his voice shaking.
"There's one, but I need to borrow your flesh." The entity stood, hesitating to possess. "If you would allow me to."
"Fine, but I need to gather my items—"
"There's no need for that. What I'll do will teleport what is scattered around us."
"Okay—"
Without any warning, the entity slips through Natalak's left torso. His eyes were not under his command, yet he could see; even his left hand wasn't obeying his nerves, yet he could feel the touch of the air. Turning toward the book, his left hand lifts it, and the book levitates, turning the pages until it finds what the entity needs.
The single page glows in golden light, sending them back where the corruption once stood. Right away, the entity crawls out from Natalak's body—
"Finally! The material world! Thousands of years in a cage." The entity voiced, basking in the scent of the air, the soil, the fading sunlight of near dusk.
Upon emerging from his cage, the entity felt his essence fading. For a spirit walking in the material realm, it needs a chunk of energy. Natalak, on the other hand, gazed at the now-different place. The bubbling, putrid water was replaced by clear, drinkable water. The cavern walls, once covered in dark roots, were now filled with emerald moss and strange, glowing plants. There were tons of fireflies, each of a different colour, swarming the place.
The only person that Natalak knew who could cleanse the place was Chifya. Frankly, he saw gleaming items scattered just thirty meters from where he rested. And before he could take a look—
"Stranger." The entity spoke. "Tell me, does Azageis still roam the world?"
"Azageis?" Natalak leaned against a nearby rock as he tries to minimise his heavy breathing. "I heard he still does. And my name's Natalak."
"I see. If so… then you must know Amaragnum?"
"Ama? Is that some item?"
The entity pauses, unsure if he was insulted by his jokes or if Natalak was just ignorant.
"Really, are you really the holder of that bag, or did you just steal it?"
Natalak gazed at the entity with a poker face. "And what if I'm the wielder of this bag? Why do you bitches in this world always think I'm an archsage or something? And yeah, this is mine; it was given to me by an old man."
"Old man?" The entity ponders at Azageis. "Hmm-mm…" The entity fixed its gaze on the man, still wondering, still contemplative.
"If you have nothing to say, I'll excuse myself for a moment," Natalak said before limping towards the scattered items.
"Say Natalak." The entity said, watching the man stuffing all the items into his bag. "Do you have any reason for your journey?"
Natalak pause and for some reason, that very question made him ponders for a minute. "I–I don't know…" He gazes strongly at the bag. "I'm not really sure why I'm here." Natalak gave a slight chuckle, perhaps humouring his given life. "Any reason why you're asking me that?"
"An old man gave you that bag, nothing more, nothing less?"
"Yeah, that sums it up."
"That's just like him. Or maybe I am wrong."
"So, what now?" Natalak tries his best to stand, clutching the walls as he uses the sword as his third leg. "Are we going to sit here all day, like a caged bird? Or are you going to monologue your plans and schemes? Mr?"
"Amaragnum. That is my name."
"Were you the spirit from that book?" Natalak shifts his eyes towards the book, then quickly returns to the entity.
Amaragnum turns its murky body to face Natalak fully. "Yes and no. The thing is, that book merely serves as a temporal portal for me. I was sealed in that godforsaken realm, and for years I had to endure that wretched prison. Surely you must have known a thing or two about my past?"
Natalak's eyes turn away. "No, I'm not much of this world's history. I do have the Eye of Adra if you want to know if I'm lying or not."
"I see. Then may I ask what age and era we are in?"
Again, Natalak's eyes shift away. "I-I… I don't know. I'm not very familiar with time, that sort of thing."
The entity pauses, baffled, annoyed and somewhat frustrated by the man in front of him. A man holding a relic bag and artefacts of the old, yet too ignorant for such a simple question.
"Look, I need to return to civilisation. And get to the point: you are free now, so what's holding you back?"
"I could do it, but the force within you almost destroyed me. As a result, I had to give up most of the energy I had collected over the ages. Now, I am just a simple spirit. The entities and wraiths that once stood beneath me now appear as giants before me."
"And what do you propose? I can tell you seek to travel with me?"
"I need a vessel, someone like you," Amaragnum answered. "Someone who doesn't know what I am."
"And why should I trust you? And what if you regain your power, what would you do? I got trust issues, you know. We all got trust issues."
"I was the one who saved you from death. Don't think I'm unaware of your situation. Look at you—without me, you'd be dead already."
"Fair enough. So what, you're going to possess me and we start walking to civilisation, showing your gloomy presence in front of the followers of churches?"
"Do you take me for a fool?!" Amaragnum answered with annoyance. "You think I'm as stupid as you are?!"
"Well, sorry for giving you my stupid assumption," Natalak answered before slowly limping out of that cavern.
"Wait." Amaragnum interrupted, "I cannot possess your body anymore, nor do I have the power to overwhelm you. There is another way: the book. Once I reside within that item, all you have to do is carry the book." He continues, making the black book float toward Natalak, and within one stretch of an arm, it stops.
Far above where they are, and as dusk slowly approaches, a platoon of soldiers arrives. The banner hangs high above the soldiers. A symbol of a dragon with two heads, four wings and a crown of fire not above the creature's head but from behind. The banner's cloth was coloured red with blood, and the emblem was gold.
One could say these soldiers are a phalanx of Endregar.
Upon their arrival, the platoon quickly set up camp, mages erecting barriers while soldiers set up a teleportation terminal. Ten more followers of different churches were unhorsed.
"Commander." One soldier in leather armour spoke.
Quickly, without a word, the man in command dressed in a fine mix of plate mail and leather armour nodded. With that said, twelve soldiers entered the dungeon.
In their haste, the commander removed his helmet. Broad shoulders and a man in his 40s, with a balbo beard and his left eye closed.
While the soldiers of Endregar slowly occupied the dungeon, on the second level, Natalak hid behind a tight corner, avoiding the soldiers scouring the area.
"Friends of yours?" Amaragnum said telepathically.
"Not likely; those symbols on their chest. They are mostly from Endregar, from what I learn." Natalak replies. "Why do I get the feeling that we are in trouble?"
"You're not wrong; I sense a great energy rising above us, a barrier I can tell. Moreover, there are people that I'm not very good with."
"And what are they?"
"Priests… and the state I'm in. We might not get this one alive."
"Come now, stop bull shitting me. I've seen how you turn those demon cultists into paste and shit."
"That was before; now I'm nothing but an insect to them. If I still had my powers, I would turn this place into a basin."
"I do have some stuff in my bag, but I don't have the knowledge to use it."
"Do you have some items that turn you invisible? Or some curing potions?"
Natalak paused, and after a minute of silence—
"I-I'm not very familiar with the items I've stuffed." Natalak stammers. "You could help me identify them."
Lost, Amaragnum couldn't help but feel puzzled by Natalak's detached knowledge compared to Vashkeil's more basic understanding. In the end, the entity silently let it pass—
"Withdraw the things that you've uncovered. Except the cube; it might reveal our location."
Natalak, without hesitation, one by one, pulls an item and quickly shoves it back the moment Amaragnum rejects it. Until he pulls a golf-sized green gem, the very item Natalak looted from where the scattered equipment was.
"Wait!" Amaragnum said. "That should solve our problem."
"This? How do I use it?"
"Before you use it, place my book back into your bag. You only need to break that gem; just squeeze it, and you'll soon find out. However, avoid any distorted spaces or areas, and make haste getting out from the dungeon; it will only last a short time." Amaragnum advises before returning to his book.
Natalak did as the entity asked; and when the gem shattered, its essence released a green smoke that engulfed him, pulling him into the Echo. A dimension that sits between the spirit world and the living.
Oddly, he was still in the dungeon, still where he stood. Walls, stones— the building retains its architecture but looks spiritually imprinted. Colours from the material world shift towards spectral hues as dozens of floating lights resembling shooting stars fill the world. Some vegetation appears pale, luminous to his eyes.
Putting it to the test, Natalak walks out from his hiding spot, and when the soldiers rush towards him, they seem to bypass his body. Then, just a few feet away, there were distortions of space; not only that, there were dark spots like moulds sticking to every corner of the dungeon. And through curiosity, he wanted to check; he wanted to touch them—
"Nope, not going to happen, I ain't no white-minded," Natalak muttered before strolling out of that level.