Dimitry’s breaths exhaled jubilant white mist as his boots plopped across yet another dark puddle, whose waters reflected scant light from a stormy sky. Although it rained, and the air was frigid, neither detracted from his curiosity. A yearning to know trumped the allure of sleep on a proper bed. He sneaked through Estoria’s flooded streets instead.

All on a hunch.

The knight’s emblem on his wrist guided Dimitry, its pull growing stronger with every intersection, every building, every step, as if leading him to a treasure more valuable than all the gold in the federal reserve.

What did the cathedral’s shrine hold in store? Could it be more magic spells? Money? Judging by what the man in the operating room said, the contents were indispensable for defeating an opponent. Who were they? The cryptic nature of their existence turned Dimitry’s gut. Anything that could shed light on this perverse world was worth exploring, and if a nighttime raid was the price, he would pay it.

Across the market square was an awe-inspiring cathedral that doubtlessly required the painstaking labor of hundreds of quarry workers, masons, and architects. It towered above all, demanding praise to its majesty.

But the cathedral itself was worthless.

The true objective stood in the front courtyard. A small shrine. Captivating like neon signs, pawns decorated the structure’s every jet-black surface, their radiant blue glows overpowering stray light from street lamps and the moon.

Dimitry glanced at his wrist. Although the emblem pulled forward, begging him to rush in, he surveyed the area first. The market square, now devoid of patrols and merchants, allowed him to sneak unseen along the outer perimeter and closer to the courtyard’s flank. He peeked over a low iron fence.

Two Zeran knights guarded the cathedral’s entrance. Their gazes fixed on a vast plaza populated by empty stalls and podiums.

Dimitry’s palm opened to reveal a dark green pellet. As if delivering a stern warning about magic use, a tight ravine of inflamed circuits squeezed the pure vol shard. The thought of further overload made him wince—it would be unwise to use invisall. The effects wouldn’t help much either. Rain would bounce off of his body in the shape of his silhouette, making the endeavor pointless. He crammed the vol into his pocket. As long as the knights at the courtyard’s entrance continued to face the courtyard, Dimitry was safe.

He vaulted over the fence, and his feet crashed into a patch of well-kept grass. Dimitry was careful to avoid making excess sound as he crept across the lawn. Upon reaching the shrine at the courtyard’s center, he hid and scanned his surroundings.

All clear.

His gaze returned to the alien monolith.

The shrine was jet-black with four slanted sides that merged into a single point at a height just above Dimitry’s head. Nonsensical blue squiggles decorated the edges. From the center of the monolith, a slab jutted out, its surface covered by paraphernalia left by devoted Zeran worshippers. They concealed a mysterious light.

Dimitry’s arms trembled as they knocked away flowers, extinguished candles, and a variety of statuettes to the ground. Behind was a small monitor displaying the image of a pawn. His knight’s emblem, like a powerful magnet discovering an opposite pole, shot towards it.

He inhaled a sharp breath. Whatever secrets the monolith hid, Dimitry would soon find out.

The pawn on the monitor aligned with the knight on his arm. Blue-glowing symbols emerged. They floated mid-air. At first, the symbols seemed to be part of an intricate light show, but the geometrical shapes soon fused to form characters. Despite holding a vague familiarity, they belonged to a language that Dimitry had never seen before.

His heart beat faster as he looked around to confirm no one was watching. The courtyard and streets were empty. Dimitry turned his attention back to the monolith to decipher the floating characters. They were legible.

‘Knight C27E957, your courage has paved the way to your first cache.

The coming days will be filled with turmoil.

May the relic within guide you to victory.’

The characters vaporized upon relaying their message, and the monitor retreated into the shrine to reveal a small recess. Inside was an orb resembling a black quartz golf ball.

Dimitry grabbed it. The relic’s surface was slick and cool in his hand. It called out to him. An avaricious force yearned to drain his consciousness through his arm while injecting another in its place. Stuck in hazardous territory, Dimitry resisted the allure, but the orb overpowered him. Every muscle relaxed as a current zapped through his hand and into his brain.

Around him, falling raindrops halted their descent. They decorated the courtyard like long and slender opals. Dimitry froze, too. He tried to heave for air, but like his surroundings, his lungs were locked in time.

Before his mind could formulate a complaint, an alien scene projected over the environment. The cathedral’s lawn secreted goo through unseen pores that, like accumulated algae, embraced his ankles in slimy warmth. Its vomit green color flooded the ground and emitted fumes with a noxious, musty odor.

How could Dimitry smell if he couldn’t breathe? Did the relic implant those sensations into his mind?

In his periphery, Dimitry watched obtuse creatures rise from pools of festering liquid. Among them were those resembling hounds, bats, and rolling sacks of pulsating goo. Their bodies dripped with the same putrid mixture that covered the ground as they headed towards a giant, tumor-infested tree rising from the market square’s center.

The image faded instantly, and the courtyard returned to normal. Raindrops broke out from their suspended states and showered Dimitry, who stood open-mouthed.

What the hell did he just witness?

Countless hours spent studying the sciences did nothing to help him make sense of the creatures he saw. They seemed to be composed of innumerable microscopic organisms. Not only them. The ground, too, pulsated with life as if it was part of a larger lifeform altogether. And what about the ‘tree’ which towered over all of Estoria? Were they all from a biome unique to this world?

Now wasn’t the occasion to ponder indiscernible visions.

Dimitry was on enemy territory. Though Saphiria and Precious weren’t with him, the Church wouldn’t forgive anyone sneaking onto cathedral grounds at night. Especially once they saw his eye color.

He peeked around the shrine, whose blue inscriptions began to fade. The Zeran knights ahead still had their backs to him. They didn’t know what happened here and never would.

Dimitry pocketed the relic, which no longer sought to invade his mind, and crept from the cathedral’s courtyard and onto Estoria’s streets.

The door to the inn creaked open. Gentle heat emanating from a central red-glowing pillar embraced Dimitry as he walked inside. Unlike the warmth from the vision’s goo, incendia’s magic was toasty. But he couldn’t take comfort in it. Every thought led back to the puzzling image the relic showed him that night, which, like a recurring nightmare, burned itself into his mind.

Steps shuffled from a back room.

Dimitry looked down to hide his facial features.

The innkeeper rubbed his face with the cuff of his nightwear as he strolled into the lobby. “You know there’s a curfew past nightfall, right?”

Hoping to keep the conversation short, Dimitry made his way to the staircase. “My apologies. It won’t happen again.”

“It’s illegal to walk outside after the church bells ring.”

“Now I know.” Halfway up the steps, Dimitry didn’t stop or turn to look back. A glance down at the innkeeper from this height would reveal his eye color.

“Wait! I’m not done with—”

“How much?”

“What?”

“How much will it take to get you to shut up?” Dimitry snapped. “The only reason I went outside was to get some quiet because of the noisy guest next door, and now you’re shouting my ears off too? Do you treat all of your customers this miserably?”

“I, uh… ”

“Here. Hopefully, this will buy some silence.” Dimitry tossed a silver gadot over his shoulder. The coin clanged against the ground and rolled away. “And, since you were kind enough to wake up to greet me, go the extra step and bring some ale and fent up to the third floor. There might be another silver in it for you.”

“O-okay.”

Would a guilt trip, a bribe, and a lie dissuade the innkeeper from calling the town guard? Praying to avoid another pointless death, Dimitry would ask Precious to analyze the man’s emotions. He opened the door to his room.

Dimitry’s eyes furrowed.

Saphiria and Precious had vanished. They slept when he left, yet the bed was empty. Then again, they weren’t a pair to be caught off-guard. Were they waiting to ambush a potential enemy?

“It’s Dumitry,” he announced a name only his companions would recognize as he walked inside.

Saphiria climbed out from behind the door and slid her dagger back into its sheath. “Where were you?”

Was she suspicious of his motives? If so, revealing to her that he snuck out to visit a cathedral wasn’t in either of their interests; it would only alarm Saphiria. “I was just doing some sightseeing. It’s my first time in Estoria after all.”

“He’s lying.” Precious’s tiny arms folded across her chest. “You should know by now that that doesn’t work.”

Damn traitor.

Saphiria shut the door, leaned back against it, and turned to face Dimitry with a countenance that screamed betrayal. “Why would you lie to me?”

“To us,” Precious corrected.

Dimitry looked into Saphiria’s sad eyes, and a heavy weight sank into his gut. He didn’t want to instill distrust in the poor girl. To fix the misunderstanding, he had a solution—one that would help him learn more about the vision and alleviate his companions’ worries.

“I’ll tell you both everything after the innkeeper brings the ale. For now, know that I didn’t do anything to endanger you two.”

Saphiria took a deep breath and sat down on the bed. “I believe you.”

“Good call.” Precious fluttered onto Saphiria’s shoulder. “He’s actually telling the truth this time.”

They despised each other days ago, and now they teamed up on Dimitry. “Glad to see that you two are getting along.”

A short while later, the innkeeper brought a tray filled with snacks and drinks to their room before scurrying away. After Precious came out of hiding and confirmed that the man held no ulterior motives, Dimitry retrieved the relic from his pocket and placed it in Saphiria’s hand.

Her face shot up a second later. “What is this thing? What were those green monsters?”

Dimitry sighed. “You don’t know either?”

He walked over to the shuttered windows and absently watched the dark, rainy streets. Were the strange lifeforms so well hidden that no one knew of their existence? Or were they misleading pieces of information handed over by his ‘patron’ to derive entertainment from Dimitry’s confoundment? The cryptic trail of breadcrumbs was starting to get on his nerves.

“I wamf to see, foo!” Precious said through a mouthful of fent.

“Wipe your hands first,” Dimitry said. “I don’t want you to get the relic dirty.”

“You wowwy foo muff.”

“Where did you get it?” Saphiria asked.

“You know the cathedral we passed by earlier?”

“Yes.”

“It was hidden inside the shrine.”

“How… how is that possible?”

He shrugged. “You tell me. I didn’t even know what a shrine was until this afternoon. Anyway, that’s why I snuck out.”

Straw rustled when Saphiria stood up from the bed. “You snuck into the cathedral at night? First, the church in Ravenfall, then the cathedral in Estoria. What’s next, the Grand Cathedral in Olsten?” She giggled. “You have a penchant for mischief.”

Dimitry turned away from the window and smirked. “It’s more like mischief has a penchant for me. By the way, you mentioned before that people visit shrines during pilgrimages. Do you know how many there are?”

Saphiria gazed at the ceiling as if recalling old memories. “I think… at least three dozen?”

Did that mean there were multiple relics, each hidden within their own temples? With so many mysterious structures lying around, widespread religiosity didn’t come as a surprise. Alien architecture served as the ultimate proof of a higher power. If Dimitry were born in this obscure land, he would doubtlessly worship Zera, too.

But that was an impossibility after meeting the man in the dark hall. He was anything but holy.

“Woah!” Precious shrieked. “What were those things? And what’s with that giant green slimy thing?”

Even someone as well-traveled and long-lived as Precious drew a blank. “I guess that settles it. None of us can decipher the vision.”

“It’s possible that they live in the unblessed lands.”

“Tell me more.”

“I’ve never been there myself,” Precious said, “but there were several big cities there at one point. But now it’s overrun by heathens, so no one goes there.”

Stone monsters and green monsters.

What a fun world.