Dailin sifted through the shards provided to him, shards still growing in number. The Sanctum outside had appeared normal, not cracked or smashed in. The Wards were still active and to his knowledge fully charged. They still withered away in a handful of minutes as Bliss sent endless beams of lightning at them. When the glow of the gate was removed and said gate then crumbled to dust, that was when they saw the Givers handy work.

Bodies were everywhere, the city within ravaged to the point of being a dead ruin. What building remained standing had large chunks missing from them. The whole sight reminded him when House fought for his attention. It was the same for every shard he viewed, death. So far not a single Vail had been found alive. And Bliss had already assured him that was going to continue. Yet they still searched, more to see how far the Giver went in removing a threat, rather than belief either of them would find someone. The layout of bodies, what parts remained, showed the Vail hadn't gone down without a fight.

Remembering how that kind of battle went last time, Dailin was sure the fighting had only lasted a few minutes at best. Considering the damage shown, and the number of dismembered bodies. Bliss had been right in its thinking the Giver wasn’t going to be able to claim that many souls for herself. the Vail had been trained to avoid be Consumed, and not even their god asking them to do so would make committing the act any less repulsive. Especially if said god was trying to rush them into the agreement.

Dailin stared at the destruction, witnessed the strides the Giver was taking to stop them. Though the outcome was a boon to him in a way, not near enough if Bliss had been able to claim the Vail. But it was still a win. Less Vail that could be aimed at him, fewer people sending prayers to their god. And yet, looking at the scene, he felt, guilt. A wish that this hadn’t happened, that somehow, someway he could have avoided all that was transpiring.

‘I caused this.’ Dailin thought, and with how things were going, the same scene could be playing out in all the Sanctums.

Places of safety now turned into enclosed traps as the Giver removed those not conforming. ‘All because of me, and Bliss.’ His creature held a great deal of the blame for the madness being perpetrated. Bliss actions of consuming Sanctums showed to all the damage it could do if left unchecked. The Giver was taking necessary steps, and he couldn’t blame the god for that, Bliss was terrifying in its ability to spread and grow.

But for all of that, he still felt the one at fault. He'd made Bliss, the act being an accident didn’t change the way of things. It only made the affair more tragic. The fool messing with powers he didn’t understand, and in turn, allowed misfortune to be born and run rampant. Allowed death to spread across the realm. And there would be a great deal more of that before the madness came to a close.

If it ever did.

With how Bliss and the Giver were, it might not, for they had no end themselves, they were comprised of souls. Souls that were eternal, souls that refused to move on. Souls that would keep fighting each other to the end of everything.

A problem neither he nor Bliss had come up with a solution, save for the obvious.

Expand the Oasis, create defenses so great that it would make the Giver mute. It might be that way even if the Giver wasn't aimed at killing him. The Nightmares were increasing their pace upward if what his creature said was true. The urge to consume Vails was growing, the beasts would need to feed it soon, or fall into a worse frenzy.

‘This will slow them,’ he thought returning his focus on the visions playing within his mind. Disfigured Vails were everywhere, it would provide the Nightmare with a meal to feed on for a time. He couldn’t help but feel that was a second reason for the Giver actions. Perhaps she too knew of what urged the Nightmare onward. Had left the beasts a morsel to quench their teeth on and delay their decent higher.

That was how things looked anyway. The Giver hadn’t bothered with any form of clean up. The dead were left where they fell, destruction and debris undisturbed. Though the Giver hadn’t left the Sanctum without first stripping it of everything worth taking. So far all Hearts had been either removed, or those few left behind emptied of Mana. The towers themselves, where the worthiest hid themselves in, had been stripped bare. The décor, down to the gold trimming on walls had been hastily removed.

‘The realm is ending and we have the Giver salvaging worthless valuables.’ He thought to himself sighing at the sight. ‘somethings, no matter the realm, change.’ The sight of the ransacking had memories stir in his mind.

He was picking through the remains of a small town, trying desperately to find anything edible as hunger clawed at him. But others, perhaps better off, or not as starved as him, ran about stealing jewels, gold, silver decorations, anything of material value. He recalled almost laughing, there had been a famine taking place, crops had failed, food was beyond scarce. Yet people around him still searched high and low for shining metals. Thinking that would save them, perhaps allow for a better life. But who would trade their precious food for simple worthless metals?

The question of the past reflected on him now, even though food wasn’t involved. There was still the confusion of why the Giver would take decorations. How would it help her fight him, and the Nightmare smashing everything as it went?

Dailin couldn’t see the answer, working with stone provided the same results as other more favored materials. His entire Oasis was mostly stone, an object that reflected the fact that with Mana and Ward Stone itself was just as good as anything else. Yet the Giver stripped the Sanctum of every speck of metal there was to be had.

It befuddled him enough he’d asked his creature the reason behind the Giver's actions, that it perhaps would gleam something he wasn’t acknowledging.

“The realm Above is depleted of such things, so acquiring more would be difficult. Tenfold now that the realm Below is lost to the Nightmare.” It answered with its constant cheerful tone.

He rolled his eyes at the answer and redefined his question. “Is there any useful reason, such as in the sense of fighting ability?”

Seconds passed without an answer, and when he glanced at it, Dailin saw the creature was in its thinking pose.

“Yes,” It finally answered, moving the eyes of the construct it used to look at him. “There is an increase in performance when using certain metals for crafting, but compared to the ability of you and your Oasis it’s a meaningless gain.”

He hummed to himself in thought for a moment and spoke: “Yet the Giver does so anyway. After our last fight, she should know of the threat I pose, of steps that should be taken.” If there were any means to do so. the Oasis was the size now that it could be viewed as a moving star in the sky. Dailin doubted the Vail had ever encountered a construct of such size before. Yet he was still wary, it wouldn’t do to become confident and whined up dead.

“This might be Maker, but the Giver for all her displays of capability is still a simple thing. It copies its betters, doesn’t craft new paths as you do. The Giver could be following standard processes when readying to fight a rival House.” The Thing said, taking the smallest step forward. “Or it’s a means to keep the remaining Vail happy, they do love how the metal shines in their crafted light.”

‘They're not the only ones.’ Dailin thought as he recalled his creature obsession with coating the Oasis interior with the stuff. But the thing wasn’t wrong, the Vail were a group who could be easily swayed with glistening bribes, or distracted while the end headed for them. Perhaps the Giver had even tried to use the lure of gold as a means to get more to join her.

Maybe, it was a slim possibility. Bliss had told him about the importance of the souls agreeing sincerely to a joining. It made the pact tight and unlikely to break even when others tried to separate the two.

“It’s still a foolish thing to be salvaging weak metals in a time of war where they’ll provide no real benefit.” Dailin muttered as he picked up another shard to scan through. The scenes within showed the same as the others, more areas of the Sanctum wrecked and picked clean.

“The Vail are foolish things Maker, wills in need of saving. This is just another display that we are on the right path.” Bliss spoke, her tone of speech reminded him of Zellebeth when she began preaching about him. He looked away from the memory, of the fact that there was no Zellebeth. Only Bliss wearing the skin, having it dance about as she pleased. An illusion to make him think he was surrounded by people, instead of a house full of puppets.

The truth had caused some changes to take place regarding the layout of the Oasis. No longer did he bother leaving his estate, or meet with his Councilors, it was Bliss anyways. All the Vail had been moved to the second and fourth layer. While much of the first was reconfigured. The lavish city that had been built was being torn down. A necessity to continue enlarging his estate so it stayed a comfortable size for him. The Vail, vessels as Bliss called them, spent their days lounging about and avoiding possible harm while they indulged in simple pleasures.

There was no need for the vessels to do labor of any sort. Not when Bliss could form constructs out of thin air to complete tasks assigned to it.

But mostly his order for the vessels to relax all day and live carefree. Was to make sure that when the day came and he freed their souls from Bliss. His offspring would have bodies to go back to. Pretend that what he’d unleashed on all of them had been a bad dream to be forgotten.

He moved away from his thoughts as he felt Bliss staring at him unblinkingly again. At this point he was sure his creature couldn’t see into his mind. And because of it was increasingly trying to peer in. He felt it, even subtle as it was. Like someone trying to slowly remove your covers while thinking you're asleep. Every time he felt it he gave his creature an annoyed look. Like he was doing now.

Bliss lowered her gaze to the floor and acted that of a guilty child caught.

‘Acted’ he repeated to himself, for that was all Bliss ever did. Its every action a display to influence him in some way that was beneficial for it. And in its twisted thinking also for him.

“Any signs of a threat?” He asked sick of sifting through shards and seeing only more dead.

“None so far Maker.” His creature answered its voice calming, and filled with the same warmth spell he often used on his family.

‘I suppose it’s fair that I should experience what I've been doing to my family.’ He thought as the spell washed over him. It was mild but produced a tingling sensation that made him more willing to listen and be in a calm state. The warmth relaxed him, made the problems of the present inconveniences at most. And that was only a small amount of the spell. It wasn’t hard to see why his family strained themselves pleasing him. They were addicts slaving away for their next fix only he could provide.

‘What a great father you were.’ A voice said before he roughly shoved it back into the recesses of his mind.

“Is there anything of use to be found?’ He asked dispersing Bliss's spell with passing thought and leaned forward touching the panels allowing him to see the realm beyond.

“No Maker, the Giver was thorough in her salvaging, nothing of worth was left behind for us.’ The creature answered, followed with another small step forward.

He was tempted to glare at it again, shoo it away. But didn’t, best to keep it somewhat happy, thinking it safe and him unbothered by its presence. Even though its ever-present smile unnerved him. It was so unnatural, he’d never thought such a simple gesture would bother him so much. But how it stayed there fixed in place never changing, even when it talked. It had his mind registering it as something threatening. The oddity only added more confusion to his mind. He didn’t feel anything of the sort coming from his monster. His instinct was mute as ever when it came to the thing before him.

Dailin breathed in slightly deeper than normal pushing the unease away as he turned his attention back to the realm outside. “Then bring back the constructs, there’s no point in us staying here, we’ll head off towards the next Sanctum.”

“At once Maker,” the creature spoke, its tune filling more with cheer.

Dailin began clearing away stone as he waited, revealing the Road as it remained in place while everything else parted. Unlike his home before he’d placed runes upon its surface so it floated in the air. The Road didn’t collapse when the rock underneath it was removed. It stayed in place, appeared to hover like the Oasis.

A trick of the eye, the Wards working together kept the tunnels in one piece like an iron rod placed sideways over a cliff. As long as enough stone buried the Road network the structure would stay in place. Which to him was very useful, it allowed him to follow the Road in a similar manner of traveling within them.

It allowed for a more accurate depiction of their location. Gave Dailin and his creature a true understanding of their place in the realm of obstructing stone as they looked at their map. It also showed him how much he’d traveled.

With the amplifiers always pulling Mana toward the Oasis, he no longer had to double back and make sure the Rivers always stayed overhead. Now he could take whatever path he pleased and the River followed. In doing so it scored away stone in the tons as it raced to the calling constructs. Those tools of his had been so useful, he’d made more of them, but only activated an additional two. For now, the Oasis was full, and the excess Mana merely circled around the Oasis. When it grew thick enough, he flexed his will and condensed the Mana into crystal structures that floated on their own accord like the Oasis.

He hadn’t put much more than that when it came to the wards for the crystals. Just so they followed his home. They weren’t indestructible either, as he wanted the crystals to continue growing as more of the Mana made its way to him. He had dozens of the things circling the Oasis. Each large enough to be a small Mountain when it came to length. They would have been larger and more numerous, but Bliss had been partaking in the excess Mana as well. Used it to form Mountain constructs to follow and protect him. There were thousands of those ranging in size. And every single one looked like her, the same features, the same unnerving smile.

The sight of them gave him shivers, yet he understood the importance of allowing Bliss to hold such strength. How when battle is joined with the Giver again, his creature would be well prepared. Himself included, with all the Mana he had access to. The realm Above was cloaked in it. So much filled the air that it formed a thick mist. Which the plant life used to grow to unprecedented size. Be it bushes, vines, to trees all were so large most equaled or surpassed a large Ancient. Some neared the size of Mountains in scope.

Yet with all that plant life, and Mana so abundant, he’d yet to notice a single animal. The realm Above appeared to be just as barren as the realm Below. He’d mostly blamed that on the Nightmare, thinking the beasts had eaten anything mammal-like. But the Nightmare hadn’t come up here, not yet anyway. So there should have been animals, at least small ones. But he found none, even as he destroyed the dream forest around him following the Road on its slow staggered rise upward.

“Do you know why there isn’t any wildlife Bliss?” he asked.

He didn’t get an answer for a hand full of seconds, and he was about to look in its direction before the monster finally spoke: “No, none of the saved have any knowledge pertaining to that question Maker. In fact, all of them seemed unaware of what you speak of. The realm outside as always been free of wildlife as you called it. Unless you’re speaking of the Nightmares?”

“No,” Dailin said, “I mean life that lives in the forest because that’s its home, where it thrives. This rich forest I’m destroying should be filled with various forms of moving life. Instead it's empty. It's unnatural. He added as he watched the forest break away.

“To the Vail, this situation is natural.” Bliss offered “None hold any information of a time where the forest wasn’t empty in the way you’re seeing.”

He grunted, the realm he was in had been odd in many ways, this was perhaps yet another quirk that only he found off. Very off, there wasn't even insects. That made him the most aware of the emptiness in the forest. The lack of buzzing sounds made the forest seem haunted.

‘Perhaps the nonexistent creatures are better off, once the Nightmares reach this plane they’d all be dead anyway.’ Dailin thought to himself as he shaped the realm to his needs.

The Nightmares themselves had picked up the pace and like him were hurrying upward. The Sanctum would slow them down with all those corpses left behind. But the beasts would be on the move again soon enough, and he wanted to have the Giver dealt with. Or at least as much one could be done when facing a foe that couldn’t be permanently defeated.

Normally Dailin would’ve complained of the unfairness of it all, yet he also had a beast that couldn’t be killed. The original, so he didn’t have any clout to speak of fairness. Bliss was something that easily tipped the scales in his favor. At the very least Dailin knew he was safe, and the creature would ensure that continued. It would allow him the time needed to keep trying, to bring about some sanity.

‘A sad state of affairs, when I find myself longing for the simple days of being a small House in Hadthel again.’ He muttered internally. A time where the threats were still far away, the realm wasn’t falling apart. The Vail appeared to be prepared to hold off any challenges the realm had in store. A time where he spent most his days in a cloud of incense seeding one woman after the other. And his worse concern was making sure he had enough worth to keep his children from being sent out into a Flock. How quickly things had changed, his family gone, the realm falling apart, the Giver turning out to be no better than his monster. And the Nightmare sweeping over everything, slowly taking over the realm piece by piece.

‘But I’ve tried, I’ve done my best, the life after this will be better.’ He whispered to himself in his mind. ‘It will, no monsters, no Bliss, no Giver, no beasts cloaked with the appearances of people.’ Yes, everything would be normal again, simple, and unlike before he would cherish it. Make the most out of the life provided, claw his way back from the possibility of ever falling into a realm so, wrong.

It would be some time before that happened. It would require him to die, and considering what he’d become that would be a long ways off. He was going to be stuck in this realm, him and his monster slowly converting it into something bearable. A place his family could finally live in peace and he could rid himself of his mistake. Make his monster into a person, into something to be admired.

First, he just had to deal with the Giver and the remaining Vail. A quickly dwindling remainder, if the Giver had done the same to all the Sanctums.

‘Look closely to their actions.’ one of the Voices in his head spoke, ‘see what they do to each other with so little prompting. This will be you too. If you keep going down the path of convenience. Can you not see? See how close you are to crossing the line of no return?’

Dailin pushed the thought away, he wasn’t anywhere near being a Vail. His actions were dictated by necessity, not cruelty or some sick glee the monsters around him experienced when harming others. He did what he had to for himself and his family to survive. It was the best he could do, the most the realm around him allowed. Even then it seemed aimed at consuming everything he’d achieved. Take everything he'd come to hold of value.

This realm sickened him, and he so badly wanted out of it. But he had to live, had to hold on to the life provided. Less the next somehow be even worse.

‘Perhaps it won't.’ Another voice said. ‘Yet the people will be the same self-centered ones as those around you. Its where you belong based on your behavior.’

That voice Dailin was not gentle with as he threw it back into a dark corner of his mind. He hadn’t done anything of the sort to deserve this, he’d been a decent man. Mannerly, obedient, kind when he could, he was nothing like the Vail.

‘Truly you are blind. You took your life hoping it would allow you to gain a grander one. How is that not self-centered? In what way are you not just as egoistical than all the others in this realm?’ Another voice spoke. That one he chose to ignore, for unlike the last it asked in a kind tone, a genuine curiosity of knowing the answer. But he didn’t have one, not a good one anyways.

He'd spent some time trying to think of an excuse for his past behavior. A reason fitting enough to allow for his deeds. In the end, all the thinking came up to was providing him a distraction while he followed the Road. They'd made swift progress as his home peeled away the forest and rock, flying far beyond a speed any carrying beast could keep up with. Which was good, for it was a race to see what the Giver had done to the rest of the Vail.

He got to see that only after few short hours of flying. Like before, when he removed the rock hiding the shape of the city, he found it looked normal. The shape of it was intact, and though he couldn’t see the Wards from outside, when he struck it with a weak pulse of light the dome wasn’t penetrated by the blast. Dailin after focused on the Road that connected to it. Began hammering the tunnel with small spells till the Wards inside were used up and his chants destroyed the passage. Bliss moved after hurrying into the breached tunnel.

He opened one of his eyes and glanced at her. The creature had an absent look on its face as it focused on the task. But not long before she looked at him and the smile returned. “Nothing within the road Maker.” His creature said, "and the gate to the sanctum is closed and Warded still.”

“Move your constructs back then,” Dailin said as he aimed Hearts at the gate. He waited as the creature followed his order, then fired. Hearts lit up and blazing light struck. The angle made sure that when the Wards were spent little damage would be done to the complex.

Even using the Oasis smaller Hearts, and being careful, it still only took a couple of minutes for the Sanctum to run dry. It was disheartening to see how far the Sanctums had fallen in their ability to provide safety. The sight sent a chill up his spine as recalled his time in one. He’d felt safe in there, half-believed like others that nothing could get to him. That the realm outside was but a distant memory not worth much attention. He would have been long dead now if it hadn’t been for his instinct, and dread. The constant reminder of the threat outside growing. Without it, he too would have fallen into a lethargic state and been swallowed up like the rest of the Vail in Hadthel.

Unaware of his thought Bliss rushed inside the Sanctum condensing its forms when needed. He kept one eye on Bliss, and the other on the realm outside, watching her progress the best he could. Her smile dipped slightly, but with how exaggerated it was, even that was easy to notice.

“They're all dead, aren’t they?” He asked

“Yes Maker,” it answered. Its voice still cheerful but not to the degree it would have been if living Vail were present. “It’s the same scene as the last Sanctum, the Giver presented her offer and killed all who refused it.”

“The state of the Sanctum?” He asked opening both his eyes and glanced at the map.

“Stripped of everything of worth.” It said, following his gaze. They both studied the map as versions of herself worked on it. From the souls she’d claimed from the Giver army, his creature was stenciling out the location of the Sanctums and the path of the Roads.

By Bliss confident admissions the map shown to him was a very accurate representation of the Vail kingdom. So, as he looked at it and how everything was situated, he noticed how small it was. That the locations of things only went so far to the sides before stopping and heading down. The sight perplexed him, they were in a stone realm after all. The Vail should be able to dig in every direction as much as they wanted. Yet before him that wasn’t the case.

“This realm seems small.” He spoke absently as he studied their location and where to head towards next.’

“Maker?” His creature questioned.

“Do the souls you hold explain why the Roads on both sides stop abruptly?” He hadn’t paid it much thought before, with how the realm Below was, and the Nightmares lurking about.

But they were in higher realms now, before the Rivers it should have been free of the beasts mostly. The Vail should have kept expanding in every direction forever. Yet they hadn't.

He turned his eyes back to his creature, who was once more in its thinking pose. It stayed that way for longer than he expected. ‘Is it really that odd of a question?’ he wondered.

It couldn’t. Surely someone else would have noticed the oddity, called out why they had to dig deeper into the realm when they could merely spread out further.

The creatures distant look faded as it returned blinking in surprise. “Walls,” it said at first before turning its gaze back to him. “There are walls on the outskirts of the realm, a boundary that can’t be passed.” The creature closed its eyes, its face scrunching up as if in thought. “I can't find any more on the subject Maker. The Vail don’t talk about it or don’t know. It’s simply expected to dig deeper, no one appears to question why.”

“Walls,” Dailin said quietly his eyes on the map, it showed clearly now that he had the idea in his head. The realm Above had expanded as far as it could before it moved downward. The width of which stared the same for some time, before thinning. This thinning continued as it went down and the deeper the Roads traveled the less ground had been surveyed.

In time the Vail would have seen to everything, expanded to every spot available, but the Nightmare had stopped that. Reversed the progress too, as most settlements met the same end as his.

The map made the realm feel so small, even though it wasn’t. At least not in the way his mind was beginning to frame it. But for all the realms he’d been in this one had to be the smallest. Or at least he thought so, he could easily be wrong. He hadn’t moved much in his previous lives, his trades weren’t the type that allowed for such things as travel.

The life he was living now had been his most mobile, it was possible that perhaps the other realms he lived in were just as small. It certainly would explain why kings were so obsessed with claiming lands from others.

Dailin eyes moved back up to the top of the map, there at the peak was a set of symbols spelling out Sanctuary. the Vails capital, the jewel, the place all prayed to one day live in. A place where the true powers of the Vail sat, the Elders, and their Giver.

‘Is that it, the top of the realm? Is there a ceiling above them none can pass?’ The thought of it had him asking his creature the same thing, and once again he was presented her thinking stance.

Again, he had to wait as it sifted through memories. He found it quite ridicules that after all the souls Bliss had gained it was having trouble finding information about such a subject. Those living Below, cast outs and soulless left to die and taught nothing of importance. He could understand them being clueless about the realm they lived in. But his creature had consumed parts of the Givers army. People who should have been the worthy, the royalty of the Vail, people taught many things others wouldn’t.

Yet he waited, and as the minutes began to pass, he began to wonder if he’d broken his creature by accident. It would be his luck, vanquishing a needed foe at the wrong moment.

“A crown,” the creature said quickly and loud enough that it startled him out of his thoughts. “It’s where the ancestors return from after death, seeding the realm once more with their strength.” Bliss grew quiet after, eyes tightly shut then opening again. “That’s all there is about that subject. At least from what the souls Mentors had told them about the stone above Sanctuary.” The creature added with a skeptic tone.

“Nothing else?” he asked. “All those souls, and that’s the sum of what they and you know about this crown?”

“Yes,” it answered with a bow of its head, and a look of regret on its face. “Its knowledge and a task that the Elders themselves carry out, little is told of the details of it, only that is where the power the Vail use comes from.”

Dailin looked away from her, mind focusing on the tiny piece of information he’d been given. The crown was where the Rivers of Mana were coming from. The source of the Mana itself. He glanced back at the map, looked at the tip of it where Sanctuary was settled.

“The crown is directly over the Elders stronghold?’ He asked.

Bliss shook her head. “The crown is the ceiling of the realm.”

Dailin began to chew on his lip. ‘Is that it?’ he wondered. ‘Why Rivers of Mana are seeping down into the realm?’ He’s always suspected something had been broken, the Vail weren’t ones to let power seep from them. But if it was the ceiling of the realm that had been damaged in some manner. Then he could see the situation they were in now. It would be a colossal undertaking to fix something so large, even with Mana. He could, Dailin was sure of it, if the crown was a simple thing. But that raised a difficult question. Why would the crown be damaged at all? Was it not the same as the walls circling realm, disallowing further expansion? If the crown was damaged why couldn’t the other blocks be as well?

Dailin stopped his thinking, it was based off an assumption, and those had already brought him grief. Glancing back at his monster he spoke: “These walls surrounding the realm, have the Vail fired upon them? Tried to breakthrough?”

The Monster went still, but only for a few seconds this time. “By the wording of the Mentors, it would appear so.” It answered, bringing about new questions.

‘Why was the crown different?’ The thought held his attention, till he realized that perhaps it wasn’t. He was assuming the crown was damaged. It could be another reason, maybe it had opened up more spots of Mana to flow down? Maybe the Elders themselves had caused a mistake. And whatever mechanism that contained the Mana from flowing down in Rivers, had been damaged and not the crown itself.

More thoughts and questions circled him. Till they tired him and he sighed reclining back into his chair. He stared at the story carved chamber letting the thoughts wither away as his mind went still.

All of it had been more guesses, or assumptions of how things were. His ignorance put on display again as the knowledge gained both terrified and then soothed him. He thought of the Nightmare contained just like the Vail. Unable to spread forever outward as he originally thought. Their numbers might not be as high as he'd predicted. But by how much? There was no way to tell. Nor did he know how deep the realm went either. But that wasn’t as much of a concern to him. In his time here he was well acquainted with the fact that the deeper one went the less Mana there was.

The Nightmares deep below would stay small. Well, till the Rivers reach them that is. Or flooded the realm, which with the amount spilling down it wasn’t that outlandish a thought. The current of Mana never lessened, only grow worse, and he only had two following him.

The imagery of it had him peering at the map, looking where the Elders resided. “Bliss,” he called out, gaining the things full attention. “Any changes with the Sanctum before us?”

“No,” it answered it cheerfulness sobered some.

Leaning forward, he moved his hands back into place over the panel and spoke: “We’ll check the state of one more Sanctum, if it’s like the others, then we’ll be heading for the Elders.”

The creature smile grew broader at the news, answering “Yes Maker” the words filled with joy.

As he focused on the realm outside and began reshaping it for travel he thought: ‘Hopefully Sanctuary will hold answers, and perhaps a method to control the flow of Mana.’