Cheng watched from atop a branch of the Capital.

Never did a plan go so out of hand. No, actually, this did not look like the plan at all. Aside from him, they all went and did shit.

He sighed.

Wasn’t it supposed to be simple? Create some chaos and use it to dip? Now they end up in the middle of a giant war in a lower continent.

Forced to face an endless wave of eyeless dead souls.

Then again, if you consider the different forces here, there was now a chance. It would not be impossible for the eyeless to be defeated.

After all, they were restricted by the continent’s rules too.

For now.

Cheng looked back towards the palace and grinned. Since he was here and there was an opportunity, maybe he should grab that?

He got up and dusted himself as he began to walk towards the Palace. He hummed as he did so.

…

Grunleden walked forward as his army followed. As he took a few steps towards the Capital army, he pushed spiritual power through his voice and spoke: “The Oceanics have come to give a hand to our brothers and fight against evil!”

The army roared behind him, echoing his words and drive.

…

Harold moved forward right after as he stated: “This land is our home! We are here to defend it!”

The humans screamed behind him.

…

Johnny Fall moved forward: “We have come to protect the innocents!”

All the debtors raised their weapons with smiles. Maybe it was their last battle, but for that last one, at least, they would fight for what was right.

…

The four armies joined together in front of the Capital as they witnessed the tide of eyeless beings stop not far from them.

Then, it happened.

The spiritual pressure was emitted from both camps as all kinds of techniques were used.

The war for survival in Vrislorin began.

…

Meanwhile,

Slightly far away from the Capital,

Jin found the man he was looking for.

Gronndel Frey. A tanner.

He owned a small shop in that small city. It was nothing grand. It was easy to find though and Jin was thankful about that.

He knocked thrice and the door was opened by a middle-aged man. Jin asked him: “Are you the one surnamed Gronndel?”

The middle-aged man chuckled as he pointed to the emblem of the shop ‘Gronndel’s tannery’ and said: “Damn right, how can I help you, young man?”

Jin gave him the password: “The Ocean will one day dry up”

The middle-aged man’s eyes widened. Then, he turned serious and signaled for Jin to come inside.

As he closed the door, he stated: “I never thought the day would come in my time”

Jin did not speak.

The man looked at Jin: “And neither that it would be a young man that would come”

The man sighed as he expected something else. It had been a legend passed down in his family for eons after all. A mantra they all lived by.

Until this day.

It would end with him and he would see this family oath to its end.

He was not sure if it was good or bad but so be it.

He took out the pendant he was wearing. It had a key in the shape of a wave attached to it. He handed it to Jin and seriously stated: “Follow me”

Jin grabbed the key and looked at it. It seemed made of crystal and gold and was beautiful. He clenched his fist as he followed behind the man.

They exited the house from the other side and went into the back garden. There was a well there. The man turned to Jin and stated: “It’s down there”

Jin looked at the man and recalled what Cheng told him. He needed to have this guy come along.

Jin spoke: “You first”

The man looked at him incredulously before shaking his head: “This is not a place for me to go to”

Jin added: “I was not asking”

The man frowned.

He looked at the well, then Jin and then the well once more. He sighed. It seemed like he had no choice.

He moved towards the well and got over it. Then, he began to climb down. As Jin approached, he saw that there was a ladder.

Incredibly old and rusty looking yet the quality could not be faked. It was the same kind of material as the key he held in his hand. The only difference was that it had been made to look old and rusty.

It was a pure camouflage.

Jin placed the pendant around his neck as he moved to the ladder and started the climb down as well.

They climbed down for an hour before reaching the deepest area.

It took a long time since Frey was nothing more than a mortal. As his feet touched the ground, Jin felt some kind of coldness. Frey was the same, feeling the unusual aura of the place.

In front of him was now a door. A simple-looking one. It had absolutely no ornaments or anything to indicate anything about it.

There was a hole in it.

This is was where the key should go obviously.

Jin did not even try to mess around and just took the key, placed it in the keyhole and turned it. There was a melodious sound of waves crashing as the door opened.

There was a stairway going deeper down.

As Jin took the first step in, the walls lit up. Or rather, crystals inlaid on the walls lit up.

“Wow” gasped Frey.

This was already something beyond him.

Jin signaled to him and they began to descend. As they did, they looked at the walls, there were murals on them.

They depicted the story of a man.

Or of a man that became a hero.

Of course, heroism was subjective to your own side.