“Furies are creatures of the wind.”

That was written in one of the scrolls in Nil’s library, as Gen had found out. It wasn’t much, but it described the nature of the beings perfectly quite well. Why wasn’t there more, though? According to Nil, the library was well stocked with all important books on humanity’s past and present, yet somehow lacked nearly everything beyond that. There were hundreds of scrolls on etiquette, poetry, and awakened philosophy, but nothing relating to sanitation work, full item mending, cooking, or non-human races for that matter. Nil himself had said that it was through accounts of human wars, personal memoirs, and epic poems that most of the information had survived. All additional details regarding the other races, for whatever reason, could only be found in the records of the Order of the Seven Moons.

The fury glided through the air, dragging along Dallion, creating the sensation they were sliding on water. Keeping their distance from the city guard forts, the pair made their way to one of the affluent neighborhoods on the northern side of the city, landing in a rather creepy looking mansion.

The creepiness came from the fact that while in perfect condition, it seemed uninhabited, unlike all other buildings in the neighborhood.

“Nothing like a city hopper to give us a temp base,” the fury said as they waited at the front door.

City hoppers?

Nobles or trade merchants with houses in several cities, Nil explained. They have the money to keep all of them maintained, but also the stinginess to hire people to live and work there full time. Usually, they come to visit a few times per year to make some important deal or just to rest, then move to the next. Always annoying, if you ask me.

“Put your blocker on,” the fury said. “The fun ends here.”

Dallion did as he was asked.

After a while, the door opened, revealing a short muscular figure. Giving Dallion and the fury a nasty glance, he stepped to the side, arms crossed.

“You’re late again,” the creature grumbled, then turned around, leading the way further in.

“Minor complications,” the fury replied with a slight hiss. There was no love lost between those two, it seemed.

Dallion closed the door behind him, since no one else bothered to, and followed along. Passing through the finely decorated foyer, the group went through the salon, then along a short corridor that led them to a small study. Three people were already waiting for them there. One of them Dallion recognized as the tattooed barkeeper he’d seen in Gray Haven. The other two he had never seen before in his life, although he knew what one of them represented—the attire she wore had the distinct symbol of the Order of the Seven Moons embroidered on it, along with the corresponding emblem hanging from her neck.

“Nice to see you alive and well, kid,” the tattooed man said with a blank expression.

He must have had some trinket to counter Dallion’s music skills, for there were no emotions coming from him. Investigating the others, the fury screamed annoyance, the muscular man—disgust. As for the cleric, Dallion could only get a vague sense of duty mixed with extreme boredom, like a clerk five minutes before the end of a night shift.

The last person had a defocus artefact on. As much as Dallion tried, he could see the person’s face, or clothes, for that matter. It was like looking at a silhouette.

“You know the details?” the tattooed asked.

“One level item killing awakened,” Dallion replied. “I’m to go inside and find out what’s going on without getting killed.”

“And level up the item,” the fury added.

“And level up the item,” Dallion repeated. “Will I be getting any help from the Order?”

“Your emblems should be enough,” the tattooed man said. “The Order is only here to observe. With the number of accidents on the rise, one can never be too careful.”

Comforting… if Dallion wasn’t the one risking his neck. If anything, it was more likely that the cleric was here in case he turned into a chainling.

“Where’s the item?”

The people looked at one another. Finally, the silhouette was given a nod and placed a ring on the small study table. The ring was unlike most Dallion had seen, made of seven separate pieces wrapped around each other, similar to those annoying trick puzzles that were popular in gimmick shops back on Earth. No gems were visible, but the metal was pure sky silver. Looking at it through his music and forging skills, Dallion could see that while the pieces managed to make a whole, they weren’t in fact touching.

“The awakened before me…” Dallion approached the table. “How did they enter the ring?”

“The usual way,” the tattooed man replied. “They put a finger on it and then faint.”

“At least they didn’t stop breathing,” Dallion muttered. Focusing as much as possible, he created three instances. The instance that tried to awaken the item through one part immediately vanished. The one in which he put it on the palm of his hand before awakening, managed to enter inside.

Here goes…

SPHERE ITEM AWAKENING

Dallion found himself in a world of islands in an endless sea. Colorful, lush vegetation was everywhere, transforming the surroundings into a fantasy painting. Birds ranging from small to large flew about, chirping in exotic fashion, completing the illusion that Dallion was on some tropical retreat. All that was missing was a five-star hotel and a shack selling surfboards to turn it into a tourist trap. Even so this was the same realm that had caused at least half of dozen people to enter a coma, possibly more.

You are in the realm of VERMILION’S TEARS

Clear the level to fulfil VERMILION’S destiny.

Dallion had no idea who or what Vermilion was, but it definitely was more than a simple ring. The only certainty at this point was that he would have to find and defeat the item’s guardian. It was just like improving a normal item… and that was what worried him.

More often than not, when something appeared easy, it was difficult. So far, the realm had proved to be unique in many ways, especially considering the creatures within. They weren’t blockers, some of them didn’t even have anything but a white rectangle with a name and health percentage. There were no weak spots to be seen, and no attack skills.

If you’re so peaceful, why do you bring so many problems? Dallion wondered. Lux, lift me up.

There was no response. The ring he was wearing in the real world was still in effect. Fortunately, there was a way around it. After a few seconds, the firebird appeared on his shoulder.

Thanks, Gen, Dallion thought. This was one of the huge advantages of having your own echo—it knew Dallion’s thought even without the need of a link.

“Lux, lift me up a bit. I want to see what’s out there.”

The firebird chirped and shot up like a space rocket, carrying Dallion along. In less than a second, the entire chain of islands was visible. As Dallion suspected, there were seven in total, each a slightly different color. Initially, he wondered if there was some connection with the Seven Moons, but the colors didn’t match in the least. Rather, the creator of the realm had wanted to make the perfect resort and focused on a specific color of plants for each island. From what Dallion could see, there were three shades of green, one red, one orange, one purple, and one white. Two of the islands had mountains, three had ponds, and one had a nice patch of beach.

Music, Dallion thought. The moment he did, everything suddenly changed.

The islands no longer looked like separate land masses, but formed one giant circular pattern, like an intricate emblem. Dallion tried to memorize the intricate elements, but the fine details ranged into the hundreds. He could still remember the basics: three circles of various sizes intersecting in a small square.

Looking at the point of intersection, two large glowing eyes formed staring back up.

COMBAT INITIATED

“Get us higher!” Dallion shouted.

Part of Dallion’s mind had already recognized the guardian, even if the rest of him didn’t want to come to terms with that knowledge.

Islands sank and rose as the two eyes emerged from the sea, revealing an eighth island, or rather the head of an enormous sea serpent, whose body was composed of the remaining seven islands.

VERMILION

Species: Island Snake

Class: Origin

Statistics: 100% HP

Skills: Unknown

Weak spots: Eyes

“Oh crap,” Dallion managed to say as Lux thrust him up, just in time to avoid the jaws of the giant snake.

This was the very first time he had fought a creature this size. Even the colossus was smaller in comparison.

Summoning his dartbow, Dallion shot a few bolts at the snake’s eyes. All projectiles missed their targets, bouncing off scales the size of buildings. Right now, he could really have used a crossbow, or maybe even two.

First chance I get, I’m making one, Dallion thought.

The snake extended upwards in another attempt to bite Dallion out of the sky. Failing, it descended back down, splashing into the endless sea.

This definitely presented a challenge. Without solid ground, Dallion could not use his homing dagger attack. Actually, if it weren’t for Lux, he would have been ejected from the realm by now. Only people with the ability to fly would be able to survive a realm such as this. As to fighting back, Dallion still hadn’t figured out that part.

“How the heck do I defeat an entire realm?” Dallion asked as the fine spray of water reached him. Attacking directly was dangerous, but attacking from a distance was useless. He couldn’t let the familiars try to do anything on their own because of the water. Two options remained: music or the unlikely chance that the snake would accept a draw.

Just as Dallion considered making his offer, the snake emerged from the water in another attempt to snatch the human from the sky. It was starting to look that things were at an impasse: neither of the two opponents could get close enough to effectively harm the other, and neither was willing to back down.

From experience, Dallion knew he could withstand hunger for over a week, possibly more, if he had something like White’s chewing gum button. On its part, the snake had been existing in the realm since the item’s creation.

“It’s a draw,” Dallion shouted. “You can’t defeat me and neither can I!”

Looking down, Dallion thought he saw the snake smile.

“Are you so certain?” the guardian asked. This wasn’t the first time Dallion had spoken to a creature, but there was something disturbing in having a chain of islands respond to him. “Sooner or later, you’ll give in. I can wait.”

“I can just leave the realm,” Dallion said.

“Not this realm.” There was a glint in the snake’s eye.

“Is that why you crippled everyone before me?”

“Those before you were twisted and crippled before they set foot here. And you are no different. You might be unbound, but that doesn’t matter.”

The snake coiled back down, disappearing entirely in the water.

“Get us higher, Lux!” Dallion said, fearing that the guardian would try to leap out again.

He was half right. The monster emerged from the sea like a released spring, but instead of leaping up, it projected a spray of venom from its fangs.

“Shield” Dallion shouted, holding it in front of him. The armadil shield formed a semi sphere protecting him from the poison’s effect. In doing so, though, it suffered the consequences.

ARMADIL SHIELD CORRUPTED

The Durability of the ARMADIL SHIELD had decreased by 20%

While in this state, the ARMADIL SHIELD will lose 1% durability every second