And then the formal hell began. The demons attacked the merchants, trying not so much to kill them, but to immobilize and ... devour. I had to move around like a snake in a frying pan, because at least two dozen cthulhanoids choose me as their target. Well at least a cold weapon regularly cut these freaks to pieces, which clearly did not affect positively their health.

The caravan magicians were also unable to do anything against their opponents. After five seconds Tibersah got into 'hot hugs' of cthulhanoids and screamed in pain and horror. But then there was a rather unexpected event for me. The wizard took a shining stone from his pocket, which I recognized as a Soul Dream. Releasing the energy contained in the stone, he directed it at his opponent, who died with a wild yelp. It looked as if it had been dissolved in acid. Neighboring cthulhanoids were not happy with such a gift, and rushed away, losing pieces of their decaying bodies.

I once again looked around the battlefield, looking at my opponents with new vision. I myself, as well as the demons I employed in the world of Evangelion, could easily endure the effects of the energies of Order and Chaos at the same time. It wasn't very comfortable, but overall it wasn't that bad. But these creatures of Chaos seem to have been allergic to the Order. This means that the fight against them should be quite simple.

I flew higher, breaking out of my surroundings, then focused and sent down a pure stream of Order energy. A glowing waterfall of energies hit the earth, destroying cthulanoids and leaving unharmed people and caravan. I began to move the battlefield in a spiral, burning out the vile creatures of Chaos. None of the opponents managed to escape. I even destroyed the observers who were sitting in the bushes at a distance and watching the progress of the battle.

After making sure that the attack was repulsed, I went out of combat mode and plopped down wearily on one of the iron-bound carts. The light of Order slowly faded around them, dissolving like morning mist. I watched with interest the side effects of my exposure. The whole place, the caravan, and even the people seemed too much real now. More real than the world around them. Looks like they've all become magicians by local standards. But I knew that such a 'gift' did not come to them for free. People couldn't control the laws of order, so It changed them quite a lot, both internally and externally. However, this is not my problem.

Having coped with the consequences of the attack, the caravan crawled forward. Barely half of the men were still alive, and of that half, a third were seriously injured. Both magicians survived, so there was someone to protect against the zugs. Now they looked at me not with respect and fear, but with holy trepidation and horror. The quiet whispers I heard said, they are almost considering me as a Righteous God.

The rest of the journey went without much incident. Zug attacks were routine for me now, moreover, caravan magicians were engaged in these little creatures, so I was not even distracted by them. When the city walls showed up ahead, the merchant thanked me for his rescue and pointed to a small castle away. It was the monastery I needed. I said goodbye to my fellow travelers, soared into the air and with all the speed available to me headed for the next destination of my journey.

The search for brother Senan did not take long, although the monastery master I met looked perplexed that a strange magician would need this madman, and not such a holy and important him. Sinan was a thin, agile old man, with eyes that glowed with the power of Order. He was not a magician, and thus it seems that there was an increase in longevity due to the energy of the Soul Dream. We went to the monk's room, where he stared at me with interest, waiting for questions.

"Greetings, brother Senan. I came to you because you were recommended as an expert in the ancient history of this land.” - The old man nodded enthusiastically. – “I am interested in the location of the Crystal Mountains and the dungeons of the underground people who lived here in immemorial times.”

"What? Do you know about the underground people?” - Senan jumped up, starting to pace the room from corner to corner. - "Amazing! This is the first time in my entire life that someone can confirm the authenticity of the knowledge that I have collected bit by bit in ancient writings, legends, or even just letters. Can you tell me what you know about those times? I just want to compare your knowledge with my own, so that I can immediately identify any discrepancies or inaccuracies.”

Judging by the energy that flowed from this type, he was a keen historian, happy to dig into any knowledge of ancient times.

"To be honest, I don't know that much.” - I said. - "As far as I know, there used to be a Silver Forest on the site of the desert, where the immortal elves lived. And somewhere not far from the forest there were Crystal Mountains, inside of which the people of the underground lived in caves and dungeons. Then someone brought the Filth into the Silver Forest, because of what all this paradise was destroyed. I don't know what happened to the Crystal Mountains. Judging by the maps, there is nothing in the area worthy of being called mountains.”

"Yes, it is.” - Senan nodded, already writing down my statement into a scroll. - "Can you add anything else? Any even minor detail?”

"Well, they say the elves were children of the gods. And in their forest, there was a gate to the Ghost Castle.”

"The Ghost Castle?"! - The monk exclaimed, starting to rummage through the debris in the bookcase. - "I only once read the mention of it, but I did not understand what kind of castle it is.”

"It was a place where you could quickly get to the far lands. So far away that it was impossible to reach them by any other means.”

“Yes! That's it!” - Senan was already scribbling something on his scroll again. – “A lot of things are becoming clear now.”

After a couple of minutes he distracted, looked at me, sighed heavily, put down his pen and scroll, and then began his story.

"So, I'll tell you the history of these lands, and you can decide what else you need to know. In time immemorial, this land was home to two great nations. High Elves and Dwarves were the true descendants of the Weak Gods. It is not known what was here before their appearance, but some chroniclers claim that these lands were created from the primordial Chaos by the first Elves and Dwarves. These two races lived hand in hand and created a world filled with amazing wonders. But once the Elves angered Other Gods, and they sent an unknown attack to their land. One of the ancient texts said that it was possible that Filth had come to the Silver Forest through the Ghost Castle.”

After these words the monk was distracted to write down his thoughts in the scroll.

"Anyway, the Filth has consumed the Silver Forest, the Crystal Mountains, and thousands of other countries around it. It reigned in this world for countless centuries. Under the influence of the Filth, all living creatures in these lands have changed beyond recognition, turning into terrible monsters. Then came the Third Blow. Don't ask me what kind of blow it was, why it was the third, or when the previous two occurred. All I know is that the Third Blow dislodged the layers of reality of our world, and parallelly the blow inflicted a fatal wound to the Source of the Filth that settled on the site of the former Silver Forest.”

“After this catastrophe, the power of the Filth began to decrease. It was still fighting for life, but it was already doomed. The territory under its control began to steadily decrease, and the freed lands began to be populated by people. It was the age of heroes. After the Filth’s defeat, the creatures affected by it gained free will, but they were still terrible monsters. The first people who appeared in these places were all powerful magicians. They cleared the land from hosts of monsters and settled shining cities. But once this era came to an end.”

"When they reached the Source of the Filth, they met an invincible enemy. Although this power was already almost dead, it could still easily enslave any hero, turning him into an invincible monster. And one day, in their stupidity, the First People prayed to the Righteous Gods for help. The God who answered to their prayers did not even deign to say his name. But he saw the still-living Filth and decided to finish it off, for which he created a Great Fiery Sun, which he suspended directly over the former Silver Forest. From the rays of this sun, all the infected monsters immediately burned in a hot flame. The first People rejoiced at this victory, but as it turned out, their joy was premature.”

"The Great Sun not just burn the Filth. It dried up the earth, burned the skin, and blinded the eyes. Just a few years later, the vast territory turned into a parched desert. In the flames of this sun, all the cities of the First People burned down, and they themselves turned into burned freaks, rolling in rags and hiding in the shadows. But that wasn't all. The power of the sun was so great that space itself became distorted. If a man went down one road, he would become a giant, and if he turned down another, he would become a dwarf. Paths that used to be covered in a week now required years of travel and vice versa. Life in this place has become so unbearable that the last of the First People voluntarily sacrificed themselves to the Weak Gods to save their descendants – us ordinary people. And the Weak Gods answered to the last prayer of their children.”

“By the power of their faith, they created the Great Wall, which separated the desert and its Great Fire Sun from the rest of the land. Along with the sun behind the wall remained and the decomposing corpse of the Source of the Filth, hidden under the earth. But after the Great Wall divided the space of this world into two areas, it turned out that the land around the desert was reduced by ten times. Or we can say that it is the surviving people and plants that have increased. Anyway, all the distances in the outside world changed, so that the Crystal Mountains became Crystal Hills. You can estimate the true size of these mountains only by passing between a Sanagar and Harshuta in the desert. There it takes six months, while here you can walk this distance in a few days.”