Arcane Journey

Chapter 159 Memories of Breners

Prince of Shade Brennus Tanshul watched an owl swam away from its hunt and swooped silently down against the night sky of Shade.

A mouse that came out of a hole in the ground to look for food sensed the danger, but at this moment, it was too late.

The rodent gave a final squeak of pain as the raptor's claws pierced its tiny body.

Although the result of death is quick, there is no doubt that the process is difficult.

"Nice job, little hunter."

Breners sat alone on a bench by the clear pool, nodding contentedly to the feeding owls.

The fatal blow to the prey is always unexpected. Over the years, Breners summed up this experience very succinctly, and so did the rest of the arcanists in the city of Shade.

Then, he turned his eyes again to the manuscript lying between his knees.

This is the broken manuscript he obtained recently. Through the secret method and the history of Netheril, he carefully verified it and got an important piece of information.

These are a set of records written by the Arch Arcanist Opus, who used to reside in the ancient Netherese Empire and founded the floating city of Azuma, which was once the center of learning in Netheril.

Although the contents of this broken manuscript record are incoherent, they are nonsense compared with any other codex.

But Brenas thought this record was very valuable, and accidentally discovered that it recorded that in the last few days of the Year of the Shattered Magic Net, Grand Arcanist Opus had shown a Nairir scroll that recorded construction knowledge.

It is said that in the library of Silvermoon City, there is also a magic book left by the great arcanist Opus before his death.

If he finds this book, he can confirm the crash location of the floating city Azuma through tracking or divination magic.

In this way, you will be able to find this color-resistant scroll.

Silvermoon City?
At the mention of the name, Breners backed off.

Because with his strength, it is impossible to forcibly break into this city.

Besides, this is just a legend, and no one can guarantee that the materials recorded on the Grand Arcanist in the library of Silvermoon City will definitely be preserved to this day.

Breners sighed softly, and looked at a completed message on the manuscript:

"Pain is real, but false pain is also easy to fabricate."

——The last record of Grand Arcanist Opus

real pain.
For some reason, seeing these words, Brenners, the archivist who has been searching for secrets and rumors of divine power from strange and forbidden sources for a long time, felt an inexplicable heartache.

He is an archivist, exploring the esoteric origins of power legends from adventure and archaeology.

But every time he found clues about the ruins of the fallen floating city, there would be this inexplicable heartache.

It always made him involuntarily recall the history of the year when the magic net was broken.

After a sigh, the Shadow Prince got up from the bench, looking longingly at everything in the floating city.

He heard the chanting of prayers from the priests of Shar the Lost Lady, and the laughter and clamor of children playing outside the high walls.

For a moment.

He wished he could play barefoot with them outside, panting in tattered clothes, with no past and no future.

Once upon a time, the ground of the floating city of Sultanza, during the period of the Netheril Empire, was still a place of mountains, flowers blooming in the plains, and deep rivers rushing.

There are huge black towers towering among the majestic gray-blue peaks, and there are cities floating in the clouds with distinctive flags.

Scholars of later generations called it 'the greatest country in human history' or 'Arcane Empire'!
Dozens of centuries have passed, and the empire's territory has turned into a desert full of wild sand.

Today, most spellcasters in the City of Shade refer to it as 'our land'.

This name is like a prayer, as if as long as it is on the lips, it will definitely be fulfilled.

"That is the land inherited by our Netheril Empire. Although it was destroyed by the conspiracy of Felin Mokui, it will always belong to us, and no one can take it away."

Brenners recalled the history introduced to the students by the instructors in the Arcane Academy, and the corners of his mouth involuntarily twitched to self-mockery.

As a person who had witnessed the destruction of the empire, he could not be more clear about the truth of the whole incident.

During the period of the Netheril Empire, his father, the High King Telamante, conducted long-term research, allowing the arcanists to have a certain understanding of a new source of magic power that did not originate from the magic net, and began to contact it.

Its origin is an ancient puzzle, and arcanists call it: the Shadow Demon's Web.

At that time, no arcanist in Shade City fully understood the ins and outs of this alternative source of magic power. They only knew that it drew unpredictable energy from the Shadow Plane.

In order to obtain these energies more widely, and at the same time to promote the research work of the Shadow Demon Web, the High King moved the floating city to the border between the material world and the shadow plane, and settled it between morning light and dusk.

During that period, the Floating Void City, which was continuously shrouded in oppressive gray tones, did not see the clear sunlight of the material world for several years.

Living in the dark all the time didn't cause much inconvenience to Breners. He only regarded it as a small price. After all, they got their own uniqueness in the field of magic.

Of course, Edona thought just the opposite.

His lover hated the darkness of this city, and if it wasn't for Breners, she would have left here long ago.

She begged him at every opportunity to use magic, teleporting them down to the sun-drenched plains below.

There, she can freely run and play in the billowing green waves and purple flower fields.

He couldn't help smiling at the thought of her long hair shining in the sun.
Without prior warning, all traces of the magic net that was once familiar were abruptly erased.

Breners still vividly remembers that scene.

Emptiness took over his body.

Although he still vaguely felt the existence of the Shadow Demon Net, the disappearance of the Magic Net - its original owner - tore half of its essence to pieces.

The spell Braines had prepared that morning had disappeared from his memory, completely erased.

He opened his mouth to scream, but it was only a hard gasp, his ears were ringing, and the corners of his eyes were throbbing, as if a hot charcoal was stirring inside.

He clasped his head fiercely and knelt on the ground, trying to pull it off his neck to stop the death-like pain and fill the emptiness brought about by forgetting.

The secondary juggling of ecology in his yard popped and immediately paralyzed, ornate dripping fountains, ceased to spout in perpetual motion backed by magic.

The ruby ​​and emerald flying dragon he painstakingly crafted for Edona was also planted in the lawn, and the artificial light source that illuminated the lawn suddenly became dim.

in a moment.

He found that all the magic that relied on the magic net in the material world had failed.

To put it more clearly, except for the effects of the spells triggered by the Shadow Demon Net in the experiment, the rest of the spells in the City of Shadows are collapsing.

How could this be?He wanted to shout, but all he could do was whimper.

Underfoot, the mountain where the City of Shadows was built began to collapse, Breners' stomach was shaken upside down, and the afternoon tea was in his throat.

He swallowed it hard, and tasted bile in the process.

Birds of various feathers swarmed out from the treetops, ferns and broken leaves in his yard flew around, and the voles abandoned the sinking ship of the City of Shadows and escaped with their lives.

Exclamations and screams resounded throughout the city, even in the hermit courtyard of Breners. It seemed that the exclamation had become the only melody in the city.

The City of Shadows is almost over...

Gripping with pain and fear, Breenners waited for the final blow to finish them off.

After several palpitating minutes, the collapse of the City of Shadows gradually slowed down, and finally stopped completely.

Brenner's heart tightened again, but he was still panicked, unable to figure out what happened.

Shadow Magic!
The disappearance of the Weave did not affect the operation of the Shadow Weave, which his father relied on to save the City of Shade from crashing.

When he realized this, Brenas's spirit even glimpsed the other floating cities of Netheril, falling to the surface as the floating magic failed.

Their apocalypse will take place in the bright light of day, and the aftermath of Shade will come in endless gloom.

Success is also magic net, defeat is also magic net.

The rest of the Netheril floating city, which is the testimony of the great power of the Netheril Arcanist, is nothing but a burial hill for thousands of souls.

The city began its second settling down, this time at a slower pace, and Breners' sense of satisfaction vanished.

Obviously, Shadowmoon itself is not enough to support the entire city.

Breners guessed at the time that the High Palace had been constantly connecting enough shadow magic to keep the City of Shades afloat.

Breenners suppressed his frustration. If he could, he would have joined them long ago, shaken off the cobwebs above his head, took the loss of the magic web, and used his considerable magical skills to help them.

But when the magic net collapsed, his teleportation spell was also forgotten, and it took half an hour to cross the city on both feet.

When I get there, life or death is a foregone conclusion.

The city is still sinking, its speed is gradually increasing, it may have dropped a thousand feet.

Everything will end, and when it hits the ground, no one can escape, and even if they survive the catastrophe, people will die in the subsequent sudden disaster.

The surface of the half of the mountaintop below the City of Shadows is uneven, so even if you try to slow down the sinking rate, it will be impossible to land smoothly: the city will tilt sharply, and countless people will be crushed to death by the collapsed buildings and walls.

Breners desperately wants to meet Edona.

If he had to die, he would die with his beloved.

"Edona!!!."

A cry out of nowhere, like a tornado whistling from the south, drowned his voice.

The force of this sound was like a sledgehammer hitting the City of Shadows, like a storm destroying a lone boat in the ocean.

Brenas fell into the grass, cursing in panic, and he can still vividly remember that it was Karthus's voice.

"Mystril! I want to take over your power!" Karthus' rumbling voice came, and his words were like the voice of heaven.

Although the City of Shadows is still sinking, the shaking has become weaker.

Brenners, who was lying on the ground, put his hands and feet on the ground, struggling to raise his head.

"Karthus, fuck you arrogant fool!" he cursed bitterly.

The end of Netheril was brought about by Karthus.

Karthus's voice came through the air like thunder, this time Brenas could only hear Karthus' sobs, endless despair.

For a moment, he suddenly understood him a little bit.
Like a flash of lightning, Karthus's cries died down, and the whole world seemed to hold its breath.

Since then, there has been no sound.

The City of Shade is still falling towards the surface.

Thinking of his love, Breners leaped to his feet and sprinted across the room.

Before he could reach the room, Edona ran out of the house by herself.

Her long red hair danced behind her, her skin was pale, and Breners had never seen her green eyes so scattered.

When she needed even a little comfort, she didn't even know a little basic shadow magic, "Brenners, something happened to the magic net!"

He ran close to her and put his arms around her, "I know."

She moved an arm's length away, looked into his eyes, and said, "Then this city..."

He shook his head sadly, and her eyes changed for this established fact.

"So we're dead? What happened?" Breners hesitated to answer her first question, and couldn't answer the second.

Karthus must have done something...

Edona kept staring into the distance.

His eyes filled with tears as he thought of the many days they had spent in the field of violets in the plain below, where they were buried today, and he held her close again.

"We'll see those flowers, honey. We will, I promise." She sobbed and threw herself on his shoulder, and Breners fought to hold back the tears.

Shade continues to fall.

Breners didn't answer any more, just hugged his sobbing lover.

He knew their time was numbered, and he wanted to tell Edona how much he loved her, to whisper to her that it was her presence that made life bearable in the bleakness of the twilight.

But he couldn't speak, even in the present situation.

Silently, he stroked her long hair and hugged her tightly.

Finally, Edona moved away from his arms and looked directly into his eyes, the tears on her smiling face were clearly visible in the dimness.

Edona was about to speak when a sudden silence fell, as if their ears had been filled with wax.

The gray sky grew darker, and the air seemed to be charged with electricity.

"What's wrong?" she asked, her voice muffled and distant.

She came out of Breners' arms and looked west, and out of curiosity, he turned to look west too.

Above the city, the sky was curling, the twilight light of the City of Shade sliced ​​by a darker background, spirals of black and brown rippled across the sky, expanding towards them.

A large number of small tornadoes took shape and rushed before the black sky, forming a loyal advance team of destructive force.

Some of them were so big that they destroyed houses, knocked off part of the roof, and flew into the air in a whirl.

Breners understood right away what was happening.

They dragged the city completely into the Shadow Plane.

Tempests are planar eddies that are widespread across the borders of the planes.

At the same time, he realizes that the City of Shade is no longer descending.

Moving deeper into the Shadow Plane must have strengthened the power of the High King's Shadow magic, and the city was temporarily saved.

He happily took Edona into his arms.

The shock on her face made him freeze abruptly.

"No." She said taking a step back from him.

"I can't live like this." She looked into the empty void and said, pointing to everything in the City of Shadows.

As the dark, colorless curtain approached, a strange sound came first, not silence, but a blunted sound.

Even Ruinstorm is dulled by the rampant hurricanes of the planar hurricanes.

"There is nothing we can do, Edona, my love."

He stretched out a hand towards her, and when she backed away again, he could only suppress the misery in his expression and voice.

"Otherwise you will die, you must not mess around, Aidona."

Some kind of power in her body seemed to explode. When she spoke, her eyes were full of sadness, and her voice was dignified holding back tears.

"I don't care, Brenners, don't you understand? I can't live like this anymore, I'd rather die. I stayed because of you, and only because of you, we've lived in the dark for too long, I .”

Suddenly, both of them felt the return of the magic net.

The magic net has been restored!
Brenner's soul was full again, and the flow of magic that had been exhausted before was now pouring into his body again like a torrent.

He grinned.

Edona also laughed excitedly, chanted a set of spells, and rose from the ground into the sky, "We are saved, Brenas! Oh, thank Goddess of Fate!"

At this moment, the City of Shadows under his feet suddenly wobbled, and the sky was completely covered by darkness.

Brenas looked up into the distance, and the dark and bleak curtain of the Shadow Plane had already unfolded.

Although the Weave is restored, the High King is still pulling the City of Shade into the Shadow Plane.

Breners thinks this explanation is more reasonable, because just for a moment, the turbulent darkness between the two faces accelerated, and the hurricane became more and more violent.

Under the raging wind, the entire building flew into the sky.

"Edona! Go into the room, stay in the cellar, quick!"

"Edona, look! Look!" Breners pointed at the turbulent boundary of the plane, "Come down, this is our only chance!"

"I can't do it, Brenners," she cried in the rising cyclone. "I can't live like this any longer. I'd rather die. I stay for you, and only because of you, we in the dark I've lived in the Shadow Plane for too long, and I don't want to stay in the Shadow Plane forever."

She looked at the rushing darkness, her face pale.

A gust of wind blew her towards the eye of the wind.

Brenner's throat choked, and he forced out the spell of flying from his mouth.

However, Aidona quickly stabilized her figure.

"I love you, Breners, and I will always love you. But, I can't stay here any longer."

Brenners didn't want to let go so easily, he flew towards her, "Wait, Edona. Please, honey. Don't leave me!"

She distanced herself from him, not wanting him to get too close.

Another gust of wind came, stronger this time, and she was thrown sideways.

"Edona!"

He followed with the full power of his spell, and she was being swept helplessly into the tide of darkness.

She screamed in panic, audible even in the turmoil of the planes.

Before she touched the darkness, a planar hurricane mixed with rubble from the destroyed building caught up with her, and her figure disappeared in the wind column.

Breners chanted her name in vain, circling the hurricane as close as she could, trying to stay aloft in the howling wind.

Darkness enveloped him, but he didn't care a bit.

His perception is numb, his hearing is dulled, and his vision is blurred.

Apparently, they entered the Shadow Plane.

The horizon was lifeless, but his pain of losing Edona was sharper than ever.

The migration to the Shadowlands is over, and the planar hurricanes die as quickly as they were born.

Wood chips and tiles fell to the ground, and Edona.

Breners flew down beside her.

He chanted her name over and over again, but couldn't make her make a sound.

Her body was bent by the horrific force of the hurricane, scraped by the debris of the building, and she lay on the ground, not an inch of skin was intact.

He took her in his arms and wailed.

…………

"Pain is real, but false pain is also easy to fabricate."

Brenas opened his eyes, and unconsciously recalled that painful memory, and couldn't help crying.

After a long silence.
He put away the broken manuscript and subconsciously looked in the direction of Mokou Town.

He watched the battle yesterday from beginning to end, and he had enough reason to doubt the Lord of Mokou Town named Brian.

He originally wanted to go to Mokou Town to try to get in touch with the other party.

But when I think of the remaining manuscripts of the great arcanist Opus, the ruins of the floating city of Azuma, and a possible Nether scroll that records the knowledge of construction.

He decided to go to Silvermoon City.

If there is a chance, he would like to find out whether there are really magic books left by the great arcanist Opus in the library of Silvermoon City.

(End of this chapter)