Chapter 9: The Devolution

The sound of birds chattering overhead forced my eyes to open as I lay within my sleeping bag. The night was quite peaceful and to my relief, nothing disturbed us and everything seemed perfectly fine. I squinted at the ceiling of foliage above me, my eyes slowly adjusting to the light caused by the tiny sunbeams piercing through the thick covering overhead. I sat up and rubbed my eyes and took a quick look around. Grubeck was still sound asleep next to me, but what I saw next caused me to go into a fit of worry; Seria and Kana were gone along with their sleeping bags. Freaking out, I jumped up and circled the area, trying to see where they could have gone. My mind immediately jumped to the worst possible conclusion; were they kidnapped by goblins? If that was true, why did they not touch Grubeck or me? Perhaps they were only after women, but it was still all too odd; something was not right here.

I went over to Grubeck and jostled him around a bit, "Grubeck, wake up! We have an emergency!" I yelled, trying to get Grubeck awake.

Grubeck quickly sat up, his head jerking rapidly around; trying to see what was going on, "Ah! What is it? Someone closing down my business? No, don't do that!" Grubeck exclaimed with fear.

Grubeck's words were not exactly the words I expected to hear from his mouth, but it did not matter as we had important issues at hand, "Its Seria and Kana! They've gone missing!" I stated with great worry, "Their sleeping bags are gone and there's no sign of them anywhere! Come on, get up! Something could have happened to them!" I quickly dragged the reluctant Grubeck to his feet as he was still groggy from being woken up so suddenly.

"Whoa, calm down there. You say Seria and Kana are gone?" Grubeck asked as he too looked around the area, finally dawning on him that indeed everything I was saying was true, "Oh dear… what could have happened to them?"

"Who knows, but we have to find out! We must find them or else they might be in big trouble!" I exclaimed. I was never one to handle such situations with delicate care. It seemed once I started worrying about something, my mind would not let it go and it just kept freaking me out. This was the perfect time for my mind to start blowing everything out of proportion.

"Trouble? What kind of trouble do you think those two have gotten into?" Grubeck asked, but before I could answer, he merely continued, "I know what you're about to say; goblins did this, right? Well, if goblins did do this, then why are we still alive? Surely they would have killed us or at least looted us." Grubeck then pulled a small pouch from his pocket and jangled it about giving off the sound of coins banging into one another, "This is proof that goblins didn't come through here." Grubeck smiled at his words, looking as if he was proud to think of such a good reason.

"But… but why would they leave and pack up without telling us? Something just seems off here." I said, beginning to calm down slowly. It seemed Grubeck's words reassured my mind slightly, but I was still panicking within.

"Don't know, but a lot of strange things have happened in this forest." Grubeck said with a sigh. He looked around and quickly picked up his cane. "If they have gone missing, then we should go search for them, right? Fretting about it will get us nowhere." With that, Grubeck began walking off without me, seeming as if he already knew the direction Seria and Kana went. Without anything else to do, I followed him, hoping this was the right direction.

It was not before long that we came across Kana who was leaning up against a nearby tree with her eyes closed. Fearing the worst, I quickly ran up to her and shook her gently, "Kana! Kana, you awake? Answer me!" I stated, feeling relieved that I could see her breathing. What worried me was that she had some burns on her body. I did not know how she got these and feared for her safety.

Kana heard my voice and opened her eyes, looking at me drearily, "Archnir..? Is that…" Kana muttered. Her eyes suddenly widened as she then realized it was me she was looking at. She quickly jumped up and hugged me, breaking into tears, "Oh, Archnir! I was so scared! I didn't know what was happening!"

"There, there, calm down. Everything is alright now." I calmly spoke, patting Kana on the back as she gripped onto me. I then slowly took her off me and set her on the ground in front of me as I stared into her tear-filled eyes, "What happened? Where's Seria? Tell me everything."

Kana wiped a couple of tears from her eyes and sniffled a little before she decided to speak up, "Well, it was late last night and everyone was asleep. Seria woke up and packed up her bag and began walking away. I didn't know what was going on so I got up and demanded an answer from her! She simply said that she felt strong, strange energy pulsating from within the forest and had to check it out."

Kana paused for a second to take a deep breath before continuing with her explanation, "I didn't want to disturb you guys since you were still sleeping so I decided to just go along with Seria and see where she was going. But we crossed through an area near here and there were lightning bolts everywhere! Huge lightning bolts trying to strike us both down!" Kana outstretched her arms, trying to show just how big these lightning bolts were.

"Wait, lightning bolts? How could there be any lightning in here with no fire? It didn't rain last night either." I interrupted as I looked up at the thick branches hiding the sky, "There's no way lightning could have made it through those branches without starting some sort of massive fire. It just doesn't make any sense!" I was trying to make common sense of what Kana was saying, but it just didn't fit at all. Her words confused me and made me think she was dreaming.

"I'm not lying, there was lightning! It was aimed at us too! I managed to get away and hide, but Seria ran off deeper into the forest! She said she would be fine and I needed to get back to you guys. I tried to make it back, but I was so tired and…" Kana looked over at the tree where I had found her, "I just ended up there." Kana pointed at the tree as if I did not remember where I found her.

"Strange… guess that leaves us no choice but to go after Seria, right Grubeck?" I said as I got up and looked at Grubeck. He seemed as if he was in deep thought, trying to process all of Kana's words, "Grubeck? Something wrong?"

Grubeck quickly glanced up at me and shook his head, "No, nothing is wrong. Let's go find Seria, shall we?" Grubeck said as he began walking past us.

I had a feeling Grubeck knew something on this matter, but was not going to tell us. It did not matter, I did not feel like bothering him with such small details. It was not lightning now and that was all that mattered. I turned my attention towards Kana and smiled, "Don't worry, we'll find Seria and figure out what's going on here. Can you walk? Looks like you were injured." I observed.

"Walk? I fly, remember?" Kana corrected me as she then flew up in the air up to my level, "Besides, nothing hurts. These marks are from when the lightning last night grazed me, nothing serious."

I nodded and quickly ran up ahead past Grubeck, putting myself into the lead with Kana hovering next to me. We walked into a small clearing up ahead when I paused for a moment. Within that very second, I quickly jumped back and a lightning bolt struck where I stood, causing Kana to freak and let out a scream. Were these the lightning bolts Kana was talking about? They had to come from somewhere, but where? I looked around until I spotted a white goblin standing on a rather large mound, wielding a sword.

"What are you intruders doing here? This is my territory! Get out!" The goblin yelled at us while brandishing his sword.

Grubeck stumbled backwards, stammering slightly. I began to wonder whether or not he was okay. If I did not know any better, I would have thought he just saw a ghost the way he eyed the white goblin with utter dismay, "That… that's the legendary albino goblin, lightning Kinoll! Those things are only supposed to appear every hundred years, so why is one appearing now? I heard that an albino goblin was killed a few weeks back so how come there's another one? It just doesn't make sense!" Grubeck stammered.

I did not quite understand what Grubeck was talking about; all I understood was that this goblin here was a freak occurrence and something big was up. It did not matter to me now as I still needed to find Seria. I assumed that this goblin here might have seen her walk by as it probably was the one attacking her and Kana the previous night, "You there, goblin! Have you seen a girl come by here?" I asked. I knew he probably would not answer my question, but it was still worth a shot. If worse comes to worse, I was prepared to beat the answer out of him.

"What's it to you? It doesn't matter anyways since I'll fry you all here!" The goblin yelled at us as a lightning bolt shot down onto my current position.

I was fast enough to dodge the lightning and quickly charge towards the goblin. The goblin fiercely rained lightning down upon me as I charged towards him, but dodging the lightning strikes was simple for someone as quick as me. I managed to get right up close to the goblin and was about to grab him when a lightning bolt struck the ground between us, forcing me to jump back, widening the gap between us. I was wondering how this goblin was raining down lightning until I looked up at the sky. It seemed as if a dark cloud was hovering above our current position and small holes littered the tree branches above where the lightning shot down. I was surprised that nothing caught on fire, but I did not have the liberty to continue questioning how it was possible as the goblin continued his assault of lightning while I continued dodging.

The problem was that there was too much lightning and despite how fast I was, the lightning strikes were faster. I needed something to distract the goblin's attention for a brief second just so I could get up close to him and finally land a blow. As if she could read my mind, Kana shot a laser beam out of her gun directly at the goblin. The goblin dodged and this gave me the time to run up to the goblin and knee him directly in the stomach, forcing him down onto the ground. I smiled at Kana and gave her a thumbs up while I used my left hand to pick up the goblin by his neck.

I stared directly into the goblin's hate-filled eyes and raised my fist so it was on par with the goblin's head, ready to smash it in, "Alright, you're going to tell me where this other girl went. If you don't, I'll smash your ugly face in. Don't even think about summoning lightning on me either, I'll hit you before it even has the chance to hit me." I growled at the goblin, returning his hate-filled stare.

"Damn… the girl ran off that way! That's all I know! Now let me go!" The goblin squealed as he pointed his sword towards a deeper part of the forest, showing us where Seria went.

"Thanks." I said as I dropped the goblin to the ground and began walking off in the direction he pointed out, "Alright guys, come with me."

Grubeck and Kana hastily followed behind me, wanting to get as far away from the goblin as possible. We were soon startled as we heard the goblin's furious voice bellow behind us, "You fools!"

Just then, a lightning bolt rained down on top of me, giving me no time to move out of the way. Surprisingly I did not have to move as Kana pointed her gun upwards above my head, acting as a lightning conductor, nullifying the lightning strike.

I whirled around to face the goblin, his face twisted in surprise and hate. Before the goblin had another chance to unleash lightning upon us, I ran up to him and gave him a swift kick in the chin with my knee, sending him up in the air. As the goblin flew upwards, I grabbed his body and hurled him with all my might onto the ground. The goblin's limp body bounced off the ground and collapsed into a heap. I gave a small snort of satisfaction as I turned around and began walking my course once more.

As I walked past Grubeck, he gave me an astonished look, looking as if he was speechless at what just happened, "You… you flattened Kinoll as if it were nothing! I never knew you were so powerful! That was incredible!" Grubeck excitedly stated. He kept on ranting on how amazing I was until his words began slurring together in an incomprehensible mess due to his astonishment.

"Man, you really impressed him, didn't you?" Kana whispered to me as Grubeck kept raving on about my strength.

"Heh, that's nothing. Even without Pungjin's training I could have taken down that goblin with no trouble." I said with a smile. There was one thing I wanted to ask Grubeck that has been bothering me ever since we encountered that albino goblin. He stated that the goblin being there was an unheard occurrence and I was curious about the subject matter. As much as I hated to interrupt Grubeck's ramblings, I wanted to know, "Excuse me, Grubeck, but I need to ask you something about that goblin."

Grubeck quickly stopped his speech and looked at me curiously, "Eh? What is it?" Grubeck asked.

"You said that the albino goblin only appears once every hundred years… is it that strange of an incident for one to show up more often than a hundred years? I didn't quite understand why you were so shocked back there." I inquired.

"That goblin, the lightning Kinoll, is only supposed to appear once every hundred years and now two of them have appeared in only a few weeks' time. It's only the beginning of strange things happening in Arad… probably all due to the devolution." Grubeck began explaining.

"The devo what? What is that?" Kana questioned.

"Oh, sorry, you guys said you were from Empyrean, didn't you? Well, the devolution is this strange event that occurred about ten years ago here in Arad. It is rumored that all these Apostles from Pandemonium were suddenly transported here and all sorts of strange things began happening. Monsters began acting more violently, unknown beings began resurfacing, and a whole bunch of other various occurrences." Grubeck continued explaining as we walked.

Apostles… I remember hearing them mentioned before from Numak. They were powerful beings that reside in Pandemonium, the huge city in the sky above Empyrean. I also remembered that Bakal was an Apostle, but that was the only Apostle I knew about. So there were other beings as strong as Bakal that had appeared down here in Arad, but why were they here? "These Apostles… why are they here? Who are they? Do you know any of these Apostles?" I asked Grubeck with immense curiosity.

"What, know them personally? Oh, heavens no. They would probably kill me on sight! I heard about this apostle named Sirocco who appeared within the Screaming Cavern in Lorien ten years ago or so… she was killed. Then this other Apostle known as Diregie showed up in North Myre around the same time. I believe Diregie is still around though since nobody can go up there anymore since it's literally a living hell." Grubeck continued.

"So, it's because of the Apostle's immense energy that's causing all these strange happenings, right?" I asked, curious if Bakal ever had the same effect when he entered Empyrean.

"That's what everyone believes. The devolution has completely changed Arad and there's no going back. Arad is an even more dangerous place than it used to be nowadays." Grubeck mumbled.

We continued our journey through the ocean of trees, hoping we could see Seria any moment. After walking for a bit longer, I noticed something quite strange; the temperature was dropping rapidly. It had been nice and warm the past few days so I was led to believe that we were in either spring or summer down here, but now the temperature made it feel like it was winter. I noticed Kana began wrapping her arms around herself, trying to warm up while Grubeck did the same. The cold did not really bother me at all since my skin was tougher than that of a normal human and a temperature drop like this was nothing to me, but I did feel it get cooler.

I began seeing snow up ahead, covering the ground along with snowflakes falling from the sky. I looked up, trying to see where our sunny weather had gone, but a blanket of grey clouds was all I could see past the trees above us. I had never seen anything like this and thought it was simply because of the devolution since Grubeck did state that it caused strange things to happen.

"Ugh, why is it so cold all of a sudden?" Kana complained, shivering a little bit, "And why is there snow here? What is all this?"

"I heard rumors about it, but after seeing all of this, they're probably true." Grubeck stated. Both Kana and I looked at him, expecting an answer, but he did not say anymore beyond those few words. Grubeck eventually looked up at us and remembered that we were not from Arad and he had to enlighten us on the details, "Sorry, what I meant to say was that there is a rumor floating around Hendon Myre that these two mage sisters went into Grand Flores to train when they suddenly became corrupted and starting attacking anyone who got near them. One of them is probably nearby causing all this snow."

I turned my head at Grubeck's words, "Any clue as to what corrupted them?" I asked.

"Nobody knows. Their names were Keraha and Binoche. They just went into the forest and before we knew it, they went mad. We could easily blame the devolution for it, but there has to be a better answer…" Grubeck muttered. He thought for a second before suddenly realizing something, "Wait, that's probably why Seria is in here! She sensed their evil aura and wanted to investigate!"

"Ah, that makes sense." I said as I too started feeling a strange aura ever since the temperature started to drop. It was odd though, the aura was indeed weird to me, but it did not feel evil and it somehow felt peculiarly familiar, like I felt it once before. My thoughts were cut short as we were soon surrounded by tons of blue goblins, grinning and cackling at us.

"Silgaves! Goblins born with frigid powers! I should have known they would be around here!" Grubeck exclaimed with worry as he looked all around us, as if trying to find an opening.

"Ha ha ha! More intruders in my lair?" A female voice boomed over the area. It was no doubt one of the mage sisters Grubeck just mentioned.

I quickly looked around, trying to identify where the voice was coming from, but all I could see was goblins and snow-covered undergrowth. Since the voice stated that we were more intruders that meant that Seria was probably nearby. With this many goblins about, I began worrying about her safety and felt like I needed to find her fast.

Without anything else to do, I struck my fighting pose and glared at the surrounding goblins, "Bring it, we're not afraid of you!" I called out.

"Oh, a brave one! Perhaps we should cool you off a bit… goblins, freeze them all! Don't let them escape like that girl earlier!" The voice rang out.

The voice relieved me of worry after stating that Seria somehow escaped. I had a feeling that she was no doubt nearby and I still needed to find her, but would not be able to with so many goblins on about so I had to clean up a bit first before looking for her.

The goblins began their assault, launching small crystallized spears of ice at us. Grubeck tried his best to dodge while Kana took aim at any goblin nearby and fired. I quickly dashed to any goblin out in the open and tried hurling them into other goblins, knocking multiple ones out in a single blow. I was quick to dodge the spears, but blasts of ice were coming out of nowhere, which I assumed were from the mage sister hiding somewhere. I was quick on my feet, never once getting hit.

I gave a quick nod to Kana, signaling that I was going to run off for a few seconds in an attempt to find Seria if she was still hiding nearby. Much to my luck, I managed to find Seria hiding in some nearby bushes. She screamed slightly as I parted the bushes.

"Hey, it's alright. It's only me." I said with a smile, trying to calm her down.

"Oh, Archnir, it's only you… I thought you were Keraha or a goblin for a second…" Seria said with a gasp of breath. She slowly stood up as I continued to wipe out the nearby goblins.

"Hmph, you're all so very annoying! Why won't you just die like you should?" The voice raged as another blast of ice occurred right next to me, but I promptly dodged it. I looked over into a small clearing and saw a woman floating in mid-air. She wore skimpy blue clothing with a cape and had long black hair. She carried a long wooden staff and odd icicle-looking objects sticking out of a strange head-piece that was attached to both sides of her head. Her eyes shone a light blue with no pupils, but she was definitely glaring at me.

"I am Keraha, ice mage of Grand Flores! I will freeze you all!" The woman boldly stated as she pointed her staff at me.

I knew what was coming and quickly dodged the ice that appeared in my previous position by jumping at her. Surprised that I evaded it, Keraha quickly pointed her staff at me again and I suddenly began slowing down slightly. She evaded my punch, but I also evaded another ice blast she tried to hit me with. She saw what I was doing with the air; that I was slowly manipulating the wind around me to increase my speed and she used her magic to freeze the air around me, slowing me down slightly. It was clever, but even without my wind manipulation, I knew I could still beat her.

I lunged at her once more as she crated yet another ice blast at my position. I manipulated the wind with my hands quickly as I jumped at her and hurled a ball of compressed air at her. Keraha was quick to react and instantly froze the ball of air, but she was not ready for me as I barreled through it and grabbed her right shoulder with my right hand and the left side of her waist with my left hand and hurled her. As I tossed her, she quickly pointed her staff at me and a blast of ice occurred on my right arm.

I flinched slightly as the coldness was intense and stung a little, but I had been through worse. Ashcore used to hit me harder than this, making a little frostbite easy to shake off. Keraha looked shocked as she hit the ground, wondering why I was not crumbling in pain, "You… what are you?" Keraha asked in an annoyed tone as she picked herself up.

"Heh, a little frostbite like this could seriously injured a human… good thing my skin is stronger than a humans so this little amount is nothing for me!" I announced as I brushed all the ice particles off my right arm. I flexed my arm and moved it around a little bit, relieved that it only stung a bit and did not hurt that much to move it.

Keraha looked completely shocked as I easily brushed off all the ice. She quickly pointed her staff at me, trying to hit me again, but I quickly jumped in the air and dove towards her, landing a swift kick into her stomach. Keraha coughed up blood as I planted her into the ground with my right foot. She closed her eyes and her staff fell from her limp fingers as I stepped off of her, "Heh, that was easier than expected." I said proudly.

Now that she was defeated, all the other goblins began scurrying around and ran off into the forest, fleeing for their lives. I turned towards Seria and pointed directly at her, "Now that she's taken care of, I want an explanation. Why did you go running off last night without telling any of us?" I demanded in a stern voice.

Seria looked uneasy from my stern words as she looked away as if ashamed, "I'm sorry… I knew you wanted to go and defeat Shauta as soon as possible so you could finish your training, but I wanted to check this strange energy out. It was in the complete opposite direction from Grakqarak and I didn't want to bother you, so I figured I would just go check it out myself in the night so we could continue heading to Grakqarak in the morning with no detours… guess it didn't work out as planned…" Seria said sadly.

I put my arm down and sighed as I walked over to Seria, "I understand, it's alright. Just don't do that again, okay? I don't mind taking a small detour, you know?" I stated.

"So what about the evil energy? Is it gone now or something?" Kana eagerly asked.

"No, I still feel it… there's another similar energy near Grakqarak. It might be the other sister, Binoche." Seria said.

I guessed we were too far from it, since I did not feel anything from the direction we were heading, but I still felt the strange energy around this area. I merely passed it off as just some lingering residue aura from Keraha. Seria was looking past me at Keraha's direction with curious eyes. I wondered what exactly she was looking at and turned around and glanced at Keraha's body. I then noticed a small grey orb on the ground next to her body that was not there before. Before I could move, Seria quickly ran over to the orb and picked it up, staring curiously at it as she moved it around within her hand.

I walked over to Seria as she crouched down, looking the strange orb over, "What's that? Did it fall from Keraha?" I asked.

Seria got up and continued looking at the orb, "I think so… this orb here is emitting very evil energy… I think this is what I was sensing and what was causing Keraha to go mad." Seria stated.

"Um, could I hold it for a second?" I asked as I held out my hand.

Seria obliged and handed me the orb. It looked slightly glossy and was surprisingly light. It was completely grey and did not have a speck of any other color on it. I turned it over in my hands, wondering what this orb was. Aura was definitely pouring out from the orb and like the feeling I had earlier, it felt strangely familiar. I could not place my finger on it, but I swore I felt an aura similar to it long ago.

"Strange, isn't it? I'd like to check it out more when we arrive back in Hendon Myre." Seria finally spoke after giving me a few moments to look the orb over.

"Yeah, it's strange alright. Know of anyone in Hendon Myre who might know what this thing is?" I asked, holding it up for everyone to see. Grubeck glanced at it, but otherwise stayed away from it, fearing it would corrupt him like the sisters. Kana curiously stared at it, with an odd look on her face, a look I too was expressing. Without her saying a word, I could easily tell that she was thinking that she had felt the aura before too.

"There's an elf running the tavern in Hendon Myre named Siusha. She's good with strange magical auras and such. I'm sure she might know something about this orb." Seria stated.

"Alright, it's settled. We visit Siusha after beating Shauta to learn more about this strange artifact." I said. Kana gave me an annoyed look and I quickly corrected myself, "After I visit Kiri of course…" I then quickly stuffed the grey orb into my pocket.

"Alright, then we don't have a moment to lose! Grakqarak is still quite a distance from here so we should start traveling a bit faster." Seria calmly stated as she walked off with Grubeck in the direction we originally came from.

With each day I spent down here in Arad, more and more interesting tales and events kept occurring around me. I wondered what else I would encounter down here as I quickly followed Seria and Grubeck with Kana closely behind.