CyberAngelVivian: I actually didn't know about the book! Deltora name exists, I just took a name I thought would be fitting, sounds like a rich city's name, funnily enough the trilogy is also about gems from what I saw in google.

Chapter VII

The uninvited pt. II - Contact

Zane stares at the pink-haired girl, she skids her feet back a bit worriedly under his labyrinthic glare, her expression twisting concerned for what he might do. It's obvious he shouldn't be here and listening to her master's conversation, but that he's this calm about that is both astounding and frightening.

His eyes squint shrewdly as he walks towards her, they're both startled when they hear soundly footsteps coming from inside the room, drawing closer to the door. She gasps, moving her head hectically to the side to look behind him. Her eyes widening as the doorknob turns.

A decision is taken in but a millisecond, grabbing his arm, she drags him to the nearest door on their side, opening it and pushing him in there, putting a finger to her lips for him to keep quiet and closing the door as soundlessly as feasible.

"You little… What are you doing standing here in the corridor?!"

Zane listens to the loud, slightly muffled voice of Bonaparte from the other side, the two men stopped walking at this point, in front of the door he's hiding behind. He rolls his eyes impatiently, he swears if this guy raises the hand again, he'll just jump into the corridor and beat the crap out of him.

"Is this the one you talked about?"

"Yes, she isn't fully trained yet, I can't send her to the princess or I'll be in trouble. She can't speak."

"Ah, a pity, I'm sure she'd put on a great show in the underground if she could scream."

"Let's not talk about this here, I'll take you to the backyard, we can talk more there and have some drinks."

"Great."

"And you dirty thing, go fetch something for us to drink and bring it to the backyard! You'll be getting your lesson! That insufferable Truesdale isn't here to shield you anymore!" His disgusted tone changes completely to cheerfulness as he speaks the next part. "Now, let's go, shall we?"

The hefty footsteps leave the hall along with Bonaparte. There's a few seconds of silence until he hears the door clicking, the pink-haired girl taking a peek into the room to make sure he's still there, opening the door wide for him to come out, a half diagonal shade cast over his face. She steps back, enlacing her hands together ahead of her, head low, the same posture she had in front of her master, as she was trained to do.

"What's your name?" She gapes at the question, raising her head. "You have a name, don't you?"

She nods reluctantly, unsure of his intentions, but for some reason everything about him seems dangerous in a different way than Bonaparte. With her fingertip, she draws three letters in the air.

"Rie?" She nods to him. "Have you been a slave here for a long time?"

She shakes off her head, there's at least a few meters distance that she put between them, she's being cautious. He doesn't have time for much sweet talking if he wants to get rid of the slave master and gather more info, but he might need to do some convincing.

"You don't want to be here until you're sent to the Empire, do you? They won't treat you any better." She gulps, grimacing in worry, is he trying to woo her help? "Look, I just need you to tell me where my gems are, you took them away before, didn't you?"

Her head tilts slightly to the side, as if she's not liking any bit the idea of helping in whichever plans he has. She'd hear about summoners and what they've done to people, but not all should be judged by the deeds of some and he did help her back there, or at least that's how it seemed to her.

"You don't need to guide me there or go with me, just point at the direction and I'll fetch it myself. We wouldn't want you getting in trouble, though you're putting yourself in plenty of trouble by having helped me, miss."

The bluntness of his tone makes her jolt, putting her arms in front of her and shaking her head off, she doesn't even want to think about it, a faint smile playing on his lips.

"Don't worry, soon you and all the others will be out of here. I can free you all, no tricks. I won't beat the idea of you helping me like that guy either, you're free to decide whether you want to take part in this or not."

He can feel her hesitation, his stoic semblance just aggravates it, she fidgets for a moment before turning around and tilting her head for him to follow. At least she's made her decision. Leading the way, they stop at the last entrance on the hallway, she looks at both sides to ascertain the corridor is empty, taking a key out of her skirt's pocket, unlocking the path.

There's a stairway down, it gets darker as it descends, he can't see the bottom of it. They exchange a glance, a drop of sweat rolls down her face, he can see the worry in her eyes as they waver subtly.

"Is there something wrong down there?"

Denying with a light shake of her head, she grabs the lamp hanging onto a nail of the side wall, walking ahead and closing the door behind, locking it. His eyes squint, this could as well be a trap, but he has a garnet around for emergencies, and even if he can't summon much with it, giving some of his energy away isn't a problem.

The stairs down are long, he doesn't know for how many minutes they've been walking. At last, now they're facing a dark-grey lead door secured by metallic hasps and locks. She carefully opens all of them, entering the room followed by him.

It's a large, dim space, only the lamp light illuminating the surroundings, some shelves are lined against the walls, and a table in the middle of the room, random objects stashed all over, all of them were imbued with expensive jewelry and stones.

She walks towards the table where the chest he put his gems are, for a moment, his hand quivers subtly, in the faint dim light, he can see blue dust floating. Is his duel energy… leaking? His brows make a bridge instantly, confused, he's taken out of this state by her steps.

The lamp was left on the table, behind her, light and shadows cast around her figure as she offers him the chest on both her hands, he takes it into his hands, his skin brushing on her fingers for a moment.

She gasps, taking a few steps behind, clutching her hands together in front of her torso in a panicked motion, staying a few meters away. He can't blame her, he's seen what Bonaparte did in front of him and he doesn't want to know what else happened to her not in front of him.

His eyes widen ever so subtly, gaping upon seeing more and more grainy smoke come out of his body. He's not summoning, why is it pouring out of him? At this rate, he'll have wasted all his energy without making a single summon. Ignoring it for now, he opens the lock carefully with one hand, holding the base of the chest with his other.

His green orbs widening slowly upon seeing the contents: all of his gems are grey, rocky looking as if they'd been fully depleted. Impossible, it's only been a few hours he left them there. He ransacks through the chest, she can hear the clacking of the stones as he moves it around in a rush. None of them work. How?

"What did he do to my gems? Do you know anything about this?"

Her eyes squint in a mix of anguish and fear, instinctively stepping back once. He takes a deep breath, closing the chest with a soundly plop in annoyance.

"It doesn't matter now. Do you know where all the other slaves are?" Her mouth opens as if she's about to speak, but she can only nod as an answer. "Good. If you want to get out of here, I have the right job for you. Soon your 'master' will notice that you didn't go with the drinks and he's gonna come to punish you. We don't want that to happen, so we need to be swift. Do you understand?"

He can hear her gulp reluctantly, the more he speaks the more she hesitates, but she's chosen to help after all and she knows there's no going back.

"I won't harm you or any of the other slaves, really, but I need your help for this since my gems are as good as fossils. I'll go and distract Bonaparte and whichever 'guest' he has, in the meantime, I want you to gather all the slaves as far as possible from the backyard. Can you do that?"

He steps ahead, she steps back in response. Why so skittish? He stops, no patience to keep his monologue, not to tell he might have come off as a bit forceful. A waste of time with her, it seems.

"Like I said, it's your choice, but I'll go give a lesson to those guys regardless. You can help or run, I won't fault you for any of those. I'll call for help when I can, someone will come to fetch you all and take you to safety."

Whirling around he starts making his way back to the stairway, halting when he hears her hurried footsteps, sparing a glance back, she points at herself, unable to muster a work, opening her arms a bit, uncertain of the situation.

"It's fine, just make sure to be far away from the backyard you and all the others. Things might get a bit… Hazardous."

His eyes sharpen, as she opens the door, she can see a different aura surrounding him, it's intense and burning. Sliding his hand into the inner pocket of his jacket, he takes out a small white card, handing it to her.

"Show this to the other slaves, they'll know what it means. Do you?"

It's some sort of business card, but only a drawing is printed onto the center of it on metallic shiny paint, the silhouette of a Cyber End Dragon with its wings spread; the figure turns into a Blue-Eyes White Dragon when she sways the card forth and back. As if mesmerized by the design, she moves her head slowly in negation.

"This is the symbol of revolution. That's what I'm doing here, Rie. remember this mark well, you'll come across it again if you want to be truly free from the Empire."

With a last glance at her eyes, he turns around. His cloak flaps as he walks down the corridor to the gardens where her master is. Her eyes can only follow his back, enthralled by it. Has anyone ever come back after confronting her master? Has anyone ever defied her master? If so, she wasn't there to witness it, but she has a bad feeling about it.

A revolution, he says? She plays with the card a bit more, looking down the corridor he just walked by. He must be out of his mind to say this, even someone like her knows the Empire is not an enemy to be scoffed at. Is he trying to be brave or is he just stupid? Whichever one she thinks he's in big trouble.

Somewhere in the Central Region

Under the full moon light, the fancy shoes with framed purple gems make their way towards the wooden entrance characteristic from old Japanese temples. Beyond the gates and white walls, there's an enormous house; the borders of the ceiling are angled and made out of thick wood, sustaining the small dark-blue tiles perfectly overlapped to form the rooftop.

From the entrance to the suspended wooden walkway in front of the slide doors composed of slim wooden frames marking the borders of paper squares, there's a small road of compacted sand, the grains crackling under his feet as he makes his way to the small steps. His walking ceases when he hears the door sliding to the side.

A woman in a traditional miko outfit, her long black-hair falling over her whole back tied in a short ponytail near the edges, her divided bangs cascading down her shoulders to her torso, her purple earrings tinkle when she bows politely, her sharp amethyst colored eyes landing on the silver-haired man.

"Welcome, Aster. My brother is waiting for you."

"Sarina, good night. It's been a while."

He hits the tip of his shoes to shake off the dust before taking them off and leaving them by a small carpet at the entrance. She waits until he's in the house to close the door, going ahead of him.

"He asked me to come as soon as possible. Is he fine?"

She casts a glance over her shoulder, a cunning one. Aster has always been good at making those logical conclusions even when they were much younger, he could tell in a second what it was about.

"As you may know, the health of my brother has been deteriorating a bit, he's fine for now, but I fear if this keeps happening, his body won't be able to keep up and he will succumb to illness."

"Did it happen again?" His eyes lower, a glint of concern and pity at the same time. Then, he takes the courage to look at her. "Did he have another of those episodes?"

She stops in front of another door, looking into his eyes before answering to that question:

"Yes. They've been more frequent lately. You know it started with just dreams some time ago, but nowadays he just stands there, staring at the nothingness, as if he can see something we can't…"

"Have you asked him about it?"

"I did, but he won't tell me. You should ask all that to him and see if he will say it to you. But please, you need to try and help us. If my brother gets sick I don't know what we could do, I wouldn't be able to take care of the temple and him at the same time."

"I'll, Sarina."

He smiles briefly to comfort her. As she opens the door, the artificial light shines to the outside of the room, it's an almost empty room filled with fully white tatamis, at the middle of it there's a simple wooden table that's very low on the ground.

Sitting on a cushion near the table there is a man whose hair is very long and purple, only a chunk of white hair dangling down the center of his forehead on one end and spiking up at the other end; he's dressed in a simple and fully white kimono; his eyes are the same as the woman's even in color, but sharper at the edges, they're concentrated on gems standing on the surface. There's a small case of tools for fine crafting and polishing on the side and a deck of tarot cards on the opposite side.

"Sartorius."

He threads heftily and in a rush, taking a seat on the other cushion across from the man, crossing his legs wide spread. The quietness remains in the room for a moment as the woman sits on the side of the table in a different direction than theirs to watch over both.

"Aster, it's good to see you."

He takes a polished sapphire encrusted into a silver keychain with a blazoned frame, a blazon with Elemental Hero Phoenix Wingman carved, he inspects it from many sides before putting it down on the table and facing his friend.

"Your next gem is ready." He pushes the object towards the other man.

"Thank you. I wouldn't expect less from my most trusted lapidarist." He attaches it to the strap holding his belt into place. "How have you been? I heard from your sister that you had… Another of those episodes…"

Sartorius averts his eyes to the deck on the side, carefully shoving everything occupying the surface of his table aside to make space on the middle, calmly taking three cards face-down and flipping them up. In order, all upright: The Death, The World and The Fool. His sister gapes at the result.

"Lately this is all I have seen in my predictions, Aster."

"What does it mean?" He folds his arms, trying to make a wild guess in his thoughts.

"End of a cycle, beginning of another and starting a whole new story. It means change, letting go of the old to form the new and essentially… Revolution."

His posture breaks upon hearing that, his eyes widening. The destiny his friend predicted was always accurate and if this is true, then…

"It's been like this ever since I got 'visited' last week. I can't pull different cards, no matter how much I shuffle the deck and even if I do, they all convey the same message."

"You said 'visited', but your sister told me something different…" He casts a glance at her, her brows coil up, she shakes her head afflicted, as if she also can't understand.

"This may sound like the tales of a madman."

He gets up, slowly walking to the doors on the side, opening one of them to let moonlight into the room, basking on it, his eyes wandering in the space above, the stars in the sky are obscured by the artificial lights.

"But there was this… Bright light. At first it felt like a dream, then it talked to me and it felt more real."

"It talked?" Aster exchanges yet another worried glance with Sarina.

"Yes. I was taken in spirit to a different realm. It told me many things. My head felt like it was splitting into two, I've seen countless eras, mankind and things beyond my understanding, much more than I've ever predicted with my cards. I've noticed how small my predictions are, how insignificant I am compared to it. It has no shape, but it has a strong will."

"Sartorius, what exactly did you see?"

"I do not know, my friend, but it's something that is on a completely different level than duel monsters, humans and anything living in our world. It's sublime and terrifying. I'm… afraid of it."

He lowers his head, half ashamed of admitting it, but his eyes show he has seen things no man should. Aster stands up, reaching out a hand to the shoulder of his friend.

"It's alright, me and your sister are here to listen. We'll try to help. But… Tell me, what did this 'light' told you?"

"It said 'Empires will fall for their greed' and that a revolution draws near… Someone challenged it, it said men tried countless times to bind it and failed miserably and it would be no different this time. No one will have its power, it chooses whoever it wants and not the other way around."

"Why would it talk to you of all people?"

"It said my powers may be of use and… I'm a suitable vessel."

"I don't like where this is going. You're saying it wants to possess you?"

"It already did." He looks at his own hand, his whole arm trembling. "I can feel it faintly creeping inside my head and I know it can take control at any moment, but I do not know what it is, it just tells me things that will happen soon and lays silent, slumbering as if it's just waiting for the right moment to take over."

"Which things?! What else did it say?!"

His impatient questions shows he's more than just nervous at all this talk, this is no joke and there are many things humanity doesn't understand about other realms. What if his friend is not troubled by any mental issue, but something he cannot help him with?

"It told me soon someone will attempt to bind it. They'll fail."

"How does it know about those things?"

"It has eyes everywhere and it sees through the eyes of the things bathed by its power. Like… me."

Aster's hand recoil from the shoulder of his friend in reflex as the man stares eerily into his blue orbs, Sartorius's eyes are empty for a short moment, as if it's not him there, an abyss abiding inside him and the summoner is intimidated by it.

"It told me it will break free soon once they summon its power… And we must wait until then for the next steps."

"Next steps of what?" Sarina entwines her hands together, her brows curling up, eyes filled in angst. "You're not making sense, brother. Please!"

"Revolution." He replies simply diverting his eyes from them, his eyes roaming on the cards. "Those predictions, the light gifted them to me… It said it's time for an Empire to fall and another to arise and no man can prevent the flux of time or stand its overwhelming strength. It will break this Empire apart and it won't stop until everything is in shambles such is its wrath."

"Why? Why would it want to crush the Empire? I mean, we do too, but… This sounds… Extreme…"

"I don't know, but this is its will and I feel compelled to follow it." He lands both hands on Aster's shoulder. "Please, listen to me, Aster. I do not want destruction, but I do wish for revolution and this light… knows it. It feeds on this and soon, I fear I might not be able to keep… Being myself. I'm already getting confused about what I want and what it wants, which of those it seeded in my head and which were my desires to begin with. That's why I called you here… I again must put a burden on your shoulders, to burden you with a destiny that you don't deserve."

"Sartorius…"

"You must find out what this light is, why it wishes destruction and what this all means to us, that yearned for so long for a change. Whether it can be our ally, if it's an enemy or just something we must beware of…"

"You can't be serious, no…" His eyes waver.

"I understand your worries. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, but there might be a day that I won't answer for myself. It's best if we take precautions, even if I still look normal, it can force me to bend to its wishes and I cannot control it. It's imperative we find out everything we can while I'm still conscious. You too Sarina, you should keep an eye on me if I ever do something out of the ordinary and tell it to Aster."

They both nod ruefully, but that sentiment turns into a blazing anger, Aster feels indignant at the situation and he won't let anything take his friend. Enough people were lost in the war, even if a new conflict bursts in the Empire, he'll make sure to protect his friends this time. He's not a kid anymore.

"I'll do whatever I can to research about it, Sartorius."

He confirms with a bob of his head, his hand covering his friend's. Sartorius hand is trembling subtly, it's no shame, he's just a human after all, it's fine being afraid of the unknown, but he will be there for his friend the same way Sartorius and Sarina were there for him in times of need. The three of them share an embrace, this is the closest to a family Aster has and he's not willing to give up on it easily.

Back at Deltora,

Rie still holds the card onto her hands, playing with it confused, she halts upon entering a room with many slaves, some sit on the ground, others talk while idly standing, some were sleeping on bunkbeds lined near the walls.

The ground is made of cement and dust, unlike the clean guest rooms, the ceiling has cracks and the door is like the one of a jail. Some of them are startled when she arrives, approaching, one of the men grabbing her shoulders in shock, looking at her face from both sides.

"Did he beat you again, sweetie?" He puts both hands to his chest compassionately, his fake eyelashes batter as his eyes tear up.

She nods vaguely, still looking at the card, some other people approach, a ruckus starts as some of them bring some cloth and ointment they hid under the bed.

"What are you holding?" A woman asks, coming from the side to look at the thick paper.

Yanking it from Rie's hand, she gasps, flipping it for the others to see, they're flabbergasted, more murmurs polluting the room and tense mood installs in the air.

"Where did you get this?" She flails her hand, it's more a demand than a question.

Rie makes a grumpy pout and uses her fingers to mimic angled eyebrows, putting up a stern face while looking at them, then goes back to her normal expression.

"The summoner that came today?" She nods at their guess. The two slaves who were close to her open a bright smile in their faces of happiness. "I can't believe it! He's part of it! I would never imagine. People! Someone from the revolutionary army is here! Lady Kisara sent us an envoy!"

Rie tugs his shirt, opening her arms as if to ask what's going on, they can see her utterly puzzled face. She's new to the house and this is the very first time she has seen their eyes so filled with hope.

"Do you not know what it means? Someone will come to pick us up! Do you see the Blue-Eyes White Dragon appearing on it? This is the symbol of Lady Kisara! Of the revolutionary army! She's taking action to take us away from here!"

"That's right! They free slaves all over the continent and add them to their numbers, you can even go back to have a normal life and work as a human again! No more humiliating jobs! No more abuses or any sort of forced sexual jobs!"

"Did he tell you anything else?" She nods to that. "Bring paper and a pen! Darling, you have to tell us everything he said! This symbol… It doesn't lie! He's tied to the revolutionary army and if he's here, he'll help free us, this is just how much this symbol means and bears!" He kisses her forehead so strongly it bounces her head back. "You're an angel!"

They raise the card cheering in happiness, still confused, she's given means to communicate with them, all their anxious faces on her, a pressure she never felt coming from those people who were the same as her.

"He said 'stay away from the backyard.'"

"Hey, hey! There's something else in the card!" The other woman announces, showing the back of it. "It tells us to…" She squints her eyes. "Wait at the entrance of the mansion…?"

They take a deep breath, gathering thoughts before the man from before shouts in a loud, authoritarian tone:

"Quick! Call everyone here! Go and search in the mansion for all the servants, spread the word we're gonna get out of here! You too, darling, come with us." He speaks the last part softly, affectionately landing his hands on Rie's shoulder, as if he was taking care of his own child. Everyone starts rushing around to follow the plan.

Meanwhile, Zane threads steadily down a corridor, he can already see the door to the gardens. From his pocket, he takes out a device similar to an MP4 player, only a few buttons on it, as soon as he turns it on, an image with interference flickers, it's his younger sibling.

"Zane! I thought you'd never contact me! What do we know so far?"

"Change of plans Sy. I can't stand this guy and he laid a trap for me. I'm still in his mansion and I'm going to crush it all down, him included."

"We talked about this! I told you to have patience! How can you just drop the plan an-"

His brother foils his complaints out of frustration before he can spout them all out in a grave, serious voice:

"Syrus. This isn't about patience. He knows I'm here to destroy him, I'm just making a move first. I won't stand and let this guy treat the people in his mansion like toys, I'll destroy this place and set them free, lady Kisara will take care of everything for them, just send her the word and soon there will be people here to rescue the slaves."

"Zane… This is too risky, this guy sells catalysts, do you even understand it?"

His eyes waver, he knows his brother is a competent person, but he still worries. Despite the uncaring face and standoff expression he can tell Zane's blood simmers and he's in a destructive mood.

"If he prepared a trap and you go in there alone, you could…"

"I could die. Yes, So what? Am I supposed to sit while that pig drowns in his wine and smiles at the cost of the happiness of other people? He ruined many lives, it's about time I ruin his. Do your part."

"Zane wait-"

The teal-haired man ends the call with a firm click, tucking the device back into his pocket, closing his eyes to collect himself, his hand reaching the doorknob, turning it around, prepared for the battle.

There's a straight walkway into the center of the immense garden, made of plain pebbles stuck to the ground, on the sides there are fences where ivys make their living, only the moonlight illuminating the way ahead.

His rhythmic steps cease when he hears the cackling of two men ceasing all at once too. Bonaparte immediately gets up from his chair, and the other man makes Zane's eyes twitch once.

The man was made of muscles, under his light-yellow shirt, there are tribal tattoos on chest, on his face too. He stands up towering imposingly too, his spiky brown hair and eyes are the same as Zane remembers.

"Mad Dog?"

"Long time no see, kiddo."

A smirk blooms threateningly in his face, an aura of defiance distilling from his body, green grains of dust emanating from him, floating in the air.

Shadow Rider's southern HQ

Inside the room encased by large stone walls, the grey is the only color among the artificial lights flopping from the ceiling in the shape of oval lamps with metal frames, vines swaying at the wind that trespasses the breeches in the ceiling.

A brown carpet makes a line towards the heart of the place, a stairway elevating to a round pedestal made of white rocks completely evened and lined milimetrically. A card floats there, bound by unknown magic. Nightshroud supports his back on the wall beside the entrance door, arms folded and lips curved down.

A weak earthquake happens, the heavy stone gates open, giving passage to the newcomers, ten men in white capes and hoods circle and escort another person. The green-haired woman is dressed unusually, pure white unlike her other garments.

Her dress is composed by a chest piece delineated right under her chest line, from which two loose transparent and thin pieces cloth frilling down to the ground; under those a plain white piece sewed together to the chest line dropping down and floating around her knee height; around her waist a thin belt of silver with dozens of framed jewels tinkle as she walks inside, silver armlets with fine carving work and gems adorning her arms and on her shoulder bone, a piece of silver with gems attached, swinging from it with clinks.

"Cleah."

She stops at the call, her eyes flashing to the side, narrowing slightly. The man had his posture broken, unsatisfied with her decision. That was his final warning to her. Ignoring it, she averts her gaze and resumes her walking to the pedestal, he can only gape and watch, his fists clenching.

At each step, the jewelry clink soars, a mystical air spreading, the ten men separate from her after arriving the stair, going around the circular pedestal, only she is allowed to go up. Her dress drags on the ground, the cloth brushing on the stones, in the silence. She stops in front of the card floating there, uncanny specks of white light floating upwards, like bubbles in the water.

Her eyes look ahead, to the wall on the far end of the room, a big screen is there, showing her boss' face, his glassy eyes seem to not be able to grasp the scene fully. She isn't doing this for him, he knows, but he will use her as a tool and she's fine like that.

She stretches her hand, towards the light, initiating the ritual, the ten men chant words that reverberate louder and louder, she closes her eyes fully, a power growing from the center of the room and spreading in a wave as she speaks in a language known not by humans, an ancient tongue lost in time. Darkness shields himself from the supernatural wind with an arm, forced to step back at the strength of the wind.

A bright light flashes in the room for a second, all of the observers look up at the pedestal, instead of a card, a figure hovers in the air there, his translucent body solidifying, a bulky constitution of white muscles, red lines going down from his chest to the legs. As if he's wearing shoulder pads and gauntlets, his shoulders have sharp edges and a blade-like object comes out of his arm, his head has a spiky end that goes up bending far above his cranium to the skies. A round and big blue gem carved into the core of his chest and his eyes are made of blue gems too, similar to the ones in Nightshroud's mask.

Her lips unseal at the sight, amused by it, the creature looks at her not uttering a word, as if taunting her to start the dialogue. She speaks, but again in a language that sounds like a drunkards' blabbering and makes no sense, everyone stands and waits in silence, to not interrupt.

Neos hovers in the air higher, enough to bend down to look at her, her head fully lifted up to the ceiling to find his eyes. He descends, his face coming closer to hers, her eyes widening as he gazes into her starry orbs, probing her soul, enticed by it.

His hands gently grab her skull, the other summoners in the room tense up, worried of what might be happening, she asks something, repeating it, they don't know what it means, but the duel monster does not pronounce himself.

His grip around her head strengthens, she flinches, his icy eyes looking deep into her, a strange light pouring out of his body in the form of waving stripes that looked like a cloth fluttering in the wind, it surrounds her body, she tries to skid her foot back, but he keeps her in place, she grimaces at the pressure he applies on her head.

A dense chattering of the confused summoners blasts in the room, Neos hands move from her skull to her neck, enveloping it in one hand only and lifting her high as she flings her legs to get free, the stripes of light tightening like rubber around her body, chaining her, she lets out a very faint grumble of pain, not heard by anyone on the room.

"Cleah!"

Darkness steps ahead, but as he stretches his hands to interfere, pointy strands of light come out of Neos body, directed towards Cleah, dashing into her body as she opens her mouth to shout something in the same strange language, it's useless, when the light attempts to enter her body, an obfuscating luminance swallows the whole room.

The construction shakes, the lamps hitting the walls and ceiling with metallic thuds, dust falling in gushes from the top of the room, the light diminishes and amidst the confusion, Darkness catches a glimpse of a scene: When the snakes of light try to enter Cleah's body, they pierce through it, but explode into shards, the impact so big it sends her flying to the wall back at the entrance, her back crashing on it, making thee rocks crumbles and crack, her body bouncing and falling to the ground with height enough to render more than just broken bones, falling face-down to the floor, her limbs extended to the sides, frail like a doll's, a pool of blood forming under her.

"Hold him here!"

The boss' voice echoes in everyone's minds, they have to cover their ears, gritting their teeth at the mind invasion. Without delay the summoners chant strongly, trying to contain the menace, ethereal chains come from the pedestal, blue circles filled in magic runes arising from the altar and surrounding Neos body to tame it.

The Elemental Hero simply looks to one side, then the other and tensing his muscles, curling his body together, with a heroic cry, he spreads all his limbs breaking the chains in sheer power, they shatter like glass, its shards falling down to the ground and disappearing.

His confident posture elicits fear on the summoners that try to overcome the fear by chanting stronger, but Darkness can see the enemy is no longer paying attention to them. He's looking up at the ceiling as if he could see through it, the night, the galaxy, hungering for it. Freedom.

With a constant grumble, as if gathering his power, he unleashes it all at once, a beam of light from bottom to top spreads through the room, they can only hear the explosive sound, covering their eyes, the beam of light destroyed the whole upper part of the building crossing all the structure and aiming to the sky.

From afar, people all over the land stop to look at it, the farmers let go of their baskets; the people sleeping wake up at the sudden and faint earthquake, looking out of their windows; and travelers watch as the beam of light ceases, becoming a radiant arrow and darting through the skies, like a shooting start, going towards the interior of the continent.

The aftershock of the light beam makes the summoners go flying, the screen in which the boss was projected cracks into big pieces, falling down from the wall. Nightshroud gasps, a dark and purple portal opening, engulfing him from behind, it appears where Cleah has fallen, kneeling near her body stretching his hand and making a shield of dark matter until the power dissipates.

Low mutters fly in the room, only destruction left where the altar was, he flops Cleah to the side, putting her body face up, there's blood coming out of her nose and forehead, her eyes closed shut, her brows subtly frowned, he can see at least a few broken parts on her arm with how purple it was and blood tarnishing her white dress on the torso.

Other summoners inspect the mess, studying it. One of them screams in horror, looking around in dread:

"The Neos card vanished!"

More chattering runs through the room, no one wants to explain it to the boss. Nightshroud doesn't give a bit of attention to it. Paramedics hurry to aid Cleah. He makes space for the doctors to take her away in the stretcher, watching it all under his mask until they disappear. His gaze then rests on the hollow left by the duel monster.

"I knew it. It's still as wild as ever… Well, it seems we still don't get along well, 'light'."

His mind drifts off while the others try to clean the area. Now that the light has been set free into this world, where will it go and what is its goal?