Dorian was greeted by a wall of white.

Brilliant white snow, whipping about in the fierce winds, tore into him and everything near him. Cold, bitterly cold air slashed down on him, making him shiver even in his Ifrit form. His breath froze the moment it left his mouth, transforming not just into white fog, but directly into ice.

KEEEEEEEE

The snowstorm echoed out with an odd, irritating whine, constantly ringing in the background.

He smiled, enjoying the unique experience, even in his discomfort.

Internally, Dorian stoked the latent Fire Energy and Life Energy in his veins. The small fires that burned permanently on his elbows, knees, and head grew fiercer, forcing a current of warmth around him.

"Show me my status."

–

Dorian – Soul Status

Soul Stage: Lord Class (Early)

Health: Perfect

Energy: 10,540/10,580 (Draining 0.03% per minute)

–

"Oh?" He smiled, noticing that his maximum energy level had risen as a result of the constant magic practice he'd been undergoing. The increase was rather small, but it showed how constant training could increase your strength and the power of your Soul Spell Matrix. Once he started practicing stronger spells, the increase would no doubt be larger.

Keeping himself warm was draining about 3 points of energy per minute. Not a crazy large amount, but a noticeable drain. He raised the priority of getting a form that adapted to the cold a little higher.

Dorian began jogging. He was still on the World Bridge. However, he'd moved past the opening portal that connected the World Bridge to the planet, from the huge spatial tunnel. The bitter cold here, when he was exposed directly to the weather of the planet, was ferocious.

The World Bridge grew narrower and narrower as it drew closer to the surface, thousands of years of extreme weather wearing it away. The center of a World Bridge was said to be impossibly dense, and impossible to cut through, but the outside edges could still take damage. It went from tens of miles wide to just a few miles, to just a thousand meters (0.6 miles).

Visibility was reduced to almost nothing. He could barely see 10 meters in front of him, even with his powerful eyesight. The forests that covered the World Bridge were nowhere to be seen, long since wiped out. All that was left was barren stone, scarred and worn away.

He squinted as he ran forward, going over the information he'd memorized.

The World Bridge from Taprisha to Blizzaria descended directly into the Western Cave System. The part of the Bridge that Dorian was on was exposed to the dangerous weather of the surface.

The bridge itself actually moved into the massive cavern. This was partly the reason teams from Taprisha would seek out the cave system for its rare treasures.

As long as you stayed on the World Bridge and went straight forward, you would end up in the cave system, and avoid the dangerous surface. Gravity and other functions operated weird around the World Bridges. This acted like a somewhat effective shield against the dangerous weather of Blizzaria.

Spatial storms were a relatively common sight on the surface world of Blizzaria, alongside storms where the temperature could drop far below freezing, to dangerously low levels.

Even now, as Dorian moved forward, he could feel the air growing colder and colder.

Soon he was draining 4 points of energy per minute. This climbed to 5, and then kept increasing all the way up to 10 the closer he got to the surface, and the less the unique gravity and phenomena of the World Bridge came into effect.

Dorian felt his movements seem to grow slightly slower. The world itself seemed to have slowed down to some degree, due to the mysterious weather that was currently storming all around him.

'You are currently caught within a Distorted Field Storm. Recommendation: Leave the Distorted Field.' Ausra sent him a notification.

Dorian grunted and rolled his eyes. If he could leave the Field just like that, he would.

He'd read up about this in his research. A Distorted Field was an area where functions like gravity, time, and temperature would shift, operating oddly. On Blizzaria, this meant time literally moved slower or faster, while temperatures would plummet.

Even on the World Bridge he was still being affected.

A few minutes passed as Dorian continued jogging downward, bearing the brunt of the storm. He maintained his steady state of mind, keeping his cool.

Gradually, just as the effects of the storm were growing worse, the light around Dorian shifted.

The blinding white snowstorm that was constantly harassing him began to die down, replaced by a dimmer, but still white light. The constant snow began to fall away, the background noise fading.

His vision gradually cleared up. As it grew clear, he almost jumped backward, startled as he looked at what was in front of him.

The gaping mouth of a huge, gargantuan dragon.

Dorian blinked, his heart dropping for a second before he recognized what it was.

It wasn't an actual dragon, but simply a carving of one. A carving done on a grand, vast scale.

All he could see of the statue was its enormous mouth, its domineering eyes, and a portion of its shoulders. The open mouth alone stretched up nearly a thousand meters in height, set into a widespread, rocky stone floor, covered in ice.

The entire statue appeared to be buried almost entirely in the ground, but sunken into a type of depression, shielding it from the brunt of the weather above him.

The World Bridge Dorian was on ended about a hundred meters away from this gaping dragon carving.

Dorian reached the base of the World Bridge and jumped off, a slight feeling of disorientation washing over him as gravity shifted towards the center of the planet instead of the World Bridge.

He'd read about this. This was the entrance to the Western Cave System in this area.

The Dragon's Mouth. A gargantuan carving created by the Grakon Race, for reasons unknown.

He needed to go into it, and take a long, underground passage more than one hundred miles forward, to the ruins of the City Icicar. From there, there were several possible routes he could take that would lead him to the underground ruins of Dragonmount City.

The World Bridge to Paxital was found not far from those ruins.

He nodded his head with determination, and ran forward, his eyes unwavering.

Unbeknownst to him, as he moved through the entrance of the massive cavern, far above him a large, hulking 3 meter tall creature turned to look at him.

Covered in black metal plates that seemed to resemble scales, the odd-looking humanoid had a similar appearance to Earth's Minotaurs, with the head of a bull, a humanoid set of arms and chest, and hooved legs like that of a horse. A deathly aura hung around it as its head followed Dorian, from standing atop the inside of the giant carving of a dragon.

It wielded a massive, ancient looking greatsword on its back, a weapon that was easily as tall as Dorian in his Ifrit form.

(Image (but no halo and black scales) – http://pandius.com/10025092196_cc939f91cf_o.jpg)

As Dorian sprinted past it, heading deeper into the cave, the Grakon snorted, its ageless eyes flashing as it began to jump down.

.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..

"Well, Probus, this is it."

"I'm finally dying."

Trajan's voice was filled with despair as he lay on the ground, his eyes closed. A small field of blue flowers spread out around him, in the center of a large, open field.

"A most tragic ending." Probus returned, his body leaning up against a small boulder, the only rock in this field. His sword lay on the ground next to him, also leaning against the rock. His voice was calm.

"It's all over for me." Trajan said, letting out a wheezing gasp.

"I will carry your story forward a thousand generations." Probus replied, completely serious.

"Tell my wife and kids I love them."

"You don't have a wife and kids."

"Alright, then tell my family."

"Didn't your family disown you?"

"Tell my fellow environmentalists."

"What fellow environmentalists? You're the only one I've heard of."

"And people wonder why our worlds have fallen into such disrepair…" Trajan muttered, his voice slowly fading away as he shook his head.

Beyond the small, open field of blue flowers, thousands of corpses could be seen, littering the floor. The entire grassy plains, in a large, thousand meter wide circle, was covered in black blood and essence, dead warriors, Wizards, and assassins all over the ground.

Huge, enormous cuts could be seen, earth torn asunder the assault of mighty blows in several places. High, up above, several large rain clouds could be seen, slowly fading away.

The scenes of a battle that had recently ended.

Silence reigned for a brief moment.

"We'd best prepare. The damned King of the Shades is bound to send forth a few more prongs." Probus was the one to speak, this time, his voice cool.

"Doubtlessly." Trajan responded, not moving from his perch on the ground,

"This is the third attack on us already." He shook his head as he continued,

"I got a message from our favorite red-headed Spymaster that said there were four other attacks. The Shades have finally started testing our defenses again en masse." He sighed,

"All for what? Who cares if they control another world, or we do."

Trajan's body began to shiver as he stood up, stretching.

Probus shrugged,

"Ambition is the curse and blessing of great men, whether they be Vampire or Shade, Aeth or Human, Dragon or Beast." He hooked his blade onto his back as he finished speaking, however, his eyes becoming alert.

Trajan spun around, looking off into the distance.

The field they were standing on had a special name. The Field of Moria.

It was a special area right next to the World Bridge to Plumadone, a world controlled by the Aurelius Family.

The Field of Moria was unique in that anyone that stepped within range of the small, blue flowers that decorated it would gain a mysterious ability to be aware of their surroundings, for anything within 20 miles.

Wizards had oft-debated how this came to be, both vampires and other races, but the field was considered a special zone, and its unique ability was used as an observation point.

No one could move onto the World Bridge to Plumadone without passing through the awareness of everyone in the Field of Moria.

Probus and Trajan had been assigned to act as a vanguard here, with several of the other members of the Reavers spread out on other worlds, forming a protective shield.

The Aurelius Family preferred to use powerful elites to defend their land, wiping out any attackers. Probus and Trajan in particular were used to working alone.

Despite their preference, Highlord Marcus had forcibly arranged several large troops of their forces, thousands of Grandmaster Class Wizards and warriors, to stand defensively on the World Bridge.

Vampires were one of the leading races in the 30,000 Worlds for good reason. Through natural growth and training, any Vampire could reach the Grandmaster Class, with very few exceptions. This gave them a huge advantage, in terms of physique and power.

For the human race, only elite experts could reach the Master Class, and move up to the Grandmaster Class. Further, only one in a hundred humans could become a Wizard at all.

For Vampires, every single member of the race had the natural potential to reach the Grandmaster Class, simply by staying alive.

With that said, to reach a full growth cycle, a vampire would need to grow hundreds and hundreds of years old, sometimes even thousands if they did not train. Vampires were not immortal, and accidents or sickness could overcome even the greatest regenerative powers.

Vampires that trained, in either magic or mystic martial arts, would be far, far stronger than those that didn't. Still, the average vampire vastly outstripped the average human in physical power and ability.

The largest advantage humans had was their ingenuity, refusal to give up, and vast, vast numbers. There was no race in existence, apart from some breeds of small bugs or fish, that outnumbered the Human Race. A single vampire generation could span five hundred years, a time where more than fifteen human generations could follow.

Shades were closer to humans than vampires in that regard. Their natural growth limited them to the Sky Class at best. They bred quickly, and had relatively short lifespans, compared to vampires, most only living for 200-300 years.

In combat, however, they were ferocious, and their powerful aptitude for magic of almost all kinds, especially Darkness Aspected Magic, made them a dangerous foe.

"What do you think it is this time? Another scouting army?" Trajan's voice was calm. They had already dealt with thousands of attacking enemies, all without breaking a sweat or relying upon their own men back on the World Bridge.

Most of their opponents had been at the Sky Class or Master Class, decently powerful for a Shade, but compared to his Pseudo-King Class strength… they were nothing special.

"Perhaps. The Shade King appears to care little for his men's lives. Rather distasteful." Probus replied, his hand resting upon the hilt of his blade.

A hundred meters in front of them, a bright, glowing white portal appeared, shimmering into existence in the field. A standard transport portal, created through the use of Space Magic.

Trajan's eyes tightened. He made a motion with his hand, casting a small spell to alert the soldiers on the World Bridge. If needed, he and Probus could beat a hasty retreat in seconds.

There were no Lord Class vampires among their forces, but over 2,000 Grandmaster Class Wizards and even more warriors. Many of them had formed into large groups, working in perfect unison gained over hundreds of years of training.

The portal flashed once more, and then vanished, revealing the silhouette of a single being.

A hooded woman, floating half a meter above the ground. Her eyes glowed a faint white color, and an almost holy aura seemed to surround her. Instead of a regular pair of legs, her lower half was insubstantial, made up of shimmering clouds of grey light, with a few small wavering tendrils of smoke drifting to and fro.

In the woman's right hand, she wielded a long sword that seemed forged from molten light, while her left hand was sheathed in brilliant white and red spiritual fire.

Her face appeared to be human, bearing a calm, beautiful appearance.

(Image – https://i.imgur.com/Teiop8a.jpg)

Trajan's eyes opened wide as he stared at the odd woman, at a loss. Probus merely grunted, his hand tightening on the hilt of his blade.

The woman spoke,

"Rejoice, mortals, for I have come to spread The Truth." Her voice was ephemeral, containing a mysterious power, as she continued,

"The Truth shall prevail. Justice shall prevail. Those in the Light shall live forever." Her words sang out, full of warmth and care, giving out a sense of her showing real concern for them.

Trajan's eyes narrowed as he replied,

"I'm sorry, we're actually chock full of truth here. Truth about pollution, dying ecosystems, careless littering. You'll have to come back later." He waved his hand dismissively.

"Yeah, Plumadone is closed right now." Probus added, his voice full of iron.

Trajan nodded and shrugged apologetically, holding his arms out wide as if it couldn't be helped.

The floating woman simply gave a small smile, her eyes glowing brighter, as she gently replied,

"You are lying."

"You cannot lie to me."

"I am Veritas. And today you will learn The Truth."

She smiled a little wider, the gentle look in her eyes growing more intense,

"For only in The Truth can you find perfection."

.

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