I swallowed hard as I stood up. I wasn’t feeling good at all about the situation, but I hadn’t come so far to simply back down or turn away. I’d have to trust that Sora was going to be okay.

  As I took my first steps forward, I placed my hand on my sword.

  Don’t… the voice ordered calmly. Come peacefully, Gunnar.

  “Who are you?” I voiced.

  Come…

  I continued walking down the tiny Ravine, and a small, yellow butterfly flew in front of my face, then landed on my shoulder. It flapped its wings a few times then gently flew away. I heard the chirp of birds, and when I turned to the sound, there was small nest of baby bluebirds being fed something by their mom.

  The Ravine was beautiful to say the least, and it smelled like clean freshwater and flowers. It was hardly the kind of place where I’d find dangerous beings called “The Old Ones.” It looked more like a place out of a High Elf vacation brochure.

  I awed at the small waterfall and climbed a tiny set of natural, stone stairs that led up towards the cave. I paused at the entrance to brace for an attack, but when nothing happened, I took my first step inside.

  The cave walls were covered in a shimmering moss, and standing a few feet in front of me was a beautiful female elf, dressed in only in skimpy green underwear that seem to be patched together with some sort of leaves. She looked much like Adeelee, but somehow even more beautiful. Her breasts were ampler, her face was younger, and her golden hair shone even brighter. Her beauty seemed almost impossible.

  Sitting cross-legged behind the elf was another female elf who looked almost identical except for some slight facial differences. Her eyes were closed, and she held her palms up towards a dark blue, pulsating crystal that rose out of the ground and stood at least 4 feet tall.

  “You’ve done well, Gunnar,” the standing elf said as she took a step closer. “You’ve brought us back the eye.”

  I shook my head. “How do you know my name?”

  “We are the Old Ones, Gunnar. We can see everything. We know everything you’ve done, everything you’ve been through.”

  I swallowed. “So then you know about—”

  “Dryden?” the elf interrupted. “Or… the Dark Hand? Solomon? We see everything. The past, the present, and the future.”

  “So um—“

  “Just give us back the eye, Gunnar,” the elf interrupted again and took a step forward. She held both her hands out and smiled.

  I nodded, flipped open my bag, and fished out the eye, again feeling stunned by the energy that flowed out of it and into my body.

  As I was about to return the relic, there was a brief flash in front of my eyes, and I saw something grey. In fact, everything around me had turned grey, and the elf’s facial features seemed to have temporarily turned into something strange.

  “What was that?” I asked.

  “Nothing, Gunnar,” the elf said, shaking her head. Her voice seemed anxious. “Just give me back the eye.”

  I paused a moment, glanced behind me, and when I turned back around, again there was another flash of grey. This time, I got a better glimpse of my surroundings during the flash, and it was as if the elf changed into something horrible, and the environment around me switched to completely barren and monotone.

  “What the—?” I jerked my hand back and backpedaled several steps. “What’s going on!?”

  “I said give me back the eye!” The elf lunged at me.

  Suddenly, there were several flickers like I’d seen before, and when the flickers stopped, before me was a hunched old lady with a large, square head, pointy ears, dark, wrinkled skin and only a few strands of dangling grey hair. Her back was hunched, and her uncovered tits sagged down to her waist. Her nose, mouth, and, ears were there, but her eyes were nothing but sunken skin.

  Thankfully, a ragged loincloth covered her bottom.

  When I tried to protect the relic from the woman’s attempt to snatch it, she flicked a hand out towards me, and I suddenly flew back as if pushed by an invisible energy. My back slammed against the wall, and as she walked towards me, my whole body was pinned there, and I even started to slide upward off my feet. It was then that I noticed that in her other hand, was another All-Seeing Eye. The eye inside that orb slithered around, and it seemed as if she were holding it in a way that she was using it to look at me.

  There was no moss on the walls, and even the female elf that had been sitting on ground had turned into a decrepit old man who looked much like the old lady. He was also missing the eyes on his face, but in his hands, he held two white glowing eyes. Scattered all across the ground were rotten, dead bodies, and the stench inside the room was nearly unbearable. Due to the purplish robes mixed in with the rot, I concluded that they were probably all Faithsworn. The only thing unchanged was the tall, pulsating blue crystal that the man was holding his hands...err… eyes out to.

  “Who are you?” I asked shakily

  “I told you, we are the Old Ones…” the woman said in a beady, crackling voice.

  “What did I see before?”

  “I showed you what you wanted to see, Gunnar.” She beckoned her hand. “Now return my eye to me.”

  “How do I know you’re not going to kill me?” I asked, as I looked down towards the rot.

  “You’d be dead already if I wanted to kill you,” she hissed.

  Suddenly I slid back down the side of the cave, and was no longer pinned against the wall. The woman took several strafes to the side, and her breasts swayed as she licked her dark, crusty lips.

  “Here,” I said and held out the eye.

  You have completed the quest: Into the Ravine!

  You have gained 5000 XP!

  The woman waddled forward and swiped the eye away with her free hand. When she took a step back, she used the eye in her other hand to inspect it, and her chest heaved from sudden, heavy breaths. There was a slithering sound, and the pupil inside the orb I retrieved slid forward and looked up to her face. “Yes… Yes…”

  “What happened here?” I asked as I scanned the bodies.

  “Terrible things,” the woman answered, shaking her head. “Terrible things.”

  “But everything is okay now, right?”

  “Yes…” the woman said somberly. She tilted her face down then lifted her hands up so that both eyes were at head height. The pupils in the orbs darted from side to side before settling on me.

  “So, now that you have the eye, all this stuff about an Omen is over, right? Your people are going to control the dragons and make sure the Ancients—or whatever they are—aren’t released onto the world?”

  “My people…” the lady muttered, and I think I saw her gulp. She turned her arms so that her eyes were looking down at the entranced man below. I could tell that something was wrong.

  “No?” I questioned. “What did I come here for?”

  “Your journey was not for naught, Gunnar, but we are the last of our kind.”

  I wasn’t sure what she meant by that exactly, but I pressed her for more information. “Solomon killed your people?”

  The woman cackled, turned, and started hobbling over the dead bodies. “We’ve grown old, Gunnar and are not immortal like you.” She kept one eye pointed towards me, and pointed another at the stone in the center of the room. “We were once elder elves—and elves live long lives—but channeling magic such as ours takes a great toll on us. Four of us have died from the strain, and only two of us remain. Solomon…” She shook her head slowly.

  “What did he do?” I asked.

  “He came to us, seeking answers, as many do. The Old Ones grant seekers one answer to any question, so long as they traverse the ravine with an open heart. He wanted to know if immortals were real, and we gave him the answer he was seeking.” She sighed low. “Unfortunately, he thirsted for more. When he saw there were only two of us remaining, he viewed it as an opportunity to steal an eye—to use it to learn more about immortals. He returned here with hundreds of men.”

  “You two killed all of these men?” I asked.

  The Old One shook her head. “No. I alone did.” She turned an eye to the man on the floor. “If he had stopped channeling, the field around the ravine would have vanished, and the bond that quells the Ancients would have been broken.” She moved her arm around in a circle. “Wave after wave, I killed, but even with my two eyes, there were too many. One man still managed to close in and pry my eye away. With only four eyes, our magic was already weakened, but taking and using my eye outside of the ravine, has further disrupted the Ancients. They would love nothing more than to have their magical bonds undone.”

  “Solomon is dead now,” I said.

  “I know,” the Old One cooed. “The mage did well, and so did you.”

  “Thank you, but you still didn’t tell me what this all means.”

  The old lady waddled over to the stone, sat down in front of it, and crossed her legs, “For now, it means that we can restrain the ancients, but soon I will die.” She looked at her friend. “Or he will die, and that will leave us only one. And when there is one, there is no one to protect us here, and when there is none, there will be no one to restrain the Ancients. As our power weakens, the Ancient’s shackles slowly come undone. And when we’re dead, they will be free.”

  “How long?” I asked.

  The woman shrugged. “Weeks? Months? Years? Who knows when a timeworn life will end? But I feel my death is near. Even now we are strained to control the Ancients.”

  “What can I do to help?”

  The old woman smiled wide, showing dark and missing teeth. “I sense your fears, and your fears are real, Reborn. The Ancients will be released into Eden’s Gate, and Dryden will cross the Serpent Sea.”

  “What…?” I muttered.

  “The King of Highcastle will die, and there will be war.”

  I shook my head. “There has to be something that can be done. The King is fine now.”

  “There is nothing you can do to stop time, Gunnar. If you wish to stop Dryden, you must kill him—now or after his ships set sail.” She shook her head. “But as the Reborns have arrived, the Ancients shall too. Dragons will breathe fire once more.”

  “Can’t someone help?” I asked. “I mean, if there were six of you before, can’t someone else join you? Where do the Old Ones come from?”

  The Old One lowered her head. “I’m afraid the only elders powerful enough to replace us have taken flight. There are none left who are capable and still have an interest in correcting the wrongs of this world. They are long gone, lost in their own realm of desire.”

  Again, I shook my head, only halfway understanding what she was trying to say, but getting the overall gist—that there were no alternatives. “That’s all you’re going to say? Thanks for the eye, and there’s nothing that can be done to stop an impending doom? So, this really was a waste of time.”

  “Grow strong, Gunnar Long. Remember your words when you first appeared in Eden’s Gate. Even if the Ancients rise, you—as a Reborn—have the power to shape the world. Go, follow the path you’ve started…”

  I swallowed and nodded. I felt shaken by the words from the Old One, but the knowledge that things that I didn’t want to happen were inevitable gave me more reason to train harder and take action into my own hands. If I needed to kill Dryden, I would eventually. If dragons were going to attack the world, I needed to get Unity into a position where we could defend ourselves. I was in what was essentially an MMO, after all. I couldn’t expect everything to go according to plan so early in my journey.

  I walked slowly for the exit of the cave, but as I was about to pass the threshold, the old lady called out, “Reborn…”

  I turned around and looked at her.

  “I’ve told you much of the future, but any soul who enters the Eternal Ravine is still granted the answer to any one question that they may seek. Do you wish me to grant you this gift?”

  “Any question?” I asked.

  She nodded.

  I touched my chin as I thought about all the things that I wanted to know, but she seemed to have answered all of my questions already. I was about to ask her what kind of skills I should train to defeat Dryden, when a more personal question popped into my head.

  “You know everything?” I asked.

  “That’s the question that your heart seeks?”

  I shook my head. “No, I’m just I’m asking that generally… You don’t have to answer. My question is something else.”

  “The Old Ones see all.”

  “More than Dr. Winston?”

  “The creator…” She paused, and my eyes went wide from her words. It was the first time an NPC had almost acknowledged that they were an NPC. “The creator is the creator, but we are Eden’s Gate. We see all that is in Eden’s Gate.”

  “Okay then. Here is my question.” I gulped before asking, “I want to know if my girlfriend… uh… ex-girlfriend is in Eden’s Gate.”

  There was a long pause, and the old lady’s eyes stared directly at me, slowly growing brighter. The blue crystal in front of her pulsed rapidly then gradually died down. Eventually, she said, “You know her as Rachel.” She grinned devilishly. “She is… in Eden’s Gate, but I fear that Rachel may no longer be the Rachel that you knew.”

  My heart jumped, and I practically keeled over by her response. Knowing that Rachel was in the game brought me an instant sort of relief, but the way she worded it raised even more questions. “Was that her I saw in my dreams?”

  “Humans—even Reborns—are not intended to come into contact with the eye or its energy. What you saw in your dreams was a culmination of both your fears and unseen realities. Our eyes see all.”

  I ignored her confusing explanation. “Where is she? And what is her name now? What do you mean, not the Rachel that I knew?”

  “That is all I can tell you, Reborn. Seekers are granted only one answer.”

  “No, please… just tell me,” I begged. “I brought you the eye.”

  “And for that, we thank you. And for that, I’ve told you all I can about the Omen. Now, please let my old bones return to my duties. Sora is awake and awaits you at the edge of the ravine.”

  I sighed, and my head dipped in disappointment. I was bummed that I couldn’t get any more information from the Old One, but suddenly my thoughts and goals were turned on their head. Knowing that Rachel was in Eden’s Gate thrilled me, and it made me that more anxious to figure out a way to find her. I needed to fight in the Arena again and win, explore, ask questions, and do whatever it took to make a name for myself so she could find me.

  “One last piece of advice, Reborn.”

  I looked up quickly, desperate for more intel about Rachel.

  “Danger is close. Never turn your back.”

  I nodded and smirked at the seemingly useless counsel. “Yeah. Never turn your back in a fight. I’ve heard that a few times already.”

  The Old One shook her head. “Not only your enemies, Gunnar. I fear that someone you hold close will one day betray you.”

  Chapter Forty-Two

  2/6/0001

  “He’s back!” Eanos shouted as I manifested inside a small room, no bigger than his shop back in Linden. It had a small desk inside and a bookshelf, but everything was covered in dust.

  Darion stumbled backwards, reached his hand out, and cast a shield across the length of the room separating me and Sora from him. “Why did you bring that monster here?!”

  “Relax, Darion,” Eanos said. “It’s his Great Beast. He won’t harm us.”

  Darion huffed and creased his brow before raising an arm to dissipate the shield. “That thing is too big to be in here! Release him at once!”

  “Her,” I corrected. I patted Sora on the back of the head. “And I plan to ride her back to my home. I don’t want to release her when I’m just going to summon her again in a few minutes.”

  What a rude asshole, Sora projected.

  “Here,” Eanos said as he walked over to me. He reached into his bag and handed me two of the small pearly balls that I saw him use on Xandree before. “Use the grey one.”

  You’ve received: Suppression Pellet: White. Durability: 10/10. Quality: Average. Rarity: Rare. Weight: 0.1 kg. Releases a Great Beast’s suppression.

  You’ve received: Suppression Pellet: Grey. Durability: 10/10. Quality: Average. Rarity: Rare. Weight: 0.1 kg. Suppresses the magical size of Great Beasts.

  I rolled the balls in my hand as I dismounted Sora. Are you okay with this?

  I’ve heard of these. I think I’ll be fine.

  Okay, here, I said as I held the grey one out to her.

  Sora slurped up the grey pellet and began crunching it between her teeth, like a cat chewing on hard cat food. Within a second of her swallowing it, a low glow formed around her body, and she began shrinking, smaller and smaller. Her face became younger, and her mane grew shorter, until she looked like the same small kitten that I found that day in the Vale.

  Meow… Sora leapt up and used her tiny claws to climb my armor and perch herself on my shoulders. She immediately began licking at her paws.

  Holy shit! You’re back.

  I never left, father, Sora said. Am I cute enough for you now?

  “Wow, this is awesome!”

  “You’ll be able to travel a little more easily with her in places where her size would be an issue,” Eanos said. “You already know how the white pellet works.”

  I nodded and scratched my head.” “What happened to her saddle?”

  “A Great Beast’s equipment is also suppressed while in that form,” Darion said. “It returns when you release them.”

  “And what about the eye?” Eanos asked anxiously as I petted Sora on the head with a single finger.

  “It’s done,” I said. “The eye is back in the hands of the Old Ones.”

  “Yes!” Eanos said defiantly.

  I looked down to his hand, which was reattached to his arm. “And you’re okay now, I take it?”

  Eanos nodded. “I’m fine now, thanks to Darion.”

 

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