The Legends of Anigma: Ethiel Archer | ONC 2023

PART IL

Once back at the hideout, Lord Veer told everyone to get everything they wanted and be completely prepared since the final trial was going to be tough as was warned by the spirit of the Forest of Temptations, Alice, and even the Gargoyle Lord. Alice's mansion had tons of efficient weaponry: magical grenades, good amulets to enhance spirit power, magic imbued weapons, illusion charms, combat amulets and talisman, and everything that Lord Veer deemed was going to be needed if the final trial was anything like what he thought it to be.

After preparing all that was needed and organising it into their little bag, the next day, after having a healthy breakfast, they walked through the mirror back into the enchanting realm of Anigma.

Cruden Desert welcomed them, the place they last visited in Anigma to venture into the Cave of Truth and get the first fragment of the Pyramid of Lomeyin.

Ethiel squinted his eyes, narrowing them into a slit to not let the sand particles get into his eyes much. Cruden Desert was hot and windy just like before. He was happy to be back in Anigma; it had started to feel more... home.

When they had crossed the mirror, Maya had folded the mirror again and carried it with her.

The good news was, they were free to use the Cherry Breeze Butterflies again — of course they had to avoid being spotted by the soldiers Rak Sharas though which wasn't that big a problem since they soared high through the skies, stealthy behind the random shapes of thick clouds.

It was refreshing to be back in Anigma, to breathe in that natural and clean fragrant air, to look at the beauty of the dynamic skies and landscapes, and to feel the high spirit energy all around them; it was just splendid.

They were presently headed to the Underworld Valley of Might which was marked to be somewhere in the Thanda region, at some island. Thanda region was a place quite far from Cruden Desert Mountains and was quite the opposite of it as far as temperature was concerned. It was a cold place where breath formed mist — at least that's what Lord Veer had to say. Similar to the Cruden Desert Mountains, since Rak Sharas' army couldn't find more to exploit there than it had to spent in that environment, it had been left as it was. If anything, they had set only a few small outposts there which wasn't going to be a problem if Ethiel and his party were to be careful.

On the way, Lord Veer explained to Ethiel what the Underworld was — though Ethiel had his own idea about the Underworld from all the movies he saw and the games he played back in Earth.

It turned out that in Anigma, the Underworld was indeed located under the surface of Anigma, miles below it, a separate layer where civilisation existed — regardless of how savagely it was. However, it wasn't a place, rather the Underworld were a bunch of places, all of which were not necessarily joint, and varied in the area it covered. The residents of these places were outcasts, demons, and monsters who wished nothing but ill and wished to conquer the world, destroying peace and harmony. After the war that happened centuries ago, the underworld is where the demons and evil beings had been banished by the rulers of Anigma. Rak Sharas was from the Underworld as well.

En route, Ethiel and his group passed by the Elf Kingdom. That was the first time Ethiel got to see his mother's Kingdom. It was covered in thick greenery, filled with tall and broad trees. The thing about the Elf Kingdom was that there was both sophisticated civilisation teeming with beautiful buildings, structures, and statues large and small, and there was also abundant forestry, yet it seemed the both had blended into one, not much of a difference between the two. A feeling of happiness, pride and melancholy filled Ethiel's heart on seeing the ruined state of the Kingdom. The forestry had gone dry at places, and at some spots it had almost been scorched. The Kingdom architecture seemed to have been ill maintained and even destroyed, whether that be the statues or the buildings, some of them had been cracked or completely broken down. Despite all that, he was able to imagine how beautiful it must've been once and he longed to see it once again the way it was.

"Wow..." Tifa whispered under her breath, bringing her cute head closer beside him out of nowhere. "So that's our mom's Kingdom. It's so beautiful..."

"Yeah," Ethiel nodded and patted her head. "It is... It must've been even more beautiful... Let's try to bring back those days."

"No! Let's bring back those days!" Tifa stood on the cloud of butterflies and held her fist up in the air. "Attitude! Positive mindset!"

"Where do you get all that energy from?" Red Wings asked making a face.

"All by hugging you!" She caught him in a tight hug.

"I shouldn't have asked! Let go of me!" He screamed.

Thanda Region was another Kingdom away.

The view changed as they neared Thanda Region. Under them, the land started to get less and less, streams and streaks of water cracking through the continent, getting thicker and thicker till the land got torn apart wide, eventually becoming islands of all sizes, most being small, stranded in the ocean.

Cold surrounded them. The clouds seemed to be made of snow and the water underneath seemed to be frozen while still moving in heavy waves, shooting out in thick tubes forming arcs and splashing back into itself. At some places, the water had risen in crystal form, forming trees. The islands were covered in ice and snow, not much however. Huge bubbles of water even crystallised and rose to the surface, some even floating up the skies till they touched it and burst down in a shower.

They had reached Thanda Region.

At one island, Lord Veer showed Ethiel an outpast of Rak Sharas' army. It wasn't much, but it was definitely something they better avoided.

Carefully, they located the island that was marked in the scroll given by the Gargoyle Lord.

In the scroll, it was also mentioned that the entrance to the Underworld Valley of Might was hidden inside the biggest crystal tree of the island and it wasn't hard to find that. Once there, as instructed in the scroll, Ethiel took the sphere and held it close to its trunk.

The metal casing dissolved by itself into thin air and the burning, glossy stone floated out of Ethiel's hands and into the crystal tree glimmering in the silver skies.

The trunk melted and made a crude deep entrance that slanted down, darkening with the depth till nothing was visible.

Ethiel turned to Tifa, but before he could say anything she lit her staff with fire.

"Let's go," She said.

Ethiel nodded.