7 Rings

Part 3

Suddenly, the walls that had been showing different locations all went blank. The only one that didn't was the ceiling. Shar tapped the orb and again whispered something. After doing so, the ceiling which had been showing the sky switched to a large map. It showed a blotched out part in the middle. Encircling the blotched out part was a land mass. It formed a ring around the center with an ocean separating them. This pattern repeated with 6 other rings that progressively encircled each other. "This is a simple map of the world. As you can see, the world coils around the center. There are 7 continents on this world, they are known as the 7 rings." Shar tapped the orb yet and whispered something yet again, and then the ceiling went blank like the other wall. "Come over here, I think this will be better explained on a smaller scale," She said, beckoning me closer. I walked over and she snapped her fingers. Suddenly the orb shattered and an image of the map from earlier materialized in front of us. It was much smaller, but more detailed. "I think this will be better used to explain everything," Shar said. "Now, as I said earlier, the world centers around the core. The core is the origin of everything, as its the origin, it's very powerful. The energy from the core flows all over the world, but the closer you are, the stronger the flow is. The Seven Rings are numbered from the 1st ring, to the 7th. The 7th being the farthest from the core. In between each ring is an ocean, these oceans are known as the 7 seas. These seas act as barriers between the rings. Each sea is unique and has its own dangers. They are also diffusers, separating and weakening the flow between each ring. Now listen, the energy from the core sustains everything. It provides life and power to all. Of course, the closer you are, the stronger its effect is. Beings you cannot comprehend exist in the upper rings. Life on the 1st ring is so different from the 7th, that you can't even imagine it." Shar looked turned her head towards me and said "We are on said 7th ring. To travel to the core means to cross all 7 rings and 7 oceans. This is no small feat, to even cross one ring is something few have managed. Every ring and ocean is dangerous, and they only get worse the closer you get to the core." Rings? Core? Seas? Flow? This was so much to intake at once I feel somewhat overwhelmed, but if that's what I have to do to get my memories back, I'm going to do it. "Thanks for this, Shar. I'm really grateful for your help, but I need to do this. I'll do whatever it takes to get my memories back." Shar smiled and said "I had a feeling you'd say that. Now listen well." She snapped her fingers and the map changed. "This is a map of the 7th Ring, also known as the Outer Lands. Here, I'm showing the areas nearest to us." The map showed different regions in great detail. Shar then pointed to an area on the map on the far left side. "This is where we currently are." The area she pointed to depicted a beach with mountains lined near the edge of the beach that seemed to be blocking it from everywhere else. "If you want to make it to the 6th Ring, you'll have to cross the entirety of the Outer Lands. This alone will be extremely tough. The Outer Lands are especially tough because there is essentially no flow here. Every other ring has a certain level of flow, but the Outer Lands have none. Well, except where we are right now. These lands also have one other thing separating them from the rest of the rings, and that's that the very land fights back against intruders." she said. "Are the Outer Lands alive or something? How does it fight against intruders?" I asked. "Well, remember how I said the Outer Lands have essentially no flow? The flow that is here has manipulated the very land itself to deter and fight intruders. Any who tries to travel into the Outer Lands will run into all kinds of natural traps." "Why does it do this though? Is there something that it must protect?" I asked. "That, I do not know. Now, before we get off topic, let me explain some more. You are in an interesting predicament. Normally, the land being this way would be bad, but for you, it's a good thing. You see, we are near the edge of the world. The farthest 'out' we could be. These lands work in a weird way, where they only fight against intruders. Anyone trying to leave these lands is treated well. Natural paths, safe terrain, safe resources, anyone leaving the Outer Lands will come across these more easily on their way. It will by no means be easy, but as a saving grace, you have a chance. My only word of caution is to never backtrack. Even a small amount of backtracking could activate mark you as an intruder. So no backtracking, got it.
After that, I asked her some more questions about the path I should take. She explained that the most direct path would be the safest, because indirect paths could cause me to backtrack. This would mean traveling first through the mountains surrounding the beach, then through a massive swamp, which would then lead me to the most dangerous region I'd have to travel through. A large area full of volcanic activity. She explained that the area was underneath a massive underground volcano. The frequent eruptions transformed the area above it into a barren wasteland full of magma and obsidian spikes. If I managed to make it through that I wasn't out of the waters yet, as I then had to go through a jungle with abnormally large plants. Apparently because the land nearby had been completely destroyed by the volcano, the jungle had no competition, and due to the influence of the flow, took over nearly everywhere except the volcanic area. For some reason the jungle didn't expand any closer to the inner sea, so it would be mainly small forests and plains after it.