Chapter 27
The Bridge Of Unity

~*~

Oren points to a temple-like symbol on the Map. "Shalaron is just south of Moaning Valley, across the mountains."

Elric uses his fingers to measure the distances on the map. "So we take the Royal Trail, the across the Bridge of Unity, and then just head south. Easy. We can probably get there in two, three days max."

Cassis has on a look of concern. "We can't take the Royal Trail. Actually, we can't even leave the city. The moment I step foot out of Asentus, Father will be alerted."

"Then let's put our legs up and call it a day." The thief's sarcasm is lost on everyone.

"I'm sure Cassis has a plan," Oren says and turns to her. "Right?"

"Kind of." She looks back at the castle. "It might be a little dangerous, but there's no other option. I can't talk about it here. Just...follow me."

Elric makes to say something, but Oren stops him. It seems that what Cassis has to say is sensitive information and cannot be exposed to the eyes of the commoners. The thief soon understands, and Oren lets go of him.

We head back into the castle. Following Cassis's lead, we ascend it, covering every floor of the castle, going higher and higher. Aside from the interior of the rooms themselves, we've probably seen more or less all of it. As to where she's going, it's baffling all of us.

"Please tell me there's some sort of airship, and you're taking us there," Elric says with almost genuine excitement.

"Don't be silly," Oren says. "None of the kingdoms have that capability."

"Nothing of the sort," Cassis confirms. She continues to talk as she walks. "It's rather mundane, and almost predictable, actually. You see, Asentus was built on the foot of mountains. Naturally, we've made use of that. Over the years, we've developed that defensive advantage."

"Still don't know sure what the big secret is," Elric says.

I have a pretty good idea. The Asentians have carved through the mountains and created the Royal Trail. It wouldn't be surprising if there was another trial, one that's hidden from view.

We eventually arrive at the end of the hallway, then take the flight of stairs leading to the outside. Mountains appear before us, their peaks hidden above a layer of clouds.

"Wow!" Elric says, scanning the view in every direction. "I've never seen anything like this."

Oren, though, doesn't seem as impressed. "You should see the view from the meditation gardens in Shalaron."

"Do you think we'll get to see it?" the thief asks.

"Of course," the monk replies. "It's almost inevitable..."

"Across the walkway is the knight's training grounds," Cassis informs us. "It's a day off, so there shouldn't be too many people. Even if we are seen, it's nothing out of the ordinary."

We cross the cement walkway towards the training grounds, a square-shaped courtyard. Three sides overlook the Eluso Plains, while one of the sides faces the mountains. Cassis directs us through the area to a metal door inset into the brown wall. A few knights cast a glance over and wave at us, and resume their training. Inside, torches along the rocky walls light up the tunnel. Along the tunnel are several rooms to the left and right, resting spots for the knights.

"Is anyone there?" Cassis asks. "Magnus? Lucian? Cylaro?" She's testing to see if we're alone. When we get no response after a minute, she relaxes. "It looks like we're good."

"What are we doing here?" Elric explores the rooms, not seeing anything special.

"We keep going." Cassis leads us to the end of the tunnel. Another metal door greets us, but unlike the first door, this one has a few additional mechanisms. The thing that stands out most is the circular dial on the center of the door. With its ten finger-sized holes along the perimeter, it resembles a rotary phone. The holes even have numbers from zero to nine etched in their center.

"Fascinating," Elric says, admiring the work with his hands.

"Don't!" Cassis pushes the thief aside before he has a chance to play with the mechanisms. "It you touch the wrong parts, you'll set off a trap."

Elric quickly backs away from the door. "I wasn't going to touch anything."

"Fascinating," Oren says. "It reminds me of something similar in Shalaron."

This is the second time the monk has mentioned Shalaron, though I'm not sure what it means.

"If you don't mind, I'd like the three of you to look away. The code is known only by a select few in Asentus." Cassis waits for us to turn around before getting started on the dial. A swift chain of clicks followed by a short pause, then another succession of slower clicks reverberate through the tunnel. This repeats for five times, with each group of clicks varying in duration. After the final click, the ground begins to rumble. A fews second, it stops. "Done!"

I turn around expecting the the door to be opened, but it still looks the same as before.

"The door's still not open. Did you get the code wrong?" Elric asks.

"It's not a door," Cassis tells us. "But the real door should be opened now. Come, follow me." She leads us to one of the rooms in the tunnel. It seems that a mechanism has been triggered, and a square hole has opened up in the ground. "Down," she says, jumping in before any of us can protest.

"A secret passage?" Oren jumps down into the hole, leaving just me and Elric in the room.

I stare down into the black hole, its bottom not visible whatsoever.

"Let's go," Elric says, then shoves me forward.

I fall for a couple seconds, before landing on my feet, uninjured.

Complete darkness.

"Is everyone here?" someone asks. "It's Cassis."

"Oren."

A few seconds later. "Elric."

"Mute?"

I grope around in the dark until I find one of their heads.

"He's here."

"Alright, we have everyone."

"Where the hell are we?"

"The Cave of No Mercy. I forgot to bring some candles along, so we'll have to navigate through the cave in the dark."

"I trust you know the way?"

"Kind of. Let's see..."

Suddenly, the area above us rumbles.

"What was that?"

"Sorry, I just triggered the mechanism to close the hole."

"Dammit, warn us before you do anything."

"What now?"

"Alright, everyone, straight line. Hands on the shoulder of the person in front of you. Ready?"

I rest my hands on the person in front of me, which I assume is Oren based on the texture of the clothes. Elric has his hands on my shoulder.

"Ready."

"Ready."

"I'm going to start walking now..."

I proceed slowly, relying on Oren to guide me. Whether the walls are wide or narrow, there's no way to tell. We seem to be descending, which makes sense, as we started high in the mountains and must make our way to ground level. The area seems to be a complex network of tunnels. I wonder if the cave was always like this, or the Asentians actually dug these tunnels. We make several turns in every direction. After some time, I start to lose all sense of direction. A light flashes before me, momentarily illuminating everyone's figure.

"No cause for alarm. It's just a sparkfly. It means we're going the right way."

"There aren't any monsters in here, right?"

"I don't think so."

"Great..."

That's not very reassuring. I feel like something is going to happen, either in the cave, or the moment we get out.

"Quit complaining. We're almost out."

More sparkflies appear, providing enough lighting for us to see one other and the walls of the cave. After a few more turns, we reach a long tunnel that extends for what seems like miles. In front of us, a pixel-sized black hole appears. It grows and grows, until finally, it becomes discernible.

"That's the entrance. It must be nighttime."

We step out of the cave, and instantly the world screen appears.

"Where are we?"

"We're in the Northern Highlands, south of the Asentian Desert. Kamaraka is not far from here to the west. Let's go rest."

"There's no need," Elric says. "Let's just keep going."

He must be worried about bumping into Jorry again.

Oren understands the thief as well. "I agree. I've had plenty of time to meditate while locked up."

Cassis looks to me briefly, and I give her a nod.

"Very well," she says. "We'll skip Kamaraka and walk south towards the Bridge of Unity. Construction of the bridge is complete, so we can use it to cross to the Aniraco Plains."

And so our journey continues. We pass by Kamakara, then turn south. The monsters of the night are fierce in this region, but they're still pose no threat to our team of four. After several battles, I gain a level. The moment we step foot onto the bridge of unity, the screen changes again. In the world view, it's only a couple inches in length, but here, it looks more like the Golden Gate Bridge. Taking a few steps forward, we notice a figure standing to one side of the bridge and facing the river.

"Princess Cassis," the figure says, then turns to us.

"Cylaro!" Cassis seems more shocked than we are. "What brings you here in the middle of the night?"

Cylaro, the high wizard of Asentus?

"To admire the amazing view of course. Mountains, rivers, forests, the great plains, everything is visible from this bridge. Isn't it incredible?"

"We'll leave you to your musings." Cassis gestures for us to keep walking.

A few steps in, Cylaro extends his right hand, as if to block us. "I'm afraid I can't let you pass."

"Cylaro, please, I'm just trying to help."

"Your friends may leave, but you, Princess, must return to Asentus."

"He's only one man," Elric says. "We can take him on."

I'm not too sure about that. With his black and purple robe and a staff as tall as him, Cylaro looks quite powerful.

"A taste of my magic will change your mind."

"You would use your spells while on the bridge?" Cassis says in attempt to avoid battle. "How reckless!"

"The bridge will not be damaged, I promise," Cylaro says.

"I suppose we have no choice but to fight," Oren says.

And with that, the world spins out of control.

* BATTLE START *

---

"I'll end this with one strike," Elric says and leaps towards Cylaro. "Gentle Stab!"

The sorcerer scratches himself with his staff. "What was that, a mosquito?"

"Your taunts won't faze me!" Cassis shouts and goes in for a slash.

There's barely a dent in his HP meter.

"Aggression does not equal power, Princess." Cylaro points staff at me. "Puppetry!" A beam shoots from its orb and electrifies me.

I body moves uncontrollably, casting Deep Heal on the sorcerer.

"Thank you, my friend."

"Mute, what are you doing?" Elric says. He slashes twice at the sorcerer, but misses both times. "Hmm, he's fast."

Oren is quick to pick up on my situation. "He's under the sorcerer's control...Sorry, mute, but I have to do this..." He walks over to me and smacks me over the head.

I had a feeling he was going to do that.

"That's playing dirty, Cylaro."

"You know all my tricks, Princess. Do you still believe you can best me?"

"Absolutely!" Cassis leaps into the arm and brings her swings her sword at the sorcerer twice. "Double Slash!"

"Oren, Silence him."

"Let's see if you can survive this first...Wind Song!"

Gusts of wind sweep through us at a deafening speed.

I dig my feet in, using my staff as leverage so not to be blown away.

Cassis does the same with her sword.

Oren and Elric aren't as lucky. I see them flipping and turning, before flying off the screen.

"Whooaeaaa!"

"Ah crap!!"

"Ugh, another cheap trick!" Cassis slashes at Cylaro with a regular attack.

"You might want to check on your friends, Princess. I sure hope they didn't fall off the bridge."

Cassis groans.

And with that, the battle is over.

---

* BATTLE END *

Cassis and I run over to Oren, whose pulling Elric up from under the bridge.

 "Are the two of you alright?" she asks.

The monk breathes a sigh of relief. "That was a close call."

Cylaro strolls over to us, arms crossed. "There's still much training you need to do, Princess."

Cassis lowers her head. "I know."

"You are strong, but you must learn to work with your friends."

"I know..."

He sighs. "You may pass."

"Really?"

Cylaro nods and takes some medicine to regenerate his health. "But do be careful. The Speaker is far more dangerous than we might know. Should you learn anything about her plans, I would advise you to share them with the council."

"I'll do that. What about Father?"

"Not to worry. I won't inform him of your absence."

"Thank you."

Cylaro returns to the side of the bridge and fixes his gaze on the Asentian Mountains. An orange flicks on. A couple seconds later, it brightens to yellow, then white. In less than ten seconds, the sun has risen, and the Bridge of Unity is entirely lit up. We wave goodbye to the high wizard and carry on with our journey.

~*~