A voice was heard echoing in the dome-shaped hall where Raze and Gunther were in. It was fairly deep in sound, yet soothing to one's ears at the same time. One thing was clear to both of them, and that was the fact that it was a voice they didn't recognize.
Instantly, Gunther readied his single blade in front of him, and Raze had activated the dark magic as it swirled around his hands because there was a certain word that had been used when the man had spoken; he had said the word "Mage."
'The word mage isn't even something that Gunther or Dame use because it's not something they have here. They might use the word magic for a person who performs things such as tricks and such, and a trickster, but they don't use the word mage!' Raze thought.
Stepping forward out of the dark hallway, the man's face came into view as the light hit it. From the face, a lone man close to his thirties with a stern look almost like he was frowning towards them.
The person's hair was short in length, spiked up, styled slicked back a bit, but what stood out the most was the strange glow that would come off the man's eyes. It was a tint of red, but it wasn't natural light.
It felt almost as if light was emitting from the person's eyes themselves, and it was the same for the rest of him.
"You... you're not a Pagna warrior, are you?" Raze asked instantly.
The man stood in front of both Gunther and Raze; neither of them had ever seen such a sight before. It wasn't something from Pagna.
The man was covered head to toe in a single-styled suit that looked to have been made of precious metals. It wasn't armor that was thick and crafted into individual pieces. It was almost a hard outer exoskeleton made from metal.
It had the same structure just as any human, but all over the strange suit that this person would wear, there were several large glowing beams of red light all in different sizes.
Two large ones came out from the shoulders, a red-colored glow from the wrist and all of the joints. There were also lines of glowing red energy connecting the suit together in parts.
The only part the suit didn't cover was the neck as it clearly showed the head, but it seemed to go up around the back of the neck and around the side of the person's face just covering the bottom of their jaw.
This wasn't just someone who clearly wasn't from Pagna; Raze had never seen someone look like this who was an Alterian either.
"You mages are always so smart," the man said. "Let me introduce myself. I am Zon Grain, and I have been looking for a talented mage like yourself to help me with a situation I'm in."
Gunther was unsure what to do, and it seemed like Raze was as well.
In all of the dimensions that they had entered, human life didn't exist. From what they had seen of this world, it seemed to be the same as well. The portal had also just been recently opened by Raze and was in a spot that was almost impossible to find, so no one should have been able to go in after them, so just who was this person?
"The fact that you are here with someone like him means that you have come from the world of Pagna!" Zon grinned. "This is perfect; you meet all of the criteria that I have been looking for.
"Now come with me and help me stop the Alterians."
'Stop them?' Raze was still confused with thoughts, and he wasn't sure what this person was saying. Due to him being slightly on edge, it was hard for him to process the information.
He knew that this person was from another world, but was he from the same world as Himmy, or was it a completely different world altogether?
The man took steps forward toward Raze, seemingly as if nothing could stop him, and seeing this, Gunther was the first one to react.
"The tide is the first to strike!" Gunther had come out fast by his side, leaving droplets of water in the air.
Raze was hardly able to see him. He had his sword in the air, and as he swung it, it looked like he was cutting through waves with his sword.
It was visual Qi, but Raze had never witnessed something so beautiful before. The sword was glowing with power as Gunther wasn't holding back.
'I have no idea who you are, but it seems you want to take the Dark Magus away from me; I won't let you take my prize!' Gunther thought.
Moving his fingers slightly, the red energy started to light up around Zon. He swung his arm out, and a loud-sounding bang was heard.
A shockwave shook the room, and the visual water Qi expanded out, even making Raze's face look slightly cool. When Raze looked to see what happened, he could see that Gunther's sword had been stopped.
Now, in Zon's hand, was what looked like a sword, but one that had been made from a strange type of pure energy. It had clashed right against Gunther's.
While Gunther was grunting, trying to push with all his might and Qi, Zon just steadily held the sword in his hand.
"Oh, you are quite the strong one as well," Zon stated. "Unfortunately, you have no idea who you just met!"
Raze had only just blinked, and at super speed, Zon's hand had hit Gunther right in the stomach. He went flying and crashing right into the wall.
The rocks from the outside had fallen on Gunther, as blood came out of his mouth, and the armor he wore on his body was slightly damaged.
'What he just used, it didn't seem like energy like a mage's or Qi. He has to be from some other type of world. A world full of technology that enhances a person's powers. Is it all from that suit? But then, what does he want with a mage, why does he want to go against the Alterians?' Raze thought.
Seeing a stage 6 Pagna warrior get defeated in the flick of a hand, Raze had no idea how strong this person was, and he wasn't sure using his magic was the best idea.
With all the thoughts left in his mind, he asked one question.
"Are you with Alter?" Raze asked.
Right after, Zon had stopped proceeding forward.
"It is… too early for you," Zon said. "I see that you have yet to learn the secrets of this world. I'm quite surprised. When you are ready, I will come meet you again."
Before Raze could say anything, just like the punch that had quickly been delivered, he had disappeared from his sight.
"Who was that guy, and what is going on!" Raze thought.
The others had taken the right path; they had similarly entered a large dome-like room. But rather than writings that were all over the walls, instead, they had found a podium, and on the podium, there was a light-colored hardbound book. n/())--e-/1-)/)I--n
When opening it, none of them were able to read it, but just in case, Safa had decided to carry it with her, seeing as she thought it might be important or something they could use.
"I guess we should have taken the left path," Dame said.
"Man, I can't believe this is a dud!" Liam complained. "I thought this might be my chance to get something cool, maybe like a cool eye to replace my missing one."
Liam pulled his eye patch up slightly and pinged it back down.
Right then, it was only Dame that noticed it, but he could hear something coming from the hallway they had entered from. He quickly looked to his right but only saw a blur.
He moved his head as the blur had moved around the room.
'What is that, how fast is this person, are they at the middle stages? No, is it possibly a divine one?' Dame thought.
He still was unable to see anything, and before he knew it, whatever had entered had quickly left.
"Ow!" Liam said. "Did a bug just bite me?"
Liam started to rub the back of his head, but he could feel nothing.
Heading right out of the cave back to the snow, Zon looked back at the cave entrance.
"I will seek you out when the time is right... grow stronger, mage," Zon said.
