Gabriel had flown up for a long time, trying to get out of the darkness. According to him, he should've been far away from the ground. However, as he started going down, within a few seconds, his feet landed on something solid.
It was as if he had reached the ground which was hard to understand. It was as if the space and time was distorted in this place.
Moreover, as soon as he landed on the ground, the darkness seemingly started retreating.
He was once again able to see the dark grass under his feet. It was as if he was back in the garden again. However, what was strange was that his surroundings were different!
It was as if he wasn't in the Royal City of Arecia! Moreover, it wasn't the garden at all! It was just that the grass was similar.
Not too far from him, he could see a black river. The river was similar to what he saw in the past when he was taken to a safe place by the Holy Grimoire of Necromancy. It was the same river which was filled with evil spirits.
"Get inside..."
"Come in..."
"Come in..."
The evil spirits were still whispering to him to get inside the water. However, after last time, Gabriel didn't have any intention of entering the river. There was just something too strange here.
On the river, he noticed a dark gray bridge which appeared to be the only way to cross the river. However, the other end of the bridge and the area was covered in mist that was impossible to see through. Even Gabriel couldn't guess what was on the other end of the river...
Let alone on the other end of the river and bridge, he couldn't even see around the mist behind him. Only the small garden area where he was standing was visible.
Currently, he had two paths before him. He couldn't either turn around and go back inside the mist. Or he could cross the river to see what was on the other side of the river.
Fortunately, it wasn't hard to decide. His heart was telling him that he needed to cross the river. Moreover, even if he couldn't find anything worthwhile on the other side, he could at least return back to this place and check the surroundings.
Not wasting much time, he stepped closer to the river of souls. He stepped on the dark wooden bridge. The bridge looked really weak, as if it could break at any moment. It was filled with cracks everywhere.
Gabriel was really careful when walking over the bridge, occasionally glancing over to the river under him.
The river was similar to what he saw before, but for some reason, it looked even deeper and more dangerous. It was as if the river he saw before was just a weaker branch of this river.
The Grimoire in his hand returned to the form of a ring like before, freeing his hand.
"Just what was that garden? It was as if the garden was a door to another space. I hope I won't find another god trapped who wants to kill me here. One is already enough..."
He didn't know what this place was, but he was sure that it was related to Karyk. Which also meant that there was a possibility of some dangers here.
Despite being weak, the bridge didn't break. The spirits kept trying to lure Gabriel inside the water, but they didn't dare to get close to him, as if they were scared of something.
Just the aura of the Spirits here alone was enough to bring a powerful mage down to their knees yet it had no effect on Gabriel at all. His mind was still as clear as before.
After walking over a thousand meter long bridge, Gabriel finally reached the other end of the bridge, entering the mist.
"What... is... this...?" As soon as he passed through the bridge to land on the other side, his expressions changed slightly.
He had no expectations as to what he was going to see when coming here. He was prepared to find many bizzare things in this place. However, what he saw was probably the last thing he expected to find in a dangerous place like this!
Before him, there were no dangerous monsters! There were no ghosts! There wasn't even any visible trap! What was before him was quite mundane instead! In front of him, there was a beautiful castle.
Other than looking beautiful and majestic, Gabriel couldn't find anything special in that Castle.
He didn't get close to the castle, only observing from a distance.
After observing the entire castle, his attention was mainly attracted by a single part of the castle... the balcony.
The balcony felt a little familiar. He observed the balcony carefully, trying to remember just where he saw it last time.
After a long time, his eyes lit up in surprise as he finally remembered. "Wait, isn't that where I stood in that dream?"
At the start of receiving his Grimoire, he had a lot of strange yet realistic dreams. In one such dream, he was a little boy. He was treated like a Prince. In that dream, he even had a mother, a father and a sister.
He was brought to this same balcony at that time, where his father gave a speech to millions of people who were standing in the same place where he was currently standing.
Even though he was on the other side of the castle, it was as if he could still vividly see the entire scene where the entire family was standing on that same balcony and he was being scolded by his father for being lazy.
At the same time, the people around the castle were paying their respect to the Emperor!
For some reason, a sudden feeling of sadness engulfed his heart. He didn't understand what that feeling was but it came from the depths of his heart. A pain that was buried so deep that even he couldn't find the reason for it.
A single tear trickled down his cheeks on its own while Gabriel kept staring at that balcony.
He came to this place for the first time in reality according to him, but in his heart, it was as if he was finally back home... A home which was filled with memories...
"Is this Karyk's home?" Gabriel muttered, wondering if the sadness he felt was because of his connection with Karyk through this Grimoire.
"Wasn't the castle destroyed in the war?" He slowly stepped closer to the entrance of the castle. "Did Karyk make it again...?"
Gabriel reached the entrance of the castle which was completely unguarded. He pushed the majestic door open.
However, as soon as the door was fully open, he subconsciously stepped back, seeing what was on the other side.
