Damien was not in the wilderness right now. He wasn't in a place that looked like it should be in a secret realm at first glance.
He was in the middle of a cobbled stone pathway that spanned for several tens of meters in both directions.
In the distance, he could see a massive arch that looked like the entrance to a city. There wasn't much behind him, but the path at least made it seem like there was something to see in the distance as well.
If this path was crowded with people, it would look no different from the outside world, like a path leading towards a bustling metroplex filled with life.
However, this path was not filled with anything but mist.
The white fog was extremely prevalent, more prevalent than anyone else. It existed as a layer that crept against the ground and went all the way into the sky, but surprisingly enough, it didn't block vision or perception.
It actually made Damien's eyes see farther, and it made his mind clearer than ever, allowing him to swiftly react to the situation he suddenly found himself in.
'My awareness doesn't spread very far. I guess I have to give up on actively looking for others.'
Damien had made the decision to follow what the Saintess wanted to an extent.
He would protect her kids, but he wouldn't allow her to die so easily.
To do so properly, he wanted to team up and move with them through this realm, but since it wasn't at all possible to find where he was yet, he had to give up on finding them too.
'Luckily, I know at least a little bit about the realm.'
Gehenna had two types of beings within it.
Good spirits and evil spirits.
Good spirits were usually ancestors of the clan and human heroes.
The Ancients of the jungle were also mainly good beings, however, one could never be sure. Some of them had tricky personalities, and some teetered on the border of evil, making their actions and personalities chaotic.
As for those who were completely on the side of evil, they didn't have one specific form.
They were unequivocally vile.
It had to be known that the Gehenna Tribe didn't know how to deal with souls.
They came in all shapes and sizes, all races existing in the world, but they all had one thing in common.
They were unequivocally vile.
It had to be known that the Gehenna Tribe didn't know how to deal with souls.
Nobody put these evil spirits in Gehenna. No, the Sacred Abyss Universe forced them into this realm because their sins were too heavy.
They were people who absolutely could not be allowed in the reincarnation cycle because their evil was too powerful to be cleansed by this cosmos' Wheel of Samsara.
Damien didn't want the others to be tempted by those evil spirits. The problem was that none of them were powerful enough to resist such powerful beings.
'No, my thinking is wrong.'
This place didn't work like any other world Damien had been to.
Strength didn't matter nearly as much here as will.
If the youths of the tribe had the appropriate mental propensity, they wouldn't be affected by forces beyond their control.
'Plus, this realm favors the Gehenna Tribe.'
This place was their namesake. They had an eternal connection with it that none could replicate.
That was the reason Count Verex was attacking them before entering the realm.
The youths of the tribe would likely be met by their ancestors before anything terrible could happen to them.
Even if those ancestors didn't find them worthy of their opportunities, they at least wouldn't let them be touched by the evil spirits.
'I guess I'm the only one on my own then.'
Damien smiled wryly.
He was used to it.
Plus, this was probably for the better.
'I'm not here to meet the ancestors of Gehenna.'
If he was, then the Saintess would've made sure he gave the ancestors a reason to meet him.
'I'm here for something else entirely.'
Damien started walking towards the arch in the distance.
It was hard to learn what to do in an abandoned place like this without a single clue.
He knew what would happen to the Gehenna youths, but what did that matter to him?
Thalia was probably already facing a lucky chance, while the rest would be the same soon.
He, however, had to just walk.
The arch was closer than expected. He reached it within five minutes, and as he walked through, he found himself encountering a large plaza with several statues lining its edge.
There was a fountain in the middle with a huge statue of a dragon. Its eyes were made out of rubies, and its every scale was finely outlined and detailed, making the statue seem like it was filled with vitality.
The loosely cobbled pathway turned into an organized grey brick formation that drew one's attention to the central figure.
There was nothing around the plaza. The mist once again came in and shaded the periphery, making it seem like there was nothing in this world but this place.
Damien carefully observed the floor, but he didn't see any mechanisms within it.
He had the option to turn around and look for something else, but he had no plans to do so.
Everything the Saintess said about this place tied back to destiny, that esoteric force that worked on all living things in mysterious ways.
If Damien appeared here, he was meant to be here,
He approached the dragon statue with caution, staring into its gemstone eyes.
He could see some sort of glint within, even though there was no sunlight for the jewels to reflect.
"Are you…alive?"
He felt stupid talking to it, but this universe wasn't short of its strange beings. It wouldn't be odd if the statue had sentience.
Damien didn't receive a response to his call, but the eyes flashed strangely, indicating there was something here.
He walked around under the statue, observing it from every side.
'I've never seen a dragon like this before.'
Damien was no stranger to dragons. He'd seen them in every shape or form they came in through the Azure Dragon's memories.
However, this wasn't something he'd seen.
A black dragon with red eyes. It was a common archetype, but this one had a particularly shaped scale pattern that seemed more like that of a fish than a flying beast.
'Do I touch it?'
'Or…'
Damien moved away from the statue in the middle and looked towards those in the surroundings.
More fantastical beasts.
Not a single one bore similarity to another, and not a single one looked like something that existed in the True Void Universe.
And they were all staring at him with those gemstone eyes, soulless yet filled with spirit.
A hazy red halo began to fill the beautiful white mist.
Yet, the white mist also rose.
It felt like a spectacle was about to begin in this plaza, with Damien at its center.
'No, spectacle is the wrong word. This aura is…'
Damien was very familiar with it.
The entirety of Grand Heavens Boundary was laced with it for as long as Damien had lived.
It was the aura of war, something that could only appear if bloody slaughter had been occurring in a location for tens of dozens of millennia at the very least.
'The start of my destiny…'
Damien watched as the statues came to life.
A picture was painted in front of his eyes, one where he could see who these statues used to be.
And as he guessed, the start of his destiny was here.
The beginning, as always…
'...is war.'
