While the villagers made their way towards the hill, those on it were recovering from the teleport. Hisako’s protective dome had been upended by the transport and was laying on its side. Everyone inside had been disgorged and lay scattered in a large swath across the hill. The Hearth Mother looked around, disoriented, but when she saw where they were, she dismissed her spell and stood. Somehow, they had all been transported back to the village. It would have required a massive expenditure of energy, so she was fairly certain what was responsible. She just had no idea why the Bloodstone would have saved their lives.
She put the question to the back of her mind. She had to take stock of their situation. Somehow, whatever had teleported her and the others had moved almost the entire hill as well. Even the cave and some of the goblin buildings had been moved! It was also immediately clear that the transport had changed things. For one, the hill she was standing on was nowhere near as large as the one in the valley. That had been more of a slope leading up to a plateau. This was only a large mound. The change explained why the hundreds of people that had been hiding beneath her dome were now scattered all over the hill.
All of that, while interesting, was not what required her immediate attention. Yoshi was stirring near her and Sion was on his feet as well. Her son was holding his shoulder with an extremely pained look on his face. The Hearth Mother walked up to him and cast a spell of healing. Her mana reserves were low, but she still had more than enough to fix a few torn tendons. Her son breathed a sigh of relief. She cast about but didn’t see the Bloodstone. What she did see was her ally. The three of them turned their attention to Richter.
The chaos seed lay nearby. His body was sprawled in front of the cave mouth. He wasn’t moving. Hisako ran over to her ally. Yoshi followed right behind her. He was unsteady, but his sword was drawn. The Warrior was prepared to act if the Bloodstone still had control.
Sion was still dazed, but his vision sharpened when he saw Yoshi. The adept’s blade was poised over Richter’s face, ready to strike. “What are you doing?” he asked frantically.
“You know what we are doing, my son,” Hisako said. Her clothes were muddied and disheveled by the rough transport. Still, the air of command she always manifested was undiminished. “If the Bloodstone still has control of him, the only true kindness you can do your friend is to release him from that torment. Now attend.”
Sion’s face tightened with indecision, but only for a moment. Years of following the commands of the Hearth Mother overrode his hesitation. Seconds later, he was standing over Richter. In his hand was the elementum blade his friend had given to him. The sprite’s heart was breaking as he thought about how he might have to use that gift to end his friend’s life.
Hisako leaned over Richter’s prone form. After checking his pulse and finding it strong, she shook him, but he didn’t respond. Nodding to both Yoshi and Sion, she began to cast. Time was of the essence. The village guards were streaming out of the gate and would most likely not look kindly on their lord being threatened. If they had to kill the chaos seed, they would have to do it quickly. The Hearth Mother began an incantation, white light surrounding her hand. Two seconds later, she placed her fingers at Richter’s temple.
The chaos seed’s body jumped, and a moment later, Richter groaned. Both hands went up to hold his head, and all three sprites drew back slightly, though not outside of striking range. “Open your eyes,” Hisako commanded. Richter continued to groan, and she repeated, “Open your eyes, Lord Richter!” The situation was too much even for her, and stress bled into her voice. The chaos seed slowly did as he was told. All three breathed a sigh of relief when they saw brown irises instead of red crystal.
The four of them shared that moment in silence, until Richter said, “Sion, I have repeatedly asked you not to wake me up by waving things in my face.”
Sion rolled his eyes and smirked, and Hisako huffed in disgust. All the pain he had gone through was worth it to Richter just to see Yoshi’s lips twitch in a barely concealed smile. Sion helped the chaos seed to his feet, and for a moment, the two friends just clasped wrists while sharing each other's strength. They had been to hell and back. Both of them were just happy they were still breathing. The moment was short lived though as panic crossed Richter’s face.
“Alma? Where is Alma?” *ALMA?*
A small mound of dirt moved nearby. Richter rushed over and dug his hands in. When he pulled them back out, he was holding an irritable, but alive dragonling.
*Master!* she sent to him in reproach. She shook herself like a dog to get the last of the dirt off. *What did you do?*
*Why does everyone blame everything on me?* he thought back in mock protest, but he hugged his familiar to his chest and gave her a quick once-over. She had lost a few health but had no major injuries. A quick Life spell fixed even that. The dragonling gratefully settled on his shoulders, exhausted. Soon, she was asleep.
A tremor shook the ground under all of their feet. It was weak compared to the quakes that had swayed the ground before the teleportation. Still, Richter was concerned. Whatever had started in the valley was clearly continuing here. He hadn’t expected the transport spell to bring anything else but him, the sprites and the freed prisoners. The Chaotic Bloodstone’s new consciousness had promised it would bring every living being near him, except the goblins and trolls. As he looked around from his position atop the hill, he was afforded a great view of the surrounding land.
To the chaos seed’s shock and dismay, it looked like an entire section of the valley had been superimposed on the area outside of his village. That included the strange patches that Alma had seen: the midnight blue sand, the clear rocky prominence and the thicket of moving plants. Whereas before the areas were separate, now the ends of each touched each other. Now, the only way to reach the hill Richter was standing on would be to approach from the north, the direction that faced the village. Otherwise, a person would have to cross one of the recently changed zones. For all intents and purposes, the hill was now cordoned off on three sides. None of it looked like an immediate threat, but Richter had learned to be wary of things changing. As far as he was concerned, weird equaled deadly in The Land. Hisako grabbed his attention.
“What happened?” she asked. Yoshi and Sion stood right behind her.
Richter nodded and was about to respond, but the tremors they had been feeling suddenly grew much stronger. They were accompanied by the sound of grinding rock. Before anyone could react, a spike of black metal topped with a softball-sized sphere rose from the ground directly in front of the cave. Once the black metal had risen to waist height, the sphere on top grew translucent and a clear gem floated out of it. The gem remained hovering above the sphere as it grew opaque once more.
“This cannot be,” Hisako whispered right before notifications once again opened in the vision of every denizen of The Land.
A new entrance to the Labyrinth has been born! This virgin portal to the realm of monsters can still be claimed. Let the race to adventure begin!