Departure to the Annihilation Corridor
"Casa del?" Fa whispered the name, her right eye's star pupil swirling with ethereal light, her mind flashing back to the familiar name mentioned by Villanette in the Eternal Storm. Her memory was as clear as lightning—Villanette had said Casa del was an old friend, an eccentric yet immensely powerful being, even having clashed with her once. At the time, Villanette mentioned his bone dragon mount "Eternal Night of Silence," her tone carrying a hint of nostalgia and excitement. Now, hearing Soul King Erebus direct them to this Dragon Binder Casa del secluded in the "Annihilation Corridor," Fa's heart couldn't help but jolt.
"Could he... also be one of the inheritors of the Star Heart?" Fa murmured to herself, her gaze sweeping over her companions. Arya's emerald eyes flashed with confusion, Kayla's thunder claws unconsciously clenched, Tisk's lava hammer trembled slightly, and Salsa's mechanical cat shell quietly stared at the passage ahead, her soul phantom faintly rippling.
Celestia held the comatose Elios tightly, her ice-blue eyes filled with hope and anxiety. She turned to the guiding Tomb Guardian Kasandra, her voice hoarse and urgent: "Elder Kasandra, who is this Casa del? Can he really save Elios?"
Kasandra's lunar silver soul form slightly turned toward her, the "gaze" covered by silver glow bands seeming to carry a soothing intent. Her mental voice was gentle yet steady: "Lord Casa del... is Soul King Erebus's" She paused, continuing, "Once, the Soul King led us eighteen elders to the Annihilation Corridor, hoping to apprentice under him to strengthen the soul clan's power. But Lord Casa del has an eccentric temperament; we hadn't even seen his true form before he blasted us all out with unparalleled pressure and warned the Soul King not to bring people to disturb him again. He only wishes to seclude himself here, severing ties with worldly disturbances."
Valkan added, his deep blue soul form emanating a solemn aura: "Lord Casa del is the one the Soul King respects most. His power is unfathomable; even the Soul King honors him as master."
Nox's eerie green soul fire flickered, lowly intoning: "The Annihilation Corridor... is the soul clan's most taboo place. The one who can save Elios is him alone."
After hearing this, Fa and her group felt both surprised and puzzled. One of the Star Heart's inheritors, secluded here? Could the Casa del mentioned by Villanette truly unravel the "Soul-Binding Miasma" on Elios's soul? They looked toward the Soul King's massive form burning with dark gold soul fire, their hearts filled with mixed emotions.
"You may enter on your own." Kasandra pointed to the doorframe composed of pale white bones and dark red chains, "We will guard outside the door, awaiting your return."
Fa took a deep breath, thanking the three elders: "Thank you for guiding and trusting us. We will come out as soon as possible." She turned to her teammates, her gaze firm, "Ready?"
"Ready!" Everyone responded in unison, though fatigue and pain lingered, their determination to save Elios made them fearless in advancing.
Kasandra nodded lightly, her soul form drifting to the door, her fingertips touching the dark red chains. The soul phantoms on the chains let out low roars but soon calmed, slowly loosening. The bone doorframe slid open silently, revealing a profound and silent passage.
"Go in." Kasandra stepped back, with Valkan and Nox standing on either side, quietly watching.
Fa stepped in first, her right eye's star pupil scanning the surroundings. The passage was unnervingly quiet, even breathing sounds clear and audible. The ground was paved with black soul crystal, the walls on both sides covered with semi-transparent crystals, inside which flowed ethereal blue light streams, emitting faint glows. The air was cold and dry, soul energy pressing upon everyone like tides.
"So quiet..." Arya whispered, gripping her storm bow tightly, her emerald eyes full of vigilance.
"This place... it's suffocating." Kayla growled lowly, lightning unconsciously flickering on her thunder claws, trying to dispel the oppression.
"The soul energy is too dense," Lin Ya closed his eyes to sense, emerald glow flowing over his body, "Here... there's no life at all."
Everyone proceeded carefully, Salsa's soul phantom floating ahead, guiding the way. The passage was wide and profound, seemingly endless. They walked for about an hour, footsteps echoing in the emptiness, seeing no living things. Just as they began to feel fatigued, a low growl came from ahead.
"That's..." Tisk stopped abruptly, gripping his lava hammer tightly, ice and fire patterns shining.
"Bone dragon!" Yuyuer exclaimed, his crystal orb surging with blue light, trying to sense the sound's source.
Fa's right eye's star pupil brightened, instantly locking onto the darkness depths ahead. Heavy footsteps accompanied by the grating sound of bone friction approached from afar. Everyone immediately assumed battle stances—Kayla's thunder claws surged with lightning, Tisk's war hammer charged, Arya drew her storm bow, Zhamisi unsheathed her venom fangs, Rex's shoulder weapon bays opened, Yuyuer surrounded by water flows, Lin Ya summoned vine barriers, Celestia condensed wind and thunder power, Salsa's soul form summoned shadow falcons circling.
"Everyone, be careful!" Fa warned lowly, frost coiling around her short blade, ready to release ice magic at any time.
Turning a corner, a massive bone dragon suddenly appeared before them! It was enormous, bones white as jade, eyes burning with ethereal blue soul fire, bone wings spread, pressure sweeping over. Everyone's hearts tightened—this aura far surpassed any enemy on the Dark Tide Island!
"Roar—!" The bone dragon opened its mouth to roar, soul fire flickering, seeming about to pounce.
"Wait!" Fa suddenly raised her hand, her star pupil keenly capturing no killing intent in the bone dragon's eyes, instead carrying scrutiny and probing, "It... isn't an enemy!"
The bone dragon slowly approached, its massive head lowering, soul fire gazing at Fa and her group. Salsa's soul phantom drifted out, communicating with it in the soul clan's language, low growls intertwining with her mental fluctuations. Moments later, Salsa turned to everyone, her voice surprised: "This is Lord Casa del's mount, 'Eternal Night of Silence'! It says... Casa del already knows of our arrival and permits entry into his domain."
Fa breathed a sigh of relief, sheathing her short blade: "Looks like we've come to the right place."
The bone dragon turned, its heavy steps leading everyone deeper. The passage gradually widened, a massive stone gate appearing ahead. The gate was crafted from black soul crystal, engraved with intricate runes, emanating an ancient and powerful aura.
"This is... the core of the Annihilation Corridor?" Rex scanned the stone gate, his electronic eyes flickering, "Energy fluctuations extremely strong, internal life signs present."
The bone dragon stopped, using its soul fire to signal them to enter. Fa took a deep breath, pushed open the stone gate, and led her teammates inside.
Casa del and the Senseless Abyss
Behind the stone gate was a vast underground space. In the center, a towering stone platform stood, upon which sat a figure cloaked in black. His features were obscured by the cloak, unclear, but the aura emanating from him was overwhelmingly oppressive. Beside the platform coiled the massive bone dragon "Eternal Night of Silence," now eyes closed in slumber, ethereal blue soul fire slowly pulsing.
Fa stepped forward, saluting respectfully: "Respected Dragon Binder Lord Casa del, we are adventurers from the Muret Continent, here specifically to seek your aid."
The figure slowly raised his head, eyes under the cloak flickering with profound light, his voice low and forceful: "You... carry the shadow of that arrogant woman Villanette. Who are you?" His tone carried a hint of surprise.
Fa's heart jolted, not expecting him to directly mention Villanette. She nodded: "Yes, Lady Villanette is our benefactor; she once mentioned you."
Casa del snorted coldly: "That madwoman, still the same, meddling in everything. Speak, what brings you to me?"
Fa detailed Elios's situation, pleading: "He is afflicted with the 'Soul-Binding Miasma,' his soul trapped in a nightmare cage, unable to awaken. Soul King Erebus said you might be able to save him."
Casa del was silent for a moment, his gaze falling on Elios. He slowly stood, walked to Elios, extended a finger, and lightly touched his forehead. A powerful soul energy surged from the fingertip, probing his soul state. Moments later, he withdrew his hand, brows furrowed.
"The 'Soul-Binding Miasma'... an ancient and vicious dark magic, capable of imprisoning the soul in endless nightmares, hard to escape." Casa del intoned gravely, "The caster is extremely powerful, and their methods cruel."
Celestia asked urgently: "Lord, do you have a way to dispel it?"
Casa del turned, back to the group, his voice carrying a hint of hesitation: "Dispelling this curse requires great cost and risk. Are you certain you want me to act?"
Fa affirmed firmly: "No matter the cost, we are willing. As long as it saves Elios!"
Casa del was silent for a long while, finally turning, his gaze sharply fixed on Fa: "Fine. I can try. But before that, you must pass my test to prove yourselves worthy of my aid."
"Test?" Kayla puzzled, "What test?"
Casa del smiled faintly, his features under the cloak vaguely visible: "I will transport you to the Senseless Abyss, where all vision, hearing, smell, taste, and touch will vanish. You need to find an extremely rare plant there called 'Void Ginseng'; it can make dispelling Elios's curse easier for me. The Void Ginseng itself won't attack, but it is protected by many monsters and plants around it. Good luck. If you obtain the plant, crush the 'Return Origin Core'; the core will transport you all out. Consider this my first test for you."
Fa and her group exchanged glances, determination flashing in their eyes. They knew this test was immensely difficult, but for Elios, there was no other choice.
"We accept." Fa spoke on behalf of everyone.
Casa del nodded, extending a finger to draw a complex rune in the air. As the rune completed, a dazzling light enveloped everyone.
Before transporting the group, Casa del gently moved Elios to a nearby stone bed, preparing to delve into studying the "Soul-Binding Miasma" within Elios while they underwent the test. His profound gaze fixed on the comatose Elios, fingers lightly stroking his brow, seeming to silently perform some preparations.
Senseless Abyss: The Challenge of Sensory Deprivation
When the last syllable faded from Casa del's mouth, it wasn't the anticipated vertigo or spatial tear, but—absolute annihilation.
Light, along with its lingering visual afterimage, was instantly erased by an invisible giant hand. Sound, whether companions' exclamations, one's own heartbeat, or even the subtle hum of blood flow, sank into deathly abyss. Touch, the solid ground underfoot, the friction of companions' clothing, the gentle caress of air flow—all vanished. They felt no body weight, no presence of limbs, not even the rise and fall of the chest during breathing. Smell and taste were utterly nullified.
Fa felt like a wisp of scattered smoke, drifting in boundless, beginningless, endless void. She tried to open her mouth to call Arya's name, yet couldn't confirm if her lips parted. She abruptly extended her arm, swinging toward the position Arya stood in memory—swinging into emptiness. No, not into emptiness, but she lost the concept of "emptiness." There was no resistance ahead, no sense of distance, only a suffocating "nothingness."
"Ary...a...?" A thought, faint as a candle in the wind, trembling obviously, emerged at the edge of Fa's chaotic consciousness. It was Arya! Fa's heart constricted sharply. She tried to respond, attempting to concentrate mental power toward that thought's direction. However, her mental power was like a stone sinking into the sea, cast into a void emptier than the deepest night sky, no echo, no ripple, only all-devouring feedback... or rather, no feedback.
Panic, cold and viscous, began spreading from the core of consciousness. Fa instinctively activated her right eye's star pupil power, this ability to see through illusions and capture energy flows her only reliance now. The star pupil operated with difficulty, the vision not total darkness but emerging extremely faint, intermittent energy ripples like cosmic background radiation. They were chaotic and disordered, providing no direction or substantial information, merely proving this space wasn't "empty," but filled with some incomprehensible, inert void energy. This faint perception only highlighted her own isolation and helplessness. She couldn't feel Arya, couldn't feel Tisk, Salsa, or any companion. The ten of them seemed cast into ten independent, completely sealed void prisons, even the basic link of "being in the same room" severed.
Arya: The elf's keen perception of nature and elements became torture here. She was accustomed to the wind's whispers, light's pulses, earth's breaths. Now, everything was dead. She tried silently chanting the most basic light orb incantation, mana flowing within, yet like igniting in vacuum, unable to generate even a sliver of glow or heat in "sensation." The incantation's echo swirled in her mind, receiving no resonance from the external world, like shouting in an absolute anechoic chamber, only cranial vibrations proving her "existence." The loneliness felt like ice water dousing her, more despairing than darkness.
Tisk: The dwarf was used to metal's cold touch, furnace's blaze, hammer strikes' vibrations. Now, his proud craftsman's hands seemed nonexistent. He subconsciously reached for his lava hammer at his waist—no familiar cold metal touch, no leather grip's texture, not even feeling the arm's movement. He was like a craftsman stripped of all tools, skills with nowhere to apply. Panic turned to anger, a nameless fury against the deprivation of his "foundation of existence."
Salsa: As a soul entity, she should be more adapted to non-material planes. However, this void stripped even the "medium" of souls. Her mental tendrils extended, yet struggled like in thick tar, inching forward. No soul echoes around, no energy fluctuations, deathly still making even her soul feel "cold." She was like a blind person deprived of sight, hearing, and touch, trapped within invisible high walls.
Rex: His electronic eyes and external sensor arrays failed instantly, system flooded with "errors" and "signal loss" alerts. Built-in gyroscopes and accelerometers lost reference frames, unable to determine if stationary or falling. Logic core computed frantically, nearing overload from total input data absence. A system error akin to human "dizziness" and "disorientation" arose in underlying circuits. He was forced to shut down most external interfaces, relying only on basic internal magnetometers and energy fluctuation sensors, trying to capture any anomaly.
Kayla: The beastman's wild instincts warned of extreme danger. Deprived of sight, hearing, smell, touch, she was like having claws and fangs pulled. Muscle memory tried maintaining battle stance, yet appeared clumsy and powerless without gravity or spatial sense. Her throat rolled, attempting a war cry to intimidate enemies, yet felt no vocal cord vibration, only a silent roar in thought. Frustration and the caged beast's anxiety gnawed at her.
Yuyuer: The fishman tried communicating with her internal water elements, extensions of her life. In the void, water elements' flow became sluggish, chaotic, like polluted still water. She couldn't sense external moisture; crystal orb and dragon bone staff lost magical echoes in "sensation," becoming meaningless "concepts." Her wise mind felt lost in absolute unknown.
Zhamisi: The snake warrior's thermal vision and air vibration perception completely failed. She felt no ground vibrations, no molecular flows in air. Venom fangs gripped in "hand," yet like illusory shadows. Her habitual combat—agile dodges, fatal venom sprays—seemed so pale and powerless now.
Lin Ya: The treant druid's connection to earth was brutally severed. He felt no nourishment from roots delving into soil, no gifts from sun and rain, not even his own branches and leaves' existence. This was worse than death; it was being forcibly peeled from the life network. He instinctively tried summoning vines, life energy surging with difficulty within, yet like seeds on rock, finding no breakthrough point.
Celestia: The winged one's speed advantage vanished. Four wings flapped in void, generating no thrust, feeling no airflow feedback. Wind and thunder power suppressed within, finding no outlet. Mental sensing also restricted to minimal range. She was like a bird with broken wings, trapped in an invisible cage.
Fear, no longer intangible tides, but solidified ice, freezing outward from each person's mental core. Despair's suffocating grip clutched everyone's throat. Time and space lost meaning; perhaps only an instant passed, perhaps eternity. In this all-devouring void, even "existence" itself began to feel illusory.