Chapter 38

Today I learnt a lesson.

Always try stuff before you assume things.

Not a single thing from my world is affected by the black patch. The hoverboards went above it like hard ground, the shoes weren't affected either. All of their effort in evading the black patches were useless. They could quite literally just walk above it if they have equipment.

I decided to buy them all shoes, along with a set of clothes from my world. Things like socks, shirts, pants, jackets. I picked up all the sizes I could find. Time continued ticking. We didn't have the luxury of choosing outfits. They intentionally wear clothes that are slightly larger than themselves, to allow them to still wear armor underneath. All of their skin that was previously exposed was now covered by something.

Angen and Memorus that previously did not wear helmets, now wear them as well. Anything that would protect them from the black patches they wear.

“I wonder if these things can protect us from the dark magic effects as well.”

“Let's try not taking the medicine.”

The anti-magic medicine typically lasted an entire day. Usually, Angen and Memorus would take it before the twenty-four hour mark passed. It would be only a few more minutes before they hit half an hour before twenty-four, when they would typically take the medicine. This time, they let it pass. Elerina continued checking on them, making sure they were alright. She had the medicine in her hands, ready to stuff them down the second something looked wrong.

But…

“You know, we really should have done this from the start.”

“How long has it been, an hour now?”

“Yeah, what’s the point of even bothering to not use magic all this time? We could take the carriage here.”

The two of them were, understandably, annoyed that their effort the last few weeks had turned out to be completely useless. They had regained their ability to use magic, and didn’t seem to be affected.

“Well… maybe the dark magic affects you slower?” Elerina said, trying to cheer them up. I would rather that the dark magic didn’t affect them at all, though. Then again, both me and Elerina couldn’t use magic. We didn’t understand just how terrible not being able to use magic for that long feels like.

“Anyway, we can now move faster,” Angen said, zipping away with her hoverboard. She decided to stay on it, despite now being able to walk on the dark patches. She probably found it fun.

“Wait up!” Memorus and Elerina chased after her.

•••

The entire castle was completely empty. Seeing the buildings honestly made me even more confused. There weren’t many pieces of furniture left, but the ones that were left were the larger ones, and they were all colored black.

“I kind of want to try sitting there.” Angen murmured while standing in front of what looked to be the throne room.

“Don’t!”

“Don’t do that!”

“Just how little do you two trust me!?” Angen asked in surprise. Very little, honestly.

Anyway, Angen aside, there wasn't much to see in the castle itself, partly because it was so dark, like the abyss. If sunlight didn't come through the various cracks in the wall and the opened windows, we wouldn't be able to see at all in there.

Since the area didn't reflect light, shining a flashlight or lighting up fire near them didn't affect them at all. I would try night vision goggles, if I had them, although I doubt they'll work.

“... So that's the end of our first day of investigation, huh?”

“There's nothing else we can do anyway.”

Despite no longer being affected by dark magic, we decided that it wasn't worth taking any risks. Angen and Memorus left the castle then took their anti-magic medicine, just in case they were secretly affected.

They no longer needed to go through the moat and went on the drawbridge instead, casually riding above the patches. They then set-up camp in a destroyed building nearby, in the corner near a wall that wasn't affected by the black stain.

The next day, they began their investigation by going around the town, checking out the place. Now that they weren’t impeded by the black stain anymore, walking around was much easier, albeit it continuously reminded us of how dumb we were by not testing things out first.

Day two and day three went by without any interesting developments. Anywhere they went, they would be met by darkness. The fact that light wasn’t reflected made their exploration time minimal, as they couldn’t go early in the morning nor could they go late in the afternoon. Even the smallest amount of light made a massive difference, thanks to how little they had it.

“What’s next?” Elerina, Angen, and Memorus finished exploring by day five. We hadn’t visited every single building. That’s impossible. Some buildings that survived damage didn’t have any holes in them, and thus nothing could be seen inside. Plus, a lot of buildings seemed like regular homes. I doubt those homes have any significance.

“That’s all that's left, huh?” Angen gazed at the section of the castle floating in the sky. Located behind the main building, the section that floated wasn’t a small part, so there might be something inside. The fact that it’s floating so high made it hard to reach, though.

“How do we reach that place?”

Angen and Memorus were both under the effect of the anti-magic medicine, so they couldn't use magic to fly, not that I ever saw them use magic to fly either. Maybe they couldn't?

The building was too high for Elerina to use the grappling hook, and even if she could, the distance between the building and the ground was so high that it could kill her if she fell, thus a very undesirable idea.

“Can we even?”

“... Let me borrow that.”

Elerina handed over the rifle to Angen. She kneeled on the floor, checking it out.

“Be careful. It's loaded and ready to fire.”

“And to fire, you pull this part here, right?”

“Yes.”

Angen then pointed upward, then pulled the trigger. A single bullet flew through the sky, cutting the black thread that linked the floating buildings together. The thread dispersed, and the buildings began falling.

“Angen what did you do!?”

“Run away!”

The three rode their hoverboards as fast they could, heading away from the collapsing structure. Rocks and rubble fall above them. The smaller, detached parts came down first. A black aura appeared underneath the larger chunks, but they failed to stop them.

They managed to escape the falling rubble, taking cover underneath the castle's ruins. The building chunks slammed to the ground, going through, causing a large hole filled with rubble where they landed.

“...”

“...”

“... Sorry?”

Elerina and Memorus let out a tired sigh, then went to check where the rubble landed. It was pitch black, and you could barely make out the outline of the parts that had collapsed. However…

“Is that a path down there?”

When we last visited the castle, we couldn't find anything that suggests an area underneath the building. Maybe because we didn’t look close enough, but it was pitch black in there, pretty much impossible to find any secret tunnels or staircases.

“Should we check it out?”

“Be careful. We couldn’t see anything.”

“I’m always careful.”

Elerina and Memorus stared at Angen in exasperation. I mean, what she just did was the complete opposite of careful. The rubble was too much for the hoverboards, so they parked it at the entrance before entering the underground area. At first glance the area underneath the castle looked just like the other parts. Pitch black, with nothing to see. The action camera was completely useless, as it couldn’t tell what it was seeing. The screen showed nothing but black.

However, the deeper they went, instead of seeing less, we began seeing more. A weird black light… lit up the hallways. It came from torches set on both sides of the long tunnel.

“Is this dark magic?” Angen asked while observing one of the torches. The bottom of the torch was completely black, like the wall and floor underneath us, but the flames themselves, while its color was black, actually gave out a glow, and this glow was reflected by the black walls and floors. It’s like a phone screen with a black background.

“This is very weird…” Elerina murmured. “I don’t like this.”

“Me neither…” Memorus said.

“Eh? It’s just some torches. What could go wrong?”

“Don’t raise a flag!”

Angen took a step back, startled by my sudden shout.

“What flag? The empire’s?”

“It's a term in my world, when you say your wish out loud and bad things happen, or when you say something wouldn’t happen and that thing happened.”

“What are you talking about?”

Unfortunately, they were about to learn the sentence’s meaning through first-hand experience.

Screeeeeeeee! a loud scream came from further in the tunnel. All four of us reflexively closed our ears.

“What was that!?”

Elerina readied the rifle, pointing it straight toward the end of the tunnel. “Behind me.”

Memorus prepared her shield, while Angen deployed her wand. Their medicine should fade away in a couple of minutes.

“That’s why you don’t raise a flag!”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

They proceeded carefully. I readied the drone, just in case it was needed. At the end of the hallways was a set of two large doors, covered top to bottom in pitch black darkness. Had it not been for the visible bumps and creases on it, we wouldn’t be able to recognize it.

“Everyone ready?”

“Ready.”

“Are we really ready?”

“Well-”

Before Elerina could confirm their readiness, Angen pushed the door open.