Eryndor looked much the same as Adyr, his movements checked by the same unseen restraint. As a pure Ignis-path Practitioner with only the [Will] stat, he fared slightly worse during the descent.

In addition to the pointless rise in gravity, the red and black color that covered their vision had washed out all other colors. Only those two remained, until the world itself seemed to exist in layered shades of red and black.

There, at the end of a broad opening, a huge red door awaited them, though he wasn't sure whether it was truly red or if his altered vision had painted it that way. He kept going toward it, alert and steady, with all of his senses focused on what was ahead.

"The restrictions and the feeling of heaviness will double from this point on once I open the door. Is that okay?" Eryndor asked after stopping in front of the massive door, turning back briefly before placing both hands against it.

When he saw Adyr nod, he began to push, seeming to use all his strength.

The huge door made a loud sound and began to slide open on both sides, sending dirt flying across the floor below it.

As soon as there was enough of a gap, Adyr felt the weight hit his face like a rough wave, and the red-and-black shade deepened another degree, almost making him forget any colors had ever existed besides these.

When the door opened wide enough for both of them to pass, Eryndor stepped inside. "Come in, please. I need to close the door."

The strange aura leaking out in the long corridors was too strong. If he left the door open, there was no doubt it would rush up the passage, flood the palace, and then spread outward, placing every living thing under these uncomfortable restrictions, with power enough to make mortals faint or even die from exposure.

Adyr did not delay. He passed through and stepped inside, allowing Eryndor to shut the doors quickly.

The place beyond was a large underground cavern, with crude rock formations and a sandy, unkempt floor, nothing at all like living quarters.

In the middle of the wide chamber stood five broad stone beds, set side by side, the only things that looked crafted by hand. Each had a man or a woman on it, their hands, arms, and bodies bound to the stone with thick silver chains, as if they were dangerous prisoners who must not be allowed to escape.

Are they the source of this strange aura? Adyr's brows drew together as he studied the five figures. The red and black hues seemed to gather on their bodies.

While Adyr observed the chained figures, someone approached him with slow steps.

"Adyr, I'm glad you came." Silverlight Zephan approached, his long hair and white robes shifting with each step.

Behind him was another man with the same features: silver hair and a white robe. Adyr recognized him as the other Rank 4 Practitioner of the Lunari Kingdom.

Looking at all three, Adyr realized they resembled triplets, so alike that even their features matched closely, with only slight differences shaped by their unique paths of evolution. He did not dwell on the thought, however, as the matter at hand was clearly more pressing.

"I am sorry. I intended to come earlier, but I was too busy for obvious reasons," Adyr said courteously, dipping his head.

The obvious reasons were the murders he had been committing in the Beyond, but Zephan didn't need to know that.

"It is understandable. You are busy with your territory. I am truly glad you are here now," he said sincerely.

Without beating around the bush, since the situation was time-sensitive, Zephan indicated the five figures on the stone beds with his eyes. "Do you know what curse they are under?"

He then turned his gaze fully to Adyr, hope clear in his eyes, as if willing him to understand this strange condition.

Adyr saw the hope and expectation in his eyes, but he had no idea what was happening here; he did not even know what a curse meant in this world. However, he did not let that show. Instead of answering, he stepped forward and slowly approached the figures.

He walked up to the first stone bed and looked down at the woman who was lying still with her eyes closed and chains around her.

She was extremely beautiful and quite young in appearance, at most in her twenties by mortal standards.

She looked like any Lunari, with silver hair and fair skin, yet there were details that set her apart.

Her hair was not fully silver. In some places it looked stained with a black substance, like crude oil spilled across it, and the same dark taint marked parts of her face and body.

"She is my younger sister," Zephan said from behind, his voice low and threaded with sorrow.

Adyr did not turn. He moved to the next stone bed and examined the old man lying there.

"He is my father," Zephan said again, patient and hopeful, watching Adyr inspect each one as if he truly knew what he was doing.

Adyr proceeded to the next stone bed, where he found a man who was older than the previous one. He wondered if this was the grandfather, and Zephan soon confirmed it.

"He is my grandfather."

The other two turned out to be Zephan's uncles, which by now was not surprising.

What did they do to bring a curse like this upon their entire family line, Adyr thought. He also realized something else.

It was one thing for so many Practitioners to awaken from a single lineage, since it was like a lottery and difficult to know who would awaken even in a well-rooted bloodline like Zephan's. It was another thing entirely that everyone lying on these stone beds, curse or not, gave the impression of being Rank 4 Practitioners, perhaps even higher.

Just thinking about the Lunari holding this much power would undoubtedly make them the strongest race in the Outer Region, but fortunately, for some reason, these people lie here with their consciousness sealed, lacking the health to move, unable to upset the balance among the other races.

"How long have they been in this state?" Adyr finally asked, turning his gaze to Zephan with the bearing of a skilled physician, as if he had found something and now needed the small details to prescribe the right cure.

"For my father and grandfather, it has been well over two hundred years. For the others, a little less than one hundred years," Zephan said with a sigh.

Adyr nodded in understanding. "Indeed, they are under a curse."

At that, Zephan and the other Rank 4 Practitioners widened their eyes, hope shining there as if Adyr truly knew the matter. But what he said next made that hope a little less bright.

"But unfortunately, I do not know the specific kind of healing they need."

He was not finished. "If you tell me the story and every detail, without skipping anything, of how and when this started, I believe I can understand it better and perhaps even find a way to heal them."

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