Taol's Compendium of Nent

Chapter 10: Congelatio Palace (Novus)

The city was right before our eyes in its glorious image after so many months of bone-breaking walking – surrounded by the grass and the snow was a city that almost definitely trumped Flos’ capital in terms of size without a shadow of a doubt…the city looked to be protected by a wall surrounding the entire area, and as for the wall itself, it looked to be see-through with a faint hue of sea blue, as if it were made by some kind of enchanted ice…

And in the heart of that city lied a palace that soared up to the sky, completely overshadowing every building that circled it – the capital’s palace. I never thought I would end up seeing it in person, but it after one and a half years…it happened. I couldn’t help but smile to myself at the thought of managing to reach this far in my adventure.

Knowing that some semblance of peace was finally among us, we sped up our pace and continued on to the city gates, hoping to get ourselves in – I definitely had personal reasons to be here, and that was to meet the ruler of this place in hopes of finding answers involving the Edge of Nent as well as whatever magic I am infected with.

Upon reaching the entrance gates, we would be stopped by two city guards, who demanded for our identification – however, when I showed them my Exploration Team journal, all they needed to see what the logo emblazoned on the cover of the journal before swiftly moving back to their posts and allowing us through. However, the look on their faces were one of great distress, and before we passed the gates, we were told that the Queen of Novus wanted to see any representative of the Exploration Team for a multitude of reasons, and they suggested that we see her as soon as possible.

Sure, I knew that the Exploration Team had links all over the world, which probably made me believe that the queen might have caught wind of our current expedition, but the fact that the guards are so stressed out…that alone gave me a great deal of displeasure. But of course, I forced myself to put my negative thoughts aside, knowing that it was best to meet with the queen myself and speak with her about everything that has been happening.

And so, off we went into the depths of the city – as we expected, the whole place is bustling with life, though it seemed to be on the more relaxed side compared to the packed pavements of Flos’ capital. Small marketplaces were set up by the sidewalks of the pavements, where merchants sold things that range from everyday things like food to more luxurious exploits such as jewels, ores. There were also traders from foreign nations such as Petram and Ventus, and as to what they sold, they seemed to be selling relatively valuable trinkets that are usually considered as rare here in Novus…at least that was what I assumed anyway, considering those said traders looked to be rather inundated by a rather big crowd.

The housing within the city looked to be quite moderate in terms of style – the houses looked to be no more than two stories high, and they were always side to side, with only a few separated from other homes. Then again, those separate homes also tend to have rather sizeable allotments of land, where vegetables could be seen growing underneath the tundra soil – perhaps the owners of these homes provided the city their supplies of food.

We would pass through all that, knowing that we can return to shop at our leisure later – we would arrive at the palace entrance, and when a platoon of castle guards noticed us while they were blocking off the way through, they would move out of our way.

Once again, they repeated once more that the queen was eager to see us – and again, it was said with a sense of urgency in their voices. The both of us went into the castle, and we were met with a rather…dazzling sight to behold.

Sure, the exterior of the castle was made completely out of shining, frosted glass, with a wondrous opaque ultramarine color being boasted in the heart of the capital, but inside, it looked like the interior of an igloo – the floor looked to be made out of snow, and while the walls were made of snow as well, it looked to be incredibly tough when I touched it, as if they were considerably reinforced to be a lot stronger to maintain the castle interior. There were D-shaped holes carved into the snow walls, where lanterns were lit in order to brighten up the entire area. Considering how this was merely the meeting point of the castle, it was very empty and hollow, so hollow that we could probably hear ourselves breathe due to how open it was. There were doors all around us which led to other parts of the castle, but that had to wait due to us needing to see the queen quickly.

In front of us a beautifully made door with the insignia of a flower carved into it – the fact that it was bigger than any other door surrounding us meant that this had to be the door which led to the throne room, and so without any further hesitation, we went in ourselves and prepared for whatever was about to happen.

With the two of us in the throne room, we were met with yet another stunning sight, though it looked like as if the throne room was built to be more of a massive meeting hall as well – with the red carpet leading up to the dais in the middle, there would be two huge and ridiculously long tables that stretched from one end to the room all the way to the dais, with benches on either sides of those two tables. There was a huge chandelier that looked to be made completely out of glass hanging over the ceiling, and speaking of the ceiling, the designs that covered it was so ornate that it must’ve been difficult to provide such massive detail when it was made.

We approached the queen, paying our respects to her as she got herself up from her seat and greeted us – the queen wore a snow-white dress, the ends of her sleeves translucent. The same can be said for the bottom of her dress as well. Her eyes were a cold, ice blue that really stood out, while her tiara had this light blue gem embedded on the middle.

From here, the queen complimented us for going through such a long journey up until this moment, and when she learned about our presence after we arrived at the city gates, she knew that she had to consult us. Actually, she wanted to consult me. She wanted to speak with me alone on what we were seeking to accomplish, and when she requested this, I glanced over at Tirza, giving her a nod before she returned the nod and got herself out – she said that she’ll be at the city window-shopping if she were needed.

With the two of us now alone in the throne room, she would let out a relatively worried sigh as she returned back to her seat, her arms folded and her eyes now closed. She spoke about how she had learned about the Exploration Team’s campaign through Novus’s branch, and when they brought up how Lord Bell had commissioned them to seek out the Edge of Nent for an undisclosed reason, she knew that she had to find an active representative – which coincidentally was me while others were hot on their tails.

As to why she wanted to speak to me, she told me she had an inkling of the Edge of Nent.

A month after the Exploration Team was deployed at Lord Bell’s request, he had sent out messages to all the leaders of Nent – asking for their support on seeking out what lied beyond our own world. He had spoken about how his wizards in the Magic Room have been able to track rising amounts of unknown, hostile energy all over Flos with no unidentifiable source.

After a relatively heated meeting with the wizards and alchemists of Flos, all of them had come to the same conclusion – they had to explore into the possibility of what lied beyond our own world. The Edge of Nent. It was a myth which was once classified as fiction – a realm of eternal abyss, with nothing but mystery shrouding it. One of the senior wizards theorized that the edge of the world was beginning to force its influence onto Nent, and that someone had to see if such a land even existed, which called for the Exploration Team’s involvement in this expedition.

Within the castle was a research wing where scholars from all over the world had to hunt down all forms of anomalies within the world – this was done by tracking every trace of abnormal magic that lingered in the six continents of Nent. Magic detection tomes were created by Flos, and Novus had deployed them all over the world in hopes of seeking anything involving the myth of the edge of the world. All the corrupt, unidentified magic of Nent was placed on a giant map that was plastered on the wall of the research wing, and they were able to detect a massive amount of unstable magical energy just within an unexplored part of Inanis via their findings from the tomes sent out.

However, there was also another discovery that was made roughly a year ago.

One day, the active signatures of corrupt magic within Flos had suddenly been extinguished and declared as siphoned out – this was enough to send the research wing on a state of overdrive as they tried to find where the corrupt magic had gone.

That alone was enough to slow my heart to a crawl as my eyes widened with shock – I didn’t need an explanation on what they were talking about. I slowly looked at my darkened forearms, attempting to process the realization that had dawned on me.

Corrupt magic…

Just as my mind was trying to come to terms with that, a disheveled scholar burst into the scene, looking utterly worse for wear – she came running at the queen with a map in her hands, saying in a fit of panic that they had detected the lost corrupted Flos magic here in Novus, and that alone was enough to set the queen off as she stood up and demanded where in Novus was the magic being located at.

As soon as she spoke up, her voice began to trail. By the time she said that it was in the castle, she slowly looked towards me – more importantly, she looked at the plague that infected my arms as her eyes widened with terror. She would slowly point at me as her eyes shifted towards the queen.

And just like that, the two of them began staring at me, as if they were silently demanding for some kind of explanation, and soon enough, I quickly too my chances.

I told them everything they needed to know. The deity, the monster that I had fought in the ruins back at Flos. I even brought up the golem that I had to battle at Auris Circle, which had only heightened their state of shock even more.

The queen would let out a stressful sigh, and upon realizing that I didn’t intend to possess this power on purpose, she would speak up, knowing that I had to know something that she as well as her scholars did. There seemed to be something that she knew about the power that I now held within me.

She had answers. At least, what I hoped to be answers.

She spoke about the nature of this unidentifiable magic – it was said that they were remnants of the ancient eras of the six continents, back when magic was a lot more concentrated and more difficult to master. And within the ancient era of magic, there was a very small, focused school of mages known as the Void Servants – people who had mastered the art of black magic, the ultimate form of self-destructive magic known to Nent. Now known as mages of a bygone age that have been wiped off the face of the earth and lost to history, the magic itself ran on pure willpower and lifeforce alone.

You had to show your extreme emotions for your magic to work, and if you lacked that, it meant nothing to you. The more this magic advanced, the more powerful it grew. However, there was a catch to heightened strength…

Your own mental capacity starts getting tested – you start seeing things no human should be seeing. Things that are beyond this world. Things that give you unexplainable knowledge…knowledge that may be hard to comprehend as a normal human being.

The scholars have only made a faint link of the Void Servants being involved with the edge of Nent, and when they sensed the mass amount of corrupt energy within that unknown part of the continent of Inanis, this link only grew more solid as an argument involving the existence of the Edge of Nent.

That was when it came to me.

My answers lied in Inanis. Not just involving the Edge of Nent, but also about the magic that I possessed which was a magic of a forgotten era.

The queen advised me to leave Novus quickly in order to journey to the continent of Petram, where the Grand Library was situated in. There, I might be able to learn more about the origins of the Void Servants and more about the continent of Inanis and how it is in terms of its nature, geology, and history.

Before I left the throne room, the queen also granted me a hefty amount of funds, courtesy from the Novus branch of the Exploration Team – she had also given me some kind of pitch-black crystal orb, with her explaining that I will need this once I leave the city and out into the wilderness once again.

We exchanged our thanks, and she wished me luck.

I quickly left the palace, my heart pounding and my thoughts in a mess. There were so many things that I had to process…I’m still trying to comprehend it even now.

I eventually met up with Tirza once more after finding her buying a few goods at a merchant shop where hunting materials were being sold – so much for window shopping, but at least she was buying things which were useful for the journey ahead.

I spoke with her about our meeting with the queen, and I chose to withheld information about my magic powers – instead, I suggested that we stay in the city for the night, and that we leave tomorrow. I knew that it was best to speak about the Void Servants and this ‘corrupt magic’ with her when everything was quieter during the night.

And so, we booked a room in an inn and set our things as we let the minutes tick by, with us going out to the city to spend some time entertaining ourselves at our own leisure until nighttime arrived, which would be hours later.

It was from here where I told my companion everything I knew from my meeting with the queen in the castle – and sure enough, she was completely filled with surprise, if not concern. She spoke about how she had a bit of knowledge about the Void Servants due to it being so prevalent in Inanis storybooks and folklore, and that almost all of them have no determinate origin due to their lives being so filled with mystery. All that was known was that there was bound to be at least one in every continent, which made many wonder just where did these magic users come from – their kind of magic was questioned as well, as it was different than the conventional magic used at the time.

This only deepened my desire to reach Inanis as fast as possible…we were already one and a half years into this expedition, and something told me that it was going to take years more to reach the last continent of Nent to see just what lied beyond it…within that unknown bit of land within the Land of Darkness.

Both of us went to sleep for the night, and once dawn arrived, we checked out, knowing that it was best to make our move as quickly as possible to head to the next part of our Novus expedition – the faster we left this continent, the better.

Before we got out however, we were stopped by one of the scholars who had been waiting by the entrance gates with the city guards. She was asked by the queen to hand me a map – the map which the researchers use to trace the same corrupt magic that I am possessing. She said that if I wanted more answers about the Void Servants, she said that it would be wise to refer to this map to find the other remaining sources of unidentifiable magic. She assured me that researchers have multiple copies, so they will have a new one pasted on their wall.

With that, she bid us farewell and wished us good luck on our future endeavors.

With nothing left to stop us now, we left the capital and made our move, with us beginning our trek through the tundra as quickly as possible, the two of us attempting to cover as much distance as possible until the city, as well as its castle, was out of sight, and therefore out of mind. I left Novus’ capital somewhat enlightened and informed.

However, it had also given me a grave amount of fear and desperation for what lied ahead of us – first there was the monster in Flos, and now the golem in the Auris Circle…we will definitely find more beasts like these throughout Nent as our adventure progresses.

Things seemed to have taken a darker turn now that I have more understanding involving the sheer severity of my task involving the Exploration Team, as well as the mystery surrounding the Void Servants. They seem like very enigmatic people, for sure…

Just what is it about them which made them so linked with the Edge of Nent?

It was time to find some answers.