At 11:50 in the evening, ten minutes before the end of the week, Shade was playing with the time key carefully selected by Professor Garcia and sitting in the living room without turning on the lights.
The weather is very good tonight, and the moonlight enters the living room from the window. The three colors of moonlight are mixed together, and the strange light shines on Shade's legs and the back of the cat lying on Shade's lap.
Little Mia is an orange and white cat, and the pattern on its back is mainly orange. According to Shade's opinion when he first saw it on the roof of the building, this cat is just like a white cat with orange clothes.
blanket.
The color of its fur is quite good, and it seems to be able to reflect light whether it is in the sun or the moonlight. Because Shade has to go on a new time adventure tonight, so he cannot go to bed early, so the cat does not go to the bedroom to sleep alone.
Instead, he lay on Shade's lap and fell asleep.
It was definitely not asleep, and Shade even thought that if he suddenly yelled in the silence at this moment, the cat would definitely be frightened and run away.
Of course, he wouldn't do that either.
Thinking about his relationship with his friends, the chosen one and his own path to becoming a god. When the clock in the corner and the city clock tower in the distance rang midnight, Shade patted Mia Cat on the butt.
, the latter meowed, then reluctantly climbed up from his legs and jumped onto the sofa with her short legs.
"Mia, see you in three seconds."
With that said, Shade walked towards the bedroom door. But this time he did not insert the key directly, but hesitated.
【What are you thinking about?】
"According to past rules, this time it will definitely be related to the old gods. I'm thinking about who it will be this time."
【Won’t you know it soon?】
"That's right. May the World Tree protect me in time."
Turning the key, as the bedroom door opened, white mist floated out from the door like catkins, and he thought about these special spaces:
"Mr. Edmond said that the Guiding Light Monastery believes that the space left by the Thirteen Ancient Gods is the last refuge. What is the reason for this statement?"
Stepping into the white mist, a familiar voice immediately sounded in my ears:
【Outlander, you have stepped into the "corridor of time".】
[Message from the ancient god "Father of the Infinite Tree":]
[Winter of 1784 in the Fifth Age, Northern Continent, Dreadfortress.]
[Event: Gambling - Game of Life.]
【Duration twenty minutes (1/3).】
"The Southern Continent - Hope Town, the Western Continent - Forest of a Thousand Trees, and now the Northern Continent - the Horrible Fortress. The fourth key a month later, won't it be the Eastern Continent?"
【You have obtained additional information.】
[The figure of the father of the infinite tree is watching you.]
[The ancient god of time gives you a test.]
【Helping mortals win the "gambling game of life".】
[The Father of the Infinite Tree will give you rewards: Thaumaturgy - Breath of Time, a piece of true information - Dark Dungeon. 】
"Dark Dungeon? There is no mention of gods in this mission."
Shade muttered, and after confirming that there was no other information, he took a step forward.
The white mist around him quickly dissipated, and his feet stepped on the uneven stone bricks. The light in the white mist faded, and the light suddenly weakened. The dim yellow oil lamp's light made Shade a little uncomfortable.
When his vision returned to normal, he immediately noticed a rotten smell in the air. Looking around again, he was standing in a long and narrow corridor.
Under the feet is a ground paved with gray bricks, but due to the grinding of the years, the stone bricks have long been uneven. The surrounding walls and the top about 3 meters high above the head are all gray-black stone walls that seem to turn into powder.
If you touch it even slightly, your hands will immediately be covered in dust.
There are square spaces at regular intervals on the wall. Oil lamps are placed in the spaces. The light of the oil lamps is as big as a soybean grain. Therefore, when looking forward, the light and dark areas are connected to each other.
Maybe there were originally murals on the walls, but nothing could be seen clearly at this time.
The temperature was a little low, so Shade sniffed. Since he was not outdoors, he could only choose to move forward and back. Based on the direction he came from, it was only logical to continue walking forward, but Shade still looked behind him curiously.
Behind him was the same long, narrow and ancient stone corridor, except that no oil lamps were lit. Shade looked towards the darkness that extended to an unknown area, and then suddenly saw a pair of scarlet eyes in the darkness.
He is not a timid person, and has seen far weirder scenes in this world. But when he saw those eyes, his body trembled instinctively because of fear. Those eyes had the power to directly evoke people's emotions.
The power of inner fear.
It was getting closer and closer, and the flames of the oil lamps around Shade immediately flickered. Although he didn't know the consequences of the oil lamp extinguishing, Shade immediately ran forward.
The oil lamps behind him were extinguished one by one, and the firelight in front was shaking. Shade felt the chill that seemed to freeze his soul, gradually invading his back, and the chill became more and more obvious.
"Really, why can't [Father of the Infinite Tree] just send me to my destination? Silver Moon is like this every time!"
He reached out and pointed behind him. As the silver moonlight burst out, the chill behind him was indeed far away. And the end of the corridor finally appeared in front of him. It was a closed red copper metal door with holes and decorations on it.
Pattern, only a flipped coin symbol.
Shade was ready to unlock the door, but he didn't expect that when he rushed to the door, the door was pushed open with a slight push.
He quickly rushed into the door, then turned around and closed the door firmly. He pressed his body against the door, but the inexplicable thing outside the door had no intention of impacting the door.
Even if you put your ear against the door, you can't hear any sound from outside.
Feeling a little relieved, Shade turned to look inside the room, and saw a man with a weathered face, as if he hadn't washed his hair or bathed in months, standing next to a square stone table, staring at him in shock.
The style inside the room is basically the same as that of the corridor outside. The ground is made of uneven square bricks, the gaps between the bricks are filled with ash, and the walls above and around the head are uneven and unpainted stone walls.
The room was not big, probably similar to the bedroom where Shade lived. There was a square stone table in the center, and there was no complete furniture other than that.
There are some remains of wooden furniture beside the wall, but they appear to have been damaged for hundreds of years. There are dozens of corpses beside the wall on the right. Judging from the degree of decay, the corpses' death years vary, but they are all uniformly maintained.
Leaning against the wall.
There is an oil lamp placed on the edge of the stone table close to Sha De, which is also the only light source in the room. But the light of this oil lamp is still as bright as a soybean grain, and it is very strange, and can only illuminate Sha De and the strange man.
Half of the room and the other side of the room were completely covered in thick darkness.
"man?"
When the other party was sizing up Shade, Shade was also sizing up the other party. There were no men who could use extraordinary power in the Fifth Age, so the other party must be just an ordinary person.
He was wearing a brown robe that was so dirty that the original color could not be seen clearly, his feet were bare, and his head was wrapped in a scarf. His brown eyes were ordinary, but his thick eyebrows left an impression on Shade.
"Hello?"
The stranger used the language of the Fifth Age and tried to say hello to Shade. His voice was hoarse, as if he hadn't spoken for a long time.
"Hello, sorry, I don't think you understand me."
Shade also replied that this time his companion was not a witch. Although there were advantages, the disadvantage was that they could not communicate at all.
"No, no, I understand! There are special rules in this castle. As long as the language used is not one with extraordinary power, these languages can be understood by everyone! Are you a human?"
The stranger in robes and bare feet asked cautiously. Shade looked at him in surprise, nodded, and approached the stone square table from the shadow of the door:
"Of course I am human, but are you human?"
He stretched out his hand to the other party, and the man shrank away, then smiled sheepishly at Shade:
"Sorry, I have encountered too many weird things here. Yes, I am also a human being. It is great to be able to meet my companions here."
He stretched out his hand, which had not been washed for a long time, and took Shade's hand.
【Ordinary human beings.】
The smile on Shade's face became more sincere.
The man's name is Sledge Riddle, and he claims to be a scholar and prophet. Considering the time of the Fifth Epoch, his so-called "prophet" is probably the same person Shade met at the Pink Rose Inn in Coldwater Port.
"Demonologist" Sean Asmon is almost there.
Mr. Riddle probably hadn't met a human being for a long time. After confirming or forcing himself to believe that Shade was really not a weird thing, he continued to tell him his story.
He knew that this was the Horrible Fortress in the Northern Continent, but he could not tell in detail what the "Fortress of Horror" was. On the one hand, this strange place would erode people's memory, and on the other hand, this prophet really didn't seem to know what it was.
Know.
When Mr. Sledge Riddle was browsing ancient documents, he unexpectedly learned the general location of the Dreadfort, which "contains ancient knowledge, secrets and evil." With nothing else in mind, he decided to go out for a walk.
Starting from his hometown in the Eastern Continent, he embarked on an adventure.
Although he only thought that this trip was a study tour and did not have high hopes of achieving his goal, after experiencing a series of incredible things, this gentleman really found this place.
The middle-aged man wearing a turban admitted to Shade that he could no longer remember how long he had stayed in this strange place. The ever-changing terrain inside the castle made him lost and panicked, and he encountered horrors and evil things inside.
Things that he didn't dare to remember at all.
Even Shade just tried to ask the other person about his experience during this period, and he started to scream and pray hysterically out of fear.
The Dreadfort is similar to Hope Town and the Forest of Thousand Trees, both of which will have an impact on the memory and consciousness of humans who stay for a long time. Unfortunately, men in the Fifth Age are not as lucky as their three children to be blessed by the good god, and they are not
Not as powerful as the two witches more than ten centuries later.
If Shade had appeared a little later, Shade might not even be able to know these most basic situations.