Kaelen woke up when he felt the place he was in shaking deliberately. Exactly when the 14-year-old boy managed to open his eyes, a strange sight immediately entered his field of vision.
Around him now were many strange creatures crowding him. But when he tried to stand from his sleeping position, Kaelen felt an unbearable pain in his chest, forcing one of his hands to clutch his chest.
"My Elarith?" Kaelen murmured as he looked at his chest, which appeared hollowed out, just as if someone had just pried out his Elarith.
The Elarith itself is a silver crescent-shaped crystal with a small black circle in the middle, resembling the sun, located inside a person's chest. The Moon and Sun are wrapped by two silver rings positioned vertically and horizontally, each moving in opposite directions. The rings look exactly like a solar halo or Saturn's rings.
Then on both sides, there are four black wings made of crystal. The Elarith functions as the center of magic, distributing it throughout the body. What distinguishes it from a mana core is that when a person's Elarith is taken or destroyed, the owner will die and rot within two days and two nights. Besides that, a person's Elarith also determines their innate talent. If it's taken, their root talent is also automatically severed.
In his confusion, Kaelen felt his body suddenly lifted by creatures half-human and half-tree roots. These creatures raised Kaelen above their heads, then cheered and carried him away.
"Hey, where are you taking me? Let me go!" Kaelen shouted, struggling to resist. But besides his brain still trying to process what was happening, the strength of these creatures was too great for Kaelen to mount any meaningful resistance.
"Oh god, what should I do now? Forget about how I got here. The only thing I have to think about is how to escape and survive for the time being," he said inwardly.
Lying on his back, Kaelen could clearly see the structure of this place from below. His forehead furrowed as he saw this place looked exactly like a Colosseum. He immediately rolled his head left and right, then looked around.
From its arrangement, this place didn't just have one level. It was well-structured. The layer Kaelen was on looked greener with many trees and plants. Huge hanging roots of various shapes occasionally brushed Kaelen's body.
Meanwhile, on the second level above where he was standing, it looked like a barren land resembling hell. The ground and aura coming from there were reddish with drifting steam.
"Wait, don't tell me I'm currently in one of the Forbidden Territories of Xal'zarioth?" Kaelen's blue eyes widened further as he realized his suspicion might be true.
As his gaze scanned the entire structure, Kaelen saw the peak. There were more than nine layers — nine territories he saw. And right above was the exit he saw. So his suspicion that this was Xal'zarioth — also called the Layered World — was indeed correct. But how did he get here?
Kaelen struggled again. He moved his body vigorously back and forth, "Let me go, damn it! I have nothing to do with all of you. Let me go!"
Right after his last shout, the creatures stopped walking. For a moment, Kaelen was surprised — were they obeying his words? Until a fraction of a second later, Kaelen's body was dropped onto the ground covered with grass nearly a meter tall.
"Ah!" Kaelen groaned as he felt pain in his back. He kept writhing as his whole body felt crushed.
A moment later, the crowd of creatures standing around him began to move backward, as if distancing themselves and clearing the way for someone.
Despite the pain, Kaelen noticed this. Holding his injured arm, he tried to sit up with a body that felt sore, aching, and crushed at the same time. He stared at the creatures around him whose eyes looked vacant, exactly like they were under a hypnotic spell.
Then Kaelen was startled by a root that jutted out right in front of him. If he hadn't quickly spread his legs, one of his legs would surely have been pierced by that root. Kaelen nearly cursed before finally seeing who stood before him.
It was one of the creatures about three meters tall, with a half-root and half-human body. From the waist up, its body was wrapped in green roots waving behind its back. The brownish figure approached Kaelen using dozens of roots — which replaced its legs — of various sizes, until now only about 30 cm separated them.
Kaelen's body trembled violently, not from pain, but from fear. The most terrifying part of the creature was that it had five eyes on its forehead, and its face looked exactly like a giant grasshopper's.
A hot wind swept Kaelen's face as the figure sniffed his body, leaving a warm steam that oddly grew colder over time. Kaelen was frozen; he wasn't even sure he could escape the grip of creatures he had never imagined existed.
"He is the perfect offering for Vazyrath Mudrienne," said the figure after stepping away from Kaelen's body and turning to look at the creatures Kaelen guessed were its followers.
"Understood, Elder!" they said in unison. They truly looked like puppets moved only by their leader. Without orders, they wouldn't speak or even move.
"You must guard him well until the Aelurnis moon shows itself in the sky. If before that time we fail to give the offering, you know what will happen to Xal'zarioth afterward."
"Understood, Elder!"
Swallowing hard, Kaelen remained silent listening to their conversation. But now another thing piqued his curiosity, "Offering? Vazyrath? Does that mean they intend to offer me to their highest feminine leader?"
Among the Zorgath — monsters with consciousness that can evolve, born from the first hatred — they usually choose one of the highest leaders. A leader with a masculine aura is called a Vazaerakh, and a leader with a feminine aura is called a Vazyrath.
Realizing he was truly in danger, Kaelen's body emitted spirit vapor. This energy appeared as thin flashes of light on the skin, replacing sweat. Spirit vapor appears when someone feels afraid, tired, or when their body needs to sweat.
Kaelen forced all his bones to move. No matter what, he had to get out of this place soon. As the figure Kaelen believed to be the leader of the creatures lined up around him moved away, Kaelen's gaze swept around again.
Far behind the rows of creatures surrounding him, Kaelen saw a place untouched by light. It was right below the layer of the world above. Seeing it made Kaelen start thinking, "If I manage to get there, I might have a chance to escape. But how can I get past these creatures with my nearly dead body?"
Kaelen's eyes rolled watching the creatures guarding like a fence around him. Then he remembered one thing, "They only move or speak when their leader gives orders. Now that the leader is gone, does that mean I can leave without resistance?"
Actually, the boy didn't have enough courage to test his analysis. But if he didn't try, he would just become an offering without resistance. So the only way was to find out, even if it meant risking his life.
Slowly, Kaelen began moving his legs. It hurt, but not as much as when he was thrown earlier. He grimaced softly, almost inaudible so the creatures wouldn't notice. He kept watching them as he tried to stand.
When he managed to stand, the creatures really didn't react at all. Curious, Kaelen waved his hand right in front of their faces, but they still didn't respond. A small smile lifted the corners of his lips, giving him confidence, "It seems they really are moved only by orders."
Ignoring caution, Kaelen finally tried to walk quietly. Until then, a root crawled and bound Kaelen's body, stopping his movement.
Realizing his action was discovered, Kaelen's body tensed. He kept trying to free himself, "Why am I still caught? Seems like the leader didn't come back here. Can they actually see me and wait for the right time to catch me?"
"You must not escape. The Elder told you to stay quiet, so you must be quiet until the time comes," said the creature using the creeping root to catch Kaelen.
Just as Kaelen opened his mouth, his body was lifted into the air, directly above the blackish-blue swamp whose smell almost damaged Kaelen's nose, "Oh god, what is this smell? Why is it so rotten? Have you eaten many people and thrown their corpses to rot here?"
Unfortunately, Kaelen's hands tied with his body couldn't even cover his nose, "Oh god, this is a horrible death. There's no way I can survive until the Aelurnis moon appears above here."
"But why Aelurnis? Among the 18 moon phases in Zyretheil, why do they choose Aelurnis?" Kaelen murmured inwardly, once again looking at the creatures who seemed to become statues again.
After that, he tried to look up at the starry sky. Only tonight there was no moon, probably because the previous moon had already gone out. Now they just had to wait for the new moon to appear.
While watching the sky, Kaelen seemed to get an insight, "Wait! The Aelurnis moon is the moon when inner whispers can be heard continuously. The inner whispers are also when we, the Vey'zareth race, first experienced the awakening of Vaerloch and gained Velhara. Are they deliberately taking advantage of this moment? But what benefit can they get? They even saw my Elarith was forcibly taken."
Vaerloch itself is a monster implanted in every Vey'zareth's body since birth. Usually, Vaerloch sleeps inside the body for 15 years. After 15 years, they gradually begin to awaken. If they fully awaken, they will control the Vey'zareth's body and turn them into complete monsters. There will be no Vey'zareth identity left inside.
Meanwhile, Velhara is the level of harmony between the Vey'zareth race and the Vaerloch they have. The higher the level, the higher the risk and power the Vey'zareth will have.
"With my current state, it's impossible for me to escape. Especially since they're not releasing me at all. The only way may be that I have to awaken the Vaerloch inside me. Even though it's risky because I haven't reached the proper age, I have to do something. Not just stay here and wait for death."
For a moment, Kaelen was silent, seeming to regulate his breathing well and steadily. Feeling the energy in his body flowing chaotically because his Elarith had been taken or maybe destroyed.
"Before this, my magic core was light. I was a knight with the element of light. But after my Elarith was taken, I no longer have a magic core and am no longer a knight. So to awaken the Vaerloch inside me, maybe I have to access the power of darkness. But how can I go to the dark side with my current condition?"
At a glance, Kaelen looked at the creatures — how they stood with roots, how the hanging roots that served as their hair swayed in the wind, and how their five eyes blinked very slowly. He then took a deep breath, "If this keeps going on, I really could die without doing anything."
"Please! Let me go! Please put me down! Hey, please! Help me, please!" Kaelen seemed frustrated, finally screaming loudly. Even though he knew, in this horrible place that was one of the Forbidden Territories, who would want to help him?
Until then, one of the creatures like them came closer and slapped the creature who was using its roots to hang Kaelen.
"What are you doing? Before the Aelurnis moon appears, offerings are not allowed to be on top of the Kulthar swamp. That violates the rules of Xal'zarioth!" shouted the newly arrived figure, "Quick, release him!"
"But he intends to escape. How will we face the Elder later if the offering is lost?"
"Then how will we face Vazyrath Mudrienne if the offering's power weakens, just because you dragged him to the Kulthar swamp before the time came?!"
Without waiting any longer, the figure immediately pulled Kaelen's body with his magic, bringing the boy back to the ground. Throwing his body so Kaelen fell again, rolling on the ground a few meters away from them.
"Ouch," Kaelen murmured.
After saying that, one of the creeping appendages pulled Kaelen's body back into the middle of them, with them as his guarding fence.
Kaelen sat back there, but this time he felt something odd. When he was thrown far earlier, for a few seconds, they didn't act at all. But when Kaelen groaned, only then did they pull his body back to the middle.
Even if he remembered, when he shouted earlier, someone just came closer. Though that creature was previously around them, under a large leafy tree. So why did it only pull Kaelen after he screamed if that really was a mistake?
From all this, Kaelen could only conclude one thing, "They can't see, they can only hear."
To confirm his assumption, which Kaelen was 98% sure was correct, he stood up again. He waved his hand in front of their eyes, and they didn't react. Then deliberately, he stepped on a broken twig under him, and he was surprised afterward.
"Don't try to escape, Xal'zarioth is not a place where you can leave alive. So you better accept your fate to become our offering," said one of the creatures.
At that moment, Kaelen felt that this time his analysis was right. But as he was about to take a slow step, the pain in his chest stabbed deeper and couldn't be held. Kaelen tried not to scream, only grimacing and showing an expression of pain. But gradually, the pain spread until his head felt like it was going to explode.
"ARGHHHH!!!"
Kaelen's scream startled the flying animals and monsters in the highest layer of Xal'zarioth. The creatures guarding around him crowded more, "What's wrong? Are you frustrated?"
"My chest… Arghhh!! It hurts so much!! AAAA!!!"
Kaelen could hardly endure this much pain inside his body. Until everything almost went dark, he faintly caught a thin mist forming, then turning into a strange form he didn't know.
[Notification! The Curse has been Activated!]
[Name: Kaelen Thorne Vaeldric
Age: 14 years Zyretheil
Race: Vey'zareth
Gender: male
Origin: unknown
Status: lost sylen (mana), banished to the Forbidden Territory of Xal'zarioth
Curse mark: unknown
Vaerloch: Nyldorakh (giant evolving dragon)
Velhara: Narthveil (bound shadow)
Power core:?
Initial power:?]
One thing Kaelen realized, tomorrow morning, everything could change.