The next morning at dawn, Lumine, Paimon, Chu Xi, and Fidelle arrived at the place where Lumine had agreed to meet Rukkhadevata.
Lumine had never visited the location of Silaya's hidden trump card, so teleportation was out of the question.
After a brief exchange, the group—or rather, the four "mortals" and one god—prepared to set off.
The journey proved far more arduous than imagined. After half a day's trek, a raging sandstorm descended upon them like an enraged beast, blotting out the sky and lashing them with sand grains sharp enough to tear skin.
Beneath their feet, scorching quicksand swallowed each step, draining their strength with every stride.
An invisible distortion of space added to their disorientation, as if the desert itself rejected their intrusion.
Lumine, Fidelle, and Paimon's stamina dwindled rapidly under the relentless heat and wind-driven sand. Their throats burned like fire, each breath bringing searing pain.
Wiping sand from her face, Lumine glanced ahead at the green-robed figure striding steadily through the storm, her steps unwavering, and the white-robed figure beside her.
Rukkhadevata was enveloped in a gentle yet resilient Dendro elemental shield, repelling the worst of the storm's fury.
Chu Xi, shielding her face with both hands, pressed forward step by step, seemingly unaffected by the tempest.
Paimon: "Huff... I'm so tired. This place is really weird."
Lumine nodded in agreement. She wasn't unfamiliar with desert travel, but even a full day's journey had never left her this exhausted.
There's something strange about this place!
Instead of feeling frustrated, Lumine found herself strangely pleased. This meant they were on the right track!
Rukkhadevata's gaze pierced through the raging sandstorm like the most precise probe, locking onto the faint, almost extinguished green dot on the Akasha Terminal. Her focus was absolute, beads of sweat forming on her forehead, a clear sign of the immense strain she was enduring to maintain this deep level of perception while resisting the spatial distortions.
"It's just ahead!"
Rukkhadevata's voice cut through the howl of the wind and sand, carrying a barely perceptible tension. She abruptly stopped, pointing toward a blurred shadow deep within the sandstorm—
It appeared to be the ruins of a desert waystation, eroded by wind and sand until only crumbling walls remained.
The group struggled against the sandstorm to approach the ruins.
Beneath the crumbling walls, in a corner almost completely buried by sand, only a few exposed bricks hinted at the secret below. This was the hidden safeguard left behind by her!
Lumine: "Is this the place?"
Paimon: "Could there be some kind of underground space down there? I remember Sumeru has a lot of caves."
Rukkhadevata placed her hand on the sand. Instantly, countless thick vines plunged deep into the earth, compressing the excess sand outward and forcefully carving out a space.
She then turned to Fidelle. "Fidelle, as a fellow Pure Soul, do you sense anything... unusual about this place?"
Rukkhadevata knew little more about Pure Souls than Lumine and her companions. She asked this question hoping to understand the connection between Pure Souls, believing it might be a key to unraveling the mystery of their existence.
Unfortunately, Fidelle felt nothing extraordinary.
Chu Xi, however...
Her heart was pounding fiercely, as if something beneath them held a deep connection to her.
Chu Xi assumed this was due to the contingency plan Silaya had left behind. Since it was related to Silaya, it was bound to be deeply connected to her as well.
Without hesitation, the five of them followed the vines into the ancient ruins.
The ruins were a labyrinthine network of winding passages that descended deep into the earth.
Chu Xi cautiously scanned her surroundings. Ever since entering this place, she'd felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity, a strange feeling considering she'd never been here before.
The deeper they went, the stronger this feeling grew.
At the very bottom of the ruins lay a stone gate, already broken. Rukkhadevata used her vines to move it aside, revealing what lay behind:
A room buried beneath a thick layer of sand...
Paimon circled the room, then sighed in disappointment. "There's nothing here! Did we get the wrong location?"
Rukkhadevata crouched down, her slender fingers brushing aside the thick layer of sand. Vines coiled up from beneath the sand, wrapping around a massive stone slate.
Grains of sand trickled down, revealing the relatively flat, dark-colored slate.
At the center of the slate was a hollow, as if something had once been embedded there.
The group gathered around, peering curiously at the hollow.
Lumine: "This indentation..."
Rukkhadevata: "It looks like it was meant for a Vision."
A Vision?!
A sudden thought flashed through Lumine's mind:
When she had once viewed Silaya's memories through the Akasha Terminal, she learned that Silaya had traveled to Sumeru five hundred years ago and obtained a Dendro Vision during that time.
She remembered how, in her final moments, as Silaya sacrificed herself to save Rukkhadevata and dissolved into motes of light, the Dendro Vision rolled all the way down from the Mausoleum of King Deshret...
But... how did it end up here?
This place is several days' journey from the Mausoleum of King Deshret!
Lumine turned to Chu Xi. "Chu Xi, where's that Dendro Vision you had? Quick, take it out and see if it fits in the slot."
The slate was covered in intricate patterns, and faint green light pulsed from its surface.
"The Vision..." Chu Xi murmured, then shook her head. "That Vision... isn't on me anymore..."
Not on her?
The Doctor!
Damn it, that bastard!
Chu Xi had been modified by the Doctor, so naturally, all her belongings had fallen into his hands.
Just as Lumine was fretting, Paimon, who was standing beside her, held out a small hand, revealing a Dendro Vision nestled in her palm.
Lumine: "???!!!"
Paimon giggled. "Found this in the ruins earlier. I wonder if it's the one."
"Ruins?"
Could the Doctor have been here? No, impossible... unless...?
Lumine's mind raced. When Chu Xi had entered the Priest's Tomb, her Vision had vanished for a time, only to reappear within the tomb itself. Later, they learned that the Vision Silaya had obtained there was the very one Chu Xi possessed.
Could the same thing be happening now?
Lumine examined the Dendro Vision in her hand, pausing in surprise.
As Lumine picked up the Dendro Vision, it began to emit a faint green glow.
This wasn't the deep, vibrant emerald green of Rukkhadevata's Divine Power, nor the gentle jade-green of a typical Dendro Vision.
The Vision's glass casing was covered in a dense, spiderweb-like network of cracks, as if it had endured a tremendous impact.
Through the fissures, Lumine could see the glow of its inner core—not a pure green, but a peculiar, aged cyan with faint golden edges, as if it had been buried for countless ages.
The Vision slowly floated back to the center of the Slate, fitting perfectly into its recess.
It lay there quietly, like a dust-covered heart, pulsing faintly.
Rukkhadevata stared at the shattered Vision, her breath seeming to catch for a moment.