Chapter 306: The Five Barriers

The crack in the sky kept spreading.

Arthur stood beneath it, staring up as blue light poured through the enormous fracture. The Fire Mirror still floated above the western mountains inside its pillar of flame, and the land around them was still trembling.

Arthur slowly looked across the Everglades. Something felt different, not just in the Fire Region, but everywhere.

"Mithra..." Melo muttered with a shiver.

"I know..." Mithra felt it too. She tightened her grip on Dawn Sovereign and looked toward the horizon. "Arthur. Look."

Arthur followed her gaze. The forest in the distance was moving, and not because of the wind. The ground itself was shifting.

THOOM.

Another tremor rolled in from somewhere far to the north, and Arthur turned. "What now?"

A deep blue glow appeared beyond the forest, and Luna’s eyes went wide. "The Water Mirror."

The ground dropped.

BOOOOOOM!

A massive column of water erupted into the sky, and everyone stepped back on instinct as it rose higher and higher, forming a gigantic pillar before spreading outward. Beyond the forest, the landscape was changing. Water flooded an enormous basin, and ancient structures began to surface from beneath it, stone bridges, towering pillars, statues, and entire buildings. The underwater city they had explored before was being revealed again, but this time they could see far more of it.

"That’s the city," Mithra said, staring.

Melo nodded slowly. "But it’s larger. Much larger."

Arthur looked across the newly revealed land. "So the area we explored before..."

"Was only part of it," Athena finished.

Luna stepped forward, her expression distant. "G-Grandpa said something about this."

Everyone looked at her, and Arthur tilted his head. "What did he say?"

Luna swallowed. "He said the Mirrors didn’t just belong to places." She looked at the Water Mirror. "He said they were connected to directions."

Athena’s eyes sharpened. "Directions?"

"I didn’t understand what he meant." Luna pointed at the enormous pillar of water, and her eyes widened. "But this is the North."

Arthur looked at the landscape, then at the Water Mirror. "The Water Mirror is in the North."

"Yes." A strange look crossed Luna’s face. "G-Grandpa said that when a Mirror awakens, its direction transforms into what he called an elemental region."

Athena immediately pulled out her notebook. "An elemental region?"

"I don’t know exactly what he meant," Luna said.

Arthur smiled. "Looks like we’re about to find out."

CRACK!

The earth beneath the eastern forest split apart, and everyone turned. Massive stone structures burst up from underground, one tower, then another, then an enormous wall, as ancient ruins forced their way up through the soil as if a whole civilization had been buried beneath the Everglades.

Athena’s mouth fell slightly open. "The East."

Arthur looked at the Earth Mirror. It was glowing.

The ruins kept rising. Stone roads emerged from beneath the roots, and ancient statues appeared between the trees. One showed a Beast holding what looked like a Mirror, and another showed five figures standing around an enormous tree.

"Wait," Athena said, heading straight toward it.

Arthur followed. "Athena?"

She stared at the statue, her eyes moving across the carvings. "These aren’t random ruins. The entire eastern region was built around this."

"The Earth Mirror," Arthur said.

Athena nodded.

"East," Luna said quietly, looking at the ruins. "Earth."

Everyone went quiet.

Arthur slowly looked around. West was Fire, North was Water, and East was Earth, and his expression changed. He turned toward the southern horizon. "That leaves the South."

Nobody had to ask which Mirror belonged there.

Arthur’s eyes narrowed. "We were in the South."

Mithra looked at him. "The whole Darkness Region..."

"Was the southern section of the barrier," Arthur said, looking back the way they had come. "So when we thought we were just traveling deeper into the Everglades..."

"We were actually heading into the southern point of the structure," Athena finished.

Luna’s eyes widened. "The Darkness Mirror was always in the South."

Arthur nodded slowly. "And now that it’s awake..."

The southern horizon went black, and everyone turned as darkness spread across the land. It wasn’t Miasma or cloud. The entire southern sky simply vanished into blackness. The trees became silhouettes, the mountains disappeared, and even the light around them seemed to weaken.

Melo’s ears flattened, and she moved closer to Mithra.

Mithra noticed right away. "It’s okay."

Melo glanced at the darkness. "No," she said, her voice unusually quiet. "It’s moving."

Arthur watched the black region spread, and then it stopped, forming a perfect boundary across the southern horizon.

"South," Athena said.

"Darkness," Luna whispered.

Arthur slowly nodded. West, North, East, and South. His eyes moved to the last direction, the center, where the Light Mirror belonged, and nothing had happened there yet.

The middle of the Everglades was strangely calm. There was no fire, no water, no ruins, and no darkness, only the original landscape.

Sun looked around. "So..." He raised a finger. "We’ve got Fire in the West." Another finger. "Water in the North." Another. "Earth in the East." He pointed south. "Darkness in the South." Then he looked at the center. "And Light..."

Nothing happened.

Sun lowered his hand. "...is apparently taking its time."

Mithra smiled. "Maybe it’s shy."

Athena gave her a look. "It’s an ancient artifact."

Mithra shrugged. "It can still be shy."

Arthur laughed, and then his expression turned thoughtful. The five Mirrors and their regions formed a shape across the Everglades, and it wasn’t random. There were four outer points and one at the center.

He crouched, picked up a piece of stone, and scratched a rough shape into the dirt, one point for the West, the North, the East, and the South, and one in the middle.

Athena stared at it. "The maps..." She pulled out the ancient map they had found in the archive, and Arthur looked over her shoulder. The five locations on the map lined up exactly with what they were seeing.

Athena’s breathing slowed. "It wasn’t showing five separate places."

"It was showing the structure," Arthur said.

"The barriers split the Everglades into five sections," Athena said.

Luna looked around. "G-Grandpa said the same thing." Everyone turned to her. "He said the five directions were once connected. But after the Mirrors were separated, the directions became isolated."

Athena’s eyes widened. "The barriers weren’t just walls."

Arthur looked at her. "Then what were they?"

Athena stared at the awakened regions, pointing slowly at Fire, then Water, Earth, and Darkness, and finally at the center. "They weren’t five separate defenses," she said quietly. "They were one structure. Five locks."

Nobody said anything.

Luna stared at the sky. "And we’re opening them."

Arthur slowly looked toward the center. "What are we opening?"

No one answered.

The ground moved.

THOOM.

Arthur’s head snapped down as a crack appeared beneath his feet and raced across the ground, followed by another, and another, until the entire structure began to glow. Enormous lines of energy formed between the regions, linking West to North, North to East, East to South, and South back to West, and all of them running inward toward the center.

"The center..." Athena said, her eyes wide.

The Light Mirror finally reacted.

Luna stared at it. "It’s waking up."

The Mirror shine before a golden beam descended from it straight into the center. The moment it touched the ground, the entire Everglades shook.

BOOOOOOOOOOM!

A gigantic circular pattern appeared beneath them, and the elemental regions lit up around it, fire, water, earth, darkness, and finally light. All five Mirrors were connected.

Arthur stared at the center, and then he noticed that a section of the ground had collapsed, exposing ancient stone with writing carved into it.

"Wait!" Athena ran over and crouched beside it, and the others gathered around as she brushed away the dirt. Her eyes moved across the ancient writing, and she froze.

Arthur looked at her. "You found something?"

Athena didn’t answer right away. Then she translated the first line. "When the five are reunited..."

Everyone went silent.

"...the World Tree shall awaken."

Luna’s eyes went wide. "The World Tree..."

Arthur looked at the five Mirrors, and the ancient memories suddenly made sense, the golden tree, the five Mirrors and the people carrying them, the barriers, and the strange regions.

He smiled. "So that’s it."

Vedas looked at him. "You figured it out?"

Arthur nodded. "The Mirrors aren’t just relics." He looked toward the center. "They’re reconnecting the Everglades to the World Tree."

Athena’s expression stayed serious. "There may be more." She was still staring at the stone, where another line lay half hidden. She brushed away the last of the dirt and read it, and her expression changed immediately.

"And the world shall remember its roots."

For a moment, no one spoke.

Arthur stared at the words, and his smile slowly faded. "...That’s less reassuring."

The ground pulsed beneath them.

THOOM.

And the five Mirrors suddenly grew brighter.