After the happy reunion, the group had eaten, and everyone was happy in the moment. Vladimir was thinking about all Krystal had said, and it was a lot for him to take in. He remembered feeling a strange tug of emotion each time he was beginning to wield a new artifact, but nothing as dramatic as Krystal’s experience. Also, he remembers experiencing difficulty wielding each artifact, but nothing as difficult as Grover’s. This also left a few questions lingering in his mind. Why were their experiences so different? Was it because they were exposed to varying degrees of power? Or because of the varying manifestations of the powers? These thoughts plagued his mind as he looked on.He remembered when Krystal spoke about how the artifacts relied on the emotions of their holders and how negative emotions were adverse to anyone using them. No more angry rages, inordinately desperate moments, or despondent emotions for too long. Emotional balance was the only way to make the most of his gift.

The sun had come up and was heating up quickly. The group had been walking for hours, with Shambala occasionally turning to discern the way left and right. As they moved, they took brief sips of water from their water caskets without stopping. With their long strides and hours behind them, they finally arrived at a portion of the forest that they believed led to the crypts. The area looks almost surreal. The entrance was fenced with a small gate. The structure had an ancient appearance, but it looked almost new. There were ancient runes and carvings on it that looked almost too perfect to have been done by human hands. The structure, of course, had a deeper underground section, but the entrance of the crypt and its surrounding buildings looked like a set of four peas in a pod.These structures looked like they were made of red clay, with some parts finished with white clay and gold, but they looked majestic. Almost surreal. As they neared the crypts, they sensed its atmosphere, which

Shambala, Grover, Krystal, and Vladimir stood on one side of the enclosure, while Skinny and Chunky stood on the other side. They looked like they were about to have a face-off. Some face-off this might be. It looked like a lost battle. To the guild, it appeared to be a critically uneven match.Shambala had decided that they would play along with the two clowns in front of them, thereby hooking them into their own trap.Shambala said, “I hear you want to take us on in a fight in order to get the artifact, right?” Chunky spoke up rather loudly and said, “He speaks!” turning to Skinny to exclaim, as though making a new discovery. When they both laughed, Skinny asked Chunky, “So what did the old man say?”Grover, angered, answered them, “Are you too timid to fight, or all you know how to do is laugh?”At this, they laughed even louder. They may not have realized it, but they had just successfully confirmed Shambala’s theory on the fact that they were only sent to stall the guild. The or

Krystal fought not to listen to what the pair were saying: “I will actually admit that with all your fancy artifacts and all your fancy display and sword skills, you’re much improved.” After laughing, he added, “But no matter what you do, you will still remain weak in our eyes, and there is nothing you can do about this.” How dare they! He shut up his mind not to pay attention to it. But as the fight wore on, he realized that he had heard what he had not intended to hear. His spirit was growing weary.And as he looked around, noting the mannerisms of his team members, he realized they had lost their zeal. They were tired!Their spirit as a group was being attacked by the words of their opponents, who knew just what to say to discourage them from fighting further.The only person who seemed not to be affected was Shambala. His moves were perfunctory, aimed at one thing only: keeping his team from harm. As he did so, he thought exasperatedly, ‘Ob the annoying vigor of youth! Look where

Getting to Shambala’s door, they stopped without moving for a while. Grover knocked, but there was no answer. He knocked again, louder this time, but there was still no answer. They debated whether they should open the door or return the following morning. Vladimir said they should talk to him and get over it, but Grover was leaning towards leaving him be for the moment. They could always return the following morning.“And if he still does not respond tomorrow morning?” Vladimir asked tersely.“Then we open the door. But there’s no need to rush in and invade his privacy tonight.” Grover retorted quietly. Krystal signaled for them to move a little further away from Shambala’s doorstep to continue this discussion. They stopped in front of Krystal’s door.He said to Vladimir, “I agree with Grover. There’s no need to rush in and disturb Shambala as though we have not done enough by disobeying him.” Vladimir huffed in reply, “I just want us to be done with this.”.Krystal thought of how