Stop! You've Violated the Law!
They say that going through the World Gate for the first time is always an unnerving experience. Kalastros had tried explaining it to Haalfrin by describing a strange sense of weightless and lack of air. Personnel are always trained to have spells on them to keep air around them, so they don't die of suffocation or zero pressure.
However, Haalfrin has already felt what it's like to be in a vacuum, though that was, admittedly, a long time ago. At most, going through the World Gate and quickly zipping through the empty space between worlds makes him feel nastolgic for his trip to the Death Realm with Das.
The only thing that's different between this and his last trip in empty space is that he seems to be flying through a tunnel made entirely of colorful, streaking lights.
Also, it may be because he's turning about unpredictably, or because space is warped in this tunnel, but Haalfrin is feeling a bit nauseous too.
Just as suddenly as his journey through the Gate begins, so does it end.
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Haalfrin emerges on the other side of the gate, and he resists the urge to fall on his knees and vomit. Instead, he looks up and sees a large room with no less than 20 guards in immediate sight. He tries using his spirit vision to see further into the fortress, but the entire room seems to be laced with spirit stones, so he's unable to do that.
Other than the spirit stone problem inhibiting his powers, Haalfrin looks around and feels that this room actually looks quite ordinary, minus the colorful green gate right behind him. There aren't any windows to look out from, and the stone room is otherwise completely bare.
Even more importantly… "Why is there so much Death Aura in the air?" Haalfrin wonders silently. "I mean, there's not nearly as much as the Death Realm, but that stuff is supposed to dissipate over time. Why is it lingering?"
The guards all turn to Haalfrin, and one of them steps forward with his spear outstretched. "You!" the man commands Haalfrin, "Where's your identification?"
"Uh, I dropped it."
The guards don't even pause to consider Haalfrin answer. Instead, the captain points his spear at Haalfrin and says, "You don't have your token on you. Hold your hands up! You're under arrest."
Instead of complying, Haalfrin smiles and puts his hands in his pockets and says aloud, "Ah! I finally understand why all the Threshold soldiers have to be trained to withstand Death Aura; there's so much permeating the place!"
He looks down at the guard and reaches out with an outstretched finger. "Get the pointy thing away; that's rude."
The gruff captain immediately lunges forward with one foot while thrusting forward with his spear. Haalfrin slaps it aside, kicks the captain foot and attempts to sweep his feet out from under him.
Just in time, the captain moves his body reinforcement spell to his legs; if Haalfrin didn't have the strength of a dragon behind him, the man would've remained on his feet and been in the perfect position to counter attack.
Instead, the man's leg is instantly broken because of the titanic strength behind Haalfrin's kick, and he tumbles to the ground.
Haalfrin doesn't bother wasting any more time on the fallen captain. Instead, he waves his hand to one side, and the rest of the guards are hurled out of his path to the door.
Normally, Haalfrin would've just smashed his way through the wall in a straight line until he gets out of the fortress, but he remembers Dakka's warning about all the stone blocks being indestructible here.
Once Haalfrin makes it through the door, he sees a seemingly endless hallway with doors every which way on either side.
Of course, it's common for strongholds of any sort to intentionally make their interior's hard to navigate. Obviously, the true way forward isn't something so obvious as straight ahead.
So, Haalfrin starts tearing down the hallway, opening doorways and checking out their interiors. Most of these places are dead ends, but a few fork out into other places.
"Ugh," Haalfrin sighs, "This'll take a while."
To save time, Haalfrin calls on his army of Wills and gives them a very simple instruction. "Explore the inside of this fortress, then report back to me…" Before they can enthusiastically cause chaos, Haalfrin adds, "Also, don't kill anyone. I don't want enemy Wills getting in our way."
Haalfrin DOES have another reason for sparing all the Threshold soldiers. After his first impression of those 6 men just outside the gate, he has become a little interested in them; no point in killing them when he just wants to leave, right?
Once the Wills receive his order, they all pour out of his soul and disperse down the hallways…
The Wills don't even get very far down the halls before powerful enchantments emitting blue lights flare up on the tiles, and copper-colored spiritual blades start shooting up from the ground – attacking the Wills as they attempt to flee.
Of course, the Wills aren't pushovers either, and they fight back against the fortress's enchantments as they attempt to carry out their task.
Some of the weaker Wills directly dissipate, while others are injured and sent back to rest in his soul upon being wounded by the Aura blades in the floor.
Even still, there are FAR too many Wills for the Threshold's defenses to hold back.
Thus, a giant silver tide of little spirit wisps flood the hallways – gradually spreading out and filling the entire fortress. Since all the walls are laced with spirit stone, all the Wills have to go through any windows or doors available.
Haalfrin stands in place, waiting for the Wills to come back and lead the way for him. While he waits, hundreds of guards pour through the hallways with their weapons ready.
For the most part, Haalfrin ignores the guards as they futilely try to pierce his skin with their weapons. Ever since he's gotten his Dra Name and Dakka's power together, his skin has become as hard as dragon scales. He doesn't have to worry about damage from ordinary weapons, now that he thinks about it.
Every now and then, he flicks the soldiers aside when they get too annoying. Seeing he's not fighting back, some of the guards try talking him into surrendering. However, the dragon slayer just ignores them.
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By the time the flood of Wills has found the outside air, more than a third of them is already out of commission – 5% of those being completely gone from Haalfrin's soul, while the rest are recuperating.
Before Haalfrin can give the order for all the Wills to come back, a powerful surge of energy washes through the fortress, and Haalfrin feels something in his soul quake.
Because he has his spiritual vision on, the brilliant blue spiritual light nearly blinds him, and he reels back. In horror, he feels all the spiritual entities in the entire fortress writhe in pain before being wiped out in one massive attack.
Luckily, most of the Wills sensed the attack beforehand and lept back into his soul just before they were nearly killed.
Still… what WAS that?
Haalfrin may not know, but it's one of the emergency enchantments placed in the Threshold's enchantment nexus. It's basically a bomb that's set off in the Spirit Realm. Spiritual entities without bodies are the most vulnerable, though living people are still harmed by it slightly.
However, every member of the Threshold has trained their spirit to be extremely sturdy. People like them (and Haalfrin) are mostly unharmed by the bomb.
Of course, the people most effected by these Spirit Bombs are the Rehkin races, since they're being who exist partially in the Spirit Realm at all times. In some sense, they're more spiritual than actual ghosts or Wills.
In the end, only 1 Will is still available to be summoned, though it's barely hanging onto existence. Kaalhyme's Will floats out of his soul and dutifully bobs up in the air, as if to say, "Follow me, commander!"
Haalfrin tears his way through the guards as if they aren't there, as he runs after the silver Will. Over and over again, deadly traps are sprung all around him; Ceilings collapse, walls smash together, arrows shoot out of hidden places, and powerful explosions are set off. The traps are seemingly random, yet they set off every few moments as he runs through the halls.
One thing Haalfrin notices is that most of these traps are actually mechanical. Why no enchantments?
"…Ah," Haalfrin remembers, "I remember Master told me about this. Enchanting requires spirit magic (among other things). The Rehkin have extremely strong spirits, and they can rip most enchantments apart with their bare hands. Having all the traps being enchantments would be a little silly."
Of course, the only exception would be the Time locking enchantment; since things with this enchantment can't change. Since destruction is a form of change, not even the Rehkin can destroy it.
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"How are we supposed to stop this monster?" one of the guards complains while looking at the trail of devastation.
"Don't bother," his captain says with a grim face. "The Commander gave the order. Apparently, the man released all those pseudo-spirits in order to find the outside, so we know his intentions at least. The traps in the interior are meant to slow down dragons in time to seal off the World Gate – not stop them. It's also meant to kill smaller infantry, like the Rehkin."
"Yeah," one of the other captains says to the recruit. "Most of the heavy weaponry is on the walls and lining the caverns. Once he gets outside, the invader is probably dead."