Half-step Purgatory

Durin stroked the black cat on the armrest of his chair, sitting on the black leather sofa. Through the glasses perched on his nose, his gaze passed over the long table in front of him and settled on the man kneeling on the carpet:
"I understand, you've made money in Naples, your business has been very successful, and you've led a happy life. You've had those secret police, friends in both the law and the underground, and even the Royal Family speaking on your behalf."
"You don't need a friend like me, I know that. You're afraid of owing me a favor, and you don't want to get involved in troubles."
"But now you come to me and say, 'I beg you, Mr. Durin of the Corleon family, please help me seek justice, so that my life and my family will not suffer and sink into despair.'
Yet, in your eyes, I was nothing more than a second-rate artist involved in movies and music. Even at the brink of death, you still show me such disrespect, not even willing to call me by my title... Keeper of Secrets."

Durin's Diary

Old Enrique dropped the chess piece in his hand, ending the self-challenging game before him, as the old man glanced toward the distant and damaged Teleportation Gate.


This location, situated at the very center of the Circle of Truth, was a restricted area accessible only to the Elders.


Beneath that massive tree, lay an ancient Teleportation Gate.


Distinct from the other Teleportation Arrays on this land, it was crafted from metal, a relic from the Old Era, the one who brought them here those years ago, to rebuild paradise, and told the Elders of that time that someday, the one they chose, would pass through this gate to the human world.


Then, the Grassland Elves had guarded this place for hundreds of years. Elders came and went in succession, with eleven old men and women arriving and departing, no one knew when that day would finally arrive.


Chapter 198: At All Costs