Stepping into the tear their vision was filled with swirling colors that slowly drained of color.
"That's interesting. The last two tears had colors all the way through, but this one loses its color?" Chronos wondered as the world slowed down.
Once the world stopped spinning what appeared in his vision was a white, gray, and black landscape.
The plains unfolded around them like ribbons, all of them were connected without any floating islands but there were plenty of holes in the plains and strips of land flowing in an unseen wind around them.
He had to adjust his stance as the ground under him moved like a rug being gently shaken.
As he stared at the new landscape trying to make sense of it the space behind him twisted and the rest of the army materialized from swirling air.
As they materialized Chronos was able to sense space twisting, forming a shifting tunnel that connected the real world with this fake world and his understanding of space slightly increased.
"Didn't you say that this would be a land of floating islands that we needed to cross?" Magar asked while giving a confused look at his surroundings.
"We also said that rules don't make sense here. For all we knew we could appear a thousand feet off the ground and fall forever. Sariah, Lyla can one of you explain why the world is gray?" Chronos said.
Both of them had been curiously looking around the plains with keen interest. Slightly separated from them Gregory was piercing the ground with his threads looking for answers of his own.
"I think the tear is trying to imitate the real world so that it can become a thorn. The black and white colors are because it is still missing something crucial to expand. Perhaps energy or lifeforce?" Sariah responded.
Well, that was comforting. If it hadn't expanded very far yet it could be a small space that they had to search. Or the tear might try to drain them of life to support its expansion.
Lyla plucked some grass and watched as it dissolved in her hand turning into a slime-like substance and falling to the ground. When it touched the ground, it reformed itself turning back into grass.
"I agree. I can't feel any lifeforce coming from these plains."
That gave Chronos an idea, reaching into his storage he took out a pyramid shaped item. It was identical to the one he had made for the crucible castle's core room and made from the same materials.
When he was leaving the crucible castle he had stolen... ah ahem borrowed an alloy bar and shaped it into a pyramid so that he could continue looking into other layers.
Currently he was still limited by the layers he was connected to, but he hoped to increase the number of layers he could see soon.
Turning the pyramid, he looked through it into the vitality layer. Normally this layer would have lights floating around it and lifelines would become visible on all living creatures, but the only light here came from their own bodies.
Nothing in this place had any life force in it.
Flipping the pyramid over he looked through each side only to find the same emptiness as the vitality layer. No power from any layer was present in this place.
Lyla, having finished casting blessings over the knights, came to speak with him.
"Find anything useful?"
"No, just an empty.. black... void."
Hang on, this place was void of any power just like the void skills he had seen in the system, but it also produced a form of life in the black beasts. That was if you could call them alive in their strange imitation state of existence.
But it was impossible for there to be a void space inside of the world.
The void slowly broke down and destroyed anything connected to it which is why it was never in contact with a layer connected to the real world. It would be separated from the world by multiple other layers and the power of the world itself.
The stronger the world was the more it pushed the void back making it easier to produce more life and further strengthen the world. Making the void one of the furthest places from anything with life.
So having a void space inside of a world just wasn't possible... at least according to the books he had read.
Before he could ponder further on this momentary inspiration the ground burst open as burrow drakes swarmed out.
Ducking he swung Echoforge at a drake that jumped at his head.
"Why and how are these annoying pests coming out of the ground fast enough to launch themselves?" He idly asked.
Fighting rank one beasts wasn't any fun for him now.
"The ground is really soft, even my threads can easily pierce through it. With such soft ground the drakes can move incredibly fast underground." Gregory commented while dragging three small drakes to the surface and killing them.
"That's troublesome. We won't be able to harden the ground if it's this soft." Magar said while slamming the butt of his staff into the ground.
The earth around him trembled softly while death screeches echoed from underground.
Watching the knights they had brought with them Chronos saw that they were skillfully killing the drakes while ensuring their own safety. Once they were finished everyone stood at attention awaiting orders.
"Well, they're more obedient than I thought they'd be." Chronos muttered.
"Master Magar has trained many of us and is treated like a grandfather by most of us. Disappointing him wouldn't sit well with any of us." One of the knights nearby whispered back.
Magar was smacking the ground with his staff before he shook his head.
"We can't follow our plan, constructing a camp on these plains is impossible. Let's find the core of this tear and deal with it as fast as possible. Chronos, please lead the way."
Nodding Chronos and Gregory sensed their surroundings and compared notes before choosing a direction.
The surroundings were just as empty as the other layers had been giving off no sense of power or energy, so they had chosen to follow the movement of the land instead.
While the land was shaped like ribbons it moved in the air like a flag blowing in a gentle breeze. Giving them a possible direction by following where the land was being blown towards. Hopefully they would find the crystal absorbing energy at its center and causing these ripples to be pulled towards it.
While walking in the direction it was billowing, they watched as some ribbons connected to others fused together then separated again in the same way the grass had turned to slime when Lyla plucked it.
They would have to watch their step if they didn't want to get separated when the land pulled against itself. Realizing this Magar immediately gave orders to those following him.
"Everyone, stay close together. Form up into groups of six with one mage and one priest in each group. If you get separated, then march with the wind until we meet again." He shouted.
Behind them everyone shifted as they got into groups and Lyla and Sariah both walked closer to Chronos and Gregory.
Several hours passed with them seeing nothing more than the shifting land. They couldn't even find any more black beasts, but Chronos thought the beasts were stalking them in secret.
Despite walking across what looked like a gently rolling plain there were plenty of dips you couldn't see the bottom of from the top of a hill. In this place where the ground constantly shifted there were countless places where things could hide just out of sight.
There could be an army of monsters right on the other side of the hill and they wouldn't see them until they were practically on top of them. That was the secret trap of rolling hills and plains.
"We haven't found anything yet so let's stop here for a meal." Magar called out after several hours.
Everyone agreed as they took out some hot pans and had the fire mages cast long lasting fire magic for them to cook with. While nobody had complained, walking for hours had tired them out and they were ready for a break.
When they stopped Chronos whispered to Gregory, "Go gather some information from the others. I need to know how Magar has managed the region and what he is famous for."
"What are you up to?" Gregory looked at him suspiciously.
"Hopefully nothing but I need to know what he's like before we leave the tear."
"Alright."
As Gregory wandered off Chronos chose to visit with the knight that had whispered to him earlier. He seemed more talkative than the other knights.
"Greetings, I'm Chronos and for the foreseeable future I'll be your tour guide in this tear. Do you good fellows mind answering a few questions for me?" He said with a chipper voice.
"You are entirely too enthusiastic to be inside of enemy territory. I'm Roger, that's Nick, Daren, and Conrad. What do you need from us?" He said while pointing to each knight and the only mage in their group.
"Earlier you said that Magar was practically your grandpa. How long has Magar been around here?"