The talisman retrieved from Captain Elric's lifeless grasp did not yield its secrets easily.
For weeks, Felix Mavis secluded himself within the sealed chamber of The Mystic Well Sanctum, a workshop reinforced with layered wards and insulation talismans to suppress magical feedback. The strange talisman—now encased in a transparent crystal container—hovered in the center of his table, rotating slowly under the influence of a suspended stasis glyph.
Felix had seen hundreds of talismans in his lifetime. He had mastered designs from common fire seals to early, rare constructs used by elite cultivators. But this one—one-this midnight-black parchment with its spiraling violet ink—refused to be understood.
Its surface shimmered with layered complexity, and every attempt to dissect its structure resulted in spiritual backlash. It repelled probing threads of spiritual sense. It defied elemental testing. It even resisted being copied by traditional ink and paper.
Three weeks in, Felix sat cross-legged, exhausted and pale. Only the steady breathing meditation granted by his cultivation method, the Breath of the Mystic Vessel, allowed him to keep working without collapsing.
He shifted mental focus, allowing his essence vision to activate. The world around him dulled. The talisman bloomed in radiant layers of energy lines and structures—hundreds of them, folded atop one another, some looping infinitely, others branching like veins.
His eyes widened.
"This isn't just a talisman," he whispered. "It's a gate. A mechanism."
He copied what he could, translating sections onto spirit parchment, mimicking small segments to test responses. Each fragment gave a piece of the puzzle. The core glyphs, once isolated, revealed flows of energy demand far beyond ordinary talisman tiers.
Then came the breakthrough.
A month after beginning his study, Felix finally deciphered a critical portion of the layered array. The talisman wasn't meant to release an attack or summon power. It was a key.
"It opens something," Felix breathed. "A seal or lock may be a space."
Only a cultivator in the Core Realm or higher could activate the complete array safely. Any attempt below that level would overload the body with spiritual backlash. That explained Elric's death. He had activated it instinctively, perhaps trying to escape. But the surge of power had torn him apart.
Felix leaned back, stunned.
Not only was the talisman epic-tier—something most artisans never saw in their lives—but it was tied to dimensional magic. This was a lost art.
Dimensional realms were rare pockets of reality, created through ancient rituals or formed by the natural collapse of spiritual boundaries. Legends spoke of treasure vaults hidden inside, or realms used as prisons or sanctuaries during ancient wars.
Felix stared at the original talisman, heart racing.
He now understood what it could do. But not where.
"We need to find the door," he murmured. "Where does it lead?"
Imperial Knight August stood at the stone balcony. Below, guards trained in the courtyard, their movements sharp but distant in his mind. His thoughts were occupied by the talisman, and the artisan now studying it.
A soldier approached from behind and saluted. "My Lord. Master Mavis requests an audience. He says he's got some important information."
August turned without a word, boots echoing as he strode through the corridor to the Hall of Stone.
There, Felix stood beside a table of spirit-infused parchment, diagrams floating in the air—talisman blueprints, layers upon layers of glowing ink suspended by his will.
August approached, gaze narrowing at the complexity. "You've made progress?"
Felix nodded slowly. "More than I expected and less than I hoped."
He motioned to one of the diagrams. "What we retrieved from Captain Elric wasn't just a talisman. It's an epic-tier key designed to unlock a dimensional realm."
August's brow furrowed. "A realm? As in a separate space?"
"Yes. Like those in old records—forgotten battlegrounds sealed by ancient clans, or treasure sanctuaries hidden during the Age of Warring Kings. This talisman accesses one of them."
August's voice was low. "Why would Captain Elric carry something like this?"
"He didn't activate it intentionally," Felix said. "It requires immense spiritual strength—Core Realm at least. He was likely trying to use it in desperation, and the backlash killed him."
August folded his arms. "And now that we know what it is, can we open it?"
Felix hesitated. "Not yet. The talisman is only part of the mechanism. It's a key, but the door still has to be found."
August nodded slowly. "How would we even locate such a door?"
Felix pointed to a new diagram—a spiraling glyph. "The design contains a resonance anchor. It's designed to activate when near its intended gateway. I believe, with the right tools, I can tune a detection talisman to sense the spatial harmonics this key responds to."
"So you can make a compass for the door," August summarized.
"In a manner of speaking," Felix agreed. "But it won't be easy. This is lost craft. Epic-tier design is rare for a reason. Most artisans never reach this complexity."
August's eyes narrowed. "You have."
Felix didn't smile. "Because I had no choice."
There was a pause, heavy with unspoken weight.
"If we locate the door and open it," August said slowly, "what will we find?"
Felix's expression turned thoughtful. "Anything. A ruined sanctuary. A treasure vault. A monster's prison. That's the danger—and the promise."
August paced a step, then turned. "You will continue your work with full backing. Take what you need. Supplies. Assistants. Protection."
Felix nodded. "Then I'll begin building the resonance talisman. But I'll need access to your map archives—ancient ones. Anything detailing spiritual disturbances or vanishings near Redmarsh Vale."
"Granted," August said without hesitation. "And Felix..."
Felix looked up.
"If this is truly a realm locked away by ancients," August said, voice grave, "then others may be seeking it."
Felix's eyes narrowed. "Then you must find it first."
That night, alone in his study, Felix stared at the original talisman again. This time, he didn't try to probe or decipher. He simply watched.
And in its spiraling rune, for the first time, he felt something watching back.
Not hostile and malevolent.
Something was waiting on the other side of that door.