The river of pain was gradually widening, its waters calming and growing deeper the farther they moved away from the Third City. Its glimmering black surface reflected a sky that had shifted from the blue of day to the dusk's darkness.
Onboard the two weathered boats, the group sat in tense silence. Aliana and Sariel were in the first boat, while Nayari and Limon occupied the second. Sariel had regained some of his strength, but his pale face and weary, bloodshot eyes bore witness to years of torment in the temple of the Third City.
"Why are you doing this?" Sariel asked Aliana suddenly, his voice quiet but clear. "Why risk your life to gather the Guardians and the Crystals?"
Aliana gazed at the dark waters for a moment, then looked at her blue crystal. "At first, it was just a message from Cairn… from the Shadow. The idea that the Eighth City was essential to restoring balance."
She paused briefly, then continued, "But now, after seeing what the Oblivion System has done to the world, after witnessing your suffering, after understanding how the truth has been distorted over centuries… it's become more than just a message. It's a responsibility."
Sariel gave a faint smile. "A responsibility to fix what others have broken."
"Perhaps," Aliana agreed. "Or maybe it's a destiny Cairn the Shadow wrote from the very beginning."
Limon rowed quietly, listening to their conversation. "You know, there's an old legend in the Fifth City. It says the Seven Cities weren't always separate. They were originally one city, divided when the truth imposed itself in seven different aspects."
"Memories, dreams, pain, love, fear, peace, death," Nayari listed the aspects. "The seven dimensions of human existence."
"And the Eighth City?" Sariel asked.
"Balance," Aliana answered. "Or at least, that's how I understood it from Cairn the Shadow's messages. A place where the seven aspects unite once more."
Sariel stopped rowing and pointed ahead, where the river began to widen significantly, with the banks gradually fading from view.
"The Lost Sea," he announced softly.
Gradually, the scene unfolded before them: an expansive stretch of water extending endlessly, its dark surface shimmering with points of light, as if reflecting stars that didn't exist in the sky above. A faint mist floated on the surface, giving the scene an ethereal quality, and in the distance, a faint, mysterious shoreline was barely visible.
"The City of Love," Aliana whispered. "The Fourth City."
"But… where exactly is it?" Limon asked, squinting into the mist.
"The Fourth City isn't like the others," Sariel explained. "It moves, following the desires of hearts. It appears differently to each visitor."
"How do we find it, then?" Nayari asked.
"We follow the crystal," Sariel said, gesturing to the green crystal of the Fourth Guardian. "And… we follow the heart."
As they entered the waters of the Lost Sea, the three crystals—the blue, orange, and red—began to glow more intensely, as if responding to something in this place.
"The fourth crystal is near," Aliana said.
Limon, who had been staring into the water, suddenly pulled his hand back in alarm. "There… there are things moving beneath the surface!"
Indeed, there were shadowy figures swimming beneath the two boats, their forms vaguely human, moving slowly and occasionally nearing the surface without breaking through.
"The Drowned," Sariel said. "Spirits of those who lost themselves in the Sea of Desires. Legends say they search for a way back to the surface, but the sea keeps them forever, as a reminder of the price of misguided love."
Nayari shivered. "This place… it feels strange. Like sorrow and joy mixed together."
"That's love. The perfect contradiction," Sariel said.
The boats continued forward, now propelled more by unseen currents than by their rowing. It seemed as though the sea itself was guiding them along a predetermined path. The mist grew thicker, wrapping around them like something alive, obscuring visibility to only a few meters in every direction.
"We'll lose our way," Limon said anxiously.
"No," Nayari reassured him, her crystal glowing brightly. "The sea is leading us where we need to be."
As they sailed through the mist, each of them began to see strange things at the edges of their vision: faces, shapes, memories. Ghosts of the past or reflections of buried desires.
Aliana saw herself as a young child, running through a sunlit square. Then she saw Eidolith before the Great Oblivion, a radiant city lost to time.
Nayari saw her nightmares manifest and dissolve, like waves crashing on an unseen shore.
Limon glimpsed the Fifth City as it had been centuries ago, before it became the City of Dreams, when it was merely a simple village of builders.
As for Sariel, who had suffered the most among them, he saw nothing but peace—moments of calm and rest that had long been denied to him.
"This water reflects the deepest desires of the heart," Sariel whispered. "Don't look too long. Those who stare at their desires for too long may lose themselves in them."
Suddenly, the mist cleared, revealing a breathtaking sight: a small island floating in the middle of the sea, formed of interwoven strips of land, shaped like a giant heart. On it stood delicate structures resembling crystalline pillars, connected by winding bridges of light, emitting a faint, melodic tune—a harmony of sorrow and joy intertwined.
"The City of Love," Aliana said in awe.
"I never imagined it would be this beautiful," Limon admitted.
The boats approached the edge of the island, where a small dock glowed with a soft pink hue. At its end stood a lone woman, tall and graceful, wearing a flowing green gown that seemed to ripple like water. Her long black hair was adorned with strands of shimmering jewels, and her serene face radiated deep tranquility. On her forehead, a green crystal pulsed gently in harmony with the others.
"The Fourth Guardian," Nayari whispered.
They reached the dock and secured the boats. The woman in the green gown smiled at them, a warm, welcoming smile.
"Welcome to the City of the Heart," she said in a melodic voice. "I am Selene, Guardian of the Fourth Crystal. I've been waiting for you."
They disembarked and approached her. The three crystals—the blue, orange, and red—glowed more brightly now, resonating with the green crystal.
"You've been waiting for us?" Aliana asked.
"The sea told me," Selene smiled. "The sea knows everyone who comes to it with a sincere heart. The Fourth City felt your arrival the moment you began gathering the crystals."
She looked at each of them in turn, as if reading their stories in their eyes. Then she lingered on Sariel, her eyes filling with tears.
"Oh, tormented healer," she said gently, stepping toward him. "How much you have suffered. How much you have given of yourself."
She extended her hand and touched his forehead, where the red crystal rested. At her touch, a soft green light flowed from her crystal to his, and Sariel's face began to regain its color. His bloodshot eyes softened, faintly tinged with a calm green.
"Pain and love are two sides of the same truth," Selene said. "One cannot exist without the other." She turned to Eliana. "The Keeper of Memories. You've come to invite me to join your journey, haven't you? To help reveal the Eighth City."
"Yes," Eliana confirmed. "We need the seven crystals and the seven guardians before the Great Eclipse arrives."
Selene nodded. "The sea has shown me what is to come, and the danger that lies in wait for you. The White Axis… one from an ancient order that refuses to die."
"Do you know about him?" Lemon asked in surprise.
"I know he's coming. The sea knows," Selene said, gesturing toward the waves. "It sensed his presence an hour ago, approaching the northern borders with a group of Axis followers."
"How did he find out where we are?" Nayari wondered aloud.
"The Axis have their own ways of tracking the crystals," Selene explained. "And now, he knows we're gathering the guardians instead of returning to Eidolith."
"Then there's no time to waste," Eliana said firmly. "We must leave immediately and head toward the Fifth Crystal."
"Not before you rest and eat," Selene said gently but firmly. "The sea will protect us for a few hours. The Fourth City can hide itself from unwelcome eyes."
As she spoke, the entire island began to shift slowly, gliding across the surface of the Lost Sea, moving away from their point of arrival.
"The city is moving…" Lemon said in amazement.
"The Fourth City never stays in one place," Selene smiled. "Like a heartbeat, it pulses and moves constantly. That's what makes it so elusive to our enemies."
Selene led them through the winding pathways of the city. The place was unlike any city they had ever seen: no defined streets, but flowing paths that shifted and transformed; no solid buildings, but semi-transparent structures that shimmered with changing colors; no traditional inhabitants, but ghostly figures that passed by, like phantoms or memories, bowing their heads respectfully to Selene.
"Who are they?" Nayari asked.
"Servants of the sea," Selene replied. "Spirits who chose to remain here to serve the Fourth City. Some are the drowned who found their way to the surface after centuries, and others are visitors who chose not to leave."
"And where are the actual residents of the city?" Lemon asked.
Selene gestured to the surrounding sea. "There. Everywhere. The Fourth City isn't inhabited in the traditional sense. It lives in the hearts of everyone who knows love. It is an idea more than a place."
They arrived at a central circular hall, its ceiling a crystalline dome reflecting the seawater above, as if they were looking up from beneath the ocean. A low table stood in the center, laden with brightly colored food and drink.
"Rest, eat," Selene invited them. "Then I will tell you what I know about the Eighth City."
They sat around the table and began eating with relish—exotic fruits, silvery nectar resembling honey, bread that melted in their mouths, leaving them with a sense of warmth and comfort.
Selene sat quietly, observing them with a serene smile. "After all I've witnessed, I still find joy in watching others find peace and comfort, even if only for a moment."
"How did you find the crystal?" Saril asked, his voice stronger now after Selene's healing touch.
"The crystal found me," Selene said. "I was just a girl from a village on the edge of the Lost Sea. I would come every day to watch the sunset over the waters. On the Day of Great Remembrance, as I gazed at the waves, it emerged from the water, floating toward me. When I touched it…"
She pointed to the green crystal embedded in her forehead. "It fused with me. And with it, I gained the ability to feel the love of everyone around me, to see the connections between hearts, and to heal broken ones."
"And what happened after that?" Eliana asked.
"I joined the Fourth City… or what remained of it after five hundred years of the Keepers' attempts to erase it," Selene sighed. "I helped rebuild the bridges between divided hearts, reminding people of their capacity for love and feeling. It was slow, difficult work at times… but the most rewarding."
"And what do you know about the Eighth City?" Nayari asked.
Selene poured more of the silvery drink into their cups. "The Eighth City… it isn't like the others. It's a meeting point, a balance between all seven aspects of existence. The ancient traditions of the Fourth City say it will only appear when the seven guardians unite, and the seven crystals come together, at the moment of the Great Eclipse."
"But it's not just an Eighth City, is it?" Saril said, his voice thoughtful. "There's something greater at play. Something tied to cosmic cycles."
"Yes," Selene confirmed. "According to the old texts, we're living in the seventh cycle of existence. Each cycle ends with the emergence of the Eighth City, which becomes the gateway to the next cycle."
"And the White Axis is trying to prevent that," Eliana said, the picture becoming clearer. "He wants to keep the world in the current cycle, under the rule of the Order of Oblivion."
"But why?" Lemon asked. "If the cycles are a law of the universe, why resist them?"
"Fear," Selene said simply. "Fear of change, of losing control. The Axis were guardians of the old order, and in their minds, order is more important than truth itself."
Nayari, who had been quiet all this time, suddenly opened her eyes wide, gasping. "I see him! The White Axis… he's on the sea now, searching for us."
"How did he know where we were so quickly?" Lemon wondered.
"The White Axis possesses abilities beyond our understanding," Selene said, rising swiftly. "He's breached the sea's protection. We must leave now."
"To where?" Saril asked.
"The Fifth City is too far, and the Third City is dangerous," Eliana thought quickly. "The Sixth City? The City of Peace?"
Selene shook her head. "The Sixth City lies beyond the Shadow Mountains; it would take too long to reach. But the Fifth City…" She hesitated. "The City of Fear is close. Through the Whispering Marshes, east of the Lost Sea."
"The City of Fear?" Lemon asked warily. "Is it safe?"
"Nowhere is completely safe," Selene said, leading the group toward a back door in the hall. "But the Fifth Crystal is there, along with the Fifth Guardian. If we can reach them before the White Axis, we'll be one step closer to completing the circle."
They arrived at a small dock on the eastern side of the island, where a small sailing ship waited, its sails made of a fabric resembling translucent green silk.
"The Heart Ship," Selene said. "It will carry you across the sea quickly and safely, hiding you from the Axis' sight."
"Aren't you coming with us?" Nayari asked.
"I will," Selene assured her. "But I must take some measures first. I'll protect the Fourth City and then meet you on the eastern shore."
Lemon looked unconvinced. "How will you find us?"
Selene smiled and gestured toward his heart. "I'll feel you. That's my gift."
They all boarded the ship, which began to move on its own as soon as they settled on it, the green sails billowing with a wind they couldn't feel on their faces.
"Take this," Selene handed them a small pouch. "Food from the Fourth City. It will sustain your strength and heal your wounds."
"Thank you," Eliana said gratefully. "I'll see you soon," promised Celine, standing on the dock as the ship drifted away. "Remember... fear is the opposite of love, but it is also its other face. Do not lose your hearts in the Fifth City."
As the ship sailed further from the island, the Fourth City began to fade into the mist, like a dream dissipating upon waking.
Onboard the ship, the four - Alyana, Nayari, Sariel, and Limon - stood watching the fog swallow the city, their crystals glowing together in rhythmic harmony. Ahead of them, to the east, dark shores began to emerge, covered with twisted, pale trees and a dense black fog creeping over the land.
"The Whispering Swamps," said Sariel. "The gateway to the Fifth City."
"The City of Fear," whispered Nayari, her eyes fixed on the ominous coast.
Above them in the sky, the sun and the moon continued their course toward a destined meeting, the great eclipse drawing nearer with every passing moment. Somewhere behind them, the White Pivot pursued relentlessly, determined to prevent the circle from being completed.
A race against time toward the Eighth City had entered its critical phase, and the game grew more perilous with every step.