[In the Eastern Forest]
"Where is he?!" A man dressed like a knight—in shining armor, face covered with a helmet, only his brown eyes visible—and about seven feet tall, shouted at Raman. His voice echoed through the whole forest, vibrating with fury.
"He should have arrived by morning, it's evening already," the Knight continued in the same tone.
"I don't know, sir!" Raman replied in a trembling voice. "He must be lost. It was night time, and the path is confusing."
"I don't care about him! I want the package! Or you know who you would be making angry, right?" the Knight threatened Raman.
"Or is it that you kept it for yourself to make more money, you greedy man?" the Knight accused, grabbing Raman by the collar.
"No sir. I would never do that! I don't want to die early." Raman trembled violently.
"You better be." The Knight released his collar. Raman fell onto the forest floor. He scrambled up, frantically clearing the dirt from his clothes. "I told him to move on east. After the path ends, he must be somewhere in that direction," Raman stammered.
"Everyone follow this man and find the boy, especially the package, no matter what," the Knight ordered his men.
"Yes, Captain!" the men replied as they surrounded Raman.
The group consisted of tall, armored figures dressed entirely in black. Some carried swords, others bows; each one radiated danger.
"Did you sense something?" the Knight asked quietly.
A figure emerged from the shadows—a woman in a dark robe, her face half-hidden, a wand tipped with a glowing green stone resting loosely in her hand.
"I sense some magic, but it is erased. I cannot trace it," the woman replied in a calm, flat tone, devoid of emotion.
"Is that so. Things don't look good. What is she going to do now?" the Knight muttered, his voice laced with concern.
[Somewhere in the Universe]
Far away, in a throne room shrouded in darkness, a deep voice echoed.
"So you couldn't feed him the stone he conquered?" A man with a very heavy voice spoke, sitting on the throne in darkness such that his face could not be visible.
"I am truly sorry, your majesty. My men are finding it. I will make sure that we will find it in time," the Witch from the forest shrine replied, kneeling in front of the throne, her head bowed in absolute submission.
"You better be. Or you know what he is like when someone takes things belonging to him."
The man paused, his voice gaining cold intensity. "That stone is extremely powerful. No normal person in a mid-level world can contain it. Someone else also might be behind it."
"I will look into that also, sir," the Witch replied obediently.
"Now leave," the man ordered, dismissing her with a flick of his fingers.
[In the Spirit Realm]
Ajay rubbed his arms, trying to make sense of where he had ended up. He still felt like the world was spinning.
"Listen," the old man said gently, "things won't be the same anymore. You entered a different realm, and the Watchers might have noticed. We should move quickly."
"Watchers?" Ajay asked, his curiosity overriding his fear of being unable to return to the hell he knew.
"They are the beings that are responsible for maintaining order across all dimensions and worlds. They are very powerful. You would die just in the presence of one," the old man answered, causing Ajay to gulp.
"You should listen to him. He is the wisest one here and our leader," the spirit in the form of a woman, who was sitting beside Ajay, suggested.
"Okay, but where should we go? And you mentioned worlds and dimensions. Are those other worlds too, and what are dimensions?" Ajay asked curiously.
The old man spirit smiled softly. "Curious one, aren't you? But we don't have time." After saying this, he pointed to one of the other spirits. "Open the portal to where we discussed to go."
The spirit extended his arm in an upward direction, opened his palm, and began to chant. A brilliant light emerged from his palm. As he directed his palm forward, a portal appeared before them—a shimmering tear in the dimensional fabric.
The air around the portal became dense with magical energy. The intense flow, while not fast, felt oppressive and affected the weak Ajay.
"Let's go," the Old man spirit urged.
Ajay, the old man, and the woman immediately entered the portal, leaving roughly twenty spirits behind.
Once the teleportation was complete, the remaining spirits began to converse frantically.
"He must be a Spirit Medium that awakened recently. That's why he was able to come here."
"Unknown awakens. That's very rare here."
"Even though he is from a lower world, we are still in a higher dimension, remember?"
"But even the best leader couldn't look inside him. How can you explain that?"
"Yeah, a Spirit Medium is not that powerful."
"Can he be a Seer? Only that can explain it."
"No way, a Seer in a lower world!"
"But the most shocking thing is the dimensional stone is attached to him."
"Maybe that's why he decided to save him."
"Woah, no way is it poss—"
Suddenly, a terrifying, immense pressure clamped down on all of them. No one could move, let alone speak.
"Such an imposing aura! Who is it?" one of the spirits spoke, his voice strained with pain.
"Intruder—where is it?!" a sharp, creepy voice, enough to give goosebumps to higher dimension beings, shouted.
A colossal eye appeared, big enough to cover the whole fifty-foot space.
"W-w-w-Watcher!!!" a spirit trembled.
"He didn't even come here, just sent one of his eye here! Even an eye possessed such an overwhelming aura."
The pupil contracted "Tell me where is the intruder," the Watcher demanded again. His voice pressed down like gravity itself.