The sound of a hum resonated throughout the cavernous inner walls of the underground. The only source of distraction Scott could make in regards to the perilous current situation he was in.
At the moment, Scott had walked for hours on end by the river with a forlorn look on his face, unable to see an end in sight, which he would not even be able to notice at first glance due to the only source of light around in this dark, cavernous realm being miscellaneous, light-emitting bugs.
The only reason why he had yet to become a maniac from anxiety and fear is due to what he was slowly discovering as he walked, on the cavern walls.
A history, long forgotten underneath the ground. The knowledge of the past. On the walls, it spoke of the relationships between Gods…
"The Cathedrals and Temples of the Dreaming Gazeless God, the Chained God of Beasts, and the Mother Goddess, at the pinnacle of strife between each other during "283 EC."
A painting of old was labelled this way, before illustrating the symbols of the Gods, in different colours to represent the different characteristics of "Their" divine elements.
Hisbiril's symbol, which was a wide variety of colours such as greyish-white, indigo and blue, was that of a moon, also shown directly on Scott's chest, with glinting stars surrounding a pale moon. Mythril's quarter-pink, quarter-red and quarter-whitish symbol was, of course, an ensemble of roses and musical notes forming wings. Glamar's half-red, half-orange symbol, however, was that of a sword embedded into an oxen's skull.
All of them are plain, yet perfectly embodying these Gods' divine elements.
Scott observed this painting closely, having no choice but to do so unless he wanted to hasten the fading of his sanity, and then walked on, gradually moving to another one.
"…People turning into monsters… raging beasts and creatures lurking everywhere… and the total absence of compassion and empathy… the discord between these three Gods once did all of that to the lands that sit above?" Scott murmured, interpreting as he stared at a particular painting of the past.
The conclusion of such a calamity caused the shattering of an entire continent, which formed the great border between the domains of the three Gods and the lands beyond, called, "The Betweenrealm".
Yet even still, today, these lands are very much distant from each other, both in relations and status.
"…Maybe… I'll never make it out of here," Scott mumbled, blankly staring at the archaic painting, "…Should I at least be thankful that I'll be buried in these caverns, which some people will probably eventually dig out in search of pieces of ancient history, only to find a bunch of old paintings like this and my starved corpse?"
"At least, in that way, I won't be stuck here eternally, even after death."
Scott pondered on that though for a moment, before clenched his fist, rage and vigour boiling inside of him. He realised that the idea of dying enraged him, for some reason.
"No… never! I will make it out of this underground cavern, no matter what!"
That very second, an abnormal creature, similar to the one he met before, rose out of the underground river and charged at him, dripping wet. But, it seemed to be the first time that he didn't flinch at the appearance of a monster at all, and he quickly swung himself around, before snapping his finger and concentrating, making ice form on the surface of its skin.
That didn't do much to harm it, but he knew that was the case, so he followed that up with something he named:
"Instant Combustion!"
After all the monster-slaying he had to do these past several hours. During that, he also figured out that he could now instantly combust subjects that he had previously transmuted, allowing him to stop the constant usage of his blood.
"Boom!" Scott yelled before the monster's body erupted in flames, exterminating it after only a few seconds, "Haha! Take that, freak!"
He cheered but noticed something off about the atmosphere suddenly. After the creature's corpse slipped back into the river, the ambience was… quiet. To the point where it was haunting.
And, he felt an awful feeling in his chest.
"…"
"…Memorychaser. It seems you have indeed been hiding from me." A voice called out from out of nowhere.
Following that voice, the flowers began to sprout from the crevices of the cavern's walls, and they bloomed into the most brilliant of roses in an instant.
"What the…" Scott murmured, but he watched, as the roses continued to grow and grow, until they all converged into a strange flowery mass, that opened up to reveal the red-haired man from earlier, who had a petrifying grin on his face.
He wore white robes of the finest silk, and a single golden flower rested in his hair, which would convey the fact that he was a "clergyman" of Mythril to any other person.
He pointed his broadsword at Scott. "You have caught my interest, you know that? You may be the finest gift that I have ever laid my eyes on, for my lady."
"…Finest… finest gift…?" Scott asked, his face contorting in a slightly disgusted, slightly fearful manner.
"Yes… because of this." He replied, slashing the clothes of Scott, which he had to repair with the help of Michael after Felix tore it the first time.
"Aagah! My clothes?!"
"Your Arcane Mark. You are Ariadne's wish. And for my full initiation into the priesthood to be complete, I must grant it to her."
Scott took on a defensive stance as he stared down the man in front of him. He'd be damned if he would let another man present him as a "gift". But, it seemed it didn't matter to the red-haired man anyway, as he continued:
"Yet… the reason why I haven't done according to her word is because, I must also abide by the "laws", bestowed upon all followers of our Mother. The romance we all seek, it cannot be found in this dirty place."
He paused.
"…And so, I have come to you, to demand an audience in my preferred battlefield. In the Crystalline Palace of the New Capital, I, Passion, shall claim what shall be mine. As I have already sworn to do so."
Scott stared at him for a brief moment, before quietly uttering with a worn face:
"So, you came to me, like this, just to scare me into having a battle with you? And, if you win, you'll gift me to a lady?"
"Precisely."
Scott's face began to bubble with an unforeseen irritation, which made Passion look surprised.
"Hell no." He stated plainly, and at the same time, he thought, This guy is crazy! A lunatic, maybe. It's probably best if I—
"…That's a shame. However, you truly must follow my word and meet with me at the New Capital. Because, how else will you escape from this cavernous abyss without my help?"
Scott's eyes widened, halting his anger slightly. "You can help me get out of here?"
"I can do more than just that. As you can see from the Mark on my neck, I am like you. Destined to be a lord eventually. We are not like the rest of them. And, for now, I think I can help you on your "journey."
"Here, take this," Passion said, before placing a small crystal rock in Scott's hands, "This is a "Shard". When used at the "right time", it can grant you one of your lost memories. It is most valuable to the followers of Hisbiril."
Scott drew the crystal close to his eye and inspected it.
"Really?"
Passion shrugged. "I haven't used it before. It's best if you find the right moment and find out for me if that's true or not. But besides that…"
In one swift motion, Passion swung his blade, grazing it against the ground, and upon its edge, a large purplish flower bud grew, which opened to reveal a "cocoon".
"Let us enter and leave this place together," Passion spoke, "And then, I shall meet you in the New Capital, where our battle, and our fates, shall be decided."
The word, "fates", made Scott hesitate for a moment, but, out of sheer desperation, he walked into the giant flower with Passion, and it closed shut before vanishing into dust, sending them on a voyage to the world aboveground.
Once Scott entered, Passion found within himself a unique kind of joy, and mumbled silently:
"…The withered flower speaks of a dying romance."
"…Ariadne, my dearest lady, I shall burn away your old, withering, loveless self, and finally rejoice with you and our "romance" again, which will be forever unbroken and last entire lifetimes."
"In the name of the Mother Goddess, your gift shall arrive in my hand, so wait for me, my love. And we shall bask in the hands of the Goddess forevermore."