Chương 29: What Waits Below

"I'm worried about Mireia..."

"Relax, Nerez. It was fertile land. In a couple of decades, you'll have thousands of believers. Mireia will do a great job converting them all. I could see that devotion in her eyes."

"..."

"What?"

"That's exactly what worries me. I can see what she does through the skeletons. During those first few days, she devoted herself to building some sort of temple with them instead of her own house..."

"I still don't see what the problem is..."

"Children should be playing and learning, not building temples. I tell her that every night when she... calls me...? contacts me...? but she never listens..."

"What are you talking about, Nerez? Children are supposed to absorb the lava's energy and develop their own inner warmth."

"I'm pretty sure those are just the fire spirits from your village..." Nerez let out another sigh.

"Mmm... I'm worried... If we weren't going to the underworld, maybe I would have brought her with me... Besides, the skeletons have the rest of the villagers terrified..."

"What good is an apostle who's always with her god?"

"..."

"What is it now?"

"I'll have to settle for watching over her through the skeletons. At worst, I'll just take control away from her and make them take proper care of her."

"For someone who doesn't want trouble, you really are creating it for yourself... Mireia will be fine, I'm sure of it." Cerys raised a finger.

"She said it herself, didn't she? She's survived by running from monsters since she was little, and now she even has a company of skeletal soldiers around her. And yes, the rest of the villagers are terrified, but that's exactly why they're treating her like the leader of the village."

"That's true... I'd better focus on the matter at hand... But tonight I'll try again to convince her to take things more slowly and try to make friends her own age. It's not healthy for her to spend all day talking to skeletons."

"... Has no one ever told you you're a little overprotective?"

"No... but then again, I've never had a family of my own to be overprotective of. That's how fate wanted it... literally."

"True, you still haven't told me about those thousands of lives."

"And you still haven't told me about your problems with your village and with the gods of fire."

"That's none of your concern..."

"Same goes for me, then."

"Well, maybe someday."

"Haha, all right. Someday we'll talk about the past." Under the light cast by the fire in Cerys's palm, the two of them made their way through a vast network of caverns. They had already spent days descending into the depths of the earth, and at last Nerez felt the river of death was closer than far away. This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"To think it looked like an ordinary cave from the outside..."

"Up to a certain point, it was an ordinary cave," Cerys replied.

"The underworld began when the glowing moss appeared, along with the oddly shaped mushrooms and the creatures that hide the moment they hear us approaching."

"You seem rather well informed about all this."

"Of course I am! I didn't get to be three hundred years old for nothing, so don't look down on me!"

"O great expert, what else can we expect to find ahead?"

"Mm... The glowing crystals should start appearing soon, and then we won't need the fire anymore."

"And what are those glowing crystals called?"

"Uh... they're called... uh... mm... Look it up in your own Godscript!""'Look it up in your own Godscript'? That's a rather strange name for some crystals."

"Don't mess with me!"

"Hahaha."

"I'm going to bite you again!" But the conversation was cut short when they rounded the rocky tunnel and found themselves facing a starry sky. They were not real stars, but hundreds of small shining crystals illuminating the cavern with an emerald hue.

"It's quite a striking sight, I won't deny that," Nerez remarked as he looked around while walking. They reminded him of the walls surrounding the Silver Sea and of the eyes of the gods of life.

"Green is the most common color. I think it's the original one, or something like that... But depending on the area, they can be purple or blue," Cerys explained, raising her finger again.

"Can you only name the basic colors?" Chomp"Ouch... I think putting everything in your mouth is a bad habit... Mm? I think I kicked something." Cerys had already put out her fire, but the light from the crystals was enough for Nerez to find the stone he had sent skidding away. Though it was actually some kind of gemstone.

"Oh, that's a netherite. They're quite valuable," Cerys said, rising onto her toes to peek over Nerez's shoulder. [Netherite] [Found only in the underworld. Especially prized for its ability to store souls within it]"I don't know if I even want to walk around with something like this in my pocket... but if it's valuable..." Nerez let out a sigh and decided to slip the stone into his pocket.

He did not think it would be a good idea to sell it to someone else, but at worst, he could sell it through the Godscript's shop.

"Nerez, I sense a presence up ahead. A numerous one..." Cerys stretched out an arm to stop him before the last of the many forks in the rocky tunnel they had come across along the way.

"It's this way!" Cerys exclaimed before darting into one of the side passages.

"And here I thought you were being cautious, but you just wanted time to figure out where that presence was coming from..." Nerez hurried after her, but he feared more for the well-being of whatever Cerys had just found than for her.

"This is..." As soon as Nerez caught up to Cerys, he was met by thousands of bright magenta eyes staring at them. Their owners looked human, but they all had long drooping white ears and, rather ironically, hair in various shades of sky blue. [Visiare] [A race capable of living for thousands of years, endowed with great physical abilities and an innate affinity for spatial magic.]"Isn't that a bit much?"

In another part of the underworld, a great number of beings moved through what looked like an improvised camp. It was an army, one made up of everything from little red imps to humanlike figures bearing horns and wings. The camp stood in a vast underground expanse, large enough that it was difficult to make out the group approaching through the air. But the woman waiting there with her arms crossed had no doubts. There was only one possibility.

"Drazira, you were right. We are in the underworld." At the head of the winged group that descended before Drazira was her brother, the co-leader of the demon army.

"I see. After all, we're in the deepest part of this new world... we have to find a way up to the surface."

"What are you talking about, sister? There is no better place for us to settle than the underworld."

"Drazel, the underworld is not the same as our father's ruined demon kingdom. You have no idea what we might run into here."

"Oh, but I do, sister." Drazel flashed a confident smile.

"Not far from here lies the abode of the lord of the underworld. A Titan." Drazira's eyes went wide. A Titan, a being whose power was far beyond mortal comprehension.

"We have to escape as soon as possible!"

"On the contrary, sister. I'm convinced this is a world that has only just begun."

"I can feel that too in the magic flowing through the air... but what are you getting at?"

"This is our opportunity," Drazel declared, spreading his arms.

"We'll make a deal with the Titan and become the dominant race of this new underworld!"

"Drazel..."