“always wear this when you’re cold okay?” Knox said as he wrapped a red scarf around Bel’s neck. It was the only thing he promised to give two days ago, but now that they were about to part ways, it was just the first item on the list. Aside from silk tunics and black cloaks that blended well with the underworld, he also provided a box of jewelries, tools only Marcellus understood, and a white sack that remained small no matter how many items were stuffed inside it.

“are you done?” Sef asked, pointing at the thin light tracing the horizon. “I don’t want our stroll to last till midnight”

Bel tiptoed and hugged the old man. “thank you grampa, take care of yourself”

The two shared another minute of parental bond before Sef and Erze pulled them apart. There was no more time wasted. With Marcellus leading the way, they took one last glance at their wall and began their descent to the eastern sea's staircase.

The first hour was total silence, the second was a series of forced conversations, and the third was chorus of groans and complaints straight from the mouths of those who have not fully recovered yet.

“is this a dream?” Sef asked. “or are we really not making progress?”

Erze leered at Marcellus. “are sure you’re following the right path, boy?”

Marcellus kept walking. “I know its dark, but as you can see, this staircase is only a straight way down. You two should just shut your mouth and reserve your energy instead”

“why you---”

“kid” Sef tightened his hold on Erze’s mouth “there’s something wrong here isn’t it? Spill it out”

Marcellus knelt before Bel with a warm smile. “can I ask you a question?”

Bel nodded stiffly. “yes”

“can you say out loud what you see?”

Sef followed the long finger pointed upwards and blinked at the blanket of darkness obstructing his vision since the start of their journey. At first, he dismissed it as a mere product of the underworld’s unnaturally bleak nights. But now, on closer inspection, its true nature became clear.

“I see gray clouds” Bel said.

“clouds?” Erze's face soured. “what are you talking about?”

Marcellus pointed to the left. “how about there?”

Bel rubbed her eyes. “I see water and um, stars?”

“so we’re the problem?” Erze asked.

Sef made her look up. “steady your eyes and you’ll see”

“see what? It’s just darkness”

“does it come from inside or outside?” he asked.

“are you insulting my intellect? Of course it’s coming from the... wait...”

Sef nodded. “it’s from inside. We’re blind”

Erze poked his cheek. “but I can see your face, touch it even”

Marcellus cleared his throat. “I really want to get off this stairs as fast as possible, but I guess I have to explain it now”

“oh please do” Erze said with folded arms.

“wait...” Marcellus rummaged the magical sack on his shoulder and pulled out a one-eyed lens tied to a wrinkled brown book. “page four, section six... there. And I quote, with all the observations listed above, I Aquina conclude that the four chambers hold a certain degree of sovereignty to its subjects. Anyone who defies this is stripped down of most of his or her senses and cognitive abilities. This discourages travel from one sea to another, but at the same time maintains a certain balance in regards of population and thus, resources. End quote"

Erze scratched her head. “what does that mean?”

Marcellus slammed the book on his face and gestured at Sef. “please do the honors"

“it means...”

A sinking sensation bloomed in Sef’s chest as he gagged for the knowledge he was so confident on sharing seconds ago. He understood every word, and at the same time he did not. As if a lock was placed in his brain, preventing him from accessing the information.

“Sef?” Marcellus peeked his eyes above the book. “don’t tell me you didn’t get it too?”

“I did!” Sef said. “I understand what you said, I just... I just don’t understand it!”

“huh?”

“um...” Bel tugged Sef’s cloak. “I, I can tell you if you want”

The three adults blinked at each other and answered with a unified nod, making the child bounce to her feet as she delivered an explanation that was both simple yet enlightening.

“Sef and Erze belong to the bottom sea. Now that you are in the right sea, the bottom sea is jealous. It took your eyes and ears and brain so you won’t fall in love with the right sea”

“I see” Sef said. “so we’re basically idiots when it comes to things not related to the south wall”

“it’s not just that” Marcellus flipped a few pages. “according to this book, your physical abilities will be dulled as well. That means one kilometer of walk for us is equivalent of seven for you, thirty minutes of work for us will be seven for you”

Erze turned to Bel. “what did he say?”

The little girl hid behind Marcellus. “it means that you’re weaker than the two of us”

“what?!” Erze pointed at Bel and Marcellus. “this isn’t fair! How come only the two of us are like this?! Aren’t you from the south wall too?!”

“I’m from Pandora” Bel said.

“and I’m from Overworld Quirinus” Marcellus said.

“but you’re a hallower of the south wall” Sef said. “doesn’t that make you like us?”

Marcellus returned the book in the sack. “I’m there out of duty, not as a punishment. Unlike you, I’m not tied to any sea”

Erze hugged Sef jokingly. “just when I thought we were finally free...”

“keep faith, partner...” Sef hugged back. “it’s going to be fine, we still have each other”

Marcellus took Bel’s hand and resumed the walk. “stop fooling around you two, the rain is about to fall”

Erze broke away and leered at Sef’s hand. “hey, aren’t you going to grab my hand?”

“and why would we do that?” Sef asked.

“I’m hurting right now, fool. You should comfort me”

“there’s no point being insecure with those two, you know. It’s fine, we can’t be the superior ones all the time”

“but it’s so frustrating...”

“fine” Sef took her hand and dragged her along a surprise sprint. He knew it was useless, there was no way they could overtake the young ones at the moment. But he was also aware of Erze’s self-pitying tendencies, a weakness they could not afford to endure right now.

As promised, their punishment reared its ugly head immediately. It did not make their steps heavy, not their energies low, but the harder they ran, the farther Bel and Marcellus became.

Soon enough the images they chased vanished from their sights, and killed their ember of hope with a bucket of cold reality. Sef slowed his strides, but Erze stopped completely, looking down at her feet with misty eyes.

“why are we always being punished?”

“hey” Sef poked her forhead. “use your head, you’re being emotional right now”

“I’m just...” Erze gritted her teeth. “I’m tired of being a prisoner”

“that’s why we’re doing this remember? Here’s the deal, I’ll listen to you as long as you want, but we need to finish these steps first”

“shields”

Sef blinked. “what?”

Erze raised her head and blinked back. “I didn’t say anything”

“quick!”

This time the voice called close enough to be recognized. It was Marcellus running towards them, with fear etched on his face and Bel strapped on his back. “we need shields!”

“what’s happening?” Sef asked.

“just do it!”

With a raised eyebrow, Sef synched his soul with the kid and summoned his soul. “come forth”

Marcellus’ body vanished and his meticulous sounding soul leaked into the atmosphere, leaving Bel on the ground with a pale face and eyes glued at whatever it was that came towards them.

“shields” Sef said, and a number of rectangular glass sheets materialized around them. They merged into walls that pushed Bel back to their side, and formed a cube that served as a fortress against the unseen enemies.

“phew, that was close” Marcellus said.

“what was?” Sef asked while poking the glass wall.

Marcellus materialized his body and patted Bel’s head. “believe it or not, an entire hell hound pack is surounding us now”

“wait” Erze’s stern eyes went from the wall to Marcellus. “how can you be a wall and a human at the same time?”

“I’m not cursed. I don’t have any of the restrictions you three have”

Sef ignored Erze’s grumblings and stared at the blank world outside. “so these puppies, how many are they?”

“who are you?”

“huh?” Sef spun and blinked at Marcellus, but their gaze did not meet. The kid’s eyes were focused to his left, as if someone else was standing next to him.

“I ask again” Marcellus shielded Bel. “who are you? Tell me now before I force it out of your mouth!”

“there’s someone else here?” Erze asked.

Bel nodded. “it’s a skinny man with a lot of hair in his face”

“like Knox?” Sef asked.

“grampa looks kind, this one just looks hungry”

“my, that hurts sweetheart”

Starting from the head down to the black slippers, a man on a green tunic appeared before their eyes. He was an inch taller than Marcellus, but was even more unimpressive on the physical side. His face was sunken, his silver beard was unkept, and his chest was lined with the marks of his ribs, giving him a skeletal appearance reminiscent of Bel’s void form.

“my name is Vanaker, and I believe you need me”

Sef whistled. “that’s quite a claim. Prove it”

The man pulled out a knife from his tunic and slashed his wrist, drawing black blood and feminine screams in the process. “I hear you have trouble seeing things yes? If you take in some of this, then you’ll be fixed”

“you” Erze said in a cold tone. “what kingdom are you from?”

Vanaker shrugged. “it”s been so long, I don’t remember anymore”

Marcellus sighed. “great, another immortal”

“there’s nothing great about it” Vanaker beamed at Sef. “right? Mister death charmer?”

Sef grinned to mask his surprise. “wow, I didn’t know I had admirers in these parts”

“don’t be impressed” Vanaker took from the black puddle and walked towards him. “I only turned into one a couple of days ago”

“back off twig” Erze stood in front of Sef with folded arms. “how did you get that blood?”

Confusion, followed by a mixture of shock and excitement colored the man’s gaunt face. “you... don’t tell me...”

“excuse me” Marcellus said. “I don’t want to spoil a reunion between old timers, but we have a situation here”

Vanaker offered his bloody hand. “that’s why you need to take this now. It will make you see”

“I won’t---”

Sef pulled Erze back. “do you promise to answer our questions after this?”

The old man glanced at Erze. “as long as you answer mine”

With Marcellus’ patience shortening by the second, Sef convinced Erze to take the black blood with him. It carried no stench, nor the metallic taste of normal blood, but instead was sweet as honey. There was nothing on the first blink, but after the second, the eastern sea revealled its true appearance.

Grays skies above, silver scales and red eyes from everywhere else. Marcellus was right, they were really surrounded. Not by ten or twenty, but an entire fifty or more abominations with serpentine tails, wolf-shaped bodies, and piranha-like heads.

“where did all of these filth come from?” Erze asked.

“the sea” Bel said. “I thought they were stars so I waved at them, but then they start moving towards us”

Sef raised an eyebrow at Vanaker. “don’t you have anything for this?”

“a piece of meat?”

“no, like, white blood to blind them or something”

“how about spirit treasures?” Marcellus said venomously. “we got a lot of them here”

Sef glanced at the salivating jaws behind him. “I’m not saying we can’t do that, but making a mess in our first day here doesn’t sound like a good idea”

Bel wiggled her hands. “how about we go whoosh like last time?”

Erze pressed herself against Sef. “only Sef can touch me, the rest of you can cuddle among yourselves”

“what are you talking about?” Marcellus asked.

Sef pointed at Bel. “she’s talking about using Belly’s soul as our escape rope”

“even if we can do that, we still need to a clear landing destination. We’ll just end up exposing ourselves without that”

“I know one” Vanaker said, pointing at the sea. “my cabin’s right there”

“we can’t go there” Bel said. “there’s more brothers and sisters there”

Marcellus blinked. “brothers and sisters?”

Erze beamed at Bel. “she’s just talking about the dead people scattered in the waters. Right? Belly girl?”

“okay!” Sef clapped to rip Marcellus’ gaze away from the little girl. “let’s stay on topic people, these puppies are starting to make me uncomfortable”

Marcellus turned to Vanaker. “why should we trust this cabin of yours? Give me a satisfying explanation, and we’re good”

The old man slid his bloody hand through a space between the glass and patted one of the hound’s head. No one spoke, no one even breathed, all watched with open mouths as the hand moved in the midst of razor teeth and return inside the cube without a single scratch.

“as you can see...” Vanaker raised his hand at Marcellus. “my blood smells just like them. And since my cabin is painted with my blood, then my cabin blends in well just the same”

Sef closed his mouth and embraced Erze’s shoulders. “okay, here’s the plan! Me and Erze will distract them, then the rest of you will whoosh to the location”

“but that’s dangerous” Bel said.

Marcellus nodded. “how do you plan to reach us? You don’t even know the exact location”

“I’m sure we’ll see it once we’re in the air”

“air? Wait...” Erze broke away and shook her head. “no, I’m not doing that again!”

Sef pulled her back and whispered. “none of this fools can fly, it would be nice to show them that”

Erze’s defiant face morphed into an arrogant grin. “very well then, let’s do it!”

“so” Vanaker blinked at everyone. “are we set?”

The immortals nodded, Bel flinched but Marcellus remained unconvinced. He folded his arms, tapped his foot and measured Vanaker with an investigating stare.

“my, what a keen boy”

Vanaker man sighed and slid his hand inside his tunic. After noises of ripping flesh and breaking bones, he pulled out a black lump of flesh and handed it to Marcellus. “it’s not beating anymore but believe me, it’s still working”

Marcellus stepped back. “what am I supposed to do with that?”

“I’m offering it to you as your hostage. If ever I do something fishy in your eyes, then you’re welcome to stab it to your heart’s content”

Despite his evident resistance, Marcellus relaxed his shoulders and snapped, summoning a glass plate below the heart and a knife hovering above it. “fine, let’s do it”

“Belly” Sef beamed at the little girl and she morphed back into chains that rested on both of Marcellus’ shoulders. “give us a lift”

“snare”

In response to Marcellus’ command, the roof of the cube opened, the chains wrapped around the immortals’ waists, and tossed them in the air. Sef released Erze’s soul and right on script, the silver circle mobilized into a flood of jaws drooling for their new found prey.

“needle”

He grabbed Erze’s spear as tight as he could and waved at the other three. After satisfying himself with their amazed stares, he sat on the spear and flew to the sea, leading the hunger-blinded hounds off to a thousand feet fall.

“did you see them?!” Erze asked triumphantly. “they looked in awe!”

“see?” Sef said. “we’re not as pathetic as you think”

“find the cabin quick! We need to get there first!”

“can’t we just enjoy the view?”

“you can do that while searching for the cabin. It’s not like you’re looking at another sea”

“that’s right” Sef lied down and marvelled at the vast gray blanket above them. “I’m talking about another sea”

“what’s so special about that? It’s just a cloudy sky”

“can’t you see how big it is? It’s terrifying! I love it!”

“how can you love something you fear?”

A distant memory resurfaced on Sef’s head. An image of a glass throne that stood as high as a mountain, shining in all of its glory before him. It was the most beautiful sight his eyes have recorded, but at the same time, for some reason, the most chilling presence his soul ever felt. Why was he so afraid again? No matter how many times he recalled, the answer remained at the tip of his tongue.

“hey! Get out of your head!”

In a blink, the white throne sank back to the depths of Sef’s conciousness. The cold touch of water embraced his skin and the loud noise of rain crowded his ears. The gray sky has unleashed its wrath, and he was at the front row to all of it.

“needle” he said, and grabbed a hold of the spear. However, it was not the weapon’s rigid touch that welcomed his fingers, but the soft consistency of flesh.

“hm?”

“huh?”

He stared at Erze, and she stared back at him. Both confused, both in shock, both clung to each other as soon as realization struck. Like oversized raindrops, they descended head first towards the sea, engaging in a duet of panicked screams and bickering.

“why did you turn back to human?!”

“I don’t know!”

“what do we do?! Think!”

“I’m not the brain of this relationship!”

Sef drew from his forbidden authority, but no matter how he envisioned it, not a single miraculous scenario came to his rescue. It was over, the fall will come. So as a last ditch effort, he embraced Erze and faced his back towards the sea, offering it to recieve the brunt of the impact.

Erze burried her face in his chest. “I don’t want this! I’m scared!”

He tightened his arms around her. “don’t worry, this one’s on me”

“I disagree”

Gallons of black fluid gushed out of Sef’s mouth and latched on to their shoulders. From liquid to solid, from rock hard to elastic, it molded its shapeless form into that of a bird’s wings and delivered them to their promised meeting place. A dome of crystallized blood at the center of the sea, decorated on top by a glass cube and three soaked from head to toe.

“what happened to you?” Sef asked.

“good question” Marcellus hissed.”what happened to you?”

Vanaker scratched his head. “this is quite my fault. I should’ve mentioned the spirit sapper earlier”

“spirit sapper?” Erze leered at the clouds. “these clouds sapped my spirit?”

“it’s the raindrops that do the work. That’s why I built this cabin”

Erze grinned at the dome mockingly. “you call this a cabin? It’s more like a giant pimple”

“uh...” Vanaker sat and placed a palm on the dome. “I can explain that for later, let’s take care of business for now”

Marcellus blinked. “what business?”

Bel pointed past Sef’s shoulder. “the voids are coming”

“voids?” Sef rubbed his eyes at the blank sea. “where? I don't see a thing"

“no, trust me” Vanaker said. “they're coming"

“but how is that possible?” Erze asked. “I’m sure we lost them. I saw the vanish in the waters”

“it’s me” Vanaker whispered. “my blood called them here”

A sword appeared above Marcellus’ head and pointed towards the old man’s chest. “care to repeat that louder?”

Vanaker raised his hands. “you saw it with your own eyes didn’t you? I used my blood inside Death charmer to bring them here. Wether I like it or not, that large amount is more than enough to lure the hounds in”

“tch” Marcellus stood a the edge of the dome. “fine, get inside. Belly and I will take care of this”

“are you sure?” Sef asked. “that’s a whole pack heading here”

Marcellus snapped, and the cube dispersed into a cloud of glass fragments, suspended above him like clay waiting to be molded. “I haven’t blown off steam yet. This one is on me”