Kyrie turns his eyes towards Imogen to see if she recognizes this place, but Imogen stares back shaking her head.
Turning back to look rapidly, Laurel finds a dead end. The doors have disappeared. Their eyes have deceived them with the illusion of the room of the giant serpent statue.
Ian looks at the walls of the tunnel, tracing his eyes up from one side to the other. The atmosphere feels similar to the feeling of a place filled with mana, yet the lingering particles of the air feels much more dense and rich, also indescribably pure.
"The walls have a different feeling than mana, but also something very similar to it. It is like the relic back at the forest of Labam," Ian says.
Kyrie walks towards Ian who is examining the tunnel walls. He also tries to feel the aura coming out of the tunnel walls. A pure and clean aura radiates from the walls. Like Ian said, the tunnels do have some kind of essence coming out of them.
"This is indeed the work of a relic," says Imogen, sensing the familiarity that comes out from the essence.
"Then this place could not have been made by the witch. She can only use corrupted mana that she harvests," says Kyrie.
"Then why are we in this place?" asks Laurel.
"Most likely because we are not dealing with the witch. Some other people are continuing the game for her."
[There is a high chance that Saskia has been severely punished for touching her master's past.]
"Continuing the game? But why? Why would they want to continue the game?" Laurel asks in confusion.
"It is simple, the witch is crazy about games. So, most likely, they had to continue the game for the dome to lift off and the entire enchantment to dispel," says Kyrie.
"Wouldn't it be easier for them to just leave? Why are they trying to help us?"
"Help us? Not exactly… I think they want something from us. Exactly what, I have no idea..."
Imogen raises her eyebrow. Why would they use a more powerful relic that can create a space like this tunnel just to get back a lower grade?
Nevertheless, her eyes follow back to Kyrie. The fallen paladin seems to have something to do with Kyrie, but she is not sure what connects between the two. When she was fighting against the fallen saintess, Imogen remembers that she saw Kyrie looking at the fallen paladin with shock. Her eyes tail back to Ian, whose eyes are also on Kyrie.
Imogen sighs. She has confirmed so easily her theory. Ian's face has always been an open book in the beginning, but that naivete sheds off as they battle against the demons.
He has changed, but so did she.
This round, she is facing an Ian who has gone under changes that she has not seen before in the other rounds. However, she is not that worried.
The Ian she knows will come sooner or later. Maybe sooner since all these events are happening.
"I wonder… What would be your reaction?" Imogen thinks while gazing back at Kyrie.
After observing that there are no immediate dangers and they have no way to back out, they move forward. They enter into a chamber with a tall ceiling. The chamber has three other tunnels connected. At the center stood a statue of two eroded figures. One seems to be a man while the other a woman. The woman, tall and curvy with a graceful simple dress, has a snake wrapped around her waist like a belt.
"Phanes… So this must be Eberus," says Kyrie.
Ian looks at the statue with astonishment while recounting their story that he read in his head. Yes, this must be the dungeon where goddess Phanes and fallen god Eberus met. There is a legend that those who come out alive from this dungeon with their partner would be blessed in love for eternity, although a lot of the story is common folktale, made up to be a fairytale rather than truth.
Ian slightly closes his hand almost expecting to catch another. His hand starts to feel lonely, so his stare wanders to Kyrie's hand.
"This is the dungeon of the famous tale!" Laurel exclaims, but pales at the same time.
"That means… We have to deal with the labyrinth too, right?"
[Yeah… Everything started from the labyrinth.]
If Kyrie is right, they are currently in the labyrinth type dungeon. This type of dungeon is filled with traps and also several creatures live in it. They purposefully place those things so that they are protected and at the same time, filter out the people who can enter. Those who can enter naturally have to have a certain amount of strength and ability.
However, this type of dungeon is the headache of the century. Every day, the paths are subjected to change. To enter into the underground city that the labyrinth is leading towards, they have to go in a certain pattern.
Kyrie sighs. The way that the two gods solved the labyrinth has not been recorded at all.
"An ancient ritual song," replies Imogen.
Softening her brows and eyes, Imogen stares at the statue. Her pupils shake a little like her eyes are opening up for her emotions to pour out, but she blinks and looks away as if nothing happened inside her sea of emotions.
"Which one?" asks Kyrie.
"The ancient ritual song of the previous earth god, Udarr," says Imogen.
[Didn't she say that she has never seen this place?]
"How did you know that, Imogen?" asks Laurel with beaming eyes.
"My fath…. Someone told me the story that seems to be more complete than others," says Imogen.
Kyrie notices the lowering voice as Imogen replies to Laurel. He is sure that he caught on to the seconds where Imogen's eyes changed before she caught on to herself. Kyrie looks back at the statue that is close to eroding from its shape.
"Hey, look at the walls…" says Ian.
His finger traces at the carved out letters on the wall of the chamber. Without looking closely, they would have missed them. These words are nothing that Ian has ever seen in his life; it is another different language that he has never even encountered in the massive library of the palace. The language seems like it lagged in time; it is too inconvenient for these times, too impractical how many strokes one letter has. The words were closer to art than the simple tool they are used to communicate by hand.
Nevertheless, with one glance, Imogen is able to understand the words. A memory comes to her mind. It is one that she has long tried to forget. The memory of a man whose existence has become the sole reason to kill her. However, this man invades her memories with more warmth than hatred. The time that she has not been present, yet their fates are decided one-sidedly; that was the beginning of everything: her escape, her encounters, her eternal loops, and Laurel.
"Imogen!" Kyrie shouts, bringing her back from submerging any further into her thoughts that have already collected dust on the back of her mind.
They are thoughts that she has always avoided to think about, because they bother her every time she thinks of them. Her mind goes into lapse and she does not know how to react. One of Kyrie's eyebrows wrinkles in. Kyrie decides to ignore the absent mindedness that Imogen just experienced.
He repeats what he said when Imogen was floating in her thoughts, "This is the ancient characters that I have encountered when using space magic. Is this the language of the gods?"
"Yes," Imogen replies after taking another look at the carved out words, "They are. This is the ancient ritual song."
She looks over the carved out words and frowns. She also touches the carved out letters.
"They are fresh," says Ian while standing behind Imogen and Kyrie.
Kyrie moves away to give space for Ian to go in between them.
"Someone has recently carved them out," Ian finishes his thought.
When Imogen lands her eyes on Ian, she pauses while her eyes narrow slightly, but she turns back her head to read the song off the wall. From the song itself, there is a part that catches her eyes.
"Let time flow slower in the beautiful moments. Help us capture the moments of beauty and replay them from time to time. Let the lovers guide you through time and let you see what you have missed."
This part does not flow with the rest of the song. The wording is also off like it does not belong there in the first place.
"Lovers…" thinks Imogen.
Imogen looks at her side and sees that Kyrie and Ian are no longer by her side. Her eyes search for them to see that they are again in front of the statue together. Their hands close into the surface of the statue.
The word "lovers" comes to Imogen's mind again.
"Kyrie!" Imogen shouts.
Kyrie looks at Imogen as his fingers touch the statue. In a blink, Kyrie and Ian disappear. Laurel who was beside them gets startled. She stares at the statue blankly.
The statue has swallowed Kyrie and Ian.