"Finally... after a long and dangerous journey, we finally arrived on the other side of the Hollow Mountains..."
Uriel felt many different emotions, but the most prominent one was undoubtedly joy. After all, it had taken him two weeks from his location on the Forgotten Shore to reach the Hollow Mountains and then fly over them with extreme caution.
Of course, he did it with his new dark creature, the Illusory Butterfly. Although he had to make a few detours to avoid attracting the attention of a great Tyrant and some great Devils and winged Demons.
Anyway, he had made it. That's what mattered, right?
From his privileged vantage point in the sky, Uriel observed with curiosity the enormous, titanic corpse the color of white bone. Just one of its finger bones measured tens of kilometers, and its ribs were easily a hundred times larger than all of NQSC. Not to mention its entire body, which stretched as far as the eye could see.
Uriel felt a shiver as he stared at the head, more specifically the two huge hollows of its eyes. He was sure that never, ever, should he enter that place; his instinct screamed it at him.
Sighing, he looked one last time at the Hollow Mountains. Then his gaze settled in the distance to the right side of the titanic skeleton of Godgrave, where the Chained Isles and his original destination were.
He had tried to get Saint Tyris to take him directly to the citadel to make the trip faster. However, in her words, his soul was too heavy, to the point that it was practically impossible for her to bring him to the Dream Realm, at least with her current strength.
This left him thinking for quite a long time during his journey.
Sitting on the head of his dark creature, which flew while avoiding the cloud-covered sky, he continued thinking about his current situation—something he had been doing often and frequently lately.
The situation in Antarctica would be total chaos to a certain extent. And then there were his plans for Ariel's Tomb and what would follow after that event in about five or six years in the future with the war for the Valor and Song Clan's Domain. And then the arrival of the man from the moon.
Uriel was sure the astronaut wouldn't simply stay idle. For better or worse, he would bet all his soul cores and Memories that he was watching, meditating on how to deal with an existence like his.
Uriel sighed and set those thoughts aside. For now, he simply lay back, feeling the wind on his body.
"Isn't it wonderful weather?" asked a voice between yawns.
"Oh, so you finally woke up."
Shade gave a carefree smile. Since his amusement two weeks ago, Uriel had refused to take back control until he had no headache, leaving the one responsible to deal with the aftermath.
Oh, it should be clarified that he had a lot of fun watching Shade with a hangover and Effie who wouldn't stop talking, even with Sunny joining in for the torture. In the end, they left, only for an hour later he had to meet with Aiko, and after that, try to sleep, which Uriel didn't allow.
"Yes, I woke up. It took me a while, you know?"
"Uh-huh. The last time I checked you were asleep was when I was casually watching videos, and you decided it was a good time to look up the ten best actresses of the moment."
"In my defense, I'm a man of culture who needs to be informed. And also, as a man of culture, I need to make certain rankings."
Uriel rolled his eyes.
"Rankings, my ass," responded Uriel, sitting up and watching as the Illusory Butterfly finally emerged from the right arm of Godgrave, heading towards the Chained Isles. He had memorized the current map of the realm as well as the safest routes.
Shade flopped down on his backside, listening to the constant flapping of the Illusory Butterfly's wings.
"Hey, Uriel. Are you really going to join the Song Clan?"
Uriel looked at Shade before nodding.
"Yes, I will," his voice was calm and firm without a trace of hesitation.
"Why?"
"Two reasons. The first is because of Revel."
Shade blinked before a sly expression appeared on his face.
"Oh, I didn't know you liked older women."
"Not like that, you idiot."
"Hey, I understand. It's normal. You know, she's almost forty, lives in a cave, and probably reads romance novels. And she has a gothic style. And she can transform into something like a four-meter-tall succubus."
"First, it's not what you think. Second, how do you know she reads romance novels? And third, why do you love goth girls so much?"
"For your second question, she lives in her mother's basement. And third, every man likes goth girls. They have this seductive air and a beautiful appearance. Have you ever seen an ugly goth girl?"
Uriel opened his mouth to argue but fell silent.
"See. That's what I mean. Besides, you like blonde, beautiful girls. Everyone has their tastes, my brother."
A mysterious breeze moved Shade's spectral hair as he said those words.
'Where the hell did that wind come from?' he thought, bewildered.
'Is this how everyone feels when I act wise?' he thought, even more bewildered.
Shaking his head, he decided to return to the main topic.
"Anyway, let's stop going off on a tangent and get back to the main point. Revel has the same element as us: True Darkness. No matter how good we are, she has more combat experience and tricks that could be useful for improving our control."
"I don't think so. In terms of ability, we have great experience in shaping darkness as we wish. However, you have a point. She is Transcendent, and we are mere Ascended. Without a doubt, learning from someone like her will bring benefits. But is that all?"
"No. I also want to investigate some things. I want to see if I can find any cave or area that leads to the Underworld. I want to find the Citadel of Nether," he finally revealed.
Shade's eyes widened slightly.
"Find the Citadel of the Daemon of Fate and Choice? You know that even Anvil, Ki Song, and the Dream Spawn had to hide like rats to escape that place. Sure, we went there to recover the Crown of the First Lord, but that was only its farthest outskirts, not the Underworld itself. Do you think there's a chance of surviving what inhabits that place?"
"I do. Don't get me wrong, I won't go immediately. We'll go when we're already accustomed to the strength of being Transcendent and with more useful things and better equipment. If we manage to find its Citadel, we could discover incredible things. Just think about it. Plus, it would give us a natural, almost impenetrable defense against the Dream Spawn when he decides to return from his trip to the moon."
Shade made a thoughtful expression for a few minutes. Finally, after a few more minutes, he sighed.
"Alright, agreed. Although I think it's better to go to that place when we are Supremes," said Shade.
Uriel nodded.
"Yes, if we ever become Supremes. At this rate, the world is determined to eliminate us."
"You're right, but since when have we been guided by what the world wants?" asked Shade.
"You're absolutely damn right!" Uriel stood up.
"Alright, Butterfly, fly faster!" he ordered, making his dark creature increase its flight speed towards the Chained Isles.
The journey took several more hours due to the thousands of kilometers separating Godgrave and the Chained Isles. After almost ten hours of high-speed travel, Uriel finally looked at the floating islands in the sky, near the Hollow Mountains, far from Bastion where the Valor Clan had more active Awakened.
As he was approaching closely enough, Uriel dismissed the Illusory Butterfly, not wanting to cause a commotion and much less explain how he obtained the Echo of a Titan or how he even managed to kill one.
Once he did, he summoned the Winged Cloak. Two crow-like black wings unfolded, and after sending some essence, its enchantments activated, continuing his journey.
His destination was one of the many islands, more specifically, the Iron Hand Island.
In the sky, he could see the Ivory Tower in the sky, surrounded by enormous chains that held it. Further below, he saw an incredibly vast and deep darkness, and inside it, dozens and dozens of white points that were remnants of the Sun God's wrath against the Kingdom of Hope.
If his circumstances had been different, he would have gladly participated in the second Nightmare to kill Immortal Saints, besides meeting the most brazen guy in the Kingdom of Hope.
'I wonder if Sunny's attitude after Ariel's Tomb was influenced by the carefree and fun attitude of Noctis.'
With that thought, Uriel finally arrived at the island he was looking for, landing on one of its "fingers." The black wings retracted, returning to their appearance as a black cloak. Below him, a group of Awakened who had their eyes wide open upon seeing him land out of nowhere were resting.
"Oh, hi. Sorry for scaring you like that. Do you know where Lady Changing Star is? Or, Lady Song of the Fallen?"
One of the Awakened recovered from his initial surprise and nodded.
"Lord Uriel, it's a pleasure to see you. I'm Droid, an Awakened. Lady Cassia instructed us to escort you to the Ivory Tower."
"You are Fire Keepers, right?"
"Yes," said an Awakened woman.
Uriel nodded, jumping down.
"Well, alright, lead the way then."