"Oh, so that's why," Miss Ignis promptly responded a moment later as if realizing something before she sharply looked at Mr. Endar. Even the old man was looking at the man with mirth in his eyes. Surprisingly enough, mister Endar didn't snort at that and immediately stood and went my way.

The hard look present on his expression might not have been overlooked by others, and I did too as i jerked to my feet to parry whatever his gaze was on about. Then—

"Nudius, right? I'm sorry for my earlier words too. Didn't know you had no idea."

—an outstretched hand flew towards me. Not curled fist. An apology was yelled at me. Not a berate.

It was my turn to get stumped at his actions. A gesture I wasn't used to. After a moment of surprise, I shook his hand as lightly as I could, nodding hesitantly.

He took his hand back with a nod too, still with that hard look as he went back to his seat.

"Ahaha," miss Ignis' chuckle brought me back on her. Her face warped with a light smile. I slightly felt nervous of my sudden jerk, and quickly slipped a "sorry" at her.

"No please don't. You look like you'd be toasted and I should be sorry for laughing at that." She waved a hand at me before continuing, "anyway, cool?"

Realizing what she meant, I bobbed nods at her. Grateful once again for her and the old mister's gesture. A... good person. I sneaked a look at mister Endar as miss Ignis continued to talk.

"But if you're from an untouched land, getting you back through the Revivalist is almost impossible then. But hey, almost, ok? Maybe a second later you'd just be revived back! For now, I guess... welcome to the team!" Miss Ignis beamed at me, arms opened wide.

Looking at her opened arms that I could easily guess its meaning, I hesitated. Thinking for a moment, I nodded at her and likewise stretched my hand. "If it would be okay, ma'am. Thank you, and ummm... sorry for the trouble."

She laughed and turned her opened arms into a handshake. I gave her a shallow smile too, eased up and focused on making that handshake as light as possible.

"Well, now that we're done with snipping the tension, I'd quickly remind you of where we are, Nudius," she started. And I flinched at the sudden change of tone for a moment before I stood attention to her voice. No longer was there any sort of reservedness to Miss Ignis' voice, now it was hinted with foreboding warning.

"There's just three things you need to remember. One, you must always head for lit places anywhere and anytime. They're the bane of them couriers." She pointed at the torches.

"Two, you must always avoid, throw, or do anything detrimental orchesse pesky clothes and other things. They get real bad the time they evolve. And we have no magic nor spells to put them to their place."

"Lastly, don't ever let those Spirit Couriers get to you if you want to live again," Miss Ignis paused, "run, young girl. You must run for your life and you will live again." For a moment I saw her eyes glimmer with something I've seen, latched onto that word. Onto that phrase.

Live again. My eyes mirrored hers, rekindled with hope as I nodded. The second time of a confirmation. She smiled a little as she fell silent, no longer with a word, with more encouragement, with more grins. Her back finally meeting the wall. Resting. As if she knew exactly.that no words could best what she said. I looked around and everyone was kept busy by themselves. A few having hushed conversations.

Then I looked at my hand. At my scars. At who I was. I saw not what made them but beyond that. The promise of life was with me. Like the fire had offered. I turned my attention to it. The warm glow of the torches was a reflection of peace, certainly in this place. But my will was inflamed with hope better than the promise of light.

I'd live again. As she had said. As they had hoped. As I would now too.

I relished that thought before calming down. Hoping was nothing good than trying. I must make sure I'd be able to leave here first. And with magic, I could fend them off as much as I need. Then join them ru—huh? Both my brows lifted in askance.

... magic?

As if realizing something, I wanted to ask what Miss Ignis meant by having no magic here. I had one. But before I could, the old man's voice echoed, taking my attention to him. Similar to earlier's. This time, however, sharp and crisp—with the need to be heard.

"Fourth, Resha." The old man glanced at Miss Ignis, and snapping my head at her, I noticed that she had her eyes widened at what the old man was looking at.

"Once the fire runs out, we began moving." I looked where the old man was looking at. And everyone stared at the seemingly unchanged wall nearest to the door. Except that the first pair of torches on either side were unlit. That made everyone jump to their feet.

"That fast?!"

"But it wasn't even an hour!"

Voices of disbelief fluttered, I didn't understand why and never had the chance to ask as a familiar sound took most of my attention. In my mind, it rang.

Ding!

Full Restoration and Assimilation Completed

Ejecting from God's Crypt • Catacomb of the Departed

What? I blinked at the first string of words, finding them new yet familiar at the same time, but I couldn't remember exactly where.

"Someone's getting revived. Move." The voice that left no room for questions halted the murmurs around. And it took me out of musing too.

Revive who?

My heart began pounding, and I looked at others. To miss Ignis, to Mr. Endar, then back to the old man. And asked again to myself, revive who? But with the words that had appeared, I could feel my heart beat faster and heavier even though I still couldn't. Yet I knew the question rang to my mind as if it was an answer.

The old man's words made me remember partly of what the first magical words held. To what it originally promised of me.

Zoärzecht's Last Message:

We find it quite a joy that, finally, a once departed soul finally found its lost footing to step into balance. Though there is no assurance of never getting lost again, it is to this existence's hope that it may not end to that disaster—nor shall such thoughts bode that reality for you. Still, a congratulations is worth your way.

Be guided, until you find truth.

With the Last Journey's completion, it is found that the individual's body is incapable of holding the individual's soul. Restoration and Assimilation is currently ongoing. Do note that the soul can only be bounded to the individual's body on their Last Journey. As such, all of the individual's newfound potentiality will remain unavailable and cannot be used or willed as of the moment. Let Mana guide you through the path you seek.

Restoration, assimilation, last journey, lost footing. Soul. Me. Dead world. Ejection.

Then everything clicked together.

"Revival." It was just a whisper, but I felt the weight of those words. And my whole body stilled with relief at that.

Only I did, however. Everyone had their feet already cascading through the floor as the next torches flickered out.

"Run!" I was brought out of my reverie with a shout. And when I looked at where they were, I quickly realized I was by myself. Almost all of them quite a distance from me.

Running.

Damn it. Run, little girl!" miss Ignis's voice echoed to my ears, looking back at me as she ran.

Run? I questioned that. At their receding backs that now looked more fading, overlapping with each other as they run as one. Only when the lights died down on my sides did I realize what the old man had meant.

Flee.

Then I remembered. But what was a better reminder than hear the reality of my situation?

Tap. Tap. Tap.

That sounded normal. But to this catacomb? It couldn't be anything but that. Scuttles. And the recent memory invoked my legs to move.

I ran. Flying in the halls with steps that flashed here and then. Then skimmed ground that I almost got to the tails of the group. A feat past my physical capability I didn't bother wondering how. Not when knowing that even if I had managed to leap the distance, it still wasn't comparable to the spiders that banged the door open. But so what. I grinned to myself. I can run.

"Fuck! They've come through!"

"I know, you idiot! Just run!"

Their breathless talk was like a fading echo that reached me. Seemingly mirroring the lights behind that was fading into nothingness with same haste. But in exchange, the once dark and unlit torches further the darkness came alive. The only comfort everyone had. I thought too as well. And I felt happy running this time, escaping. Knowing the promise of life was with me.

I am being revived.

But only if that had lasted longer.

The smile and excitement bubbling within my chest withered the moment heaviness settled into me. Shivers crawled within a flash. To my arms. To my legs. Now the backs of everyone a blurred distance till it disappeared as I fell hard into my knees.

Wince, tears, scratch? That didn't matter. The torches stopped flickering out just a few meters from me. I still felt the warmth it offered when I had faced the cloth. But this time, there had been none. Then more died down.

Ding!

Spirit Couriers invoked!

Same sound that promised me life sounded grim now. Holding me to the ground I didn't know how. Weakening me when I could still run. At the same time as it did, the scuttles stopped. Gone.

But was it really?

I didn't believe that. My whole body was erect with shivers, my mind was already painting what was behind, despite my best not to. It was worse than the left arm that reminded me of the cloth earlier. For all of that, I still knew—it made me know.

Appendages. Scuttling. Monsters.

I didn't want to look, I didn't have to look.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Three simple sounds. Hollow, negligible, and dismissible. But it echoed, one I couldn't forget. It wasn't restrictive, yet it allowed nothing at all.

That sound accompanied my hurting knees, until my eyes glazed at the needled, long appendages caging me on both sides.

Tap. Tap. It gently stepped forwards. Again.

This was no cloth. No corpse. No unmoving body. No wrongness.

This wasn't the worries I held into earlier.

This was living. And I was again alone to face it. Of what it held. The scenes replayed to my mind. How th—

"Get up and run, young lady!" Miss Ignis' voice bellowed, from afar, from an opened door, as if reminding me this was not the same place. Not the same memory.

Magic! I resolved, realizing I was not as powerless anymore. That I had been given not the chance to redo my life but continue it. Change it. Improve it.

Blue fire emerged with my hope. It blazed. Strongly as it promised. As I made it to be. Blinking the dark hallways with the light I needed. My hope. So I turned around to meet my foe.

Yet it reflected the same thing I had not wanted seen.

I could see it, in that multitude of beady eyes. Not a reflection of me holding the promise to cut down what was in front. Just me. Frozen, looking at the color that reflected myself.

Then my spell vanished as it came. And the familiar taste that poured in my mouth broke me out of my paralysis.

I turned around and ran.

But could I, really? I had bitten too hard, but that wasn't the sole reason.

The screeches and taps that boomed into my ears couldn't halt me no more. Neither the pain on my knees or my dizziness. With neither aplomb nor reassurance, I ran for the darkening and empty hallway. To the door. To brace again.

But I was weakened. The magic in my run had vanished.

And that was hope no longer. It never came even with courageousness.

I felt the spider's appendages touch my stomach. My legs, my back, my feet. A gentle caress that it sent my hair waving in rapt attention, fighting the millions of needle-like hair the monster had. But it didn't hurt. Nothing did.

Only when it began screeching. Echoing to my chest that now bursted in pain as black and dots of red lights faded away from my consciousness. My body slowly getting dragged.

—–·–—

Thunder began whispering in the sky, clouds were huddled together forming hues of black, shrouding the cerulean color. But what made the place much darker, gloomy, and devoid of peace was the forest below. Visually, there is nothing wrong with how they look like: healthy greenish leaves, dirt-colored trunks tapered with buoyancy of strength, and vibrant flower that smelled of spring.

If anything, the land was still teeming with the vibrancy of life.

Yet, if one looks beyond what the eyes can see, one would understand the oddness of the situation.

The trees, grass, flowers, barks, branches—all that is of nature was howling with unworldly sound. Enough that no more living creatures still lingered around. It wasn't just empty on this forest alone, it stretched far—far beyond the reach of a mountain. It encompassed chains, plains, prairies. Letting those that are under and above, in a hut or in a hole, scamper away. To command them away.

But as frighteneing the situation was, it did not reach beyond that of plateaus, valleys, and those of untrodden crevices. No, not past to those unfearful even if it can.

And it is true! In some ways. For even if its name and strength reached far, it only holds capability on this particular forest alone.

So there then came the booming sound of a woman's cry, then that of a man's, then that of a child's. Like a horrible scream that would grate on one's ears. But this? This was with something worse.

That was how the whole forest began with a chant, and only then the forest took it to themselves to replicate the sound over the world. An image.

Everything of nature turned incandescent green. As if motes of light were coming out of their beings. It was bright but never blinding. A spectacle, moreso. However, it was something that would've made all the local lumberjacks, druids, and of those alike pale with extreme whiteness. And not only them, everyone would, even monsters fear. Because for the lights to have shed their color, only destruction awaits.

Even then, a skeleton stood amidst the thousands of lights. The staff it held boomed in echo with a tap. Then its magic began.

A huge thing was happening, surely. But to accost the wrath of an entire Herrandezza was a feat only those that can face its wrath can brave with no fear.

Beyond this place, however, wasn't as lively as this. The staggering darkness and silence had finally enveloped this particular catacomb.