The following half-hour was filled with stressful conversations for Alexander. But finally, the explanations ended and Furcas led him into another room as he told the Human-Born of someone who could offer help. Someone to join Alexander on his journey through the UnderWorld.

The first image that came to mind was another demon, another looking like an old human. But what he met was the exact opposite.

As soon as he entered another brick-walled room, Alexander found himself face to face with a human. A real one.

The room appeared to be an office, or rather, a study, with bookshelves lining the walls, and a long wooden table at the center. A desk sat in the back, reminiscent of Archibald's Paladin office.

A boy sat at the central desk, nearly hidden behind a stack of thick books. His head was buried into two books at a time, his mind in deep focus.

Until Furcas called out to him, that is.

He jolted upright and stood from his seat to meet Alexander. He was dressed very similarly to Alexander, his tunic being dark grey and short-sleeved. His shorts were the same color, and his feet were bound in sandals.

The boy was skinny, thin, and fair- His pale skin in contrast with his dark, near-black hair. But his eyes- His eyes were the first thing Alexander noticed. He guessed anyone would catch his eyes first. They were a stark blue, shining like a bright star or rather a pool of indigo, a sea untouched and untainted. Pure, smooth seashine.

He was a human. Everything about him pointed at that. The glimmer in his eyes, his magic energy, even the touch of his skin, Alexander noted as their grips met to shake hands.

That was when he introduced himself. "Good to meet you. Keiran," he said as they ended the shake. "Kieran Lassiter."

"Alexander Lane," Alexander said in response, greeting with a nod. "You're British, aren't you?" he asked, noting the boy's accent.

Kieran nodded. "Yes sir. Right from England," he said with a smile. "Why do you ask?"

Alexander didn't know how to explain. As awkward as always, he tried to elaborate, "An English person was the last thing I expected to see in the UnderWorld."

Truly, it was hell.

The boy laughed in response. "Well, I hear you're going to help me get to the Purgatorio level of this place. Got any special powers like the old man here?" Keiran asked along with his chuckle.

"Kinda..." Alexander spat out, his voice slurred in uncertainty. Furcas never mentioned anything about Purgatorio. "Except I'm not entirely sure of what he's capable of."

Keiran's head tilted to the side. "Don't you know him well? He said he knew you."

"Well, I just met him," Alexander said with a confused, awkward chortle.

"Aren't you a demon?"

Alexander took a step back on reflex. What the hell was that supposed to mean? Alexander knew he was in the UnderWorld and all, but he had no reason to look like a demon. And if he did, then...

"No, no, no," he stammered out. "I'm a human. Just like you."

The boy furrowed his eyebrows. "No, you're not. Wait, are you? You're seriously a human, aren't you?" he asked, his thick eyebrows displaying an array of emotions as his mind struggled to catch up with what Alexander had just admitted.

Furcas had been standing to the side for the entire exchange. He only smiled as Alexander and Keiran drowned out each other's voices with their confused remarks and mumbles. And so, he cleared his throat.

Their attention shifted to the demon just a few feet away.

Still with a grin, Furcas' faced Alexander. "You see, my boy... Keiran is from Earth."

Alexander's eyes widened. "Wait, did you just say Earth?!" he asked Furcas before quickly turning back to Keiran and aiming a finger at him. "Like, the Earth? You're really from there?!"

Kieran himself grew confused. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?" he asked, pointing a finger back at Alexander. "Everyone's from Earth!"

"There are literally six billion people on Midgard."

This time, it was Keiran that turned to Furcas. "You never mentioned this 'Midgard'! Nothing I studied did!" he shouted out, grabbing hold of one of the thick books on the desk and waving it around.

The date on the cover was long before Midgard was even created.

Meanwhile, Furcas only laughed.

"Studied?" Alexander asked.

Furcas explained, "The human has some experience with the magical and the metaphysical. Scriptures and practices of such are the product of remnants of magic on Earth. Both physically, and from pure energy."

He chuckled again. "I'll let you two explain it to each other."

Alexander swallowed his dry saliva. He had never met anyone directly from Earth. And so, he didn't know how to explain the entire circumstance. He even questioned to what extent he should explain it.

He only shook away those thoughts and focused. "Okay, so... Back in the fifth century A.D., a whole bunch of magicians came together and created this place called Midgard."

And he continued, speaking on the Nine Realms, the magic past of Earth, and Midgard as a whole. Before he was even close to finishing, Keiran dropped to his original seat, plopping himself down as his brain took in a mass of loaded information.

Alexander didn't regard how much he spoke or how Keiran processed it, only letting his lips brim forth with what he knew. By the time he ended, he looked down at Keiran, who sat with his head dipped into his palms.

"So..." he mumbled through his hands. "There's another Earth out there?"

Alexander nodded, although Keiran couldn't see it at all. "And that's where most of the magic went. You seriously didn't know? Even after what you 'studied'?"

Keiran lifted his head. "Like he mentioned..." he muttered, facing Furcas yet again. "I had access to some texts. Mostly metaphysical, instead of magic. I can barely use magic at all. I just understand a bit of it, and I'm familiar with alchemy."

Alexander crouched down to Keiran's level and stared into his deep blue eyes. "You're good with alchemy?"

He nodded in return. "And I can use magic to make runes. But that's pretty much it. I'm not really cut out for combat, so Furcas told me to wait before I left. To wait for you."

"What for?"

"His quest," Furcas proclaimed.

"Oh?" Alexander asked, pushing himself up to stand. "We're going to the same place?"

"It's complicated," Furcas interrupted once more. He traced his fingertips across his white beard. "Are you familiar with alchemy, Alexander?"

Before Alexander could spit out an answer, Keiran jumped in with a momentary lecture. He stared at Alexander, flailing his hands as he spoke on what he so carefully studied and learned.

"Alchemy is just the transmutation of energy, even if that energy is within a physical object. So, say, if I'm 'transmuting' a rock, whatever happens to it isn't the product of alchemy on the rock itself, but the energy of the rock. Whether its the magic within it, or something as innate as the positive energy in electrons, that's what alchemy is focused on."

He continued. "But in the end, it's mostly fashioned for physical transformations. The main goal was to turn stones into gold, after all."

"Right..." Alexander muttered.

"But since you studied the metaphysics... Theoretically, you could apply that alchemy to magic. Right?"

Keiran paused. The transformation of magic itself... That was something he had never really considered. And so, his thoughts raced to find his answer. "Well, yeah. But in the end, it's a matter of contact. So if I get hit with a fireball or something, I'll probably explode."

Alexander laughed.

"Fireballs are a thing in magic, right?"

The Demon-Born continued to chuckle as he nodded. "Yep. But you don't explode on impact. So I guess if you're fast enough, you'll be able to transmute it."

"Well... I'm not fast at all."

Again, Keiran left no time for responses. He pushed himself off his chair to stand and shifted the conversation with a question of his own. "What type of magic do you use? Like, are affinities a thing?"

Alexander smiled and nodded. "I have Dark Magic." He paused. "But I barely use it, honestly."

He paused again. 'Why don't I use it? What's wrong with me?' he asked himself. Dark Magic was revered throughout the realms for being extremely versatile. William Nero of the Order of the Paladins used that magic too, as a matter of fact.

That single thought became Alexander's will to further his development with his affinity.

"Can I... see it?" Keiran asked.

His smile remained plastered on his face. Alexander extended his palm. And slowly, from the air itself, his magic began to flare. The skin on his hand became coated with a layer of black, with the magic of darkness itself growing over his skin.

And with that, Keiran and Alexander's shadows gravitated towards his open hand. They melted together into a mass of black. The darkness exploded into the room, coating the room's walls in a layer of magical black.

Just a second later, the magic withdrew and compressed into a single orb, sitting in Alexander's palm. The flashes of light and darkness burst like flares in Keiran's mind as he processed what he just saw.

That was magic. Something he hadn't seen before. Something all Earthly humans can only dream of. His eyes lit up as his lips curled up with a grand grin.

"What spell was that?"

"Spell? Oh." Alexander realized, thinking about the Earthling perception of magic and how it always lacked structure compared to reality. "Well, spells are only for specific things. I don't know to explain it, but... Adding names or motions to the build-up of magic changes it on a fundamental level. Calling forth a 'Divine Hailstorm' or whatever- That carries the power of the words within its magic and makes it easier and more efficient than to create not a whole storm, but one that produces hail."

"But in general..." Alexander muttered, scratching the side of his cheek with his nail. "I don't really use spells."

"I see. So what you did just now... That was pure control?"

Alexander nodded. The orb of dark magic remained in his palm. "Transform it," Alexander told him.

"Huh?" Keiran asked, looking up at Alexander from the magic manifestation.

"Use your alchemy. Just so I can see what you're capable of, y'know."

The boy swallowed his dry saliva. A magician and a demon were watching. As of now, that was the most pressure he had been under. Keiran didn't know what to transform it into but... Now was a time to act on reflex.

He placed his hand into the air above Alexander's palm. He began to speak some short simple words in languages unknown to Alexander, some Latin, some German, all unintelligible. And with those murmurs of only a handful of seconds, air burst into the room.

Alexander's magic had been transformed into wind itself, erupting outward as he lost control.

Keiran had just... transformed Alexander's magic into his own.

The Virtue of Diligence couldn't help but smile at that. Alexander knew what alchemy was capable of, but he had never seen it applied in such a way. This was unorthodox. Unusual. And that's precisely what excited him.

He clapped his hands together. "Alright!" he said, optimistic of what was to come. A quest to return to the World, accompanied with an alchemist. "What's the plan? Purgatorio?"

Furcas nodded. "Purgatorio is, as I'm sure you're aware of, purgatory. A place where souls of all kinds end up. It's a middle ground between the purity of the OverWorld's afterlife system and the many simple Hells over here. The majority of those souls are receiving their punishment in order to become pure enough for what lies above. But some of those souls..."

"...are innocent," Keiran said, spitting out a sigh along with it.

Alexander's turned to Furcas. "So, then..."

"Keiran is a modern-day Orpheus, to say the least. I'm sure you're familiar with the original story. The hero searching to retrieve his deceased lover. In our case, Keiran is searching for his mother. An innocent soul trapped in Purgatory, a punishment she doesn't deserve."

"Wait, but then, how did she get down here?" Alexander paused. He didn't know how to word it, especially around Kieran, but if his mother was in the UnderWorld, then... Didn't that mean she deserved it?

Alexander didn't want to speak. But Kieran did.

"She was cursed." Kieran's head drooped over, his arms crossed against his chest. Staring at the floor, he explained. "A human put a curse on her. And a devil took her heart. Her soul, rather." He clenched his fists. "But I know she can come back. I know how this place works. Cursed souls... They're different. Furcas told me that we can free her soul. Break her curse, y'know? Then, all we have to do is pass through the Gates of Death. Together."

Furcas nodded. "Her death was... untimely to say the least. Still, it was only a short while ago. Her soul will stay in Purgatorio for some time until it is claimed by the devil that killed her. Time on your realms passes slowly compared to the UnderWorld, so don't worry about that. You must focus on the objective. Alexander, are you willing to lend Keiran your power?"

Alexander grit his teeth. Furcas didn't have to ask at all. Just hearing of the curse, just hearing of Keiran's loss... He had already resolved his heart.

He turned to Kieran, his fists clenched. "We're gonna save your mom. And we're gonna get out of this place."

Keiran stared up at Alexander. Listening to him, Keiran could feel the virtue held in each of Alexander's words. He could tell, precisely because he had been met with that once before. Within Alexander, it seemed that virtue itself was his life energy. Justice, in this case.

He had only known Furcas for a few days, but it was already clear. Alexander had inherited Furcas' blood, his very will. And now he stood as the embodiment of those virtues and ideals that the demon held. The heart of a knight.

"Thank you."

That was all Keiran could let out.

Furcas approached the two of them. "There is a path to the Gates of Death that directly succeeds from Purgatorio. It'll take just days to reach there, and just one day after to reach the Gates."

Alexander and Keiran eyed each other.

"And so... That is the path you will both take. To find Keiran's mother and traverse past the Gates of Hell. That will bring you all to your respective realm. Back home."

Alexander smiled. "When do we leave?"

"Right now."

"Wait, huh?" Keiran asked.

Furcas turned and walked back towards the corridor. "I'll give you weapons and supplies. Follow the map I'll give you, listen to your gut, and don't trust anyone. A live human like you, Keiran, is sure to be hunted on these lands. And a Human-Born like Alexander is, as well.

Alexander was confused yet again. What Furcas was saying, it was as if...

"You can't come with us?" he asked.

The demon sucked in air through his teeth. "I'm afraid not, my boy. The UnderWorld is changing. I can't quite explain it but, a dark shadow is growing. It's not the usual malice of demons. It's something dangerous. Something even I fear..."

On that note, he forced a smile onto his face and cracked his knuckles. "Now!" he said. "Let's get you boys ready."