Despite of Pandora’s undeniable blandness, it still offered beauty to the eyes of a desperate beholder. One of such was a structure Sef considered his sacred place. A staircase that sat on the edge of the prison wall, built to lead the willing to one of the borders that divided the underworld’s seas.

It had no mysterious inscriptions nor extravagant designs, only a stack of black stone steps that pierced the heavens, sandwiched between two fences that made sure every fall would not be an accident.

“um...” Bel gulped. “are we really...”

“yes” Erze said with a menacing grin. “you’re going to climb this without any rest!”

“don’t believe her” Sef said. “I’ll carry you once you get tired”

“what?!” Erze climbed the first three steps and blocked the path with her stretched hands. “I’m the one you’ll carry, it’s always been that way and it won’t change now!”

Sef whispered to her. “listen, kids are simpletons. If you show them you’re strong, beautiful and kind, they’ll always think you’re strong beautiful and kind”

She blinked. “really?”

Sef nodded.

“listen up kitten!” Erze pointed at Bel with one hand, while placing the other on her chest. “watch me! I’ll show you how a true strong, beautiful and kind lady climb stairs!”

With a passionate nod from the little girl, Erze sped across the stairs as if a pack of hell hounds chased after her. Bel ran as well, but after stepping into a moldy part of the stairs, she ended up riding Sef’s back with a sore knee.

“put me down” she said stubbornly. “I can still climb on my own”

“oh please...” Sef adjusted his hold on the girl’s thighs. “don’t worry about it, I can carry you to the top”

“but your legs, they’re shaking”

Sef looked down. Suddenly, the strain on his arms and legs came in full effect. He ignored it at first because of the girl’s petite frame. But now that his body shouted its protest, her unnatural heaviness took his every thought captive.

“you can put me down now” she said.

“are you sure?”

“papa said I shouldn’t be a bother to strangers”

Sef poked her forhead. “first, I’m not a stranger, and second, your injured so you’re going to be a nuisance anyway”

“no!” Bel slammed her fist on his head. “put me down! Put me down!”

Unwilling to take unnecessary brain damage, Sef put the child down and raised an eyebrow at her. “there! Go ahead, prove to me you can walk properly”

The girl pouted and pointed her finger down. “sit!”

Sef flashed an irritated grin. “I’m seven hundredish kid, you need to show me some respect”

“if you want respect, then don’t doubt me! I’ll prove to you I can climb these stairs!”

“then why do I have to sit?”

Bel wiggled her arms in the air. “so I can be like this”

“what’s that?”

The girl’s already flushed cheeks approached tomato-levels of redness. “make me go whoosh like the girl did awhile ago!”

“you want me to release your soul?”

“yes, but only a bit”

Though a part of him hesitated, Sef got down and offered a hand to the girl. “here, hold my hand”

Bel hugged herself and took a step down. “what do you plan to do?”

Sef’s teeth gritted as he grinned. “I can’t make you go whoosh if our souls aren’t harmonized"

After a few seconds of silence and doubt, Bel caved in and accepted the invitation. She walked back to Sef and slid her fingers between his, allowing her soul’s sinister melody to flow inside him.

Anger, hatred, and sorrow battled inside him as he forced his crumpled face to revert back its usual state. Sadly, it was too much, and the girl’s guilty eyes were more than enough to prove it.

“hey” he pinched Bel’s cheek. “don’t give me that look. I won’t absorb all of it, I’ll be fine”

“but---”

Sef covered the girl mouth and uttered the command. “come forth”

Like a squeezed sponge, the melody together with all of its emotions escaped out of him and tainted the air. Bel’s body vanished, but in her place came a glass chain that sprouted out of the steps.

“I’m ready! make me whoosh!” her excited voice rang inside his head.

Sef closed his eyes and visualized their destination. “chain"

No response.

“um, rope?”

Still nothing.

Sef stared at the chain, and as expected, his incomplete harmonization yielded no answer. There was no other way. He held his breath and used a drop of the forbidden authority inside him, forcing nothing to be something, forcing undeserved knowledge to come out of his mouth.

“snare"

Another chain flew across the stairs with the speed of a loose arrow. Sef waited anxiously for its other end to appear, only to realize it was already wrapped around his ankle.

“wait! My f---”

In the blink of an eye, Pandora turned into a world of blurred images and raging winds. Sef tore his throat, but was unsure if he screamed or not. All he cared about was to find Erze and take her with him. Who cares if she agreed or not, he needs comfort, and he’ll get it no matter what.

“help me!”

He endured the dizzying blurs and locked his eyes on the girl staring at the chain passing before her. At the exact moment she noticed him, he grabbed on to her and burried his face on her chest.

“what’s this?!” she asked.

“it’s the girl. I released her soul”

“why is your face on my chest?!”

“I’m scared, please hug me back”

Erze smacked his head but obliged nonetheless. “you ancient pervert, I’ll break one of your bones for this”

Sef chuckled. “pray this won’t do the job first”

As if an invisible power heard his plea, the chain’s acceleration suddenly stopped. The winds calmed, the sinister song died, and the cool breeze of the staircase’s summit kissed Sef’s skin, calming his pounding heart back to its normal pace.

“are we there?” Sef asked.

Erze pulled his head away. “see for yourself”

Sef opened his eyes and found Bel standing at the edge of the flat summit. Before her was a giant road that stretched farther than the eyes could visualize. Surrounded by clouds from all sides, showered by pillars of light that rained down from the gray sky above.

“beautiful!” Bel said while bouncing nonstop. “this place is beautiful!”

“careful” Sef pulled her away from the road. “if you miss a step, it’s over”

She broke free and blinked at the clouds. “why? Are these things not fluffy?”

“no” Erze said. “they’ll drop you straight to the sea and crush your internal organs with the sheer force of the impact”

Sef smiled at Bel. “don’t believe this nasty girl, just stick with me and you’ll be fine, okay?”

Bel’s eyes narrowed. “why do I need to stick to you? What are we going to do here?”

“hm” Sef stroked his chin. “guess I should do a quick lesson first”

Erze raised a hand. “me! I’ll do it!”

Bel shook her head, but the knowledge of Erze’s past passions forced Sef to nod. He sat at the center of the square platform and called the girl to his side. She resisted at first, but obeyed in the end like the good daughter.

“so!” Erze paced sideways. “you’re now at one of Pandora’s highest points, the road of Cainon. Any questions?”

“questions?” Sef said. “you barely said a thing!”

Erze stomped. “hand up if you want to speak!”

Bel raised two. “teacher, where does this road go?”

“good question” Erze said, touching the ridge of her nose as if she wore an invisible pair of glasses. “this road extends up to the other side of the underworld in a south east to south west manner. It intersects with the road of Abelon to separate the four seas and serve as the ramp of the gods”

“intersect... gods... four seas...” Bel murmured with a blank stare.

Sef picked a pebble and drew a circle. “here, think of this as Pandora...”

“um!” the girl nodded.

“and then...” he made a slanted line from the top left, down to the bottom right. “this is where we are”

“um!”

Erze joined the huddle and drew another line opposite to the first, creating an X mark that divided the circle into four slices of pie. “this is the other road, Abelon. Together they form the north, south, east and west seas. Got it?”

Bel looked back at the staircase. “why didn’t I see these road down there?”

“they’re only seen here” Sef said. “but they still reach downstairs. Invisible, but not gone”

“how about the one there?” Bel asked with a finger pointed at the clouds.

“what there?” Erze asked back.

“the one infront of your wall”

Sef searched Erze’s face for answers, but found silence and more confusion in return. It was only when a certain memory bubbled up from the depths of his mind that he understood the little girl’s question.

“that’s right!” he drew a smaller circle at the center of the X mark. “it’s here!”

Erze raised an eyebrow at him. “another four walls?”

Sef grinned guiltily. “past the horizon in our wall, there’s a circle of walls that further divides the four seas into Pandora’s gate and hall”

“flesh and bone?” Erze murmured.

Bel nodded. “the gate is where you and the weak children like me stay, while the hall is where our strong big brothers and sisters are”

“why only them?” Erze asked. “isn’t more happier than less?”

Bel shook her head. “being strong is more important than being happy. It let’s us do our job better”

“what job?”

“to guard the place we aim to reach” Sef said.

Erze shot an accusing glare at him. “why didn’t I know this yet?”

Sef threw a peace sign. “sorry, I haven’t had the most detailed memory this past millenia”

Erze’s eyes narrowed her eyes even more. “by the way you talk, it sounds like this isn’t that big of a deal. Do you really have a good plan mapped up?”

Sef flashed the most convincing face he could muster. “calm down, it’s just a tiny detail. If this girl turns out to be a good final piece, we can sweep whatever stands in our way, even if its something as strong as the guardian of this place”

Erze did not grin back. Her face was white and her eyes were wide in terror, a sight that puzzled him at first, but sank his heart as soon as realization struck. He locked his hands and calmed his mind to the best he could, but it was too late. A lump of black fluid already landed on Erze left shoulder and dissolved it to the bone.

“come forth!” Sef hid a screaming Bel behind him and watched Erze’s unconscious body morph into a spear.

“cross stitch!”

The weapon flew out of Sef’s line of vision and danced with their airborne foe. Metallic clashes pierced the silence and harmonized with Bel’s shouts of fear, creating a noise that made Sef grit his teeth.

“calm down” he wiped the girl’s eyes and pressed her cheeks. “this is not the time to cry”

Bel clung to him like a kitten on a tree trunk. “what’s happening?! Why is teacher’s shoulder like that?!”

Sef hugged her back. “um, let’s just say a really strong monster tasked to protect this place caught us off guard”

“why didn’t you know?! You’re seven hundredish old!”

“age is just a number kid, it doesn’t matter”

“then what does?!”

Sef lifted the girl’s gaze towards his eyes. “I know this is quite unfair, but you need to show me all of your soul now. I need to harmonize it with Erze, or else we’ll all be dissolved”

Bel shook her head. “I can’t do it! I can’t show everything!”

“listen” Sef pinned the girl’s head and stared at directly at her, revealing both the fear and determination painted in his eyes. “just trust me and let everything go down to the last drop”

“I can’t! You’ll see me! You’ll see how bad I am!”

Sef smiled. “that’s fine, I’m bad too, I’ll understand you”

One blink at a time, the panic in Bel’s face disappeared. She still looked scared, she still looked unsure, but as Sef held her hands, an air of acceptance emerged around her.

Sef closed his eyes. “don’t think, just release all of it”

The sinister song returned with a vengeance. It was louder, and more vivid than before, as if the emotions that it contained no longer came from the outside but from within Sef’s own soul.

The longer he listened, the thicker the darkness pressed against his eyes became. He hated its color, its emptiness, but most of all, he hated the pleasure it gave to his unclean soul. There was no way to escape it, that was for sure, but somewhere in the midst of the noise came a melody that summoned a dot of light from a distance.

“fear not sweet child, in my arms you’ll never be defiled”

“look up sweet dove, in my arms you’ll always be loved”

From a mere whisper, the song grew loud enough to drown the sinister noise. At the same time, the speck of light expanded to all directions and dissolved the darkness, bringing to view the bloody face of a man who smiled as if it was the happiest day of his life.

“don’t worry” he said with certainty. “your mama made me promise. Papa won’t leave you”

“no! Don’t open!”

As a voice pleaded at the back of his head, Sef opened his mouth and unhinged his jaw. He tightened the tentacles wrapped around the man’s neck and pulled his head in. The man gave no resistance, he remained smiling till the end, even after Sef’s jaws closed shut.

Darkness returned, but Sef’s vision remained. He was now back at his favorite spot above the wall, staring down at a humanoid figure kneeling at the center of the black waters. It was skeletal in appearance, with gray leathery skin, a bald head and ten muscular tentacles protruding from its back.

“mama... papa...”

Its deep voice sent shivers through the water up to Sef’s spine. There was no emotion in its words, nor a trace of humanity in its blank face, but with every call it made, a portion of Sef’s petrified heart began to ache again.

“are you sad little one?”

The waters in front of the monster rose and gave birth to a red hooded man. In his right hand was a knife and in his left was a wooden basket Sef recognized far too well.

“papa?” the creature directing its hollow eyes at its veiled visitor. In response, the man knelt down and asked the question Sef received once upon a time.

“do you want to be happy?”

Without a second thought, Sef jumped off his wall and pushed the hooded man out of the way. He may not have empathy for the monster in front of his house, but he would not allow his eyes to witness the same tragedy again.

“you...” he bent down and reached a hand out. “do you want to be corrected?”

The hooded man reemerged beside him. “if you choose correction, the desires growling inside you will never be satisfied. Come with me, I have what your heart yearns for”

Sef grabbed the top of the monster’s head and bumped its forhead against his. “listen kid, getting what you want won’t guarantee your happiness. Yes, loneliness is painful, and yes, guilt is heavy, but those are not reasons for you to run away from this. Pick yourself up and follow me. I’ll lead you to a place where we can both be corrected, where both of can become what we really are supposed to be”

A hand sprouted out of the monster's head and grabbed Sef's face. It was soaked with blood as dark as the sea, yet instead of shivers, it gave warmth. And instead of shade, it provided light that turned the gloomy world white.

“so we meet at last" a voice said from behind.

Sef spun with a pokerface. “Belly girl's father? Correct?”

Metallic noises echoed across the white space as a leashed man bowed before him. He wore a ragged tunic, torn trousers, and a gentle smile that seemed to be carved straight from Bel's face.

“I'm Belfred" he said, extending a hand without straightening his posture. “thank you for accepting us"

Sef pocketed his hands and stepped back. “don't thank me yet, we still need to see if this really works"

Belfred withdrew his hand and straightened up, his golden hair falling gracefully on his shoulders. “right, harmony first"

Sef narrowed his eyes. “you seem to know a lot about the soul. How about we start there?”

“if you can make the monster wait, then I'll tell you"

“trust me, my partner will buy us time"

“so you're really going to trust a sleeping weapon?”

Sef sat. “still better than trusting someone I don't know"

The reluctance on Belfred's face turned into a mixture of amazement and irritation. He nodded stiffly and obliged to Sef’s demand, sitting in front of him with his eyes locked on to his hands.

“I first knew about the cult when I performed in the king's palace. That time, my career as I musician was at its highest, but my relationship with Elise was the opposite. We were having trouble conceiving a child and it resulted in the two of us become distant to each other. I already tried everything. I prayed to our gods endlessly, sacrificed half of my lambs, but still, none of my pleas were answered. So when the cultist revealed himself to me, my faith wavered immediately. I drank the elixir and convinced my wife to do the same, not knowing it would separate us for good"

Sef averted his eyes, unwilling to gaze at the familiar anguish etched on the man's face. “I see, so she became the host"

Belfred burried his face on his palms. “it was a very cold night when it happened. I woke up to the sound of Elise's lullaby, and found her soaked in blood. Her stomach was ripped open and her beautiful black hair has turned white. I didn't accept it, I still tried to get help---”

“but she stopped you...” Sef said with a nostalgic smile. “you still wanted to fight for her, but she already cradled the enemy in her arms, looking at it with loving eyes"

“how did you know that?”

“your daughter was a baby when she came out. I was a lover when I did"

“I'm... I...” Belfred fumbled his words like a drunkard. Thankfully for him, Sef was already on his feet, extending the same invitation he denied earlier.

“I heard enough" he said. “I accept you as my final piece"

Belfred blinked. “but we haven't done anything yet, I haven't showed you what our souls can do yet!”

“don't worry, I already saw it up close"

“but...”

Like a puzzle assembled piece by piece, Belfred's sour face slowly turned into the smile of excitement. He bolted up to his feet, fixed his posture and grabbed Sef's hand with two of his own.

“please take care of my daughter's eyes"

Sef raised an eyebrow. “just those?”

Belfred grinned proudly. “they're the only ones she got from her mother. The rest was all me"

In a flash, the white void reverted back into the top of the Cainon road. The clouds, the breeze, everything was how Sef last saw them except for one thing. Seven feet away from him was Erze sprawled on the floor, pinned in place by an improved version of the black monster he loved to hate.

It had a ten feet human body and the head of a male lion. A sight that was not supposed to intimidate him, if not for the additional bat wings and scorpion tail that now whipped menacingly behind it.

“ugh” Sef frowned at his partner’s limp body. “she’s definitely going to hurt me after this”

“but she’s dead” Bel said.

“no, she’s ju---”

A ball of acidic goo whizzed above Sef’s head. It was hard to tell wether it was a warning or an actual miss, but regardless, it brought Sef’s focus to the right place. He reassured his stance, and locked his eyes on his opponent, studying every flap of its wings and every whip its tail.

“snare, needle”

Obedient chains responded to his command and dragged the monster by the neck. It fell on its knees but quickly returned to its feet, only to be pierced from behind by Erze’s spear.

Sef whistled. “not bad”

The guardian pulled the weapon protruding from its chest and catapulted towards Sef with a single flap of its wings. Every inch of him pleaded to avoid it, but the dark melody inside his head brought out a twisted excitement that anchored him in place.

“snare"

Another set of chains latched unto the monster and halted its advance. Some coiled around the wings while others snaked across the legs and arms. All firm and unwilling to succumb to their captive’s rage-filled struggles.

“Bel” Sef whispered.

“yes?” the girl asked.

Despite knowing Bel’s bodiless state, Sef still peeked above his shoulders. “how are you?”

“It’s like I’m underwater again. But I’m okay, I can still breath this time”

“this time?”

“yes. Whenever papa borrows my body, I feel like I’m sinking into an ocean. It’s dark and suffocating, but now, it’s fine, I can see everything, and I can breath like I do when papa is asleep”

Sef grinned. “be ready, I’ll merge your soul with Erze now okay?”

Bel inhaled. “I’ll do my best!”

After a quick glance at their restrained opponent, Sef closed his eyes and soaked his own soul with the two songs clashing inside his ears. It was not a challenge earlier since he alternated from one soul to another. But now that he payed attention to both, the struggle became immediate and intense.

It was as if a storm raged inside him, blessing his soul with immense power, but at the same time cursing it with urges that commanded him to trample everything under his feet.

“don’t worry... we’ll fix this... we’ll fix this...”

One reassurance after another, he reduced the chaos to a whisper. From a glass filled to the brim, he became a tight-sealed container. Still plagued by the same weaknesses, still occupied by same vile emotions, but now completely in control.

“are you okay?” Bel asked.

“yes, how about you?” he asked back.

“I don’t understand what happened, but this is amazing! I want to play! Please let me play!”

Sef stared at the monster and weighed the scales. He could play safe and release only what he could handle, or go all out and see the ceiling of new found toy. Neither was wrong, and both were alluring, but in the end, it was curiosity that won over.

“coffin”

As soon as the command left his lips, hooked chains sprang from all sides and wrapped the monster inside a cocoon. Inch by inch, it tightened its hold, breaking the monster’s bones, crushing its flesh and squeezing its blood until the entire prison was dyed black.

“return" Sef unlocked his hands and ordered the weapons to return to their human forms. One of them appeared on his lap still wearing the pain of a dissolved shoulder, while the other leaned against his back murmuring like a toddler.

“good job you two” he positioned them side by side, wrapped their arms around each other, and paused to admire his work. Once satisfied, he sat at the edge of the platform and dipped his feet in the clouds, eyes staring to the distance, mind wandering to a place he could not reach.

“I guess it's time to visit an old friend"