Red wasn’t eager to get up, but he knew standing by was not a choice. He sat up, looking at the colossal bone that stretched into the crimson sky above without end. Countless runes were carved upon its surface, of a complexity the youth still couldn’t figure out even now.

“What do you want from me?” he asked.

His only answer was the absolute silence of this windless desolation.

“Still only silence, huh?”

Nothing had changed. He was the only living being in this endless desert, and he couldn’t reach to anyone in here. Not to Aurelia, nor to the crimson mist that had brought him here in the first place against his will.

‘I thought we were past this…’

This wasn’t the first time he was made to sleep by the crimson mist to be brought to this place, of course, but this was the first time for over a month that it happened. He thought that maybe the being had given up on this plan and left Red to his own devices for now.

He was clearly very wrong.

He looked down at his feet, noticing the faint drawing of runes he made on the black sand with the sharp bone he had carved from the knight. They were all still there, and the bone knife hadn’t decomposed, which indicated not much time had gone by in this world.

Or maybe it was better to say that nothing decomposed on this plane? It was hard to say.

‘Does it still want me to learn those infernal runes?’

The crimson mist itself never made its plan known to Red, so he could only assume. Since the only thing in this place were these runes, what else was there for the youth to learn here? There was a big problem with this plan of action, though.

‘These runes can’t help me.’

It was not that they were useless. In fact, they were very powerful, but how could Red wield this demonic power in the open? It was why he didn’t make his study of the runes a priority, since he wouldn’t be able to use them either way.

His demonic partner, however, didn’t seem to understand this, or perhaps it didn’t care.

‘I have no choice then.’

Even if he wasn’t able to use them, it was good practice for his Arcane Scripture. At least, that’s what he would like to think.

‘My body is still that of a child.’

His development in the outside world didn’t seem to have any effect in his body on this hellish landscape, as here, he was still a ten-year-old child, with just a few Spiritual Veins open and with a closed Spiritual Sea. Not that any of that would matter, since there was no Spiritual Energy in this place as far as he could tell.

The consequences of this were that he wasn’t confident in his stamina to draw the runes to their conclusion.

‘Now, where did I stop?’

He looked over at his drawings on the ground. They were crooked and barely visible, though that was to be expected as a bone and the irregular sandy ground made for less than ideal paint and paper. Whatever the case, it was what Red had to work with, and he wouldn’t let it stop him from memorizing the runes.

…

It wasn’t too long before the youth lost track of time. Although his physical skills weren’t brought with him to this world, the same couldn’t be said of his mental faculties. He had improved a substantial amount on his Arcane Scripture since the last time he was in this infernal plane, so he had an easier time committing to mind all these foreign runes.

The big problem, however, was that it was impossible for him to know what any of these new runes did without testing them. So Red could only guess and theorize the use of connecting such runes with each other with the little information he already knew.

Soon enough, though, the task frustrated him.

‘This is pointless.’

Arcane Scripture wasn’t about guess working. If one didn’t know the use of a rune, they needed to test it extensively. Right now, though, Red couldn’t accomplish this and was forced to memorize runes at random without knowing their ultimate use or foundational importance. It wasn’t as if this method wouldn’t work, but there were countless different runes on the surface of this single bone mountain.

How long would it take for Red to figure out the use of every one of them if he needed to experiment with them in the real world first? Too long, and it wasn’t time he could afford to waste, much more so considering these wouldn’t be useful to him at this moment.

This was made less vexing by the fact time passed in this place didn’t correspond to time passed in the real world, but it didn’t make his frustration any lesser. He couldn’t help but feel there were more efficient ways to pass his time in this place, and this ate him up inside until the point that his bone “brush” was completely spent.

Red looked down at the remaining stub with a frown. His only tool, now completely gone.

‘If I knew I was going to be using this for drawing, I would have taken more bones…’

Now, however, he couldn’t guess where that knight’s body was, as he didn’t bother keeping track of his steps back then.

Red threw aside the remaining bone piece, looking around at the ground drawings. They now occupied more than a hundred meter radius around him, full of the youth’s trial and errors in drawing the runes. Right now, he felt confident he had memorized more than fifty such infernal runes, the majority of which he didn’t know the use of. And yet…

‘I’m still here.’

His return to the real world was accompanied by a wave of exhaustion at having spent himself completely. Right now, though, Red didn’t feel tired at all, even after having spent who knew how long in studying those runes. It just so happened that this time around, it didn’t take nearly the same effort of his part in memorizing each infernal rune, which only spoke to his improved mastery over Arcane Scripture.

The real question was, what else was he supposed to do now?

Red was almost compelled to look up at the sky in contemplation, but he stopped himself at the last moment. He couldn’t forget about the Black Sun.

It was only after a long time that an idea came to his mind as he stared at the bone mountain.

‘What if I drop my blood on those runes?’

Truthfully, this wasn’t the first time he had considered the idea. He knew these infernal runes were powered by blood, so he imagined they would have some reaction to his own blood. However, he was more than a little hesitant to proceed with this plan.

For one, the mountain was unimaginably big, and every inch of it was covered in runes. Even if Red bled himself dry, it would not be enough to cover even a small fraction of its surface. This was not to mention he didn’t know the purpose of these runes, so how wise would it be to activate them?

This all made Red afraid to proceed with this plan, but he recognized there was little else to do. Either he tried to bleed over the bone mountain or he found some other way to die of exhaustion. He could try to memorize the infernal runes without drawing them first, but Red’s skills weren’t at that level yet.

His curiosity and frustration also bore down on him. The status quo had remained for too long in this desolate infernal plain and he was gaining little from his own efforts to memorize the runes, so he was now considering doing something more extreme to cause some change.

His innate curiosity and cautiousness clashed in his mind, and Red struggled to make a decision. Yet, at the end, he couldn’t help but sigh as he came to a decision.

‘No Spiritual Energy to cultivate, no tools to practice with, no books to read… What else do I have with me other than my own blood?’

Even if he did nothing right now, how long would it take for him to find himself in the same situation? The crimson mist would bring him back to the future for reasons even the being himself didn’t seem to know, and he would still find himself with the same conundrum. He could bring nothing other than knowledge with him to this place, so it didn’t matter how strong he got out there.

He would still be just a helpless child in here.

‘Whatever the case, I can’t let myself fester here.’

Time didn’t pass in the real world while he was here, but his perception was still real. The youth was patient, able to take loneliness better than most, but even he didn’t feel at ease in this place. Not a single sound here other than his own breathing and footsteps - it was enough to drive even the most patient individual crazy over long enough periods of time - not to mention the staleness and lack of life in the air.

This wasn’t a place for the living, and Red wouldn’t spend any more time here than he had to.

It was with all those things in mind that he made his decision.

Red walked towards the giant bone, looking up towards the crimson sky. He couldn’t see the top from here, and he felt like a piece of dust before this monumental spur. He would have double guessed himself about this being a bone at all if he hadn’t observed it from a distance in the past, but he was certain of it now.

He traced his finger along the runes carved on its surface. They were made with a crude tool, considering by the chipping, but they were still drawn perfectly as far as Red could tell.

‘The work of a master.’

No longer hesitating, Red brought his thumb up to his mouth and bit down. He didn’t flinch as a small droplet of blood flowed down his finger, which he proceeded to smear on the center of a rune.

At first, the small dark red mark remained on the greyish surface, showing no reaction. Red frowned, wondering if his theories were wrong in the first place, but a few second later he saw a change.

The smear of blood started to fade, as if evaporating into thin air. The youth squinted his eyes, trying to examine the reaction from up close, but it all happened too fast. Before he could even blink, the blood was gone, and the bone surface seemed to have returned to normal.

‘Is that it?’

Red was confused. Even if his blood wasn’t enough, he expected at least some kind of reaction, and yet no such thing happened.

He took a step back, trying to examine the bone from afar.

‘Wait, is that?’

He squinted. Something seemed to have changed above him. A small crack in the colossal bone, which, a few seconds later, seemed to spread to its surroundings. Soon enough, the phenomenon spread to a much larger area, until almost the entire bone was riddled by those similar fine cracks.

The ground rumbled, and the very air crackled with deafening sounds of something far too big collapsing upon itself. Red shivered.

Was it about to collapse?

The youth didn’t even try to run away. The bone was far too big, and even if he had a five-minute head start, he doubted he would be clear of the rubble from the collapse. He could only walk further back, trying to take in the phenomenon from far away.

The collapse he was expecting, however, didn’t come, even as the cracks continued to spread. Instead, Red saw a dust layer form on the surface of the bone mountain. This later increased until almost the entire structure was covered in it.

It was only a few seconds later that the youth understood what was happening.

‘It’s… dissipating?’

Sure enough, beneath this smoke, Red could see the volume of the bone being reduced. The bone dust seemed to disappear into the skies, even though there was no wind to blow it, and the mountain continued to evaporate.

The youth covered his eyes, his entire body consumed by the cloud of dust. And yet, he didn’t feel any force against his body, and no specks stuck to his clothing. It was as if the bone dust couldn’t touch his body.

After what felt like an eternity, his vision started to clear. The entire bone mountain had disappeared, leaving not even a trace behind.

Red looked around in a daze, until he seemed to spot something. It was a glow, a floating golden light in the place where the mountain had just stood. It was almost too faint to spot, but contrasted against the endless black desert, it was all too obvious.

The youth felt a calling to him, as if speaking deeply to his soul. Almost with no control, he walked towards it. Though the light seemed small, it was actually just too far from him, and as he got close, it increased in front of his eyes.

It was emitting a golden light, but in fact, its surface seemed to be a deep crimson. Countless golden runes were covering its surface, and it didn’t take Red more than a second to recognize them as the symbols that once covered the bone mountain. More than that, though, the youth felt a resonance from his body to this crimson-golden sphere, and an innate understanding came to him at that moment.

Blood. That was a droplet of blood.

Of course, calling it a droplet was understating it. The sphere was bigger than him, almost three meters across, but the youth felt sure of it. It was blood.

And right now, he felt an almost uncontrollable desire to consume it.

‘No! I can’t-’

As if recovering some shred of his sanity, Red held himself back. His body seemed to be fighting against him, though, and the youth felt an unbearable pain as his own muscles clashes against each other.

‘What is… Going on?’

Before he could recover his thoughts, though, a thunderous rumbling came from above him. Red shivered, and he looked up.

The entire crimson sky seemed to shiver, as deep lines formed along the firmament. Like a canvas, the heavens themselves shimmered and bulged, as if something was trying to break its way through it. The air above crackled, and it was as if the entire world was falling apart.

An unbearable pressure crashed down on Red, and a roar reached his ears.

‘No, not a roar.’

It was a word. A curse. A hatred deeper than the fiercest flames.

“THIEF!”

Red knew then he couldn’t remain still. He no longer stopped his body, instead dashing with all speed towards the giant droplet of blood as the entire world seemed to collapse around him.

The lights blinded him as he got closer, but he didn’t stop. Then, in an almost too familiar scenario, Red jumped headfirst into the flowing golden blood.

Then, everything went dark.