Oracion's POV

No longer wanting to wait, I take out the book that I received from Xandier. Quickly flicking through it just to satisfy my need to understand it being filled. And as he said, some pages were filled with complete scribbles of images or words, others seemingly torn out or stained. But none I found more interesting than one in particular.

My fingers grazed across it, noticing a weight to it that other pages didn't have. Two pages that are almost perfectly glued together with what looks like blood. I skip to the back in the mean time, deciding that I can't be moving while trying to delicately separate the pages from each other.

Instead insisting on reading what seems to be an introduction, left on the final possible page of the diary. "To the one who should be reading this, I warn you, for this book is obscure so that they don't notice. I cannot tell you a logical fact, I cannot give you a gender, I cannot give you a name and I can barely refer to a time. For if I remember, I will not. For the long period that I've been writing this, I can firmly say that only a few pages would be of use, for those times, I took...extra measures." He finishes, ending the page with an eerie drawing of hollow eyes with the pencil sketch itself seemingly carved into the paper for how present each line appears to be.

I stumble across the ground a bit, nearly falling over from the sudden change in terrain. Taking the book away from my vision and noticing the lines engraving the ground. 'I knew we were close to it, but I didn't think we were this close.' I think to myself, following the orange trails of lava with my eyes as they lead directly to a small pond sized hole within the floor.

I catch what seems to be a literal feather of flame, shaped like a bird's but floating up from the pond of magma. Casting light around it the higher it gets, until eventually bursting into cinders and falling back into the lava. I cover the book, not wanting it to be caught aflame as I arch my head further in after noticing something moving just barely on the surface. 'Touch it' my intrusive thoughts try to guide me.

Finding my hand already half way towards it, catching myself and resisting the urge to pick out what seems to be a plump orange fish with beads around its eyes. It flicks the lava around with ease, swimming through rock and expanding the pool as it melts everything around it. I decide to follow it since it's roughly going towards where I want to be.

-

After a period of time, I realise that it's leading towards the volcano at the centre of the environment I'm in. A place that I'm reluctant to follow considering the state of my shoes. I didn't notice it at first, but the more I walked, the harder it became to walk. The sheer amount of heat began to pour into the material until I was forced to remove them. Oddly enough, the floor feels cooler than what I imagined it to be.

Without warning, the fish jumps out of the lava. Evidently shown by the large pool of rising feathers that rise into the sky. I back away from it, not wanting to be burned or much less have my clothes ruined as well.

I still decide to chase it, having nothing better to do at the moment and quite frankly, I find it mesmerising to stare at. The effortless way it seems to just seep into the ground, pushing its way towards where it wants to go even if something as solid as ore was in its way. I noticed it from a distance, but I wasn't aware of how close I'd actually gotten to it during this distraction. A biome more closer to a forest but oddly spacious as if wanting someone to intertwine themselves between the trees and vines.

I try getting ahead of the fish, wanting to prevent it from setting the obviously flammable plants but it seems to almost of sped up the moment I got ahead of it. "Shit" I call out as the tunnelling thing practically steamrolls in hopes of sinking me along with it. Luckily, it stops just before the green, staring back at me before puffing up its face and spewing lava at the leaves.

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My mouth opens to say something, but it's immediately redacted by the lava seeping through the soil and leaves, almost forcing the forest to mature faster and helping it to grow. I look back down at the fish, realising its level of sentience is a lot more than I thought. I crouch down at it, almost wanting to pet its head as its bulging eyes peacefully stare back at me, barely managing to resist.

As I take a moment to embrace the controversially cute moment, I begin to hear squealing as the forest leaves release a sound like wind brushing through it. A vine that's carrying something heavy from the depths of itself, an animal of sorts that's more accurate to be called a turtle but with a spiked shell and teeth of a cat. "Cute...?" I ponder to myself, trying to convince myself that it isn't some abomination of nature.

Despite the squeals of the animal, the forest continues to carry it, lifting it above the fish's lava and eventually dropping it mercilessly. The death wasn't painless and it sure as fuck wasn't fast. But that didn't stop the fish from circling it intently, swallowing the fluids that melted from the animal until the lava clears of its red stain.

With a little, 𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘱, the fish dives deep into the lava and away from my sight. Once again kicking up some feathers that get caught by the trees, causing the roots to glow as they're absorbed, turning the green into an orange hue.

I enter the forest, opening the book back up as I'm fairly certain it's safer than it was out in the heat. Feeling an immediate chill along my feet as my toes grasp the dirt unintentionally and slightly cringing me out. Along the pages I scanned through, I notice one word in particular that continues to reappear. "Regulator" this was always followed by or associated with, "The Delirium". Over and over and over, I run my finger through the pages. Over and over I lose count at how many times its been scribbled out, retraced, burned out, clawed, anything to disprove his own writing. But I've seen the words enough, I know for certain that's what it's saying to me.

"It brings peace, it brings joy, it wants you to appreciate the sanctuary ## made for you. Whether you want to or not. Even if you didn't, you wouldn't know that, would you?" He continues writing.

As I follow the page, I can't help but notice the textures change, roughly circular shapes that cause the paper to feel frailer in some parts than others...tears? "I've written it so many times...I've remembered it so many times...but I've forgotten it so much more. It grabbed me, it let go of me. I told others that I ran away, but did I?" I feel something within me twist as I follow along with the page's notes.

"The Beast with stars for blood that wears the night sky as skin and flesh, It entered, didn't it? The Veil that was meant to protect us all, keep things out, it opened a hole didn't it? No, it ### ### ##, didn't it?...Was there even a Veil at the time? How long ### ## been aware, do ### even ####### who ### ###?" He scribbles, "Regulator, The Delirium. # don't think ### knows the#### doing ####. # know who it is.

I shut it again, getting annoyed at the blurred sentences and deciding to focus on the things around me in case I trip. "Forward" I tell myself as it only gets thicker the more I go in mindlessly. I was half tempted to bring out my sword and begin slashing, but on different glance, something very deep within me told me not to. I'd call it wisdom but I can't give myself that much credit, "Maybe seeing that turtle get turned into liquid humbled me" I agree with a nod to myself.

I grip some vines, feeling their texture to be a lot more rubbery or stiffer than at first sight. Trying to move them out of the way so that I can advance further but something catches my eye, a gleam of luminous green that almost floats through the blending environment. Deciding that's my only hope of direction, I quickly jump towards it, vaulting myself over and through tight spaces between the trees in hopes of reaching it.

"Hmmmhmm" I hear a seraphic voice hum, almost immediately paralysing me upon hearing it.

I try to speak out to it, but my mouth refuses to move. Not out of fear, not out of panic. But something else entirely. It felt like a parent telling an infant to shut up, the sheer authority of the voice alone has silenced the entirety of the world. The wind didn't dare blow, the leaves didn't dare shake, and the animals didn't even want to breathe.

My body however, wants something different. Feeling all my muscles quake at the subtleness of movements but nonetheless I had a goal, and it was surviving. The person's luminous green hair just barely out of my sight, instead resting just behind a tree. I reach for them, but as I open my hand, a necklace peers into my view along the floor. Freedom briefly hits me, dropping me to my hands and knees like letting go of a tug of war game, putting me face to face with the glowing gemstone necklace with the initials M and Z.