As I entered the building, I found the stairs that led down and made my way. It was empty in here now, though I had never been privy to what exactly was in here, it wasn’t hard to imagine. The humans used to have a mandate within their city that they had to capture female humanoid monsters and the males of the city had to breed with them in order to create us Hybrids. The purpose of course was to ensure their own safety so they could safely get materials, food and experience outside of the walls of Crater.
Since the Underworld, I had started to realise that it wasn’t as simple as that. Nyx’s words that day implied someone manipulated the humans to begin doing this for a purpose, to control that red mist said to be the spiritual remains of a God. The only one I could think of was Dracovish and I had to wonder exactly who he was. I had seen him die only to once again see him in the noble section of Crater, having just killed all of the nobles. Is it possible that he still lives on?
Sighing, I thought of asking Alexander once I returned to Vale, though it’ll be likely I would have to preoccupy myself with completing the Conditions for my Path. Continuing to descend the building, I soon arrived at the same level as where I had felt those two energies. A rancid smell entered my nose and as I worked on filtering it out, I moved through the empty room and found a doorway. Stepping into it, I saw mountains of corpses, all of which were monsters that had been killed with a stab wound. Some weren’t, for what reason I didn’t know.
Looking towards a certain point, I stepped into the air to avoid walking on the corpses. Making my way there, I found myself disgusted at the sight below my feet. Though they were monsters, they had been used and killed, just to be thrown down here, left to rot. Some of the corpses I saw were closer to human looking than I had thought, though they had more monster to them than evolved monsters generally would.
Soon, I arrived at a pile relatively close to the entrance and could see if I had been disturbed recently. Whoever had come down here hadn’t been careful it seems, perhaps they would have thought I wouldn’t notice or care. They did, however, ensure that corpses had been placed back onto the pile. I had to wonder how Celestia knew where my mother’s body was, since from what Nyx had said I hadn’t been noticed by Celestia until the events in Zalus.
Carefully moving down, I started to carefully move the corpses aside and after about twenty minutes, I found hers. Laying there with her eyes closed, she looked nearly like I did, except her hair had become grey in colour. Her eyes were closed and most of her body had transformed into a monster, her hands were claws, feet were paws and she had the same characteristics as I did.
Around her neck I saw a memory stone and she had several types of accessories that represented the moon or stars in some way. I saw several marks of damage on them, but I knew they had been placed on her recently. Feeling sick to my stomach at the sight of this, I started to understand just how desperate Celestia had been to have me hoodwinked.
Picking up her body, I moved out of the corpse filled hole and decided to move out of the building. It’s not that I didn’t want to remain down there, but more I felt like this was the right thing to do for her. I planned to also inform Sally and Grey and see about what we should do with these corpses, or if they even cared about them.
Exiting the building, I step into the air and move towards the plateau quickly. If anything, it would be better to put her body to a proper rest, and I would do it at that plateau. After several minutes of quickly making my way there, I descended and laid her body down. I could see there were no stab wounds or damage at all to her, but I had to wonder how she had ended up at the mercy of such weak humans.
Kneeling next to her, I purse my lips and sigh. I didn’t feel anything emotional for her, after all I never knew who she was, only that this was my mother. Picking up the memory stone that had been placed on her like it was a necklace, I crushed it and watched. As expected, it was a memory of when she had been alive, but it was filled with nonsense about her worshipping Celestia and how she hoped Celestia would care for me.
Sighing, I sit down and shake my head. I didn’t exactly have proof that she didn’t worship Celestia and as I sigh I looked at her body again. I wanted to know more, about why her body is here, how she ended up so weakened that the humans who were too afraid to face level 5 monsters could easily take her. It seemed only two people knew the answer to those questions, her and Celestia. Perhaps Astraea and Selenia know as well, but I wouldn’t get answers. At least, not yet.
The Lunar magic had been from the accessories that were on her body, but the Darkness energy I had sensed around her. I didn’t understand why, it didn’t seem to be placed there or anything. Just as I thought there, a pair of feet entered my vision and looking up, I saw a black haired woman with curved horns and grey wings. Those horns and wings reminded me of Sally’s when she released her monster form, but this woman's eyes were deep red and her hair pitch black.
“You are?” Speaking to her, I knew I was not her opponent. I knew I would die if she wanted it.
“I have come to take the body of Her Chosen back.”
“I’m not a Chosen.” Rather confused, realisation came to me as the woman spoke.
“Not you, Melody.”
“Why?” Looking at this woman, I asked. “Why now?”
“We did not know where she died. Once you brought her out, we became aware.”
“So you’re watching me.” Sighing, I closed my eyes. “Why do you want her body?”
“Those that are Blessed or Chosen will be laid to rest within their God or Goddess’s domain.”
“How do I know you are telling the truth? How can you prove that my mother followed your God?” I held no trust in those words this woman told me, it could after all be another attempt to ensnare me. I had also expected for there to be some message from her other than the falsified one I had seen earlier, where she praised Nyx instead.
We stared at each other in silence before she opened her mouth to speak once again.
“Go to the Underworld. You will be able to find her soul. She can tell you the truth.”
Looking at Melody’s body, I pursed my lips and shrugged. I truly didn’t feel any emotion for her, I had expected to feel sadness or cry. I did feel sentimental for her, which is why I brought her out here, but I didn’t feel much afterwards. I didn’t have an emotional connection to her, I never knew her.
“Fine. Just tell your God I don’t want anything from them.”
“That is fine, you are not Melody, though you hold such potential, in the end we will not force you. But we will not help you.”
“Don’t care. If I die in some ditch, so be it.”
I watched as the woman picked up my mothers body and with her, she sank into the ground, into the darkness. My eyes burned the image of Melody into my mind and once they disappeared I sighed lightly. I had to accept that I had no feelings about this, but I did have to wonder what that faint Dark magic was. Sitting there under the night sky for a while, I turned my attention to the System.
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You have completed the task: Find Melody’s body.
Your Race is now completely unrestricted. You gain the following:
+2 additional Stat Ranks to all Stats.
The Path you walk will be empowered.
You will now absorb Lunar magic used against you and you may convert it to mana or to empower your own spells.
The Crossroads are now before you. You may choose your Pathway. Once you have chosen your Pathway, you can not switch to another.
Though small, the changes I had received from my Race were rather big for me. It had only been partially restricted before, so the unrestriction didn’t change much. Though I suppose the evolution I am about to go through would change a lot. Turning my attention to the message about the Crossroads, I frowned slightly.
Five options were shown to me, and according to the System I could see more information on them. Not in the mood to look through them right now, I stood and started walking back to Crater. Once I had selected a Pathway, I had a year to do it for it to be stronger, so until I picked a Pathway I wouldn’t need to hurry. I planned to go over the options once I returned home. For now, I decided to spend time with Sally and Grey.
***
“So you’ve only got a few minutes left?” Standing under the night sky with Sally and Grey either side of me, I nodded.
“Mm, I completely forgot to go and see Teacher Lee. Make sure to explore that labyrinth and get people to learn from him if they like fighting with their fists.” Smiling at my two friends, I remember the last week I had spent here, and I had come to a conclusion.
This wasn’t my home anymore. I didn’t miss it, I only missed Sally and Grey. They however found themselves at home here and though I wanted to have them come with me with all my heart I knew if they didn’t want to I wouldn’t force them. After all, we had our own paths to walk down now, they would continue to live with the Hybrids here and care for them.
That wasn’t to say we wouldn’t meet in the future. I promised them once I could find a way here I would visit, and they also planned to get stronger and share the knowledge I had brought. I had told them about the Crossroads, and shared the knowledge, though small, about mana and magic. I didn’t know the ritual but told Sally and Grey that one can awaken mana naturally at level 20 or by use of a Pure Mana Crystal. The ritual only really helps one gain stronger mana veins and reveals their True Nature Magic.
I felt saddened that I wouldn’t see these two for a long time after this and we had promised that in the future we would meet again. Elizabeth would likely want to come here to check on them and I wasn’t sure about Olivia but it was up to those two if they wanted to return.
They told me what had happened while we were away. One day they were approached by the council, the group that leads the humans now that the nobles are dead, and made an offer. The human populace would move to the noble section and the Hybrids would be allowed to live in Crater itself, the deal being that the Hybrids offered their protection and in exchange the humans would provide food, clothing and would no longer be involved with the hybrids nor attempt to control them.
One of the purposes of coming to Crater had been to discover my origins, an objective that I had been told many times from Celestia’s followers, even from Her. I had wanted to learn more, but I discovered during my time within Crater that my origins didn’t matter much to me. My origins were here, in Crater and as terrible as those times had been I can not deny that I lived them, and they made me who I am today. Who my mother was, or who she served, did not matter to me. Even if she had been some powerful person, that wasn’t me. I would accept having her potential in Lunar and Darkness magic, but past that I would be my own person.
Looking at Sally and Grey, my two friends, I had realised that I didn’t care about Crater nor the Hybrids, only for these two. I had told them everything that had happened and afterwards spent time with the two. The two seemed to be rather happy living in Crater and while they too felt an itch to explore the outside world, for now they would stick with living here. They told me that the deeper they went into Crater, the more powerful monsters became, and that they might take up getting stronger.
I remember when I had told the two about Alice, about how she had changed and they were rather surprised. I had seen Pup, Sally’s bonded monster, and he had grown to be cute and loveable, usually spending his time with the children in Crater. They spoiled him rotten and fed him way too much.
They had also been rather surprised at how open the humans outside of Crater were towards monsterkind, and that evolved monsters that took human form existed and were even accepted, though there were those that hated our kind for the most part they were welcomed. It made them consider the possibility of leaving Crater one day, and perhaps becoming adventurers.
Smiling at the two as we arrived at a certain location, I played with a ring that I had on. Sally and Grey wore identical rings, it was something Elise had suggested. Something we could wear to remember each other, they weren’t special by any means but it was a beautiful silver, black, violet, gold and red coloured ring, made based on our hair colour. Elizabeth and Olivia also had the same rings as well, and they had me promise I would give them to Sally and Grey.
Looking at the ground where we had arrived, I smiled slightly. This was the spot where I had slept all that time ago. I had never thought that within nearly two years I would’ve gone from being that weak, frightened girl who simply wanted to keep living to being a level 100 that could lay waste to those humans with a single flick of my wrist. Seeing that I only had three minutes left, I turned to the two.
“I promise I’ll come back and visit you guys. It might not be anytime soon, but one day I’ll make the trip and introduce you to everyone.”
“Can’t wait, I’m excited to meet Elizabeth again.” Grey smiled softly. Elizabeth had been the only human to treat Hybrids well, and she had always made sure they were safe but she was powerless to change anything. Even if the Hybrids under her survived, they would only be killed later for experience. Grey had received her care and she was the only human he accepted.
“Mm, I would like to meet your friends. Make sure to bring Olivia and Alice, I want to see them too.” Sally had a smile on her face. She had been extremely relieved to know we were all alive and I remember when I told them about what happened to Olivia. They had been devastated and had become happy to know she was improving.
“We’ll all come along one day. If you guys ever leave Crater, head to an adventurers guild and sign up, they’ll help you a lot.” Seeing I had only a minute left, I pulled the two into a hug again. “I’ll miss you two.”
Even though we were separating now, I knew that this would be for the best. I had my own enemies and my own path to walk down, and they did too. They wanted to ensure the Hybrids here would thrive and no longer be placed under anyone's rule. I knew I had started crying at some point, and as I released them I could see they were too.
“Mm, we will miss you too. Don’t die, ok?” Smiling at Sally’s words, I looked at Grey and ruffled his hair.
“I hate when you do that…and I’ll miss it. Alisha, don’t be too hard on yourself, we’ll be okay and so will everyone here. Like Sally said, don’t die.” Grey accepted me ruffling his hair and smiled back at me. I had told them I felt slightly guilty at leaving them all that time ago, but they had reassured me they were happy for me.
Travel has ended, you will be brought back to the casting point.
“Take care, you two. Don’t die, got it?” I saw the door that I had walked through to arrive here appear in front of me as I felt a powerful force coming from it. Looking at them and smiling, I walked through the door before it could suck me in. To them it would’ve looked like I disappeared and as I made my way through the starry scenery on the darkness path, I saw the other end very quickly and stepped through it.
As the light fades, I see myself standing before an exhausted looking Elise with Alice who ran up to me and jumped into my chest.
“Mummy! Alice ok!” Seeing her bright grin as she looked at me, I smiled gently as I held her up. Turning to Elise, she smiled and walked over.
“All done?”
“Mm. I feel sad but I’ll see them again.”
“That’s right, you will. You look a lot more refreshed now. The Branch Master has told me to tell you to find the Path you wish to follow and then report to him when you’re ready. Don’t rush this decision, it’s your future after all.”
“Thank you, Elise.” Smiling at her, I took a look behind me and let go of the past. I wouldn’t forget them, and I would make sure to see them in the future, but now I needed to move forward and focus on the future, which had become uncertain, but I would keep my promise, and not die.