"Sacred, should we warn the other kingdoms of the future?" A woman suddenly stepped into the room, her eyes closed, concealing her gaze. She wore robes similar to Grat's, but hers were fashioned like a ball gown, adorned with spinning clocks. She also had fair skin, long ears, and a cloth that covered head and hair, and her long ears bounced nervously.

"Why should we, Vivian?" Grat asked innocently.

"But Sacred, the world would be facing a threat in the coming years!" Vivian's voice trembled with panic.

"It would..." Grat mused, rubbing his chin.

"We must reduce the consequences this shall bring!" Vivian insisted.

"Yes, yes, you should calm down," Grat said with a smile, appearing beside Vivian and tapping her shoulder.

"How can I be calm when a world war looms ahead?" Vivian's eyes pleaded with him. Grat, in his true form towering at ten feet, knelt down, his demeanor grandfatherly.

"If you're not calm, you'll be stressed, and stress leads to an early death. You're a young lady, you shouldn't be this stressed!" Grat chided, pinching Vivian's cheeks.

"Oh, Sacred, please take this seriously! It's a matter of life and death for us all!" Vivian implored, frustrated by Grat's nonchalant attitude.

"Fine, fine," Grat relented, "Since you're so concerned, inform the other kingdoms about an organization that will summon heroes. They must be stopped at all costs. The Royal Humans are best suited for this task."

"And what about the Pillars of the future?" Vivian's tone turned serious, her cold green eyes revealing her concern.

"Leave them be," Grat dismissed with a wave of his hand.

"But Sacred Grat, one of them will bring about the downfall of the other pillars, and I can't even see their face!" Vivian's voice grew colder.

"I know who they are," Grat revealed with a light chuckle.

"Then please, tell me, so I can kill or restrain them," Vivian requested urgently.

"I'd rather not..." Grat pouted, laying on the ground.

"Sacred! That person poses a grave threat to us all! If you know them, you've seen the future!" Vivian's tone was adamant. "Our god Barbados has warned us. That child will be the downfall of our churches."

"How is the Pillar of Chaos?" Grat's sudden question caught Vivian off guard, and she averted her gaze.

"His title remains unchanged..." Vivian admitted reluctantly.

"So you believe he should be killed?" Grat's tone turned cold.

"No!" She replied immediately. "He's just misunderstood!"

"Indeed. A halfling, born of a half-human, half-elf Saintess and a Starlight, adopted by the Diondraff family, inheriting the title of the Pillar of Chaos," Grat summarized as he walked towards the curtains.

"I believe he can change. In the future I see, he won't harm anyone!" Vivian declared, clutching her chest and biting her lip.

"That's one of the alternate futures, correct? And the reason he became the Pillar of Chaos is because of the Pillar you wish to kill. Am I right?" Grat inquired.

"I'll do anything for my son," Vivian replied with a determined expression.

"So please, help me, Sacred. No matter what, I can't let my son join with the one who would become a world threat. Besides, apart from our god Barbados, who can see the clear future, you're the only being in the entire world who can see all the possibilities of the future as well!" Vivian pleaded, gazing at Grat with hopeful eyes.

"And isn't that wonderful?" Grat's smile made Vivian shiver. He opened the curtains, revealing a bright light. "That way, no one can manipulate the future to bend to their will. Even I am limited to how much of the future we can change. Every time we try to avoid something bad, we are just increasing our Karma, and an even worse future can happen," Grat explained, his hands clasped behind his back as he stared at the Promised Land through his window.

"You're right. I am just worried for Peter," Vivian admitted, her mature voice cracking.

"I understand, Vivian. Just try your best to lead him onto the right path, and I'll try to ensure all the other pillars follow suit," Grat said, his hand resting on Vivian's shoulder as he attempted to comfort her.

"I also want to give that child a chance. You know there are multiple futures, right?" Grat said with a smile.

"Yes, but I'm limited to only a certain amount, while you can see all the possibilities," Vivian confessed.

"Correct!"

"So let's not judge this child too quickly, alright? She could be of great help to us if we treat her as an ally," Grat advised. Vivian conceded and nodded.

"As you wish, Sacred Gram," she said with a bow.

_________

"Hmm, Kiana, where are we?" Aurianna wondered as she had just woken up, fully healed. Kiana's face lit up with joy as she stared at Aurianna. But immediately, her expression shifted to suspicion. "How is she fine? Being crushed like that is enough to kill anyone."

"We are in a ruin, and we can't leave," Kiana answered calmly.

"How did we end up in a ruin?" Aurianna wondered.

"I did it to save both of our lives!" Kiana blurted out tearfully, eager to defend herself.

"I'm so, so sorry!" Kiana cried before she explained, "Two angels of the god of time and the god of the sea said if we entered their Ruin, they would save us, so, so…"

"Don't worry, I believe you," Aurianna stated calmly, surprising Kiana.

"Ehhh?" Kiana blurted out.

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

"You have my mark, meaning you can never lie to me. And also, I get to see some of your memories when I touch you," Aurianna said with a cheeky grin as her hand traced Kiana's cheeks.

"Oh, I see..." Kiana said nervously, looking away.

"So, we have to clear this Ruin, huh? What's its name?" Aurianna wondered as she turned around and stretched her body.

"The Bahamut Ruin, the Ruin of 100 trials," Kiana answered, swimming behind Aurianna.

"One hundred trials. This will be interesting," Aurianna said with a smile, but her twitching mouth revealed she was trying to contain her anger.

The entrance to the Ruin was marked by a well-built archway, carved with detailed designs eroded by the salty sea. The entire place was filled with water that glimmered in the dim light of bioluminescent plants.

"What did I expect? We're under the sea; of course, the Ruin would be filled with water," Aurianna facepalmed and sighed.

Aurianna inspected the floors and noticed they were filled with slime and algae.

"From the floor and the archway, it means this Ruin is very, very old, and for no one to have cleared it all this time means it's extremely dangerous," Aurianna blurted out, her hand resting on her chin, making Kiana tremble.

"Dammit, just when I escaped the Leviathan!" Aurianna gritted her teeth as she slammed her hand into the water, causing a wave that almost blew Kiana away, causing the young mermaid to tremble.

As Aurianna and Kiana swam deeper into the Ruin, they saw all manner of sea creatures that had made their homes within its walls. Giant crabs scuttled across the floor while schools of fish darted around.

Moving further into the Ruin, they noticed a series of runes carved onto the walls.

Aurianna swam forward to touch them, and once she did, they lit up and appeared as a system screen before them.

"What does this mean?" Aurianna wondered as she stared at the unfamiliar text and drawings.

"It looks like a puzzle to solve the Ruin," Kiana blurted out.

"Unfortunately, I don't understand this language," Aurianna shook her head, crossing her arms.

"Oh, this is an ancient language of the sea folk! Most of it is lost, but I know how to speak it since I used to learn it when I was small," Kiana blurted out excitedly, staring at the screen.

"Alright, then I hope you can translate it," Aurianna said.

"I'll try my best!" Kiana declared with a smile, squinting her eyes as she tried to read the language.

"Hmmmmm," Kiana mumbled after a while.

"So what does it say?" Aurianna asked curiously.

"Well, it says, 'Welcome to the Ruin. The Ruin of 100 trials. In this Ruin, one can only progress as a team. If your teammate dies, you cannot progress forward alone. The Ruin will twist itself to benefit the number of people inside. To clear this Ruin, you need a party of 30, and everyone must be an Arc Human or above. Below that, you shall certainly die, and it would be even harder. So, do your best to survive because greater rewards shall be given if one manages to clear this Ruin. Failure to clear this Ruin means death," Kiana translated but the more she did the more uneasy she felt. . "Number of people who have cleared this Ruin: 0," she added her expression growing pale.

"I guess we're screwed, huh," Aurianna chuckled.

"Well, yeah, because I'm not even an Arc Mermaid; I'm just a High Mermaid. What about you?" Kiana wondered, a bit curious about Aurianna's level.

"Hmm, well, I am almost an Arc Human, but it means we'll need 30 people like me to clear this dungeon," Aurianna blurted out with a frown as she stared at the screen.

"So what should we do? Because the last part says as soon as we've read this, we only have 30 minutes to enter that door and begin the trials. In addition, after every trial, we get a rest period of only two days, and we must continue to the next trial," Kiana added, pointing at the massive blue door before them.

"Haha, this is so frustrating!" Aurianna grumbled. "But let's do this then!"

"Ehhh?!!!" Kiana gasped.

"Well, we are here to survive. There's no way I'm going to let myself be killed by a Ruin," Aurianna huffed.

"Pfffttt," Kiana giggled.

"What's the giggling for?" Aurianna asked with an annoyed look.

"I've never met someone like you. Even though the situation is dark, you somehow see a way in things. I admire that!" Kiana said with a smile.

"I don't really care," Aurianna replied as she scratched her ear.

"Hey, I'm trying to be nice!!!" Kiana yelled.

"Whatever, let's go then!" Aurianna declared, swimming towards the door, with Kiana following suit. The door suddenly opened for them, and they swam inside. As soon as they entered the room, the door immediately closed behind them, disappearing.

"There's no escape, huh," Aurianna thought as she observed what had happened before swimming forward with Kiana through a narrow but extremely tall pathway. After a few minutes, they finally arrived at a large room filled with towering pillars.

[Welcome to the first trial, the Poison Trial.] They both saw a dark golden screen pop up before them.

"The place is huge!" Kiana blurted out as she looked around, finding nothing eye-catching apart from the thousands of massively tall pillars.

"Ouch, my skin is burning!" Kiana yelled, noticing red bumps on her blue skin.

"Why is that?" Aurianna wondered as she felt nothing.

"Don't you feel it?" Kiana asked, her expression hurt.

"Not really," Aurianna shook her head.

Aurianna then looked around and noticed that the water was murky and smelt foul. It even tasted weird as she breathed it in, causing her to frown.

“Kiana, be careful! The water is poisonous," Aurianna warned urgently.

"Ack!" Kiana coughed up blood as she accidentally inhaled some water.

‘Oh, she doesn't have poison resistance,’ Aurianna realized, watching Kiana struggle to breathe.

Aurianna waved her hand, creating a clear and cleanwater ball around Kiana, purging the poisonous water and maintaining its purity.

"A water ball?" Kiana observed, her breathing returning to normal.

"No matter what, don't leave that ball. I can't guarantee your safety if you do. The ball will move with you, so don't worry," Aurianna cautioned as she swam ahead.

"Why would I be foolish enough to leave it when the water outside could kill me?" Kiana questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"I've met some rather dim-witted people in my lifetime," Aurianna chuckled, glancing at Kiana, who felt offended.

"Like yourself!" Eva interjected with a sly smirk.

"Eva, I'm not that dumb!" Aurianna retorted, puffing her cheeks.

"Well, your stupidity meter has reduced a bit," Eva remarked with a nod.

‘She's talking to the air again,’ Kiana thought, observing Aurianna as if she were witnessing someone behaving as though they were insane.

‘Maybe she has an imaginary friend!’ Kiana concluded suddenly. ‘There’s no way the human whom I leave my life in their hands could be mentally insane,’ she convinced herself with a nod.

"Are your hands and legs alright?" Kiana inquired, shifting her gaze to Aurianna's crystalline body parts.

"Yes, I'll be fine," Aurianna responded, somewhat surprised by Kiana's concern.

"There's something written on the wall!" Kiana redirected their attention, pointing to the wall beside them. Sure enough, there was writing on it.

As they approached, a system screen popped up, and Kiana translated.

[Welcome to the trial of the Poison Waters. In this trial, you must solve the given puzzle; otherwise, your body will be corroded by the poison continuously being poured into these waters within 2 hours.]

"So, what's the puzzle?" Aurianna inquired.

"Well…" Kiana scratched her head as she read the text.

"I am a beast, I have ten legs for swimming, three eyes, four mouths, a massive body in the shape of a griffin. What am I?" Kiana read aloud, staring at the text with a puzzled expression.

"So, some kind of sea monster," Aurianna mumbled, her brow furrowed as she tried to concentrate and think.

"Yes, and those pillars over there—we must arrange them to form the image of the monster within two hours," Kiana explained.

"And if we fail?" Aurianna asked.

"We'll be killed by the poison, and the walls will crush us," Kiana replied.

"This is a tough question," Aurianna remarked, her expression serious as she struggled to come up with an answer.

"Eva," Aurianna pleaded, looking up at Eva with puppy eyes.

"No," Eva replied flatly.

"Why not?" Aurianna asked, her eyes glistening with fake tears.

"Did you study the animal book I gave you?" Eva asked, her expression tinged with annoyance.

"Um, well, yeah..." Aurianna mumbled, avoiding Eva's piercing gaze.

"Then you should know this!" Eva huffed, arms crossed. "I didn't gather all that research for you to throw the book somewhere."

"You..." Aurianna seethed, glaring at Eva.

"So, Kiana, any ideas?" Aurianna asked with a blank expression.

Kiana mirrored her expression and shook her head. "I have no idea."

"Ahhh!" Aurianna screamed in frustration and pulled on her hair.

"Wait, my monster book is in my inventory!" Aurianna suddenly remembered.

"Heh, now you remember the book," Eva remarked, clicking her tongue.

"Eva, would your book destroy in water?" Aurianna asked curiously. Because she didn't want to open the book just for it to get destroyed in the poisonous water.

"What do you take me for? I don't use cheap materials for my books," Eva replied, slightly offended that Aurianna would think she would use such cheap materials for her books.