"Are you sure we're on the right path?" Aether mumbled with a confused expression.

He walked slowly, one painful step after another, guided only by Grace's voice and her tiny hands.

"Yes, I am. And could you stop asking that all the time? Just follow my direction," Grace said as she perched on his head, tiny fingers wrapped in his hair.

She tugged sharply, using his hair like reins.

Aether shifted to the right as she pulled.

"So this person… who is imprisoned here… do you think they could help us out?" Aether asked.

"I don't know," Grace said, shrugging her small shoulders. "But it's better than being alone in the darkness and being kept killed, right?"

Aether nodded weakly.

"It's true I suppos-"

Flapp.

Chuckkk.

Crack.

****

"Fuck… how do they keep finding us? And how come we couldn't sense their presence until closer?" Aether muttered with an annoyed tone. He didn't dare stop walking as soon as he appeared again.

Grace clung onto his scalp, her body trembling slightly. "I don't know," she said with a calm tone, "That's why that person might help us."

A faint spark lit Aether's exhausted eyes.

"Also, considering you are not chained… that means there might be a chance," she added quietly.

"Still, it's impossible to leave this place," she said with cold certainty.

Aether sighed.

"Let's not be negative. We will find the person and see if they can help us. They help us, right?"

Grace said nothing. She pulled his left hair sharply. Aether turned hard left, nearly stumbling.

Then…

Clang.

Aether froze mid-step... The metallic rattle vibrated through his bones, as if the sound itself crawled across his skin.

"What was that?" Aether whispered.

Grace screamed. "RUN!!" She grabbed his hair with both hands and yanked hard enough to tear at his scalp.

Aether bolted.

"What's going on?" he shouted as he pushed faster.

"Just fucking RUN!!" she screamed.

Aether clenched his teeth and ran harder.

…H…

Aether flinched when he felt something following behind him. The sensation crawled up his spine... The dread he fought so hard to bury surged back into his body.

Grace slowly turned with a fearful gaze. Her pupils shook. For a heartbeat, she froze. In the dark void, she saw it. A splash of bright rainbow colored liquid splattered across the unseen ground, shimmering like bleeding light. It illuminated the darkness for a brief second, casting long, twisted shadows.

Then a black shape stepped onto it.... A blackish mass pressed down and crushed the glowing liquid beneath it, smothering the light instantly.

..H…

"Faster!!" Grace screamed, her voice breaking into a sharp tremble. "Aether, move! It is right behind us!"

"I am trying!!" Aether shouted back.

He pushed his legs harder. Every muscle screamed. His throat burned dry like ash. Pressure squeezed inside his chest like invisible hands crushing him from within. His vision wavered, turning dizzy and unstable, but he refused to slow down.

He forced air into his lungs even though each breath felt like it scraped him from the inside.

H….!!

Grace jolted. "Not this time!" she yelled, voice fierce through her fear. She grabbed his right side hair and yanked so violently that it felt like his scalp peeled.

Aether cried out as sharp pain exploded through his head.

Flapp.

Thud.

He rolled hard to the side.

Something huge had dropped right where he would have been. The force of the turn Grace forced on him saved him again. He hit the ground, skidding across the floor.

He lay there panting heavily.

"Run! What the fuck are you waiting for?" Grace shouted in fear.

Aether swallowed through his burning, dry throat. He staggered up and forced his legs to move again.

A small smile broke through his trembling lips. "We actually escaped? Hell yeah," he muttered, half laughing, half panting.

After dying so many times. After screaming in the darkness. After running with no hope.

Finally escaping felt unreal, almost dreamlike.

For the first time, he outran that thing.

"I guess we are a great team together, Grace," Aether said with a proud, breathless tone.

Grace smirked. "Brat, you should be grateful that I am here. Otherwise you would have already—"

Her words stopped.

Aether's legs stopped too.

His breath froze.

He felt it.

Not one.

Not two.

Many... Fucking Many surrounded them!!

Heavy pressure pressed from every direction like walls closing in. His skin prickled as if countless invisible eyes stared at him from inches away.

Aether clenched his fist hard enough to make his fingers ache. "Bastards."

Grace trembled on his head. "We cannot die any longer."

Aether blinked, confused and afraid. "What?"

Before Grace could answer, another voice echoed through the void.

"Is that… you? Aether?"

Aether and Grace flinched at the same time.

The voice wasn't loud, but it cut through the silence like a whisper brushing against his spine.

Instantly, the pure dark void flared with movement. Whitish black smoke drifted out of the darkness, swirling like living mist. It wasn't the same as the void. The void swallowed everything while the black smoke was brightened up a little bit.

Aether could see it drifting and curling like a pale shadow fighting the darkness around them.

H!!....

.h…..

..h….

…h…

…..h.

Both Aether and Grace stiffened as every presence vanished.

As if the whitish black smoke terrified them enough to scatter.

Grace let out a shaky breath before her expression hardened again. "Get close to that thing, Aether."

Aether nodded slowly. His heartbeat still raced, but he moved toward the drifting smoke. Each step was cautious.

He kept glancing around, expecting something to leap from the void, but nothing lurked in the dark anymore.

For the first time since he entered this nightmare, he felt no pain biting inside his body.

What's going on here?

He approached the black smoke. The closer he came, the more the surroundings softened with faint illumination, like the smoke itself produced a dim, ghostly glow.

He stepped closer.

"No more closer, darling~"

Aether flinched hard. That voice. He knew it!

"A… Arcane?" Aether whispered in utter shock.

"Oh? You found me with just my voice. So cute~ This is why I love you so much, darling. You're always my best and favourite one~" The voice giggled softly from within the swirling mist.

Aether blinked, lost in confusion. His lips parted, but no words came out. His mind struggled to understand.

How could Arcane be here?

In this prison?

In this place filled with chains and unknown monsters?

"Darling, I know you have many questions," Arcane cooed. "But now is not the right time to explain my situation. What about telling me yours? How did you get here? Don't tell me you came to save this poor pitiful woman of yours, darling? Oh sweet… I love you so much. Awweee!" Her voice trembled like she was crying in happiness.

Aether blinked again and slowly turned his head to the side. The soft glow helped him see Grace clearly now.

She stared blankly at the swirling smoke, face frozen in disbelief.

Then Grace slowly turned her head toward Aether, her expression empty, confused, and annoyed at the same time.

With a flat, judgmental tone, she muttered, "What the fuck did you do to get another crazy bitch?"

"O-Oi! I am not crazy! That is very rude to say to your beloved big sister, don't you think, Gracy?" Arcane's voice puffed out of the smoke, trembling like she wanted to cry and hiss at the same time.

Aether blinked again, shocked by the tone. But before he could react, Grace cut in sharply.

"That is what she believes. Not me. Not anymore," Grace said with a clipped, strict tone. Her arms folded across her chest as she stared at the smoke with cold indifference.

Arcane didn't reply.

Aether sensed the tension rising and instantly decided he wanted no part in their family mess. He cleared his throat softly. "Arcane… what are you doing here?" he asked.

"Oh! My darling worried about me. My heart is melting. Awweee… I love you so much, darling!" Arcane squealed again, her voice rising into a trembling cry of happiness.

Aether's lips twitched in pure disbelief. Grace turned her head toward him and stared with an expression that said, This idiot is getting even more idiot!

"What? What did I do?" Aether muttered, offended and confused.

Grace exhaled a long breath and shook her head before her voice shifted into something serious.

"Aether somehow got dragged by the Eternal Chains, but they were cut off before they could imprison him. So I believe they mistook him for someone or something else."

The smoke went still. A moment later, Arcane's voice slithered out, cold, amused, and too sure of itself.

"Oh darling… believe me when I say this… but there are no mistakes."

Grace gulped. For a second, her confident mask wavered, but she restored it, "Is there a way to get out of this place?" she asked.

Arcane clicked her tongue. "Nah. Impossible. If I knew, why would I be stuck here all this time?" she said in an annoyed, almost frustrated tone.

Grace lowered her head slightly, sighing with painful disappointment. "Then I guess we're stuck forever," she muttered while shaking her head.

Aether stepped forward, shaking his own head firmly. "No. No. If there is a way in, then there must be a way out," he said.

"Arcane. Please. Tell me. There must be some method. A passage. Anything. Is there any way to get out of this place? Or even how someone gets in?"

Arcane chirped happily, "Of course, darling. There is one way to get out of here!"

Grace froze. "…."

A vein pulsed on her forehead.

"That fucking rotten bitch… go fuck yourself!!" Grace screamed with pure fury.

"Tsk, tsk. When did you become so unruly?" Arcane replied, sounding disappointed like a mother scolding a child.

Aether forced a weak smile, trying to stop this conversation from turning into a murder scene. "Arcane. Just tell me. Please."

Arcane brightened instantly. "Of course. Anything for you, darling. Listen carefully. First… you can kill those Watchers of Eternal Prison, and voila, you can leave without a single scratch. Easy, right?"

Aether's lips twitched in pure disbelief.

Grace barked a laugh, "Who? Him? Killing those things without a single scratch? His ass died 120825 times!"

Aether's mind went blank.

"Say what…?" he whispered, horrified.

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