Chapter 58: The Realm Below

It was not a long journey. With enough time, a grand tunnel could be made to connect this place to the gigantic gates Nerez was planning to build.

If there had been kilometers to cover, things would have been different. But fortunately, the titan’s chamber was exactly what it appeared to be, the last barrier before the true underworld.

“Nerez, I don’t see any enemies here! Well, I guess that was to be expected…”

Cerys was the first to emerge from the small cavern connecting Erebion’s chamber to the Chasm of the Deeps.

“I don’t know if this can really be considered a chasm. Who named it? Erebion, who has never even been here?”

They had come out into another subterranean chamber, one far larger than the titan’s.

There certainly was a gigantic chasm in the ground. But it did not lead into the dark void Nerez had imagined. Instead, it opened onto a blue sky.

From that chasm, an entire world could be seen beneath their feet.

There were no clouds. No sun. Only green meadows and hills as far as the eye could see.

“What is this? The Elysian Fields or something? Now I understand why Aren said the realms of death are among the cleanest and holiest places in existence…”

“What’s Elysian supposed to mean? Stop talking nonsense and let’s go down already!”

“Down…”

Nerez looked at the endless rocky slope spiraling down around the mountain beneath their feet, until it vanished into the green immensity of that world.

“Besides some gates, I should put an elevator here… no, that would make things easier for visitors… I don’t want visitors…”

“Nerez!” Cerys shouted from several meters below.

“Ugh… why is she so excited when I can’t sense anything for her to fight down there…”

“If we walk the whole way, we’ll never get there! Hurry up!”

With impressive leaps, Cerys quickly began her descent, covering extraordinary distances in seconds.

“Isn’t she afraid of falling? Well, I suppose that’s one way to get there faster… I was spared the stairs of Empyrean Peaks, but here there is no way around it.”

Nerez began descending as well, keeping pace just behind Cerys.

***

“Maybe not an elevator, but I could at least turn the slope into stairs.” Nerez lifted his head toward the mountain they had descended. From below, it rose until it disappeared into a blue sky that seemed to have no end. “Looking at it like this, it seems more like a gigantic pillar than a mountain…”

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

“Nerez, what are you doing?! We’ll never reach the river of death like this!”

Nerez turned around. Some distance away, Cerys was waving from a nearby hill. Framed by endless green and blue, she looked like something out of a painting.

He started walking toward her, but after only a few steps, he looked back over his shoulder one last time at the colossal pillar-like silhouette that seemed to hold up the sky.

“I wonder how long it will stay in view. If we go too far, finding the way back will be quite complicated…”

“Nerez!” the redhead called again, now waving both hands.

“Why are you the one guiding the way in the first place? Can you sense the river of death too? Or how exactly are you planning to lead us to it?”

“With guts, of course!”

“Fine, tell your guts they need to adjust their compass.” Nerez pointed several meters to the right of his servant. “Would you understand if I explained it in degrees?”

“Ahem! Who do you take me for? Of course I’m aware of the latest discoveries!”

“…”

“What?”

“Nothing. It’s just that now I can get an idea of how advanced your old world was.”

“Mm? How?”

“Are we going to move, or are we going to stay here talking?”

“That’s what I’ve been saying all along! Stop wasting time already!”

Nerez let out a sigh and set off.