The massive scar quickly absorbed them inside, leaving no one in the vicinity besides Kellen, who was already on the run.
Aren felt a familiar sense overtaking him, as if his consciousness was being led elsewhere. To a different dimension, reality, or world — he couldn't tell for sure.
'It's so cold!'
In a brief moment, he regained his senses as he felt the grass beneath his palm.
His nose twitched as he smelt the grass. A smell so familiar, yet so far.
'Where…'
Aren slowly opened his eyes to see the strange grass, which was colored blue and purple and had an unusual scent.
It blocked his train of thought as he'd never seen such strange grass before.
A chill quickly ran down his back as soon as he heard the sound of another person moving through the grass.
The memories of what had happened before he arrived in this mystical place quickly resurfaced in his head.
Choosing to investigate the place later, he stood up and faced the person close to him.
To his luck, he saw it was Faye who was trying to find her way.
His eyes widened, seeing an even more unsettling view than just the grass. The sky was washed in a mixture of purple and dark blue, along with the stars shining brightly.
It wasn't just unsettling. It was beautiful. It was a captivating sight to behold.
Faye groaned as she was about to slide down the hill they were brought to, quickly bringing Aren back to his senses.
He grabbed her hand tightly, then pulled her upwards. Perhaps, she couldn't see after all.
"I lost my eye mask…" She said, her tone guiltful.
Aren narrowed his eyes, remembering her Blessing.
"There's more to worry about, Faye."
He looked down at her, deeply lost in his thoughts.
'She must've needed it for her Blessing… Could it be that the reason she was exiled from her city was due to that?'
He sighed as he felt sympathy for once in a while. But, he also felt a connection to her as he was brought out of Helmond, too, for just being an Aberrant.
Faye frowned, "We've reached the Nameless Necropolis, but not the way I hoped it to be. We're stranded."
Aren raised a brow, "You never told me it was a place of this magnitude. I imagined it was gonna be a cemetery of some sort."
Faye's lips continued to curl downwards, her face showing sorrow like nothing before.
In a situation like this, Aren felt awkward. He wasn't the type to comfort others, so he never knew the method.
Until then, a straightforward idea suddenly occurred to him.
"We can find you another one later. This is no place to linger." Aren said, extending his hand to help Faye.
He was close to smiling to further relieve her, but he opted not to.
Faye sniffed. Slowly, she took his hand and got back on her feet.
"I see a path over there. Let's follow it."
She nodded.
***
After a few minutes of organizing themselves, they were walking down a path leading to a distant fog.
Aren grabbed Faye's wrist tightly, helping her move along.
In normal cases, most people would never choose to go through such a path. However, due to their situation, they had no other choice.
Both of them had high survival instincts, so they also knew what to do, unlike the average person.
Breaking the silence, Faye opened her mouth to speak.
"I… cannot see or sense because I had lost my Shade upon our arrival."
Aren furrowed his brows slightly, "What? How would that even happen?"
Faye kept her face of sorrow, holding genuine tears back.
"My mother once told me that this place had multiple names. Some called it the Nameless Necropolis, while others referred to it as the Quantum Verge."
She let out a soft sigh before continuing, "Here exists a rich and abundant element, flowing effortlessly like the air itself, known as Infracta."
Aren was taken aback, 'Infracta… Never heard of it.'
"It clashes with our Shades, and eventually they both collapse, leaving us Aberrants to seem like ordinary humans in the grand scheme of all things," said Faye.
Aren's uncertainty only grew, 'So, in this place, we're just… human?'
Faye was worried about her Shade loss, but Aren still had a secret weapon Faye didn't know about.
'Or she does, but not at the same time.'
And, he was also used to not using his Aberration, so it didn't bother him as much.
However, Infracta was a term he had never heard before. Not even the Quantum Verge.
Even in a city known for its scientific achievements, Helmond had never made such a contribution in its history.
Out of nowhere, a manly voice from afar echoed throughout the region.
Aren instantly got his guard up, Faye getting behind him.
"Who's there?!" Aren shouted.
The voice called out from a distance, but it was still not entirely comprehensible.
'I can't understand!'
Aren tightened his jaw, letting the metal inside his coat crawl around his arm.
Until, eventually, a figure emerged from the fog. At first, his appearance was shrouded in mystery and darkness.
After leaving the fog and allowing the light to wash over him, a tall but frail old man emerged.
He signaled with his hands for Aren and Faye to move as quickly as possible and follow him inside.
Aren was confused, and Faye was even more so.
"Who— Who are you?!" He asked, knowing it might be a trap.
The old man shook his head in confusion, seemingly unable to understand Aren's tongue. Then, he continued to wave for them.
Aren narrowed his eyes, choosing not to trust him.
A primary rule for survival in harsh areas like these is not to trust strangers. Clearly, despite his gentle look, he was still a stranger.
"We picked the wrong path. Let's go somewhere else." He whispered to Faye.
As he turned his head to look at Faye, she shook her head in refusal.
Her jaw twitched slightly as she quickly said, "Go!"
Aren clicked his tongue in annoyance, but he knew that Faye was better at making decisions than he was. Despite her looks, she's had more experience than even Aren did.
Grabbing her wrist once more, he ran to the waving old man next to the thick fog.
The path they were walking on slowly started to break down before them, creating a gap in the earth itself.
The path continued to break down as it formed larger and larger holes, Aren's eyes widening in surprise.
'What?!'
Confused, he quickened his pace and ran as fast as he could before the crumbling path could reach him and Faye.
The old man extended his arm, his face showing clear signs of fear.
Only a few meters away, he was unable to reach the end of the path in time. Relying on his instincts as the crumbling ground finally reached him, he put all the force he had into a single leap into the air.
As he jumped with Faye in his hand, he already felt the gravity pulling him downwards.
"Agh. Damn it! Faye, get ready!"
Accepting his fate, he would do anything to try to survive the fall that seemed never-ending.
He made one last eye contact with the old man as he was flying down.
But what he didn't realize… Aren's body tinged. and his heart dropped simultaneously.
He stopped falling and started hovering mid-air along with Faye.
"O' Great Moon…' Faye put both hands together as she started oddly reciting a prayer.
Before Aren had the chance to think, and before Faye was able to complete her prayer, they were both pulled in the direction of the old man and the fog.
Slowly, they dropped downwards onto the grass next to the man.
Aren raised his head, then looked at the old man.
"Have we met before?"