Chapter 46
As Hoku set his course toward the lantern, he increasingly struggled to quell the fatigue in his limbs.
Upon locating the object, he knelt to retrieve it.
However, as he rose to his feet, a strange odor crept into his nasal cavity.
Initially, it passed for nothing more than a faint trace in the air, masked by the soil and moisture.
But the longer he remained, the more he deciphered its corrosive, metallic tang, like copper, trailing across his tongue and scraping relentlessly at the back of his throat.
'...Blood?'
After a brief moment of consideration, Hoku let his gaze sweep the tunnel, seeking its origin.
'Could it possibly have come from that figure just now?' he quietly brooded..
As he reluctantly walked forward, a brittle crunch came from beneath his boot.
Followed by a—
SNAP!
Hoku halted, holding the lantern aloft.
Silver wisps of light revealed a tangle of massive vines sprawled across the floor, each thick coil bristling with thorns that resembled malicious fangs.
They brought to mind the unsettling recollection of being ensnared by thorn-covered vines that had torn through his flesh mere moments ago.
However, the coarse fibers of these vines appeared torn and chewed, as if whatever they once constrained had torn itself free in blind desperation.
Driven by both dread and perplexity, Hoku leaned closer.
His eyebrow arched when the thorns caught faint glimmers of something dark and wet, lacquered in the weak light.
Fresh blood.
Hoku's pulse quickened as his thoughts pieced together the signs of something having dragged itself away, leaving him with a swift conclusion that there had been a struggle.
Mars urged him on from the other end of the passageway.
Hoku steadied himself before heading back toward them.
The damp ground gave a sticky squelch beneath his boots, and scattered droplets of blood that he hadn't noticed before, traced the path from where he had first landed.
As he drew nearer, the fog began to thin under the combined glow of Li's vial and Mars' pendant.
The moment he glimpsed the outline of an indistinct figure, his focus on the trail faltered, and a suffocating veil of fear settled over him.
It was immense.
Yet something in its silhouette felt inwardly familiar, as if the aberration weren't wholly unknown.
Li cautioned him to slow down the moment he drew within a few paces.
Hoku obeyed and continued forward as steadily as he could, though every muscle quivered with involuntary tension.
A low resonance echoed through the underground chamber.
Though not forceful, it suffused every dark corner like a creeping tide of anguish.
After the noise escaped a second time, he stumbled back, realizing it wasn't an isolated incident.
One layer sounded like a hollow moan that stretched interminably.
The other merged with a despairing hiss and a grating cry.
Hoku's hand trembled as he raised the lantern higher.
The feeble light illuminated forward and peeled back the fog to reveal the creature's towering legs that were partially entangled by a long sweep of its tails.
Hoku didn't have the presence of mind to count them.
However, a cursory glance was enough for him to observe that there were no fewer than nine.
They were long and whip-like, swaying elegantly on their own, even in a tattered state.
The instant his gaze locked onto the conjoined heads, dread churned in his gut.
Two stag‑like faces emerged, with broad antlers forking and weaving like a grotesque crown beneath translucent skin.
It was evident that someone could easily misjudge their statures for those of immense elk. Yet, every unusual distinction revealed that these beings were far beyond the realm of ordinary creatures.
An array of eyes adorned each head, their sclerae gleaming white.
Blood streamed freely from deep gashes along its flanks and legs.
One of its hind limbs remained ensnared, with massive thorned vines still sunken into the flesh.
Hoku's throat tightened. His mouth went dry.
'This… this is what Mars was looking for? I can think of a hundred ways this thing could wipe us out before it even stands…'
There was no recourse left but the absurd hope that they had not stumbled upon an unknown monstrosity.
He finally leaned back and inquired, "Is this… the Nymareth?"
As Mars responded, "Yes," a lump rose in Hoku's throat.
"I thought… I thought it had to be summoned… through a ritual…"
A corner of Mars's mouth curled into an uncertain smile. "Perhaps it did," he murmured calmly. "Or perhaps the ritual was never a requirement."
"Then what was the point of leaving it hidden?" Hoku's brows knitted closer together. "If the scheme was meant to veer our course, why not place it where we'd notice it first?"
Li then responded at length, "It was never intended for you to chance upon it. It appears likely to have been arranged for you both to discover. Your Passage Keeper understands that curiosity leads the mind ridiculously farther than caution. You were persuaded by the illusion of your own discovery. And now, you stand exactly where it desired."
The Nymareth's myriad eyes shifted sluggishly.
Hoku's mind raced feverishly. 'It makes more sense at least. Those restraints had been used to withhold the Nymareth here as well.'
"That much I understand," Mars said after some thought. "What puzzles me is why, after the descent, we weren't simply rerouted back; given that these passages are meant to deliver each party only in one direction."
Li was quiet for a moment, leisurely tapping his palm. "Speculatively… given what we know of permitted and forbidden conventions, maybe your lantern was an anomaly from another passage. Including it in your ritual may have triggered a recalculation error."
Mars took a step back and studied Hoku's lantern before bringing a hand to his chin,
"I suspected something similar. There was a destruction-divination sigil at the original site. I assumed the passage keeper planted it to mislead us. But seeing where this ended, I now wonder if that was truly the case."
Mars halted before speaking again. "Aside from how we wound up with you, what makes you suspect tampering from another passage?"
Across from him, Hoku listened intently, piecing together his understanding of their situation. The conversation reinforced certain fundamentals of where and when they stood.
Since the passages would change according to the keeper's conditions, it was most likely that the misplaced relics had thrown them off course, thus casting them into a branch of the second passage.
Li drew a breath. "Juno and I encountered a swarm of Oliverou's mimicry puppets in our passage."
Hoku's limbs stiffened, and his mouth hung slightly open as he struggled to frame the correlation.
The Nymareth suddenly let out a drawn-out, guttural groan.
From its nostrils billowed an unnatural torrent of white fog.
As it drifted into the chamber, the haze turned black, congealed around their ankles like tainted mist.
'This is no ordinary mist…' Hoku realized.
The creature entered a heavy‑breathing posture and recoiled its legs slowly.
"Mars… this thing's bleeding out. What will happen if it dies?"
"The garden may die with it."
Mars scrutinized the creature's leg as he elucidated, "This snare is drawing blood at an alarming rate. The discoloration along the limb isn't just from injury. Its spread follows the veins, branching into the flank like blackened roots. That's no ordinary construction. I suspect that the restraint carries an additional effect… perhaps a ritualistic binding or a curse used to disrupt circulation and life-force alike."
Li pursed his lips and swayed forward before intervening, "You've missed the real issue. Stopping the bleeding will not suffice. The Garden doesn't yield its passages simply because the creature is nearby. Hence, it requires a special resonance."
Hoku's features twitched subtly as he repeated, "Special resonance?"
"Essentially, your garden requires a host," Li continued. "Not in the sense of just possession, but as a living medium capable of matching its essence. That means a lifeform whose power mirrors the Garden's nature in intensity and kind. There are two possibilities: someone who has ingested an exceptionally high-grade floral elixir, or a being born entirely from the Garden's own environment."
The Nymareth embodied both the wildness and elegance of nature.
Hoku's mind churned. 'So that's how it's condition ties into the Garden… We'll need to act before we leave ourselves with no options.'
Mars' gaze turned briefly to Hoku. "The Nymareth is too drained to serve as its own medium. And none of us are native to this Passage."
Li instantly proposed an analogy: "Attempting to navigate the Nymareth in its current state is akin to steering a boat with a damaged mast. Unless the mast is restored, it will not have enough endurance to fulfill a trip. Therefore, the only viable approach is to seek a method of rejuvenation."
"That's true," Mars admitted, "but how are we even meant to touch it, let alone affect any healing? I wield Divination, Hoku serves as Navigator, and you're no healer in the conventional sense."
Hoku had already steered his focus toward Oliverou, as he mentally re‑evaluated the impact of his earlier divination.
He recalled the moment of confrontation distinctly. Had the effect persisted, he'd have devised a viable plan or uncovered something useful in time.
'It only lasted a moment. If it were still active… I might have already found an advantage.'
As Hoku pondered, a subtle motion betrayed his body's initiative before his mind fully registered what came next.
His hand drifted cautiously toward his coat pocket.
Inside, though, he found only the locket he'd retrieved from his corpse.
'Damn!' Hoku cursed inwardly. 'I had forgotten that it slipped.'
He frowned. 'I didn't see it when I grabbed the lantern… perhaps it veered off in the opposite direction.'
Hoku lifted his gaze but quickly acknowledged the futility.
Then, he recalled that Li and Mars had come from that very direction, and he jolted to catch Mars by the sleeve.
"By any chance, did you pick up a compass while coming this way?"
Mars raised an eyebrow, shaking his head. "...Did you lose your elixir?"
An awkward, rueful smile crept across Hoku's face.
Mars paled, placing one hand on his hip and pressing the other to his brow in a mocking gesture of distress.
Li, meanwhile, appeared faintly amused by Hoku's predicament.
He crossed his arms, cocked his head slightly, and observed in a dry tone, "Losing things already? Honestly, I'm surprised you even still grip that hilt."
Hoku's jaw twitched irritably as he glanced at the sword in his left hand.
"It wasn't intentional, I lost it as I was fleeing."
"Seems like it was a useless measure." Li clicked his tongue as he sized him up.
"..."
Before he had the chance to ridicule him further, Mars exhaled and lowered both of his arms.
"We'll search for once we know how to proceed," Mars said.
Hoku cast a glance between the two men before clearing his throat and drawing himself upright. "I had mentioned my compass because I thought it might help."
"In what way?" Li sharply interjected.
"… I can use divination."
At his words, both Mars and Li changed expressions in unison.
Before Hoku could continue his explanation, a hand seized his coat by the collar and dragged him forward.
"Wait—" Mars began, only to find Li already confronting Hoku.
Suspicion had alighted in his pale irises as he considered Hoku intently.
"All this while, you've feigned ignorance, and it appears your companion was equally unacquainted with this discussion. So, tell me: Where did you come to learn this term?"
Unfortunately, the abundance of illusions here makes it impossible to dismiss this new revelation of yours."
To be continued…