As Celestia slowly recovered from their misadventure, Ice, still wary, kept a close eye on Ray, who stood a few steps away. Slowly closing the gap between them.
"I think you're close enough," Ice declared, his eyes burning with suspicion. Every inch of his body ready for whatever was to come.
Ray raised both hands in a gesture of surrender before replying.
"I won't point out that if I had wanted to harm you, I wouldn't have helped you in the first place. We don't have time for that. We must not remain motionless."
"Why is that?" he said, eyes not leaving the sword. "You can't just ask strangers to stick around with you like some Messiah."
"You forgot that I also just saved those 'strangers'," he added in a light voice. "As I told you, this prison is reserved for people who are too troublesome to kill outright or too elusive to catch, so that means it makes no sense for children like you to be here. At least I, though almost as vulnerable as you, have my reasons."
Ice slowly lowered his guard, his eyes shifting from the sword to his eyes.
"And can we know these famous reasons?" he asked.
Ray hesitated for a moment before saying, "Let's just say my family was too loyal, and I was too brave..."
"Well, that explains everything," he said, his voice filled with sarcasm. "Tell us instead if there's a way out of this place... this hell."
"In any case, it isn't toward that tower," Ray replied.
"We're supposed to wander in the darkness," Ice replied.
Ray shook his head. "There were plenty of bad choices to make, but you went straight for the worst possible one."
Ice gave him an intrigued look.
"What do you mean?"
"I'll explain everything from the start, but first, give her this." Ray proposed, approaching Ice with hesitant steps. Ice instinctively backed away, pulling Celestia with him.
"Let's calm down," Ray said, shaking his hands frantically again. "I repeat that I'm not hostile toward you."
"Easy to say when you're the one carrying the sword," Ice remarked with a smirk.
Ray raised an eyebrow, then smiled , amused. After spending so much time in the darkness, he had forgotten the basics of human interaction. They could never be on equal footing if they were not armed equally as well.
He set his bag on the ground, reached inside, and pulled out another sword and a piece of viscous bread, which he tossed to Ice, who caught it effortlessly. He catch the sword, tossed it lightly and made it dance in his palm, as if reuniting with an old companion. Before passing the bread to Celestia.
Ray got back to his feet, retrieving his sword planted in the flat ground before sheathing it. "I don't have much food. You and I can just eat when we're about to starve."
"Thanks," he said, eyes steady.
"You're welcome," Ray replied, his tone growing serious. "As I said, we don't have much time, so I'll explain what I know as simply as I can."
"The only way to get out of this place is to reach the border. At the deepest point of the darkness, there's a bright place." He paused to search for his words. "I mean not philosophically, but literally. The farther we get from the tower, the more darkness there is, and vice versa."
"Didn't you notice your vision improving as you got closer?" Ray noted.
"Yes. But how could better vision be a bad thing?"
Ray frowned. "Normally, it wouldn't be. But not here. Let's just say the closer you get to the light, the darker your mind becomes. You saw what happened to those beasts that approached it."
"I see."
Ray was about to continue when the sound of a bell cut through the silence, ringing once in a deafening peal.
He pointed in the direction the bell had sounded. "That bell's ring pulls them away from the tower for a while, but they always drift back. The cycle repeats endlessly, making them wander. I don't know if that's intentional or just a cruel joke."
"Are we holding up?" he asked, glancing at Celestia, who had just finished her piece. A hint of guilt visible on his face.
"Yes. And from now on, I'll only eat if you do."
He was about to argue but stopped when he saw the cold resolve in her eyes. There was no fear or doubt left, only quiet determination.
They watched her brush the dirt from her clothes and tie back her hair. It seemed she too was evolving at her own pace. Regaining her personality, or perhaps her true personality.
"So, concretely, how do we get out of here?"
"Plunge into the darkness, I suppose," he replied, his voice hesitant as if convincing himself.
"As my uncle told me, there are just twoproblems for escaping here."
"It seems there are people who even got a notice for this place." Not only did he seem to possess his entire memory intact, unlike them, but also some kind of preparation for this place.
Ice extended his hand to Ray, who paused in his words. Responding belatedly to the introduction he had made.
"Nice to meet you. I'm... Ice, and this is my... sister Celestia." He said with a faint smile. "If there are only two problems, then we're in better shape than I'd hoped."
Ray took his hand, sheathing his sword. "I already had an idea when I saw you. But you really aren't normal kids."
Ray turned his gaze to Celestia, who was recovering from her fear at the speed of light. She didn't seem to have an ounce of hesitation when she looked at him. A piercing gaze that could give anyone cold sweats.
"But our madness might just be our only weapon for now..."
Ice almost rolled his eyes.
"I wouldn't describe myself as a weapon master and even less as a madman."
"Don't worry, we all are..." he said in a confident tone, as if stating the most obvious thing in his life."I suppose it takes crazy people to see hope with blinded eyes."
"Still your uncle?"
"Nah. This time, it's kind of my family motto."
"And what kind of family follows a motto like that?"
"The crazy kind, I guess," Ray said a hint of nostalgia lingering in his voice.
"The border. Once we reach it, we won't be able to see a thing. The monsters rely almost entirely on hearing. So, in addition to being weak, we will also become blind prey," he explained quickly shifting the discussion. "And beyond that, I don't know what's out there. Once we're out, we're on our own."
'That would explain why he's still here.'
His eyes then flicked to Celestia. "So, how good are your ears?"
Celestia shot him a suspicious look. "What do you mean?"
"Don't you remember? You heard that monster long before we saw it, didn't you?"
Ray's eyes widened. "Wait, are you serious?"
"I don't know. I didn't really have time to focus on that," Celestia replied.
"Then let's go. We'll test your hearing along the way," Ice declared, already moving.
Ray stared at him in surprise.
"I didn't even say where to go."
"Away from the tower, toward the bell. I'd be a fool if I hadn't figured that out after everything you just explained."
"Fair enough," he confessed.
"But you still haven't told us the second one," Celestia noted.
Ray turned toward the vast tower, which madness still seemed to call out to them.
"That place… no one has ever escaped it in 5,600 years."