The screams were what woke her up.
Migraine-inducing screams born out of a place of intense agony.
Her eyes flickered open and as she raised her head, she caught a glimpse of the sight ahead, a sight which caused her heart to lurch due to just how grotesque it was.
Even more terrifying was the fact that the person being tortured and the person dishing out the torture, were not exactly what she expected.
She found herself unable to say anything as she watched Ulysses put Sayda through a thousand deaths, the same thing he had suffered at the hands of the Lord of Flesh and Blood.
It quickly became clear that Sayda couldn’t hold on, which was understandable, because no one would be able to hold on.
The sole reason Ulysses survived was simply because of two or rather, three things.
The first was his immortality, the second was his strong will, and the third was Ana’s aid.
If not for all that, he would have returned as a hollow shell occupied by the Everlasting.
In this case, of course, the Everlasting couldn’t take root in Sayda due to her divine constitution, but that didn’t mean she didn’t suffer.
Her mind fractured and soon, she was no longer able to resist the Law of Origin as her pneuma, divine in nature and appearing as a pillar of bright purplish light, escaped her body, swiftly joining the aether.
The world seemed to tremble in response to this new and somewhat large influx of aether, with those that were most in tune with it realizing with a bit of shock that a divine being had fallen and, what’s more, on the continent of Henos.
The fact that three divine beings had fallen on that continent caused many to wonder; just what was happening in Henos!?
Archibald gasped as he opened his eyes, realizing with some chagrin that he had returned to the world once again, a perk of his Innate Talent, Resurrection, born out of the domain of Night which he held Authority over.
It had saved him many a time and though he was eternally grateful for it, perhaps this one time, he wished it hadn’t worked.
Just then, there was a painful biting sensation forcing him off the ground as he realized belatedly that he had fallen to the deathtrap that was on the ground floor of Twilight.
If not for his identity as a human-werewolf hybrid, he would have long since succumbed to the frost of the fortress.
Unfortunately, Hamon and Anika were not so lucky as their corpses were almost completely encased in ice.
Clenching his jaw, he reached down and did his best to pry them off the ground all to no avail.
"Damn it!" He cursed as he stepped away, aware of the futility of his ways.
Those claimed by the ice could never be freed.
They were long gone and there was nothing he could do about that.
Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and remarked with a heavy heart. "I’m so sorry. I led you both to your deaths."
After saying a short prayer for them, hopeful that Lady Luna would see fit to grant them peace, he opened his eyes and turned his attention to the vault door that remained encased in ice.
Aware that he couldn’t dwell on what had already happened, he decided to focus on what the future held.
"Mother." He breathed out as he took a step forward, breaking away from the ice stalks that had begun to take root in his shoes.
In truth, after he was baptized by wisdom during the Baptism of Knowledge and Madness, the thought of becoming a Mystic had crossed his mind.
But, he disdained it.
He felt that they were fakes, masquerading as the real deal.
This was why he’d been offended when Alex had dared to call him a Mystic, though he didn’t bother correcting the arrogant bastard.
To think that it would end up being the only way to fulfill his dream, and this time, he wouldn’t just be a member, he would be their leader, and if it turned out successful, Archibald swore he would never repeat the sins of his forefathers.
The Church of Angelica perpetuated the fallacy that the Infernal Palace was one of the many dimensions created by the Absolute One, along with the many others that served as homes to myriad beings.
Naturally, this was false as the Infernal Palace was created by the Seven Deadly Sins after their birth and, in truth, was not a dimension but rather a pseudo dimension with a protective barrier around it.
The true dimension was the Negative Zone which was the culmination of all negative emotions felt by all living and thinking beings.
The Infernal Palace was located within this chaotic zone, and even the Seven Deadly Sins did not dare to play around with it as they risked losing their identity, which was what allowed them to achieve their current forms.
In any case, within the Negative Zone, that dimension rife with the negative emotions of all creatures, a terrifyingly grotesque beast could be seen moving through it.
It seemed like a congregation of several mouths and black maws, each one continuously snapping as though chomping down on something.
At the center of this congregation was a barely feminine face with a pair of eyes filled with a great deal of madness.
This entity was none other than Sayda’s mother, The Hollowed Queen.
She seemed to be in a hurry but soon came to a stop, as she felt a great deal of discomfort, which was unprecedented, and so, she swiftly abandoned the core reason for this, which was the Midnight Pearl.
The Pearl fell from her body and was swiftly engulfed by the negative emotions within the Negative Zone.
However, merely a moment later, there was a bright blue pillar of light and for the second time since the creation of the Infernal Palace, yet another structure came to be within the dimension, one forged out of pure ice and filled with endless space.