With him went his women. His hold on them was released and they too began to lose their flesh, only moments after retaining their consciousness. "A hundred years of slavery… Thank you, brave warrior…" they whispered as they went.
Bell was laid back on the bed amidst their bones, her jaw hanging open in shock and her holy robes dishevelled, revealing the soft white flesh underneath. Ermos averted his gaze and picked up the skeleton's skull instead, having to pull it free from his heavy robes.
"Wow, he had a big head," Ermos noticed, comparing it to his own – it was almost twice the size. "Pash should enjoy this," he decided, attempting to tuck it away in his sleeve, before remembering the warning that the skeleton had given him, about Mane being locked in combat with Ozymandias.
"Girl, can you walk? We better get out of here. Even if Mane looks kind of funny, he's pretty strong. If it's an enemy that he can't handle, then the others are definitely done for," Ermos said, still not turning around.
He heard the movement of flapping cloth as Bell returned to life, pushing the bones off her and hurriedly fixing her robes to cover up her skin as conservatively as it had been before. Only when he heard her wooden clogs on the stone floor did he allow himself to look up.
"Ready?" He asked. She gave a timid nod of her head, still finding it hard to look him in the eye. "Good… Only one question: how do we get out?"
As much as Ermos looked around the room, he could see no door or ladder or even an escape pod. There seemed to be nothing at all. It must have been magic that the skeleton used to get in and out.
He felt a tugging on his sleeve as little Bell pulled on his arm with a single finger. She pointed to an inconspicuous looking mirror on the wall, making gestures with her hand, trying to convey some sort of point.
To Ermos, it just looked like plain old glass, the same as any mirror. But she was the priestess, the one who practised with magic. He was someone who had only just recently learned how to light a fire. He put his trust in her and chose to give it a good look for her sake.
He had to get right up close and spend a few moments examining it before he noticed anything peculiar. It was a full-sized mirror, perhaps eight feet tall, dwarfing him. It gave out the reflection of the world around it, conveying the dark stone of its scene. Only, Ermos could not see himself in it. Nor could he see the large skull that he held. The mirror was indeed offering a reflection, but it wasn't of that room, it was of somewhere else.
He looked to Bell for reassurance, a finger on his chin as he thought carefully about it. The poor girl looked like she had already died as she stood there next to him. Her face was frighteningly pale and from her dizziness, she could hardly make herself stand straight.
"Are you alright?" He asked her, watching as she rocked back on her heel. Her knees went weak and her eyes rolled back into her head and she fainted backwards, collapsing towards the hard stone floor.
Ermos caught her with one arm before she could do herself any damage. He held his fingers to her lips to ensure she was still breathing. When he felt her warm breath against them, he nodded to himself. "I suppose it's quite a lot of take in," he said, attempting to understand her plight.
He wasn't sure how long she planned on staying unconscious for, nor did he wish to wait and find out. He lifted her without reservation and went towards the mirror.
He did not hold her like a princess, as a woman was want to be carried, but he slung her over his shoulder like a sack of meat, making sure that he kept a good grip on his skull all the while.
"Now…" he said, facing off against that mirror. "If this is a trick and I walk into this and bang my nose, I promise I'm dropping you," he said. She whimpered slightly in her sleep, the closest she could get to speech. He took that to be a positive sign and he took a step towards the mirror, still tentatively feeling it out just in case it really was solid glass… and his foot passed straight through.
The rest of his body soon followed and they travelled through space in an instant, entering a world of moisture.
Behind the waterfall was where they were left at, right next to the broken unlidded coffin of the Bishamon king Ozymandias. The roaring torrents of water sprinkled them with droplets like rain, making a terribly loud noise all the while.
Ermos left it behind quickly, leaving that cave with a pretty girl over his shoulder and a skull in his hand. He looked to be the very image of a villain.
It was Fingers that noticed him first. The dog had transformed himself into his true form, standing tall like a giant. When he barked in excitement, recognizing his master, the whole room shook from his power. He wagged his tail and ran back and forth energetically, bounding up and down like a puppy, showing no restraint at all.
The rest of the party did not seem to be in such high spirits. Before they saw Ermos and the returning Bell, they were all crouched down in a circle around a still body, incredibly sombre in their mood.
Fingers' racket alerted them to their presence, and slowly they stood. Smiles lit their faces, restrained slightly by sadness and then confusion, as they wondered what had happened to their precious Bell. They shouted out to him over the rushing river, but he could not hear a single word that they were saying, not until he gathered his legs beneath himself and leapt it in one elegant bound.