Having many questions unanswered, Koku continued to follow the trail of appearing footprints deeper into the forest leaving the lonely statue behind. Closely following the footprints Koku could now vaguely hear the noise of breaking branches far off into the distance, accompanied by the sudden sounds of whispers from afar.
After following the footprints for quite some time however… the noise of breaking branches died off entirely, this and the whispers had vanished. Noticing this he had barely seen the footprints stop right in front of something big, clearly not a lifeform of any kind. The main indication for noticing the footprints suddenly stop was due to the sound of someone walking over grass with the impact of the a heavy foot on the ground that accompanied the ghost like appearing prints vanished
Still not seeing what was in front of him, Koku squinted his eyes but could only make out that the thing in front of him was a massive tree. "This tree's dead." Koku said aloud trying to understand the purpose of leading him here. Trying to confirm that it was indeed dead, he placed his hand on the tree's bark, and found his hand phasing through the entire thing.
Right after this the big dead tree began to fade away, like the illusion it was. Now barely seeing some kind of a hole in the ground, he remained cautious and even more so now as he began moving down into the hole, and as he would have it; It was another illusion.
After fading away, this time it showed old well maintained stone stairs leading deep underground. Stepping into a hole leading underground Koku would follow the steps down for a few minutes as later on when he did begin walking, he could see a faint blue light near the end of the staircase.
Confirming this as he'd arrived at the light source, Koku noticed the walls from this point on having stone carvings resembling wall mounted torches. They illuminated a faint dark blue. Just enough to see it and not the steps of the staircase. It would remain very dark for a while it seemed.
But at the moment he could see that from this point on, he'd have to make a choice as the lights split off from this point on, leading into two different directions. There had been no sign or symbol anywhere near the splitting directions, nor any writing of sorts, so overall, no way of knowing where to go.
This of course was Koku's thought process as he'd then choose to go with the left hand side since many always went right.
Based on this choice, when Koku took the left path which like the other split off but still went much deeper into the ground. He noticed that there seemed to be no end in sight since this time there had been a nearly infinite lines of those blue dimly lit torches. Not knowing if he chose the right spot, Koku began walking down this path.
A few steps in he turned back wanting to see if the other path had also been this exact way. But when he turned around, he met a problem. Turning back he could see a deadend. A wall of well maintained stone.
Touching it, Koku could tell it was a real wall. Which amounted to his confusion and worried state. "The hell i get into now…" he said aloud to himself, only wanting to reach Amagiri, and not be a part of any of this creepy place.
"I can't head back now… so I might as well go deeper into wherever this leads… of course i don't have an option but…" Koku looked back at the dead end, his back faced, and sighed. "I don't want to wait here like a fool and gain nothing."
Noting he had little to no supplies, Koku facepalmed himself. "And now…time is suddenly more important." He thought as he began walking down the steps at a faster pace than usual. Koku would walk down these steps for roughly an hour and a couple minutes before reaching the end of the staircase where it led to a hallway with two doors and a faceless statue holding up a stone key with its palm. Upon closer inspection of the two doors and the statue.
Koku noted that there was only one key, and it looked very withered away, despite everything here looking well maintained. At any rate, the key would break after a single use. Both doors however, seemed to have a single lock on them both.
Not to mention the symbols above the door and on the door. The door to the left had a circle with a triangle inside of it, while the door to the right had a circle with a split cross inside of it. Koku recognized the symbol on the left door. It was one of the many symbols of alchemy, a science and art of transforming matter. The symbol on the right door, however, was unfamiliar to him. It seemed to be to imply something else, perhaps it was representing something destructive or chaotic, or faithful and intense.
The problem was that he couldn't honestly tell what it was, so he chose the door with the alchemy symbol. The symbols above both doors were a shattered moon for the door to the left and an eclipse for the door to the right.
Choosing that door, Koku decided to pick up the key gently from the open palm of the faceless statue, then inserting it into the lock, turning it and hearing the sound of the lock opening but the key dissolving.
Afterwards, he pushed open the door, feeling a cool breeze immediately rush out from the next set of seemingly endless stairs. Intrigued, he continued his descent into the unknown depths. Soon, he reached a single door adorned with a curious symbol: a scale with a circle bisected by a horizontal line on one side, and an empty space on the other. "A scale... a clear indication of equivalent exchange," he mused, recognizing the alchemical principle at play.
"As for that symbol opposing the circle with the line... I'm pretty sure that's the alchemical symbol for salt. What would I exchange for salt? And how would that... nevermind, it'll probably open the door after I find something of equal value." Koku pondered aloud, considering the now many flooding choices and ideas his head began giving him.