The image of a young man, that was frozen to stone, rested on the throne at the edge of the ravine, with an arrogant and smug expression. The young man's eyes stared over his frozen hand, that was raised over the right arm of the throne, pointing to something no longer present.
Kellen walked up to the man, that looked like he was only in his early twenties, and noticed something odd. While the entirety of the young man's body was solid stone, a single sparkling item remained unpetrified.
Kellen lifted his hand towards the extended finger of the man and fidgeted the peculiar ring around his cold stone hand to try and remove it from the frozen joints of his finger. After messing with the ring for some time and moving it around in different angles, it finally became free like a solved puzzle, and fell into Kellen's hand.
The odd ring felt cold to the touch and the small blue gem encapsulated on top was quite the wonder.
'Wait a second... I've seen this ring before...' Thought Kellen as the image of the old king from the Myria Kingdom resurfaced in his memories.
When he had been condemned as a demon by the measuring stone, was sent to be tortured in the dungeon, and then thrown into the void, it was difficult for Kellen to forget the transgressions of the old king who sentenced him to such things.
The image of the old fool pointing him out in the center of the throne room with his feeble finger became vivid in his mind.
'Come to think of it... He was wearing a ring just like this back then...' Darkly reminisced Kellen.
The blue gem sparkled in the white light provided by the sword in Kellen's other hand, but interestingly, when Kellen brought the sword closer to the ring to get a clearer look, it began to move away to the other side of his hand.
'Strange, it doesn't seem like it likes this sword that much... Hey Osiris! What's up with this ring? Do you happen to know anything about it?' Asked Kellen without holding his breath for a definite answer again.
'Oh... I definitely recognize what that piece of shit is.' Said Osiris with annoyance.
'Huh?'
'If I were you kid, I would destroy that thing on sight. Better yet, toss it into the depths of the damned magma of the fourth hell!' Seethed Osiris with irritation as if the ring was the bane of his existence.
'What's so bad about a little ring?' Questioned Kellen in confusion.
Sure, he didn't like the memories associated with it, if it did indeed belong to that old crone of a king, but that was just his personal connection.
'It's one of those bitch's artifacts. Another one of her "blessings" bestowed upon this world.' Explained Osiris quickly like he would rather be doing anything else besides talking about the sneaky Goddess.
'Really? What does it do?' Asked Kellen with concern as he now held the ring away from him at an arms length with only his fingers.
'You don't have to be so wary. It really is just a piece of junk. Well, unless you can find the other jewels and put them together, but that's practically impossible. Actually, I personally discarded two of them myself.' He proudly boasted with a puffed chest.
'What do you mean put them together? What do they do? Wait, you destroyed two of them already?' Kellen asked in surprise.
'Yeah, not exactly destroyed, but ages ago I chucked one into that void you were trapped in originally and the other is somewhere at the bottom of that magma lake I mentioned earlier. I'm not completely sure what they do but I know it's probably something that hinders my involvement in my own damn world! Luckily, the humans, hahaha, her own creations, were the ones who originally separated them.' Laughed Osiris in satisfaction.
'Are you sure that's not exactly what she wanted to happen?' Butted in Nergal with a cynical tone.
'Yeah, why let your own creations fuck you over like that?' Added Kellen after considering the flawed reasoning.
'Huh, wha-... No... That massive crystal at her main temple was the center of worship for ages. I doubt she would just let that get destroyed voluntarily and scattered over the world.' Said Osiris in a confirming voice, but to Kellen it sounded like he was just trying to reassure his own actions.
'Well from my experience, the scattering of some of, if not all of your power, isn't something you would take lightly, or at least not allow without going down fighting.' Nergal said thoughtfully.
'Okay, well whatever the case may be, the magic stones are a no go.' Stated Osiris stubbornly while crossing his ethereal arms.
Kellen sighed and shook his head before stuffing the ring in a pocket inside his jacket.
'Until I can figure out what the hell this thing really is or can do, I'll just hold onto it for now.' He decided.
Returning his attention back to the stone man slumped on the throne, a sudden thought materialized. To confirm his recent suspicions, Kellen moved the softly glowing sword closer to the man's face.
'Yep, sure enough they are quite similar.' He confirmed.
The stone face of the young man was practically the spiting image of the old king he had met when he was first summoned to this hellish world. If not for the difference in age and the now stone complexion of the young man, Kellen was willing to bet everything that this was probably a descendant of that lunatic.
All the signs and clues he had picked up ever since setting foot in this underground kingdom were strongly suggesting his sinking assumption.
'This might actually be the Myria Kingdom... Well, the remnants at least, but there's no way...'
Kellen was still slightly unwilling to believe what all the clues indicated and decided he would refuse to acknowledge them until he could make a definitive answer. He figured the only way to gain that would be to retrace the steps he had taken, or had been forcefully dragged, and gauge if there were any similarities.
He hopped down from the throne area and moved his way back over near the center of the room. Of course, he was only able to look from the side since the ravine had ravaged the center of the throne room. From there he scanned the room for a doorway that would give access to a hallway.
'Damn, it really is there...'
Finally finding a doorway that was located near the edge of the room past some cracked columns, Kellen shook his head in disbelief before anxiously walking towards it.
However, a voice from behind stopped him in his tracks.
"Hey! Where ya going? You weren't just gonna leave me down there... Were you?"
Tommy's mischievous smile sparkled in the dim lighting as he struggled to climb over the edge of the ravine.
"A little help?" He asked as he defeatedly rested his hands on the floor of the throne room on the edge of the ravine.
Kellen glanced back towards the looming doorway before sighing and walking over towards Tommy, who grinned with a dumb look on his face.
"Thanks, I didn't think the way back up would be so tiring." He said as he accepted Kellen's hand that hoisted him up onto his feet.
"Don't mention it." Nonchalantly muttered Kellen as he made sure not to accidentally hit Tommy with the petrifying sword in his other hand.
"I didn't take that long did I?" Kidded Tommy as he comically stretched his sore arms and legs.
"Long enough." Joked Kellen.
"Oh come on! Cut me some slack! I don't engage in those ridiculous "classes" that my father puts you guys through like you do. So don't expect for some crazy monstrous strength like that to suddenly appear for me. Unfortunately, it's not hereditary, as much as I wish it was." Sighed Tommy as he locked his fingers and stretched his arms out over his head.
"Eh, it's not all that bad..." Bluffed Kellen as he waved the torch-like sword back towards the doorway.
"Says the guy who can go toe-to-toe with that psycho everyday!" Laughed Tommy.
Kellen shrugged in response while remaining fixated on the doorway across from them.
"What's up with you and that doorway? I thought you wanted to get out of here so you could find some answers for that sword of yours?" Asked Tommy as he noticed Kellen's stare.
"Yeah I do, but there's something I want to check first..." Kellen mumbled as he began walking back over to the doorway.
"Okay, okay, but I already told you; I swept this place clean at least a dozen times except for that weird ravine. I'm telling you there aren't any riches here left to be found." Tommy commented while leaning his arm on one of the stone guards in the throne room out of habit.
"Yeah I know, it's something else..." Distantly answered Kellen.
"Alright, well I'll just hang out here then with my buddies... Actually, why don't I tag along!" Tommy yelped as he remembered the stone people were not actually sculptures, and jumped away from the stone he was leaning on with goosebumps dotting his skin.
Kellen looked back due to the yelp and shook his head to keep from laughing after realizing what had happened.
"That's fine, just don't do anything stupid." He said while turning back towards the doorway.
"What? Me? Stupid? What do you take me for? The stone... um... people... Just freak me out little now, that's all." Tommy hurriedly explained as he rushed after Kellen.