"Hmm, then we should find a place where a fault is, and I guess it won't be too far from the volcano and the town, or the crystal wouldn't reach the town." Urie told his conjecture and looked his little brother in the eyes as if they were communicating through telepathy.
"Middle way from the volcano and the town!" Arie said out of nowhere while Urie nodded.
"Let's hurry because we can't waste more time! Anyway, how much time do we still have?" he asked his big brother as Urie swiped in the air and an interface appeared in front of him.
"We only have less than 7 hours to find Cremorgon and return the crystal to the chamber!" Urie told as they rushed out of the town on Alpagon and they dashed towards the middle area where they thought the fault was, but they only saw a wide expanse of plains.
"There's no fault around here! We couldn't find that fault if we looked around aimlessly! We need to find it as quickly as possible!" Arie panicked, but Urie remained calm.
"Wait! If I remember correctly, a storm came after the eruption that caused the town to have the pitch black color it has now, right?" Urie asked his brother, who replied to him with a nod.
"Then there's a big chance that the fault was also covered with solidified lava!" He added, which made Arie frown.
"Does that mean that the only entrance we have was already filled?" Arie asked, but Urie shook his head in reply.
"Lava is dense, so, it would take time before it could fill the fault. If the storm came exactly when the lava reached the fault, wouldn't it freeze the lava before it could fill the gap?" Urie concluded.
"Then how could we find that fault if it was already covered?" Arie asked, but Urie only grinned and looked at Alpagon.
"Alpagon! Stomp around the area randomly!" Urie ordered as the beast ran around the place with heavy steps.
Urie lowered his head as he listened to Alpagon's stomping sounds.
"I see! It's like knocking at a solid wall and a hollow wall! There's a difference in sounds!" Arie exclaimed in enlightenment as he joined his brother in listening.
A few minutes passed when Alpagon came across a place where a much deeper thumping sound could be heard.
"I guess this is the place! Alpagon, dig!" Urie ordered as a sharp metallic claw protruded from Alpagon's paws and dug into the ground.
It dug up a bit when the ground suddenly started cracking and it extended for a bit of time.
"Hurry! Get to a safe place!" Urie shouted as Alpagon immediately ran away from the cracks.
The crack kept on extending as it collapsed from the middle part, extending sideways, revealing a deep dark fault that extends for about a kilometer or more from where they were standing.
"Whoa! We almost fell in it!" Urie breathed a sigh of relief as they walked to the side of the fault and examined it for a minute.
"The only thing that we needed to do is to find the way down and locate what tunnel leads to Cremorgon!" He added as they walked along the fault and saw that there's a part where ledges could be reached and extended downwards.
"We can climb down through those ledges to get to the bottom. Could you do it?" Urie asked as his younger brother only smirked at him.
"I've been playing adventure games when Dad was still with us. I can do it more efficiently than you do!" Arie proudly said.
"Yeah, we used to play with Dad. I wonder where he was right now?" Urie sadly reminisced as they took a minute of silence before they went down.
It took them an hour to reach the bottom of the fault, which was swallowed by darkness. Eop was with them, so they asked it to light the way for them. Blue flames covered the wolf pup and led the way for them.
"How can we find the way to Cremorgon?" Arie asked his brother while they were following Eop.
"Maybe the crystal could help us in any way?" Urie shrugged as he took out the crystal, which was shimmering from the blue light that made it look like it had a purple tinge on it.
"There's nothing? Probably when we head deeper inside the tunnel. If we find the way in?" Arie shook his head as they helplessly followed Eop through the dark fault.
A few minutes passed when the pungent smell of volcanic sulfur permeated the air.
"Damn! Even the smell was well transmitted through the receptors! Ugh! It stinks!" Arie complained while fanning away the air in front of his face.
"You can turn down your smell sensitivity to zero so that you can't smell any of this!" Urie suggested, which was immediately followed by his young brother.
"How about you? You won't change yours?" Arie asked, but Urie shook his head in reply.
"No, I can't change any of my senses." Urie sadly replied as he looked towards the way they were going.
"Is it because of you being stuck in the game?" Arie asked.
Urie shrugged his shoulders and replied, "Probably? I don't know if it has something to do with it, but my perception towards senses was as accurate as what I can feel in the real world. In fact, my whole being is here. If it wasn't for that occasional lagging and glitching, I would even think that I'm born here!"
"That real?" Arie asked.
"Yes, that's real!" Urie replied as his body started fading and reappearing a few distances in front of them, then back to his place again, then a bit in front of Eop, then through it.
"You're lagging again, brother!" Arie shouted, but it seemed that Urie couldn't hear him.
"Argh! I guess we should try to keep my brother safe while he is lagging, Eop!" He helplessly called out and Eop replied with a small bark.
It took a few minutes before Urie's body stabilized and looked normal when the lagging ended.
"That took too long before it subsided!" Arie said in a frown.
"I lagged? I thought you were just being silent the whole trip!" Urie replied in surprise.
"Yeah, I wonder who among all the characters of the players could skip forward and even break their characters in half?" Arie sarcastically said.
"Fine! Fine! I guess I lagged again!" His big brother surrendered as they continued their journey deep inside the fault.
While they were walking. The crystal on Urie's hand suddenly vibrated, which took him by surprise as he almost dropped it, but he immediately recovered it.
"Damn! That's sudden!" Urie breathed a sigh of relief.
"Be careful with that! We have little time to return to the Lost Palace!" Arie scolded his big brother.
"Sorry! My mistake!"