"Opportunity favors us," the Iron Butler's voice sparked up. "We can leave now, I've got a place for us to stay with a special guest waiting inside."
Hylo glanced down at Ether. "Neddy is in no position of leaving, so I won't either."
"No," Ether chuckled with a sense of pride. "We're leaving, now."
Hitirus made his way to the door, pressing his head beside it. There were no sounds of any visitors inside, hinting at the possibility of the house being empty.
Ether struggled out of bed, keeping a fiery grip on the wounds. With each ember that burned, he could feel himself getting better. But it wasn't instant.
Regardless of her father's condition, Hylo still wanted to help. She knew better than anyone he wasn't prideful, so being helped wouldn't hurt him.
So she wrapped an arm around his shoulder, then helped him to the door. Ether smiled a proud smile, but not for him. The pride came from Hylo, his only child.
"Are you three confident with your decision to walk out of here? i can -"
"More than confident," Ether interrupted the butler. "Tell us where to go and we'll meet you there."
The butler seemed perplexed by the instructions, yet he was made to heed without thought. So he obeyed, releasing Syndicate Dust spores that latched onto the three Variants.
Upon contact, they told them to meet with the butler near the outskirts of the city. Then the butler disappeared out of the room.
What Ether forgot about was Syndicate Dust's ability to consume, replicate, and regenerate living beings. Consuming them in one spot, replicating them and regenerating their bodies in another - a form of travel.
Hitirus took the lead, opening the door gently. Which caused him to lock eyes with Ventelu sitting just outside.
Despite seeing a stranger, Venetelu kept the same quiet gaze while eyeing Hitirus down. In return, Hitirus examined how difficult it would be to knock Venetelu out.
Until a playful shove moved Hitirus out of the way, allowing Shora to charge right up to the pre-Noble. Shora smiled up at him, Venetelu did the same.
"Venny! I am going to play with friends! Is it okay?" Shora asked with an innocent tone.
"Happy to see you're still happy, Shora. Of course, just don't be late so Nestres doesn't catch you," Venetelu replied with a sweet tone.
Shora smiled even wider. "Thank you, thank you, thank youuu!"
Hitirus couldn't mutter a word before Hylo and Ether pushed him towards the door. Shora waved goodbye to Venetelu, before turning around and hurrying his friends out the dark wood door.
Venetelu fell silent once again, waiting for the rest of his insides to manifest. He felt the lingering dread of riding his companion straight into Vhul-Adune and detonating themselves.
The feeling of growing heat, the sight of nothingness, the sound of a sandstorm's fury. Followed by a sudden halt, cutting his life short yet again.
As he recounted his previous death, the trio hurried through the orange-tainted roads. Which were less packed than earlier.
Nobody paid enough attention to recognize who the smallest of the bunch was. To them, all they could see is a strange Thawed huddling close to a Zawed.
Which stayed that way until they made it past the main city structures. Leaving homes as the last buildings before the outskirts.
Hylo dwelled on the memory of the training fountains. The countless amounts of times Variants stopped to see how she improved, even asked for autographs and tips to improve their own techniques.
Even if she wasn't skilled in some fields, she still answered. Eager to help whoever she could.
"There he is," Ether broke free from the group. "Iron Butler, where do we go now?"
"It was my original suggestion, Ether. We could have left earlier - I have a pocket-universe overlaying this one. We can enter and leave at any time," the butler replied.
The amount of shame stunned Ether, making him forget that his other leg wasn't fit to stand on. His body weight shifted over to it, causing him to collapse.
Hylo quickly ran over to Ether, getting down to his level before helping him up. Which the butler saw, and silently praised Hylo for.
"Shall I introduce us to our new home?" he asked.
Hitirus and Hylo both nodded, resulting in the Iron Butler taking out the strange blue rose from his front pocket. He waved it around before disappearing.
A limitless stronghold replaced Koroth around them. The fields lush with orange grass leaves, and the distant walls stood firmly in the distance.
Even the feeling was different. None of this looked like a normal pocket-universe, almost like a sub-branch of one. With the only hint of it being the case being the giant ghastly head overlooking the area.
"We're here, welcome to Pareidolia. In here, we can grow our Will Power to extreme extends. But not enough to unlock Third Rules and beckon Primed through Gates," the butler greeted.
"Glad I have some company," Befehlnadir commented.
Hitirus instantly turned around, ready to defend himself from his rival. Yet when he did, Befehlnadir wasn't even paying attention to him.
"Ether, glad to see you again after all these years. Speaking of. This is it, the original three - the ones who ended atop Conqueror's copse," Befehlnadir reminded.
"Yeah, I remember. But let's not think about the past too much, right now, we're focused on -"
Befehlnadir slipped past Ether, looking straight at Hitirus. "Getting Hitirus the crown, I am too. So we can finally rest after all these years."
The Iron Butler kept his eyes on a distant building, one that housed chambers meant to train each Variant quickly and effortlessly.
He slowly turned to the group. "We should make our way towards the chambers now so we can begin working on that link."
Ether and Hylo walked in unison towards it, their feet trembling over the orange grass. There was a sense of unity between the two, one that only a father and daughter could relate to.