The group still had ways to go before they reached their destination. With each passing minute, the ground was shaking more violently. Either the beast was punching the earth like a madman, or it was knocking down even more buildings.
Probably both.
Hope recalled how the village before time reversed was mostly in ruins with barely any proper structure standing.
But all the while that was happening, and as Hope made the right turns through the labyrinth, he was finally able to study the rest of his Attributes after putting to rest the annoying faint screams and suffocating aura aside.
And...he was a little conflicted to say the least.
The [Keeper of Memory] Attribute wasn't a problem. It made sense as to why he could remember things easily as if he could flip to any page of a picture book.
He could recall the image of the dead priest's detailed corpse lying coldly in front of him, or the image of the people's flesh being incinerated with each definitive layer of skin etching away. Even the image of when the Category Two Gate appeared was vivid in his imagination with the impossible colors swirling around its chasm.
Not a faded or distant memory but a clear picture of the scene itself.
He was lucky that the map he glimpsed at the beginning was fresh in his mind or else they would really be lost.
[Keeper of Memory] Attribute Description: "Once seen cannot be unseen. They all remain buried in your heart, no matter the level of consequence."
'Hmm...'
The description sounded poetic but was still clear in its purpose.
The next attribute was debatable.
Hope stared silently at the rune description in front of him. He'd honestly almost tripped as he read the lines.
[Black Sheep] Attribute Description: "You are an outsider born into a disarray world. Forced upon a hero's fate, always against the odds, you wish to be seen."
"..."
'What?'
This sounded...
...unfortunate.
Hope tried to give the benefit of the doubt to this Attribute when he first saw the name earlier at the beginning of his Nightmare. But for it to describe him in this way...
Hope's eyebrow twitched as he silently took a deep breath in.
'Is there...even a saying...of a black sheep in the Dream Realm...?'
"..."
He didn't think so.
Was this how Attributes even work?
No. It couldn't be.
'So, what the fuck is this?'
Hope bit down on his tongue to refrain himself from scowling.
But what was this?
This title felt like a jab on his side. He was an outsider? Always against the odds? Wishes to be seen?
'What the hell does the Spell think I am? And what does a hero's fate and black sheep have in fucking common-'
Hope shook his head. He needed to calm down. Cursing especially was a terrible habit of his growing up. But how could he remain calm after receiving this in his First Nightmare?
Hope didn't want to be a hero. He was only a soldier. Just a simple soldier who followed simple orders without asking any questions. Anyone else who sought glory was insane in his eyes. Pursuing glory meant taking on more work and responsibilities. It meant being in some aspect an ideal warrior for others to look up to.
If they wanted to get stronger and build some name for themselves then that was fine. But that didn't mean Hope had to be roped along.
Of all the damn things the Spell chose for him, it named him this?!
The Spell better not have named him this because he was a middle child.
Consider himself unlucky then for the order of his birth.
'Tsk...'
Maybe it was just a coincidence. Maybe the Spell had a dark sense of humor. Or it was mocking him from its domain at his punic life. Although, that would be cruel if it did have such a side to it.
Hope shook his head from his thoughts. He shouldn't get too wrapped around by it. But there was no doubt in his mind that his First Nightmare had been testing his patience and sanity from the beginning.
Or specifically the Spell for that matter.
Hope rubbed his temple in frustration with his knuckles. He could feel some heads turn in his direction but he ignored them. Even the knight made some weird, worried expression.
'Don't worry dammit. I didn't lose my way and doomed us all.'
Hope sighed as he drew his hand away and touched the dirt wall for support as the ground shook again. The dust hissed as it fell over their heads, and the skulls rattled beneath their feet at each quake. Luckily the tunnels didn't give way to crumble completely. Silent thanks to whoever built these tunnels.
Hope brought his hand down from the wall as the tremors passed and silently summoned the next attribute.
[Chimera] Attribute Description: "Chimeras carry a complex nature about themselves. An illusory possession of both beauty and deformity, of promise and peril. A duality that stands in stark contrast within."
"..."
Hope was done with this Nightmare.
The Spell might as well say to him upfront that he shouldn't have been born.
'And what the fuck is a chimera?'
Questions. Questions. Questions. Why were there so many questions?
Never did Hope think that the very thing that could rile him up the most in this Nightmare was the Spell itself. The elder was no doubt annoying, but this cosmic systematic entity or whatever the hell it was, was messing with Hope's entire future.
Hope's thoughts were immediately interrupted as he noticed something up ahead.
He abruptly paused in his tracks as he noticed the path start to diverge into two directions. Normally he would continue without fail, and maybe even act as if he were considering his options in front of the others, but now it seemed that he was in a predicament.
As he continued staring absentmindedly forward, the elder walked next to him.
"I hope you're not leading us to our deaths, young boy." The elder said in a threatening tone.
'Mm...' Hope internally frowned.
The other annoying variable has returned.
Hope glanced at the elder's suspicious gaze, finding a hint of madness behind his eyes. This old man was getting impatient by the second.
'And desperate.'
"We are heading in the right direction." Hope raised his hand and touched the black sigil on the wall. From time to time without fail they had passed a series of these sigil that signified the right course they were on. So, there was no need to question if they had gotten lost.
Every other sigil or two Hope would touch them that seemed to others like some sort of luck or reminder.
Before Hope spoke again, someone else did.
"The young priest is right."
Everyone turned and realized one of the priests, the crazy-smiling-bastard one, spoke.
"Although the path is longer than I remembered...we are close. But if I may add." He placed a hand over his chest. "It has been many years since we've last opened it. Since anyone has last used it in fact. It might prove difficult to get through the doors."
"Then we'll go by force." The elder snapped. "But I also know that the gods can recognize their own followers once entering their sanctum, and you people obtain the Heart God's blessing, so there's no need to worry."
The elder shook his head as another thought intruded on his mind. "I must admit, these tunnels have proven capable of driving any man insane. I almost thought the War God might have built it. Ha!"
He turned to Hope.
"Don't let that young mind of yours get any ideas. If I had it my way, I would've dragged half of your body to those doors if I had-"
"But you haven't right?"
The old man paused at Hope's sudden interjection.
Hope couldn't help but think that the elder's threats were pointless. His actions were even childish. Why threaten someone if one was not going to do it at all? Or if they did, they waited too long to act on it.
"You're quite impatient." Hope nonchalantly responded.
The elder scowled. Even the Beast Tribe members bared their teeth at Hope. The knight and some other priests had their mouths gaped open at Hope's strange bluntness.
But Hope didn't care.
If one thought about it, the elder and his followers seemed to be limited with their so-called godlike power. They refused to use their powers and instead rely on their spears. That would mean that they had serious drawbacks to use them.
If spilling too much blood could serve as a problem, then what else could they threaten them with?
They were strong but had a flaw.
And there were other ways to kill without spilling blood.
Maybe it wasn't just blood that attracted the beast, but also the scent of a fresh corpse.
Hope removed his hand from black sigil on the wall and fully faced towards the elder.
"Desperate to force your way to the sacred tears?"
'Well, Tears of the Heart God but that's the same, isn't it?'
The elder looked at him with a dark expression. Finally, Hope had pricked a nerve in him. Although it wasn't too hard to do so. It was matter of timing.
"You don't know what you're talking about, young boy."
"I think I have an idea."
Suddenly without warning, the knight and a couple of the priests yelped in pain and collapsed. Their bodies were shaking and twisting as if an invisible hand were playing with doll's limbs mercilessly on the floor. The other priests unaffected by this torture cowered away, however the Beast Tribe blocked them from distancing themselves any further.
But that wasn't what surprised Hope the most.
Hope stiffened as he noticed the elder's face slowly aging...
Not by a lot, but noticeable months, a year or two, started to wear on him. A thin sheen of sickly white coated his blemished skin, and his skeletal fingers trembled at this subtle transformation. His faze, however, remained hot with anger.
The attention was squarely fixed on Hope.
Hope's eyes narrowed. 'So that's it...' The drawback that the old man had been hiding, and probably the rest of them as well in similar regard; a consequence that plagued their bodies.
That would explain how ugly they looked.
Minus the weird scars they carved onto themselves.
"You best watch that tongue of yours or should the next victims be your whole brethren-"
Krrrraaaaaaaaaaa!
At that moment, it felt like the whole world shifted.
The walls rumbled and the skulls chittered filled their ears as if shaken in fear by the ominous presence.
Everyone stumbled slightly at the quake and heard the distant roar echoing in the deep darkness behind them. Each of their faces paled like sheets of paper. Even the elder's.
Hope sighed as he stood up straight and casually wiped the dust off his priest garment.
"Ah. Time's up."
***
Hope was not someone who liked to keep promises.
Or even to put complete faith in someone.
He understood long ago that humans were fickle and powerless against the laws of the universe. Whether people deliberately betrayed one another, or they happen to cross unfortunate circumstances, one should not hold things so personal because anyone was capable of breaking a promise. That was just another way of getting oneself hurt.
Promised to see someone tomorrow? What if an accident happened? Or even be infected by the Spell?
Promised to visit another day? What if business piled up suddenly and grounded the person to their post or desk, preventing them from contacting back home of their unfortunate situation because it 'couldn't be helped?'
The primary thing was, keeping promises puts a burden on oneself without them realizing it.
There was much more freedom when one wasn't tied to a promise. At least, the most freedom one could have.
So, what if the priest that the Beast Tribe took hostage didn't do things as exactly as planned as they believed to be?
Well, Hope didn't promise the elder anything of the sort that he wouldn't pull something off.
Of course he had something up his sleep.
And it wasn't some genius thing. Just a simple tactic.
They walked for forty-five minutes.
The distance from the entrance to their destination should've taken them fifteen minutes if he followed the exact route that led them to it. The map depicted a maze with entangled routes that didn't look to be vast on paper but in person was a colossal labyrinth to walk through.
Not only that, but Hope also wiped the blood off his face from when the elder killed the priest. Although, he thought that might not be enough, so he closed his fist tight enough that he drew blood from his palm.
From time to time, he would touch and lean on the wall or black sigils so that the beast had somewhat of a lead to follow them. If it relied more on smell, then it would take it sometime around all the routes he took on.
It was a maze after all. Hope just had to make the right turns and circles as long as it went back on course.
Although, he was a little nervous when the other priest, the crazy-smiling-bastard one, admitted to the whole journey longer than he remembered. He could have exposed Hope but didn't.
Hope thought it weird to address him as that name.
'How do these priests even address each other...? They're all nameless priests so, do they yell 'hey' till they get the right person's attention?'
Never mind that thought. Although Hope would have much rather reached their destination in time, Hope couldn't help but think that his objective in this Nightmare was to prevent the Beast Tribe from reaching the sanctum. Evil was written all over their faces. He couldn't easily hand over this sacred water to them.
The elder finally drew back his power. The knights and the priests were able to move their own bodies again. The poor knight was groaning as his whole body trembled, his face lathered in sweat.
The elder really had some unforgiving power but revealed to be at a fatal price.
The elder knocked the touch out of Hope's hand and jabbed a finger on his chest.
"Where is it?!"
'Temper temper.'
"Over there." Hope answered.
The elder blinked in shock. "W- what...?"
Hope nonchalantly pointed to the next tunnel over on their left. At first, Hope was weighing the option to lead them in the opposite direction, but there wouldn't be enough time for that anymore.
The elder scowled and grabbed Hope by his collar, dragging him along down the pointed direction.
Not even twenty steps later, two large double stone doors appeared with carved runes tracing its frame. Hope noticed there were intricate curvilinear engravings etched onto its surface from top to bottom.
Now that they have reached their destination, one thing was for certain.
Hope didn't know how to open this door.
He could try the guessing game of finding a secret button, but he had the feeling it wasn't the case this time.
"Open it you fool!"
Hope didn't even bother to hide it. "To be honest, old man? I. Don't. Know. How."
"What?!"
Hope shrugged. "I didn't say I knew how to unlock the door. Just lead you to it."
The tunnels shook again, and more dust rained from above that blinded their vision.
Before the elder let out another outburst, a familiar voice responded.
"I know how." The crazy-smiling bastard coughed as he stepped forward through the dust. His mouth covered by his sleeve as he came into view.
"Then open it!"
As the priest passed him, Hope could've sworn he saw the priest smile for a moment.
Hope had a sunken feeling that he shouldn't be anywhere near the doors when it opens.
Kraaaaaaaaaarr!
Boom! Boom! BOOM!
It seemed the beast was throwing a fit as well.
The elder shoved Hope aside and walked a step behind the other priest who raised both arms and touched the engravings on the door. Something started to glow and illuminate from both his palms. An ethereal light.
'Is that soul essence...?' Hope thought as he watched the priest.
He had only seen soul essence used on the battlefield but in instances. Now he was watching someone put their time and effort into opening a door. Which may not sound as amazing as with using a weapon but still quite a sight to see.
Hope shook his head and glanced back where the knight still laid. Even a couple of the other priests who were affected by the torture still struggled to recover.
Hope hesitated, but then decided it would be beast to have a good defense, or offense, by his side. Anything useful for his own survival.
He turned and knelt next to the knight who was still curled on the floor in pain.
"Hey." Hope carefully grabbed his shoulders. "Get up." He helped the knight sit up against the wall.
The knight winced and struggled to even respond. He even appeared to lose consciousness at any second.
He was too weak to fight at all.
'Ah my odds are low.'
Hope paused.
"Wait...' He frowned at that thought.
Hope turned to looked back at the priest's progress and noticed the engravings on the doors were starting to be filled with light. Slowly, the doors were drinking up the luminosity from bottom to top.
The tunnels shook again, and chunks of dirt broke off the ceiling and walls. Hope hovered over the knight to block from any that fell on above.
Krrrssssshh...
Finally, the doors began to open. A yawning escaped through those doors as it opened to a room of pitch darkness.
A darkness that could be felt...
Hope also recognized the sound of the faint screams and the suspicious aura emanating from it.
'Is the Beast Tribe that damn desperate to even go through that?'
But there was no time to raise questions or have second thoughts anymore. It was either stepping into the black jaws of death or be mauled by the beast behind them.
Neither choice seemed fair.