"Mmm... where am I?!"
Atlas woke up confused and did not know precisely how much time had passed, but when he found himself in front of the same rocky door, he felt relieved despite a weak body devoid of even an out of Chaos Energy.
"Bloody hell... I could have died..."
Atlas tried to move his body. In particular, he wanted to lift his forehead from that gelid stony door. Still, even the slightest movements caused him excruciating pain.
"Man, I was one step away from death, but my hand is still bound to that damn crystal."
Indeed, the bond between the palm and the crystal was still there even though the energy exchange had ceased, and his arm couldn't move even a bit.
Finding himself in that somewhat precarious situation, Atlas swallowed another of his portentous Regenerating Potions and calmly waited for some energy to return to his Chaotical Core.
It took him a couple of minutes to regain enough energy to sustain his body. Nonetheless, he could eventually lift his head and observe the precious ruby attached to his palm.
"What is this damned thing??"
Atlas moved his hand up and down and even rotated it. However, the crystal stood there attached to his skin as if it were another part of his body.
Left with no other choices, Atlas took out a small dagger from his space artifact. It was a drastic measure, yet he couldn't walk around with that glowing thing on his palm.
"Screw you!!" He took a deep breath, ready to slice a layer of his skin from the palm, yet before he could even approach it, the object began to shine even more intensely.
"What the hell is going on?"
Worried by the strange event, the young man moved the dagger closer, but the ruby glowed like a brilliant star, and soon, an intense burning sensation assaulted his skin.
An excruciating pain assailed his body, but the strange process had just begun, and nothing could stop it.
Within seconds, the ruby had become so hot that the skin and, later, the flesh of his hand began to dissolve.
The pain was indescribable, but Atlas could do nothing but scream.
Fortunately, that nightmare lasted only a few seconds, and after that brief but violent moment, Atlas felt nothing but a pleasant warmth coming from his palm.
Not only had the pain ceased, but the bond that bound him to the socket had vanished, finally allowing him to move his arm freely.
Everything seemed concluded, but the strangeness didn't end there. Indeed, the crystal had disappeared, leaving the socket empty and a strange symbol on the palm of his left hand.
A completely different symbol from the one on his right hand, depicting a beautiful emerald-colored four-leaf clover.
"What a strange symbol... it looks like a Chaos Rune."
Atlas felt the outermost part of the stigma with his index finger, composed of three slightly deformed rings intertwined.
"At first glance, it looks like crystalline material, but it has an inconceivable softness to the touch."
While the young man was engrossed in savoring that pleasant sensation, a voice he had not heard in a long time left him bewildered.
"Atlas... you found it sooner than I had anticipated... good job."
"Nihilir... did you want me to find this thing? What is it?" Atlas shouted his name out loud but received no response from the him.
The situation irritated him to no small degree. After all, he wanted to know more about that strange stigma but couldn't surely force him to give him the answers he was looking for.
The young man resigned himself and resumed observing the stigma.
"Nihilir said that I would have found the answer and revealed secrets useful for both of us, but... where should I find those answers?"
Atlas ran his index finger past those three rings and made contact with a strange symbol.
"Hmm... Really incomprehensible..."
That symbol was very peculiar. In the upper part, there was a mark with a shape very similar to three black petals. Instead, the lower part was occupied by a garish red ruby.
"What should I do?"
Nihilir wasn't giving him any tips about the stigma, and he had nothing that could help him find those answers alone. So, instead of wasting time in that long tunnel, he decided to resume his journey toward the surface.
However, the path ahead was still blocked by that impenetrable wall.
"So... How the hell do I get out of this place... Hmm..."
The young man's mind returned to reality, and he began to process every detail before him, looking for even the slightest clue.
But besides the rocky door, there was nothing else... Clearly, there was nothing else beyond the strange stigma on his hand.
"...Hmm... Maybe... I can get out if..."
Atlas stretched his hand forward, and surprisingly, when the stigma rested on the door's surface, a strange sound echoed in the long tunnel.
Suddenly, the precious golden seals on the door began to glow intensely. Then, the stone split into two identical parts in a few moments, at first shiny and blemish-free.
Strange sounds followed, but Atlas did not flinch and carefully observed the event before him.
The now split door moved slowly in two different directions, opening a gap right in the middle.
"Finally..." Atlas rejoiced but didn't relax too much and instead gripped his faithful companion firmly in his hands.
The noises ceased, and a strange, almost eerie silence followed.
Beyond the opening, nothing could be seen, for the light stopped right at the edge of that gap.
The young man tried to sense if there was anything beyond. Even the slightest noise would calm him, but nothing... there was only silence.
"Hmm... It doesn't inspire me much confidence... But I can't stay here..."
Finally, the first foot moved forward, but as the toe crossed the two worlds and entered that darkness, a strange force pulled the adventurer's slender body into the unknown.
"Shit!"
Taken aback, Atlas tried to arrest his body by resting his hands between the edges of the gap, but his actions worsened the situation because that force found two more holds and began to pull with more vigor.