"Michelle!" Cold Flame flew happily around Michelle when he saw her wake up. "Why were you asleep for so long?" he whined like a little child as he landed on Michelle's shoulder when she sat up. He was much heavier and bigger than when Michelle had last seen him.
Michelle stretched her neck a bit and smiled. "How long was I asleep, Flamie?" she asked with a smile.
But the answer made her smile freeze. "Over a week, Michelle! You were asleep for over a week!" Cold Flame pecked her head angrily, but he was careful not to peck too hard, so he wouldn't hurt her.
"A week?!" Michelle was shocked. "That long?! I thought I was in the spirit domain for a day at most!"
Cold Flame shook his head. "No, Michelle! It wasn't a day!" He flew off her shoulder and landed next to the black scythe on the ground. "Michelle, is this the weapon you are the most proficient with?" he asked, pecking the blade with his scythe.
"Yeah..." Michelle nodded a bit as she stood up and picked up the scythe. The moment she touched it, she felt the perfect peace which let her bring her concentration to its peak.
For a while, Cold Flame stared at the gleaming sharp blade of the scythe, before remembering something. "Michelle, I felt that you made a contract with two things. One is the book here," he flew over to the book and lifted it with his claws. "But what's the other?" he asked curiously.
Before Michelle could answer, she felt the black mist move within her. "Of course, it's me!" Michelle felt a strange sensation in her chest as the black mist left her body and floated next to her.
Having the memories of his ancestors, Cold Flame recognized what the black mist was. "Wailing Mist?! How did you end up in the lower realm?" Cold Flame took on a defensive stance.
When Cold Flame's words fell, Michelle raised a brow. "Wailing Mist? What's that?" she asked as she glanced at the black mist.
"It's an ancient evil thing, Michelle!" Cold Flame shouted, flying between Michelle and the black mist to protect her.
"Calm down, young Vermilion Bird!" the huge monster's voice boomed in the cave as it opened its silver eyes. "The Wailing Mist is indeed an ancient evil, but first, it's not a thing, and second, it's already bound by a contract with your master, so it can never harm her," the monster spoke calmly.
But Cold Flame was still worried. "What if it breaks free from the contract and harms Michelle?"
"Don't worry..." the huge monster stood up and walked over to the cage bars. "The book your master made a contract with was originally used to seal away the wailing mist, so if it tries to break free from the contract, the sealing book will pull it back in."
Hearing that, Cold Flame was finally relieved, but he still glared at the Wailing Mist. "What's your name?" his voice was basically an angry screech.
The Wailing Mist rolled and flowed around in itself as it thought about its name. "I'm Nyxaroth..." it said lazily with its creepy raspy voice. It was clearly used to being scorned, so it didn't mind Cold Flame's glaring.
Michelle walked over to the sealing book and put it in her sleeve, before looking at Nyxaroth. "Nyxaroth, what does it mean that you are a Wailing Mist? What can you do?" she asked.
"Well..." Nyxaroth stopped flowing and bubbling in itself and returned into Michelle's body. "Unlike all other creatures which can be contracted, I can stay in the body of my contracted master, while they can only stay in a contract space. So I can check the state of your body and instantly notice if something is wrong with you. I possess dark spirit energy, so my contracted master gets it too. I can blend in with and control shadows, take on an untouchable state or solidify, to some extent, I can possess others and I can perfectly manipulate those weaker than me. Right now, I'm stronger than your Vermilion Bird, but when it matures, it will get stronger, and I'll be somehow weaker than it."
Listening to that, Michelle raised a brow. "Compared to the people from the middle realm, how strong are you?" she asked as she took her scythe and slashed it forward, testing its weight and grip. It was just ideal for the way she fought with it the few times she used it in her past life.
"I can easily take on an army of the average, or one of the stronger at a time," Nyxaroth answered proudly.
"What about the leader of the strongest powerhouse?" Michelle asked.
Nyxaroth went silent for a moment. "I will come out alive, but he wouldn't die," he concluded after thinking about it.
Hearing that, Michelle smiled. "So if I send you to spy on him for a while?"
"Spying is easy! Consider it done!" Nyxaroth bubbled proudly in Michelle's body.
That made Michelle happy as that meant that she didn't need to send Snow and Mare alone into the middle realm. She trusted them, but she was still worried that something would happen to them.
With one worry off her mind, Michelle could turn her attention towards the huge monster. "Senior, can I have a question?" she asked.
"What is it?" the monster asked as it leaned against the cage.
"Twenty years ago, the spirit energy in the whole Land of Exile turned erratic and any cultivator who came down here died. It lasted like that for five years before the erratic spirit energy retreated into this cave. Senior, do you know why that happened?" Michelle asked, wanting to solve the mystery that was keeping the Archduke in the lower realm.
The monster stared with its huge silver eyes at Michelle and laid down, resting its head next to her. Just the head was so big that Michelle had to lift her head to look into its eyes. "Twenty years ago, the runes were added to the walls by a strange creature. They carried nasty energy and were constantly weakening me. Some time later, it might have been five years like you said, the creature appeared again and threw the sealing book with the Wailing Mist on the table. I don't know what was happening outside since I was locked away in here." The monster's voice was placid and resigned as it spoke.
Michelle stared at the monster for a long while before asking again: "Senior, how long are you here? And why were you locked away?"
When Michelle's words fell, the monster sighed. "How long..." The warm breath flaring out of its nostrils made Michelle's skin turn a bit red from how hot it was for her. Cold Flame flew a bit further, so the breath wouldn't hit him. "I don't remember... But I was still young when the creature locked me in here. It was a strange creature. It looked like a human, but the aura it carried was that of a monster that was already considered ancient when I was born." The monster sighed again. "As for why I was locked here... The creature once told me something strange when it came here..."
Michelle raised a brow. "The creature comes here?"
"Yes... Once in a while, it comes here and just stares at me." The monster puffed a warm breath out of its jaws, forcing Michelle to step back, her skin flashing red from the warmth. "But, since putting the sealing book here, it didn't come again. It left me alone with the book in here. And the last time, it said something strange."
"What did it say?" Michelle felt restless by the mention of the creature. "It said that its plan succeeded... It also said that I'll soon have a visitor, and that I should give them the sealing book. But for years, no one came. I heard someone trying to enter many times, but they never reached more than a third of the cave. Last time, I tried to help the person by blowing my spirit energy on the nasty runes, but the person got worried and left. You are the first living being I've seen since the creature left the last time. Maybe, the visitor it mentioned was you... Or maybe someone completely different..." the monster suddenly coughed, surprising Michelle.
She rushed to the monster's side and ran her hands through the fur on its neck, trying to feel for pulse. "Are you sick?" She couldn't reach the pulse point so she could only try to feel the pulse elsewhere on the monster's neck. But she didn't even know if she would find out anything since monsters had different pulses than humans.
"Don't worry about that..." the monster sighed. "My cultivation's stuck, so I'm dying..." it said lazily.
Hearing that, Michelle frowned. She could clearly see that the monster clearly viewed death to be better than the loneliness it went through because of being locked up in the cave. She couldn't understand why the creature would lock up a beautiful monster like the one in front of her. Even as it was near its dying hour, the monster's purple fur remained soft and fluffy, and the silver stone on its head gently shimmered in the dark.