Giovanni's last memory was of a familiar silhouette approaching, a warm smile upon her face.
After that, only darkness enveloped his recollections, like a heavy fog. The pain radiating from his soul was so overwhelming that fainting became the only escape his body could find to free itself from the suffering.
When he finally came to, everything burned.
The first experience had been horrifying, but the second surpassed it in intensity. His soul stood on the brink of collapse, and honestly, if he did not desperately need to return home, he would have gladly finished the job himself.
'Enough complaining…'
His awareness returned little by little, realizing where he was: a rustic cabin, raised upon wooden logs and braided fibers tied into ropes.
The work seemed to have been completed recently, yet it already stood as a respectable shelter.
On the ground, Shelly and Eric slept deeply, while Giovanni rested atop a mattress of leaves. He appreciated the preferential treatment.
The pain returned like needles piercing his bones and tearing through his flesh. He would have screamed in anguish if he had any strength left to waste.
Breathing, too, was difficult at the moment.
"Zzz…"
Above his chest, Sofia lay sprawled, snoring softly as she drooled onto his tunic.
It would have been a cute image if he were half a meter taller and more muscular.
He was not.
Aside from being the same size, she was heavy! Were they trying to kill him in his sleep?
'I don't deserve this…' Even as he grumbled, he made no effort to move her away.
The young woman was pale, drained of her strength, just like Giovanni, though to a lesser extent.
Unconsciously, her emotions and sensations leaked unfiltered into her partner's mind.
In return, the amount of information invading his senses was infinitely smaller, making the experience bearable.
Over the days that followed, he adapted to this new way of living.
At first, the two of them tried to shut down the newly forged connection entirely, which was possible up to a point.
The problem lay in the constant stress and focus required to interrupt the flow. After the first few hours, it became nearly impossible not to give in.
So, little by little, they exposed themselves more to one another. First, they allowed emotions to flow; then, thoughts.
It was somewhat humiliating for both.
People naturally filter themselves before communicating with one another.
Social norms. Etiquette. Dignity.
Losing all of that at once felt like being stripped naked.
But once the embarrassment faded and the new routine settled in,
It was strangely liberating.
There were no misunderstandings, no need to read between the lines or decode hidden meanings in an effort to appear as the most perfect version of oneself.
His friend was a complete mess behind the façade of an exemplary and dedicated student.
She always thought she looked ugly, no matter how well put together she was, and constantly sought validation from others.
Her stomach seemed to have a life of its own, considering how many times a day she thought about sweets and snacks, especially chocolate and popcorn.
No matter how long the deadline of an obligation might be, she always found a way to procrastinate until the very last second, forced to rush through everything as if her life depended on it.
And, apparently hidden from her parents, what she enjoyed most in the dead of night were horror films, cheesy romances, or simply pornographic ones.
These flaws should have tarnished the image the boy had of her, but instead only made her more charming in his eyes.
They made her more…
Before he could finish the thought, he seemed to awaken from his reverie.
What was happening to him?
His heart beat faster.
His cheeks flushed with ease.
His body grew warm just from thinking about the girl.
'Am I… in love?'
The realization struck like a shock. Having grown up surrounded only by siblings and women he treated like mothers, he had had very little interaction with his peers.
He had never felt anything like this.
And Margaret was not there to give any wise advice.
'Bad, bad, bad! I'm on a life-or-death journey, I shouldn't have time for this…'
Giovanni covered his face with his hands, feeling his head burn with embarrassment. Was it not enough to face hundreds of aberrations day after day? Now he would have to deal with his first love, too?
It couldn't be.
It was not even something he could hide and postpone. Sofia would certainly know soon enough. He did not trust his own ability not to think about it every second he was by her side.
And there was still the elephant in the room: the power imbalance created by his innate ability.
'What am I supposed to do with you…?' Giovanni stared at Sofia's defenseless face for a few moments.
For now… he could only leave that problem for later. Let his future self suffer the consequences!
Having recovered enough strength to move, the young man carefully shifted Sofia off of him, laying her down atop the mattress.
'Now… let's see where that idiot is.'
Even on the verge of collapse, Giovanni would never mistake such an infuriatingly beautiful dude.
Aguiar had saved him, and it was more than time to meet him face to face.
Outside, a muffled song echoed.
***
The cabin door opened to a strange world.
Bathed in the red light of the floating castle, the vegetation surrounding the waterfalls should have been as fearsome and monstrous as the other deadly biomes they had encountered in the past.
But what Giovanni found outside… was music.
His entire body tensed, ready for combat.
After so many days haunted by the corruptive song of the abyss, anything musical left his nerves on edge.
Yet there was something different about that melody. So many voices, so many emotions and intentions, merging into an improvised choir.
The flowers, the soil, the trees, everything seemed alive, expressing their feelings not through words, but through sound.
The woods growing unchecked around the waterfalls were strange, to say the least. Everything seemed to carry a rosy palette and an unusually high number of preserved structures.
Roads consumed by overgrowth, small pillars that once housed candles or other forms of illumination, and partially demolished sculptures, all blended into the landscape.
And the scent… how could he not recognize it?
It was the same aroma from his memory.
Present everywhere, in countless variations, nature was perfumed, each component bearing a strong, distinctive scent, always delicate and feminine.
Beneath one of the largest statues, depicting a magnificent mermaid seated seductively atop a rock, runes carved into the ground read:
"Enchanting Eternal Symphony, upon your devotee now play,
Seduce the world with velvet notes, and chase the dark away."
So that was her title.
Giovanni had seen the artwork on the ceiling of the highest room of the manor and, ever since, had kept a quiet curiosity about their identity in the back of his mind.
'I can't hear the abyss's song here…' Could it be that the remnants of the mermaid's power were capable of countering the melody?
If they had arrived a little earlier, the two of them might have—
His expression hardened, bitter at the mere possibility.
'The light. I need to follow the light.'
Closing his eyes allowed him to glimpse the golden glow once more. Instead of resting somewhere on the horizon, it now seemed to reside deep within the earth, like a hidden treasure.
What they had come to seek lay beneath the waterfalls.
His seismic sense was utterly incapable of penetrating very deep into the ground, subject to interference from subsoil material.
In other words, forcing a path open would not be an option.
'Great. I need to find a way into the depths of this cursed land.' Giovanni took a deep breath, unwilling to waste energy complaining.
Besides, there was something he had been ignoring until now that demanded his attention.
"I can see you there… You know?" He turned his gaze toward one of the wide trees not far from the cabin entrance.
Aguiar had been hidden among the foliage until then, waiting for the boy to approach close enough to reveal himself dramatically.
Giovanni made a point of scanning every inch of the surroundings, except for the area around the tree.
"Hah! I would expect nothing less from my rival! Sharper than your sword is only your sight, my dear." A muscular, seductive young man slid down a vine and landed heroically upon the ground.
Dust exploded from the impact zone, and along with it, water burst forth from the earth in a myriad of fountains, save for a single jet that aimed directly at Giovanni's face.
Wiping his soaked face, his features, worn down by constant pain, could not form a serene smile.
"I… don't have a sword," he replied, too exhausted to process his friend's delusions.
Aguiar flashed a malicious grin, stifling a laugh.
"Is this the enthusiasm with which you greet me? Where is your spirit and gratitude? Carrying all of you up here cost me time and many manly drops of sweat!" Approaching with arms wide open, the muscular youth hugged Giovanni as if he were a rag doll.
His bones protested, as though they might shatter for a moment.
"Tha…nk… you," Giovanni murmured as the air was forced from his lungs. Once finally released from the deadly grip, he took a deep breath, exhausted.
"Seriously… we would have been doomed without your help. But if you'll allow me to ask… how are you alive?" He did not doubt his companion's strength, but raw power alone was not enough to survive there.
Eric was living proof of that.
Aguiar's enthusiasm dimmed, if only slightly.
His ocean-blue eyes surveyed the rosy environment. Among the many flowers, he gently plucked the one with the largest petals.
"I was summoned far from here, my dear. Alongside me, brave souls raised their swords and shields, driven by a shared desire. So many sleepers fighting valiantly to cross unexplored lands… it was a sight to die for!"
So others had been sent there as well. The revelation filled Giovanni with hope at the prospect of more allies.
Aguiar tore off one of the petals without ceremony.
"Dead. All of them." His words carried no trace of pity or mourning.
"Not through days of grueling battles, not through power struggles, nor extreme terrain… we were invincible. Twenty warriors were marching through this submerged kingdom."
A second petal was ripped away, with more force.
"Until we encountered the pale fields. Did you come across silk during your travels, Giovanni? A beautiful, dignified material. But even I know when something becomes excessive, and by the spell… every blade of grass and grain of wheat had become fabric."
That description… was familiar. Both Sofia and Giovanni had seen a pale region within the crater, but distance had prevented them from identifying the cause.
Knowing the reason did not make the reality any less terrifying.
An entire biome transformed down to its last fragment.
"We cut a path through, executing the region's creatures like insignificant flies. New memories, Echos, morale at its peak! All of it until we found her."
The third petal was cruelly torn away. Giovanni could feel the growing rancor in his companion's voice.
"Inside a lonely farmstead, which we dared to turn into our base of operations, a gigantic and fearsome witch awaited us. Covered from head to toe in veils of silk, she hid four doll-like arms and a masked face that mimicked a smiling old woman."
That description… no, it had to be impossible. Giovanni's eyes widened, incredulous at the mere possibility of it being real.
Flashes of the moment he first glimpsed the obsidian figurine at the edge of the precipice.
Memories of the day he crossed the colossal arch guarding the entrance to the ruins, where pale statues of the mythical figure stood silently, incomplete.
"When the wells of darkness hidden behind the mask stared at my group, I felt the calamity looming. Every movement was the final breath of one of my companions. Needles turned into lethal weapons, and threads acting as invisible assassins."
Giovanni felt his hand tremble. He imagined each of his acquaintances being reduced to scraps of flesh, one after another, with no chance of salvation.
The second-to-last petal was torn away, dragging a piece of the flower's core with it.
"We weren't even given the chance to shout that we had the numerical advantage, because alongside the witch, a horde of translucent beings in countless forms drowned our defenses in a bath of blood. The few lucky ones who escaped ran in different directions, abandoning any trace of unity."
The final petal was crushed along with the rest of the flower, ground beneath Aguiar's strength.
"And I, the luckiest among them, escaped to this blessed place before the abyss sang for the first time. I fear the other survivors of the expedition have already become those viscous aberrations by now."
Aguiar brushed his palm clean with a few light taps and approached Giovanni once more, lifting his chin.
"And that is how the expedition of our dear academy came to an end, Giovanni… and also the story of how I survived."
In his eyes lingered a poisonous sentiment.
A desire for vengeance that would not fade, no matter how much time passed.
"Now it's your turn to tell me a story, rival. I will gladly listen to every detail."