After a long, relaxing bath and a lot of scrubbing, Atomu turned to the last words on the note, again.

He began blindly stepping through the halls, passing various statues in beige hallways and big windows that let the moonlight in instead. His feet either followed checkered floorboards and big, marble arches or massive red carpets, each pane separated by a lamp above or a painting.

Finally, though, some sound came from behind.

"Haa!" someone rapidly breathed out, rhythmically, with pitter-patters on the same carpet Atomu just trod. "Atomu!" Chyuuichi let out a strange screech before finally catching up with the Paladian.

"Chyuuichi, do you know where- CHYUUICHI!" Atomu screamed out, and what followed was the sound of a strangely metallic clasp that echoed through the hallways. Both found themselves on the floor.

Atomu's back hit the carpet harshly, but Chyuuichi softly landed like a feather on the side. The Mirillian kept hyperventilating, and the Paladian rubbed his aching forehead.

"What was that about?" Atomu asked, sitting up.

"I got lost!" Chyuuichi yelled out.

"Do you think running at me at full speed would've solved your problems?" Atomu asked, blinking a few times.

Chyuuichi put a finger next to his lips.

Atomu stared at him for a few seconds, shaking his head. He couldn't be mad. Some accidents alongside Chyuuichi turned into actual pathways, after all.

"I'm lost as well," Atomu uttered.

"Oh smokes!" Chyuuichi raised his voice.

The two stood up, fixing their clothes. Both bore pretty much the same Gorro outfit as earlier, light linen shirts (red and blue), and loose pants, but there were a few differences as well. The Mirillian's garment was more of a button-up and Atomu wore bigger boots. Chyuuichi hastily wrapped a scarf around his neck, and the other remained sad and scarfless. Either way, they looked pretty similar and despite it all, found themselves in the same situation.

"Okay." The Paladian uttered. "How long have you been treading the hallways?"

"It was still bright outside."

"S-Seriously?"

"No, I'm just kidding."

Atomu seeped in the air through his teeth. "Even if, I'm assuming you took longer than I did."

"I dunno." Chyuuichi shook his head.

"Is there anything in this castle that would suggest an obvious pathway to the KING'S-" he accented the word severely. "Chamber." he smiled, nervously.

Chyuuichi blinked. "The King's?"

Atomu turned to the side, calming down. It took him a few seconds to find a solution to a problem that Chyuuichi had no way of solving. His hand landed inside his bag. Searching through, pushing all the other items to the side, he finally found the vial given to him in Orania. "I should've thought about this earlier."

The hallways quickly lit up with thousands, perhaps millions of strange markings.

Chyuuichi blinked a few times and Atomu gulped, turning to a few that shone brighter than the others. He bit his lip, ever so lightly and trod the path that stuck out amongst all the other stories this castle could've told.

After all, he always heard some in witchtales. Saphrith was, probably, the most important city in all of the Mainland. Oldenklow existed ever since Paladians and Erans became a thing, and some stories might've remained unchanged. There were words, drawings, names, surnames, everything. Battles that were probably fought, inexistent splatters of blood and something resembling a very mean depiction of one of the late rulers.

That one could've been seen without the vial, but you'd have to push over a bookshelf.

Eventually, the red carpets grew in intensity, and after a few more corridors, the two found an ajar door at the end of the hallway. Atomu glanced at Chyuuichi, Chyuuichi peaked inside, with the Paladian dragging him back outside.

"What are you doing?!" Atomu whispered.

"He's sleeping," Chyuuichi admitted.

"Y-Yes, I can hear his snores," Atomu stated. "But that doesn't mean-"

A yawn was heard. Some of it echoed outside, and Atomu put a hand over his mouth.

"Is..." another yawn. "s-someone there?"

"Me!" Chyuuichi raised his hand.

Atomu breathed out. Soon after, shuffles and whatnot sounded, before the door flung open, with the mentioned King standing proudly in the middle.

Back then, he wore rather bleak white robes, but this time he had these big sheets which adorned parts of his body. Either way, he continued to look as kind as before, and further evidence of that could be found in his welcoming smile.

Atomu stuffed the vial back into his bag and Chyuuichi beamed further.

"Atomu Turon and Chyuuichi Gamma." The King uttered their names, hastily stepping back, revealing the unlit chamber behind.

Atomu gulped, before quickly bowing and grinding his teeth. Chyuuichi waved, and Sebastian waved back.

"Do come in, please. I figure some things are better heard between us three instead of echoing in these halls."

Atomu opened one eye, and quickly, Chyuuichi dragged him into the room. The door was shut, and Sebastian rushed to at least add a few more lights. He slid two chairs from the sides of his bed and placed them near the one he'd be taking.

"I t-thought there would be a throne," Atomu said.

"Don't be ridiculous. If I even had a throne-" he chuckled. "I wouldn't make the two of you stand before it, even if it meant breaking a few rules."

Atomu opened his mouth slightly. He took the seat and glimpsed at Chyuuichi who stared in awe at everything the chamber was made of. Specifically, he focused on the few drawings stuck with pins to the brick wall, which with time and their intensity, grew more detailed and scarce.

"Did you draw these, King?" Chyuuichi asked, pointing.

The King sat down as well, hands on both knees before turning to where the Mirillian pointed. "Ah, no. Those were my children's. They're all grown anyway, so I don't have much of them coming nowadays."

"Ya have kids?" Chyuuichi blinked a couple of times.

"You..." Sebastian squinted his eyes. "You don't seem too informed."

"No one ever told me! Blame him!" he pointed to Atomu, with raised eyebrows, who kept eyeing the ground. "Yer the Paladian here! Why didn't ya ever say a darn tootin' thing?" he asked, turning to him. "Atomu?"

Atomu breathed in through his nose, rubbing its bridge.

"Atomu?" the king uttered, and it seemed as if that simple word held more power than anyone could've ever imagined.

It's been months since someone said his name since anyone ever kindly addressed him. It's been seasons since someone has shown him any speck of forgiveness.

Now, sitting in front of the King of arguably the most important town in Errarion and being treated like the human Atomu wished to be made him clench his fist.

It wasn't an angered fist, or one determined to fight back, but a fist trying to hold back something from pouring in.

Tears soon dropped on the carpets below, and even if Atomu tried to cup them with the palm of his hand, it was too shaky.

He breathed in, head slowly moving up and facing the King's calm expression. At first, Sebastian was shocked, but as it did back then, his face eased into a rather reasonable smile.

"Thank you..." he uttered. "Thank you s-so much." he shook his head, furrowing his eyebrows.

Hands went over his head, but nothing would stop the influx of emotions. It's been too long since he felt more than pain. Chyuuichi beamed as well, his eyes relaxed and confident. His friend was back, and everything seemed to be going in the right direction.

Maybe through all the pain and suffering, there was a prize waiting at the end.

The King put a hand on his shoulder.

***

With little time left on the clock, although it was only Koyote that carried a pocket watch, the Morians, except for arguing about who rides which yundul, set out towards their next goal.

Which was reaching the Windsdale port with a ship that would set out towards Lignoria, and especially in the directions of one of the rivers that swam through the town of Saphrith. Koyote had her ways of knowing about certain hours, events and whatnot. After all, a phoenix always flew somewhere out of her view, before returning when the others weren't looking.

Analyzing Harabara's layout, you could see that most of the country wasn't bordering anything other than some of the steppes in Malikan.

Everything that surrounded the region was made out of downhills leading into the ocean or mountaintops where you could see most of your surroundings clearly, especially at this time of year. Gorro was the foggiest season, and sandstorms were very common, but in contrast, the first days of Herbes were rather calm and uneventful.

It seemed like the perfect opportunity to strike, so moving back to those ports, there was realistically only one option that could promise a quick arrival in Saphrith. Two, actually, but Koyote's route meant taking a small detour towards one of the villages.

The Morians crossed a land with similar terrain to the barren port they arrived in, consisting of orange and beige rock formations with sandy roads. There were small patches of dry grass leading to a bigger landscape.

Although at first glance this place wasn't anything special, it had a name for a reason. The Mundam Terrain had these hidden entrances to caves below the formations or the small inside hollows of such, although they couldn't be spotted without a well-trained eye that'd search for small hints.

They blended in easily with the terrain simply because they were covered with this strange material that resembled a big blanket that bore the same colours as the surroundings. You could probably argue that the thing which separated the caves in Mirillis and below Morta with an open passage was the same, but alas, this only existed naturally in Harabara, and in great density.

Mundam was the surname of a big family of Harans who sought refuge by running away from their nearby village after it was attacked by Beastmen. The head of the family knew the area much better than anyone else, and through using the blankets to his best advantage, managed to outsmart the oppressors. Surprisingly, unlike most stories that grant name in a region, this one only happened a few years back, when Koyote was about seven or eight.

She recalled her mother scratching the name in one of the local maps and now wished to have it in her hand instead of a hunch. The rest of the terrain was more open than the zigzaggy roads squeezed between big rocks that buried dry grass or formations in square-like patterns. The landscape of the nearby mountains could be seen, and at first, it didn't seem to stand out.

When the formations ended, Koyote stood in front of three roads.

Genni breathed in and out. "Can we get a break? The heat's killing me!"

"You call yourself a Haran?" Koyote turned. "Even the Morians from Shimori aren't complaining as much."

It wasn't that they didn't experience the same symptoms, but Morio and Jyuzou only kept quiet because speaking would burn their tongues. Harabara was much hotter than Galliath, but some were so used to it that the heat was practically non-existent.

Ingo breathed in through his nose. "Weak, Genni."

Genni made a strange noise.

"We have three paths to choose from." Koyote stuffed the watch back in its pocket and turned to the others. "We can either take the one through the mountains or detour around the desert before climbing up Florentine's Stairs."

"What about the third path?" Jyuzou fixed his glasses.

"The third path leads to the nearby Mask Village surrounded by even more formations. That'd be a waste of time." Koyote shook her head.

"I'm hungry, though," Morio muttered, very quietly.

"You have all the food in your backpack," Jyuzou uttered.

Morio turned to the side, rubbing some of the bamboos away from the corner of his lips. He had already eaten everything he had.

"The desert road is guaranteed to take us seven to eight..." she squinted her eyes at the Morians. "Ten hours."

Ingo tilted his head, furrowing one eyebrow.

"...and the mountain path is pretty much the same, but I'm not sure how well you can handle narrow pathways or navigate through the greener terrain." she shook her head. "Then again, it's a very straightforward thoroughfare. The desert is open and eventually leads towards twists and turns that I can already imagine one of you accidentally taking."

"The village still seems like a great idea." Morio proposed.

Koyote blinked a few times, before turning around. "Mountains it is."

The entire part was simply dubbed The Florentine Range, named after... nothing in particular. Many who came to villages through the mountains jokingly referred to the area as "Oh, Florentine almost broke my leg!" to cue a few laughs and giggles. Stories eventually passed and Florentine turned out to be a real thing.

Now imagine if the mountain was conscious and hearing everything said about her. I'd be sad in her place, but fortunately, that wasn't the case. You couldn't say the same thing about its nature or wildlife, since its side is called Florentine's Zoo for a specific reason.

Unlike the other stretches that would drag uphill and whatnot, after following a path up near a river and through some conifers and flat terrain, soon, the massive arch and canyon inside formed in between the surroundings with white formation tops in the distance, and some of the flatter mountain terrain still covered in those conifers revealed a gigantic stretch of warm, green grass, with pathways, as well as a river.

Most of the trees which composed this terrain weren't conifers and some varied, moving into oaks, willows, birches and even the infamous acacias. Jyuzou wanted to investigate further, be it, simple plants or animals exclusive to Harabara.

Apart from a few lizards around rocks, tortoises around ponds and rivers, a crocodile that Koyote was strangely afraid of and everyone else begged Jyuzou to stop trying to write down things that were risky for everyone around. A few storks, secretary birds, or ostriches could be seen in the distance. As he neared an acacia, Jyuzou spotted a pair of eyes staring back at him.

"Isn't that a lenos?" Jyuzou was awe-struck, mouth wide open and pen in hand, the other busy with his journal. He observed the lemur-like animal, who wagged its tail and intensely eyed the Morian. "What are you carrying?"

"You might wanna watch out!" Genni raised her voice.

Ingo furrowed his eyebrows. "Is he stupid?"

"Lenos' aren't known to be particularly friendly, especially around these parts." Koyote rubbed her hands together.

"Come here, little buddy! Let me see that-"

Suddenly, something momentarily snatched Jyuzou's body and pulled him up into the leaves. Koyote shook her head. The lenos swiftly ran away, hissing and carrying a big orange fruit that it bit into later on.

Jyuzou was stuck in the middle of a few branches. Somehow.

"Nahi," Morio muttered, eyeing the fruit, while the others struggled to take branches and twigs out of places where branches and twigs shouldn't be in.