Immersed in the rosy ambiance, two young men spoke calmly in a clearing near the cabin.
Pain and stress were soon drowned by the perfume of nature, leaving behind only a quiet fatigue.
From his arrival at the crater's edge, the reunion with Sofia, and the desperate expedition toward the waterfalls, Giovanni had recounted his adventures to Aguiar, who enjoyed questioning even the smallest details, which proved exhausting for the delicate boy.
They had been in the Dream Realm for, at most, two weeks, and had already faced more battles and life-or-death situations than some youths would experience in an entire lifetime.
That was not the kind of achievement he wanted on his résumé.
"I really missed all the fun... tragic." Aguiar leaned against a tree trunk, hands resting behind his head for comfort. "But a man does not live on bad news alone; you found a manor! Ha, I can't wait to rest in a real bed."
Even after spending so much time building his humble cabin, he would trade it without a second thought for a spacious, luxurious room. No one deserved to sleep on leaves all night.
"I also want to go back as soon as possible... I'm at my limit." Giovanni agreed, sitting a few meters away.
He did not trust himself to be capable of taking down a single Awakened creature in his current state.
But they could not leave before finding a solution to the abyssal song. Otherwise, Aguiar would become its next victim.
Gathering blades of grass into a small ball, Giovanni tossed the sphere at his friend's forehead as a light provocation.
The muscular young man felt something poke his head and opened a mocking smile.
"You've been living here for a few days. Do you know if there's any path, tunnel, or passage to the underground?" Giovanni asked, pretending nothing had happened.
His last hope awaited him below, so there was no other option but to descend.
Aguiar stroked his chin thoughtfully. He had seen many structures and paths, but none that resembled a bottomless hole they could slide down like a waterslide into the depths.
"No, not even close. But... don't despair yet. I do have a promising candidate for that passage."
Giovanni adjusted himself on the grass, listening attentively.
"There's a large cracked gate at the highest point of these trails. It's breathtaking, but opening it is impossible! I tried for a few hours before focusing on more... productive tasks." Aguiar ripped a generous clump of grass from the ground, squeezing it into a massive ball.
Hey, hey, that was escalating quickly. Truce!
"So if you want to snoop around somewhere, my dear, go over... THERE!" The grass sphere, comparable to a basketball, was mercilessly hurled at the weakened boy's head.
Unable to move very well, Giovanni followed his first instinct and blocked with a wall of stone.
"That was too easy, you idiot." The brown-haired boy muttered from behind the wall, leaning just enough to peek at Aguiar from the other side. "You should come along. I just need to wake Sofia, and we can pass by there."
The promise of an adventure...
The chances of it being a dead end were much higher, but what if it wasn't? Aguiar was thirsty for excitement.
Tearing a piece of bark from the trunk, the triton pretended to read while displaying his theatrics.
"Let me see... My schedule is free for the next few weeks. Consider the invitation accepted!"
Aguiar stood and summoned his coral spear. "I'll be heading to the top. Don't keep me waiting, lovebirds."
Laughing as he walked away, Giovanni found himself alone for the second time.
His relaxed expression turned distant.
The face of the exotic woman flashed briefly in his mind.
'Luck isn't... Beako?'
Was there something the other academy students could have done to survive? Were they simply doomed to death from the moment they set foot in the Dream Realm?
Or had they failed to seize the opportunities given to them, as Eric believed?
'They've probably joined the other Hollows by now...' Imagining the medical wing filled with new patients in wheelchairs, standing like ghosts side by side, left a bitter taste in his mouth.
Shortly after, upon returning inside the cabin, he found Sofia awake, sitting on the mattress with a pained expression.
"Where are we, Gigi?" Sofia rubbed her eyes, still sleepy.
"In a safe place. Aguiar was nearby and saved us. Can you move?" Giovanni sat beside her.
"A little stiff, but I can manage. And he's really here? That's... great. I thought only we were left at this point."
Sofia used her friend for support as she stood, her legs trembling.
"We're going to try one of the region's gates to reach the light... and I need you to understand its mechanism." He would have let her rest if he could, but there was no other solution.
Sensing Giovanni's hesitation in bringing her along, she stuck out her tongue, pouting. "I'd go whether you wanted me to or not. After all that work, I want to see this place's secret with my own eyes."
When she put it that way... he had no way to argue. Allowing himself a small smile, he headed outside.
"Fair enough. Just try not to fall behind." He teased, attempting to dash ahead, but she grabbed his arm.
"Ah... but I won't," Sofia replied, tightening her grip.
Between soft laughter, the cabin was left behind.
***
Later, the climb along the waterfall's outskirts proved more challenging than they had imagined, and this time there was no natural cause or lurking enemy to blame.
They were too exhausted for the effort of the trail.
There was no remedy to heal the cracks in their souls, so the two found comfort in knowing they had someone with whom to share the pain.
Along the way, Sofia loved pausing to investigate the ruins more closely, peering into the secrets left behind in the stone.
"This seemed to be a training place for young girls..." Sofia commented, sliding her fingers along the rocky wall of a moss-covered structure.
"Training... for what exactly? Like a dojo?" Giovanni asked from a little lower down, frowning thoughtfully as he handled clay dolls scattered across the ground.
"What? No, you silly. I think it was more like an arts school... but the residents' attendance was basically mandatory."
From what little they had snooped around on the way, it became clear that men were not exactly welcome in the musical grove.
The mermaid was a symbol of femininity, seduction, and music, as well as serving as a "patron saint" for women of all ages.
In the past, the ruins must have been inhabited by entirely female communities.
"Martial arts are an art too, it's in the name! I'd get half a point if this were a question..." He crossed his arms with a smug smile.
"Don't push it... I'd give you, at most, a tenth." She rolled her eyes and moved closer to lean on him again.
The summit was not very far at that point.
When they finished crossing the last stretch of the path, they finally came upon Aguiar sitting on a smooth rock, staring at a structure of exaggerated proportions, like everything else in that kingdom.
The gates carved into the side of the waterfall stretched to a hundred meters and were adorned with the seductive figure of the "Eternal Symphony," who embraced the pristine castle as if it were precious.
At the lower part of the carving, young girls were depicted kneeling in absolute devotion, enchanted by their lady's voice.
It would have been flawless, were it not for the deep cracks that covered the gates entirely.
Its sanctity had been violated by the hands of something even more monstrous, leaving them in a state of decay.
Aguiar noticed the couple's arrival and stood up energetically, already tired of waiting for the two slugs to finish the climb.
"I was practically growing roots at this point! You two decided to relieve some stress halfway up?"
Sofia and Giovanni blushed, caught off guard by the crude suggestion. The young woman was the first to deny it, agitated.
"We were conducting a... a f-field study! Hear that?! Maybe that doesn't sound familiar to a muscle-head like you!"
"That's right! We have to report everything we find here, down to the smallest detail. The Dream Realm's history is really important!"
Aguiar ignored the flustered girl's accusations and burst into laughter, amused by their similarity. Teasing them was truly delightful.
"Then stop stalling and come study what's inside there." Aguiar gestured for them to follow, taking the lead.
The area around the gates was the most devastated part of the region, a vast, desolated stretch.
There were entire chunks of vegetation ripped out by the roots, silk spread like a web across many structures, and patches of ground that seemed drained of color, turning a morbid gray.
That had once been a bloody battlefield that never fully recovered.
Sofia activated her aspect, trying to understand the secret behind the gates, but just as when she had tried to peer into the mansion's doors, the information felt out of reach.
But one thing she could say for certain...
"The gates only open for people who carry something I couldn't discern. Maybe a mark?" she explained, worried.
The civilization had collapsed far too long ago for the trio to undergo any initiation ritual.
Aguiar snorted, disappointed by the revelation.
"Well, at least we tried! What do you say we look for an alternative entrance?"
Giovanni, however, would not accept that so easily. He knew some special material covered the underground, so not just any hole would lead them to their destination; it had to be here.
Would the light guide them to a place they could not even enter? That made no sense.
While running his hand along the gate's polished surface, he summoned the runes, rereading descriptions of the region's memories and recalling what little they had discovered about Thalorim.
The only artifact in his possession that had any connection to the mermaid was a pink cloth.
"Hey, guys, come closer, quick," Giovanni called as he invoked the memory.
The two exchanged curious glances but did not protest. The boy rubbed the fabric over his friends' faces, wiping away traces of dirt, and finally cleaned his own.
A pleasant fragrance filled the air, exhaled by the three youths.
Beyond that, nothing seemed to change.
"Well... I appreciate the courtesy, Giovanni, but was that supposed to do something?" Aguiar laughed and leaned against the gate, curious about his friend's line of reasoning.
When his skin touched the cold stone, the world vibrated, not like a tremor, but like...
A song.
Three voices, in harmony, echoed from the bodies of those whom the cloth had cleansed. Though their melodies differed, their intention was the same.
Before they could understand what was happening, the enormous figure of the mermaid moved her lips and sang a song of her own. The sound of her voice was so... beautiful.
The two boys and the girl lost themselves momentarily, hypnotized by her figure, longing only to approach... to touch her.
The lines that composed the carving lit up, filling with a rosy, almost white light, until the gates shone completely.
BRRR...
The gates began to open slowly, producing a resounding rumble.
What awaited them on the other side was...
An immense system of caverns, where waterfalls flowed freely, forming layers of thermal pools that descended endlessly into the most inhospitable depths of the colossal cascade.
'This is... insanity,' Giovanni thought, holding the pink cloth in his hands.
There, the water did not appear transparent or bloody, but rather a mystical rainbow fluid that, instead of the sound of flowing liquid, echoed whispers, laughter, confessions of love, cries of joy, tears of pain, and much more.
It was like magical recordings that preserved the infinite moments lived by hundreds of people gathered in one place.
Aguiar was simply in love with what he saw... that was his paradise.
Endless water and, on top of that, one so pure!
Sofia felt welcomed, as if that were the right place for her, a home that had been hidden from her until now.
The description of the [Maiden's handkerchief] suddenly made more sense than ever.
[A piece of fabric bathed in the purest waters of the Whispering Caverns. No man can resist its allure.]
The answers they had been seeking were there.