Ash opened his eyes as he sat up on the hard body of his Echo raven. Opening his eyes with some laziness, he looked at the black line beginning to draw itself on the horizon. With each passing minute, the line became clearer and clearer, to the point where a mountain range could be seen.
The mountains seemed to function as a border between the Forgotten Shore and the rest of the Dream Realm. They were tall and steep, piercing the sky like giant fangs. Ash could see their peaks wrapped in white snow, enveloped in mist that extended through the ravines and inner ridges.
Ash looked at the unsettling mist for a few moments but felt no crushing sensation. Perhaps it was because of his blessing of nothingness; he still didn't know.
He would have to venture into the mist of the Hollow Mountains one day to discover its secrets.
But not today. In the future, when he was stronger, he would venture into the mist.
While his echo flew, Ash pushed those thoughts from his mind. About ten minutes later, they finally landed on the ground a few dozen meters from the tyrannical mountains.
Ash wished to find the Crown of Dawn and immediately felt the path he should take to reach where it was.
Ash observed the magnitude of the Hollow Mountains for a few moments in silence, then looked around, noticing a path on the slope that could guide him inside the mountain.
Using the path on the slope, he noticed that the rocky ground was covered in gray grass, creating a disconcerting image.
Ash looked around, seeing nothing in particular. Even when he searched for threats, there was nothing he could detect.
As he walked, the ground descended gently, then became rockier, and the slope grew much steeper. Soon, he found himself surrounded by high rocks and had to walk on bare stone.
At least another two hours passed until Ash finally found a huge dark pit descending into the interior of the mountains.
Ash looked at the path and began to descend calmly. As he did so, he could see enormous square stone blocks that had been used to build the wall of the Dark City. At another point, there was a ruined and abandoned amphitheater of colossal size.
Continuing down, he reached the bottom of the quarry, where he passed by the side of the ancient corpse of the fallen tyrant killed by the first cohort of the Dark City.
Ash stopped suddenly, turning his head to observe the wall of mist that was beginning to descend. He calculated it would take at least ten minutes.
Although the mist seemed to flow slowly, he knew it was a deception. The mist was fast; it only took a moment of inattention for it to completely envelop you.
Ash observed the stacked rocks a little away from the corpse, like a campsite abandoned in haste. Ash approached a pile of rocks shaped like a grave and read: "Your nightmare has ended."
Ash continued walking, calmly searching for the entrance to the mine. As he did so, the other presence in his Soul Sea was quite calm. The influx of emotions he felt had calmed down for the most part.
Ash kept walking until he noticed a human-made path that led into a side wall—a huge dark hole.
Looking back, he saw that the mist was several dozen meters away from enveloping him, but he still felt no dangerous sensation.
Staying still, he let the gray mist envelop his entire body. The sensation was already familiar to him. Ash felt how his armor's enchantment granted him terrifying strength; his senses increased, as did his resistance.
Opening his eyes, he sighed. He could still see everything quite clearly. Though the slight discomfort of keeping his consciousness together brought back memories of his nightmare.
"It feels like home," Ash murmured with a slight, nostalgic smile.
Walking toward the hole in the wall, he entered it, emerging from the sea of mist.
Ash continued walking through the long, dark tunnel with a calmness excessive for anyone in his situation.
The Hollow Mountains were a death zone for any Awakened, regardless of rank. It was a death zone where nightmare creatures of terrifying levels lived, from large ones to perhaps even unholy ones wandering through the mist.
Another factor was the mist itself: the Nothingness, something that erases you from the world as if you had never existed. Its power was, in a way, absolute and truly divine, even without consciousness, acting more like a concept, serving as a natural barrier between different planes.
From what Ash had read, Nothingness was used by the gods to contain the Void, and with it, the Forgotten One.
Yet he had traversed Nothingness. He had even encountered something strange while doing so. Perhaps some of the beings that inhabited it?
Ash frowned.
If he had traveled from his world passing through Nothingness, wouldn't that mean his world was considered outside the creation of the great gods? Or was there a relationship with the Seventh God who sleeps in the Void?
Questions... questions... and more questions.
But he had no answers to any of them.
---
As Ash ventured deeper into the tunnels, the paths forked. Since he felt the fragment much farther down, he took the path descending into the interior.
At some point, the walls changed. There were more and more decorations with intricate stone carvings.
At first, these carvings were decorative and mostly meaningless. But little by little, the decorations changed, beginning to show drawings telling the first part of the history of the Dark City and the sacrifice.
Ash ignored the drawings and continued advancing until he reached a huge pit descending a few hundred meters.
Summoning the echo, Ash climbed onto its back, and the Echo descended carefully.
After nearly a minute, they reached the ground. Ash dismissed the Echo and began walking, ignoring the crunching of bones and the corpse of a dead abomination.
Ash continued deeper into the tunnels of the ancient mine.
The tunnel extended for quite a few kilometers, taking hours of continuous walking, resting every so often to drink water.
After what he calculated to be one or two days, he finally heard the sound of running water.
Quickening his pace, he exited the neck of the tunnel and reached the edge of a black river. Above the river, he observed the same mist as on the surface, though here it was much sparser.
Looking around, he found a small dock. Tied to a rock pillar was a pale boat of carved wood. Then he looked ahead to the other side of the river, where his original destination lay.
'I hope this works,' Ash thought, walking toward the boat.