Chapter 37: The Moment of Epiphany

Arriving at Quinn's office, Alex's team steps in to find the Subaltern evening out a small stack of papers. Quinn turns around to see the Seekers enter, and dons a soft smile as he nods to them. "Welcome back, Seekers; what brings you here so late?" The party spends roughly an hour explaining to Quinn the events that just transpired in the Labyrinth, sparing no detail of Visil's plans and intentions. Quinn finds the news understandably difficult to believe, and is left stunned enough to require a seat. After a long moment of contemplation, he looks up to the party and says, "To be honest, I cannot rightfully say I understand him. I am certain of one thing; the Chieftain is gone. I believe the responsibility of leading Etria now lies with me."

Alex nods to this, donning a smirk as he says, "I don't think the town could ask for a better successor. I wonder how you'll handle the economic shift when the Labyrinth's mysteries are fully solved."

"Ah, yes, that is a pressing concern, but there is currently another matter that takes precedence." Seeing that the party is looking to him with expectant expressions, Quinn sighs and follows, "I had intended to keep this a secret, but I suppose telling the Seekers couldn't hurt." His expression becomes stern, and his posture suggests that there will be no room for negotiation regarding whatever it is he is about to say next. "There is another Guild, one that is comprised of members from the Midgard Library. This Guild is of comparable renown to your own, and has been dedicating its investigation to a ruin that was recently discovered near Etria. Perhaps you have met them once before? Their leader is a Highlander with brown hair."

Cyrus' expression brightens at this, prompting him to lightly tap the bottom of his fist to his open palm. "Ah, Lord Yuki's Guild." The others look to him as he follows, "Our Gathering party met with them on one of the upper floors of Lost Shinjuku."

Directing his attention back to Quinn, Alex dons an inquisitive expression and asks, "What might the Library be doing here?"

"At first, it was just a simple investigation meant to discern the cause of recent unnatural earthquakes."

Mitsuki's face shifts to portray an expression that suggests she has realized something. "Ah, right; we've felt a few of those earthquakes on the way back from the Labyrinth. I didn't even pay them attention. Did they uncover the source?"

Quinn nods to this, his countenance becoming grim. "According to Lord Yuki, the cause lies with some sort of dormant machine gradually starting up within the ruins. This machine has the task of destroying a being known as the "Calamity". From what you told me about the Chieftain, I have reason to believe that this Calamity truly exists. There are some complications that have been brought to light concerning this machine that leave me quite troubled."

Raising an eyebrow to this, Lily asks, "What kind of complications?"

"Judging from the reports that I've received, the machine and Calamity are becoming active in roughly the same timeframe." Cyrus and Lucy don concerned expressions at this, catching Quinn's attention. "I take it you two have an idea of what this means?"

Lucy nods and says, "That leads me to believe that the machine won't be at full power by the time the Calamity awakens." Shaking her head, she follows, "As crazy as this may sound, we'd have a better chance of dealing with this Calamity by engaging it ourselves."

Folding his arms, Cyrus adds, "Furthermore, I am not fond of the idea behind this machine. It sounds like a weapon of incredible power. If it can destroy something considered to be the physical embodiment of a calamitous event, then there's a high chance that the recoil of its power could have adverse effects on the surrounding environment."

Chiming in on this, Lily says, "Besides, the Calamity is just the by-product of Yggdrasil absorbing all of humanity's pollution, right? If a human made it, a human can destroy it too." Alex chuckles at this and ruffles Lily's hair with his hand. She's rather flustered by this, quickly shoving his hand away and turning to hide her blushing face. "We're in the middle of a serious discussion, Alex; don't treat me like a child."

Cyrus snickers at this, muttering, "That was adorable." He clears his throat and fixes his expression before turning his focus back to Quinn. "You can entrust this matter to us, Lord Quinn. We'll see to it that the town is kept safe."

Quinn nods to this, a smile forming on his face once again. "You have my gratitude, Seekers. Before you go, allow me to present a gift to you all." He presents to the party a medal, one that boasts the Etrian symbol. "This is a medal given to those who have reached the twenty-fifth floor of the Yggdrasil Labyrinth. As your Guild is the first, you can imagine the dust these have been collecting. We designed it with the Labyrinth's depths in mind, but of course we had no way of knowing if it only consisted of twenty-five floors."

The Seekers accept this gift before bidding farewell to Quinn. The following morning, Alex's party sets off to return to the room in which they fought against Visil, noting the forlorn atmosphere hanging amidst Etria. Alex absently comments on how Visil's death has affected the town, to which his comrades can't muster a reply to. Arriving at the final room of the twenty-fifth floor, the party finds Ren and Tlachtga standing in its center. The duo turns to face the party, wearing their usual stoic faces all the while.

Ren and Cyrus silently stare each other down for a moment, unsure how to start the inevitable conversation. Instead, she turns to start walking towards a corridor that leads further into the room. Tlachtga follows after Ren, but not before giving the Seekers a look that asks them to follow as well. They heed this, and are soon led to a smaller area in the room that sports a hole in the floor large enough to admit a person.

Looking to the Seekers, Ren says, "I assume Visil didn't manage to tell you the whole truth. Beyond this hole is what he wished to keep away from the public. Follow me." She jumps into the hole, with Tlachtga quickly following suit. The party follows after the duo as well, soon arriving at a Stratum unlike anything Yggdrasil has presented before them. The halls beyond the stairway are compact, fleshly, and sport visceral colors. There are some portions of this environment that are colored green and seem to give off light.

Stepping further inside, Lucy and Lily are quite disgusted to hear the sound their feet make upon repeated contact with the ground of this new stratum. The generated sound is a very pronounced squelch, suggesting that the ground itself is akin to a marsh. A hostile air permeates the environment, and the party can feel ravenous eyes observing them from all around as they proceed further inside.

The group soon arrives at the Geomagnetic Field of this stratum, where Ren and Tlachtga seem content to cease this silent tour. Cyrus touches his hand to the Geomagnetic Field to register his Guild to its machinations; much to his surprise, there is no accompanying vision. He lingers for a moment, trying to consider why nothing has happened. He sets this thought aside and tries to channel aether into the Field before him. A large magic circle begins to form beneath the Geomagnetic Field, which catches everyone by surprise.

Before the circle can complete itself, Cyrus is blown away by a burst of energy, and is sent crashing into a nearby wall. He lets out a groan as the pain rushes through his system all at once, but is internally grateful the wall he hit is comparatively softer than anything else he could have crashed into. He rises to his feet with some assistance from Ren and looks further into the depths of this new stratum. His voice is rather tense as he asks, "Is this it, Ren? This cavern of claret red is the final gauntlet?"

"Yes. You will find some of the Labyrinth's strongest creatures down here. The stratum itself boasts an otherworldly structure, so be careful when drawing your maps."

Cyrus looks down to see Tlachtga tugging at his sleeve. In spite of the perfectly neutral expression she wears, he can feel a certain sense of worry in her eyes. "You can't be reckless here." No one in the party could explain why, but Tlachtga's words sent shivers down their spines.

Nodding to the duo, Cyrus smiles and says, "We'll get this done. We've progressed this far, so there's no sense in not finishing what we started, right?" Ren folds her arms at this, and shoots a telling glare in Cyrus' direction. He sighs at this, smirking at the Ronin in kind. "You are quite difficult to please, Ren. Will concrete results put you at ease?"

She turns to face the Geomagnetic Field, if only to hide the smirk on her lips. "Perhaps, but I'd need to see those results first. Let us be off, Tlachtga; we must assist the Chieftain." The two then depart from the Labyrinth with no further words, leaving the Seekers to fend for themselves in the Sixth Stratum. The party sets off to begin exploring this place, treading carefully before soon reaching a door.

Beyond this door is a branching path that leads to two identical dead ends. At each dead end, a pale blue light shines down onto the ground. Looking to the dead end on the party's right, Alex says, "Let's investigate this one first." They heed their leader's direction, and upon stepping into the blue light are warped to another area on the floor. Alex quickly looks around to find his party in a completely different location. Cyrus then confirms that they've been transported to the southern-most end of the floor. "I'm gonna hate this place."

Before the party can reach the next warp point of their choosing, they are beset by what appear to be two giant blue moth-like butterflies with red accents on the tips of their wings. Cyrus studies both creatures before whispering, "They resist Ice and have no elemental weaknesses. A spear, bow, or firearm would work well here."

Mitsuki clicks her tongue in frustration at this. "I'll sing the Frost Fantasia before they can try anything." It is just as she says this when the two Hellflies lose their patience and go on the offensive. One Hellfly tackles Alex, managing to knock the man on his rear. For its efforts, Cyrus sends it crashing into a wall with the Fire Formula. Alex rises to his feet just in time to witness the lone Hellfly unleash a snowstorm against the party. Their bodies are partially covered in frost, but Mitsuki's song staves off the effects of the cold. The party takes this time to dispatch the remaining creature, granting them victory.

A few more warps are tested before the map begins to fill out. Lily studies the parchment as Cyrus draws on it, soon realizing that "There's a bit of symmetry going on here."

Lucy signals for the others to cease their advance, pointing out that another warp lies before them. Curiously, however, the glow of the descending stairway is just ahead as well. "If we could clear that gap with a jump, we could immediately proceed to the 27th floor." She looks to Cyrus, placing a hand on her hip. "Sir Cyrus; I ask you to make use of those lancer legs of yours. Time is of the essence."

"As you wish, Milady." After taking a moment to stretch, he assumes a running stance before darting towards the area being bathed in pale blue light. He jumps a bit too early for his own standards, but can tell that he'll clear the jump all the same. This is until he is warped away despite still being airborne. The rest of his team sighs in defeat at this and follows after him.

Around the stroke of noon, the party arrives at a long corridor stretch. Lily lets out a huff as the party finally rounds a bend, only to find that the party's options consist of two additional, and identical, corridors. Her left eye twitches in rage at this. "We've only just started, and this place is already obnoxious."

The Seekers travel down the path on their right, soon meeting face-to-face with a giant orange tortoise. Taking cautious steps back, the party tries to discern if the gigantic beast is amiable. In spite of the smile the creature seems to wear on its face, its advance is decidedly hostile. The Seekers make a hasty retreat for the opposite side of the corridor, but are beset en route by a pair of new monsters. One is a subspecies of the flying swordfish from the Azure Rainforest while the other is a subspecies of the Medusa Tree from the Sandy Barrens.

Given that there is no time to spare, Alex gives the order for the party to go all out. Unfortunately for the Seekers, these monsters prove to be significantly more agile, and get the first move as a result. The Gasser Tree takes one of its branches and hits Lucy across the side of the head with it, causing Lucy to suffer a mild headache. Lucy cracks her whip at the creature's arms, but fails to bind them. Once Lily chants the Frailty Curse, Mitsuki sings the Warrior Song to bolster Alex and Cyrus' attacks.

Fire Formula is the first to be unleashed, incinerating the Gasser Tree. Power Crush, in kind, brings an immediate end to the life of the Sawfish. With no time to revel in their victory, the Seekers quickly press on to find themselves presented with two choices. They dive into the nearest passage in the wall to evade the pursuing tortoise. Quickly realizing that they can't go back the way they came, they step into the field of blue light to warp somewhere else on the floor.

Looking around, Mitsuki realizes, "This is the same corridor we were just in…that means the tortoise will be making its way back."

The others nod to this and make haste to the area the tortoise previously barred. True to form, the area is symmetrical to the corridor they were just in, and the Seekers are thus presented with another set of one-way passages. They choose the passage on the far left and take the warp on the other side. A quick survey suggests that they took the wrong warp, for their surroundings look identical to the previous corridor.

Cyrus quickly debunks this by directing everyone's attention to the map. "It would appear that we are now at the heart of the floor." Much like before, this section of the floor requires the party to lure another tortoise to an opposing side. Matters become more complicated when the party realizes that they can't make their choices well in advance, otherwise they may wind up in a dead end and lose actual progress.

The puzzle is eventually solved, allowing the Seekers to reach some sort of warp hub area at 8PM. Four warps line the corners of this room, each with its own unknown destination. The shortcut back to the Geomagnetic Field is in this room as well, which causes the party to let out a cheer. Said cheering attracts a pair of Gasser Trees, which the Seekers are then forced to fight. Returning to the warp area, the party observes their map to try and deduce which one will lead to progress.

Lucy points out, "We can afford trial and error in this regard since we unlocked a shortcut just now. How about the top-right warp?" Following Lucy's logic, the party sees no reason to not try the warps at random. The top-right warp, coincidentally, places the party directly in front of the descending stairway. "Huh. How fortuitous."

They descend to the 27th floor, quickly discovering that it is quite dark down here. Everyone looks at where they think their allies are located in relation to their position and gives a blank stare. The party's decision to return to Etria and save this floor for later is unanimous. Given that the hour is only 9PM upon their return, the party elects to visit the Golden Deer Pub. After securing a table and a large meal, the Seekers begin to bask in their moment of respite.

Before long, the detective Cyrus and Lissa assisted in the Azure Rainforest approaches their table. He calls for a drink and takes a seat with the party. Looking to Cyrus, Austin raises his mug and dons a smirk on his face. "I never got to show my appreciation for the help your Guild had provided me." He slides a bottle of Amrita across the table, which Cyrus thanks him for. "Oh, it's nothing. If it's not too much trouble…"

Alex smirks at this and preemptively asks, "Do you need our assistance?"

Austin chuckles at the Landsknecht's foresight, closing his eyes as he gives an affirmative nod. "You see, I have earned the enmity of a certain individual. I may indeed need your help in the near future. My opponent is something of a problem." His expression portrays a strange combination of annoyance and disappointment. "He's brilliant in mind, but childish in nature. He takes pleasure in disrupting public order."

A groan of disgust escapes Lucy upon hearing this, prompting her to comment on the subject. "Belligerents of such ilk have always been a problem for me." She lets out an indignant huff as she folds her arms. "No matter how much effort is put into commonwealth improvements, there's always at least one group of people who want to ruin the happiness of those around them. It's shameful!" She then starts making hand gestures that seem unrelated to the topic at hand. No one present can make the connection until Lucy says, "They're like weeds, but their roots are impossible to discern and eliminate so they keep growing back."

Austin can't help but look to Lucy in mild surprise. "My, it sounds as if you live quite the busy life, young lady. Might you be a sovereign in disguise?"

Cyrus lets out a laugh at this as he raises his mug. "See, Lucy? I told you it was obvious."

"Not true! It just so happens that Sir Austin's detective skills were great enough to see through my ruse." She then runs a hand through her hair, letting out an arrogant huff as she follows, "Naturally, no normal person could have figured out my secret."

Austin and Mitsuki both raise a finger to object to this claim, only to see that Cyrus, Lily, and Alex are all motioning for the two to abandon such efforts. Austin shrugs in response and continues his original train of thought. "I took another look at the poem you and Lissa were given some time ago. Under normal circumstances, it could be disregarded as gibberish." He then sighs. "I, however, see it as pure malice."

Cyrus takes a moment to think on this before saying, "I think I noticed a pattern forming with the first letter from every word. I didn't actually decipher it the whole way through, however."

"Had you done so, you would have come to the conclusion that this ridiculous poem is something very different. It is a most unpleasant method." Austin then slips into a case of quietly muttering to himself. It isn't until a minute passes that he realizes he's left the Seekers in the dark. "Forgive me, I was lost in my own thoughts. I should be going now." He rises from his seat and places his share of the bill on the table. Smirking, he concludes, "I am quite fortunate to have become acquaintances of explorers such as yourselves; I trust that we will meet again."

Austin then departs from the bar, leaving the Seekers to ponder what his next course of action may be. Soon after, Hilda and Adam enter the bar together; weary expressions dominate their countenances at present, which only lift somewhat as they take a seat at the same table as the Seekers. Lucy orders a meal for the two, with Cyrus paying for the accompanying drinks. Slumping onto the table, Adam lets out a heavy sigh as he clutches onto his mug.

"You guys are good people." Weakly raising his finger to point at Hilda, he follows, "My boss could learn a thing or two from you."

Lily looks to Hilda and asks, "What did you do to the poor man this time?"

Hilda is so taken aback by this that she sets her fork down. "You're taking his side, Lily? You're an ailment mastermind; surely you understand my plight to garner all Conditional Drops? I had to be thorough."

Much to everyone's surprise, Lily contemplates this claim. "She has a point…"

Picking her fork back up, Hilda gives it a dismissive wave as she says, "Anyway, we went down to the Fifth Stratum and found a descending staircase to a brand new stratum. After registering at the Geomagnetic Field down there, Adam actually pointed out a freshly-made shortcut that let us skip the entirety of the 26th floor." The entirety of the Seekers party gives her a blank stare. "Hm? Ah, I should have known you guys put in work. Well, my Guild decided to take a little peek at the 27th floor. The monsters down there are pretty fun." She lets out a devilish chuckle, which causes Adam to groan.

"She sent me up against a Flame Ooze. Alone, all so she could take Jason to help her get a Severed Stinger from a Steel Barb." Cyrus looks to Hilda with an incredulous expression, as if to question her sanity. Even though Adam cannot see this expression, due to his head resting on the table and his face looking squarely at Hilda, he can feel the shock emanating from someone. "That's not even the worst part! Flame Oozes explode; their explosion hurts even more than the Burst Ooze from the Fifth Stratum!"

"But it was totally worth it! I managed to cut off that scorpion's tail with my whip!"

"You don't get it; I was set on fire!"

"Morrison healed you, didn't he?"

Adam's expression begins to mirror his exasperation, as if he is quickly losing the ability to keep pace with Hilda for much longer. "That's not the point, Hilda! Maybe you'd understand if you took that explosion…not that I'd let you, of course. I take elemental hits better than you, after all."

Hilda then begins poking Adam in the cheek with her finger. He is so beyond caring at this point that he doesn't even bother with trying to swat her hand away. "Aren't you just the sweetest?" Adam's response is a series of unintelligible grumbles, but Hilda seems to understand him perfectly, for she gives a beaming smile and replies, "That's the spirit."

Not long after Hilda and Adam finish their meals, the Seekers bid their friends farewell and return to the Archive to retire for the evening. Half-way into their trek, Lucy stretches and lets out a loud yawn. "I must say, the Sixth Stratum is shaping up to be quite troublesome. I may want to consider hanging up my whip in favor of returning to the sword." She then moves over to Cyrus and locks her arm into his. A mischievous grin traces on her lips as she presses her cheek to his. "Of course, I will need a handy blacksmith to forge a suitable weapon for me."

Cyrus rolls his eyes at this, but smiles at Lucy's blatant advance all the same. "You're just fishing for an excuse to get me to lose the shirt."

Mitsuki says, "Yeah, about that…why in the world would you forge weapons without a shirt? You need protection from the dangerous elements you're working with. You don't even wear a protective mask!"

"Back home in Erdboden I have the reprieve of nullifying the incoming stray embers. Here, I have to be a bit more creative, so I use the Light Tincture as a constant elemental barrier. The flames end up being directed at the weapon I'm forging, allowing for better temperature control. In a way, this is somewhat more efficient, as nothing is wasted during my work."

Mitsuki snickers at the explanation, which causes Cyrus to snicker in kind, even if he doesn't understand why. "Your application of magic and alchemy is so unorthodox that it makes Alex's Boomerang Axe technique seem so much more plausible in comparison. It's honestly kinda funny."

Tenting her fingers in her usual manner, Lily absently comments, "We'll need to rethink our strategies for the future."

Alex nods to this. "The enemies of those claret hollows quickly grow to be too dangerous if you leave them alive for even a short amount of time."

Something about the moniker Alex just used seems to resonate in Cyrus' mind. "Hm, the Claret Hollows; it has a nice ring to it. How about we refer to the Sixth Stratum as that from now on?" The others voice no objections to this, causing Cyrus to smile. "Excellent. We'll rest up for now, and make some revisions before tackling that floor of darkness." Just as the party reaches the doorstep of the Archive, a thought occurs to him. 'I should prepare in advance for our battle with the Calamity…whatever that may be.'