"He's sleeping for quite a while now..." Lydia worried, apprehensively inspecting Mine's vitals.

Eden approached Mine's body and sniffed his cheek. "Wake up, little master…" it hissed sadly, resting its head on the boy's chest.

"Eden, you'll scare him when he wakes up. He's still getting used to you," Addai called, and the snake looked at him sadder.

Mine abruptly stood up from where he had been lying, tossing the startled snake aside. The quick movement caused his body to almost black out again, but Lydia and Addai caught him before he fell to the ground.

"Careful," Addai said, supporting Mine's body with Lydia's aid.

"Wow… coming back was a wild ride…" Mine mumbled, feeling his legs like jelly.

"Little massssssssster!!" Eden hissed desperately, approaching him.

Mine barely had time to turn pale and only accepted the approach of that tall, white snake with enigmatic eyes. Despite being visibly tense like Lydia, Mine caressed Eden's head with shaking hands. Mine wasn't afraid of bodies, evil spirits, monsters, vampires, and other nefarious creatures he encountered in his field classes, but snakes were a different case.

Mine's fear of snakes started when his sister cast a spell on a snake plush to cheer him up on his failed birthday. That day, the toddler Mine fell sick and had to be in his bedroom all day, burning with fever. His sister brought him the enchanted snake plush, but she didn't expect it to drastically change its looks. The disaster was set. Toddler Mine was startled so much that he couldn't stop screaming. The stuffed snake was hideous, while Eden could be considered cute, but even that couldn't make Mine's muscles relax at the sight of it.

However, this episode alone wasn't sufficient to make Mine develop a terrible fear of snakes. When he joined the University's teaching staff, Mine was often asked to work in other departments to assist some professors. One of these teachers was Lydia, who studied some flowers with healing properties in a forest in the Amazon at that period. She invited Mine and Professor Hera to help her with the search. Throughout the journey through the forest, they encountered the most diverse species of snakes that were not friendly at all. In the end, at least they got the flower specimens, and, as a bonus, they started to share the same trauma. However, Eden wasn't aware of that and kept rubbing her head against Mine's cold, trembling hand while letting out a few snorts as if she was enjoying it.

"Little master, I missed you so much!" Eden beamed a fangless smile.

"…" Mine tried to speak, but his chin trembled so much from fright.

"Eden," Addai called, and the snake looked at him. "Come here."

Eden puffed sadly and swayed to Addai's side, looking at Mine from afar. Both Mine and Lydia finally breathed. Mine fixed his loose clothes and sat beside Abannak, avoiding Eden's gleeful eyes.

"Breathe, kiddo," Mephistopheles waved his hand, fanning the fire to keep it lit.

Mine took a deep breath and shook his head. "I found the path, but it's full of gargoyles," he said, recovering his speech. "Agarath is distracted with someone called Consort. We must act fast and reach the room, avoiding the gargoyles as much as possible."

Zophiel gasped, and his wings spread. "The Consort?! Is he here as well?!" He asked, half perplexed, half happy.

Mine looked at Zophiel, confused. "Do you know him, Mr. Zophiel?"

"Yes!" Zophiel beamed, and his wings flapped unconsciously. "Ahem… yes. I know him," he coughed, ignoring his messy wings and Mephistopheles's chuckles.

"He may help us. The Consort is a friend of ours," Mephistopheles said, patting Zophiel's wings and tiding the loose feathers. "The Consort has a golden heart despite being the King's partner."

"Oh..." Mine voiced, his eyes glowing in curiosity.

Almost oblivious to the conversation, Lydia connected a few dots and looked at Azazel. She pinched his ear close to her mouth and ignored his startled eyes.

"Is the Consort a 'he'?" Lydia whispered.

"The Consort is the Consort," Azazel whispered back, confused.

Lydia took it as a yes. However, Lydia's curiosity had no boundaries, and she had one more (vile) question. "Is he hot?"

Azazel widened his eyes as he looked at her, a broad grin spreading across his face. This human was just as interesting as he had imagined! Azazel no longer paid attention to whispering and started laughing.

"I like you even more!! Hahaha!" Azazel laughed while Lydia looked back at him, confused.

Mine was aware of their conversation. They didn't even hide nor pay attention to the fact the group was so close to each other that whispering wasn't enough to cover up a parallel conversation. Mine didn't know whether to laugh or cry at the interaction and the content of the conversation between Lydia and Azazel, who were discussing how the Consort would be dressing that endless night. Not only was Mine perplexed by the tenor of the conversation, but Mephistopheles was outraged when he heard what they were talking about.

"Hey, stop whispering shit," Mephistopheles complained to the duo. "Azazel, do you have shit instead of a brain?! What if the King gets the gibberish you're talking about his partner?! Are you nuts?!"

Azazel schooled himself and nodded at his boss, who probably cursed in a foreign language. Lydia also schooled herself and intensely apologized for her behavior, posing as apologetically as Azazel. It didn't matter how much they apologized because Mephistopheles was adamant in scolding them thoroughly. Abannak rubbed his nose bridge, not believing another chaotic situation unwrapped in front of him again. He took a deep breath and looked at Eden, who stared at Addai's hand, waiting for him to scratch its head until he did so.

Clapping his hands, Zophiel caught everybody's attention. With his wings opened, a few feathers fell on the floor, but what called their attention the most was his frowned nose and furrowed brows. Mephistopheles immediately shut his mouth and made the same apologetic pose as Azazel and Lydia.

"Very well. We're not at our homes, and you all are very comfortable, hm?" Zophiel said, his wings flapping impatiently. "We need to get out of here if we want to live, love, and laugh. Addai, you'll be at the back with Mr. Abannak and Eden. Lydia and Azazel will be in the middle. Mephistopheles, Mine, and I will be at the front. This way, we'll move effectively," he explained in a severe intonation. "Did everybody get it?"

Everybody nodded back, silent. Abannak smiled, satisfied, and nodded as well.

Zophiel smiled, relaxing his furrowed brows. "Good! Now, let's-"

Suddenly, the ground started shaking, interrupting Zophiel's speech. It felt like an earthquake of at least magnitude six on the Richter scale because of how much the ground shook and the rocks came loose. The group held on where they could as the ground shook, covering their heads with their arms or wings.

Outside, the trees trembled and drove away the mana birds that were once jumping from branch to branch. Not too far from there, an explosion's shock wave blew the leaves off the trees and intensified the rumbling on the cave's walls. Eden hissed loudly at the chaos and took shelter under Azazel's wings while he helped Lydia balance.

One more explosion made everybody fall to their knees, but soon an unsettling silence lifted. The walls stopped rumbling and the floor's tremors ceased; however, the tense and unpredictable atmosphere didn't let anyone relax.

"We need to get out of here," Abannak urged, dusting his clothes.

"W-what?! A-and face the whatever-chaotic-event outside?!" Lydia stammered, eyes widened and pale face.

"Do you have a better idea?" Mephistopheles grumbled, holding Zophiel's hand.

"T-the entrance!" Mine shouted with bits of desperation in his voice.

The eerie, deathly silence enveloped the cave, which was abruptly shattered as loose rocks tumbled from the entrance, their sharp clatter echoing ominously through the chamber the group was in. Each stone's fall reverberated like a warning, covering inches of the group's one way out.

"Less talking and more running!" Addai stressed, carrying a startled Mine in his arms.

Mine barely had time to protest or even feel flustered as the ride jostled him violently. Zophiel, too, shared Mine's fate, suddenly scooped up into someone's arms without warning. Unlike Mine, the angel offered no resistance, instead burying his face in Mephistopheles's neck. Amid the chaos of their frantic escape, Mine caught a glimpse of Mephistopheles and Zophiel, a mirrored reflection of himself and Addai. But Zophiel’s intimate gesture was something Mine couldn’t imagine doing; besides, they were racing toward the crumbling entrance, leaving no time for such thoughts!