As the doors hit the sides of rocky walls, leaving an echo rippling through the gallery of bookcases, a bit of dust trickles from above. Alex watches Thana go inside the darkened library as he, too, follows within. Staring at the glowing light of the staff, a spark flies through, trailing behind some emanating energies and small spheres of light. The sparks soon turn into embers and soot. Alex, nervous of this, stops in his tracks as the doors collapse their hinges and close. 

Chromatic, bubble-like formations slosh along in front of him as Thana is well away on a higher platform, looking back at him. "Do not be afraid, they are only here because they are dead." Alex is confused. Thana sighs. "Come... I'll show you." Alex hesitantly and slowly starts walking in their direction. A larger glass bowl with the same metal architecture is in the middle of this grand archive. Tablets line the room and glowing scriptures resonate as he nears them. As he gets distracted by these tablets, Thana motions him over and the emissions fade as he passes them. 

Stepping up the staircase, Alex confronts the glass cauldron. A subtly shining and oozing liquid is within. "This is called a 'cairn'." Thana proceeds to pour the lantern's 'flame' into the cairn slowly. As it falls, a smokey ether begins to form like a mist, splashing outward as a puff of air and dithering out of sight. "And this..." He puts the lantern down and oversees the bowl's inhabitant. "Is a soul..." Alex watches the ethereal jellyfish as he notices a hint of bitterness in the air. Something didn't feel correct but it also felt very familiar. He didn't have a vessel but he felt something within his core... something negative. 

Dark smoke trailed around the cases of tabloids, some falling and cracking on the ground. Thana's hair swishes behind them from the violent turbulence. As their hair lowers in unkempt fashion, they angrily express their dissatisfaction to the now-appearing entity that stands before them, preening their hair back to its luscious and soft status. "Ugh... you again..." The entity rolls his eyes, deflecting Thana's gaze as they stare at him with piercing eyes behind their thin veil. Alex cocks their head at the shadowy figure but then realizes... this is that being he saw back at the plains. He tumbles backward, his shoulders against the metal of the cairn. He is anxiously wary of him now. The shadow that was watching him-- no, stalking him. 

The entity shakes his head and deforms his scythe into an armlet with a rippling, dark orb the size of a marble nestled within a socket. The entity sighs, revealing their gnashing and pointy teeth in a snicker. Thana retracts this behavior and speaks out. "What are you doing here...?" They also see Alex trembling in fear of the entity. Thana looks at Alex and pats their shoulder to calm them. "You're scaring Ae--... uhm... Alex." Alex heard 'eye' just now. What an odd way to say his name.

Thana crosses their arms and taps their paw on the ground, swishing their tail around impatiently. They shake their head. "Ker you know you're supposed to be on duty, you know... reaping?." Ker kicks some pebbles on the ground, bothered at this reminder. Ker turns his head back to Alex who is watching Thana untangle the soul's ethereal roots. Alex notices him and looks at him, his eyebrows slightly furled in anger of his actions before. "So you got away... so what..." Alex's expression turns even more bitter. "I was meant to give you a message... just had to find the right time to do so. Apparently your friends are very persistant... and annoying." Ker, leaning against a pole and crossing his arms, closes his eyes. "You were supposed to meet Deimoros." Thana looks up and flicks their head to Ker's direction. "Really? Wait, I thought he wanted to stay out of this... because of..." Thana slightly turns their pupils towards Alex. As he stares back, Thana hides their reaction. "Understood... I suppose." Says Thana. Ker gets up, speaking aloud their previous plan's flaw, "But it's a very long distance away from here and... we don't know what is up with the connection between him and The Artificer--" Thana rushes and closes Ker's mouth, forcing him behind a case wall. 

Alex can hear them bickering left and right but not so much that he can hear the words. He looks into the cairn and another feeling flows through him. His heart is light as if something is familiar as well, with this wisp. His mind tries to remember but can't come up with a proper image. The pictures keep tearing, snowing up. He can remember the hair and skin color but nothing else. Only a smile... a... room... a hallway. Wooden floors lined a corridor, lacquered and deep colored with a light tint between layers. The walls patterned with triangular geometry, warped squares and laced with off-white plaster, a dark navy fill enhancing these details. A room... two singular beds... for some reason it kept flickering in and out of existance, the ring in the center, a machine turning into a black void. 

Alex snaps out of this madness, he breathes in and out heavily as both Thana and Ker watch him freak out. He holds his heart. His form is mishapen and distorting. His spirit is fading away. "Alex... act as though you are breathing in and out." Thana speaks to him as he's trembling, his form is stabilizing but static like a screen flickering between frames. "I remember... darkness..." Thana and Ker listen to him. "Alex you should not think for a moment. It's dangerous. You need to go back to your body." Ker, distraught by Thana's decision is now unsure how he will report back to Deimoros. "Do you have any idea what I'm supposed to do now, Thana?..." Thana takes a moment and looks at Ker. "I'm supposed to take his soul to meet up with the literal grim reaper... What do I do now?!" Thana shakes their head. "Ker... think for a moment. Alex is far away from his vessel... if we take him any further than Pluto, espeeeecially an exoplanet farther than three galaxies, then HOW in the quies' void are we supposed to report to 'HER' about her precious Amalgamation???" Ker stands dumbfounded for a moment, the gears in his head grinding, trying to think. Thana pinches the bridge of his nose, bothered. "We won't... the connection to his vessel will be severed, he will be offline and she will NOT be happy... and WE will NOT be ALIVE... HM??? Get it now??" Ker violently shakes his head "Ugh I don't understand I cannot follow anything you're saying... whatever this is in your hands I'm revoking the job and reporting to Deimoros that you're now his guide...cya!" He poofs away into a shadowy trail, leaving them both to determine their own fate.

As Alex heaves while he's on his back, Thana stomps the ground, turning around to monitor the soul in the cairn. They sigh for a bit, take the tablets off the ground and then put them all back on the shelves. Thana walks over to Alex as he is laying down and squats down next to him. "Alex... let me tell you some guidance and information to abide by as you're on that planet." Alex looks over and nods to them. 

Thana gets ready and starts down the list. "So Alex... your real name, or, at least your full first name is 'Alexander', understood?" Alex sits up as he listens to Thana's soothing voice. "Sounds familiar..." Thana nods. "It will... and that comes to the most important source of information you should know next to the others... don't look for information, it will find you. Also, once you go back to your body, you will have immense pain in your mind. I just want you to be aware." Alex is worried. "Why?" Thana replies to him, "Your vessel is a physical attachment to this world, created solely for the purpose of tethering your soul to this realm just like a body would, this is all I can say at least about that... your 'brain' is... different" Alex replies, "What's a brain?" Thana laughs lightly and stares. "It's just how you think and keep memories." Alex looks down. "Memories...?" Thana smiles for a moment and speaks. "Hh... okay. Also... you want to know how to get off Aphrodite, correct?" Alex looks up, "Aphrodite?" Thana nods, "Yes, the planet your vessel is on right at this moment." Alex raises one eyebrow but nods. "Find... 'The Obelisk'... Okay?" Alex thinks for a bit but has no idea what Thana means. "You'll know when you see it... just search for a tall tower. It's brass in color and material. When activated, it will glow green." Alex remembers a similar outer shell. The bug robot from before... 

Thana holds him close and gives him a nice hug. "Be safe okay? Don't trip anymore wires." As Thana sees him off, his body slowly fades, his vision turning dark as he enters an odd dreamscape, thana's waving and comforting smile disappearing. It's dark but glowing cyan lines trickle in circular patterns like water. A beating noise like a heart is noticed as a strange voice behind him starts in. "Lazarine" it whispers. 

Alexander's eyes open wide as his heart jumps and he yells, waking between the entire Raphiim household. Breathing deeply, ventilating from fear, tinnitus sets in as he hears dimmed audio from voices surrounding him. Despite this he can understand every one of them. 'Are you okay?', 'Alex oh thank goodness you're safe', 'Hah! Alex you're back!'. Everyone... cares so much about him. But why? He stares at the ceiling, his ears regaining auditory feedback. He opens his mouth to speak, alas, still, nothing comes of it. He supposes his back is still ripped open. He's still damaged. Thankfully he knows something about his past, but what... still no context. That person... that soul... it's important...It's... important...... He falls asleep... silent. Everyone stops talking. They see he still glows, therefore they leave him be. All but Seff. A lone Raphiim sits at Alex's side holding his arm as he recovers fully.