Act 3: Path of the Stars - Chapter 3 (I)

Amid the mountain mist, the dark silhouette of a forgotten building appeared between the dark peaks. The elf used the rocks to help himself up the steep mountain path, watching his steps carefully as the thick fog covered everything around them – so thick that he could barely see Miyaji's back in front of him, though he could tell his partner had slowed down to wait for him.

The two of them had been traveling for an entire week before they managed to reach this remote region following the other Archivist's notes.

And finally, after hiking up for so long, the old monastery came into view.

With his hands on his knees, Kyusaku stopped for a bit to catch his breath. "We're finally here..." He said, the cool mountain air almost setting his throat and lungs on fire.

"No wonder it took so long to find this place, it's really well hidden," Miyaij commented, carefully observing their surroundings and clearly on his guard.

"There was a powerful barrier set up as well," Kyusaku noted as he straightened up and stretched his back, finally feeling a bit better. "It's honestly a miracle that Archivist managed to find it, considering they're not that competent."

The elf walked up to his companion, who had stopped in front of the building. Carved directly in the mountain's side, the sinister monastery towered over them, and a shiver ran down his spine as memories of his dreams came back to him. He had only been able to sleep peacefully thanks to everything Miyaji had brought him that day, though he did ask him to use the incense in moderation as it was apparently quite difficult to obtain. He couldn't help but wonder if that thing would have kept going after him without all these efforts.
By contrast, Miyaji had seemed quite fatigued lately, which had started to show on his face. Kyusaku watched him with concern, but his partner was too engrossed in his observation of the ruins to notice it. He knew Miyaji had a bad habit of keeping things to himself; he knew because he shared that same habit, which Miyaji had forced him to break.

It occurred to him that although he didn't know much about Miyaji, he still knew a lot about him – he may have no idea where he came from or how long he'd lived, but he knew all his little habits and mannerisms by heart.

"Let's check out the inside," Miyaji declared after a while, briefly looking his way before entering the ruins, Kyusaku following close behind. "I don't sense any danger for now."

The interior was cold, dark, and dusty, much like all ruins they'd visited before, and their footsteps echoed against the stone walls as they walked through what appeared to be a hall. Kyusaku lit up a lantern before they progressed further, revealing the countless dust particles in the air that were disturbed by their steps.

The elf sneezed, which echoed throughout the entire monastery for a good minute.

"I won't say "bless you" because you're already blessed just by me being here," his partner joked.

"Very funny. Though, considering you did save my life multiple times, maybe having you here really is a blessing." A smile appeared on his face and he added, "But I'm glad you're making jokes again. You were so tense lately, I was beginning to worry."

Miyaji seemed surprised for a moment, but quickly, a soft smile formed on his face, and before he could say anything, he was dragged into his partner's arms.

"Sorry for making you worry."

"It's alright... but why are you suddenly hugging me?"

"I'm recharging, don't worry about it."

"What does that mean?? You know, if you were anyone else, I'd have sliced you in half already," he joked, returning the hug – he had no idea what could be going through his mind, but whatever. "The only other person allowed to hug me so casually is my Master, and he was like family to me."

"And you're letting me. Does that mean we're close enough to be family?"

I can't believe I just thought that would be nice.

"… Anyway, we should probably start our investigation."

Not giving him a chance to tease him, he promptly pushed him away and hurried further inside before he could say anything else, Miyaji following him with a huge, satisfied grin on his face.

Exploring the monastery, Kyusaku couldn't help but feel... kind of disappointed. The main hall was empty, safe for a few crudely-made stone tables and a lot of dust. Most of the rooms on the surface had already been checked by the Archivist who came before them, and they didn't find anything new here.
The only thing truly of note were murals depicting dark greyish hands covered in eyes with golden rims and pupils and filled with a vivid shade of blue. Towards the bottom of the murals were small cloaked figures who seemed to be praying to the hands. Bolts of fabric hung from the ceiling, some painted with fading inscriptions. Between the paints and the fabrics, this area of the monastery was significantly more colorful than the rest.

It was only after exploring for a while that they discovered a large, heavy stone door blocked by rubble.

"I think this door was mentioned in the Archivist's notes," Kyusaku remembered. "No wonder they couldn't explore this place in its entirety."

The two of them immediately set to work, clearing out the path in no time. The door was extremely heavy, and it must have needed at least five people to open it – but Miyaji pushed it open effortlessly. The elf arched a brow but despite the look he gave him, his partner only smiled. It's like he gave up pretending to be human...

Beyond the door was a staircase.

Now, from experience, the elf knew that whatever was stored underground was usually more interesting than what was easily accessible on the surface. That was where they were bound to find treasure, valuable texts, secret letters, and of course... bodies. Considering this was a monastery, it wouldn't be strange to find tombs and their inhabitants.

A shiver ran down his spine and he quickly shoved this thought to the back of his mind as they made their way down.

About halfway through, they found a library. Just like the rest of the furniture, the shelves were carved directly in the stone. Everything was covered in dust and cobwebs, making the elf cough as he picked up a book.

The volumes were thick and ancient, and extremely well-preserved. However, Kyusaku quickly realized they wouldn't be able to get anything out of them.

"These are all sealed," he commented.

His partner let out a sigh.

The seals protecting these books were quite ancient, so much so that even if he theoretically knew how to break them, he wouldn't risk it. One wrong move and the book could go up in flames, or even worse. He knew very well his own limitations when it came to magic, and he'd rather not risk getting cursed a second time. Once was enough!
I'll ask Tsubari to find someone to take a look at these later... Even one of the experts at the Archives would need to thoroughly investigate these books to be able to unseal them and reveal the secrets hidden inside.

"Kyusaku, I found something interesting."

The elf's ears twitched and he put down the volume he was checking out as he turned around to see his partner approach him, eyes gliding across the text of an opened book.

"This seems to be the diary of a monk," he explained before handing it to him.

The diary started out normal, recording mundane things such as the weather, how long the monk had meditated that day and what he had eaten. In short, a completely ordinary diary. Though Kyusaku enjoyed reading those ordinary diaries as they offered a glimpse into what life was like in a time no one remembered and quite often mentioned unexpected details, he wasn't really interested in reading about a monk's daily life from centuries ago at the moment.

However, his opinion quickly changed as he flipped through the pages, coming across something unusual. Now he understood why this seemingly random diary had caught his partner's attention.

About midway through, something happened. According to the diary, it seemed like that monk had finally been chosen to participate in an important ritual that would supposedly let him access the Plane of Clarity. Naturally, he was delighted by the news, and it was evident in his writing. He rejoiced about how his years of devotion and hard work were finally paying off.

It didn't take long for that joy to fade as a drastic change occurred over the next few pages.

At first, the monk mentioned being allowed to drink that same potion that turned everyone at the Archives into soulless corpses, starting from a small dose and increasing it day by day. Though Kyusaku wasn't exactly sure what the effects of that potion were supposed to be – especially since the plants used at the time had changed a bit over the centuries –, but he could guess that it helped one enter a deep state of focus. This correlated with the monk's records, who seemed to be meditating for longer each day, until he reached a point where that was the only thing he did, and he spent up to eight hours meditating every single day.
Finally, the diary mentioned the Plane of Clarity. After meditating so much, the monk had been able to glimpse it, only to immediately return to his sense, the excitement dragging him out of this deep meditative state. He began to see it every time he started to meditate, being able to stay longer each time, until it even started appearing in his dreams.

The monk was overjoyed. He would finally be able to meet their deity, and receive enlightenment.

"Come to think of it," Kyusaku said, breaking the silence, "these monks seem to worship some kind of deity, but we've barely seen any mentions of it."

"... The hands," Miyaji replied after a moment.

He remembered the strange murals and felt that made sense.

Going back to the diary, the monk then described how he started the second phase of the ritual. Now that he could basically access the Plane of Clarity at will, he entered seclusion in one of the underground chambers of the monastery. At this point, he spent all his time meditating and sleeping, only eating once a day. His diet had changed, and he was eating exclusively a kind of fruit that grew deep underground, below the monastery. They were nutritious enough that a single plate of them kept him full of energy for the entire day.
Kyusaku wasn't really sure what this fruit was, and didn't recognize the name; but if he had to guess, it was probably a kind of plant with strong magical properties that didn't exist anymore – that, or it was endemic of this mountain. In any case, he had never heard of it before, and made a note to try to look for it when they progressed deeper.

After the monk entered this period of seclusion, his mental state seemed to be rapidly changing. The diary's records became messy and disorganized, making less and less sense with each page until it became completely incomprehensible, the monk's handwriting turning into nothing more than crude scribbles. The last few decipherable words were about how he'd rather not have known the truth of this world.

"It seems he completely lost his mind after that ritual," Miyaji summarized.

"I'm pretty sure that weird potion is part of it, but that alone can't make you go crazy like that... Those fruits are pretty suspicious, in my opinion."

"There's more underground. If we're lucky, they might still grow there."

After quickly checking that they hadn't missed anything, the Archivists left the library and made their way further down the stairs, their footsteps the only sound filling the oppressing silence. They didn't echo like in the hall earlier, instead completely muffled by the thick stone surrounding them.
The deeper they went, and the narrower the stairs became, until they could barely fit. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the stairs came to an end and they reached a small wooden door. A very small door, actually, with a high threshold that Kyusaku almost tripped on when he opened it.

"What's this place? It has such a small door..."

"Maybe it's for keeping the dead away," Miyaji said, and Kyusaku only realized after a moment that he wasn't making a joke.

"What do you mean?"

"A corpse that has come back to life would not be able to pass through this door because it's too stiff. There are lots of cultures who use tricks like these to keep reanimated corpses out."

The elf felt a shiver run down his spine and turned back towards the newly discovered room, shining the lantern inside. "Why does everything has to be about–" The lantern almost slipped out of his hand as he retreated a few steps with a loud shriek until his back was against Miyaji.

"I guess this means the door is for keeping the dead inside," Miyaij corrected himself, placing a reassuring hand on Kyusaku's trembling shoulder.

"Why does it always has to be about the dead! I hate this!"

"You're the one who chose this job. You can only blame yourself."

"No. It's this job's fault for being so interesting."

Miyaji grabbed the lantern from him and took a step inside, raising it to illuminate the room. It was actually a corridor, with its walls lined with bodies wrapped in cloth who stood unmoving; each had an urn in front of them. Miyaji walked a little further, Kyusaku clinging to his arm, and discovered the corridor took a turn to the left.

"This looks like a maze. Let's not go too deep and leave it to Tsubari to find someone else to investigate."