Nero lost his way for an hour before finding an abnormal path leading down. The floor itself appeared to be crooked at first but then shifted to downhill, and Nero felt dropping down to hell, slamming his back against a door, he opens it and falls further down into a temple of some sort.
He hides behind a pillar and listens to different sounds echoing monstruously from the main room. A group of people chanting, worshipping in robes. One of them, alerted by the noise, came to see. Nero, having to take a decision right now, slices his throat with a knife and puts down the body silently.
While the others are still staring at the blinding blue light, he searches the body for information. A ring, with the Thorned Circle on it, a book, from the Honored Library and some scriptures on sheets of paper. Nero grabs all of it but instead of leaving, he takes his sweet time and tries to go into it deeper.
"This world doesn't stop at guns, we were the puppets of something bigger than us. I always had a gift after all, it can't come from nowhere, there has to be a source. They're obviously revering a deity of some sort."
The men kept chanting, arms stretched to the light, "YAEL, YAEL. FREE US FROM THIS WORLD YAEL. KILL EFALIS FOR US, YAEL."
"I'm not hallucinating, they just mentionned Efalis. I have to get back to Kenza but...how could I ever leave this place? They clearly have somehing I've been looking for personally."
"INTRUDER", a female voice announces.
"It's not like I can just go back. The door that led me here has disappeared the second I fell on the ground."
In a second of thinking, Nero brought the corpse of his victim to the group, throwing him on the ground.
"Look! Look at him! The way he betrayed you by being so weak! His sacrifice will ensure the return of Yael! He unfortunately existed to be sacrificed for me to take his place! My name is Ismael, and my gift is to tell who went to Heaven and who went to Hell! I am one of you, by fate! By the will of Yael!"
"I have no idea what I'm doing, but Yael seems to be the center focus point of their worship and the fact that I have a gift implies a connection. We all know that cult leaders and followers love everything that could indicate a link to something greater than us. I simply connected the dots, now let's hope for the best."
"We have a fallen comrade here, Ismael. The one you've just killed. Bury him, my brothers. Let's see what you can do."
"Once again I join an organization against my will...well, what do you want. I need results and I need answers."
After a proper ceremony during which Nero was highly respectful, he put a knee down and two fingers up on his right hand that went down to the grave, showing a very visible white wind of purity.
"He's into Heaven."
"Bless Yael", they all said at unisson.
"I would like to see the altar."
"Certainly, Ismael."
They bring him closer to it and he extends his hand into the water going up and disappearing into the air around the ceiling. It was fresh, pure, unstained and attractive. A female figure appears as the water amount doubles, then triples, engulfing Ismael whole.
The feminine hand reaches out to him, he hears a voice calling him.
"My brother." As they make contact, he feels a disruption and wakes up in his bed at Kenza. He takes a moment to analyze the situation and comes to a conclusion.
Despite his need to sleep more, he violently leaves his bed and dresses up to warn Awane about everything.
"Mistress, hear me."
"You haven't made anything yet, slave. What are you doing here?"
"The day has already gone by, actually. I've made contact and I'm back. I went to the town, I met with professor Cameleste and I talked with the sect I found."
"Do tell me more."
"I had physical contact with Yael, the entity they worship. I killed one of theirs and used my gift to make them understand I was telling the truth. When I touched her hand, she said "my brother"."
"She's your sister? The one in charge of all this shit?"
"Strong possibility at the moment, Mistress. I'll gather more intel."
"What are you doing, you've been there already."
"But they don't know about that. Now that I'm certain about everything, nothing will get in my way."
"As planned, everything that happened before happened again. I was able to transmit more informations to professor Cameleste, telling him everything I knew so far. The capra in the museum and the sect accepted me as one of theirs instantly. It's all so easy when you've done it before!"
"Now, I shall demonstrate my connection with Yael!"
"I'm doing too much but how can I not? This is so fun."
Nero extends his hand to the current of water that grows in lenghts and size, as the feminine hand once again reaches out to him.
The voice says "my brother", Ismael responds "my sister". He's being taken in the current, while his body remains in the water, his mind is being taken somewhere else.
"Don't stray. Stay behind me."
"I'm following her, now? She does have a reassuring presence. I hope she's worth of trust. For now I'll put my faith in her."
"There it is, Ismael. I'm glad you were able to survive wars and conflicts to get to me now. Long ago, only Outer Gods could influence the course of history, laugh at the lesser races and make of the world what they wanted. But I was born and I could progressively warp reality to my liking and they hated that. So they built in a sort of hierarchy that considers the one on the throne, currently Efalis, to be the one in charge of this entire world system. Who lives, who dies, and it worked for a while, but not anymore, for we have you now, and we can count on you to kill him in the most gruesome way possible. Free this shit world, Ismael. Break his skull on the ground of the earth and silence him. And when it's done, take his place."