In a strange place

"~!" A loud but muffled voice made Lucian jolt from his deep slumber. 

His head ached from that abrupt movement, and he gripped it the very second. There was a ringing in his ears and the beat of his heart was oddly loud. His hands and feet were cold, but his eyes were unbearably hot.

"Where?" There was a stutter in his voice as it trailed off. He was unaware of where he was and what had happened. 

His vision was blurry and the dried tears made opening his eyes such a difficult task. 

"~!"

There was the call once again, and Lucian felt more determined to find out where it came from. He could not discern the message the person wanted to say, but he was oddly piqued by that voice.

"Who's in there?" 

"Where am I?" Lucian called out as he rubbed his eyes. He looked around and flinched when he saw where he was. He was in the middle of a deserted ancient corridor.

The place was decorated with shining golds and the high ceiling was lined with gigantic chandeliers. They swung around as if about to fall, and the twinkle of their light was undeniably pleasing. Despite them being a feast for the eyes, Lucian still felt terrified. 

What would happen if all of that fell? He would surely get crushed to death.

Lucian threw those thoughts out of his mind, and instead, he let his eyes wander around. The corridor he was in seems to belong into a royal kingdom. It was wide and ridiculously tall, seemingly endless even.

'Where the hell am I?' he was too old to even think this was a mere television prank, so that couldn't be it. 

"Hello!" Lucian's voice echoed in the corridor, which gradually transitioned to shorter syllables as it reached further places.

There was no window around, and it was a difficult task to find out the time without a clock's insight.

"Hello!" Lucian called out again as he began to move. He has two options: to go behind or to go ahead. Lucian decided to move ahead despite his hesitation. Behind him was darkness and the feeling of something ominous made him choose the way ahead. The way ahead of him was oddly bright. It was as if these contrasting hallways were guiding him where to go.

He tried to wrack his brain for any possible answer as to why he was here and what exactly happened. He then remembered how he fell unconscious at his home when he opened the door to someone.

Could this be it?

Lucian had an inkling that this wasn't a normal thing. Could it be another supernatural incident? Telepathy was possible--could this be teleportation?

"What has come to my life?"

He had been utterly shocked so numerous times that he could no longer feel astonished by these things. Although he was no doubt terrified and cautious, he was far from amazed.

"The end of the path," the voice once again spoke. It was a male voice, the same as earlier. This time, Lucian was able to hear what the voice wanted to say.

"The end of the path?" Lucian frowned at those words. What does that mean? 

Could it be... the man was at the end of this hall?

Lucian fastened his pace until he was already running. For some reason, he was anxious to find out where this hall would take him.

Would there be answers at the end of this path? That was what he was pondering about--but when he reached the end of the hallway, what welcomed him made him even more terrified.

"Ha-ha..." Lucian laughed as his eyes widened from shock. 

"W-what the hell is this?" The man's face twitched uncontrollably. What he saw before him was humanly and logically impossible. 

No doubt, this wasn't a normal thing---the Gods must have been involved again.

He thought answers would welcome him at the end of the path, but what he saw was a humongous golden door. A ridiculously big door. The size made one think it was meant for titans. 

Lucian craned his neck to see where the door's ends was, but the door extends much higher that it was not visible. He couldn't even see the ceiling in this part, but when he looked behind where the corridor was, its ceiling was comparably smaller despite the fact that the two were connected. He used to think that ceiling was too high for comfort, but now it looks so low.

"Come forth" The previous voice startled Lucian but what he noticed first was the voice' order.

'You want me to enter? How the hell am I going to even open this?' He looked at the humongous door, feeling incredulous. 

That was impossible. The door was too huge! He was like an ant in front of it.

"Come forth" The voice turned smaller as if it was hanging onto something. 

'Come forth? Come forth?---just how the hell?' Lucian wanted to kick someone in the ass, but there was no one around. 

'Goddamnit' He doesn't want to enter. But if the Gods went into the trouble of putting him here then there must be an important thing he had to know. He was afraid of missing this chance.

"The hell with it" Lucian gulped and resolved himself to open the door. The moment his hands touched the solid surface, the door open as if its size was a mere joke.

"What? What the hell?" 

'It was that easy to open?' Lucian thought it might have been adjusted so he could enter and calmed himself down. 

He moved the door to further open it and what welcomed him made him gulp the nth time.

It was a...terrifying view.

Inside of the door was a humongous metal cage resembling a prison. 

"W-what the?" 

Lucian almost stumbled over when he saw a giant man inside that prison, bounded by an even bigger golden chain. 

The man's golden hair shone brightly and his black wings slightly trembled, as if it was attempting to break free.

He gulped as he thought of what to do. The giant man hadn't looked his way but he was sure the other knows he had entered. Just as he was thinking of that, the giant man opened his eyes. Lucian was greeted by a pair of golden eyes.

'Oh fudge' His adrenaline rush was activated and Lucian's body instantly chose the flight option.  

Lucian, with a trembling knee, tried to ran away. However, the giant man was alerted by his action and spoke quickly.

"Halt!" The giant man's voice boomed inside the room and Lucian instantly froze in his spot. 

'W-whats this? W-wh--" Lucian tried to move his body, but it remained frozen stiff. He was afraid for certain but he wasn't the type to freeze over his fears.

"You would not be able to move without my permission" The giant man spoke after a long sigh. He closed his eyes and breathed raggedy, he was worribly worn out after he used a portion of his powers. 

"Why are you doing this?" Lucian wanted to ran away but couldnt. The door was right in front of him and all he had to do was to reach for it, but this unknown God seems to be intent on holding him captured.

He was aware that this God might be able to give him useful answers, but in front of an inhuman sight, Lucian would much rather flee than listen. 

'There must be some other way to find information than facing this God?' Just the thought of the God squashing him to pieces made him tremble. It wasn't impossible, afterall from what Sherdan had hinted, he wasn't meant to be here.

'What if he step on me? Would I be crushed from head to toe?' Lucian trembled in fear at the sudden thought. 

The God behind him who could hear his thoughts sighed.

"You are not summoned to die" 

"I wanted to warn you about Clepsydra, relay this message to your mortal" 

"My mortal?" Lucian thought for a second and realized the giant man might be pertaining to Sherdan when he mentioned "mortal". He and Sherdan were the only mortald who was linked to the God and the two of them were even binded by a golden thread. 

That aside, Clepsydra?

"Clepsydra the Goddess of Time and Universe?" 

The God raised its head and stared at the mortal with a surprised face. It seems the other mortal the Goddess was so obsessed with had informed his other half about the Goddess.

"The Goddess wanted you to vanish from your other half's life"

"!"

"B-be ca--" The Giant Man still seems to have a lot of things he wanted to say, but was cut off when Lucian was suddenly vanished out of the God's realm.

--- 

"Then die"  

Silence enveloped the room when Sherdan dropped those words. It was insensitive, but he certain it was well deserved.

It was stupid of him to believe that Friedde could be sincere even just for one moment. 

It was idiotic to even feel a bit of curiosity towards the guy.

Friedde laughed as if he found that funny. His voice was all one could hear inside the room and even after several minutes passed, his laughter did not ceased.

Arice stood beside the door for a while before he decided to enter, the moment he did he, bumped against Sherdan who was just about to go out.

"Scum"