God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

Bodies were strewn on the ground around him, most of them in two or more pieces. Some of the corpses still squirmed even in death. Cain threw a disgusted glance at them before heading to a cool spot below a tree.

{Valerian}: A soft-petal flower with magical and herbal properties...

Cain stared at the small plant with dark eyes as he carefully plucked it from its roots.

Valerian was a fairly common herb, so finding it wasn't too much of an issue. The main problem was finding the other ingredients.

'The other ingredients are too difficult to acquire right now.'

Cain wasn't a firm believer in playing the hand fate had dealt. However, some things were just simply impossible in certain situations.

Cain let out a sigh, 'Making HP potions right now is quite useless. I need to find another way so we can move forward.'

He commanded the {Dark Soul} to search around before he began moving in a specific direction.

He had long since begun trying to map the entire forest out. He had collected information about every creature he had come across. Their skills, their weaknesses, and their strengths... If he wanted to survive, he needed information the most.

His feet tapped against the dark forest soil as he broke through the wind, careful to avoid any creatures he could. The {Emblem of Darkness} floated above his head, obscuring his body much more than the darkness could.

However, he found nothing...

There still was no end to the forest, there was little change in the topography and environment. All the creatures he saw were still the same...

That was perhaps the most maddening thing about it all. He had once tried climbing the strange trees, and when he did, he was always greeted with the same thing.

He would see what he had always seen. The Marsh plains were behind him, the valley of death was before him, and in the far distance, sat a mountain range that commanded fear and terror in his soul.

However, when he tried jumping from tree to tree, he found out that the mountains or valleys never came closer. Instead, they existed in the distance like the backdrop of a beautiful, imaginary painting. If he tried going back, it was the same thing.

In more ways than one, he was trapped...

Cain had dealt with difficult creatures, but regardless of how powerful they were, he could still hit them and fight. Now, he was up against something he had never faced before. He didn't know how to face it.

Eventually, he just sighed and turned around. Tracing his steps, he arrived at the hollow tree they had made their temporary place of abode.

Sewing the small spark of hope in their eyes made Cain's heart shrivel and die a bit. However, as the bearer of bad news, he had to do his job.

"Nothing..." Cain said as he shook his head.

Jenny frowned deeply, "Just what are we dealing with."

Ignis also had a frown, "I've heard about things like this before. Some are as a result of very powerful creatures, while others are just mystical forces and concepts at play. However, our situation seems a bit unusual."

Cain nodded, "I couldn't agree more. However... There is no use theorizing about it. We need to come up with a plan, or we might never leave this place."

Then with a deeper frown on his face and a dark look in his eyes, Cain spoke again,

"Besides, I don't think this place is the aether realm."

The others exchanged looks but didn't seem surprised. Susan nodded slowly,

"I've read about the aether realm before. Since the system doesn't seem to be interested in helping us, I decided to take some drastic steps." Susan said with a pained look on her face.

Cain was suddenly curious, "What drastic steps? And what details did you find out about the aether realm?"

Susan waved her hand dismissively, "You don't need to worry about that."

She adjusted her posture to sit more comfortably on the bedding of twigs and leaves before clearing her throat,

"From what I read, the aether realm exists beneath the boundary of the Spiritual and physical realms. It is said that due to the position of this realm and its proximity to both the physical and spiritual realms, it adopts the nature of both planes of existence."

"It borders on the spiritual and physical?" Jenny asked with a frown.

Susan nodded, "Yes and no. There is no border between the physical realm and the aether realm. It is the same case with the spiritual realm. As such, it is possible to summon creatures from there to our world."

Cain scratched his head, "If that's the case, then what does that have to do with our situation? I know I said I don't think this is the Aether realm, but that was just a hunch. If there is no boundary between the realms, then that means we can get there just as they can come to our realm. Right?"

Susan shook her head, then smiled, "That's where things get a bit interesting. There is a bit of lore behind the origins of this strange realm."

Ignis rolled her eyes, "That millenium-old tale?"

Cain threw a glance at her, "You know the story too?"

"Of course. Everyone knows this story. Although summoners are not very common throughout the universe, coming across them isn't that much of a surprise. You'll get to hear this story once you've been to a world or two." Ignis said casually.

Cain furrowed his brows, "Sounds like you've heard the story more times than you'd like to."

Ignis grimaced, "Don't even ask..."

Susan let out a chuckle before she continued. The dark atmosphere combined with the mysticism of the tale filled Cain's heartbeat with excitement...

"Long ago, after the Nomad had created the universe, he created the seven primordial Devils. They were called Inixi, the Devil of Disaster, Lurpith, the Devil of the Void, Og-Solath, the Devil of Madness, Gorgoth, the Devil of Violence, Mormon, the Devil of Gluttony, Bemethshal, the Devil of Chaos, and Lyx, the Devil of Death."

"Together, these seven primordial devils began to populate the universe. They bore several new races of devils by mixing their genes and experimenting. They eventually created a world called 'Devil Mountain', the base of their operations..."

"Eons passed, and many new races that were related to the devils, but we're not quite like them were born. As such, the era of devil tyranny began. The devils were wicked and vile beings who knew nothing but to cause chaos, suffering, and destruction. And so, the Nomad decided to abandon them and create a new primordial race, the Celestials..."

Cain listened intently. Obviously, he learned of the creation story before, but he had never read it in detail as there had only been a summary of it within the [Records of Akasha I].

"The Celestials, alongside the primogentors of the lesser devil races fought with the devils and eventually won by destroying the Devil Mountain and chasing them into the void. On that day, the destruction of the Devil Mountain caused the universe to rip open, and a new plane of existence to be birthed. This plane of existence was called the Aether realm."

Susan paused for dramatic effect before she continued,

"Seeing that the devils had been defeated, the lesser devil races chose to leave the physical plane and turn this new plane of existence into their home. Since this new plane of existence was somewhere between the physical and spiritual planes, the creatures that were going there would have to give away a portion of their physical nature as devils in return for access to that plane.

This portion of their bodies became sentient and absorbed the energy of the divide between planes, birthing a new species of creatures, the Abyssals."

Cain's mind swirled as he tried to make sense of this influx of information...

'So those beings I saw as we came to this place are called Abyssals. And they have devilish origins?'

However, Susan wasn't done,

"And so, the lesser devils made the Aether their home. But the Celestials had no intentions of letting their servants off just like that."

A dark stream passed across her face, "You see, the Celestials had no intentions of granting these lesser devils their freedom. They used their combined power to turn that new plane into a prison where they and their generations could pull these servants out of every time they wanted."

Susan took a deep breath, "This is all I know."

Everyone suddenly turned to stare at Ignis who had a blank look on her face. Seeing as she was now the center of attention, she simply shrugged,

"That's all I know as well."

Cain shook his head, "Well, how does that prove that this world is not the Aether realm?"

Susan smiled, "Because the Aether realm is supposed to be a place that is partially spiritual in nature. This place isn't..."

"You mean?" Cain raised an eyebrow as he leaned against the internals of the tree.

"Exactly. This place is a part of the physical world that is linked to the aether realm. Because of this link, it has been influenced greatly by the strange Aether energy."

Cain massaged his temples, "That is... Quite the tale, no, train of thought?"

Susan shook her head, "Well, this is all according to my speculations. I am not sure if I'm just picking at straws or if I'm simply delicious from overusing my mana too many times."

Cain let out a tired sigh, "Well, we can think about this more after we've had something to eat."