Ephialtes: trapped in Nether-garden

It was dark.

His body hurt.

He was exhausted.

When he opened his eyes, nothing changed. The shadows just grew darker, the pain more unbearable, and the fatigue increased. Then, he remembered.

" Velcaaar!" Alden shot up in alarm. "Where is he-?"

"Not here." A voice piped up.

Alden looked to the source, and found Aerith's blue eyes observing him. It was then he realized something.

"Wait... where are we?"

This place...

It was like the the inside of some ant hole. It was cave-like, with several openings around them. The biggest hole, led to some wider space. Alden stood up, and walked toward that hole, he walked into the tunnel, and it grew wider.

"I'd advise you to be cautious of your step there, human."

Alden paused at his summons words. Then he took a few careful steps forward before he understood what Aerith was speaking about. As the cave grew wider, it revealed something. A giant hole so deep, Alden could barely see the bottom.

The hole was gigantic.

So wide it was, that Alden could not see where it ended. He turned around, and returned to Aerith.

"Where the hell we?" Alden said, almost frustratingly. All his life, he had never felt weaker then he'd felt against Velcar. The entire fight, he did not get except but a single hit in... and now, he was trapped in the middle of nowhere. He was frustrated... confused, and fed up.

"From what it looks like, we are no longer in your world. We are now in Ephialtes, my world.

~~

"What?" Alden could not believe what he heard. In Aerith's world? That meant the world where all the dungeon masters were from, right? Then...

"How do I go back? There must be some way?" Alden asked, moving closer to Aerith, desperation on his face.

"It is perhaps possible to leave this place. Someone with a strong enough space element could be able to help, there are a few... but..."

"But?"

"We have to get out of this place first..."

Alden looked around him. 'Oh yeah... what was this hellhole anyways,' he thought.

As if he read his mind, Aerith spoke.

"This place, is a prison. One, that was made for monsters... and titans. When I was young and we misbehaved, they'd scare us with this place. This thing was built more then a millennia ago. Who built it? How? Nobody knows. However, this prison has proven to be effective. For almost a thousand years, nobody has escaped this abyss."

"So before that, there were those who managed to escape?"

"One. He was a maniac, and a calamity."

Alden sat down, deep in thought. If this place was truly as Aerith said... Then would he be able to escape? Would he go home? Would he ever see his mother... or his friends... ever again?

"No... there must be some way... somehow!" Alden said, trying to convince himself. He had always done the impossible. He just had to try, and try, until he got it right.

"Hey." Alden stood up, and walked to Aerith. "Tell me as much as you know about the structure of this place."

Aerith closed his eyes.

"Very well."

From what Aerith said, Alden deduced that the prison was actually, a bottomless hole. Within the walls of the hole, there were tunnels, which could be used for travelling. Aerith said said that within these walls, cities, lakes, and even green life could be found.

Apparently, the tunnels within these worlds, had a sort of pattern to them. The tunnels, they would end, and begin, at points, known as floors. The tunnels basically acted as a pathway from floor, to floor. There were, over a thousand floors, however, only up to 7 floors, had been explored.

Another point that Aerith mentioned however, interested Alden.

In these tunnels, were monsters, each of which numbered approximately A-rank and above. That meant, the strongest monsters found in this place, would be far above S-rank. Each of those monsters, were walking catastrophes.

"This won't be an easy escape..." Alden said thoughtfully.

Aerith nodded.

"Far from easy."

Before Alden did anything, however, he decided to heal his wounds. However, as he tried to activate the ability, something strange happened.

[SYSTEM ERROR!]

[USER HAS LEFT SYSTEM RANGE!]

[SYSTEM ERROR!]

[SYSTEM DEACTIVATED! SYSTEM DEACTIVATED]