It was dark...
"Have you heard?"
"Heard what?"
"Apparently Princess Athanasia De Alger Obelia has died"
"What?! How!"
"No one knows but rumors have been going on that it was his majesty Emperor Claude..."
"...But why would his Majesty kill his own daughter?"
"They say it was black magic..."
I snapped my eyes open wide and immediately my body shot upwards.
'W-What... was that...?' I felt my body shaking all over as a cold sweat began to broke up but I soon noticed that the ground felt much harder than I remembered like I was on rock and my surroundings was dark.
"Wait... where am I?" I asked nobody particularly as I looked around to see only darkness as if I was in a cave system.
"This isn't... Uruk..." I said as I slowly got up onto my feet only to notice that my clothes are also different as before I was wearing royal clothing but now I was just wearing a simple white dress.
"What is this.... Did somebody changed me in my sleep?!" As I yelled my voice echoed throughout the caves which told me that it was empty for the most part... probably...
Suddenly small blue flames began to light up the room I was in to which I sharply turned around to see I really was in a cave with other tunnels but all the flames created a sort of pathway that led to one of the tunnels in front of me.
"Am I supposed to go through this one?" I questioned despite that no one was here to hear me, or was there?
I stood in front of the entrance of the tunnel for a little while unsure of what to do but honestly I was beginning to feel the cold creeping in as I stood still.
'Better than doing nothing...' with that thought I began to walk forward into the tunnel with the small flames as my light and guide forward but honestly I'm not sure what I will find at the end of this tunnel.
'I hope I can make it home'
———————————————————
The situation wasn't good...
Gilgamesh, Enkidu and Lucas all stood in front of Athanasia who dead and lying on Gilgamesh bed and everyone had grim looks.
"This doesn't make any sense..." Gilgamesh said as he stared down his dead daughter with a look of anger, sadness, indignation and maybe denial.
"How did this happen?" Lucas asked as he had a somewhat emotionless look on his face but underneath he was seething ready to kill whoever killed his beloved princess.
"After king Gilgamesh left, I came to find the princess as she hadn't returned to her room due to his majesty prolonged time with the officials... but when I came I found her dead..." the maid known as Lillian was speaking as traces of tears fell down her face clearly she was trying to hold it back.
"...Gil..." finally Enkidu who was silent spoke up calling his best friend name.
"What is it?"
"Athanasia... she has the feeling of death over her..." Enkidu spoke with grimness clearly understanding what had happen.
"Death?" Gilgamesh repeated once more to clarify
"You mean like a curse of death?" Lucas asked as he was beginning to piece together what had happened.
"Yes, it wouldn't make sense for a normal healthy girl such as the little one to suddenly die meaning someone either cursed her to die or the goddess of the underworld had some part in it, though I would not know why...." Enkidu explained as Gilgamesh face consorted into anger.
"If I find out that it a mongrel who did this, they will lose their head and if it was that miserable goddess then she will have a lot to answer for!" Gilgamesh yelled out in anger although this only succeeded in making Lucas and Enkidu sweat drop at their king's words.
'How does he plan on challenging the goddess of the underworld in her own territory?' Lucas silently thought as he kept looking at Gilgamesh.
"Nonetheless it seems like what we should do now is clear" Enkidu being the calm and rational one between Lucas emotionless face and Gilgamesh wrath began to speak.
"Yes, we go to the underworld and demand that the princess soul gets released, right?" Lucas asked just to confirm but honestly he can't remember who the goddess of the underworld was.
"Correct however Gil, I cannot come with you to the underworld" Enkidu added on and Gilgamesh knew since death itself makes Enkidu uncomfortable since in a way he is considered life or the untamed nature to be exact.
"I understand, mage you'll be staying here with Enkidu" Gilgamesh said gesturing to Lucas
"Yes, your majesty" though no malice in his words, Lucas was considerably pissed since how he never really liked being told what to do and Gilgamesh always seemed to earn that anger despite Lucas best efforts at hiding for Athanasia sake.
"King Gilgamesh, will you really be going to the underworld on your own?" Siduri who was present yet quiet making it easy to forget that she was there spoke up with worry laced in her tone.
"No one else is capable other than me" that was all Gilgamesh said before he walked out.
'No one else huh?' Lucas couldn't help himself as he smirked clearly he wasn't gonna get stopped just because he was ordered to.
"Lord Enkidu, please watch over the princess body and ensure no one buries her" Lucas said calmly as Enkidu nodded not thinking much of what Lucas was gonna do.
———————————————————
It truly did feel like I was walking for hours in this tunnel with only the flames as my light but even so sometimes I would stumble onto a hard rock and hurt my foot but I never felt pain which was odd.
"How much further do I have to keep walking?" I mumbled a bit but right after I said that the tunnel expanded open into a bigger cave but this time there were stairs and more blue flames seemly locked in cages.
"What the..." I looked around to see in the middle and the source of the stairs that there was a large open space at the very bottom.
'If this is a cave then I should go up the stai—' just as that thought crossed my mind...
"Athanasia"
I heard someone call my name and it came from the bottom as I swiftly looked in that direction and for a moment I held me breath in suspense of something happening but nothing did.
'Did I imagine it?' Maybe it being in this cave that was getting to me but I felt like someone was calling for me to come down there.
But I quickly shook my head trying to get rid of any feelings I was feeling.
"No! I'm gonna go back up to the surface and go home!" I yelled out unnecessarily loud perhaps to convince myself more.
"Where is home?" Suddenly I heard a voice and a disturbingly familiar one as I turned around I saw myself... however I looked like my Korean child girl self in my first life.
"W-What...?"
"We have no home... remember? We died and with no family... no friends we are always being betrayed by those who should've taken care of us..." my past child self said in a sad tone as she stared my down with those blank black eyes.
"Dad... is waiting for me..." I said trying to remain resolute in my words but I could myself shaking.
"Don't you know? Your dead" my child self said and I found myself falling into a pit of despair and denial
"N-No! I-I'm right here!"
"This is the underworld"
The more I thought about the more it made sense, the caves, the blue flames meaning they were souls, the darkness and cold feeling.
But how?
"I c-can't... no, no, no... not again!" I yelled as I grabbed my head which started to throb in pain as I felt my world go black.
"Again... like always..." I heard my past self mumbling but I couldn't hear anything over my head pounding with pain and my ears ringing and I collapsed to my knees.
"...Daddy... Lucas, Enkidu... help me..." I weakly called out but soon I felt a pair of hands on my arms.
"Are... Are you alright?" This time I heard a soft voice filled with uncertainty unlike my past self and I looked up to see... Ishtar...?
No... not Ishtar... this woman had blonde hair but had the same red eyes as Ishtar.
"Who are you...?" I asked