Hours passed before they reached the shore, and Morio's cheers were loud and clear as the sky. Yet, it finally seemed that with their arrival came a small change in the atmosphere.

Closing in, the air was much thinner than before. Clouds covered and danced around what Morio speculated to be a massive volcano, which Jyuzou denied, mentioning that Mount Aria is of the same colour, and Morio gave him mean stares.

Now, this landscape of dark green peaks seemed to cover something that didn't resemble anything in Mainland Errarion. It seemed this 'Galliath' was much more mysterious and different from what he expected. Sketching down what he saw, he didn't even realize that the other Morian desperately tried pulling him out of that full-focused state.

With a sigh from Jyuzou and a hand signalling from the boat's pilot (who now looked much older and wiser from the stress the two carried), the Morians finally stepped on very harsh ground.

All the rocks surrounding the tiny stone beach were covered in excessive green, not necessarily moss, but rather, tufts turning into luscious leaves, sometimes even longer vines. There was a humid mist, but the air wasn't dense. For a second, Morio squinted his eyes, as if reminded of Morta's unfriendly landscapes, and at first glance, his notions weren't far off.

If it wasn't the island itself, there were also these sharp boulders sticking out of the ocean, turning into edges and cliffs, subtly brown but yet, the reassuring emerald tint invaded the misty fogs. In the distance, faint but well-known sounds of water crashing down into rivers sounded.

Nevertheless, his unsureness quickly snapped hearing a bell sounding through the only viable and safe path that didn't lead back into the boat. The two stood back, carefully observing, as one man, with short white hair and a darker complexion, rode atop a brown horse, which carried three more stallions behind.

"Horses." Morio tugged Jyuzou's forearm.

"Amazing observation, Morio." Jyuzou snarked.

The man gave a quick thumbs-up to the guy on the boat, and eventually, the latter started making manoeuvres towards leaving the shore.

He jumped down from the animal, calmly approaching the Morians.

Morio was, once again, a little anxious, while Jyuzou seemed indifferent and focused on something else entirely, searching for a certain item in both pockets.

"Ullo." The man reached his hand out, and Morio looked confused. He stopped, thinking for a second. "Ullo means hello."

"Oh..." Morio sounded disappointed. "You guys speak old Manjuno?" He furrowed his eyebrows.

"Huh?" The man let out a hearty laugh. "No worries, Morian! We speak a little of both, but I am a man of your language." he signalled with his fingers as if he were crushing some sort of powder between them.

Jyuzou brushed sweat off his forehead and breathed out.

"Someone here was expecting your arrival." he beamed.

"Who?" Morio asked.

"A good f-friend of mine. The behemoth, as they call her." he nodded. "Please step on either horse."

Morio raised his brows twice, but the other Morian didn't necessarily understand. The man didn't speak much more, seldom following with little hums or songs with groans at the end. Leading the way through the mountainous areas, the horse's tail swung back and forth, which Morio laughed, and snorted about.

Moving through the carved paths, the mountains revealed grassy roads, either tight and narrow or turning into big open circles with trees seldom splattered on the sides and bushes placed in the middle, perhaps hiding fruits or seeds that were a common thing for this unknown island, but those were only Morio's unheard speculations.

Unheard, because it seemed like through all the time it took them to travel, Jyuzou was disinterested in whatever concerned Morio. Big hilltops? Cliffs that looked a little peculiar? Sides of rocks that resembled faces they made fun of in Wendigo? Jyuzou acted like he was above such foolish notions.

The Morian seemed focused on only one thing, a distant feeling he couldn't describe. Once again, the Morian headed into the unknown instead of taking the trod routes back home. Back to where everything was fine and cosy, where people knew his face when everything was safe and secure.

His hand traversed back into the pockets of his pants, and he finally found it, that one seed which he kept hidden through all sorrows and perhaps happier times.

Metho seeds, after all, only appeared near Shimori. But it seemed that with each step the stallions took, home grew more distant than ever, and Jyuzou wasn't sure how to feel.

Morio sometimes frowned finding his distant expressions, but he didn't let those bad thoughts destroy his excited notions. In the near distance of green, caves peeked above mountains, creating rivers which turned into waterfalls at the end, clashing with various other streams and towards the vast, open seas.

Nearing the taller, prickly trees, grey mountains stretched in the distance near tufts and lakes which overlooked the giant, brown mountain. Mentioning that Morio's earlier theories were true because everything hinted at that formation being a volcano.

The other waterfalls were there, but it didn't seem like they were converging toward the water streams, which had lush green leaves and vines growing down their sides toward something Morio couldn't quite describe.

Was it a town they were being led to? Some remote location without people? Morio grew weary, while Jyuzou, as described earlier, was stuck in his thoughts.

"Dude." Morio tugged his shoulder. "Dude!"

"What?" Jyuzou asked, breathing out.

"This Galliath place is craaaazy," Morio whispered. "Heard me? Craaaaaa-"

"I got that part." Jyuzou blinked, eventually looking up. "You're right, though. I don't think anything I've ever seen or heard of came close to what we're t-treading around." he fixed his glasses. "I have to sketch it down later."

"Mhm! I guess this is the charm of an island! I can't wait to try the food around here!" Morio nodded. "Do you think Mr. Bancho ever visited this Galliath? Ooh! I wonder what cool thing he brought back home with his journey!"

"Bancho?" The man leading the horses asked, subtly turning to the two.

"Huh!" Morio jumped up, almost falling off the animal, struggling by its side. Jyuzou sighed. "You know Mr Bancho?"

"Of course I do." The man nodded, closing his eyes.

"Hard not to, considering he's like the Wise or something," Jyuzou added, and Morio rolled his eyes, ostentatiously.

"Hehe." The man chuckled. "He's the one who sent you here, or so I've been told.." he nodded to himself, staring forward.

"What," Morio asked, without adding a question mark at the end, since it wasn't necessarily a question, he was just confused. His semi-disgusted gaze met Jyuzou's curious eyes.

"What do you mean by that, sir?" Jyuzou spoke, putting a hand on his side.

"You were supposed to be taught under her, after all," he added. "His earlier wishes, and the information he's sent us..." the man stopped, coughing, sighing as if it was a hard topic to approach. "Bancho vowed to send you to this place if everything was to fail. If he wasn't there to spare you his wisdom and pass..." he struggled. "...that knowledge." he forced a quick grin.

"Wait, what?" Jyuzou shook his head. "Why can't he-"

"Who's that behemoth you keep talking about?!" Morio yelled out. "Huh?"

"Perhaps you'll learn. Sooner than later." The man chuckled, raising his shoulders for a few seconds before the horses followed uphill and the Morians remained in the back, glancing at each other.

"Galliath. Behemoth. Bancho. So many keywords." Morio shook his head, opening his mouth, his brain seeming to fry from the overload.

"I think we should focus on something else entirely, M-Morio." Jyuzou's voice trembled. "What happened to Mr Bancho? Why can't he teach us instead?"

"Pff, don't worry. He's the Wise." Morio accented the hell out of the last word, rolling his eyes again. "Maybe he has better things to do? Busy man after all." he shrugged.

Jyuzou unsurely shook his head. "I wish so."

"Hm." Morio closed his eyes. "Talking about Mr. Bancho, do you remember what he once said?"

"Huh?"

"That, Demonear things are better learnt than described. So maybe the same thing applies to all this?" Morio asked. "Before you say anything, no, this isn't a pity excuse because my brain is tired."

"No, I understand." Jyuzou breathed in. "I guess that I'm a little worried."

Morio blinked. "It will be fine. You always have me by your side, and I'm not leaving even if you tell me to!" he slapped his back, almost causing him to fall.

"Come on, Morians!" the man waved, and the two quickly followed, the horses neighed in unison, following uphill.

Before the grand and the following valley, a stunning site revealed itself, causing Morio's jaw to unhinge, as if he was a demon.

In the middle of all the lush and green, grey and brown mountains, lay a city, sharpened and accented by edges, slanted, cherry red wooden rooftops, with trees growing out in the middle of places one would never imagine nature to appear. Even from up there, the patterned stone grounds which shaped out obvious paths travelled through narrow streets, surrounded by structures far from the style of anything they had ever seen or heard beforehand.

Even a bit closer, on the steep stairs leading down to the city, were beige wooden blocks, with thin paper-like windows and something one would only describe as a multitude of shrines, passing by a river, crashing into a waterfall, turning into a lake that flew out creating yet another joyous stream, happily flowing near a decorated wall. The paths were lit with these warm, orange lanterns, with buzzing noises and small little flies hitting the outer walls.

Above all else, the thick, grey clouds changed into smoke-like, white puffs that flowed through the city, but only at its highest points, which were still neatly hidden behind all the mountains stretching around. Mentioning its elevations, atop the hills rested much bigger buildings, perhaps houses, all growing bigger until reaching a castle-like structure, stretching above the lush fogs and towards all the massive greys, with bridges following through the extracted streams.

Morio punched Jyuzou's shoulder out of excitement, which marked the moment the man told them to step off the stallions, as the rest of the road was too narrow for them to tread. They followed the stairs, and the man quickly disappeared into one of the shrine-like buildings, promising with his crossed fingers that the two would know what to do. Jyuzou grew anxious, Morio, even more ecstatic.

Moving towards the streets below, the Morians found themselves near one of the rivers where the foresty bedding made brown ground leading towards a lush, green forest split into two parts by another river. This time, however, the water was a different colour, and bubbles seldom appeared, which caught Morio's attention. He ducked near the edge, reaching his hand in, while Jyuzou carefully sketched his surroundings, all while the leaves around were carried by a light, warm wind, one landing into his journal.

"I've never seen these trees before." Jyuzou thought, turning around, seeing a thick, light brown bark with a vicious crown, decorated with red, purple and green leaves. Up from above, grew girthy, vine-like ropes, moving towards the ground and crashing in the dirt and grass.

Then, his eyes met people in the distance, wandering about with their hands clenched behind thick, falling sleeves. They glanced at Jyuzou, smiling warmly, but there was something off about them that he couldn't quite put his finger on. The falling, white robes, stretched towards the smaller bushes and trees before the lot disappeared behind a garden.

"Morio, come on." Jyuzou turned to the other Morian.

"Ow! The water's hot!" Morio moved his finger back, peeking at Jyuzou before standing up.

After the bridge, came more natural terrain, and the rather vivid colour palette temporarily turned into the emerald green from earlier. The stone paths were greatly overgrown, leading towards stairs and waterfalls with something Jyuzou could only describe as a strange gate.

Once they took the first step, a different world revealed itself. Hundreds, maybe even thousands of people passed through the streets, in colourful robes and with smiles. They chatted, quietly, seldom letting out a laugh, usually keeping to themselves. The smell of burned incense mixed with the steam from the cooked food immediately caught Morio's attention, but he resisted the luring charm. What they saw from above now seemed much bigger, and despite its sheer size, everything was rather calm, and quiet.

Morio's eyes widened. "Okay!" he clapped his hands. "Do we go and get something to eat?"

"You're thinking about f-food already?" Jyuzou asked, fixing his backpack, and smiling at the sights. "We don't even know the city's name!" he shook his head.

"Okay, but that smell suggests a very welcoming and warm meal."

"Remember Magna? The closer to the centre, the higher the prices." Jyuzou informed.

"We don't even know if this is the centre!"

"Exactly, Morio! Let's get our bearings first, then!" Jyuzou raised his voice, blindly moving forward, and Morio rolled his eyes, groaning loudly. His stomach started rumbling.