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The Most Obvious Answer

Despite of still reeling in from the near-death situation he was put in, Malkar kept working hard with the journals. He was still shivering from being encased in hellish ice, but he slowly returned his body heat as he bathed himself in the fire. It was quite hot, like a hot spring pool. He was well-aware that, being a half-hellhound, he was not completely immune to the heat of fire like a pureblood hellhound. He could not stay in the fire pit for too long if he did not want to cook himself.

Still, the numbing cold of hell's ice was so apparent that it still affected his daily lives. Half of his body was still paralyzed, and he had a hard time moving the rest. He could not even speak coherently. His only relief from these hardships was the fact that his writing hand was functioning properly, enabling him to write as Belial translated the journals. His brain was also working, so it was yet another relief.

From where he made himself comfortable, he saw Alhen and Gehen training with ash manipulation. Gehen seemed to be someone who had known his abilities well. However, no one was perfect, and practice made perfect. While it was difficult for the mute ash hound to ask questions despite of having an interpreter with him, he seemed to understand most, if not all, of Alhen's instructions perfectly.

After returning to his own work for a while, he sighed and looked out the window. Ammon and Belial were practicing some moves. Surprisingly, even for Malkar, Ammon did not seem to be sulking about his role as a Vessel. In fact, he seemed to embrace his newfound ability and trained to use it. From the look of it, Ammon learned quickly. However, the one that was rather profound was the closeness of the two. There was something Malkar did not know yet, but it looked to him that their relationship finally found a way to connect.

As hours passed, he slowly felt sensations throughout his body returning to him, starting from the tip of his digitigrade legs. He could wiggle his foot paws after feeling a warmth there, and slowly but surely, more and more of his body returned to him. It felt like a relief of sorts, just as he found out where they could potentially find Asdal and the altar of Zarathos he was in.

From the notes he took back in the library, Zarathos was aware of the Ashen Kingdom's construction during his time as a demon prince. He never saw it completed after he was deposed by Belial and became one of his frontline generals, which meant that he could not get out from his duty to check on the Kingdom. The book in question was a chronicle of sorts by the ash hounds' historians, and it was in circulation around the Ashen Lands.

Fortunately, the altars were not many. The Ashen Kingdom knew that Zarathos was not the Infernal's prince anymore when the seventh altar was built. There were seven altars to find, which narrowed it down nicely. The only problem was if those altars were far from each other. Also, he could not know which altar was still standing. The cultists of Barbatos would never want the altars of their enemy to stand gloriously, right?

Another problem he had was their precise locations. As everyone knew, the Ashen Lands were once the Ashen Kingdom, and its massive area provided the reason of how hard it would get to travel and to find anything. Most of the buildings and area mentioned in Asdal's journals were turned to dust by a massive hellfire destroying the kingdom overnight.

This led to a dead end. If they could not find the exact positions to the altars, they would be forced to find them. Malkar doubted that the cultists would be willing to wait, especially after Ammon killed one of their own. Still, Malkar doubted that the cultists even knew why they were doing things asked of them. This clearly in line with the research about cultists Malkar once read: they would blindly follow anything they revere, even if said thing led to their doom. Even worse, they might even hasten the process of bringing their dark lord to glory if they knew how.

Just as Malkar wanted to give up for the moment and rest his eyes, he saw Belial coming in. Looking at the demon prince and thinking of his ruthless ways before meeting with the group sent shiver down Malkar's spine. What happened after they finished this journey? Belial would not change that easily. No one would be able to change after a thousand years ruthlessly defending his throne. It was simply too radical a change. If he could change, then other Infernals would not agree. Knowing how Infernals did things, Malkar knew that Zarathos was defeated with raw strength. Belial was the most powerful member of the group, and he showed it repeatedly.

There must be an explanation as to why his powers did not seem to be as great as Malkar imagined. Maybe it wasn't that great. Yes, it was devastating, but was not as devastating as the hellhound thought it would be. Maybe the demon prince's power was diminishing because he was far from his domain. That would be the best explanation to it.

As expected of Belial, he would not even automatically ask if Malkar was alright. Ammon was the one doing that.

"(Hey)," said Ammon. "(Recovering?)"

"(Kinda slow, if you want to know)," said Malkar. "(Being a half-hound can be hard)."

"(I hope you're not regretting it)."

"(And cause grief and disappointment towards my mother and my father? No, they love each other, and they know their son's perfect in any way. I don't want to change that)."

"(At least you have a definite identity. I...don't even know what will happen after we defeat Barbatos)."

"(I simply hope you're not symbiotically connected to him. If that's the case...I'm sorry)."

"(I...don't know what that word means. Symbiotically? Is that even a word)?"

"(It's Common, but some hellhound scholars translated it for their own use. I think I read somewhere in the history books that after relative peace came almost a hundred years ago, some people of Ternor decided to help the hellhounds understand Common, read Common, and talk Common. The hellhounds made a compromise, though, so as to not replace Hordo as their first language. That's why all of us are bilingual to a degree)."

"(That sounds nice, to know about other languages)."

"(You wanna learn to talk and read Common?)"

"(After we're done with this...and after we know what happens to me next)."

There was a sense of surrender in that reply, but Malkar did not seem to suspect a thing. However, Ammon knew that things did not always end the way he wanted. But he knew he shouldn't think like that before knowing the whole truth. His fate would depend on anything that's yet to be revealed.

"(Oh, sorry)," said Ammon, apparently realizing what he was implying. "(I did not mean to think so. We'll come through, like always)."

"(Yeah, I know)."

"(About symbiotically, what does it mean?)"

"(Oh, it means you're linked together to a degree. When one dies...the others will follow)."

"(Well, I'm not planning to die just yet. If that is the case, then we can't let Barbatos die)."

"(I sure hope it's as easy as you say)."

"(Then we got a job to do)."

Malkar smiled, knowing that Ammon kept his head up and stayed optimistic. It would not be the case back when things were revealed to him. Now, he had accepted everything and decided to work to preserve himself and others.

Though the hellhound was sure that the reason he did this was to be close to Belial. Malkar had heard that before the unfortunate incident in the library with Abellor, he confessed his feelings to the Infernal. It was kind of sweet, but knowing Belial, he could either be taken aback, or just hopelessly unaware of the real reason why Ammon was saying that.

Malkar had heard about people confessing their true, strongest feelings when they were faced with imminent death. Maybe Ammon knew that something would happen to him that would not end well before fighting Abellor. He could've felt a hunch, which did not come to past. Or, he knew that to fight Barbatos, a sacrifice must be made. A big one.

Thinking about it did not help Malkar with his own research, either. He had been frustrated thinking about the altar of Zarathos when he did not even consider asking the right question. When he saw Belial, he became inspired to ask a question he meant to ask the Infernal about the altars.

Of course, if Malkar asked anything about calling Zarathos, he might get the same reluctant answer of not going to risk the frontline, given how Zarathos was one of his frontline generals. Belial could be stubborn at times, even if such stubbornness was stupid and selfish. But Malkar knew Belial, despite his simple-mindedness, was not a complete fool. He would've contemplated his decisions and just contact Zarathos anyway, just like what he did before, which gave them a clue to the journal's secret message. Malkar could guess that the final word would be 'Vessel', and he just needed to confirm the answer by finding the last of the journals, and to finish the story of Asdal once and for all.

As Belial talked to Ammon about something, the Infernal sighed as he listened, which made Malkar assumed that Ammon was asking something rather heavy towards Belial. Malkar thought that he was asking him to summon Zarathos to ask about the altars, but he quickly found the answer when Belial said, "(I know where the altars are)."

Malkar, surprised by this sudden turn of event, tried to get up, momentarily forgetting that he was still partially paralyzed. He managed to stand, but quickly lost his balance and crashed onto the hard floor, scraping his leg.

"(Hey, you're still frozen)," said Belial.

"(I don't care. What did you say about the altars? You know where they are?)" "(I have been thinking. I know Zarathos both as an enemy and as an ally. He will make the altars to form a pentagram symbol)."

"(Is it relevant?)"

"(You're the smart one, so let me ask you a question. Do you think it's possible the altars were not gates, but instead parts of a bigger gate? Or better yet, a counter to Barbatos's altar?)"

"(Are you suggesting that they are used to seal Barbatos? Like a trap? If that is the case, it will be impossible to find them. Barbatos must've known what their purposes are and will destroy them long before we are aware of their existence)."

"(Alright, you got me there)," said Belial.

"(But what if they were used to seal someone in? Not Barbatos, but someone else? Asdal, for instance?)"

"(And what's the purpose of sealing himself in?)"

"(To protect his last entry, perhaps?)"

"(Then why don't he just use the same idea and protect the other entries with him?)"

"(He spread the entries for them to be found. If he kept everything for himself, no one will even know if they existed. There is a very little chance anyone will stumble across Asdal if he's hiding himself. It's one on almost a million chance)."

"(So why not bury himself with the entries, then?)"

"(And let Barbatos rule after everything he had found out? I know the entries were influenced by Asmodel, and I know he thought about hiding them, too. But I think he knows which one the lesser evil is, and he was willing to bet on you getting the upper hand. Also, keeping everything secret does not guarantee a win)."

"(As I've known to be a victim of)." Belial sighed. "(Okay, let's just assume that the altars were not gates, but in fact a seal. Now, we need to find the location. Do you find anything about it from the books?)"

"(I wanted to ask you about calling Zarathos, but you'd just say it's risky)."

"(And it does. Besides, given how he's in the frontline, I have a feeling that he won't even heed my call. Also, demons do not forget what others did to them in the past. He might just feel like it and make my life harder for a chance to return his throne)."

"(Can you just set aside your differences to fight for a better cause?)"

"(Can't work if someone has been trying to take back your throne for a thousand years by other means than direct brawls. Yes, Zarathos had known that taking the throne back with raw power will not work for him. He'd sooner ally himself with Asmodel to get what he wants, and that cat will just take the offer for his own goal and...)."

"(Okay, okay, I get it. Demons are bastards. I can't get any help from you, so we'll do this the hard way. We go back into the library, find anything about the kingdom's history, and fucking hope that we can get anything about the altar's form and location. We know there are seven of them. That is far too many to find given our pressing situation. We might be able to narrow it down to three or two or even one, but that is unless we find something conclusive both in the journals or in anything the library has to offer)."

"(Do we have any other choice?)" said Belial with a sigh.

"(How about setting your differences with Zarathos and contact him now?)"

Belial seemed to contemplate on that, too, but he shook his head and said, "(I'll start with the library)."

"(You chose the harder route out of pride? Are you serious? We are fighting your enemy, Belial!)"

"(Zarathos's going to make things even harder for me anyway, so cut the shit and let's go)."

Malkar sighed. Belial could be stubborn sometimes, but he also had a reason to be stubborn. He knew Barbatos was a dangerous enemy, and his decisions were always good, even if they were motivated by direct violence than a more effective way.

Belial and Ammon went to the ruined library first while Malkar was recovering. Accompanied by Zardes. Ammon felt weird returning to the place where he was forced to kill his old friend, but he knew he could not let personal feelings of grief to impede their attempt to fight Barbatos. Fighting back was the only way to be sure that they had a chance, even if they did not know the full extent of Barbatos's power.

As they walked into the currently deserted library, they realized that finding the right books would not be easy if the books were still scattered on the floor or somewhere not in their proper place in the shelves. They wanted to find any kind of information, but then they knew it would take almost forever to find the right book. Feeling defeated, the three of them sighed and walked out of the ruined library. They did not want to return to Malkar yet, though, so they hung out near the ruins, where they found the other piece of journal within.

They stood by the obelisk with the undeciphered words, not talking to each other for a while. After a moment of pondering, Zardes said, "(You know, it helps if we know the form of the altar. We might stumble upon one when we start traveling)."

"(Don't like letting chances do the job for us. We will never get there)," said Belial.

"(Well, at least we know that we will find something instead of trying to find something in the dark)," said Ammon. As he looked away, his eyes saw the words on the obelisk. They were now coherent and spell out something that seemed to be important.

"(So, now what?)" said Zardes.

"(We can try and come back to the library later. The ash hounds are probably finished by then)."

"(Yeah. We'll just tell Malkar what happened and...Ammon, what are you looking at?)"

"(The words. They make sense now)," said Ammon. "(I don't know how, but I can somehow read the words)."

"(And what do they say?)" asked Belial.

"(Find the chained beast within, and you will find the answer therein)."

"(Within where?)"

"(Maybe the basement of the ruins? But we did not find anything that looked like a chained beast down there)."

"(How about if we get down there and try and find any chained beast again? We might find something that we missed)."

"(Worth a try)," said Ammon. "(You coming, Belial?)"

Belial sighed and said, "(Well, if you insist)."

The three went down to the basement to see the glowing texts once more. There was nothing different the way they looked at it, and there was clearly nothing to suggest anything was hidden in there. Still, they kept searching, knowing that this was the alternative instead of searching through the library books and getting nothing all the same.

While Ammon and Zardes looked around, Belial started reading the entries again in case he missed something while translating it to Hordo. He kept thinking if Asdal was leaving something so obvious in plain sight. Belial kept thinking about Asdal's mind. The missing Infernal seemed to start losing it after engaging in the Kingdom's extensive debauchery, with the breaking point being the revelation that he was being tricked by Asmodel.

Then he stumbled upon the words 'like a trapped Infernal'. Belial felt that Asdal, at this point in time, knew that whatever he did and wherever he went, he was always faced with the fact that he let his prince down. Belial was feeling let down, but he couldn't blame Asdal for it, not since he was also tricked by his devious and manipulating 'brother'. He learned many things, but sensing a trick was not one, which infuriated him to the point he punched the wall on where the words were.

That was when the wall in front of Belial started to turn, surprising the three. They all looked as the wall opened to a secret hidden passage, which did not seem to correspond with the architecture outside at all, yet completely possible as an underground crypt completely hidden from view.

"(What the hell)?" said Zardes as he stared at the hidden passage behind the wall. "(What did you do, Belial?)"

"(I just punched the wall in frustration. Now, why didn't I think of that before?)"

"(Where did you punch the wall)?"

Belial seemed confused to what Zardes was saying, but then, to amuse his companion, he pointed towards the words that was now unintelligible due to the force Belial punched it.

"(What did it say?)"

"(It said, 'like a trapped Infernal'. I feel angry with that words since it perfectly describes my situation, so I...)."

"(So, you punched it without knowing what it really means. Does that mean anything to you other than the irony of your situation? Infernals are considered beasts due to your strength and killing intent)."

"(Ah, I see. A trapped Infernal can also mean chained Infernal)," said Ammon. "(If you change Infernal to beast, it will become chained beast. Find the chained beast!)"

"(Well, what's that matter, anyway? We found something here, so let's go in)."

"(Ever think about traps and such? This is a dungeon we don't even know about! If you just step inside without thinking about any danger...)."

"(Hellfire will do the trick)."

Belial then started to produce hellfire from his hand when something shot him with such force that it threw him back towards the journal entry room. The substance that hit him was as black and as shiny as the substance that trapped him in the early leg of their adventures. Not only that, it was sentient, and as soon as Belial it the floor, the black substance started to tighten around him like a bag, until eventually it stopped him from moving entirely while leaving his head free.

"(I told you to be careful)," said Zardes. "(Asdal won't just stop with using anything less than that substance that sealed your powers. There is a reason that thing's strong enough to seal your hellfire)."

"(Then get me out of here!)"

"(I think I'll leave you there for a while)," said Zardes. "(I'll go in and deactivate the traps. In case I did not make it, Ammon, you get out and let everyone know what happens, alright? Wish me luck)."

Zardes walked in and stayed vigilant, knowing that if the black substance could subdue Belial, he had even less chance of getting out of it once he was caught. He walked in, slowly, and his features disappeared in darkness, only lit by the flashlight he had on.

Ammon, who stayed behind, then looked at Belial. The black substance was so tight around the Infernal that it showed his body perfectly under the black fur. Coupled with the fact that Belial was helpless and squirming to try and get out, Ammon felt something dark starting to overwhelm him. No, it wasn't Barbatos's influence, but something more...carnal.

"(Belial, I gotta admit...you look sexy with that slave suit on)," said Ammon. "(I love you when you're all helpless like this)."

"(What the fuck are you talking about?!)"

"(You know what I mean, Belial)."

Belial, realizing what Ammon was talking about, suddenly become aggressive and said, "(This is not the time and place to talk about our relationship!)"

"(Hey, I'm just stating facts)."

"(Then stop acting like a horny fuck!)"

"(Whoa, calm down)," said Ammon. He knew Belial's language, but he never would've thought that the demon would even say that. It seemed like a personal attack. Disappointed by Belial's threat, Ammon turned and sulked. Feeling bad (even though he wasn't supposed to feel bad), Belial, while looking away, said, "(If you really into that...well, we can do it later...in private)."

"(Huh?)"

"(You did say you love me, didn't you? Well, I might try doing it with you...if you're alright with that)."

"(Really?)"

"(I guess traveling with all of you really make me think of experimenting on stuff. Guess that's what I miss from being a stuck-up prince, huh?)"

Just then, the black rubber-like substance slowly returned to liquid and flowed unnaturally back towards where it came from. Zardes looked at the moving puddle and moved away so as to not get caught in it.

"(I found something in there. I think it's our missing demon)," said Zardes. He beckoned the two to follow him, in which they did. While they walked, however, Zardes said, "(I don't know how I managed to pass through, but I think your hellfire triggered a defense mechanism. I found a lever nearby that somehow freed you from the substance. I suggest we don't do anything rash. No hellfires, okay, Belial?)"

Belial nodded and grunted, and they walked in, following Zardes and his flashlight.

The whole passageway was dark, but not as long as they thought it would be. In fact, it was only a couple of steps through a dark, ancient dungeon passageway that they managed to get to a rather spacious and poorly lit room. That was when Zardes pointed his flashlight towards a dark figure in the middle of the room.

When the light shone upon the figure, they realized they had found their prize.