5 Entrance

The next time Riku saw past the darkness again, he was already somewhere entirely different. Gone was the horizon that he saw before. Instead, walls of water swirled around him for as far as his eyes could see. The sky above was still visible, but it was almost as if he was inside the hole in the ocean he saw earlier.

"Phew... We made it," Nyx sighed in relief beside him, much to his own surprise.

"Made it to where exactly?" he asked.

"Huh? Didn't I explain it all to you earlier?" she cluelessly replied, tilting her head to him. "I'm pretty sure you're not that dumb."

"I'm not. And no, you didn't exactly explain much beyond giving me the gist of things," Riku blandly pointed out to his patron goddess.

"Huh?! But I'm pretty sure I did though!" Nyx whined, her pout contrasting her mature appearance. "Ugh... Apologies if I just can't help but be scatterbrained at times. It's literally my nature, you know?"

"You mean as a chaos goddess? I guess I can see it," he shrugged, letting off a soft chuckle as he began to let his guard down. "Honestly, if it weren't for everything that I've seen so far, I would've doubted you're a goddess."

"As if you're not doubting me even now?" she sadly sighed. "Look, I'll explain everything once we have some downtime. For now, we have to meet with the others. I'm sure they're already waiting for us."

Again, Riku was left wanting for answers as Nyx practically held him by the hand and dragged him all the way to what looked to be the center of the place that they currently found themselves in. Actually, now that he looked at it, it almost looked like they were standing on a roof of some kind. Or perhaps it was actually the ground? He sincerely didn't know what to think.

However, what really caught his eye was the fact that there were fish currently swimming on the sides of the entire place. Even as far as they currently were from the walls of water surrounding them, he could see them all seemingly flying through the walls, going about their lives as if nothing was even wrong with the laws of physics. Even better, he knew for a fact that there were unknown species floating about the usual tuna and sharks. He had studied up on all kinds of sea life to become a great chef, but to see that there was more to the ocean here than there was back home...

Yes, he saw some potential here. He really didn't think that he would have too much trouble surviving this so called game. While he knew that it would be dangerous, especially since literal gods were supposedly involved, he didn't think he wouldn't be able to win this thing.

"Not too far now..."

Riku kept an ear out as Nyx mumbled to herself. He was following right behind her, his senses heightened for any possible problem that might pop up. He had no idea what was happening still, but he did know was that he was going to be as professional as possible in this new situation he found himself in. So first off, he needed information, which meant he had to treat his patron goddess like any other government mook that he talked to whenever he took missions.

"Alright, we're at the entrance," Nyx announced with a short breath, her face somehow flushed from seemingly pushing herself stamina-wise. "Now normally, I wouldn't have to use this, but since you're mortal, I'll have to escort you down to the first Realm in the Deep Blue."

"So you say," Riku shrugged as he caught up with the winded goddess. "Also, while I am capable of working with limited resources, I would still like as much information as you can give me regarding this supposed game. I know that you and your siblings are fighting to take your deceased father's place, but I would like more regarding what I'm up against or if I need to be prepared for anything."

Once more, Nyx looked apologetic as she sighed. "Again, I'm sorry if I'm not being good at that part of my job as your patron," she sincerely apologized. "On the bright side, going down the entrance will give us just enough time to answer some if not all of your questions. Themis never really bothered making this thing go faster, so you can spend all of that time grilling me for answers."

He blinked at the convenient answer he just received. At the same time, the goddess beside her held her hand out to the ground in front of them. Judging by where they were standing, they were probably in the center of the entire area right now, which made the fact that a magical elevator suddenly popped up from the ground beneath them feel less unpredictable than it should've.

"An elevator," he couldn't help but scoff. "Somehow, I'm not surprised."

"What else could it be?" she questioned with narrowed eyes. "This was installed here specifically for mortals like you. To be honest, you should be grateful it's even here."

"I suppose so," he shrugged. "Let's just get things over with. You said it yourself, right? We're late."

"Oh, right!"

As if only just remembering that they were supposedly running late, Nyx grabbed Riku by the arm and pulled him into the elevator. The contraption immediately slammed shut behind them, having detected their presence before promptly descending back down into the earth.

Standing silently, Riku observed the golden sheen of the elevator he was in. It didn't look modern in the slightest, but the artistic look of the entire thing almost reminded him of Victorian England. Or at least, what looked to be like that style from the few shows he had seen before.

"Right, this will take a while since Themis really hates this thing being used in the first place," Nyx nodded to herself, her starry eyes shining brighter somehow as she looked at him. "For now, let's talk. Ask away, my champion."