The giant eel was easily dissected. With Givale's mastery over space it took mere moments for the eel to be ready for consumption. As the sun set and night fell she felt it was the perfect time to roast the eel.
As Givale sliced the eel Mira prepared a larger fire to roast them. Creating a roughly made roasting pit. He was used to cooking animals whole when he survived in the forest, and he made the pit with an experienced hand. Givale pulled out some simple seasonings from the subspace and ensured the eel had some additional flavor.
Now all prepared they began to roast the large strips of eel. Slowly having it roast in the pit. Basil and Whisk took a seat by the rising smoke and watched as the eel was roasted. Mira was in charge of ensuring the roasting pit was maintained, and he occasionally added some extra fuel to ensure the heat never wavered.
Basil and Whisk held a hand from the other as they sat cross-legged. Slowly their heads moved about side to side as they hummed a tune. They kept the rhythm with their moving heads, dancing similarly to snakes. Meanwhile Givale harvested the rest of the eel and began to store it for later. As she worked she faintly heard the song hummed by the twins, and a sense of sorrow began to rise within her.
Time passed faster than normal under the melody hummed by the twins. Soon enough Mira pulled out the eel strips from the roasting pit, a pleasant scent rose to their noses. The twins began to stop their humming, the melody slowly fading away.
"What was the song?", Mira asked.
"Blessings for us.", Whisk answered.
"For our food.", Basil added.
"So they don't be mad.", Whisk finished.
"They?", Mira immediately regretted asking this question when it left his lips.
Using their free hands the twins gestured to the many statue pieces that lay amongst the floor. They then lifted these hands and wiped a tear from the other's face. Mira looked towards the statue pieces and hesitated before asking, "They weren't always statues were they?"
The twins tilted their heads towards each other. Then tears began to fall past their blindfolds. A crying without any weeps. Instead they pushed their foreheads together and shuddered. A mournful cry spoke from Basil, "All our fault."
"All our fault.", Whisk echoed.
Mira clenched his jaw to calm himself. In response to their tears his heart began to thump like mad. This time he didn't need pain to keep his sanity however, just a deep breath. To change the topic he picked a large strip of eel and handed it to the twins, "Let's eat."
Visibly the twins suppressed their shudders and reached for the eel strip. Grabbing ahold of it they evidently hesitated to consume any of the eels flesh. Picking a part of the flesh they lifted it and fed each other. Gently they chewed before their expressions brightened.
"It's. . .", Basil started.
"Good?", Whisk finished.
They began to eat with a new fervor. Consuming flesh bit by bit until the strip was gone. Givale and Mira silently ate their own strips, it was roasted to perfection and Givale's simple choice of seasoning worked well. She believed the packaged meals tasted better, but this wasn't bad.
Having eaten the entire eel the twins leaned against each other and fell asleep. Givale cleaned up the mess she made and sighed, she too was feeling sleepy. Leaning against a tree she was barely able to keep her eyes open and fell asleep almost immediately.
Mira frowned, this wasn't right at all. They had fallen asleep too quickly, did the eel have properties that induced sleep? Mira remembered a specific herb in his old forest that helped with sleeping, but he never heard of a creature's flesh doing the same thing.
He wasn't feeling sleepy at all. This was clearly due to his overwhelming regeneration. His body had already entirely digested the meal and healed any effects it might have produced. Unsure what to do Mira stood up when he suddenly looked upwards. What was once the moon was greeted with an eye, one that held a similar look to a snake's. It moved about as if searching when it suddenly locked onto Mira.
His vision flashed with red color and he gripped his head. Falling to his knees he felt an indescribable amount of fear. The Hydra's Heart thumped so loudly it deafened him, and caused his body to tremble with each beat.
Unknowingly to him he passed out.
When the thumping came to a stop Mira slowly removed his hands from his head and looked around. He was no longer in the forest, and instead he was in a city. Stone buildings created a labyrinth with no foreseeable exit. Jumping to a rooftop Mira examined his surroundings and found the buildings grew in height as they moved closer to the center. With the tallest building being in the dead center. A large spire that held a piercing light at the top. This light spread upwards and created a shroud that covered the whole city.
Returning to the ground Mira ran his fingers through his hair. He had no idea where he was, or what had occurred. Trying to speak through the link he found he couldn't, he was entirely cut off from speaking to Givale, Stars, and Akiol.
This brought forth a wave of nervousness. He was aware that the link with Akiol was the main thing keeping the Origin Hydra at bay. If that disappeared would he return to that mindless monster?
Immediately he desired to leave this place as soon as possible. Focusing his attention on the distant spire he felt it was the most obvious place to check out first. Launching with great might Mira leapt upwards only to be met with a wave of light. It blinded him and forced him to keep his eyes shut. Once the light faded and he could see, he found he returned to where he initially jumped from.
Frowning Mira tried climbing the building again and managed to reach its roof with no trouble. Yet the moment he tried to leap to another rooftop the light once again returned him to the roads. This labyrinth forced Mira to take the roads!
Unsure where each path lead he randomly chose one and began to move. At first moving to the center was easy due to the building's height difference. Yet as he got closer to the spire the tall buildings began to hide any sight from the sky. Occasionally he had to climb another roof to get his bearings.
Wandering the streets felt eerie as well. Occasionally Mira would find a market made of stone, with stone carvings of various fruits for sale. The closer he got to the center, he found even more statues. This time of people, they desperately reach out towards the spire. Their faces showing extreme fear.
After a few hours Mira finally reached the spire. The bright light seemed to be pulled from the ground and launched into the sky. As Mira tried to touch the light, it singed his fingers and made him wince. Inspecting his hand he found the wound wasn't healing, but rather was turning to stone!
Reacting quickly Mira scraped off the wounds caused by the light and the stone pieces clinked to the floor. His hand stung, but this time his hand properly began to heal. In the blink of an eye his hand returned to normal, while the flung pieces turned entirely to stone.
A sense of despair began to cling to Mira. He had initially hoped the large center of light was some sort of goal, a way to escape this place. Instead it proved to be the opposite! Did this labyrinth not have an exit? If the light isn't an exit, what is?
""Found you."", two familiar voices spoke in unison.
Mira turned around in a fright and saw the two twins. Whilst hold each other's hands the twins raised their free hands and covered Mira's eyes with a swiftness he couldn't react to.
He jolted and and his vision shifted. Two hands moved away from his face and Mira found that he was laying on the ground looking straight up. The twins and Givale looking down at him. A serious look of concern was on Givale's face, tears welled up in her eyes.
Slowly sitting up Mira inspected himself and found there wasn't any signs of the Hydra taking control. Rather he didn't feel off at all. His heart didn't thump as violently.
The moon was no longer out, instead it was morning as the sun's first light hit the peninsula. Just as Mira shielded his eyes from the light he was tackled by Givale.
Hugging Mira tightly Givale barely managed to get her words out, "You're okay! You're okay. . ."
Feeling a sense of bafflement Mira comforted, "I am."
Looking towards the twins he asked, "What happened?"
Givale loosened her hug and looked into Mira's eyes. With a sniffle she answered, "You turned into a statue!"