The fields continued to be endless, no matter how far Terrence and Janus walked with their new spectral allies, the fields still went on and on. It had gotten to the point where Terrence ran out of stories that he remembered, and his hoof had started to bleed onto the pathway. The orc spirit, Yvon, immediately took it upon himself to carry Terrence the rest of the way once he noticed the blood. The feeling of being carried by a ghost was certainly unusual, but at the very least it was more comfortable than walking on his bad hoof. 

Janus didn't have much to say either for most of the walk. He had been hearing Terrence talk, and then he had been hearing the elf spirit, Rhantir, talk about the war he had experienced. Every so often, he would mention Galatea. In the small moments Yvon would add onto the conversation, Galatea was a word he was familiar with as well. Janus had heard about it from his guildmates, and then eventually would find more and more leading to that one mysterious word.

Some theorized that it must be the name of a person or a place. The more common version being that it was a place. After all, with how many various places claimed to hold the name of Galatea in the artifacts of the kingdom, it must have been a place. No person was that powerful to have their name go that far, unless they were some sort of king? Or perhaps a grand magician that was revered by all of the world?

Eventually, the group began to walk over a large shallow pond where the path used to be. The flowers remained where they were even if it was impossible for them to grow like this next to water no matter how shallow. The water was reflective like a mirror, and though it might cause some to take pause, the party walked onwards without hesitation, knowing there was no other real choice.

Janus tilted his head at the reflections. Though the vision of the pond was small, he could still see large poles with banners attached stuck into the ground in the land besides them. The banners themselves reminded Janus of various coat of arms that he had seem throughout his short time meeting with other guilds. Thankfully for his own sanity, he didn't notice one that looked like the coat of arms of The Broken Mirror. He wouldn't want to have to question someone about that.

Terrence focused on a different part of the reflection. Rhantir and Yvon looked much the same as they did now, but Terrence watched as his reflection became that of an armored courser with a bandaged hoof. Similarly, Janus' reflection was that of an armored courser without a helm, his serious expression and long hair accompanied by a set of large horns. Had Janus' reflection become that of a deer? There was no way that made sense, but it also wasn't the strangest thing that Terrence had seen throughout this dive.

Alongside the reflection, the sounds of the battlefield returned, this time seeming like a collection of voices yelling out the same thing. Galatea. In humanoid shouts, in courser screams, as if it was the sound of the air itself. Galatea was echoing within their minds. It seemed like Janus and Terrence were the only ones to actually hear it, the two humanoid spirits seeming as if they were unaware, or perhaps they were just used to the sound.

It caused Janus' mind to get stuck on the word again. He had seen where it was placed, but now he was hearing it in the cries of war. What did this mean? Did this confirm that Galatea was a place? A kingdom that the people were fighting for? Or was Galatea truly the name of some being, who just so happened to be valuable enough to the world that a war would be caused in his name. As he thought, he looked over to Rhantir, remembering how much he had mentioned Galatea in previous conversation.

He could think about it for the rest of the walk, or he could get the courage to try and get some information from the humanoid's mouth.

"Say, Rhantir. I've got a question for you." Janus finally said after a very long stretch of silence. The spirit smiled, turning towards the chimeric courser. "Of course! Ask away, my living friend!"

For a moment, Janus had to think of how to word it. The word seemed so simply when it left their mouths. What if asking about it would be rude, or made him look like an idiot? If it was such common knowledge to them, maybe asking about Galatea would end up making Rhantir talk to him as if he was a foal. Such an insult wasn't one he was willing to take. Unfortunately, he had already opened the line of conversation, so he couldn't back out of it now.

"Well, you see, there's this word that's been coming up a lot in my travels within the dungeon and the ruins of the past world. I don't know what to make of it and you mentioned it at one point, so I do hope that it's not offensive to ask or sounds like an idiotic question-" "Do you know what Galatea is?" Terrence interrupted Janus before he could talk himself further into some form of madness. As much as Janus didn't appreciate Terrence turning his question into something so blunt, Rhantir didn't seem to mind it.

"Ah! Why of course, not an idiotic question at all! It's not surprising with how long the kingdom's been buried that the words that were common to the men of the time have become mysterious and unknown. Let's see, perhaps I shall start from the beginning of the origins just so that you both have the full picture..."

Janus and Terrence's eyes widened, but not because of any revelations or sudden bursts of knowledge. As soon as the elf began to speak about Galatea, his voice became distorted beyond recognition. Terrence was shocked by the sound itself, not able to be identified as anything from this world, or even this dimension. He would try to think of how to explain it, but it quite literally was incomprehensible.

It was like the sound of a language that he couldn't understand, while also not being recognizable as a language at all. It was the sound of screaming as well as the sound of silence. Everything and nothing at once with no semblance of understanding inbetween. The coursers could watch the elf perform dramatic poses as he walked and watch his mouth move, but none of it added to their understanding. In fact, his mouth blurred in such a specific way so that even if they knew how to read lips on humanoid creatures, they wouldn't be able to.

Janus was shocked by the result moreso than the way it was performed. Talk of Galatea from the spirits was being... censored. He watched as Yvon tried to add something to the story being told, but his words too were changed to the point of nonsense. It truly seemed like an extension of the dungeon, the mystery of Galatea becoming even more like the world itself was removing any information about it. As if the word itself wasn't meant to be accessed by coursers like them.

When Rhantir's noises stopped, both of the coursers had ended up with looks of shock directed at each other. "Did you... understand any of that?" Janus whispered towards Terrence, extremely quiet as to not show his confusion to the elf next to them. "Given the noises I did hear, I'm somewhat glad that I didn't." At least both of them were completely clueless- even if Janus felt a little bit bad at how much they quite literally were not allowed to understand.

Thankfully, Rhantir didn't get the chance to ask if the two of them found the information helpful. As the mirror pond faded back into stone, the flowers, finally, faded away as well, marking the end of the path. Yvon nodded once, putting Terrence down on the other side of the field. "We're here. Coursers can leave."

"Ah! Well there's no need to be so short! I, for one, had a fantastic time walking with you both. I do hope that you enjoyed your learning experience as well!" The elf's grin was so bright and happy that Janus felt even worse. He tried to keep himself smiling as he walked forwards to meet with Terrence. "I enjoyed the walk as well, thank you-"

He turned to wave at the humanoid spirits, but they were already gone, faded back into the fields no doubt. His hoof that he raised in order to send them off landed back onto the ground.

The two coursers stood in silent, watching the field for a few seconds more. It had been a strange experience, from the demonic spirit that tried to take a bite out of them to the sorrowful spirit that cried for his mother, to the helpful duo that ended up disappearing into thin air. But at least it was over now.

Terrence certainly felt like he had enough of the moor, and Janus had to find himself agreeing with the sentiment. Perhaps when they got out, they would stick to some smaller dives in the overgrown caverns for a few months.