[center][h1][color=darkgoldenrod]Khthon[/color][/h1][/center]

The crystal roots hummed gently. Khthon watched them carefully, looking for any sign of harm or panic.

He had been running damage control for... a rather long time now. Scouring the entirety of Ashuru's crust to save what crystals he could, and mourn those he couldn't, was slow and tedious work, but Khthon was nothing if not patient.

Still, though Gods and stone did not get... tired, as mortals did, he still looked forward to some rest. It had been too long since he had the time to contemplate his hoard at his leisure...

In this way, Anakalypsos had been a great help in this task. Though at first Khthon had been hesitant to let another God's creation roam his realm freely, he had found the arachnid-like Avatar to be a most agreeable companion. It was silent, diligent, discreet, and did not bother him more than strictly necessary. Her help with locating distressed crystal roots had let him save many he probably wouldn't have found or reached in time to save otherwise. For that he was grateful.

By now, however, he felt he had done all he could. He could think of no more places to check, and whatever help he gave only seemed to offer diminishing returns. Now that the immediate crisis had been mitigated, all they needed, he supposed, was time.

...There was one last thing he could do, though. The Great Bell in its crystal cavern, the one Excelsis had described to him. If his God-Brother was to be believed, then it was linked to the roots. He could no longer help the roots as he had done so far, but maybe he could learn from their source...

For the first time in... what had probably been ages for those on the surface, Khthon fully emerged. The Sun's light felt much too bright, and his stone body rumbled unhappily at the feeling. He would have to endure it, and in any case, he would soon be back to his dim abode.

He had chosen to emerge near the ever-shifting mountains, those that had existed since before his awakening, and which he'd chosen to leave largely untouched. But though they predated him, the Unfinished Mountains still obeyed him, and when he asked them, [color=darkgoldenrod]"Which of you houses the Great Bell?"[/color] they answered in unison, [b]"This one!"[/b]

He felt where the crystal cave's opening laid, knew exactly the path to take, and when a great wind burst came, he let the stone of his body burst into sand be carried to its entrance. He looked around as his sand reformed into stone. The cavern was... dazzling, both figuratively and literally. Had he mortal senses, the endless refraction of light in the cave would have been dizzying, if not downright nauseating. As a God, though, he could appreciate the beauty of such a place without vertigo spoiling it.

The Great Bell was an intimidating sight. Such a device being a portend of doom... it led to wonder who made it in the first place. But that would be a mystery to solve later: the current issues were much more pressing.

Khthon looked at the script, and then quickly gave up trying to read it as is. It was much too jumbled and rapidly changing to try and decrypt it as is. Instead he turned his attention to the room as a whole, to its essence. He could feel it, a truth just out of reach, unknown by all, [i]hidden[/i]. A great Secret, one which he did not have access to, [i]for now.[/i]

Khthon dealt in Secrets, yes, but always by creating them, not by revealing them. So this challenge was a new one... but not an impossible one. He reached out to the hidden knowledge of this place, called to it, tried to coax it out. He listened carefully, on the lookout for even a scrap to reveal itself to him.

[color=darkgoldenrod]"Come to me,"[/color] he whispered. [color=darkgoldenrod]"Know who you belong to... Show me how to help and heal you..."[/color]

And when the knowledge would show itself, Khthon knew that he would seize it.

[hider=Summary]
Khthon comes to the realization that healing and helping the roots as he had done so far is only resulting in diminishing returns, despite Excelsis' Avatar's, Anakalypsos', help. He decides to go to the crystal root's source, the crystal cave and the Great Bell to search for more ways to help. Since he can't make heads or tails from the displayed text, he instead decides to try and coax out some of the cave's secrets using his Domain.

[u]Conviction spending[/u]
- Khthon tries to coax out/scry for hidden knowledge pertaining to the Great Bell and the crystal roots, especially regarding how to heal and maintain them, using his mastery over the Secrets Domain. (In-Domain, Hazy/Surreal? 1-2 conviction? Really not sure how to classify this one, tbh)
[/hider]