It paused before sighing again:
"Yes, the exit itself is a temple of the 'Ancient God of Death.' I do not know its current state, but in my ancient memories, using that passage required three sacrifices: an object related to that Ancient God, a Heart of the Living Dead, and finally, the reason you must return to the world of the living.
That would be your token of return, or rather, your beacon. Each person must offer one."
The four wore different expressions, but at least Shade understood everything required this time. A Heart of the Living Dead was also needed to activate a special ability of the Soul Cemetery, and Shade had used two before.
Stone Osenfott's had been used to summon Haila Osenfott back, allowing her to help Shade, who had been deeply troubled by his love life at the time, clear up his confusion (1688);
The Heart of the Living Dead given by the Church after the Green Lake Incident, which had been obtained during Coldwater Port's "Sea Burial," had been consumed by Shade when he exchanged "Sloth Edwards (Second-Generation evil lord)" for the soul of the little girl "Lust Edwardz," who had already been heading toward Final Death.
The appearance of every Heart of the Living Dead was inevitably accompanied by a bizarre and twisting tale, but Shade felt that finding another one should not be difficult. As for an object related to an Ancient God and a beacon, those would be even simpler.
They had exchanged just two Burial Objects for such useful information. Shade did not know whether the giant was deliberately helping them.
Next came Shade's turn. Though he wanted to ask more about the secrets of the god here, he asked another question first:
"Do you know who I am? You saw