"You forgot something."
Just as Shane was about to set off with Mon-El, Rachel's voice suddenly sounded in his mind.
The shadow hidden behind Shane's ear began to writhe. When Raven and Rachel first entered the Phantom Zone, they had used Shadow Magic to teleport directly onto Shane.
Rachel solemnly reminded Shane that he had forgotten something from mere minutes ago.
It was nothing major, and Shane quickly recalled it.
"Right, I heard those blue phantoms mention someone else just now. Ethel, I think?"
Mon-El's steps faltered slightly, and a trace of wariness crept into his voice.
"...That's a native monster that lurks in the Phantom Zone and feeds on souls. Back when the Phantom Zone had no tangible matter, that monster would come out every so often and devour a phantom."
From his description, monsters lurking in the Phantom Zone were far from rare. Ethel was simply especially terrifying.
In theory, before matter existed in the Phantom Zone, everyone sent here was immortal, thanks to frozen time and the Phantom Zone's own nature beyond space and time.
But Ethel could bypass their phantom forms and draw out their souls directly.
That meant if no new people were sent in someday, Ethel might eventually eat every frozen life in the Phantom Zone. "Fortunately, though, Ethel doesn't need to feed very often. It used to appear only once every few decades."
"And now that the Phantom Zone has somehow acquired physical matter, that monster hasn't appeared in a long time."
Shane narrowed his eyes slightly and nodded to show he understood.
Still, a vague heaviness settled in his heart.
Even he did not know whether it was because escaping to the Phantom Zone had failed to stop his forgetfulness from worsening, or because of something else.
Shane and Mon-El traveled together,