Solaris stared at the man sitting at the head of the table, his head adorned with a party hat and a name tag affixed to his lapel.
Noticing the varying gazes, the man spoke again.
"I do apologize for my tardiness once more. However, I do recall you being the one tardy last time, Ember."
The man let out a small laugh, then stopped and spoke once more in a stern tone.
"Now, shall we begin the interview?"
Solaris looked over at Ember, the cigarette falling from his lips. Only to be caught in between his fingers before it hit his lap.
"Even though you aren't affected, I do wish you wouldn't smoke; I find it quite a disgusting habit."
The man at the table's head said in a calm but stern voice.
"Sorry, sir. I'll put it out."
Ember simply twirled the remains of the cigarette into his palm and closed it. A small light emanated from his closed hand, then he opened it, revealing that the cigarette was now gone.
"Now then, who would like to go first?"
After a moment, the man's face shifted from a slight grin to a stern frown as if he was disappointed.
He was about to speak when Solaris stood up and spoke first.
"Sorry, sir. They seem to be a bit intimidated by you. That being said, I'll go first."
"Well, go right ahead..." The man looked over at the girl standing behind him. Without saying a word, she showed him the screen on her tablet, and then he spoke once more.
"Solaris, sorry, I am not the best with names."
The man let out a short chuckle before motioning for Solaris to speak.
Solaris took a moment thinking of where to start, then decided to go with a quick recap of the event leading up to him touching the tree.
He started by describing his mark and giving a quick demonstration of his shards, then he gave a rundown of the Lust demon, then he omitted the fight he, Selen, and Ember had, yet still mentioned the sword he possessed, causing Ember anger.
Hearing of the materials of marks mattering, the stern businessman gave an intrigued nod.
As if many things had just clicked into place.
Solaris then gave a quick rundown of what he and Ember had discovered about what each Material does. As he did, he watched as the small woman behind the businessman wrote on her tablet.
While the man in the lab coat began to get excited and pulled out a notepad, making sure to mark down all of the materials and their both theorized functions and confirmed functions.
After finishing his rundown of the marks and their materials, he began to go over how he ended up in hell and where he had started his journey.
How he touched the mark and then what the landscape, Air, sky, and overall architecture of the first layer of hell were.
As he did, Ember chimed in, telling the man how Solaris disappeared and how he followed.
Yet he also omitted the detail that he was worried about Solaris.
After that, Solaris took over and continued his tale throughout hell.
He described how the area they started in had no food or water, then described the state of the building, following it with how the layout of the city was very reminiscent of how the cities on Earth functioned.
Hearing this, the girl in the back perked up slightly, then continued looking at her tablet and typing away.
Solaris followed up with the blood lake and how he found the bird, and Ember spoke about how he had spotted the hyena.
This was something Solaris was unaware of until now. Ember had looked up randomly and seen a black dot in the sky, one that looked out of place, and so he had decided to go check it out, having full faith in Solaris to kill whatever was in the building.
After Ember finished his explanation, Solaris continued, quickly describing the ensuing duel, of which the businessman seemed to be very interested.
As Solaris spoke, he began to forget who the businessman was, and as such, he glanced at the name tag. After reading it, he stumbled over his words for a moment before apologizing and continuing.
Jon Smit?!?! Shit, I better make sure this story is good.
Having read the name tag again, Solaris wondered how he had forgotten the man.
Perhaps a sacrifice; that would explain why Ember said he'd never met him before. I won't forget this time if that is the case.
Solaris nodded inwardly as he spoke, finishing the duel with how Ember destroyed the lake of blood.
As he said the last part, Solaris could swear Jon Smit's eyes flashed with joy.
Before moving on to the next part, Solaris took a drink from a glass of water, brought in at the beginning of his tale.
Seemingly without him noticing.
Having quenched his thirst, Solaris opened his mouth.
"Now, where was I... oh, after Ember destroyed the lake, we began to walk..."
Solaris began to recount the oasis and followed it with the large bug creature, describing in great detail how good the meat of the bug was.
The man in the lab coat even asked Solaris a few questions about the bug.
Solaris answered them to the best of his ability, yet it didn't seem to satisfy the man's lust for knowledge.
Speaking of the bug's meat made his mouth water.
After swallowing the saliva built up, he contiued skipping over his conversation with Ember about how he'd be missed, and went straight to the second megacity.
Solaris went through in greater detail than before about how the city was laid out and how there was food and water within the city.
This once again made the small woman raise her head in interest, yet she seemed to subdue it and continued writing.
While Jon Smit looked a bit disinterested, yet still actively listening to the recounting.
Seeing this, Solaris began to recount his experience with the soul demon.
The second he started recounting the memory, Jon Smit's eyes shot open, and he left the room.