48 The Roughest Gems Shine Brightes (1/2)
”What did you find? Was it something bad? You look unwell, Ka'an.”
Reed quickly shook his head and said, ”No, I'm fine.... It's just that, well...” His eyes were still stuck on the final part of the old note.
He sighed and said, ”The note's unfortunately illegible.” As soon as the words came out of his mouth, he decisively crushed the note in his hand and set it aflame. It was too late.
Before Lu'um could even react, Reed had turned the note into ashes. It was gone.
She appeared shocked and even somewhat distraught that Reed had obliterated the note, but he purposefully ignored her reaction. He simply shrugged his shoulders and said, ”Don't cry over spilled milk, sweet-cheeks. It probably wasn't a love letter for you anyways.”
Bingo. The play had worked like a charm, much to his dismay.
She coldly gazed at Reed as if he were less than dirt and said, ”....Follow me.”
Reed groaned internally; he knew what this would entail but counted it as an acceptable loss. Living in the doghouse sucked, but it couldn't be helped this time. The damned note opened a can of worms that'd gnaw at him forever. How in the goddammed hell did he leave a note from himself from before he was here, let alone born given the note's age?
Never thought I'd ever have to pay something from the past in a literal sense, though. Goddamnit. If it isn't one thing it's something else...
He took the ring necklace and hurriedly tied it around his neck as he chased after Lu'um's fleeting figure. He'd think about the note later, after taking care of business. After passing through a series of altars, they arrived at the top of the Crystal Palace.
Atop the magnificent palace was an obsidian pillar of considerable size. It peacefully hovered in place despite being several stories tall.
It was an eerie thing; something about it made Reed feel unwell. He felt that among all the things he'd seen in this city, none had exhibited the aura the pillar possessed.
It was assuredly made by men, he knew that. But even so, it still felt unnatural . It felt disgusting even looking at it for too long.
”Don't stare at it too much; this is the Guiding Nail , the tool we use to go outside. For the sake of brevity, think of it as a literal nail we use to pierce the walls of reality back into the universe. It's not something that normal eyes are designed to gaze upon. It is a forbidden thing that normally would have never been built in the first place.”
”Then why did you create such a thing? Can't we just use an Altar to get back home?” said Reed. He averted his eyes away from the grotesque construct and looked at the ground instead.
Lu'um shook her head and said, ”No, the acting of warping cannot bridge the G ap of Nonexistence that lies between Citlai and the universe. Have you never wondered why you were never able to leave the confines of Mulia? It is the same principle; Mulia, too, is separate from reality as long as the Heavenly Aegis remains active. It is impossible to cross the Empty Gap, even with the assistance of Anima. The Guiding Nails are a necessary evil, as much as we'd like to see them destroyed...”
They walked over the pillar and stood in front of it, albeit at a distance. The closer one got, the stronger the feeling of unease one felt. Even spacetime seemed to painfully curve and twist near the immediate vicinity of the terrible pillar.
”Think of the Guiding Nail as a permanent wound we've left on reality itself. It creates an eternal bridge between two points that we can traverse at any time. The technology used to create the Coffins we rode into Sotephor City was based on an inoperable Guiding Nail they found, or rather, something we'd mistakenly left behind when we abandoned the continent.”
When they got close enough, Lu'um said, ”Stay behind me and follow my path, Ka'an. Do NOT stray away from my path, am I clear? The mangled stretch of spacetime ahead of us is dangerous even to the likes of us. A single misstep is all it'll take for you to die a final death.”
Reed nodded slowly and inched himself right behind her, as if he'd become her shadow. He focused all of his attention on her footsteps as they traversed the godforsaken minefield one step at a time. Footstep by footstep, they walked forward in a seemingly random path as they approached the pillar. It was a snaking path that eventually led them to the base of the pillar, where the aura was the strongest.
The word 'reality' did not mean much in for those near the obsidian pillar. It was nothing more than an empty word. The scenery from afar had warped to the point that it'd become unrecognizable. Reed looked upon the world and saw confusing, unmade-shapes twisted in ways that should not have been possible. Even the surrounding Anima seemed to writhe in anguish.
The threads of reality had come undone. It was only then that he finally realized why the Guiding Nails were considered a necessary evil . They defiled nature in a manner that could not be forgiven .
This was a sin , without a doubt.
”Close your eyes, Ka'an, and do NOT open them until I tell you to, am I clear? On the count of three, we're going to touch the pillar together, okay?” said Lu'um. She grabbed one of Reed's hands and closed her eyes in preparation. Reed immediately followed suit and shut his eyes with all his strength. It was time to go back home.
Lu'um took a deep breath and said, ”One... Two.... Three!”
The last thing he heard was the sound of her voice as it morphed into something resembling an elongated scream as it melded with everything else. That was when his torment began.
An eternity had been condensed within the span of a zeptosecond, maybe even less than that.
The empty, white plains of creation laid bare before him. They were unwritten, free of sin.
The crushing pressure of becoming one in infinity was unbearable beyond belief. He felt himself unraveling at the seams of his very being. He was losing himself piece-by-piece as every millennium passed and there was nothing he could do about it.
He struggled fiercely for aeons against the infinitude of the white plains and screamed in despair. Nevertheless, the journey to the other side of nothing continued.
Time passed until time itself lost meaning. He had completely unraveled. He was no longer himself.
A deep thrum slowly pitched up until it became recognizable over a course of a hundred lifetimes. Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please clickfor visiting.
”.....Nnn ....Opeee... Eyy... Hu.... Kaaa...aann..... Opeeen.... Your.... Eyeeesssss...”