Chapter 113 Chapter 113 - The First and Final Breaths (2/2)
”... hm,” the man nodded faintly, his smile broadening. ”How'd you figure out I'd be coming to this place, though?”
”... uh, t-ten years ago or so,” Erdicth mumbled, not bothering to wipe his tears. ”I sensed a strange Qi coming from far East, as though something was disturbed. Rather, a trace I left hundreds of years ago was disturbed. The Necropolis. You've been there, haven't you?”
”...”
”You have... and so have I. When I got there, I realized it was empty. There were no corpses, there were no tortured, there was not a Mysterious Queen overseeing it. And I knew, because, long ago, she told me. She told me that should she ever vanish without trace it would mean her inheritor had come. And I knew... I knew... yet, I... I had doubts, still. Where were you? Why weren't you unveiling yourself to the world? So... I studied. I studied you, I studied histories. I learned, all of it.”
”... and the best plan you could come up with was to usurp your Empire and create a massive-scaled formation covering its entire surface that would continuously spit out consistently non-chaotic Qi?”
”... heh... I first proposed it to the Emperor, four years ago,” Erdicth said, smiling bitterly. ”He completely ignored me, saying I was spouting nonsense like the Three Seers. I tried numerous times after, but nothing came of it. I had... I had to do something.”
”... you're draining your Life to talk. Are you sure that's a good call?” the man asked, sitting down next to Erdicth.
”... heh, who cares? I have met you. In the end, you truly are her inheritor... you truly are... an Empyrean.”
”... you seem strangely proud of meeting me.” the man said, casting a sideways glance at Erdicth.
”... only a fool would not be,” Erdicth said, smiling lightly, his aged features softening in the process. ”Fate... Fate told the Seers of you, but I learned of you on my own. I read the books, and I read the stories. In them, you are a Bringer of Chaos, a Demonic Entity beset on destroying the world. Every story of an Empyrean is of a madman's attempts to bring utter collapse upon us all.”
”... sounds about right.”
”No villain is ever that vilified,” Erdicth said. ”No madman ever written of to that extent. It is the quint-essential component of story's dichotomy; a true masterpiece of a propaganda. And then... there was her. The Mysterious Queen.”
”Eshen.” the man mumbled in a faint tone.
”Ah... so that's her name...” Erdicth smiled faintly as he closed his eyes. ”Even with cruelty of eternal despair chaining her... she still held to her heart. And, she told me... all those bearing the calling of an Empyrean... are the same. She said you were fools assailed with non-existent notions of grandeur, filled to brim with pride over a title you didn't earn... yet, I knew, right then and there, you were the sort with incorruptible and defiant hearts. Even with the whole of the world standing against you, you would still stand your ground and fight.”
”... aye, we really are fools,” the man said, sighing as he suddenly grasped at Erdicth's shaking hand and held it. ”And you are even greater a fool for still believing in us.”
”... t-tell me... tell me... what's your name?” a faint voice asked.
”... it's Lino.”
”Lino... ah... Lino,” Erdicth mumbled. ”Thank y--” before the last vowel left his lips, the last breath escaped as Lino pressed the hand tightly, killing Erdicth. He held onto the hand for a moment while gazing at him with strange eyes before letting go and getting up.
”... your heroics have reached as far as this backwater village.” Lino mumbled into the air.
”... none are my heroics.”
”... we are either glorified or vilified,” he said as he left the alleyway in even steps. ”Either desired dead, or sitting upon world's throne. You've sorted a beautiful story of us... to the point it seems the whole of the world had forgotten that we are, before everything else, just... us.”
”...”
”Now I'm a bit interested in meeting the Seers,” he said as he looked up toward the distant sky. ”I wonder to which tune do they dance...”
Evelyn burst with sudden speed far surpassing her prior one, crashing through the space and time itself it seems to appear before the Three Seers. An arc of blinding, white light slashed through the sky, bearing itself through the golden veil and piercing through. A shockwave massive enough to collapse the sky bounced outwardly, scalding all those who've felt its reach and braving them further backwards along its waves. Three Seers all catapulted like loosened mountains falling from the sky, crashing into the earth and rumbling through onward for hundreds of meters before stopping, creating a sort of comical trail on earth of their being.
The battle was over; those who ought to have been slain were taking their final breaths, and those who ought to be living were taking their first breaths of new life. On the surface, it almost appeared to be a cathartic sort of a moment. Yet, for all those involved, dead or alive, it was anything but. Perhaps, more so for her than anyone else, Evelyn felt that, despite all, she had still failed. As though a piece of puzzle that was this ensemble was missing from her eyes. Almost instinctively she looked toward the ground, a bit further north in the distance, where she saw Erdicth fall. In her heart, she knew he lay at the heart of it all, perhaps even more so than Damian himself. Yet... the answer to it all still escaped her, like that dream where you eternally chase after the doors you wish to go through only to find them always the same distance that they were at the start.