Chapter 211 (1/2)

The strange existence that had interfered with Randidly’s Paths and Skill, as he referred to it “the Creature”, smiled as it looked down into the reflecting pool that displayed the battle between master and disciple. But her eyes peered more deeply that the truly insignificant skills that both of them used.

“Fascinating… to think that he would transform my masterwork into a simple powerplant…” The Creature muttered, its fingers stretching, lengthening until they were just short of touching the surface of the pool. But at the last minute, it hesitated.

Another voice interrupted its thoughts. “Are you afraid?”

A woman, a human woman, hung at the other end of the small room, opposite the Creature. Her hands were bound by an iron chain off the ceiling, which was just so long that her tiptoes could touch the ground as she was stretched out by her hand binding. She had dirty blonde hair to her shoulders, and violet eyes.

“Not as afraid as you are, dear Lyra. I can see it in your heart. I can smell it in your sweat. Yet you remain so calm. Why?”

Lyra chuckled, and the chains rattled. But the laughter swiftly turned into coughs, and her body shimmered and bulged, as she stretched her shape into a taller creature. But as she did so, the chains began to glow with strange runes, and bolts of electricity shot down, making Lyra shudder. Her form shifted back into her human body, which was still just a little too short to stand, with her hands bound in chains in that manner.

The Creature just shook its head, turning back to the image of Randidly. “He chose life… again. Perhaps I should have suspected this, when he chose to transform his rot into the path of life, earlier, but… it still puzzles me. His strength could be so much higher, if he would embrace the aspects of himself that have an affinity to death. And yet… Perhaps he doesn’t understand death’s power….?”

“Just as you intended, he is an unaffiliated individual wandering the System, with one of the most powerful Soul Skills ever conceived-”

“I would say the Soul Skill has the potential to rank 6th, in all of the Cohorts…” The Creature interjected, but Lyra ignored it and continued speaking.

“-but you miss the point, you fucking cunt. You ask me why I’m calm in spite of my fear, why I gave you the withered connection Randidly and I used as Sword and Sheath? It’s because you can’t see it at all. The thing that makes him so special.”

The Creature grimaced, as if it had smelled something extremely disgusting. “You are talking once more… of hope.”

Lyra nodded, her eyes focusing on the reflecting pool, and glowing violet. “Yes. He burns with it. That’s why I would sell everything, to give him a path forward.”

“I could have dominated him. He might have been unable to escape that darkness, and I would have ground his will to nothing. He would be a puppet, and one quite a bit more useful than you.” The Creature said, watching Lyra carefully. The teenager just smiled.

Sighing, the Creature pressed a hand to its temple and transformed, becoming the spitting image of Lyra. “Well fine. Do try to behave, won’t you? I have a village to run.”

The Creature flickered out of existence, returning to Donnyton. Lyra remained silent, still mesmerized by the reflecting pool. Likely as a way to drive her insane, the Creature kept her here, constantly watching Randidly. But after the first few days, it stopped stressing her out and making her extremely annoyed at the ridiculously shortsighted decisions he sometimes made, and instead calmed her.

After all, if a fucking idiot like him, although a cute one, could survive out there, what could someone like her accomplish?

Thin flows of Aether emerged from Lyra’s eyes and slid up to the chains that bound her to the ceiling. They didn’t touch the chains or the runes but began to rub against the roof, slowly grinding it away.

One day she would be free, Lyra swore to herself. But as she watched Randidly grow, she couldn’t help but be extremely pleased. He grew and grew and struggled and grew. Her smile twisted her whole face. It was that, that endless strength and resilience that they needed.

Because if Lyra had learned anything from the Creature, it was the Being that it feared was very real, and so powerful that words failed. And yet, the thought of such a foe only made her more excited. Lyra couldn’t wait to see what the edges of possibility of Aether contained.

Lyra watched Randidly’s reflection with a cheshire smile, enraptured. Her Aether ground away at the roof. It was only a matter of time.

*****

Randidly winced as he walked over to the much smaller queue of individuals waiting for the second part of the preliminaries. Shal’s reunion fight was very… thorough. But there was a definite difference in Randidly’s mind, as he viewed Shal.

Beyond his level of power, sure. But unbeatable..?