Chapter 229 (1/2)
Divveltian sat, meditating, when the door crashed open and Shal stumbled into the room. Divveltian frowned. Shal was…. shaken. More than that, he was terrified.
“Shal, what-”
“I must go.” Shal interrupted, gathering all of his things into his interspatial ring with a wave of his hand, and then turned to leave. As he passed out of the door, almost as an afterthought, he spoke over his shoulder to Divveltian. “Tell Randidly… that he has the tools to do this. Do not waver…. But also… never trust strength gifted to him by another.”
Then Shal left. After a few minutes of thinking, Divveltian stood and stared at Shal’s retreating back. He had known Shal since he was a boy. Always quiet, reserved, but dedicated to the spear and talented. Even faced with the prospect of proceeding to the domicile of the Devourer, he hadn't seemed to even feel an itch of fear.
But now... his eyes were gaunt and desperate, like he had seen a ghost.
”What...” Divveltian said, speaking to the quiet, now emptier room. ”What are you so afraid of...? What are you running from...?”
****
Shal stumbled out onto the the road leading out of Deardun, feeling shaken. Shal had always known that there was something strange about the boy. His ability to supply his own Aether, without having to worry about Aether Starvation, was disturbing, because of some of the associations in Shal's past. But ultimately it had seemed like a small, isolated thing, so Shal was able to rid himself of some of his unease and accept it at face value.
But today, when Randidly had touched his hand, he felt the heady, hot/cold touch of power.... and his words...
You simply need to accept it.
They reminded him of another's words. The soft whispered words from the face that lay inside his chest. Although the face was still now, it used to yell and gesture, its eyes wild and focused. But there was never any noise but the voice, whispering that phrase over and over again. You simply need to accept it.
What was worse was that the face looked exactly like his father.
And in Shal's mind, that voice could only have one source. Lucretia. Those tempting sweet words, and the wafts of power from that face hidden inside the depths of his chest scared him.. Was Randidly another one of her pawns...? Had she-
Then Shal blinked. Why was his fear... so strong? True, there were a lot of things that Shal didn't understand, but there was one thing that the world understood, better than anything else; power. His hands clenched into fists. As long as he grasped power, everything else would follow. All he needed to do was-
But wait, in the past, the moments where Shal was strongest were when he had caved and relied on his father's face in his chest, channeling some of his spirit to utilize the Spear Phantom's moves. That wasn't truly his own power, even if it had proven itself usable. But hadn't he decided that it was dangerous-
Now that Randidly, the worthless whelp, had informed him of the secret of the Spear Phantom's Embrace too, his strength would-
But if the methods that he used were to be believed, it wasn’t really an issue of usage, it was an issue of perception. Shal simply had to see how all of these disparate skills were part of one larger whole, and merge them together. If Randidly had managed to get such a powerful boost, if he himself could manage it-
You simply need to accept it-
In every strange coincidence of the past several months of real world time began to spin and settle into place. Lucretia’s hand floating over everything-
A vicious, surging anger. With power, even Lucretia was nothing. And with his father’s power surging in his chest-
Muttering to himself, Shal continued to walk, leaving Deardun behind, driven by pure instinct. Somehow, he knew that if he continued to walk, he would someday find a truth, a weapon, a strength, and all of this would be unnecessary. He simply needed…
Then, abruptly, his consciousness departed from him, and he collapsed, and a smiling woman walked out of the darkness, cooing softly. “Oh my child, how you’ve grown…”