Chapter 641 (2/2)

But, the fountain of youth…? Strange. And of all people, why was the undead Roy seeking it…? Or was he here for another reason entirely?

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As soon as Lucretia came back to the world of Tellus, she slipped quietly out of Randidly. And the reason was one she found somewhat embarrassing; she didn’t want to leave. Not that she didn’t want to have her own body and have the freedom to move around the world, but…

Not only had she learned a lot about Aether and karma from Randidly, she also grew quite fond of him. In her heart, Shal was her true son of course. He was of her flesh and blood, even if she didn’t truly want to imagine how she, as a Wight, had the ability to reproduce with a person from another world. But Randidly was the one who was there with her, making the foolish and sudden mistakes of young men.

After leaving Randidly, Lucretia appeared atop a nearby cliff. The wind was good to feel on her actual skin. With wonder, Lucretia felt her joints and muscles, reveling in the heavy truth of her once more being free. It was such a delight that she found herself laughing. If anyone would have been around, the mystique of Lucretia, the Undying Witch would shatter.

But that thought caused Lucretia to frown. What was her purpose now? A long time ago, she had killed a youth in a small village of this world. To keep the ruse effective, Lucretia remembered very little of her life before that. It was a blur, leaving her with the directive to embed herself in Tellus’ culture.

Returning to her body also had the effect of giving her a buffer between herself and her threads of karma. Losing that was shocking for a number of reasons. Now that she came back to her body, Lucretia could see that her powers of karma came from a thread of karma that had been wound through the entirety of her being.

Lucretia closed her eyes and sat on the cliff, turning her focus inward. That thread was thick and black, releasing a strange grey light. The brightness was luminous, so Lucretia knew that the thread had been planted, and grown full. All that remained was for it to be reaped.

It filled her with a cold terror. Her hands beginning to tremble.

Returning to her body also brought something else back to her; her deep fear of death.

All Lucretia’s life in Tellus, she knew she was different. And somehow, her subconscious urged that this difference would someday kill her. Now, Lucretia knew that was true. She felt the effects of that from this thread. This whole time, there was a doom hanging over her. Her trembling grew worse. If Lucretia encountered the individual who formed this thread of karma…

Their power left her dumbfounded. Perhaps she would have fled and done her best to hide if this was the Lucretia from a year ago. Or an eternity ago, as she witnessed thousands of lives flash to life and flicker out while observing Randidly’s Soul Skill. But now…

Well, now she was afraid. But she had also learned about power. Her eyes glowed lilac as she looked the thread that seemed to tie her together. Reaping worked both ways. It wasn’t just the person who had created Lucretia that could reap this thread. She could do the same to the thread in his chest, should she locate him and have an advantage.

So what should she do? She couldn’t just wait for this to occur. But Lucretia also wanted to find Shal. She had never… never really had the chance to talk with him.

To comfort him. To touch his shoulder. To teach him to hold a spear.

To be his mother.

Heavy melancholy shook Lucretia, but she did her best to ignore it. Instead, she reached out and felt the threads of karma that she had tied, stretching outward from her. Tying a thread of karma couldn’t be considered a difficult thing, but casual threads would not result in powerful effects. Everything is momentum. There is no actual substance to karma, only movement.

It was time to marshal her forces. Lucretia’s fingers delicately on several threads to check them. After a time, she found four that interested her. The brightest was the one that led to Randidly. If she needed to, she could find him at will. The business between them… it had become messy. Just like she had used karma on so many others, he used it on her in the past. But after that, he had continued to sew karma with her until they remained strangely intertwined.

When it came to the core of the person, no one knew Randidly Ghosthound better than Lucretia. Perhaps not in this world specifically, but Lucretia understood very well how important he was to the fate of his world. Perhaps even the fate of his entire cohort. The light gathering around that thread was bewitchingly bright. It made her believe that he was here, in this world, for a reason as well.

The dimmest and most plain was her connection to Shal. It was less a thread of karma, and more the unexciting truth of their intimate connection.

The final two threads, however… Lucretia grinned as she tugged at them. They were simply… tools.