"Hmmm"
A small sensual moan left the seer's mouth after Aldric responded to her forward advance. Seconds passed as the only sounds that could be heard were ones produced between the two of them.
Her arms wrapped around him as she threw her weight on his body.
But Aldric woke up. Raising his idle arms, he placed them on her shoulders and pushed her back.
A push that she seemed to have anticipated, if anything, with how easily she found her balance after.
"Is that how you greet everyone? Or is that just for me?"
A light-hearted comment from Aldric was what was first said, but his eyes said something else. A heated gaze filled with a sea of different emotions.
A relieved expression formed on Cassie's face. Even with her eyes obscured, it was easy to tell what she was feeling.
"I... I just needed to see you after the end of the nightmare. Seeing Hope do that to you made my heart sink to the ground. Even if I knew you were fine, I wanted to feel you."
She spoke out in a relieved voice.
But Aldric could see through the holes of what she said immediately, yet his mouth was shut.
"Still, a heated kiss like that..."
Aldric trailed off, trying to get a feel of what her response would be.
And just like how he expected, she responded.
"Don't tell me you forgot what I said to you."
"Maybe it was all the near deaths in the Forgotten Shore, or the feelings of weakness before then; all I know is that I don't have the luxury of time. And unlike Nephis and Sunny, I go after what I want."
Cassie laid out all her desires on the table. As if it was such an easy thing to do.
"So don't forget about what I said to you that night in the Night Temple. I want to be by your side."
Cassie finished.
Aldric stared and stared. He truly looked at and observed the girl in front of him. From her face, her skin, eyes and figure. The heated gaze in his own eyes faded, and a hard expression formed.
"And you forgot what I said. I said you have to earn it. Don't use my safety as a reason to be intimate with me."
Aldric fired back with cold discontent.
Instinctively, she felt his heated gaze and the shift in the room. And so, she looked down without even thinking.
"It reeks of desperation."
He spoke coldly. Bluntly destroying whatever atmosphere the two had created.
Stepping closer and closer to the young woman, he struck at the crux of it all. The elephant in the room that had never been addressed. The crumbling foundation they would have to get rid of to move forward.
"The reason why I will always fight against this is because I cannot trust you. The schemes you concocted that you admitted would make your friends suffer for a thousand lifetimes. The suffering you put yourself and Sunny through at the hands of Mordret. You knew what would happen in the Night Temple. Sunny might be naive, but I'm not."
"And with whatever you did to Sunny in the Forgotten Shore. How on earth could I trust you to do right by me? To trust you completely?"
"So just stop this and let's go back to how it was before."
Cassie's mind and heart were about to overload. Thoughts and feelings blended into one as an irrational fear eclipsed her. Her body reacted as though it was in shock. Elevated heart rate, shallow breaths.
'I can't breathe...I...'
She thought it was over. She was about to lose it, the only thing in her fate that was uncertain. The only thing that was only hers.
But just as he pushed her away, he pulled her back in the way only someone as twisted as her would respond to. A blatant manipulation on his part.
"But I have one way that this could go the way that you want."
He came closer and whispered in her ear. Knowing about her new ascended ability, Aldric could tell that she had already formed a connection with him and that she was viewing the world through his eyes. A faint connection that he allowed.
"You will have to swear it. Swear it on everything that you value. Vow to never wish me harm. Vow to never plan against me. When you can promise me that, then we can move forward."
And while he spoke, he triggered his new ability. A complex design akin to a pentagram formed on his palm. Dark red sparks scattered around it ominously. With his right hand radiating with an otherworldly energy, he raised it and grasped Cassie's throat tightly.
"This is a choice that fate hasn't even witnessed, so do not rely on your powers. I need Cassie to make this decision, not Song of the Fallen but Cassie."
"But if you do, you will be by my side till the end."
He held her tighter and whispered closer.
But just as the moment began, it ended. Like a clear sky after a storm.
Aldric let go and gave Cassie her space. Giving her a flick on the forehead, the conversation was over. Turning his back to her and continuing on with what he was doing.
"You have a month to decide..."
He finished, choosing to keep their connection active. All he could hear were shallow, erratic breaths behind him, but he did not turn around.
But if he did, Aldric would have seen a disturbing shift of emotions cross her face. From terror, panic, contemplation and finally settling on a ...
---
"Done..."
After seven hours...three breaks...and a massive headache, Aldric had done it.
Changing the fuel source of the door
But that was the beauty of the sorcery that Nether used to build things; it was simple. Unlike Weaving which required the knowledge of previous weaves and patterns, Diamond Chaining was more akin to pieces of a puzzle that fit together seamlessly. You just needed the expertise to manipulate it. However, it was not without its challenge.
It was trial and error. Changing aspects of the design, memorising its initial composition. There were numerous times that Aldric had to scrap his new design altogether and start from scratch. It was equivalent to taking apart a wristwatch and putting it back together just to change the time.
The gate no longer accepted divine flames and the energy of its essence. But it was not darkness either. After all, darkness was not divine fire. There was no energy to be collected from it by a system that was not designed for it. Like trying to pour unfiltered oil into an electric vehicle, they were just not compatible. But even so, while true darkness was a rare energy to manipulate, it was not special to Aldric. There were external sources of it, memories that could reproduce it and even aspects.
Yet, in the case of his essence, that was something truly unique to him. Dark in its nature, there was not a single other awakened on the planet who could mimic the nature of his essence. And it could also act as a fuel source like regular soul essence. Ticking both of those boxes, Aldric changed the receiving node that controlled the intake of energy. After studying the gate of the tower that was activated through injecting essence, all he had to do was copy it and apply it to the system.
Luckily, the universal source in the dream realm was essence. So while the system took in divine flames, there was an in-built converter that broke down the divine flames into their base energy. And all Aldric had to do was change that.
Knowing of the memory he received from killing the Sun Prince, he wondered if it would produce divine flames. It was a reasonable assumption, and a memory like that would have saved Aldric from all that work. But it was about the challenge. The challenge of evolving his craft and getting better.
'Now that I'm done, let me reward myself by unpacking this memory.'
Memories were perhaps one of the most fun aspects of being an awakened. The uncertainty of an object that could be the difference between life and death.
[Memory: Helios Restraint]
[Memory Rank: Transcendent]
[Memory Type: Charm]
[Memory Enchantments: [Unblessed][Sun Rage]]
[Memory Description: In the dead kingdom, an immortal burned. Centuries of torture and agony broke his mind and soul. The vessel burned and burned, endured and endured.
And you shall endure too.]
Looking deeper with the [All-Seeing Eye] enhanced by his darkness, he read the enchantment's descriptions.
[Unblessed] Enchantment Description: [ Any damage you receive will remain in stasis when this memory is active.]
[Sun Rage] Enchantment Description: [Beyond a critical threshold, your wounds will burn the longer this memory is active.]
After reading this, something immediately came to his mind.
The harrowing condition of the Sun Prince. How, even in his immortality, his wounds never healed or closed. Similarly with Noctis, with how he was able to function completely normally even after his face was mutilated.
'I guess that second enchantment is meant to stop me from abusing it. Intolerable pain on top of the wounds I am already receiving. But most importantly, the essence cost will be abundant.'
It reminded him very closely of the Transcendent armour that Sunny used to grant himself an extra life in Antarctica.
'Now that is an amazing pull. A true ace in the hole if I am ever near death.'
Aldric smiled like he won the lottery. With how hit and miss most memories were, he did not want to waste a transcendent memory on something niche or redundant.
'Knowing the nightmare spell, a shitty alternative would've been based on how much the Sun Prince suffered. Mimicking that as its main ability. Something like 'the more pain you endure, the stronger you become'. Genuinely ridiculous.'
Aldric knew it. He just did. But luckily that was not the case this time.
With the job done, his idle thoughts went to a certain seer.
'I gave her an ultimatum.'
Aldric reflected on the conversation they had. He knew that he needed to change the status quo between them. Because even though Cassie had described her desires for him, their relationship was built on secrets and distrust. Aldric would never truly look at her like a friend, and neither would Aldric know how she truly viewed him.
And so, he needed a guarantee. Something to reassure his well-reasoned mind. A surefire way to have someone as useful as Cassie under him without any of her machinations.
'Sure, I am blatantly manipulating her apparent feelings for me to bind her. But I will never know if those feelings are real unless she agrees to my condition.'
He concluded.
But this was not fear speaking. Aldric was not afraid of Cassie and what she could plan. He just had a level of discernment that most people lacked. Why on earth would he even consider being in a relationship with somebody that screwed over one of their closest friends so many times?
He was not desperate for woman or intimacy, so it was an easy choice. Besides, for the long term, this was the best option.
"I wonder what her choice will be."
"If anything, this is for her benefit. Should she try to screw me over like she did to Sunny, knowing what she is capable of, I will get rid of her without a second thought."
He expressed calmly as though he were stating the weather. Speaking of a level of conviction that was unheard of.
Placing his hand on the wall of the portal, a river of dark essence poured out. A substantial amount that almost became too much, but luckily it stopped. And in turn, the portal opened.
Stepping through and walking along the pathway, Aldric had finally returned to the Ebony Tower. In the same condition as he left it, he ignored all the runes and knowledge that he had already viewed and walked straight towards a certain floor. A certain floor that housed a certain statue.
In front of the creation that embodied beauty, Aldric willed a memory to appear, and a set of spiral stairs appeared below the statue. Taking the familiar path laid out, Aldric's boots echoed on the obsidian steps. With the gradual turning steps that never seemed to end, it was time to have a look at the true Aether. One outside of a nightmare, touched by the passing of time.
A familiar door, and to meet it, Aldric placed a familiar key into the wall. Without any effort from himself, the wide doors opened, and a familiar yet different scene met him.
The same white sand, the same ominous gate situated in the centre that screamed danger, and the strange feeling that this place was not real. That he was in some pocket dimension outside of the flow of time and space. It seemed that the thousands of years that passed had no effects on the space. But there were changes.
There was no longer any obscuring enacted by the nightmare spell. All seven gates were in full view.
His own, with the symbol of a divine spark etched on its top. A pale light filled the shape.
Beside it, another gate with a black moon. The gateway that once connected to the Night Temple. Yet, it was hollow and cracked. Representing its recent destruction by the hands of Tyris and Cormac.
Dozens of meters past it, facing west, another gate with the symbol of a hazy mist.
North of where he stood, a singular gate stood alone amongst dozens of broken ones. A symbol of a triangle faced him.
Behind him, facing south, an ominous gate was surrounded by a haze of danger. A symbol of stars trailing behind each other represented it.
Feeling the stresses and changes that he had undergone recently, Aldric wanted a break from it all. And so, experiencing something new was the next step he would take.
'Which one do I choose?'
He thought in that sand-filled void.
All the while, a pair of purple eyes watched his every move.
***
Thanks for reading.
I'm going to do something a little different. I was inspired by fics on fiction live where you vote on things.
So! You will decide where Aldric goes next. Which of those gateways will he enter, and where will he end up? No clues on where they will lead to.
Vote by commenting and liking under each of these three options. Only the first comment will count as a like, but the likes on every comment will be counted.
A star.
The triangle.
The haze.
Besides that, what a toxic relationship between Aldric and Cassie. Nothing like the wholesome Sunphis.
I will count votes on Sunday night. So let's see who wins.
Till next time.