The great hall of House Rotchy felt like a held breath — not empty, but full with the slow hum of decisions. Afternoon light pooled in thin, obedient bands across the obsidian floor; runes inlaid along the pillars glowed faintly like the afterglow of a long exhalation. The sofas were dark and soft, their velvet swallowing footsteps and gossip alike. The air carried the layered perfume of the palace: incense warmed by heated stone, the metallic tang of old warding, and the faint, comforting sweetness of tea steeping nearby.
They were gathered there as if convened by fate and etiquette both: Elizabeth sat at the center like a hearth, platinum hair catching the light and lending her an almost youthful gleam that belied the word "grandmother"; Tishara reclined with the casual insolence of one who knows her own beauty is a weapon; Sion, chestnut-red hair catching stray beams, leaned forward as if perpetually on the verge of action; Naoko remained a still, silver-edged statue at the fringe, a figure of quiet control; and Rina hovered near the edge of the group, eyes raw with worry and a heart too full to speak at ease.
Elizabeth's voice, warm as folded cloth, broke the gentle tension. "Very well, Naoko," she said, smoothing the words like ribbons. "I will transfer Jin to a realm of great power — a place with many curious and instructive entities. Tishara and I quarreled over which of the places we have seen best suit his education on our travels." Her fingers toyed with the rim of her teacup, a small and ritual motion that steadied the conversation.
Tishara made a sound that could have been a laugh or an assertion. "Yes. It will be interesting," she said, eyes bright with the sort of hunger only travel and odd perils can cultivate. Gold hair fell around her shoulders like a curtain of light; she looked, in that lazy afternoon, like mischief in human form.
Sion's voice added a practical beat. "Wonderful," she said, the amusement in it crisp. "But what will he find there? Monsters? Temples? Are the gods present?" Her question carried the simple curiosity of someone who lived by force and favor and wanted to know whether to sharpen a blade or a smile.
It was Tishara who answered, in a tone half-conspiratorial and half-dismissive. "It is difficult to explain in words. There are… energies there that do not exactly resemble what we call 'god energy' here. They have names and patterns that will challenge him. But enough of that — let us focus on the man who will enter it."
Naoko had been quiet, sipping her tea with that cold composure that made rooms fall neatly into order. She watched without comment; her silence was a rock in the current. Rina — still fragile from the island — stood with hands clasped and voice held back like a spring. Finally she managed, "Will he be all right?"
Elizabeth's smile flattened into the clear line of counsel. "Do not worry, Rina," she said gently. "We will remove the Uranus blessing and the ordinary mana from him for the period of the trial. Jin will rely upon his divine-energy core alone. Tishara will lend him her Darkness element — the legacy of Hades and Persephone that rests within her now by the nature of her reincarnation."
The words landed soft but decisive. Rina let out a breath she had not known she was holding; Tishara nodded with an almost mischievous seriousness. Sion's brow furrowed into a practical crease. "So we take away his mana and Uranus blessings? But this place — does it carry its own god-energy? Will the god-energy there not conflict with his core?"
Tishara's answer came in a ripple of laughter that was meant to soothe any fret. "There is a force there," she said. "It is not called the god-energy we use at home. Names are local. But yes, elements exist — and we will ensure they are compatible. He will be given darkness as his primary field; darkness can be shaped into offense, defense, and even restoration if one builds the concept cleanly. It resists certain poisons and curses; it gives a narrow but robust immunity. If Elizabeth lends life-power to the experiment, it will be wasteful with his energy. Darkness is the more strategic gift."
Elizabeth folded her hands and added the weight of reason. "If we also gave him life-element from me, he would be spread thin. Learning to wield more than one new element at such an unstable stage would not teach him mastery — it would teach him confusion. One element to begin, chosen for versatility and resilience. Darkness is both blade and shield; it will train the machine-heart to conceptualize boundaries and fluidity without draining into life-bonds that would consume him."
Naoko, who had been watching the conversation as if reading a ledger, spoke then. Her voice was a blade wrapped in silk. "Elizabeth — this time, do not send only his consciousness into some dreaming plane. Send the body as well. For a field of this intensity, if only his spirit enters, his body will splinter. Take him wholly — body and soul. The anchoring must be physical, otherwise the scenario will collapse on him. I will not have him come back… broken."
A small ripple of surprise laced through the hall; Elizabeth's fingers stilled at her teacup. "Very well," she agreed after a careful breath. "I had planned to link only his mind, but the world we will send him to is too volatile for a ghost to survive alone. I will open a returning gate into another plane and transfer him entirely. We will keep him under ward in that plane and, crucially, monitor him from here."
The idea of a physical transference carried weight. Rina's eyes widened with a mixture of fear and trust; she knew the courage of letting someone be forged and feared the hammer. Sion's shoulders eased with a grunt of satisfaction — this was the sort of certainty she respected. Tishara's mischievous grin sharpened into a pleased, competitive line. Elizabeth's face borrowed the clarity of something resolved; Naoko's expression did not change, but the air about her felt like the settling of a plan.
"Will we not? —" Sion began, then stopped; the thought was trivial compared to their consensus. Elizabeth's voice returned to that warm, final tone. "We will take precautions. The portal will be stable; the wards will hold. Tishara will bind the Darkness to him and help shape its concept within his machine-energy. That is the point: to force the core to begin forming its own frameworks without mana as crutches."
Jin was not in the room — he lay in his mother's chamber, the runes humming above him and the sedative warmed into his blood. But it was as if he sat there in the soft silence between the words. The plan threaded itself like a blade around his name and set it finally in the mouth of fate.
Rina took one last look around the dark-furnished hall — at the women who had agreed to remold her husband, at Naoko's quiet authority that must have chafed his softer edges into steel, at Elizabeth's hands folded like a benediction. She mouthed a small, private prayer and then, with a steadiness that surprised even her, she stepped back from the conversation. The choice had been made and their will had been set toward a course of fire and shadow.
Outside the hall, the rotchy runes hummed in agreement; the palace arranged itself for the coming of the gate. In the center of that hush, strategy turned quietly into action: a transfer that would take a body whole into a place not easily named, a darkness grafted like a tool to a newly forged heart, and the slow education of a half-god who would be taught — not pampered — to stand.
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Heat: Thank you very much for reading the chapter. Prepare yourselves. The world will be amazing, and perhaps some people know it well.
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