Chapter 252: Unchained

I find myself floating in a void above a familiar-looking sea of bluish-white particles.

For a moment, I’m worried I just accidentally entered my own Core, but then I catch a glimpse of my shape.

That is to say, I’m floating here in what seems like a miniature version of my own spiritform, which is not how I appear in my own Core.

In there, I’m more of a disembodied kind of floaty thing. It’s less like I’m actually there, and more like that point is just the nexus of my concentration, like the spot on the page my eyes focus on when I’m reading, or something.

I guess this either means Kaitlynn’s sea of Essence looks similar to mine, or it’s just that this is the way Essence looks to me, because this is how I view it.

Either way, it makes sense that I appear here like a miniature spiritform, because I entered with some of my own Espir. Actually, come to think of it, Mirta had a kind of spiritform in my Core as well. In fact, she managed to enter in her entirety, but she was already a small portion of separated spiritform lacking a Core.

Focus, Emma, you’ve got a job to do.

I shake my head at myself for getting distracted philosophising, and start looking around.

The first thing I notice is that there is some corruption in Kaitlynn’s sea of Essence—which makes sense—but it’s not at a critical level. Note to self: teach Kaitlynn how to meditate into her Core and clean this place up.

I’m hit by a wave of nostalgia at the thought of my mom nagging at me to clean up my room, saying chaos breeds more chaos.

All thoughts of dusty shelves, clothes strewn over chairs, and desks littered with post-it notes are forgotten when I spot a brightly shining giant in the distance.

Bingo.

I float over to Kaitlynn’s avatar with no hurry.

It doesn’t seem like I’m under any kind of time constraint currently, and I’m not entirely sure how Kaitlynn’s avatar is going to react to seeing me...

When I faced my alter ego it had its own personality, but my own avatar never showed anything other than base instinct until I took direct control of it... If it’s pure instinct, how will her avatar view me? Will it recognise me, or see me as just another contamination, a threat?

As I cautiously make my way closer, I start to note more detail. Like mine, Kaitlynn’s avatar is made of dense, bluish-white Essence. There’s some streaks of colour through it as well, but again, not a worrying amount.

More importantly, there are cyan-coloured chains around it.

As I get closer, I get a better sense for them. There indeed seem to be three separate sets of chains binding Kaitlynn’s avatar, and while they don’t appear to be hindering its movements as it fights off weak manifestations of coloured Essence, it doesn’t look too comfortable either.

Before I can get close enough to see if I can figure out the intended functions of the three Commands, however, Kaitlynn’s avatar spots me.

I freeze. For a moment, it just stares at me. Then, its face actually lights up and it moves towards me, a real spring in its step as it bounds over the surface of the sea of Essence.

“Oh, ehm, hi?” I sputter as the much larger avatar kneels down in front of me. Seeming to ignore my words, it proceeds to cradle me in two massive hands and starts planting sloppy kisses on my face its lips obscuring my view in its entirety.

Well. Guess I needn’t have worried.

“Okay okay!” I manage to bring out, while laughing. “I get it, you like me! Now, will you please let go of me, so I can look at those chains?”

Kaitlynn’s avatar cocks its head at me, then jerks as a red, crab-shaped manifestation pinches her with its pincer.

She whirls around and smites it with a beam of light from her eyes, and I take the opportunity to slip out of her hands and hide behind her back.

There, I quickly study the different chains tightly wrapped around her. It doesn’t take me long to notice the letters on the links, and it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that they spell out the Command.

In English. Yeah, this is definitely just how my mind is choosing to conceptualise this. In that case, I shouldn’t really need to check every link to actually read the whole thing.

Instead, I squint at the chain, and try to will myself to interpret its meaning more directly.

To make things easier for myself, I Imagine the letters peeling off the chain and forming a whole sentence in front of me. And it works.

The first Command quickly forms in front of me and reads: YOU DO NOT WISH TO BRING ME HARM.

There’s actually quite a few more links in the long, winding chain than there are letters in that sentence, but I’m guessing the message repeats in my metaphor.

Kaitlynn’s avatar spins around, seemingly having returned to fighting off the Essence manifestations, and I hurry to move with her and stay behind her.

This is much easier when she’s not paying attention to me, after all.

As soon as Kaitlynn’s avatar is done spinning, I squint at another cyan chain, and find it reads: YOU WISH TO AVOID NEEDLESSLY ENDANGERING YOURSELF.

So far so good. That is to say, thus far, these Commands seem to match what Suri described, including the fact that this second one is rather worn and thin, and looks like it could snap at any moment.

Finally, I squint at the third and final distinct chain. It reads: YOU APPRECIATE MY COMPANY, AND WISH TO BE MY FRIEND.

Oh Suri...

This chain actually looks the healthiest out of the three. I’m not entirely sure what to make of that.

Either way, now that I’ve confirmed Suri was telling the truth, it’s time to get rid of them.

And since I’m currently seeing them as chains, I conjure up a pair of heavy-duty bolt cutters.

Mechanically, there’s little difference between using this and tearing them apart with my bare hands—as it’s both my Espir—but this will make it much easier to Imagine actually breaking the chains.

Thus, I place my bolt cutters on the chain corresponding to the second Command—as it’s the weakest—pour some more Espir into my Willpower, and in a single, violent motion, push the handles together.

When I open my eyes, back in my spiritform, I find Kaitlynn nervously studying me, still clutching my hand to her sternum.

“Did it work?” she asks.

I take a moment to carefully withdraw the tendril touching her Core, then smile at her. “It did. I got all three of ’em.”

Kaitlynn sags a little in relief and releases my hand, which I pull back. Then she draws herself up again. “And... did Suri tell the truth?”

I nod. “Seems like it. How, ehm... how do you feel about her, now?”

Kaitlynn worries her bottom lip, looking up and to the side for a moment. “Conflicted. But I kind of already did. To be honest, I... I don’t feel much different,” she admits, sounding kind of relieved. “At the very least, I’m still glad you didn’t kill her.”

“I’d be suspicious if you weren’t,” I tell her wryly. “And I guess it makes sense that the difference would be small at most. After all, the chain telling you to want to be her friend was the least worn. It probably didn’t see much use.”

That makes her smile, but the corners of her mouth quickly droop back down. “So. Now what?”

I sigh. “Now we wait for a reply from Goddess. In the meantime, however, I have something to teach you...”

Thankfully, it doesn’t take much longer before we receive a summons from Bhat.

When we arrive in his audience hall, we find him waiting for us, staring reverently at a pristinely white scroll, sealed with a dot of wax that’s black as night and stamped with a stern-looking owl.

Well, there’s no doubts about the sender.

“It arrived just now,” Bhat growls, a hint of excitement in his voice.

I guess even he’s not immune to his people’s worship of ‘The Divine.’

“Since it’s addressed to you, I naturally haven’t dared to peak...” he continues, trailing off a little awkwardly.

Kaitlynn glances at me, mirth in her eyes.

I refrain from rolling mine. “Would you like to read it with us, Bhat?”

He perks up like a kid in a candy store, before quickly schooling his features in an attempt to maintain his dignity. “I would appreciate that greatly, Descendant. It has been so very, very long since we’ve received word from Goddess...”

Sheesh. Goddess should really spare some more thought for these poor people.

Shaking my head, I grab the scroll off the little table it’s almost reverently displayed on. Judging by the words ‘To Emma’ written in flowery letters above the seal, it’s indeed addressed to me, so I waste no time in breaking the wax seal.

The scroll immediately flies out of my hands, unfurling all by itself.

Instead of the lines of text I expected, however, I find myself met with a lifelike—and life-sized—depiction of Goddess’s dark visage, peering down at me with her piercingly white brows furrowed into an inscrutable expression.

I don’t even know why I’m surprised when her beak opens and her voice comes rolling out like the opening notes of a symphony.

“Well well. You’ve managed to surprise me again, Emma.”

As her voice washes over me, I experience the familiar sensation of the attention of a powerful being settling on me, and I’m instantly certain that I’m not listening to a pre-recorded message of some sort, but rather conversing with Goddess directly. Somehow, despite the distance and how much stronger I’ve become, being in her presence feels pretty much the same.

“It’s a rare enough feat by itself,” she muses. “Rarer still for someone to do it twice in such a short span of time.”

“Thank you, your highness,” I reply, bowing slightly, even though I’m not entirely sure her words are meant as a compliment.

Next to me, Kaitlynn follows my lead in bowing, seeming surprised and a little tense.

“The surprise being, of course, that you’re still sane,” Goddess continues disapprovingly, “despite the clearly reckless amount of growth you’ve squeezed into a short, short while.”

Yup. Not a compliment.

I smile wryly. “Yes, well, I was in a hurry. As for staying sane, I have Mirta to thank for that.”

Goddess nods slowly. “I see. I take it that last piece of her has finally found eternal rest as well?”

I blink. She knew? Damn. “It has, your highness.”

“Good,” Goddess says with a sigh so laden with melancholy that it makes my heart feel heavy in commiseration.

Bhat, meanwhile, has come around to our side, his eyes wide as he bows deeply, nearly prostrating himself. He looks like he wants to say something, but is holding himself back.

Perhaps he’s afraid Goddess will reprimand him for joining the conversation when the scroll was addressed to me?

“Ah, little Bhat,” Goddess says, taking the decision out of his hands. “Judging from the continued success of your Ascendant selection process, I trust you’ve been well?”

So she really did instigate this whole tournament thing! She might’ve mentioned it to me sooner...

“Of course, your holiness,” Bhat replies with all the dignity of a powerful Apex.

I raise a brow at him.

“Well, we had some trouble with the Peilor,” he quickly amends. “I humbly apologise for disappointing the trust you placed in me, oh Divine One.”

“Yes, the Peilor,” Goddess drawls, skipping over his apology with nary a blink. “That is, of course, the main reason for this conversation. After all, you wrote to ask if I could secure your captive Peilor in my Realm if you brought her here.”

I perk up. “Indeed, your highness; we’ve since received rather troubling news about the plans the Peilor have regarding our species, and I feel Suri would prove an invaluable source of information when we seek to thwart them.”

“Oh, you don’t need to convince me of the usefulness of a secret prisoner of war, Emma,” Goddess intones ominously, her voice like a dark choir. “I’m sure I’ll be able to squeeze much value out of her.”

“She has been quite cooperative, actually,” Kaitlynn chimes in, standing a little straighter. “Her experiences down here really taught her a lot, and despite her deceit, and the Commands she used on me, I feel like her change of heart is genuine.”

Goddess glances over at Kaitlynn, and for a moment my heart freezes. Just as I’m about to step in front of her, Goddess speaks. “Well, if she’s willing to share her intel without coercion, all the better. Regardless, to move her up here securely, a few conditions will have to be met.”

“Name them,” I say, suppressing a sigh of relief, before I quickly tag on a, “Your highness.”

“First of all, you will have to alert me before you enter the Realm,” Goddess states. “I’ve included a means for you to do so in this scroll, which will be revealed when we wrap up this conversation. When you use it, I’ll open a gateway on the outside of the membrane that will divert you all directly into a hidden and well-protected location within my Realm.”

I nod. “No problem. What else?”

“The other, more troublesome condition, is that the state of her mortal tether will have to match yours.”

Author's note:

Thanks for reading! ^^