Irene was still frozen despite the lack of shadows binding her down. She made no attempts to cover herself up while keeping her feet planted on the ground, and hands stuck on the soft couch.
"Irene?" The figure in front of her prodded.
Stiffly trying to sit straight, Irene searched for her voice. Her hand caressed her throat, and she felt the joy of being free.
'I'm... alive?' thought Irene, as she put a hand on her rapidly beating heart. She was soaked in a cold sweat and was slowly realising how pitiful she looked.
Irene glanced at the small, yet terrifying existence sitting on the opposite couch. No, the angel was no longer sitting down, but lying relaxedly on its side. In its hand, it swirled the glass of Absinthe she had ordered for herself.
"...Who are you? What do you want? What happened to those three?" She fired a barrage of questions, seeing that the angel had no hostile intentions aimed at her. 'At least not yet... It has too many similarities with the Nightwalkers. I cannot let my guard down again.'
"Those three are dead. Actually dead." Irene heard the figure answer in the same childish voice. Now, it seemed a lot less threatening since it wasn't followed by any screams.
It actually seemed cute and cheerful.
'No!' Irene scolded herself, 'Control yourself, Irene. That thing is not cute! It's talking about murder like it's a game!'
"What I want has already been given to me, Irene. Don't worry~" The figure continued its speech and was giggling as it tossed the half-empty glass of spirit from palm to palm. "As for who I am, well, didn't we come here together?"
"...Together..?" Irene asked. Every word the figure enunciated felt cryptic to her and she grew more and more confused each time it spoke.
"Yes, together. Watch."
Irene did as asked, and she saw the figure disperse into a fog and rush towards her. She braced herself for some monstrous possession like what ghosts did in the stories, but nothing happened. Instead, she noticed that her cloak had a faint layer of smoke moving across it.
"Hehe~" The figure still seemed capable of speech despite its nonhuman form.
But Irene shuddered when she heard her cloak laugh. If she was not a practitioner of Tangible Will, she wagered that she would've had a mental breakdown long ago.
"I see... Uhm, then what was it that you came here for, exactly?" Irene continued the conversation that seemed to have come to an awkward stop.
"Nothing in particular, but after my Nightwalker brothers appeared, I wanted their consciousnesses... So I ate them."
"You... ate them?" Irene echoed out. She felt dumb, asking for every little thing, but there was not much she could do.
"Yep. So, they won't be coming back." The figure then moved away from Irene's cloak and once more sat on the couch as an angel. "Any more questions?"
"Uhm, what do I call you?" Irene asked after choosing her words.
"...The Cosmic Interface calls me 'Guardian Angel.' Do you not own a system? You can use an Analysis Skill if you wanna~"
"Guardian Angel... I see..." Irene gulped down her saliva, "What's an 'angel'?"
There was an excruciatingly long pause as Irene watched 'Guardian Angel' tilt its head. It was as if it was thinking about a few things.
"Hmmm... It's what you call my species. We're basically humans with wings. I'm surprised you have the word in your language but you have no knowledge of it." Guardian Angel answered.
"I... I see, uh, is it okay if I simply call you, 'Angel?'" Irene asked again.
"Of course, Irene. Feel free~" Angel answered then leaned forward, resting its chin on its hands, "Can I ask questions now?"
"Go... go ahead." Irene prepared herself.
"What's the strength of the Tangible Will you displayed?"
"I'm a Rank 2 Dictator... and Rank 1 Evolver," Irene answered.
She was a Dictator and an Evolver, which were the class names for a practitioner of Tangible Will and Battle Prowess respectively. If Irene tried learning Mystic Patterns, she would be able to introduce herself as an Artist as well... but she had her hands full with her current practices and everyday responsibilities.
Now, ranks start at 0, similar to the Cosmic Interface's Tiers, and there were notable differences between each rank.
In the case of Dictators, their Tangible Will would start as malleable lights at Rank 0, then become capable of influencing physical bodies at Rank 1 like gusts of air, then liquid-like at Rank 2, and then become capable of solidifying at Rank 3.
Thus, with Irene's bubbling golden aura, she was set comfortable at Rank 2. She wondered why Angel asked the question if it had been a witness of the entire affair with the Nightwalkers.
"Okay. Then, what is the Spirit Lotus?" The next question came, and Irene felt nervous as she prepared to answer.
"It's a mysterious Manifestation of Spirit that I absorbed a few years ago. It came from a Mystic Artifact." Irene answered, nervously eyeing Angel as it leaned back on the couch. She would have to fight if she sensed Angel covet the item she owned and she did not fancy her chances upon witnessing the annihilation of the three Nightwalkers.
Luckily, after a few seconds of tense silence, Angel proceeded with the next question. It depicted not a single desire for her powers.
"What do you do in this place?" It asked.
"Information exchange," Irene made a few gestures, "Sometimes there are trades of physical items, but those are best done elsewhere."
"Who are the fourteen eyes?"
"They are the guarantors of this establishment."
"I see... Tell them I said hi." Angel said in a cheerful tone, "What are you going to do now?"
"Me?" Irene pointed at herself, "You mean with the threat of being attacked?"
"Mhm." Angel nodded its head.
"It's going to be a bit tedious to deal with..." Irene then realised something, "Would you be willing to help us?"
"How much are you willing to pay?" A question was sent back to her.
"Three gold coins," Irene answered, sitting up straight and donning her previous look of confidence.
"Make it five for good luck," Angel smiled with those creepy, lonely lips.
"...Deal." Irene was tempted by the words, 'good luck' and decided it was worth it.
.
.
.
Athelei was quite pleased with the effects of the Mystic Pattern, Sway. It seemed to imbue each vocal action of his with additional weight to them. It worked in frightening his targets, and it also worked in intimidating the person he was talking to.
It all depended on how he acted. His voice would become hard to ignore and shake the hearts and minds of those he spoke to.
For some reason, Athelei felt that the effects of Sway were so much greater than Hunter and Guide. 'Could it be related to affinity? Or is it that my body is still weak and my desires are vague?'
'Was Sway especially powerful because it amplified existing emotions? Could that be the trick? It would make sense since the Artists of Virgo's Monastery claimed that it was used mainly to charm, and not send people into a fit of shivers.'
Athelei pondered a few possible explanations while he followed Irene as a part of her cloak.
Irene was briskly walking towards Aren's Inner Ring, and her body seemed tense. Athelei sensed the human emotion, anxiety, slowly brewing inside her.
"If you're this concerned for the city's populace, why did you not accept the trade?" Athelei spoke up, creating a miniature version of himself sitting on Irene's shoulder.
"It is a matter of principle. Interacting with the Exiled, in any way or form, is looked down upon. It is also hard to trust them with deals such as those." Irene's speech had been able to return to the way it had been before.
Without the effects of Sway and her chaotic emotions, she realised just how young Athelei seemed despite his grand display of power. But it wasn't simple youthful naivety. She was still wary, and Athelei sensed it. Irene knew that most of the questions Athelei asked were simple clarifications.
The angel had its own understanding of the world, and many, many educated guesses.
"Then, if you care that much, do you want wings?" Athelei playfully asked as he kicked his dangling feet back and forth. "You will have to let me establish a connection with your mind though if you want control of my wings."
"...What kind of connection are we talking about?" Irene liked the prospects of the idea but was still wary. It sounded like she needed to expose all her secrets if her mind was connected.
Athelei sensed her wariness and decided to keep things relaxed. "Well, it depends on how much you open up your mind to me. We can simply make a shallow connection... I think. I've never done this before, so you'll have to focus on only giving me the information you want to give and accepting what you want to accept."
"...Alright." Irene nodded, but she did not stop moving. She was still on alert as she walked. Running in the dim lighting was not something she was a fan of with all the dangers around.
Athelei then smiled, "Cool!"
He was happy that he would be able to freely test out this idea of his.
"I'll begin, so make sure you accept me~"
Irene thought that sentence sounded odd, but as she was talking to a young existence, she shrugged it off.
She then felt a comforting cold move through her. It was like a web of flowing streams coursing through what made her, her. It wrapped around her soul, and she felt it seek a connection.
Utilizing the lessons she learned during her practice of Tangible Will, she did as Athelei instructed her. She allowed the shallow connection to be established.
FWOOSH!
Irene was astonished, and her hurried footsteps froze. She could really feel wings growing out of her back and she could command them at will.
Meanwhile, Athelei inwardly frowned and belatedly realised that Irene actually did not know how to fly as a human who lived without wings for her entire life. 'I wonder if I can implant specific memories...'
He then utilised Appraisal's storage bank and extracted the correct memories related to flying and then used his connection with Irene.
Irene sensed the influx of memories and accepted it. Despite the shallow connection, she felt just how pure Athelei's mind was. It was consumed by a newborn's raw curiosity towards everything. It lacked evil... and at the same time, it lacked good.
It was simply that—raw curiosity.
This made Irene trust Athelei slightly more. It was better than any scheming human she had encountered for most of her life. At least in her eyes.
And as Irene received the memories that came with flying, her eyes gleamed with excitement.
Fwoosh!!
Irene took flight. She was free of the shackles that bound beings to the ground. This was a freedom that the humans of Oxhor rarely experienced.
"It feels great, doesn't it?" Athelei asked, still sitting on Irene's shoulder but without his wings.
"It is..." Irene answered with a smile on her face very similar to Athelei's. Then she flew up and rushed towards the centre of the city. The wind made her golden hair flutter, and Athelei watched as Irene's Tangible Will was bringing his originally grey wings a tinge of gold.