Harita's shook and sweat rolled down his face and back as if drowning in a rain only affecting him and nobody else. Reality felt somewhat detached, distorted, and unconnected, as if a great funnel of obfuscation permeated the very air.
His mind was a disorganized mess of wreckage, disturbed and discombobulated. He stood there with shivering legs, barely able to stand up. Unlike the mighty Legend, which was cold and oppressing, the… "thing" in front of him was like a mesh of impenetrable darkness, a human heart, and thousands of faces and masks. Arms sprouted from the pulsating thing, fixing the masks into place, then rapidly aging — turning bark-like — and falling soundlessly to the floor, only to be absorbed by the impenetrable darkness before it even landed.
Harita couldn't make out a thought; no, he could only make one thought: "Run, leave, escape. Do not face the creature at all costs."
As he made to turn around and run, never to return, ever, a voice suddenly resounded through rough breaths: "Hey, you, come over here. I implore you, please."
Now that was something he never expected to hear from the Myth: a request marked with a semblance of civility. Drawing deep breaths, Harita voiced a response:
"…Sure." He lingered, then walked. Not to the spiraling staircase, but to the Mythical creature of fallen descent. A cage made of silver bars inlaid with talismans and runic symbols and letters separated him from the creature, though he highly doubted the security of such measures.
Lowly sealing methods and traps would never keep such a creature for long. In fact, it would only anger them even more. Only hell awaits those that belittle such entities. Stopping just a foot shy of the seeping darkness, Harita gathered the courage to ask:
"What do you want?" His voice was hollow and unstable, a little dead and musky. As much as he tried to suppress it not to let his fear show itself, he was ultimately crushed by the malevolent aura that the Mythical creature intrinsically exuded.
The sound of breathing filled the cell for a while, putting him on edge. After a while, he answered: "I'm here because I was summoned, lured by the ardent desire for power, for authority, and for the desire to be free; I am here because of you."
The voice was grand, mighty and meaningful. Fearful as he was, Harita still noticed the meaning behind the Mythical creature's words… But that didn't make sense.
He mused, baffled. "Lured? I find that odd. Rather than lured, don't you look… caught?"
"Do not doubt me!" The musky and ancient voice said. It was at this moment he realized it; the voice was coming directly from his own mind! The creature can read minds!
On guard and finding himself defenseless, Harita tensed. His master's Resistance had long passed, unfortunately, so he was left to fend off magical threats himself. Right now, he was in a vulnerable state for foreign entities and mana. The situation couldn't be worse; he virtually had no way to defend against mind attacks!
He took an involuntary step back. "Then prove it. Prove you really were summoned here."
Right here, right now, the best decision was to immediately and quickly turn around and leave, repressing the memory of the Mythical creature, never to return again. And yet, Harita found himself doing none of those things. The creature laughed, his grandiose voice echoing in his head.
"Hah! Don't you know, curiosity killed the cat? Are you sure you would want to make such dealings with myself?" It sounded… exuberant, if not a little proud of itself, as if it had found a new toy.
Harita tried to smile, failed, and dug his nail into his palms, drawing blood. The breathing intensified. "Sure, why not. Nothing ventured, nothing gained—that's the saying, isn't it?"
"Ventures aren't always a great thing, little cat. Sometimes, you need know when to throw in a towel." It guffawed, its voice booming in his head.
'For a supposed creature of another plane, this guy — thing? — sure knows a lot of human sayings. Ones from Explorers, no less. I wonder…' He didn't follow through with the thought, turning to his mission instead.
'Not now, not yet. I need to wait a little bit longer.' After a minute of rumination, Harita interrupted the booming laughter echoing in his head.
"Would you stop stalling now, please? Unlike your freeloading self, I have quite the number of tales I must complete. As well as promise on hold." They were silent after that.
After a while, the creature followed: "Hmm, I see. A Vow and an Oath… no, two of them. One of the former and twice the latter. Interesting. How does your meager soul handle such burdensome tasks? If you had any shame, you should be dead by now."
Harita frowned. "I said no more stalling." The creature seemed to scoff at his words.
'What a rude fellow.' He followed up in his head, taking note of the way the Mythical creature seemed to fluidly bend his words and pry his secrets. It wasn't an easy thing; the utter lack of mental barriers. If he hadn't lost six fragments of his soul already, things may have been different.
"Very well." It affirmed. After a while, it followed. "Then, what do you desire? My name? My species? My travels in the past week? Or my place of origin?"
Harita scowled. 'He's leading me on; directing my line of thoughts and responses.'
"I want to know the entire story. Oh, and no True Names. Please. I'd like to keep my sanity just a little longer." In the end, he asked for something vague. The longer he thought, the more easily his mind could be read, and the more information could be gleamed from it.
"Very well." There was no humor in the illusory voice, just wisdom and cold authority. "I shall tell you the entire story. In exchange, I expect you to help my escape from this cumbersome cell."
Harita nodded, then smiled amicably. "I have another condition for you, actually."
◇◆◇◆◇
Bian held herself together—albeit barely. Her hands, feet, legs and arms had lost all sensation, only the occasional heat of her flesh and skin ripping apart told her that she was still alive. And that if she let up for even a fraction of a second, that Death's Edge may not be such a faraway world anymore.
Leaning to the side, she thrust her silver rapier, dodging a spear from a Fighter—one of the five guards that had rushed her, and summoned gale-force winds to blast her side, deflecting an arrow from a Ranger with the Stormcaster. Pushing a hand out, wind rushed from her palm, pushing the Fighter back.
He was not alone on the steel beam. Jumping over her tumbled comrade, another Fighter appeared, wielding a jian. Her blade flashed, missing her target. Bian jumped out of the way at the last moment, blasted the Stormcaster and Ranger with gale-force winds, staggering them.
Before she could switch targets, the spear-wielding Fighter was already upon her, recovered. Learning from his mistake and using a wide and stable stance instead, the Fighter rushed with his spear, its blade flashing past Bian and her near-instinctive dodges. The enemy had better reach; she couldn't get close. Surprise attacks weren't going to work again, too.
Bian made a gamble. Dodging to the side with a leap, gravity pulled her down, below the steel beam. Arrows flew at her; she deflected them. A chant followed:
"Shifting Winds: Ascend!" Gale-force winds wrapped around her, and she tilted slightly forward, using the explosive boost of Ascend to flash past the spear-wielding Fighter, lacerating his throat.
Just then, her one direction flight shook, and the staggered Stormcaster stood up with her Invoker, whipping her with a blast of wind. Winds aren't exactly the most stable of elements, and she flew sideward, grabbing onto the steel beam at the last second.
"This is what you deserve, traitor." The jian-wielding Fighter towered over her. Ire and disdain was palpable. She raised her blade, at her hand. Bian immediately let go, and chanted Ascend, rising above again.
The interference came sooner. The Stormcaster staggered her flight the second it began, but she, too, already expected this. Countering her wind with hers, Bian stood on the other side of the steel beam, landing with exquisite grace. There was no respite.
Arrows whistled, enchanted ones. She couldn't deflect them, nor was she curious on what it did; Bian took step back, then ducked, and the enchanted arrows suddenly turned midair.
'Tracking!' Changing tactics, she summoned gale-force winds, but the jian-wielding Fighter was already upon her. Her sword turned luminous green, and Bian pushed the winds her way. The Fighter cut through the wind, literally, and ignored her spell.
Dun! A rumble emanated below, staggering those above, and Bian didn't miss this opportunity, piercing the Fighter's throat immediately. She tried to block; it was too late. A third body fell from the steel beam up above, crashing to the floor with a resounding thud.
By this time, most of the evacuees were long gone; they escaped deeper down. Such was the original plan. She paid it no heed and took a stance, her rapier pointed at the Ranger and Stormcaster.
They flinched. Bian didn't. Wrapping the edge in condensed wind, she empowered it further. "Shifting Winds: Silent Strike."
Whoosh! Two wind bullets whistled, flying at great speed. The Stormcaster, confused she may be, instinctually put up a wide barrier meant for two.
A mistake. Silent Strike dealt piercing damage; creating a wide barrier instead of a condensed one, like a solid plate, was the wrong move. The Stormcaster had been too kind, wishing to defend two instead of just one, and this was retribution—unjust and misplaced.
Crash! A shattering sound resounded, and two bodies fell. Bian let out a breath. 'Finally, some respite. I seriously need a break.'
"Kyaaa!" A high-pitched scream resounded. Deadpan, Bian glanced at the source, and she found herself tensing up. "Bian, is that you? It's been so long!"
It was somebody she knew. Turning away, she masked her voice and said. "I… I think you have me mistaken for somebody else, young miss."
The voice beamed. "So it really is you! Get down here, let's talk. How have you been?"
Pursing her lips, Bian frowned and summoned gale-force winds around herself, then jumped down, cushioning her fall. Most of the nobles and rich entrepreneurs connected to the Han Li family had come and gone, either running out of the building or escaping further down with the remaining guards' help. Only her and the owner of the high-pitched voice was left, as well as a couple of dead bodies strewn about here and there. Some she knew, some she didn't, but most she didn't care about. She sighed.
"…What do you want? I'm busy here." She said dismissively, looking away from the woman with a high-pitched voice. Discomfort. Uneasiness. Anxiety. Emotions invoked inside of her instinctually, provoking her.
"Oh, come on, don't be so grumpy. It betrays your beauty." The woman with a high-pitched voice stretched her arms wide. "Come and give Mama a hug."
The voice was sweet and partly comforting. It eased her mind and soul, granting warmth to her battered body. "…Okay." A shadow of a smile appeared on Bian's face.
…But when she looked back, the woman was gone. Vanished like the wind. She grimaced. "Right, I'm not done yet. I still have much to do. Just wait for me, I promise I'll be with you guys. Soon."
Wiping the corner of her eyes, Bian turned towards the guard's quarters and felt the world rumble once again. Her mind immediately went to the worst outcome.
"That idiot!" Dashing towards the open room, she brandished her rapier with a frustrated expression.
Trouble was brewing.
◇◆◇◆◇
"So, yes. It all started from about… hmm… yes, four months ago. That day – or was it night ? – I found myself rather famished–gluttonous, you could even say. It went on for days and weeks, growing more and more by the hour until, eventually, the hunger stopped.
"…Well, not exactly. It was more sealed than 'stopped'. I was able to think clearly again! Though it didn't really change much, to be perfectly honest. Madness will always be madness; nothing can change that.
"Anyways, after that, I found myself trapped, held down by a weird man with Titan ancestry. He was a rather odd fellow, possessing connections to ancient fossils like myself and divine creatures both. It was a rather interesting sight to awaken to, wouldn't you think?
"Ah, don't tamper with that. It's sensitive and too complicated. Back to my story… since awaking, things became very mundane very quickly. Tests, examinations, interrogations and experimentations–dealing with these things became commonplace to me to the point of oversaturation. After a month, I snapped, and – to my surprise – ended up killing all of the researchers involved. It was a bloodbath.
"I quite liked their screams. After that, I was caught by the giant man again. However, this time, there was woman with him. She was an oddball, too, with a rather interesting but ultimately mundane mutation; her mana held unique properties. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right there. Just rip that main talisman off. It's a key item.
"Anyways, other than my transfer to some bigshot family, not much else really happened. I've been sitting here trying to entic–I mean, peacefully negotiate with the guard for a little me time, but they – the guards – have been quite tough to crack. They seem to hold some weird artifact or maybe it has something more to do with those matching accessories of theirs?
"Either way, it seems that they don't work for people not affiliated with the family. What a bummer. If they had, there may have been hope for you yet. Ah! You're really good at this. Just a little more; you're almost done with that seal. Just a couple more to go."