Harita found himself standing on a tall cliff, an urban town spread across his vision. It was a humble and normal place—well, as humble and normal his life usually is. For a moment, things were calm and serene, just as he preferred it.
And then, a voice resounded:
"Hey, the sun's setting, it'll be dark soon. If you want to watch over the Sword Isle, I suggest you do it down there instead of up here."
Harita smiled at the owner of the voice, turning around with a smile. He pointed to his eyes.
"It's fine, I tell you. Nothing in the darkness can escape my sight."
But nobody was there. Confused, he pursed his lips and turned around, gazing at the urban town once again. When he did, a new sight greeted him.
Fwoom! Fire rolled across the urban houses, spreading to its neighbors. Hundreds of screams resounded—the town was burning.
"No!" Jumping to his feet, Harita jumped off the cliff, landing with a resounding thud. For a second, he felt his heart stop and sink, and hi stomach churned as he ran with all the speed he could muster.
'What's happening?'
Deep inside, he already knew the answer.
Tears rolled down his face as he made a break for it, passing by numerous houses and finding burnt corpses or men with broken hearts. The world turned surreal, and he felt himself detaching from the world.
What, indeed, was happening?
Shatter! The sound of glass breaking resounded, and he found himself in a dark and cold basement with large squares of stone as walls and floor.
For a second, he didn't know what was happening.
"Wake up!" A familiar woman's voice resounded. Turning to the source of the voice, he felt his arms drop at his side.
It was Bian.
"What are you doing here?" He asked absentmindedly, his voice entirely lifeless.
She frowned. Why did she frown?
"That's what I wanted to ask you." She stomped over, approaching him. Grabbing his arm, she pulled him behind her.
She glared at the Myth, and he finally recalled what was happening. Standing up to his feet, he summoned Silent Reverie, feeling the smooth but firm grip.
He, too, glared at the Myth with a burning passion.
The pulsating mass of true darkness, a hundred and so masks, and protruding arms seemed to laugh, its "voice" echoing in their minds. It guffawed.
Then, it stopped, and the world suddenly grew deathly quiet. Bian whispered to him:
"Back away slowly and keep your wits about you. This thing can read minds."
"Now, now, no need to be so wary. I was just playing... what was it called again… yes, a prank! I was just playing a prank. No need to be so defensive. I was just playing a prank.." Its "voice" reverberated inside of their heads like a dissonant echo.
Shaking his head, Harita complained. "Get out of my head, you monster. I'm done playing your game."
The Myth guffawed again. "Like I said, tis but a prank, is all. I'm your friend here! I'm your ally! You can trust me…"
'He's trying to manipulate me again. As well as Bian. Does it really think it'll work a second time?' Nevertheless, Harita turned to look at her, making sure that the lustrous woman was not within the Myth's grasp.
He sighed inwardly when he noticed that she was, in fact, not manipulated… yet.
Harita guessed that, with time, the creature would surely manipulate not just himself, but her as well.
He could not let that happen.
"Let's leave." Taking a few steps back, he whispered to Bian. She followed suit after a few seconds.
'It's already affecting her.' Harita lampooned inwardly, glancing at the winding staircase.
The Myth whined like a child. "Aww, leaving so soon? How disappointing. I thought we could play some more.
"Oh, well, I guess I'll just leave that friend of yours alone."
Harita paused. 'No, stop. He's just trying to trick you!'
"…What friend?" He couldn't help himself from asking. 'You idiot! What are you doing?!'
He felt himself stripped bare of all mental defenses in front of the Myth, as if he didn't have any in the first place. Immensely skilled as he was in Augmentation, even he didn't know how to Fortify the mind.
The Myth seemed to grin as Harita asked the question, and with a burning gaze, Bian glared at him.
The creature continued. "Why, it's none other than that gigantesque avian friend yours, of course. The so-called Legend itself.
"To be honest, I find its titanic size in quite poor taste. Why go big when you can go strong… is what I'd like to say, but considering my rather objectively unsightly figure, I guess I shouldn't be one to berate another's appearance."
Harita, thinking of Lieren — and the unknown mountain of trouble he surely found himself in by now — couldn't help but ask. "You, are you saying you can beat that thing? You may have immense mind manipulation powers, but that thing will surely be immune—or at the very least highly resistant to your mind flaying. Not to mention its natural defenses like those feathers and beak."
"Hey, don't just reveal everything to this… thing. You're practically giving us away. There's no need to give it anymore advantages than it already does, we're already fighting a losing fight here." Berating Harita with a menacing glare, Bian slowly backed away, taking one step at a time, as if she was going to slip and fall at any second.
Biting his bottom lip, Harita couldn't help but grimace as he gripped his watersteel dagger and took a deep breath, clearing the obfuscating cloud that was his own doubts.
"After all that, are you saying that you can at least contain it?" He asked in pure curiosity and frustration—frustrated by his own inadequateness.
The Myth seemed to smile. "I'll do you one better: I'll even kill the divine thing for you, given that you follow through with your promises."
Then, its many arms, as well as a couple other types of human limbs — some from other non-human creatures — pointed to the many sealing talismans and runes strewn all across the bars of its cell, which had no visible exit or entrance, for that matter.
Despite Bian's constant nagging and pushing him, the two did not cover much distance—a feet, maybe. It was as if this an inevitable outcome.
Closing his eyes, Harita dismissed Silent Reverie and walked around Bian fluidly.
"Hey, what are you doing?! She shouted behind him. There were other insults, too, but he couldn't hear any of it.
His mind was too focused trying to resist the Myth's mind flaying abilities.
Putting on a brave front with his head held high and his chest puffed like a pufferfish, Harita asked finally:
"Will you make a Vow with me?"
The creature seemed to smile—no, it did smile, very noticeably, at that. The hundred or so masks writhed into creeping grins, the frowning ones simply turning upside down, as if the simple yet complicated notion of smiling was beneath them.
"Of course, my dear friend. Is 'that' not the reason you fell to my powers, in the first place? After you requested me to tell you my story, that is." It mused gently and creepily, smiling all the while.
◇◆◇◆◇
"They're taking too long."
"Indeed."
Feng Xing Liu paced all across the room with am uncharacteristically nervous attitude. Selen Votum bit her thumb's nail, and Vesba leaned on a tilted chair with his hands behind his back.
The lying giant whistled a happy tune, trying to lighten the mood.
Eventually, the stern… no, the temperamental sage shouted. "Would you quit that?! We're trying to focus here.
Vesba sighed. 'She like to keep a cool and calm attitude, but in reality, she's just as whimsical as a normal person usually is—maybe even more so. Probably.'
Not minding the wild gaze the temperamental sage was giving him, he continued whistling, rocking his chair back and forth. It looked like it was about to break under his immense weight.
Looking to the open window, Vesba felt the shadows writhe and pulsate as a legendary creature appeared in the battlefield, its titanic form shadowing a great majority of the entire godforsaken city.
Usually, his senses wouldn't have been able to reach this far out. Such a distance was truly absurd. If not for the creature's titanic shadow, then he never would have noticed it—unless he was blind or deaf, in both cases he's not.
Hordes upon parties of adventurers, mercenaries, knights, and city-hired guards assaulted the legendary monster with brilliant wills, making the creature shriek from time to time, but like the past hour or so, not much damage had been done—other than the gaping wound on the back of its neck, which seemed to have been there since its apparent reincarnation.
It was as though the world was coming to an end.
But the attitude he held said otherwise.
"How can you be so calm in this ridiculous situation? What if the boy and the attendant is dead, how are we going to face the bride-to-be?! Do you plan on groveling with me?" She shouted with spunk.
The giant just laughed and cast his gaze to the blind monk with dire seriousness.
"Hey you don't think…"
"Don't say anything. You'll jinx it." Feng Xing Liu interrupted him stopping abruptly amid her even pacing. She tucked one arm under another, crossing them.
Facing the direction of the legendary avian creature of sapphire and yellow with a sharp, majestic beak, she frowned–a rare sight for all parties to behold. It was as if she wasn't blind and could see again.
…Rather, she could feel the presence of the legendary creature using her mana's unique properties to its fullest. He turned after a moment, then continue pacing around the room.
The temperamental sage mumbled under her breath. "I swear to god, If I ever find out that those rwoare in trouble…"
At that moment, the door suddenly flung open.
Bam! A servant held the doorknobs and proclaimed with bate breath. He was an Insig:
"Hah… hah… Mis–Miss Myta has returned from the meeting with Scorpio!"
Vesba immediately stood up and searched the shadows; Feng Xing Liu subtly shifted; Selen Votum fixed her glasses and the three immediately went to check on the main family's only heir's attendant after making sure that nobody unruly followed her.
…After explaining the situation to all three of them, a heavy mood descended on the room, almost suffocating the other servants present.
Selen spoke up first.
"…So, what? You just let the boy do that and left him to die? Couldn't you have at least helped with the other goons of that Hatter, so he at least wouldn't have to be so injured after all he's been through?" She mocked, her obfuscating round glasses shrouding her determinate glare.
Mysta shook her head and sighed, her entire body and soul tired from having to deal with the unexpectedly strong butler. She wasn't one to deal with matters directly, let alone stand on the ever-dangerous frontlines. Her abilities were meant more for support and rear under the shadows espionage.
"No, I couldn't have. Doing so would risk losing two proof of participation and the partial support of the Silata and Mocný family; I couldn't risk that. They already have Aries's Blessing.
"Though not very powerful or practical in close combat, it's utility as a support item is still better than most thing on the market with a similar ability.
"Since I couldn't take and run off with Aries's original proof of participation, lest the Hatter and his goons noticing something amiss so soon, I believe that the boy's decision to keep the pendant with him is the best plan at the current time.
"If I had brought it with me at his behest, then he probably would have been killed by now."
Feng Xing Liu eyed her warily. "…So, he's still alive, I presume.
"Based on your plan, that is."
Mysta nodded seriously. She had to keep a straight face despite the fatigue and injuries, to keep herself from being bombarded by questions on the verge of harassment and poorly veiled threats.
"Yes, he is. I'm sure of it. The Hatter may be mad, but he's not an idiot: he'll know a good bargain when he sees one. Especially after seeing the proof of participation that Aries owns."
Keeping a straight face and stable voice, Mysta continued to act her role—the cool and collected attendant of the heiress of the mightiest family around.