Lyze hung around the excavation site as the Loki Familia tried to salvage their goods from the wrecked wagons, digging around in the dirt with their hands as they tried to reclaim all of their treasures, cores and drop items. Their Familia always seemed to be under a type of curse, where they stood to make a lot of money but unforeseen circumstances would drive disasters their way and said disasters would always target them where it hurt.
Their wallets.
The most they could do was dig up as many as they could, and have Lyze store them in his hammer-space. After that, they would be heading down to the safe zone for some rest before trying to find their way back up in the morning.
The problem he himself was having was due to his inability to procure Chaos again. Lyze concentrated as he tried his best to locate even a smidgen of that cosmic energy anywhere...but nothing. He couldn't even take on his demon form or his goddess form. Or in any case, anything to do with Chaos, he couldn't perform at all.
"What the hell is going on?" Lyze started to lose his temper.
It was so frustrating because he could still feel a strain upon his soul, but he could no longer feel the boundless wellspring of power stretching his soul apart like he could usually feel it doing. Lyze sighed before he clenched his fist in front of his face and concentrated. For all that there was of Chaos missing, he still had his other power. And the Flame, after having consumed the soul of the Balor which they just defeated, was now brimming with more Origin energy than he'd dared hope for.
The strongest monster rex had been quite a filling meal.
Lyze channelled this energy to his eyeballs and entered his Vision, with which he could see souls of other people. Through this new form of sight which he was still not used to, he gazed upon the souls of his companions as they passed by him or clustered around the dig sites. His blessing upon them had long gone by now, and they were back to their normal power levels. But it was clear to him that all of their spirits were still buzzing from battle.
Mixed in was a degree of relief and content upon their expedition having finally reached its end, and that they could now go back up to the surface, go back home. And Lyze quite liked the idea of that too. His bed back in Twilight Manor called his name. Turning that vision away from his comrades, he looked upon himself and stared mesmerized at himself.
While other souls glowed with different colours, his was lit up like a reactor. This new vision didn't cause him any pain to look upon such things but if the same degree of brightness were to be showed normally in the real world, he was sure that being blinded for life due to the intensity of the light he was seeing would perhaps be the least of a person's problem.
But speculations aside, even he could tell that he had grown powerful beyond measure. His soul was still in the image of a silver sun, but now much much larger than how he last saw it. Now he could see it thrumming with so much energy, little solar flares exploded from it outwards in different directions. Its light consumed the presence of all other souls in the area, because once looked upon, Lyze was hard pressed to be able to see other souls when his own was so prominent and bright.
Is this what Freya would see every time she looked at him? Because if it was, then he could totally understand why she was so taken with him. He was beautiful...his soul was at least.
Putting all that aside, he probed his own soul deeper, breaking past the fiery layer and entering a world of dazzling light where he fished around for something out of the ordinary, something different. It was in the deepest part of his soul, where he found his target. He paused as he stared at the orb of swirling Darkness and Light. Chaos slowly rotated on its usual axis but unlike all other times, it didn't feel like an active presence. This time it felt...reclusive, reserved. Like it had drawn itself within its own self if that made sense and didn't want to come out even at his own insistence. Now it was withdrawn, unresponsive.
Lyze felt an inner confusion towards himself and Chaos's behaviour. It seemed like Chaos had completely cut off not just its power from him but everything else as well. In doing so, it had allowed Lyze to now walk around without the blindfolds, and bask in the feeling of relief and being more human now that he had his own sight back instead of the enhanced sight that Chaos provided. Though still confused, Lyze decided to stop investigating for now, figuring that with time things would go back to normal. Though that was what his head told him.
His gut was a completely different matter. Something was wrong.
As he withdrew from his soul he noticed something a little odd. The little solar flare like protrusions were always temporary and didn't stay the way they were for long. But one in particular seemed to be frozen in place and it had more shape to it than others. It was like a string, drifting off someplace else into the space around him instead of staying in his own soul space. Lyze couldn't see the other end of the connection and he began to follow the line to see where it led him when something else invaded his perception.
Though significantly far lesser in intensity and magnitude, a golden coloured soul had approached him. With it, it brought a calm and gentle sensation as a smile spread across his face, and he opened his eyes to look up at Ais walking over to him, her long beautiful hair swaying about captivatingly as her special smile spread across her own face. She walked up to him and stood in front of him, saying nothing as she continued to smile.
He stood straighter as he gave his own smile to her, equally as warm and his heart no doubt just as warm in her presence. Quite the opposite of her usual induced state in people...her ever cool emotionless face which would just make people confused and awkward about her behaviour now having no remnant or imprint on her face. Around him, she was only ever happy.
Lyze lifted his hands as did she, and he took hers in his as they held each other's gazes. For some time they stayed like that, wordless and motionless as they simply just basked in each other's company. Finally Lyze spoke, realizing he hadn't blinked in the whole time they'd been giving each other heart eyes.
"It's finally over." He said to her.
"Yes...it is." She said in her quiet voice, looking down momentarily before looking up again. "But we have lost a lot of our loot."
"We'll get it all back." Lyze said as he made a motion in the air and into his palm dropped a monster core from what seemed like that very same thin air. "Once we do, I'll suggest to the captain that we just dump all of the stuff in my hammer-space. With no wagons dragging us down, we can finally go back home."
"Home?"
"Yes. Home." He nodded as he held her hands higher and brought them closer to his chest. "And once we get there, I'm going to start training you and Lili. We're all going to become stronger than ever."
Ais's expression became a little crestfallen at that and her eyes fluttered a little in disappointment, which he picked up on.
"Oh...Lili." Ais muttered as he noticed her eyes roll under her eyelids to the side.
"What's the matter?" He asked. "I thought you like Lili."
"I do...it's just..." She looked back up at him. "...I was hoping that we could train...by ourselves. Lili can't come down as far as we can and...our promise."
"Oh, my silly little Ais." He said as he reached over and pinched her cheek, pulling it a little as he made her pout a little.
"I'm not silly." She protested.
"Yes, you are. Very." He laughed. "I haven't forgotten at all about that. I have every intention of keeping that. It will take some time." He placed his pinching hand on her shoulder and looked her deep in her eyes. "But I know we can do it. And we WILL do it...someday."
Ais stared back at him, captivated by his eyes. Because for the first time ever, she got to see the eyes of the boy she secretly loved, the one she had decided was her hero. And for how many times he'd saved her, he'd more than earnt that title. Having meaningful heart-to-hearts with him over the past two months did not compare in any amount to the exchange they were having now. His eyes were truly his window to the soul, and she could see his warmth and his affection for her in them.
She too was his special person. His eyes were all she needed to know that truth. Tentatively, she took her own hand and laid it palm-flat on his cheek, using her fingers to rub the palest parts of his face which was the marks left behind by the blindfolds.
...
But they were not the only ones enjoying this interaction. Off to the side stood the entire gathering, and while they worked away, they kept an eye on the two, and smiled at the obvious emotions flying between them.
"See? What did I tell you?" Bara said to Riveria. "She's got him, hook, line and sinker. She'll be cracking the whip before long."
"Yeah well, not if I set them straight first." The elf folded her arms. "There are still things that they need to understand...well more Ais than Lyze since he's much more mature and he's...seen things. But boundaries have to be set. First things first, they're no longer sharing beds."
"Right down to business as usual." Bara said as she put a hand on her hip and shook her head. "Go a little easy on them. It's been a stressful time for all of us. We've all been about to die more than a few times. Now that we've reached the end of our journey, I'd say we all want a little comfort and time to spend with our favourite people. Don't set them too far apart."
"I don't mean to distance them if that's what you're thinking." Riveria raised her brow.
"Really? I'm surprised." Gareth said as he walked by. "I would have assumed you'd make each of them stay in different parts of the manor...and not even talk to each other even at meal times."
"I'm not that paranoid." Riveria muttered as she fixed her eyes on the two children, the two affection-starved orphan children who were alone in the world with no family to speak of except the Loki Familia where even then they both felt estranged.
Both were child prodigies, both were famous, both were incredibly powerful for their ages and their levels. It was little wonder why the two grew so attached because of their kinship in spirit, no pun intended.
And both were children she cared for deeply.
"I just don't want them to ruin what already exists between them, and subsequently their lives thereafter." Riveria said. "One day, this ship will unfurl its sails and trace the horizons. But for now, the boatswain has to make sure that all is set and ready before the go. And I have decided it's not."
"Well don't traumatise them." Finn said as he picked at his thumb.
Noir noticed this. "What's wrong Finn?"
"My thumb is throbbing still for some reason." The Pallum said and everyone around him gave him still stares. "I know, even I'm fed up of it. We've just come out the battle of our lives, exhausted and tired of spirit and mind. I'm probably still buzzing from the battle or something."
"Yeah well..." Gareth lifted his axe over his shoulder. "I'm keeping this up here...just to be safe."
...
Ais and Lyze still stood with one another, having once again settled into a comfortable silence as they just stared at each other. Lyze was no fool to how she was feeling. It was like regaining the missing piece of his human empathy now that he could see with his own eyes. Now he could tell what he was seeing and he could feel emotions in ways that were more precious than any superpowers. His eyes saw one thing and his heart affirmed it for him.
She loved him, every bit as much as he loved her. And having made all his decisions as he had done lately, there was no way he was going to keep being dishonest with himself. Or Ais for that matter. If no-one else, then at least she deserved truth.
"Ais." He began. "I-"
CRASH!
He was cut off by the sound of impacting rock hitting the ground with such force that it sent out vibrations through the Floor they were situated in. Looking in the direction of the noise, they saw that massive boulders had collapsed in front of the entryway to the Floor above. A similar noise from the other side of the Floor prompted them to look that way and again, they saw the same thing blocking the entryway to the safe zone. Because everything was a flat place barring the massive slash in the ground that was little better than a canyon which stretched across the floor thanks to Lyze's special attack.
Immediately everyone was put on high alert, as now the room had just been sealed in front of them. The light levels then began to dim fast as the atmosphere took on a red hue, which was saying something since the Moira sands were already plenty red. Then the rumbling began as the earth shook underneath them all and boulders began to dislodge from the ceiling and fall to the floor as the violent shakes felt like the entire planet was falling apart.
Lyze very subtly began to freak out a little as the sensations he'd been having previously ever since Chaos was not responding to him intensified a thousandfold, and fear gripped his soul as his instincts began to flare neon red lights. He pulled Ais closer to him as he pushed out the senses that the Flame gave him, immediately tapping into his new power boost he got from absorbing Balor's soul.
And then the screams began.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Comment and Review!
Discord: discord.gg/B4WYAFwE
Read ahead on my Patreon:
Patreon/ Vulkizaro_Zoromi
For commissions:
Ko-Fi/ vulkizarozoromi