Lys finally reached the stage, the jarring screams of creatures, each a grotesque mirror of her own face were still echoing behind her. Atop the stage, the creature behind the lectern fixed its unsettling smile on her, a grin that seemed to twist reality.
"So, what do you think?" it spoke in a mocking tone. "What do you make of yourself?"
Lys scanned the auditorium before her. The figures below were not mere copies; they were fragments of her past. One bore the innocent image of the child she had been before adoption, another captured the tentative uncertainty of her early days under a new name. Each iteration a different whisper of her identity. Finally, there stood the reflection of her current self, a mirror of her very soul, and above them all, the creature on the stage stood, a mature, distorted version of her, smiling in a way that defied natural order.
"I don't know…" Lys finally whispered, her voice quivering with uncertainty. "I guess I haven't made anything of myself yet."
Her eyes drifted to the crowd below a fragile, to the image of herself as an innocent child before adoption, with mismatched eyes that betrayed her uniqueness. "I remember those days," she murmured. "The crushing loneliness of not being wanted..."
Then her gaze shifted to an image of herself as a terrified, uncertain child, when she wondered if her new family would embrace her or dump her. "I remember the constant fear of being abandoned… again."
Next, she looked at herself with pure and raw defiance on her face, her eyes filled with fury. "I remember the moment I understood why I was adopted," she continued, voice filled with resentment. "My adopted mother and aunt, beautiful, smart, elegant, and desperate, using me as a tool to expand their influence in Phoros, I could get close to the children of the important families, and then they could get close to their parents."
A cold, mocking laugh broke through the heavy silence. "So you were nothing more than a tool?" the creature interjected, its tone both ironic and chilling.
"Exactly," Lys spat bitterly. "I became bitter, angry, and disappointed, at the world, a world that would only use me."
"That's why you caused chaos," the creature said, her voice thick with irony.
Lys's eyes wandered over the montage of her past until a single image made her pause.
Life has never lacked dark humor, that's for sure.
She thought seeing that image as a slight, hollow laugh escaped her lips. "I believed back then, that if I could make sure no one ever wanted me again, I'd have my revenge on the bastards who only adopted me as a means to an end."
Her confession wavered as she noticed a solitary tear sliding down the creature's cheek. At that moment, she felt that the creature shared her sorrow, and her voice cracked. "I… haven't made anything of myself because the world has always dragged me around… until…" Her tone broke as another tear, delicate, defiant, and full of joy, escaped her own eye. "Until Sebas accepted me."
Quickly wiping away her tears, she added with a wry, haunted edge, "Isn't it ironic? I pushed everyone away, and yet the one person who truly accepted me comes from the family my mother craves the most to impress."
The creature's voice softened, though its question cut deep. "Are you afraid he'll think you're just using him to get to his family?"
"No," Lys whispered, her eyes fixed on the ceiling as fresh tears streamed down her face. "He's not like that. But I want to be free… free from this endless feeling of not being enough, free from the crushing expectations of the world, free from the chains of my family's ambitions."
A sinister hush fell as the auditorium around them began to unravel. The space shuddered; creatures tumbled like rag dolls, one toward the ceiling, another collapsing with the sickening crack of shattered bones. Reality seemed to twist under an unseen pressure.
"What if I could give you a chance?" the creature whispered, its form rippling into a vortex of electric blue energy streaked with shifting pinks and iridescent golds. "I specialize in making the impossible possible. If you accept me, I'll help you seize a future that now you believe impossible."
"What do you gain in return?" Lys asked looking straight at the vortex.
The Vortex started to shift once more, this time, becoming a spectral fox with two large tails, the fox seemed to shift colors constantly and the eyes of the fox had two distinct colors, just like Lys's eyes. The Fox continued to grow in size until Lys was dwarfed by the sheer size.
"Freedom" The fox answered. "Freedom, right now I'm being held hostage by someone, I don't like that someone, by attuning with you I'll be able to escape"
"If you can't escape that someone, how will you help me?" Lys asked incredulously at the situation.
"Ask your friend, we don't have much time, tell me your answer Lysandra" The Fox insisted.
"Fine" Lys answered. "I'll accept, but you better keep your end of this"
"Good Lysandra Aubrielle" The Fox said.
"I am Veridith," Veridith's voice made that space tremble.
" I am chaos incarnate," Veridith's voice was sweet but angry at the same time.
"I am the weaver of wild possibility," It was heavy and delicate simultaneously
" I am unbound by fate."
"I dance on between order and disorder,"
"I walk the line between hope and despair,"
"I Twist the threads of destiny with mischievous flair."
"I call to you, kin soul of mischieve,"
"Let us bring chaos together."
" Let's embrace the uncertain,"
"Let's attain an impossible fate, together"
Veridith shifted into the spiraling vortex of energy, encircling Lysandra until every inch of her body was filled with light. Her veins glowed a strong blue, her arteries pulsed with a vibrant pink, and her nervous system shimmered like strands of iridescent gold.
"Listen, Lysandra," Veridith's voice echoed directly in her mind, cool yet insistent. "I brought you here because you resonate with me. But when I initiated our bond, the liminality reacted by conjuring the creatures you saw surrounding Sebas. You two must leave immediately. The attunement will destabilize the liminality enough for you to escape, but hurry, others are here, and you do not want to cross paths with them."
Lysandra's heart pounded as she processed the words. "So you can speak in my mind now?" she managed, trying to suppress her surprise. "And—what about Sebas? Is he all right?"
"Yes, to both questions," Veridith replied, a trace of amusement in its tone. "I am releasing you just outside, where Sebas waits for you. Now move, I have limited energy. We'll speak later, dear." With that, space itself seemed to ripple, and in an instant, Lysandra found herself back in the room full of stairs.
"Congratulations," Sebas said as he saw her, wrapping her in a tight embrace. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you everything, but, I promise I'll explain later, unfortunately now we've got another problem on our hands."
Lysandra returned his hug, then playfully smacked him on the head. "You better not keep any more secrets," she scolded, though her eyes were filled with relief.
"Yeah, I promise," Sebas replied, raising his hands in surrender. "But look," He pointed down to where the structure that was similar to an eye was. "There, down at the center. Two figures are approaching it."
"Who are they?" Lysandra asked, her voice was tense.
"I don't know, but they don't seem friendly," Sebas murmured. "We can talk about everything later. For now, we need a plan."
As if on cue, Mahvyr's voice resonated in Sebas's mind. "So the energy you sensed was indeed her attuning with a conduit," he noted.
"Yeah, but I still don't understand why I could feel that energy," Sebas replied, frustration evident in his tone.
"Perhaps it's because, as a Chimeric Soul, you can sustain more than one conduit. Your soul instinctively detected another one near you, one that sought someone to attune and your soul tried to guide you to it. But your friend had already started the test, and now, you'll have to explain everything to her," Mahvyr advised. "The conduit itself neither dragged us here nor holds us captive, chances are that's the doing of those two and what they are carrying. They possess energy from the Void."
Sebas exhaled slowly. "So I need to go investigate, right?" he asked.
"Yes," Mahvyr replied. "And it's an excellent opportunity to test additional applications of my abilities."
With a heavy sigh, Sebas turned to Lysandra. "Okay, lesson time, please pay attention. Conduits are bridges that allow your Anima to influence Amrita. Amrita is the divine particle that permeates everything. Anima is the strength of your soul, and a conduit lets you assert your will upon the world."
Lysandra frowned. "What? That makes zero sense."
"Don't worry," Sebas said, his tone gentle but determined. "Each conduit lets you shape Amrita in its own way, granting you unique abilities. You need to grasp the concept and then learn how to turn that idea into reality." He paused, then added, "Now, watch closely." With that, he leaped down into the unfolding chaos, leaving Lysandra to absorb every strange, electric moment of their new reality.
Sebas landed in front of the pair advancing toward the eerie, eye-like structure, being so close he finally got a good look at them, both were clad in a cloak that covered them completely, nevertheless, this detail was of little importance to him, he stood in front of them with confidence in his chances. "Look, I know this is a long shot," he snapped, his voice edged with annoyance, "but hand over that device. It'll save us all a lot of trouble."
One of the figures sneered, stepping forward. "Who are you?"
Sebas tilted his head and looked straight at them. "Don't concern yourself with that, answer my question."
The other figure stepped up, with a voice filled with arrogance and looking straight at Sebas. "We won't, but, I'm curious. Are you saying you're responsible for losing the relic of the conduit we were carrying?"
"Not my doing," Sebas replied nonchalantly.
The other figure's tone turned accusatory. "But you know what happened to it, don't you?"
Sebas's eyes narrowed as he fixed them with a steely glare. "Yes, I do. And I won't say anything. I need that device and answers about where you got it and after that, you won't need or even care about that information."
The first figure scoffed, unleashing a surge of dark energy as his anima flared. "Kid, don't mess with us. There are two of us, and we're stronger."
A voice cut through the tension, Mahvyr's, echoing in Sebas's mind with an air of detachment. "He's stronger than you," it stated, the implication clear.
Sebas smirked. "Yeah, he's likely an Adept, while I'm just an Awaken. A stage above, if you ask me. But strength isn't everything, you also need to know how you use what you have at your disposal."
Mahvyr's tone turned challenging. "So, you're willing to bet you can outsmart him with what you have?"
"That's exactly it," Sebas answered, his smirk widening.
"Good," Mahvyr said, pride infusing every syllable of his voice. "That's the minimum I expect from the one I'm attuned with."
Sebas's smile faded into a determined glare as tension crackled in the air. Before the exchange could escalate further, one of the figures lunged at him with lightning speed. To any person observing the situation, the movement would have been a blur, but Sebas, honed by years of relentless training, anticipated the attack. He sidestepped effortlessly and delivered a brutal kick straight to the figure's stomach. The impact was so fierce that a sickening crack echoed as the attacker crumpled to the ground.
"I think I just broke your back," Sebas taunted, his tone both cold and mocking as he glanced at the other figure. "So, what's your move now?"
A charged silence fell over them, the threat of further violence hanging in the air. "Now," Sebas continued, his voice low and menacing, "let's address the threat from earlier. Shall we?"