[Sgaeyl Household, Akasha.]
[Two Days Later.]
I walked through the hallway of the Household as I stared at the Golden Tree.
It was much more dried up than the last ti I had seen it, and it hadn’t been long.
But what was even more concerning was the ring-like structure those creatures had created.
Those things were moving along Akasha like they had always been part of it.
’....This is getting out of hand.’
I let out a tired sigh as I reached the room at the end of the hallway.
Giving a quick knock, I walked inside the room.
Mariam stood in front of the window as she looked outside.
I walked toward her desk and took my seat on the chair.
"What the hell are those things, Himl?" She asked, turning around. "Where did those white creatures co from?"
I leaned back in the chair and rubbed my eyes before answering.
"Offspring," I said. "They’re fragnts of an Outer Goddess."
Mariam’s brows pulled together. ".....Outer Goddess?"
"Yeah." I replied. "Think of her as an invasive species that is trying to take over the world."
".....That’s terrifying."
She glanced back at the Golden Tree outside the window.
Its once bright leaves now looked dull, edges curled, light leaking from its veins in weak pulses.
"Is the tree like this because of her?" She asked, her gaze back on . "...Is she doing this?"
"I don’t know." I replied. "That’s why I am here."
With a tired look on her face, Mariam sat down on her chair.
She rubbed her temples as she softly asked. "How strong is she?"
"On par with the Creator God." I replied. "Perhaps stronger."
Mariam visibly groaned, hitting her head on the table.
I watched her for a mont, then added, quieter, "But she isn’t fully here."
Mariam lifted her head slightly, cheek still pressed to the desk. "That’s supposed to make feel better?"
"It should," I said. "We still have so ti before dying."
She let out a slow breath and pushed herself upright, though her shoulders stayed tense.
"Do you have any plans?" She asked, her gaze hopeful.
"No." I replied with a scoff. "What is a small Eternal like supposed to do?"
She frustratingly opened her mouth before she closed it once again.
I leaned back slightly before I said. "I believe soone will start gathering the demigods to inform them about the Outer Goddess and her threat."
She frowned. "Who?"
"I don’t know." I shrugged. "Perhaps Samyaza, Gwenyra or soone influential in Kandam."
Mariam stared at for a long second, trying to decide if I was joking.
She let out a sigh and looked back once again.
Outside the window, the white ring shifted again, the creatures adjusting their orbit like a living machine finding balance.
She looked back at . "I will inform the other family heads about this."
"I planned to inform Mortis about it when I dropped Epione back, but he wasn’t ho."
I replied, rubbing the back of my neck.
"Just tell everyone to be ready. At this point anything is possible."
Mariam gave a short nod, her mind already slipping into the next course of action.
I remained seated as I looked up at the boring ceiling.
’With how things are going, I need to plan as well.’
And the best way to start was breaking through the Eternal rank.
Even though I was not fully at the peak of my rank, it wouldn’t be long before I reached it.
’I should get so inside information about breaking through the demigod level.’
Mariam slid sothing toward my direction, grabbing my attention.
I looked down and it was a folded sheet.
I picked up the folded sheet and opened it, it was so big that I couldn’t fit it on the desk.
So, I put the sheet on the ground and unfolded it.
After covering half the room, I could now clearly see everything on it.
It was a diagram for a ritual along with all the runes and sigils.
"Priest Panta gave this to us." She said softly. "It’s the ritual they want to do."
I slowly nodded my head as I kept staring at the diagram.
Despite the complexity of the diagram, I could more or less understand it.
"...It’s a sealing ritual." I mumbled softly. "On the surface that is."
"Edel is doing in-depth research on it." She said. "You also have knowledge about rituals."
"...."
I kept staring at the diagram as I felt sothing was off about it.
I crouched down, tracing one of the outer circles with my finger without touching the ink.
’....Fuck, I need help.’
I grabbed the sheet and folded it once again.
Standing back up, I began to walk out of the room.
But I quickly turned to look at her. "Where is Izara?"
"At school." She responded. "Diana is with her."
I nodded my head before I closed the door behind .
---
It took only a few minutes to reach my destination.
A beautiful cottage house with a bright garden in front of it.
I stood at the front gate, debating whether I should go inside or not.
’....This is going to be awkward.’
It had been so long since I had talked with her.
I didn’t even know how I should behave around her.
’...Even though it’s not her fault.’
I let out a tired sigh as I walked toward the main door.
Hesitating, I knocked on the door and waited for it to open.
"Coming."
A voice echoed from inside as I slowly closed my eyes.
’I hope she doesn’t overreact.’
I only opened them when I heard the door open.
A girl peeked out and froze when she looked at .
Her ember eyes dilated and her face drained of color.
"Hey Zenny—"
Baam!!
And she closed the door on my face.
I stood there for a second, staring at the closed door.
"...Fair," I muttered.
I stood outside for a while as I heard her loudly moving around her house.
I heard sothing fall, I heard her scream...I heard a lot of things in the span of a few minutes.
The door opened up once again, slowly this ti.
Zenith didn’t look up into my eyes.
"...You’re alive," Zenith said, staring sowhere near my collar instead of my face.
"Yeah."
"You didn’t bother talking with for so long."
"Also yeah."
The wind moved through the garden, brushing the flowers along the path.
The house looked the sa as always.
Though, things had changed a lot since I had last co here.
Zenith finally looked up, eyes sharp despite the redness around them. "What do you want, Himl?"
"I need your help," I said.
She blinked, clearly not expecting that.
"With what?"
I held up the folded ritual sheet. "Have you seen those things around Akasha?"
"...."
She stared at my eyes for a few seconds before she opened the door.
"Co in."
I didn’t refuse as I walked inside the house, which was surprisingly well maintained.
’...Did she learn how to take care of her house?’
Zenith walked ahead into the living room and dropped into a chair.
Now that I looked at her once again she had changed a lot both physically and ntally.
Her hair had grown longer, touching the ground when she sat.
The face that had always been beautiful had beco even prettier.
Zenith gestured for to sit down as well.
I did and spread the sheet on the ground. "I checked it once and I feel sothing is wrong with it."
"It’s a barrier ritual." She said instantly. "But it’s much more complex."
"...."
I nodded my head as I folded my arms.
Even though it was more of a guess, she had inherited all the mories about rituals from her mother.
Zenith leaned forward, her expression changing.
The awkwardness from earlier disappeared like it had never been there.
Her fingers hovered above the sheet, moving along the lines of the diagram.
"...This outer layer," she murmured. "It looks like suppression, but it’s not."
"What is it then?"
"It’s stabilization," she said. "Sothing big is ant to stand here."
I stared at the specific part of the runes. "Like creating a space?"
She nodded and shifted to the inner circle, tracing the runes in the air.
"These sigils regulate flow.... mana, faith, life force. It’s designed to feed sothing."
"...."
I rubbed the back of my neck as I kept staring at the diagram.
Though suspicious, I couldn’t say for sure if this was bad.
Zenith didn’t rush her answer.
She kept staring at the diagram, eyes moving faster now, connecting pieces.
She let out a sigh before she leaned back. "Why did you help create sothing like this?"
I frowned at her question. "I didn’t help in anything."
She blinked at as if I had said sothing out of the ordinary.
She pointed at the diagram. "They have used runes that only you know, Himl."
"....."
I lowered my head as I looked at the ritual once again.
And just as she said, there were so many runes that had been lost for tens of thousands of years.
Zenith asked softly. "....How do they know about the runes if you didn’t tell them?"
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