During the journey through the forest, Samael eventually lost consciousness.
The exhaustion.
The fever.
The constant pain.
His body had simply reached its limit.
As his eyelids finally closed, Samael felt the world around him distort once more.
Reality seed to fold in on itself.
Then, the next instant—
He opened his eyes among the white rose gardens of Ri's Cetery.
The flowers were just as beautiful as before.
White.
Silent.
Motionless beneath the black skies of that dead world.
For several seconds, Samael simply watched the flowers sway gently beneath the icy wind.
His mind felt strangely clear there.
As if the Realm of Ri partially eased the crushing burden destroying his consciousness in the real world.
Then he finally understood.
"So she accepted..."
Samael muttered softly.
Now that his mind was functioning properly again, he finally understood what Liu had been trying to tell him earlier.
She had accepted.
Accepted teaching him how to properly use a sword.
Samael let out a quiet snort of amusent.
Then he rembered her answering his questions with a week's delay while carrying him through the forest.
"She still rembered that... what a strange girl."
A small tired smile appeared on his face.
But it quickly disappeared.
His gaze returned to the endless darkness beyond the cetery.
"Ti to finally explore this place."
Even if he returned to the real world now...
There wasn't much he could do in his condition.
So perhaps it was better to make use of his ti here.
Samael slowly walked out of the cetery.
Folly appeared in his hand.
The Armor of Bonds covered his body monts later.
The dark plain seed endless.
In the distance, the gigantic black tree still stood at the center of that dead world like a pillar supporting the sky itself.
Samael began advancing stealthily toward it.
Avoiding creatures in that place was practically instinctive.
Even from afar, he could sense absurdly dangerous presences wandering through the darkness.
So were so monstrous that rely looking at them made his skin crawl.
As he walked, Samael found colossal skeletons scattered throughout the plain.
Gigantic bones.
Creatures so unbelievably powerful that they could probably kill him with the pressure of their presence alone.
Even in death.
Samael slowly approached one of the skeletons.
Then touched the white bones.
And imdiately, a greedy thought appeared in his mind.
"What would happen if I turned this into a weapon?"
Sothing on that scale...
Would be monstrous.
Perhaps even too powerful.
Samael imdiately poured essence into his Aspect.
But a second later—
Nothing happened.
Not even the slightest reaction.
Samael clicked his tongue in irritation.
"Damn it... the difference is too great."
That thing was far beyond his current capabilities.
With a small sigh, he temporarily abandoned the idea and continued walking.
Until he finally found sothing alive.
Or almost alive.
A massive black raven silently watched the horizon while perched atop one of the enormous bones.
Its feathers were as dark as the sky itself.
And the mont the raven's eyes landed on Samael—
A chill ran down his spine.
It felt as if the creature could see straight into his soul.
Samael's instincts imdiately scread.
That was a Fallen Creature.
And an extrely dangerous one.
Samael tightened his grip on Folly and assud a combat stance.
This fight would be horrible.
No.
Worse than that.
It would be suicide.
Then the raven spoke.
"Greetings, filthy creature."
Samael's mind froze.
He took a step back almost instantly.
His golden eyes widened slightly.
The creature rely watched him in silence.
"I will not kill you, Heir of Weaver."
Upon hearing that, Samael imdiately rembered the way Ananke referred to Sunny and Nephis.
Bearers of the Spell.
His eyes narrowed slightly.
"Why do you—"
He couldn't even finish the question.
"Lady Ri granted that gift."
The raven's hoarse voice echoed across the plain.
"Just as she partially removed this place's curse from ."
Samael imdiately noticed the important detail.
Partially.
So the creature was still trapped there sohow.
"Why would Ri remove your curse... and grant you speech?"
Suspicion filled his voice.
The raven let out a rough sound resembling laughter.
"Who knows what Daemons were thinking?"
The wind seed to grow colder.
Samael remained silent for several monts before asking another question.
"How did this place beco like this?"
That had been his biggest question ever since arriving.
He simply refused to believe that this world had always looked like this.
The raven slowly turned its head toward the dark horizon.
"This place was destroyed during the conflict between Lady Ri... and the avatars of Storm and Sun."
Samael felt his heart tighten slightly.
That single sentence alone carried an unimaginable scale.
But before he could ask another question—
The air around them grew heavy.
The raven's black feathers slowly stirred as shadows seed to paint the world in darkness around the creature.
"No more questions."
Its hoarse voice beca colder.
More murderous.
"What did you co here for, heir of that vile thing?"
The disdain in the creature's voice when ntioning Weaver was almost tangible.
Samael imdiately raised his sword.
"I was exploring a part of my world... and my anchor ended up being dragged here."
The raven stared at him for several seconds.
Then coldly replied:
"Then leave my sight."
The winds began to howl violently.
"I have no desire to look at descendants of that despicable creature any longer."
Samael slowly began backing away.
But then he noticed sothing.
The raven continued staring toward the horizon.
Distant.
Trapped.
Then Samael spoke.
"You want to leave this place, don't you?"
The creature's black eyes imdiately returned to him.
"That is irrelevant."
The pressure around them intensified.
"It seems you possess no attachnt to your life."
Samael partially ignored the threat.
His brain was already calculating possibilities.
"Let's make a deal."
Silence.
"You help reach that tree... and I'll help you leave this place."
"I refuse."
The answer ca instantly.
Black talons scraped against the enormous bone beneath the creature.
Samael narrowed his eyes.
That response had co too quickly.
Far too quickly for soone who truly didn't care.
"Co on."
He continued calmly.
"You have nothing to lose."
The raven remained silent.
Samael carefully observed the creature.
He didn't know exactly what it was.
A Nightmare Creature?
An ancient mystical being?
Sothing even worse?
But one thing was obvious:
That raven was absurdly powerful.
Perhaps even beyond its actual Rank.
After several monts, the raven finally asked:
"And what guarantees that you won't attempt to deceive ?"
A small smile appeared inside Samael.
Then he calmly replied:
"If I do... you can just kill ."
His golden eyes t the creature's gaze directly.
"After all, you can do that, can't you?"
Appealing to soone's ego always worked better than rational persuasion.
And apparently, it worked.
The raven's black feathers stirred slightly.
"Obviously I can."
The arrogance in its voice was absurd.
"You are less than a fly before ."
Samael simply nodded slowly.
Then the raven finally answered:
"I accept your proposal, human."
Its voice was cold.
Murderous.
"But if you dare deceive ... you will regret it for the rest of your life."
Samael rely smiled faintly.
Then seed to rember sothing.
"Wait."
He raised a hand.
"I need to return to my world every twelve hours."
"And the only way to do that is through Ri's Cetery."
The raven stared at him for several monts.
Then replied as though the matter were completely trivial:
"We'll simply bring the cetery with us."
Samael fell silent.
"...What?"
But internally, another thought imdiately surfaced.
"Even when intelligent... when it cos to lying, humans are still superior."
A sharp pain pierced his mind instantly.
His innate ability reacted to the implied lie.
Because at no point—
Had Samael actually intended to bring that creature out of the Realm of Ri.
Nobody had any idea what that thing might do in the real world.
User Comments
0 comments from readers