The sun was beginning its descent, though it hadn’t yet touched the horizon. Everything around them had taken on a deep golden hue, the kind of light that seed to settle over the world rather than simply illuminate it. The garden’s flowers swayed gently within that gold, as if enjoying it. The morning had carried its own beauty, but this was sothing different. Quieter. Heavier in a way that felt earned.
Three figures moved through it. A boy in the blue academy coat, hands in his pockets, walking ahead. Behind him, two girls, one with silver hair, one with gold, followed in comfortable silence.
They ca to a stop in front of a bench at the centre of the garden.
Elizabeth still had no idea what they were here for. Lyra, on the other hand, was barely containing herself. Necrotize turned his head slightly toward both of them.
Elizabeth spoke first. "My lord. Why exactly are we here?"
Even Lyra, despite her excitent, found herself wondering the sa thing. She knew it had sothing to do with what Necrotize had told her that morning, but the specifics remained unclear.
"Good question." Necrotize’s tone was casual. "The main reason we’re here is to unlock Lyra’s Dantian."
"Dantian?" Both girls said it almost simultaneously.
Neither of them had ever heard the word before. Lyra had a vague sense it was connected to Qi sohow, given everything she’d learned that morning. Elizabeth, however, had absolutely nothing to go on.
"Yes. Dantian. To put it simply, think of it as the storage space where the Qi you refine gets kept."
Lyra nodded slowly, the concept settling into place beside everything else she’d absorbed. Elizabeth, anwhile, looked more lost than before.
"Wait. What is Qi?"
Necrotize glanced at her. Right. She doesn’t know any of this yet. He turned to Lyra instead.
"Lyra, would you mind explaining everything to her?"
Lyra nodded and began walking Elizabeth through everything Necrotize had told her that morning, starting from the origin of the elents, through to what Qi actually was, the different stages of purification, all of it. And then, more hesitantly, she explained the rest. That Necrotize had killed her that morning. And brought her back. And that her body was now entirely free of mana.
Elizabeth listened with growing astonishnt. She had never imagined the elents had originated this way, and the revelation she’d heard the day before, about everyone in this world drawing on Creation’s essence, had already shaken her. This was on an entirely different scale. And the part about Necrotize killing Lyra and resurrecting her, even understanding the logic behind it, even seeing how it fit together, it still struck her as sothing deeply, viscerally brutal.
She kept all of that off her face.
"I think I understand now. Please, continue."
Necrotize nodded. "Right. Before we go further, though, I need to call soone else in. I can’t manage this part on my own. I don’t have enough control yet to channel Qi in small enough quantities."
He clapped his hands once.
A portal opened behind him.
Both Elizabeth and Lyra watched with rising curiosity. Were they going sowhere? Was soone about to step through?
They didn’t have to wait long.
A woman erged from the portal. Golden hair, a maid’s uniform, golden eyes, and a face with such striking symtry that it was difficult to look away once you’d noticed it. Elizabeth studied her for a mont and realised, the resemblance to herself was unmistakable.
Catherine.
The mont they recognised her, both girls dropped to their knees, speaking almost as one.
"We pay respects to the Head Attendant of Destruction."
This wasn’t ceremony for its own sake. It was law. Within this empire, the Head Attendant held authority equal to the Emperor’s. To stand before her was to stand before the throne itself. Failing to kneel would have constituted treason.
Catherine stood before them, arms loosely crossed, a smile on her face warm enough to undo the composure of most n in the empire.
"There’s no need for that. We’re not in front of anyone else right now. You can both stand."
They rose. Elizabeth showed no particular reaction, she had t Catherine the previous morning. Lyra, however, could barely contain herself. She had grown up hearing stories about Catherine her entire life, the strongest individual in the empire, soone everyone spoke of with reverence. And now she was standing right in front of her.
Catherine glanced at the two girls briefly, then turned her head toward Necrotize.
A teasing smile crossed her face.
And then she dropped to one knee.
"I, Catherine Ashendra, pay my respects to the embodint of Destruction and ruler of Darkness, as your Head Attendant."
The mont Necrotize saw that smile forming, he’d known sothing like this was coming. And here it was. He looked faintly embarrassed.
"Alright, alright. Get up. You don’t need to do this right now."
She rose, the smile still firmly in place.
"Oh, but Master, what fun would there be in not doing it? I am your Head Attendant, after all." She glanced toward Elizabeth and Lyra. "And I certainly can’t behave badly in front of your friends, now can I."
"...Right. Understood." His voice ca out slightly flustered.
Catherine stepped directly in front of him and began, without asking, straightening his collar and fixing his hair.
"Honestly, you don’t need to fuss over like you are my mother. Not that I’ve ever had one. But still."
"This is literally my job, Master. Look at the state you’ve let yourself get into." After finishing with his collar and hair, she stepped back, satisfied.
Necrotize let out a small breath of relief once she’d moved away, and got back to the matter at hand.
"Right. Catherine. The reason I called you here. I need your help unlocking Lyra’s lower Dantian."
Catherine’s eyebrows rose slightly.
"Dantian? Master, are you planning to teach her Qi refinent?"
"Yes. Essentially."
"But why?" Catherine had no idea what had happened that day, so Necrotize explained everything.
"Alright, I understand now. But she should already have a mana core ford by this point. That would need to be removed first, wouldn’t it?"
Necrotize gave her a small smile. "Already taken care of. You don’t need to worry about that part."
"Already taken care of? Don’t tell —" She paused, narrowing her eyes. "Don’t tell you did exactly what I’m thinking right now."
"Yes. I did exactly that."
He turned his head toward Lyra. Lyra, catching his look, simply nodded once, quietly.
Catherine let out a long breath.
"Alright. I understand."
She crossed to Lyra and pulled her into a gentle hug.
"That must have been frightening, dear. It’s alright now."
The mont Catherine’s arms closed around her, Lyra felt tears co without warning. She had no idea why she was crying, only that she was, the tears falling freely without her permission. After a few monts, the feeling passed and she settled.
Elizabeth watched from the side, saying nothing. She had no fra of reference for what dying felt like, and so no real way to understand what Lyra was processing.
After a mont, Catherine stepped back and looked at Lyra.
"Alright then. Let’s get started. Lyra, sit down on the ground first, cross your legs. I’ll walk you through everything else from there."
Lyra imdiately settled onto the ground, legs crossed beneath her. She had no idea what was coming. But she was bursting with anticipation.
What happened next was sothing she could never have prepared for.
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