Arthur walked toward Lucid across the sand, his boots crunching softly with each step. The beach stretched out beside the harbor where they had spent a pleasant afternoon earlier, swimming and grilling fish and pretending that the world was not falling apart around them. The sun was high, painting the water in shades of blue and gold, and a handful of seagulls circled lazily overhead. A few fishing boats bobbed at the dock nearby, one of them the same vessel they had rented at great expense.
Ever since arriving in Port Vexis, Arthur had found himself with little to do. Lucid seemed to vanish into the city at all hours, chasing leads or meeting with informants or simply disappearing into his own thoughts. Ayame often disappeared as well, or when she stayed, she remained glued to Lucid's side like a shadow that had forgotten how to exist independently. Arthur still had his duties as a proto-knight, the obligations that came with his rank and his oath. He had gone to the courthouse, filed the necessary paperwork, made himself available for assignments. "No issues," they had told him. But when he walked through the streets, he saw the truth. The wealth gap between the districts was staggering. He had heard of the eight bodies Lucid had discovered and pulled from the river, their flesh carved with symbols that made his stomach turn, and the authorities had done nothing. Covered it up, more likely.
He had tried to work with the local guards, offering his skills, his experience, his willingness to help. But it seemed even the guards did not care much for this town. When he had signed up for the Third Tier Arsenal of the Army and Common Shield of Vex, he had discovered that patrols in this region were practically nonexistent. The people of Port Vexis were on their own.
He wanted to do something, to act, to make a difference. But he did not know where to start. It seemed as though there was something unspoken between Valen and Lucid, some shared understanding, some common goal that aligned with the best interests of the town. Arthur had noticed the way they exchanged glances, the way they spoke in half sentences, the way they seemed to move in tandem toward something he could not quite see.
Lucid sat on the sand, his knees drawn up, his arms wrapped around his shins, staring out at the small ripples that lapped against the shore. He wore his orange life jacket over a pair of swim trunks, the ones he threw a fit over. The sun was warm on his back, and a couple of seagulls squabbled over something near the water's edge. The fishing boats swayed gently at the harbor, he remember renting one of those.
"Hey," Arthur said, his voice measured.
They were on good terms, he and Lucid. Sometimes it was awkward between them, especially when Ayame was around, her silent presence turning every conversation into something that felt like an interview. But Arthur could not help but appreciate him. His selflessness, his sense of responsibility. The way he had faced against Lyssandra the sky sundered saint without a moment's hesitation, throwing himself between the paladin and the princess without regard for his own safety. That took a kind of courage Arthur had rarely seen.
Lucid did not look up.
"You are here," Lucid replied.
"Yeah. The courthouse is not much use, as usual. The magistrate is holed up in her estate. Has been for days."
"Figures." Lucid's voice was dismissive, almost bored.
Arthur regarded him curiously. The dismissive tone was to be expected, given everything that had happened. But was Lucid involved in whatever was going on with the magistrate? Surely it was not possible. Just what had happened inside that Domain of Mercyros that Lucid had spoken of? It was fascinating, the kind of thing you read about in old texts. It was not every day you heard of someone willingly entering a Domain and walking back out.
And then there was the fact that Lucid had encountered a Monolith.
Another one.
Arthur remembered the reports from the railway incident back in Vex, the whale of sorrow that had rammed through the Golden Pathways. That was rumoured to embody a Monolith as well, particularly the monolith of sorrow. Lucid had encountered two of them. That was practically unheard of. There were people who went their entire lives without seeing one, and here was this boy who had faced two and survived both.
The scale of it, the reasons why a Divine Domain existed in the south of Vex, were bewildering. Nothing added up. But there were so many coincidences that Arthur had stopped trying to connect them.
"Why are we here?" Arthur asked.
Lucid stood up and brushed the sand from his bottom. His orange life jacket creaked with the movement. He wore a pair of swim trunks that looked like they had seen better days.
"We are going to level up."
Arthur tilted his head slightly. "Level... up?" The term sounded foreign.
"To which place are we going to level up?" Arthur asked.
Lucid shook his head dismissively, as if the question were obvious. "We are going to get stronger."
"Oh. A spar?" Arthur felt a small thrill at the prospect. It had been weeks since he had crossed blades with anyone who could challenge him.
"Nope. No need. I am stronger than you." Lucid stretched his shoulders to the side.
"Oh really? How arrogant." Arthur chuckled, but there was truth beneath the laughter. His partner was not normal. He had seen it with his own eyes. Limbs torn apart and regenerating. Chains manifested out of thin air, solid enough to hold weight, sharp enough to cut stone. That was not something an Awakened could usually do. But the frequency of it, the amount of fate essence Lucid was willing to spend, was worrying.
Arthur knew the magnitude of Lucid's power had to be at least at the Enlightened tier. It was something Arthur himself had once aspired to reach, before he had seen the truth of Mother fate's legacy.
Lucid reached into the pocket of his swim trunks and produced a small gemstone that glowed faintly from within.
"A rift seed?" Arthur muttered.
He knew what it was. They were going to challenge a rift. These stones were particularly useful, providing a traveling mechanism that could bridge short distances. But they drained a tremendous amount of fate essence if used by anyone less than Enlightened. The teleportation had certain limits, you could not travel between continents or kingdoms, but you could manifest a small path a couple hundred meters away. They were super useful as strategic tools for armies in times of war, for infiltrations, for general traveling. They had been invented during the Great Siege by someone who had industrialized fate resonance technology.
But they had another use. Rifts. These rift seeds came in various forms, sizes, and colors. Some were only used as travel tools. Some were used to channel fate essence, to mimic the behavior of the Awakened or the Enlightened for the non-Illuminated. And some were used to access rifts. Delta rifts. Beta rifts. Phi rifts. Though an Alpha rift or an Omega rift was not possible to access with a rift stone, they were beyond the usual characteristics of a rift.
"Yup." Lucid held the stone up to the light. "I am planning on going back into that Domain. And I need you in case the almighty Monolith gets angry."
Arthur spoke. "Lucid, you are well aware that you are particularly resilient and strong. But I am only an Awakened, and Ayame is non-Illuminated."
Lucid sighed. "Which is precisely why I need to hone my technique and gather a lot of fate essence. For her."
"For her?"
Arthur's eyes narrowed. That was right. He did not know what he had meant by that, even though he had always referred to an external being like he had known.
Lucid gritted his teeth. He could not explain. He could not come up with an answer that would satisfy.
"I meant myself. Ahaha!" It was all he could come up with, a pathetic deflection wrapped in a forced laugh.
Arthur studied him for a long moment. Lucid's face was hidden behind the perpetual mist that shrouded his features, but his body language spoke volumes. The tension in his shoulders. The way his hands clenched at his sides. The slight tremor in his voice that he was trying to hide.
'He is lying,' Arthur thought. 'But not about the rift. Not about the Domain. Something else. Something he is not ready to share.'
But everyone had their secrets much like himself, he had not right to probe into Lucid's. Specially the one who made him come to his own conclusion. He nodded and gave a faint nod.
"Alright," Arthur said finally. "When do we go?"
Lucid blinked, surprised by the easy acceptance. "Soon. Valen is up to something... So I guess he is busy with something. The queen just sent us some funds. Once we have the funds, we can buy supplies, stock up on healing items, and then we enter."
"And the Monolith?"
Lucid's expression darkened behind the mist. "Mercyros will be waiting. He always is. But this time, I am not going in blind. I have seen how he fights. I have felt his power. And I have something he wants."
"What?"
Lucid touched his chest, right over his heart. "Something he cannot take unless I let him."
Arthur did not press further. He had learned that some questions did not have answers, or the answers were too dangerous to speak aloud.
They stood together on the beach, watching the waves roll in and out, feeling the sun on their faces, listening to the distant cries of the gulls.
"Level up," Arthur said, testing the phrase on his tongue. "I think I like that term"
Lucid smiled beneath the mist.
"Good..."