Heavy footsteps echoed down the long corridor at a measured tempo.
Nevarvis' face was dark, his jaw tight as he struggled to contain himself. But Elizabeth's words kept echoing in his head.
The more he restrained himself, the clearer the disdain and mockery in her eyes became to him. The more venomous her disregard and dismissal of him seemed to him.
'I don't care.'
"FUCK!"
*BANG*
With a roar, Nevaris punched the corridor wall with all his pent up frustration and anger, the impact cratering the stone and sending fractures spiderwebbing outward beneath his knuckles.
Nevaris' silver eyes began to churn as the purple aureole around his irises flared like a storm given form.
"I should have said something back. Should have torn her apart just like she did to me! Made sure she never–"
Nevaris' eyes blinked back to normal at the sudden voice.
"Cue? That you?"
Chuckling, he took a breath and removed his fist from the wall.
"Nice of you to join me buddy, missed you too."
"What scared I'll hurt you?" he joked.
Nevaris swallowed a glob of saliva, 'Noted.'
Its answer was an awkward silence. With a cough Nevaris smoothly changed the topic.
"So how's the whole inner soul world construction going?"
Like the brilliant, intellectually adept sentient cube it was, Cue allowed the botched topic derailment and answered.
"World's will?" he questioned as he started walking.
His steps slowed, "Meaning?"
Nevaris tripped at those words. His expression is a mixture of incredulity and dumbfoundedness.
"You mean to tell me my inner world is…alive?"
Cue replied with a slightly intrigued undertone.
Nevaris' excitement turned into confusion as he said, "But I don't–"
Well then how the hell did this happen then. Was his inner world possessed? Did that creepy entity give him a faulty product!?
Leave it to stupid transmigration troupes. He blamed his crazy circumstances on the karma from reading too many xianxia novels.
But as he thought about it, he realized something.
"Hey Cue, could the sudden awakening have anything to do with what happened with Ana earlier?" he asked.
Internally, he could almost hear Cue's gears (or whatever he ran on) click in approval.
'This arrogant piece of shit.'
Even though he had no idea what energy Cue was talking about. Knowing that Ana had surprised a smartass cube like him, his face lit up with shameless pride.
"That's my girl!"
That was true. While he didn't know much about magic, souls, and entire worlds living in souls.
Nevaris could confidently go out on a limb and say they weren't as simple as putting on a spare tire.
'Damn it!'
Thinking quickly, Nevaris asked hurriedly, "Do you happen to know what happened to Lilith's animas marking? Apparently it disappeared on its own."
Nothing lives as long as Cue does without a bit of persistence.
"...I'm working on it, promise. Now can you answer my question please?" he sighed.
A blazing fervor roared to life in Nevaris' eyes as he spoke solemnly, "Your damn straight it is!"
<*sigh* Of all the hosts…> Cue grumbled.
But he was nothing if not professional so he answered honestly.
"..."
<*sighhh* Your soul has been continuously deconstructing and reconstructing itself. Because of that, the animas mark, which tethers souls together in eternal union, will not work. Especially when her soul is so utterly incomparable to your own.>
"Ohhh, that makes sense," Nevaris nodded.
Cue was seriously considering whether this partnership was worth it.
"So then how can I fix it?"
Nevaris blinked, "Is that even possible? Don't I need to be a demigod to be able to manipulate my soul like that without the need of a contract or medium?"
The pinprick sensation he felt in his head let him know that Cue was looking at him like an idiot.
'Right. Demigod level soul, forgot about that.'
"Then how do I do it?"
Cue sighed wearily once again.
Nevaris pumped his fists as he began racing toward the scent of his wives.
"You da man Cue!"
"Time to get laid baby!"
<*sighhhhhhhh*>
…
[New York, New York]
A thick blanket of overcast skies hung low above, smothering the world in a dull, colorless gray. The sun was nowhere to be seen, its warmth swallowed whole by the heavy clouds, leaving behind a cold, unmoving stillness.
Even the wind seemed reluctant to stir, as if the air itself was burdened by the weight of something unspoken.
Below, a funeral was drawing to a close. The last quiet murmurs fading into silence as mourners began to drift away, their footsteps slow. The grave hadn't settled yet, fresh earth lay dark and unsettled, as though it too, resisted what had been done.
A few lingered, heads bowed, eyes distant–caught between memory and absence as their gazes stayed glued to the brown mulch. As if waiting for the person buried beneath to hop out and smile at them once more.
"He's…really just…gone?"
A young man with asian features stared at the grave with reddened eyes. His short black hair was unkempt, clearly having not been maintained for weeks if not months.
He gripped a beat-up controller in his hands, his grip so tight the plastic creaked as his knuckles whitened.
The man next to him, dressed in a tailored suit that hugged his muscular frame impeccably, turned his gaze to the sky with a sigh. His eyes seemed to carry a complex mix of emotions.
Grief and pain being the strongest.
But also something bordering on–helplessness.
"Eddy…we should go," he said quietly.
The two were Chloe and Eddy, Caleum's closest friends on Earth.
"But…"
Eddy looked forward, not completing his question. He didn't need to.
Chloe was also looking in the same direction. The desolate silhouette of a woman stood in solitude, clutching a framed photo of a young Caleum.
He was silent for a moment before shaking his head, "Let her have this. He was…he was her son."
The small choke in his voice nearly broke Eddy's already fragile composure. Gritting his teeth as if to bite back his tears, he turned and left in uneven strides.
With a final look at the grave, Chloe clutched his trembling hands and followed.
The woman now stood alone, silent and unmoving, as though even the act of breathing had become too heavy to bear.
Her eyes were vacant, fixed on the freshly turned earth as if searching for something that was no longer there…or perhaps refusing to accept that it wasn't. No tears fell. Only a hollow aching stillness.
Unbeknownst to her, a few dozen feet away, two women stood amidst the quiet beneath an old tree.
Their presence was almost unreal against the muted world around them. Even draped in mourning black, their beauty was the kind that defied simple description. And though they looked nothing alike, their noble demeanor, so similar to each other, exposed them as sisters.
Their eyes were fixed on the lone figure by the grave.
The younger looking of the two looked worriedly at her older sister, her mouth opening and closing as if to speak, but no words came out.
Without shifting her gaze, the older sister spoke, her voice a muted whisper against the wind.
"What is it?"
The younger sister sighed, "Father is asking questions."
"Mmm," she hummed in response, her body not moving in the slightest.
"You need to come home, Minerva."
Minerva finally moved. She turned, locking eyes with her sister, and the cold emptiness in her gaze made her sister flinch.
She turned her head away, taking one last look at the grave. Her voice turned cold as she spoke.
"Let's go."
As the two left, the lone woman clutching the portrait fell to her knees.
She had stayed silent until the end. Simply kneeling in the dirt and mud in lifeless silence. Surrounded only by absence.
And the world continued around her–distant footsteps, a faint rustle of wind–but none of it seemed to reach her.