I sit on the walls still a bit pissed but N did calm me down quite a bit. He seems fun I'll admit that, but clearly holding back a lot. I see singer float over to me
"Yeah?"
She bows
"I told them what happened with the drop of shadow gods blood."
I sigh
"What else?"
"Sunless has a divine aspect, 3 shadow cores, a true name, and two divine memories, his aspect legacy, he has the lineage of weaver and as you knows he is lord mongrel"
I look from the words to her veiled face. I then slowly put my head in my hands
"You know what? I'm not even that shocked. Let me guess the mask is divine? The other divine memory i don't know"
I glance up and she nods
"Thats would be correct."
I lean back
"How in the hell does one even get that lineage? You know what don't answer. Did you tell them about me"
She tilts her head
"You didn't tell me to"
I drag my hands over my face
"God damn it"
I storm over to Sunny hes with N
"Oh hello again ■■■■"
I wave to him pleasantly then I hop up grabbing sunny by the horn
"Jackass, tell everyone to meet up later i have things to say"
I give him the vile blood then I let go and I leave in a huff. I leave and I sit on one of the walls eating a bag of jerky.
"Something on your mind?"
I look at singer
"Clearly."
She sits down next to me
"I wouldn't blame them too hard. A lot of the things you do seem suspicious and to someone who keeps his cards as close to his chest as Sunless, I am not shocked he thought you may have been a spy"
I sigh deeply and for a while
"But what did I do that could have caused it?"
She shakes her head
"It was likely a mix of many things. You followed him around quite a bit. He knows what the legacy clans think of him, of a dirty stupid street rat. If one thinks about it carefully, in their mind he would be the weakest link, so having someone spy on him would be the best and easiest thing to do"
I gesture at the words
"But why me?"
"Because, simply your logic is odd, you followed him around for seemingly no real reason."
I groan leaning back
"There's a reason and the reason is i don't like being alone."
As I'm going back to my room in run into N going back to his.
"Still angry I see."
I nod
"Of course. I haven't even gotten a apology"
He looks at my bag of jerky with a curious expression
"And what is that?"
"Just some food from where I come from. My bag keeps everything in it in mint condition"
His face sours a bit
"Is that so...?"
Did sunny... i laugh
"Did he get you to eat synth paste? I bet he said something like"
I do air quotes
"This is food from where I'm from"
I shake my head
"He's not wrong, but it's just that sun is from the poorest area and that's the only thing they got from the government"
N slowly turns his head back
"Oh. That makes sense"
I wave my hand
"I doubt he has any other food from the place we come from. I do though, I always tend to over prepare"
N seems like the type to love luxury. Judging by the clothes he wears. I pull out a very expensive bar of dark chocolate, I planned to give it to Effie but it sucks to suck. I hand it to him
"Here's the good stuff, real fancy stuff"
He looks at it then smiles at me
"And why don't you want it, I'll take it but still"
I wave my hand
"I don't like sweets"
He tilts his head
"Well its good I do, and even more so if its fancy"
In the morning I leave my room. I stomp over to sunny's room. I knock on the door
"Come in"
I swing the door open, it hits the wall with a thunk. I see the cohort, most with sheepish expressions. I close the door behind me. I look at their faces I scoff in annoyance
"Divine aspect, 3 cores, 3 echos that level up, and aspect legacy, thats all"
They all look dumbfounded
"Is that how you got the vile blood"
"Clearly."
I open the door
"You all forgot to apologize to me"
I leave slamming the door.
I sit on flame looking out im planning on going to go hunting, to get more ice fragments of course.
"■■■■"
I look down seeing Kai.
"I'm sorry about thinking you where a spy. It's really not your fault, we got in our heads about things that are fully in your character"
I nod
"Thank you and i accept the apology. I should have communicated my thoughts better."
He shakes his head
"No, no you communicated yourself perfectly fine. We were being paranoid. We all made assumptions about you and your motives. By no means is it your fault"
I groan loudly
"No kai I mean it. By everything you all are aware of my actions don't make sense. It was a jump to assume I was a spy, but that doesn't mean i don't need to articulate myself better"
He looks down
"No!" I jump a little, kai doesn't normally raise his voice. He starts pacing back and forth.
"It is not your fault by any means. You have been nothing but open and honest. After I learned Caster was a assassin sent to kill Nephis"
I freeze slowly turning to look at him. Casters a assassin?
"When sunny said you may be a spy i didn't give any push back"
"Caster is a assassin?"
Kai stops looking up at me
"You... you didn't know?"
I jump down
"No. No I didn't fucking know. You all knew Caster was a ASSASSIN and didn't think to tell me? The person who was closest with him?"
He takes a step back
"■■■■?"
I look at the sanctuary. I put the mask on its loudest setting
"SUNLESS GET YOUR 4 ARMED ASS OVER HERE"
Kai jumps a bit. Sunny slowly peaks his head out. I storm over to him grab him by the horn and drag him out.
"Hey! What the hell"
i throw him down then i squat down by his head
"Sunless how long did you know Caster was a assassin? And did you ever even THINK to tell me?"
He looks at me
"uh, for most of the time he was part of the cohort. No, I thought you knew...?"
I slap him with the back of my hand. I stand up
"I'm going hunting. I'll be back when I'm back. Don't go looking for me."
I jump onto flame
"■■■■"
I look down at sunny who has one hand over his face where I slapped
"Do not look for me"
And flame pushes off.
I stand on flame as it runs over the hills. I see a group of soldiers, from the war group it seems. There's 7 of them, easy to deal with. I jump off of flame flying into one, slamming a dagger into his eye. I kick off of him cutting the throat of another. Flame slams into another making them into a puddle of gore. I duck under a swing of a sword and i stab into the forehead of the attacker. Flame ripps one into two and its tail turns another into a red cloud. The last attacks me, it doesn't even get close as I cut both of his hands off.
"Glory, glory t-"
I grab his head
"There is no glory in battle, only death. Do you see this"
I gesture to the bodies of the fallen
"Your leaders do not care for you, nor them. Death is the end of this and you will not take your glory with you"
He doesn't get to respond as I my aspect makes short work of him.
I float over a gap between islands with singer. I hear something i turn my head seeing almost a stamped of nightmare creatures. I grab into singer tighter as I expand heat sense. Its overwhelming but I do sense something not so pleasant, a corrupted beast coming right towards us.
"To the west there's a corrupted beast going right towards us. Its shape is changing and it seems to make hands."
She nods words appearing
"Can we beat it?"
I shake my head
"Unlikely"
She nods and drops me. I fall into the sky below i active my cloak and I start hopping away as singer flys after me.
I lean down on a branch watching a group from the ivory city. One by one their pulled up by the spider queen. They stand back to back fear all over their faces. Are the people they sacrificed scared? Do they have any right to feel fear for death when they so willingly kill others for their own wants.
Maybe that's a little.... hypocritical to think. I've killed for my own gain, but they fought back did they not? No some didn't even get the chance to. Is pushing someone off a cliff any worse then sacrificing them to a dragon? Probably not.
I drop a ton of soul shards out of my satchel.
"Flame. Crush them"
One by one flame crushes them. I take out a fold out chair from my satchel and I sit down hard. How does flame walk like that? Can I do that? I get up and I get on all fours and I start trying to walk around. I do that for a while trying to mimic flame.
[Your ice shard is evolving]
I stand up fully as a strong wind hits me. Finally it took 3000 soul shards to get to this point. Now I think I'll have a transcendent devil on my hands. Heh I'll be one of the strongest awakened and soon one of the strongest masters. Gunlaug can suck it, getting a transcendent echo isn't that hard if you aren't a damn nerd.
Another strong wind hits me, making me fall and roll away. Well that was unpleasant to say the least. I stand up wiping myself off. I walk over to flame.
[Your ice shard has evolved]
Well isn't that something. Flames a lot a lot bigger. A transcendent devil, I have a transcendent devil suck on these. Wait I'll have to make a new set of armor. Considering the new spines, it being a lot bigger and all that.
I sit by a pond with a blanket wrapped around me. Its night and I'm just taking a small break.
"Well would you look at that. It's my friend so close to the ivory city as well"
I freeze slowly looking at the pond. On the surface is a man with a overly pleasant smile.
"Go die"
His grin widens, freaky expression he's got
"Oh you can speak now? Isn't that amazing"
I point to him
"I'll burry you. I will make a hole in the ground, put you in it and put the dirt back you fuck"
His smile shrinks a little before becoming even more wide
"Aren't you amusing"
I groan
"Next time I see you I promise to smash in your kneecaps"
I then dip my hand in the water shaking it around to get rid of him.
"Damnation!"
I flop back onto my back as i shake the water off.
I finally re-enter the sanctuary after a little more then two weeks. I see N he sees me and waves
"Oh ■■■■ my friend where have you been?"
I jog over to him
"My so called friends didn't think to tell me a ton of super important stuff and I got pissed so I went hunting"
He nods
"Thats makes sense they seem like... a unique bunch"
I laugh
"You don't know the half of it. I decided to come back because prince appeared with his annoying little stupid grin."
He blinks a few times
"Prince? I can't say I recognize that name"
I wave my hand
"The one who killed the one in the north"
His face changes
"Oh. Is that so."
I nod
"He had been tormenting me as a pet project while preparing to kill her."
He tilts his head
"Really? How did you survive him he was able to kill a immortal transcendent"
Oh does he not know?
"Its because how his power actually works. He can enter someone's soul through their eyes, he then gets into a soul battle with them using their own power, if he wins he takes over their body. My power counters itself very well making it a lot harder for him. Plus some odd stuff with my soul made it so he couldn't take over my body"
His face sours a bit
"Quite the morbid ability he's got."
I nod
"There are a few things to look out for. For one overly fluid movements. The second is just a me thing. Last is seemingly more skilled then normal"
He gets a questioning expression
"Overly fluid movements?"
I nod
"Normally people's movements are at least a little snappy. There's pauses in between movements with prince there is none."
I start trying to mimic the way prince moves, N puts one hand up
"I think i get it now, no need to continue"
He looks away
"I must say it looks... wrong. So i understand why you noticed such a thing"
I do a thumbs up, he glances at my hands a little confused.
"Oh wait did you end up eating the chocolate i gave you"
He lights up
"Yes I did and it was quite good. A shame you don't like sweets because it was lovely"
I nod
"Glad you liked it"
He then looks at me
"Sunless asked me a very odd question then ran off, do you know what that was about?"
I shrug
"Nope sorry N"
I look up at the floating ship. Isn't that the same one on shipwreck island? A shame its a nice ship, maybe i should learn how to make ships. Flame lowers closer to the ground and jumps landing on the ship rocking it a bit
"Oh dear! ■■■■ you did not inform me of... this"
I hop off of flame onto the deck of the ship. N is looking at me flame and me with quite a bit of surprise
"Oh this is flame, don't worry it's doesn't attack unless i tell it to"
For emphasis i pet flame it snorts and sits down. He slowly shakes his head
"I'll take it thats what was with that floating woman"
I nod
"I also have a spider but.... I have some mixed feelings on that one"
He nods
"It makes sense that you and sunless are from the same place"
He goes back to watering the tree as it sit on the edge of the ship.
Sunny finally appears with Kai and Effie.
"Well?"
Sunny looks quite sheepish
"I uh... I'm sorry for not telling you Caster was a assassin"
I finally get off of the railing
"Good. I'm only sorry for slapping you"
I walk away. To cassie, I nod to her and we walk over to N. He's watering the tree, he clearly cares for it. The rest walk over, sunny clears his throat and N doesn't notice. I snicker to myself then sunny growls, like animal. N physically flinches and looks at us
"Oh! You are finally here."
Sunny nods clearly annoyed
"We are. What did you want to talk about?"
N looks us all over
"Well... it's time for the four of you to go and retrieve the Ruby Knife. It is not too far from here, being kept by a friend of mine. The whole trip should not take you more than a couple of days."
Sunny slightly grimaces
"And what exactly do we need to do to get the knife from your... friend?"
I pipe up
"It won't be dangerous right?"
N seems confused
"Oh... nothing? Just go there and tell her to give you the knife. As long as at least one of you is pure... in heart and thought... she will."
Sunny clearly wants to ask more questions but decides against it, good
"And where does that friend of yours reside?"
N smiles making a map of the chain isles pointing to one island, isn't that the weird scary lake island I notice sunny pale, hes going to say something stupid!
I stomp on his foot to shut him up as I speak
"Isn't the being thar lives in the lake there very powerful?"
N nods very proudly
"Of course we are great friends, it shouldn't be any trouble to retrieve the Ruby knife"
I look at sunny who had moved away putting Effie between us.
"Fine. We will retrieve the Ruby Knife from your friend that lives in the lake. However... it would only be polite for you to return the favor and give us something in return, don't you think? To avoid putting a strain on our own friendship, you know..."
N pales a bit, Sunnys probably using his own tactics against him.
"Oh... yes, you are right, of course... huh... is there something particular you have in mind?"
Sunny takes out the anti-prince charm that master at the night temple had and hands it to him. N looks it over with a slowly dimming smile
"I want you to make something similar to this."
N looks up from it at sunny quite serious
"...Where did you get this?"
Sunny shrugs "Off an enemy's corpse. Well... more or less. Why?"
N studies it more then shakes his head
"I, uh... can't recreate this talisman. The sorcery used to enchant it is not something I have ever seen before. More than that, it was made for a reason that eludes me, and by someone far more powerful than I am. Which is a real feat, mind you, considering how mighty and talented I am! In any case, I can't do it. Think of something else."
I pipe up
"Its to keep prince from getting into your soul, so if i was to make a guess, it likely puts up some kind of barrier around the soul keeping things out"
N nods
"Unfortunately as I said I likely can not make something like this but I can try to recreate it with what I know"
Sunny sighs
"Alright then. We will discuss it after the Ruby Knife is in our hands."
N smiles
"Fine, fine... just don't let your imagination run too wild. I am but a humble sorcerer, you know, not an actual deity... I only look like one... ah, yes, my heavenly beauty is indeed divine..."
I dig in my satchel taking out some metal from a fallen devil
"Will this work?"
He looks it over
"I think it will."
I lay on top of flame, I look over with a snicker seeing Effie on top of sunny's shoulders. They start talking about prince.
"I'm going to smash his kneecaps next time I meet him." I throw my hands up into the air "with a metal pipe if I can" Effie laughs "thats the spirit, he feeds on fear, smash his kneecaps!" "Yeah!" Kai tries to smile but he seems more dumbfounded then anything else. Sunny still looks grim. He looks at the charm and hands it to kai. I go back to laying down. I decide to check the memory i got from velvet
Memory:[Eye of the dead]
Memory Description:[a simple scout of the north, when seeing the world in a perspective she could have never seen before unlocked a power she would not have before]
The memory is a monocle with a silver rim and a simple shiny silver chain. Its pretty darn fancy, I could see a court mage wearing looking all fancy.
Flame jumps up onto the lake island, I draw the island lazily while the cohort talks. I keep heat sense to myself, I am not risking nothing. Soon Sunny walks to the lake nervously
"Uh... I am here to retrieve the Ruby Knife. Please... give it to me?"
Nothing happens Effie laughs
"Oh... I guess you are not pure, Sunny... who would have thought!"
I snicker
"I guess it doesn't mean sex"
Sunny glares at me
"What I'm right"
Effie tries and fails. Kai doesn't even try and I don't either. Cassie finally walks to the lake
"I am here for the Ruby Knife."
Soon a white hand rises from the water offering the Ruby knife to cassie. I almost fall off of flame as it raises its head to look at the hand. Cassie steps back in horror but stops and walks forward taking the knife. Another black hair comes out of the lake and touches her face. Flame growls, the sound low and very threatening coming from a being as strong as flame.
We walk across the chain, I had pulled cassie up onto flame, she seemed scared. I don't blame her that looked quite terrifying.
"...How did you know that it will give the knife to Cassie?"
Kai glances over seeming to smile
"Pure heart, pure thoughts... all of us wondered what that means, right? Well... I think we all made a mistake, because it didn't really matter how we understood it. The only thing that mattered was how Noctis had understood it, centuries ago, when he entrusted the knife to the creature."
He goes silent thinking of what to say
"He gave the Ruby Knife away after finding out that Hope was driving the Chain Lords mad, fearing what he might do with it should the worst happen. So, to him, purity of heart and thought meant something very specific... the ability to remain of clear mind, true to his oath, and loyal to his sacred duty. And while none of us is perfect, Cassie is the most clear-headed and dutiful person I know."
I look out at the sky below
"...That was why Noctis had sent us to retrieve the knife instead of coming himself, I guess. Because he has gone mad, betrayed his oath, and abandoned his duty. And we... we are helping him walk even further on that path. Walk further into the madness, until he reaches its end..."
In the end, he is doing the opposite for us, he's pushing us to the end of this nightmare, to stay sane.