“Ruler Aiden Pearce,” Arkayan greeted with a wave, smiling widely at Blizzy and Leyla, “for what do we owe the honor?”

James sat beside the Shadowborn Royal, legs criss-crossed with his palms flat against his thighs. A small stormcloud regularly rained lightning bolts down upon him that his body absorbed.

Blizzy got to hopping up and snapping her maw at the bolts, missing each and every one. That didn't stop her.

Ignoring the two, Aiden pulled out the Formation System. “This.”

Arkayan nodded knowingly. “Looking to ascend to a higher rank, are we?”

“Yes. You seem to know something about it. Can you help?”

“He can,” Leyla said, smiling at the Shadowborn Royal. “In many ways.”

They both turn to her, Aiden with curiosity and Arkayan with amusement.

“This is true, Ruler Aiden Pearce. I am aware of your struggles. I have answers that may enlighten you and steer you down a new path.” Arkayan sat beside James and patted the ground in front of him. “Please join me so we may discuss.”

Aiden sat where indicated, and Leyla promptly sat in his lap.

“Before we discuss the capacity of growth the Formation System may allow you to reach, we must first address what your Soul Entwined has mentioned,” the Shadowborn Royal said with a wry smile. “The prophecy tied to you both isn't what you believe it to be.”

For a moment, Aiden felt like James as electricity buzzed down his spine. “What do you mean?”

“What you know of the prophecy is a lie. Unfortunately, I cannot divulge the specifics.”

A translucent dome of shadows appeared around him a fraction of a second before Leyla's scythe could harm him. No matter how much she swung, the scythe wouldn't pierce the barrier.

Aiden grabbed her before she manifested the Vorpal Blade. “Let's hear him out. He must have his reasons, and I'm not sure if anybody else can help us.”

“Fine!” She huffed, throwing herself back into his lap where she curled up with her arms crossed.

Once he was sure Aiden had Leyla calmed, the shadow dome fell. “I do apologize. I understand how frustrating it may be, but I've said all I can. Just know your fates are not bound in tragedy as you've been led to believe.”

“That's reassuring,” Aiden muttered, uncertain whether to believe the Shadowborn Royal or whether to press for more… even if force might be involved. He'd wait and see, prolong judgment until absolutely necessary.

Arkayan held up a second finger. “Next is that miserable Patron you've bound yourself to. I smell her scent upon your soul and will guide you on how to separate her influence.”

The hostility in Arkayan’s voice and clear aggression in his eyes spoke volumes. “What has Khione done to make you so angry with her?”

“Don't speak that witch's blasted name!” Arkayan hissed, shoulders heaving heavily. “To my kind, she is like what your people refer to as the devil. The penultimate being of scorn and villainy. Even being near you with such trace presence makes every part of my being wish to rage against your claim to Midrath’s Authority.”

“Easy now.” Aiden held up both hands in a passive gesture to try to calm the Shadowborn Royal. Once Arkayan stilled and calm returned over him, Aiden curiously regarded him. “What has she done to you and your people?”

“The only path out of the Upper Realm is through the domain of my creator. The Greater Paragon of Ice and Nymphs predates the epoch and has intimate knowledge of the Void. She was the one who enslaved my people and is a being feared by all of the Upper Realm.”

“I never knew…”

“What has been stolen from her, what you've surely been sent to retrieve from the depths of the gods’ cumulative efforts, is her memories.” He sighed. “She's docile now, but were you to succeed in your quest, all prophecies would be irrelevant. In her lunacy to find The One of Truth, she would shatter all realms to incite the primordials’ ire.”

An uneasy weight heavily descended upon Aiden as he realized the depths he'd gotten himself into. With a great wariness, he met Arkayan’s forlorn gaze. “So what do I do?”

“One step at a time.” The Shadowborn's eyes regarded him for a drawn out moment of silence, and Aiden felt his entire being open up before that gaze and stopped Midrath’s Authority from rebuffing the inspection. When finished, Arkayan sighed. “There is much to do and little time.” He pointed at Leyla. “She must join you in each step of the process, as your souls are interlinked as one. The changes you need to achieve will occur only with the active participation of both halves of the whole.”

Looking down at Leyla in his lap, she looked back up at him and shrugged. “Doesn’t bother me any. If it means we get stronger and I get to spend more time with you, why should I care what we’re doing?”

“You heard it,” Aiden said to Arkayan, nodding. “Now tell us what’s involved. What all must we do?”

The Shadowborn Royal reached forward and placed a forefinger on both Aiden and Leyla’s foreheads, and they were all suddenly standing in a very familiar place—Aiden’s Orrery. He hadn’t been here in a long time, and immediately, he noticed great changes.

What once was a simple array with the Central Node Assembly connecting to all the other attributes, Aiden now witnessed what looked like an endless starry sky. At the center, there was still a container of the countless Essence Orbs and Cores he’d collected and been unable to utilize on anything as he was.

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He’d long since given up on absorbing more, finding feeding them to Blizzy or Silver or investing them into Zion to be a far more efficient use. Hopefully that would change in the near future with Arkayan’s assistance.

“Wow.” Leyla lifted Aiden’s gaping jaw closed, and he looked between the two of them. “Magic is strange.”

“You don’t even know the half of it,” she teased, thumbing toward Arkayan.

The Shadowborn patiently waited for Aiden to stop gaping at the vast changes. The thing that stood out to him the most was… Leyla. Her presence had seeped into everything, inseparable. The second thing that stood out to him was… Khione, equally inseparable after he’d integrated her Greater Path.

“You’ve recognized the inherent issue you face,” Arkayan noted, nodding at the ephemeral traces of chill overwhelming the rest of his power.

If Aiden had to guess, what made up him was now eighty percent Khione, ten percent him, and ten percent Leyla. “That’s not good.”

“This is part of why fixing this issue will require both of your efforts.” Arkayan waved a hand, and everything in the starry expanse shrank into something Aiden could comprehend. Again, the Shadowborn waved, and again, the Orrery obeyed.

A large clump of something formed and began splitting into two distinct energy bodies, distinctly humanoid in shape.

Stepping closer to observe, Aiden understood what he looked at and sighed. “What a mess.”

“It’s a curiosity that you’ve made it this far,” Arkayan said with a half smirk. He pointed at the silhouette of blue, green, and white. “This will sting.”

“Wai—Argh!” Aiden’s soulform barely held its form as he fell to his knees and doubled over, the fabric of his being screaming for him to fix whatever Arkayan had just done.

His lovely Fallen didn’t stay passive and lunged for the Shadowborn, but with a casual flick of his wrist, she was easily subdued. “I understand the pain is terrible, but it must be endured. The first step to solving your problem is to remove the hold the Great Paragon has over you, or else all of this will be for naught.”

“Just… do it!” Aiden growled through clenched teeth. He fell to his side and watched as Arkayan continued working through blurred vision and existential pain unlike any he’d ever faced before. He didn’t even have the luxury of passing out in this form.

As Arkayan worked, he kept Leyla subdued. She groaned in discomfort as the parts of Khione’s Path were also removed from her. Despite knowing it was for their own good, she continued to struggle against Arkayan’s binding and gnashed her teeth, cursing the Shadowborn Royal in all kinds of creative ways Aiden couldn’t appreciate over the intense humming of his soul being sundered.

Time passed far too slow yet merged into a single instant, done and gone. As fast as the soul-rending pain had come, it faded. Aiden sighed in relief and remained where he lay, blinking away the pain and clenching his teeth at the ghost pain spasming through his body.

However, looking at Arkayan’s weary appearance, Aiden knew the time spent in his Orrery hadn’t been small, not that any time would pass for Midrath. Strange magic, indeed, but it worked to their benefit.

Now finished, Arkayan released Leyla. She ignored the Shadowborn and rushed over to Aiden, kneeling at his side. She half-grimaced, half-smirked. “That looked like it sucked pretty bad.”

Tiredly, Aiden nodded and rose to a sitting position. Pressure built behind his eyes that he rubbed at, but no amount of trying made it less of a nag. Sighing, he looked at the results of Arkayan’s work.

Sure enough, the links from Khione’s Greater Path had been forcefully removed from his soul and were now contained by a strange shadow shackle.

“It’s so she isn’t aware of what you’ve done,” Arkayan supplied, still catching his breath. He weakly pointed to the rest of the silhouette. “Everything else is how it should be, attached to your own two Paths.”

“Thanks, I guess.” After all the pain he’d just experienced, Aiden didn’t feel very thankful, but this was the first step along a long path he’d chosen to walk. Not much he could do for having to pay a bit of the price to get what he wanted. Was that not what he’d always done anyway? “Now what?”

The Shadowborn clapped, dissipating the Orrery. The first thing Aiden did when time resumed was rub his eyes, sighing as the relief of the built up pressure washed over him.

Leyla, however, lurched forward, her scythe pointed at Arkayan. “Maybe a warning next time?”

“There will be no next time.” A single finger pushed the scythe away from him. “As I said before, that was the first step.” He gestured toward Aiden. “I’m sure a great weakness is befalling you as we speak, but this is a great opportunity.”

“I can’t see how losing power is a good thing,” Leyla muttered, looking at Aiden with confusion. “Can’t say I’ve ever heard of this lunatic’s methods before.”

“I’m willing to hear him out. He did just take care of a big issue for us. Even if we weren’t to get any more help from him, he’s already done a lot for us.” Not having to worry about Khione retrieving her Greater Path if he were to fail her quest was a big relief and let him breathe just a bit easier. However, if her strength was as almighty as Arkayan made it out to be, he doubted things would end there. “Now that her Path has been isolated, will we be using the Formation System now?”

“Learn to walk before running, Ruler Aiden Pearce. You have become weaker than you were before, but you weren’t using your powers to their full capacity in the first place. Rather than accumulate more power, you must train with what you have now. Only then will more power be necessary.” Arkayan held up a finger before either Aiden or Leyla could retort. “And your soul needs to recover. If you do not properly rest, you will bring about your own downfall.”

Aiden ran a hand through his hair, sighing. He looked over at James, who had still not moved in the time they’d been causing a ruckus. The stormcloud still did its thing, shocking him in no discernible rhythm.

The Shadowborn looked between James and Aiden. “What he is doing, so shall you both.”

“What does that mean?” Leyla asked.

“I kind of get it,” Aiden said, noting how the color of the blue lightning bolts had slowly shifted to a blue-violet, getting darker and darker as he continued. “He’s training his Lightning Discipline by reinforcing it with stronger types. But how does this work? Is that not his own lightning he’s using?”

“His process is based on special circumstances and is not for either of you.”

Aiden almost asked what these special circumstances were but kept his curiosity to himself.

“Do you always talk in cryptic code?” Leyla grumbled.

Arkayan ignored her entirely and pointed at Aiden. “You wish to pursue Blizzard Mastery, correct?”

Aiden didn’t think he’d ever told anybody his magical aspirations, but considering how much knowledge Arkayan seemed to have, he wasn’t surprised and simply nodded.

“Your first session of training will be to meet up with this realm’s guardian and have her guide you. That’s all I can help you with for now until you coalesce your Disciplines.”

“But weren’t you just talking about how I don’t need more power and need to practice with what I have?” Aiden ran a hand through his hair, agreeing with Leyla’s frustration with Arkayan.

The Shadowborn nodded. “I'm sure you think merging your Disciplines would be an increase in power, and it eventually will be. But what you trade for in potential, you sacrifice in versatility and your current raw power.”

Aiden waved a hand, raising the Formation System. “I’ll worry about all of that later. What matters to me more is this.”

Pursing his lips, Arkayan nodded. “So be it. Then let’s get started.”

Faster than Aiden could process, the Shadowborn Royal ripped the Formation System from Aiden’s hand and embedded his arm up to his elbow inside Aiden’s chest.