Chapter 68 - Desperation

Char Char was stunned as she looked at the crowd that had gathered around. After the old man’s declaration, the entire theatre fell silent as everyone looked expectantly up at her.

I’m here to save everyone? Char Char wondered, her mouth suddenly dry. How is that possible? I’m not anyone special...

She glanced at Sigmund, and then cleared her throat, “How many of you have seen this vision?”

At least a third of the group raised their hands. A voice called out, “Did Lord Noga send you to save us?”

Char Char shook her head as she said, “No, I’m just... I’m just trying to help out where I can.”

She was not too uncomfortable with being at the center of attention of the crowd. After all, she was often put into positions of leadership and performance in the elite schools that she attended. However, she didn’t know how she was supposed to help this many people, or what she was supposed to do.

As for how all these people suddenly had a vision of her and knew her name, she could only guess that it was due to the mysterious being that had warned her to stay away from the theatre.

Whoever you are that’s watching over me, please tell me what I need to do! Char Char thought as she looked out at the large group that were all looking to her for leadership.

~

Up in the white world, Yuzu’s strength was quickly fading.

She had done her best to set things in motion to get Char Char out of the theatre. Knowing how stubborn Char Char was to be a hero, Yuzu’s solution was to accelerate that process as much as she could. She passed the image of Char Char and the prophetic message to as many people throughout the area that she could. Each time Yuzu imparted the message, a few more strands would gather and link to Char Char’s, and she would leave the theatre just a little bit sooner.

This was because the faster that Char Char was able to gather the support and confidence of the crowd, the quicker they’d take action and follow her. In addition, Yuzu had to send the vision to a large number of the people in the theatre. If only a few people saw the vision, it would probably be dismissed by skepticism. However once enough people were affected, they’d be more inclined to believe that something truly spiritual was happening.

Now nearly all of the people in the area had gathered in the theatre and were preparing to leave for the banquet hall safe house. Over a hundred golden threads that would have died were now shining brightly and continuing on into the future.

Even Char Char’s thread also revived as well and left the area intact. Yuzu breathed a sigh of relief, feeling the strain of maintaining her presence in the white world starting to get to her. She felt like she was trying to hold onto the edge of a cliff with just the tips of her fingers. Every minute that she remained in this world drained her and gave her the sensation of being stretched out and twisted. Her spiritual intuition warned her to leave before she suffered damage from pushing her limits too far.

Now that Char Char’s fate was secured, Yuzu was ready to leave. However her eyes narrowed as she suddenly saw flecks of black bud on Char Char’s string.

Devileye Infection? Yuzu felt her heart tighten as she ‘fast forwarded’ to the future and saw that Char Char’s smoky thread became coated with a sticky substance before snapping at the end of the night.

At the same time Yuzu felt her strength give out as she plummeted down from where she was hovering in the sky. She hit the white ground hard, though she didn’t feel pain from the impact. Instead, she saw that her body was starting to break apart into threads. A section of her left arm unraveled violently into cords of white flesh and skin.

“No...! Not yet!” Yuzu grimaced, grasping onto Char Char’s thread. Yuzu instinctively knew that the longer she stayed in the white world, the greater the danger she’d be in. She could only save herself by returning to the physical world, but she couldn’t leave without saving her friend.

Yuzu raced through Char Char’s fate, watching her gather up the people in the theatre and organize them into groups. After recruiting leaders for each group she’d send people out towards the safe house, staying behind until the last group left.

This last group of thirty people was caught in a massive wave of demonic energy. It was the final attack of the monster that was causing the waves of corruption to sweep through the town. Most of the final group died in the chaos that erupted, with only a few people surviving and making it out, their threads turning black from infection.

Even just reading the thread of fate to this point had taken too long as Yuzu felt herself reach her breaking point. The visible radius of the white world began shrinking rapidly as her control over the space collapsed.

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In desperation, Yuzu reached out towards the silver thread of a policeman, wanting to yank it over to Char Char before it was too late. It would mess up the fates of many other people, but that didn’t matter to her right now. As Yuzu grasped the thread, it suddenly faded as the world came crashing down around her. Yuzu’s hand passed through the string without being able to alter its fate. Her left hand burst completely into ribbons as she lost her entire arm up to her shoulder.

“No!” Yuzu yelled, summoning the last of her strength. A wild gale rose up around her body as she heard the illusory sound of heavy clanking of steel chains holding back an immensely powerful being behind a giant metal door. Each time the entity slammed against the door it caused a spasm of pain to shoot through Yuzu’s body.

Only two non-golden strings remained in Yuzu’s vision in the crumbling white block around the theatre. They were pitch black. Although Yuzu had reservations about contacting these strings, she could feel that they, like the silver and white strings, belonged to people with Exalted powers. Out of options, Yuzu could only resort to sending a final, desperate plea to the black strings.

As soon as the message was sent, her strength gave out and the desaturated buildings and earth around her crumbled completely, sending her plummeting down to the depths of the white world. Yuzu found herself tumbling in a void as her body continued to unravel, spreading out in all directions in twisting braids of fleshy thread.

Below her, the crashing sounds of metal and chains sounded out from an unseen location. These were the same violent sounds that she had heard the first time she had fallen into the white world at the dinner party. She had also heard it when she entered the white world to save Char Char at the maiden’s shrine. The jarring sounds came closer and closer as she fell through the endlessly white space. She felt a tremendously ancient and malevolent aura coming from beyond the chained sealed door that was being pounded on from within.

Yuzu didn’t have the energy to cry out in fear, nor could she focus enough to take control of her spirit body and stop it from tearing apart. She could only tremble, eyes wide as her legs and arms and torso flew out into the void, leaving only her head suspended in the air as the thick white threads of her body whipped around in fury. Then her mouth, nose and scalp turned into thread and spun away, leaving only her eyes intact.

Is this how I die? Yuzu thought. Yet even as she thought this, her intuition told her the answer to her question was ‘no’. This thought anchored her as she became surprisingly calm, thinking with amusement how her ‘gut’ instinct now seemed to originate from a space far to her left and above her, where the string of her stomach was stretched out.

A thick white thread that both belonged to her and didn’t belong to her floated in front of her eyes, shining brightly. As it passed by a soothing warmth diffused into her eyes and mind, further calming her as her face began to reform. When her mouth took shape she craned her ‘neck’ forward and grasped the thread in her teeth as she started to slurp it up and pull it into her.

As Yuzu ingested the thread, her body began to reform bit by bit as the threads were pulled in by the warm energy and melded into normal flesh as she continued floating downwards. Her shoulders and chest formed, then her arms and hands. At this point she reached out with her hands and held the ornate chest that was floating at the end of the white thread. When she made contact with the chest, the thick white thread snapped off and fully merged into her body.

In her hands she could feel the chest throbbing and pulsing with life. The normal smoky white strands that extended out of it wrapped around her body in graceful, silky ribbons. Each time the chest pulsed, a wave of energy would flow through the ribbons into her body. It was a tingling, sharp sensation that shot through her limbs.

She felt that her blood was being pumped through her reformed body at an extremely high pressure, forcefully restructuring her blood vessels. The furious sensation was similar to the winds that had sliced at her and blasted her body away in threads. This time though, rather than feeling like she was being torn apart she felt like she was being purified.

Her body was whole once more as she finally landed gently on a cold stone platform. She wasn’t sure how far she had fallen in the white world to reach this point. She looked down at herself, breathing a sigh of relief as she felt that her body was back to its original form. However, even though the appearance was the same she felt like the composition was fundamentally different. Yuzu recalled what Argus had said about the spirit body being like a crystal.

But if my body is a crystal... then right now I feel like it is so close to shattering. Yuzu thought as she had a hard time even remaining standing. Her entire body ached and she felt like if she fell she’d break into a thousand pieces on the ground. The chest in her hands was the only thing that kept her up as she felt its energy pulse through her arms, granting her strength.

At present she opened her eyes and looked up. Directly in front of her was an incredibly tall door made of thick, black metal. It was supported by an arched frame made of massive white stone blocks that were engraved with thick three dimensional runes. Wrapped around the door and the frame were heavy black chains, each link as thick and tall as Yuzu herself.

The door rose up fifteen metres, nearly five stories tall, and was six metres wide. Its matte surface was rough and in its center was a giant glyph in the shape of a circle. Within the circle were numerous points that were connected with lines, forming abstract geometric shapes.

They’re just like constellations... Yuzu thought as she looked at the door. But the patterns formed by the ‘stars’ aren’t like any constellations I’ve ever seen...

Also... the banging against the door has stopped, though the evil aura is definitely emitting from beyond that door. Yuzu had the inexplicable feeling that she was being watched. There was no doubt in her mind that she had garnered the attention of the entity behind the door. Now that Yuzu had regained control of her body she desperately wanted to leave. Yet she couldn’t move her legs. Her entire body was paralyzed as she couldn’t help but look upon the door.

A deep, rumbling voice penetrated through the door, flooding Yuzu’s senses. It spoke in an ancient language that Yuzu somehow understood. The words stirred the energies of the world around her as they carried an immensely powerful weight.

“Open the door.”

Against her will, Yuzu’s legs began walking towards the giant door.

“N...no!” Yuzu only managed to whimper uselessly as she tried to resist.

An intense sensation of despair flooded through Yuzu as the constellations on the giant central glyph began lighting up one after another!