Aperio let the marble disappear into her Void. Given that the sphere still remained stubbornly invisible to her aura, she had wanted to place it next to her swordstaff so that she could find it, but that turned out to be unneeded. The remnants of Chellien's Soul shone brighter than anything else in her Void.
What? the All-Mother thought to herself, tilting her head. Her Void had not changed, and the remnants of Chellien's Soul also looked as they did before. Nothing seemed to be wrong, but she could now see the marble as clear as day with her aura
Not only did that not make any sense, it also came at a time where she did not really have time to give ither full attention. That was reserved for the Beastkin inside the faux dungeon crystal.
"I think your reform ideas might need to be expanded a little," Aperio said as she let more of her mana flow from her well into the physical realm. For one reason or another, the crystal would not accept it, and this was a safer solution than to remove all the mana that currently existed near it. Who knows what that would do.
"It would seem so," Moria replied, her voice barely a whisper. She tried to step closer to the crystal but an outstretched wing from Aperio blocked her path.
The All-Mother shook her head as the Beastkin looked at her. "While I removed the fog it spread, I am not sure if it truly cannot influence you like it did the first members of the guard we found."
"You don't know?" Neria asked. She had not moved from the spot where Aperio had placed her and her eyes darted from the All-Mother to the [Keeper of Voices] inside the crystal. "How can you not know?"
"I am not omniscient," Aperio replied with more than a little annoyance in her voice. "And neither do I try — or want — to be."
Neria's behaviour was another thing that did not seem to add up. At first, Aperio had thought she could understand the anger the Beastkin had felt. Learning that your mother lived countless lives — at least one of which was spent as a slave to one of the worst empires — would have made her angry as well. But now, she had seemingly forgotten how they had first met. That she had barely known anything about the world and had mistaken her for Moria.
She relayed as much to her love, asking Caethya to also keep an eye on her, while also trying to convey her concerns to Moria without giving her surrogate mother a headache. It did not quite work as she still wound up wincing, but at least she knew.
Now… what do I do? She could simply break the crystal, of course, but going by what had happened in the past when she did that, that might not be the best option. It might show her the memories of the keeper — which would be helpful — but it might also do something so unexpected she could not plan for it.
"You would not happen to know what this is supposed to be, would you?" Aperio asked, looking at Moria. "It looks and feels like a dungeon core, but that is not quite it." She paused for a moment, tilting her head. "It is also unlike the one Fel'Erreyth had embedded in his chest. Whatever he did is not something I have seen before."
There was an odd pleasure that came with the knowledge that what was before her was not something she knew about — a deep seated feeling of what Aperio could only describe as happiness at her lack of knowledge. A feeling that very much flew in the face of her previous instances of disgust at not having known something. But then, those were things I should know… She suppressed a sigh and silently wished that her feelings made a little more sense.
"I don't even know where to begin," Moria said as she looked past Aperio's wing at the crystal. "He had some stupid ideas, sure, but this? This is a bit much even for him." She paused for a moment, seemingly lost in thought. "Did the rest of the council approve of this?"
"How should I know?" Aperio gave Moria a quirk of her brow. She still let the information her aura provided enter her mind in an effort to find any members of the guard that might look like they belonged to a council. "I can sense a room of Beastkin wearing fancy robes and sitting on thrones," she continued, squinting slightly as she let her mana flow closer to the Beastkin in the room.
What she found was not what she had expected. They were alive, per se, but none of them seemed to be all there mentally. The darkness of the room did not bother them, and they neither moved nor breathed, but their Souls were still where they belonged and the mana in their bodies still flowed as it usually did. A small flex of her mental muscles commanded the System to give her all the information it had on them, and the request resulted in a display she had most definitely not expected.
They all shared the title [Body of the Guard] and had similar levels in the high nine-hundreds. What was more interesting, however, was the fact that they all stood up from their thrones and readied their weapons as if her act of using [Identify] was a threat to them. Well, that would be true normally… If a group of adventurers stumbled into that room, they would likely try to identify the Beastkin there too.
Another touch of her magic gave her another window that was much the same. The only real difference the [Keeper of Voices] had when compared to his seemingly mindless brethren was the fact that his title was no longer that of a Keeper but was now [Mind of the Guard]. That and his vastly higher level.
"A hivemind?" Aperio mumbled to herself, tilting her head and dismissing the System notifications. Are all dungeons structured like that?
"If he truly tried to become a dungeon, that would make sense," Caethya replied to the All-Mother's unintended question. "The core is usually the only thing with any intelligence in a dungeon. Some of the monsters get strong enough to develop on their own, but most of them are nothing but drones."
The temperature in the room dropped a few degrees as the All-Mother took a step towards the core. Most of the trepidation she had had about destroying it had beaten a hasty retreat as the implications of her love's words started to fully settle into Aperio's consciousness.
"So he wanted to become a dungeon to take full control of the guard?" Aperio asked in low tones. The slight dusting of fog that had, until now, still lingered near the crystal, was instantly dispersed through the mana in her voice. "Is this truly all mortals are capable of? Finding new ways to enslave one another?" Maybe starting over is the right choice.
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The motivations for staying and continuing to attempt to fix the current situation were quickly dwindling, only leaving her with a few — albeit drastically more important — reasons. This being Caethya's home was already enough for her to not start over, but it also made the fact that everyone was seemingly trying to rule over everything even worse.
"This is what most people in power have been taught," Caethya said, gently brushing her hand over Aperio's arm. "Most of these mortals were in contact with the Repens Nabu in one way or another. Having a literal God tell you that this is the way of the world would convince many." She eyed the mortal inside the crystal. "Especially if you already think of yourself as better."
"And all of that still does not help me decide what I should do with this" —Aperio gestured towards the crystal— "thing. It only makes me want to start over."
"Start over?" Neria asked, her ears twitching as she tried to make sense of the words. "Is this some sort of game for you?"
"A game?" Aperio tilted her head. "No, it is not. But if all the worlds only exist to torture the people that live on them, what is the point?" She stepped up to the crystal, carefully placing her hand on its surface. "I could just stop everyone, of course, but then I would be doing exactly what I had just stopped from happening, and I refuse to become like that.
"So what options do I have?" she asked as a tendril of her mana snaked its way through the inside of the crystal, towards the form of the [Keeper of Voices]. "Controlling people is out of the question, and killing them all would essentially be the same as starting over. It is only a matter of time until someone comes along and ruins it again."
A tiny flex of her mental muscles caused the tendril of mana to slither into the body of the Beastkin and, ultimately, towards his Soul. "I could just kill this one. Take his Soul and erase him. But what would that do?" She turned her head, looking at Neria. "You've already changed after having been here, you know. When we first met, you were very different." Aperio paused for a moment, letting go of the mana she had wrapped around the Soul of the [Keeper of Voices] and taking her hand off of the crystal. "But the same is true for me, I suppose."
When she had been in that village and had thought Neria was actually Moria, she had not even known what she was. What she could do. Standing in front of a Beastkin that was trying to turn himself into a dungeon was not something she would have ever considered possible, but now it did not even really phase her. All it did was make her question her past self's decision to not end all of existence; a thought that still came with shockingly little pain or grief. No matter what I do, it'll be the wrong decision.
"Can you get him out?" Moria asked, taking Aperio from her thoughts. "I don't care if it hurts him, I just need you to make him touch this." Her words were followed by a quick burst of her magic, causing a small bell to appear in her hand.
Aperio looked at the item, tilting her head at the magic that flowed through it. "Did I make that?" she asked, recognising the material as the same she used for her armour. Considering that it was mana given a solid form that she simply told to act like a metal, it was definitely not something that a mortal should be able to make.
"In a way," Moria replied with a smile. "I designed it and you made it. It is what gives the Keepers their authority over the guard." She paused for a moment. "It can also take titles away, and I hope it might undo… this."
The All-Mother gave a slow nod at the words. "If you think it might work," she said, thrusting her hand into the crystal without hesitation and breaking it. She grabbed hold of the Beastkin inside, the mana that angrily tried to enter her body immediately ceasing its attack as soon as it touched her own.
She threw the man to the ground while feeding him a steady flow of her magic that made sure his Soul did not leave and his body kept working. Aperio did not care if it caused him pain or not, as in her eyes he had already sealed his fate. Once Moria had done whatever it was she wanted to do, this Keeper would lose his lease on life and go on to the next. Hopefully one without this stupidity.
Aperio's desire to visit a world untouched by the Gods she had made grew with every stupid mistake she had to fix on Verenier; with every mistake her past self had made. There was still worry, of course. The untouched worlds might still be just like this one, filled with strife and hatred, but before she decided on anything she would have to make sure. That is why I did this to myself, after all.
A chime filled the chamber they were in and the bell in Moria's hand glowed brightly for a brief moment before another, much deeper sound seemingly echoed in reality itself. The Beastkin on the floor gasped and gripped at his heart but Moria stopped him, struggling for a moment before Aperio simply pressed the man's arms into the ground with a thought.
Watching the mana flow through his body and into his Soul was a peculiar sight, doubly so as it almost immediately left again to flow towards the bell. There was nothing particularly special about the mana itself, but the amount was substantially more than she thought a mortal of his level should have had.
"It seems like the first choice is usually the best," Aperio remarked as she briefly eyed the remains of the crystal. If Moria had not asked her to get him out, she would have probably chosen to erase the entire thing from existence to make sure nothing weird would happen. But, as it turned out, a dungeon core made by mortals only looked like the ones she made but did not do much else.
"And what do you intend to do now?" the All-Mother asked, tilting her head slightly as Moria conjured what seemed to be a stick with a wide base and attached it to the bottom of the bell, forming a makeshift chalice. "I doubt he will answer any questions, even if I get him to a state in which he could speak."
"He doesn't need to," Moria replied. "We will see what he did." She carefully placed the chalice she had assembled onto the floor, where lines of golden light slowly drew a pattern around it. "The [Keeper of Voices] is the living memory of the guard," she continued as she closed her eyes and began to draw symbols into the air. "And the [Grail of Passage] allows everyone to partake in the memory he is supposed to keep. A precaution we took so that no-one may use the lives of those that came before to their advantage."
"That failed," Caethya commented, her eyes fixed on the formation that was almost complete. "All he ever had to do was either replace you, or get you to leave."
"I know," Moria replied. "But I also could not risk coming back." She paused for a moment before letting out a sigh. "Perhaps I have grown naive, but I had thought him to be a better person than he was."
Aperio remained quiet at the exchange. The pattern Moria was drawing might look like nothing special to most anyone, but she recognised it with a faint sense of disquiet. Both the circle around the chalice and the square around her surrogate mother were the exact same ones the Inaru Empire had used in the ritual that had brought her back.
Before she could reflect further on the fact that the Empire she hated so much had used something that she had helped create to give her new life, Moria whispered a few words that Aperio did not recognise but nonetheless understood, their meaning perfectly clear despite the words making no sense.
Be the witness of truth?