Just as Alnea was about to open the doorway to the wild reaches of the Origin Sea, he heard a voice ring out inside of his head, in a way similar to how he normally heard Yuri’s voice. The voice, however, did not belong to Yuri. It was a deep, and heavy voice, addressing him in a rather cold, and distant way, that sounded a bit familiar to him, but he could recall where he had heard the voice. Still, even if he did not know who the voice belonged to, he could recognise the hint of respect contained within it, wrapped around in a layer of discontent, and anger.
“You have made me… us, wait too long.”
“Who are you?” Alnea said, giving up his attempt of opening the doors of his Domain, and looked around himself frantically. Yet, all he saw was a complete darkness, that surrounded him from all sides. “What are you doing in my Domain?”
“How can you be so stupid? Is it because you are still young? No, you are the Son of Chaos… At the very least, you should have some of her bearings…”
“I don’t know what you are talking about,” Alnea said. “I am not the Son of Chaos, or whoever that is. You have the wrong person. Get out from my Domain, and go look for your Son of Chaos elsewhere.”
“I wish I could do that, but I cannot,” the voice said. “I do not know why mother chose you, but since you have been determined as my master, then unless you die, I cannot leave you. And if you die, then… In any case, for better or worse, you are my master.”
“Master…”
‘My master… the man you have been searching for…’
Finally recalling where he had heard the voice before, Alnea lifted up his left hand, and looked at the ring on his Finger of Fate, the black half of the Rings of Fate, a Divine Treasure created by the Goddess of Fate herself.
“…I thought you were supposed to be sleeping.”
“So? If I sleep, does that mean that I cannot wake up? What kind of dumb thoughts do you have?”
“…From what I recall, you were not this rude when you were talking with Yuri. And she is not even your master.”
“Because she has proven herself to be worthy of that respect. You, on the other hand, have done nothing to earn my respect. If you wish for me to give you respect, then prove it to me with your actions.”
“…I will not lower myself to argue with a ring,” Alnea said. “You have been sleeping for months. For more than a year if you count the time before Yuri met with me. Yet you woke up as soon as I entered my Domain… Is there something that you want to tell me? Or have I fulfilled some condition of the ring to unlock its next function?”
“…You are not completely hopeless,” the ring said. “Since both you, and the human girl have begun Wandering the Origin Sea, then it means that the final binding procedure of the rings have been completed. Now, as long as you feed me, and my sister with Oren, we will gradually wake up from our sleep.”
“But you have already woken up—
“This is just temporary… I am using the last reserves of my energy to talk with you. Soon, I will be going back to sleep. Only when both, me and my sister have enough energy will we wake up. Remember to tell that to the human girl.”
“You need Oren too? I thought you were a Divine Treasure…”
“Do Divine Treasure work on air then?”
“But the Threads of Fate, and the Turns of Fate…”
“You can indeed use those functions without using Oren, but those are extreme examples. While one of those functions brings more harm than gain, the other one works more as a passive skill. They do not count.”
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
“As I thought, there are indeed more functions… But why have we not been able to activate your other functions?”
“There are two reasons,” the ring said. “Before your Spirit Power reached the False Rank, and you came here, to the Origin Sea, our bond was not complete. And neither you, nor the girl has been feeding us with Oren. If you want to unlock more of our functions, then you must feed us with Oren. As long as you can wake us up… we will naturally reveal our functions to you in time.”
“Like?”
“…You will know when you will wake us up.”
“But you are awake right now. Doesn’t this count?”
“…Everything comes at a price. If you want something, then you must pay for it. That is how your Roots work… That is how the Origin Sea itself works. If you wish to gain more powers from us, then you must pay an appropriate price first. Are you sure that you want to pay that price in ways other than Oren?”
“…I think I will pass for now,” Alnea said. “So, is that it? You woke up just to remind me to feed you with Oren?”
“…I hope that mother’s choice was right.”
“Your mother… the Goddess of Fate? What choice did she make?”
“That is not of your concern… At least, not at the moment. I am going to sleep now. Remember to wake us up, Son of Chaos.”
“…What is this Son of Chaos that you are calling me?”
“Chaos, his mother reigns… Chaos, he will reign.”
“The warnings of the Goddess… what does that mean?”
“You will know when the time comes… Be careful, Son of Chaos… beware of fate… beware of the Origin Sea…”
“What do you mean by that? Beware of what? Of the attacks, and temptations of the Origin Sea?” Alnea asked, but the ring refused to respond. Or rather, it could not respond. As it had said, it had already fallen asleep. Shaking his head with a sigh, he shoved the words of the ring to back of his Heart. He felt as if what the ring had said may have been important, but he did not have time to dwell upon it. He still had to Wander the Origin Sea.
Making a mental note to remind Yuri about feeding Oren to her ring, Alnea resumed what he had been doing before the ring had interrupted him, reaching out to blank emptiness of his Domain. Not on a physical level, but more on a metaphorical, and an intangible level. On a plane where only his will, and thoughts existed. Where the Mysteries of the Origin existed. And where the door to the Origin Sea existed.
Reaching out to that door with his thought, Alnea gave it a tug, and brought it into the material plan of existence. Almost immediately, the emptiness of his Domain began shifting, and rippling like the waves on the surface of water bodies, as a bright golden light—which even the darkness of his Domain could not drown— burst forth in front of him, taking mere moments to coalesce into the form of a large ring, roughly twice his height.
Still, even though his Domain was not able to drown out the light, it did not let the light escape into his surrounding blank space either, pushing the glow of the ring within the ring itself, forcing it change from a ring to disc. But that was alright. That was how it was supposed to happen. After all, it was the disc itself which was the door to the wild reaches of the Origin Sea. But the door was not open. Not yet.
So, Alnea drifted forward, and reached towards the disc, this time, physically. And right at the moment when he touched the disc, pushing it lightly with his hands, the golden disc collapsed on itself, leaving a gaping wide hole in the dark emptiness of his Domain. A hole, which led to a world of bright, and colourful lights. It drained a few units of his Spirit Power, but the door to the wild reaches of the Origin Sea was finally open.
“…I am going into the Origin Sea,” Alnea said through the rings.
“…Be careful,” Yuri replied. “Your Heart is just in the Serene State, so I would not be talking with you to distract you, but if something happens, then inform me immediately. Do you get it?”
“…Something has already happened, but it is not about my Wandering, or the Origin Sea. It is about our rings.”
“…What is it?”
“Don’t worry, it is good news. I will tell you after I return from Wandering.”
“…You still have not answered me. You have to inform if something happens. Do you get it?”
“Yes, yes, I get it,” Alnea said with a chuckle. “Tell master not to worry.”
“…Do you think that she will stop worrying just because you asked her not to?”
“…Just do it.”
“Okay.”
“I will be entering the Origin Sea now…”
“May Goddess Ilea’s blessing be with you, Alnea… May you return safely.”