-Chapter Twenty-Seven-
Maiden’s Promise - Part Two
“Jessieeeee! My sweet darling!”
A cry echoed out the camp as the short, round and bald Lord Daniesvich came bounding out from the central tent.
Still covered in soot and her clothes stained black with dirt, Jessica was tackled by her father into a heartfelt embrace, with no regard for his white blouson.
“Papa was so worried,” he cried with snot falling down his nose.
Aelius observed for only a moment, noting that Jessica was surprisingly calm. He would’ve expected a spoiled Noble who never held a sword before to break down after what she just experienced, but she was relatively unfazed.
“Mmhmm… Dad… I’m so sorry I frightened you.”
As they pulled apart, Jessica gestured to Aelius.
“But I wasn’t in any danger, thankfully. Lius perfectly made sure I was safe. They didn’t even have the chance of putting a blade to my neck.”
“Oh, Lius! My good boy!” Mr Daniesvich stepped forward and noticed Saki in his arms. “Ah… I’ll shake your hand later. Is this another rescuee?” he asked, glancing at her.
She shrunk under their gazes, her face heating up and she hid up against Lius’ shoulder.
“For now, can you have someone fetch some clothes for her? I’m gonna freshen up,” he said to his employer.
“It will be done immediately!” The man opposite declared. “ I’m sure you’re busy and need to rest. Later on, come to my tent when you’re free!” Mr Daniesvich ordered with a wave of his hand and stormed off back to the central tent, on a mission, pulling Jessica in tow.
Aelius gave a heavy sigh at the high-energy interaction, and his ears perked up as he heard footsteps approach him before looking up to see Lia and Aria.
“Welcome back,” Aria greeted him and gestured to their tent. “For now, do you want to take a bath?” At her words, Lia also quickly eyed Aelius up and down, covered in dried blood.
“Yeah. Would be nice.”
—-----------------------
As Aelius set Saki down on a chair, he briefly tapped her leg, causing her to flinch.
“A-Aelius?” she exclaimed.
“Are you still unable to walk?” he asked.
“I think it might take a few days, but I can try,” she answered softspokenly.
“Okay well, until then, I’ll help you move around. Wait here for a little bit, I’m gonna go outside to wash up,” Aelius told her.
“...Okay,” Saki looked over at Aria and Lia nervously.
“Aria, come with me,” Aelius called out his shoulder as he slipped out the tent and she quickly followed with a short sigh, leaving Lia and Saki alone in the tent gazing at each other.
With Aelius and Aria gone, silence rang on for half a minute as the two girls nervously eyed each other, until Lia finally spoke.
“Would you like some water?”
—-----------------------
“So, another maiden?” Aria mockingly asked as Aelius took his shirt off in the garden.
“Jealous?” Aelius asked without falling for her haughty provocation, and she huffed, summoning a Hydro spell to blast him.
Ever since I’ve returned, Aria has been far easier to read and understand. I guess my anxiety did exaggerate the truth a little bit. She’s really just a normal teenage girl right now. Intelligent, but still inexperienced, he thought to himself with a sigh, recalling the Demoness-like Aria from his memories.
“I wanna know the deal with that kid, Damien,” Aelius asked as scrubbed his skin with a soap bar and the dried blood covering him slowly began to wash out.
“He’s being held by some of the Mercenaries near the main tent right now, on account of my testimony.”
“The old man actually locked up his own kid? I was worried we’d have to fight them both.”
“Well…” Aria rolled her eyes. “He confessed.”
“What? Why?” Aelius asked with an eyebrow.
“Basically… to recount…”
—-----------------------
After Lius disappeared back into the trees, the Daniesvich Lord anxiously began to pace back and forth.
His contemplation was interrupted however, by his son angrily calling for help, who was still on the ground, clutching his chin in pain from where Lius had kicked him.
Whenever he tried to stand back up or scuttle away, the Mercenaries blocked his way.
Finally, the Daniesvich Lord snapped back to reality, and spun around to storm up to Aria.
“You’re saying my rascal son is the cause of my daughter being abducted!?” he angrily asked the teenage girl, who remained unfazed in the face of such intimidation, holding her staff close to her chest.
“I saw him throw the smoke bomb.”
“I didn’t know it was a smoke bomb!” Damien interjected. “And I didn’t know Jess would get abducted! None of this is my fault!” he shouted angrily when the Lord angrily turned around to him.
“So you did throw the smoke bomb?” he asked.
“I didn’t know it was a smoke bomb,” the second-born insisted.
“Then what did you think it was, when you threw it? It didn’t look like an accident, you clearly threw it at Lius intentionally!” Aria accused him with fury in her gaze, but at her anger, his nostrils flared back.
“You lowly wench! It’s all because of you! You’re the reason my sister was taken by those bastards!” he pointed an accusing finger at Aria.
“Me?” Aria asked, offence in her tone.
“Oh? And why is it Ria’s blame?” the Lord asked, unconvinced, towering over his son.
“T-that’s… they promised I could get her! If it wasn’t for her, I would’ve never agreed!” Damien pleaded with a cry to his father. “You don’t understand, father! How dare a mere lowly commoner reject me? Out of you all, I’m the only one who knows her real name, and have seen her face! Does that not mean something?”
“Because you were tailing me, you creep!” Aria shouted back, flabbergasted.
“Hold on, hold on,” the Lord raised a hand. “What did you agree to?”
“W-well…” The fear of realisation settled into his eyes and his gaze darted from face to face of the people encircling him.
“What did you agree to, Damien?” the Lord asked with a frightening growl.
“They said all I had to do was throw that ball at that lowly bastard, and Aria would be mine! Haha-” the dirt next to him exploded, and everyone’s head whipped to Lia, standing beside Aria, a purple ball floating in her palm.
“Stop saying her name so casually with your filthy mouth! She deserves the respect of going by her chosen Mercenary name!” she snapped at him in anger.
“You too!” Damien exclaimed with his tongue sticking out. “I saw your face~” he taunted. “Both of you are quite beauties under there. You should rejoice! A great man like myself is offering you a place at my side. No woman has dared to reject me before. It’s not too late to come over instead of sticking by that fool.”
Lia seemed to snap, spinning around and stomping away.
“I can’t handle this! I’m gonna kill somebody!” she angrily shouted as she disappeared into their party's tent, leaving Aria and the rest of the Mercenaries with Damien and his father.
“Hah…” The Lord sighed and turned to Aria, before bowing his head. “I’m deeply sorry. I spoiled my son too much in raising him, because I grew up in poverty and didn’t want him to experience the same hardships. I never knew how bad he had strayed off the path until now. I’ll make sure your name remains unspoken and he does not leak any details of your identity out, since you are young and successful Mercenaries. I’m certain there was a good reason you kept your identity secret.”
“If Lius knew he saw my face, who knew what’d he do. My Lius is not only very possessive, but also very powerful. For your son’s sake, I’d make him forget what he saw when he decided to tail me, and count his blessings he didn’t see anything more compromising than just my face.”
Aria turned a golden glare on the Mercenaries around her.
“You can all attest to how crazy Lius is, right?”
The three captains shivered and nodded, before Aria nodded firmly and turned away. “
As long as your daughter is still alive by the time Lius catches up to them, she’ll return alive. I just hope the worst doesn’t happen.”
—-----------------------
“Wow,” Aelius remarked at the recollection, throwing on a clean shirt.
“That little bastard… even saw your face. When did he have the chance to…”
The realisation that Aria cried the previous night clicked in Aelius’ mind and he sighed.
Guiltily, Aria averted her eyes away from him.
“I-I… I thought I had some privacy-”
Aelius sighed heavily.
“I won’t be careless again so please don’t-” Aria fell quiet as Aelius raised a hand up.
“No need to apologise,” he shook his head. “It was my bad. I don’t intend to blame you for any of this.”
He saw her expression weaken before she softly nodded, looking away.
“If anything, I’m sorry,” Aelius continued.
“Yes, but I’m also sorry. I was careless,” the girl opposite him accepted his words.
Without another word between them, Aria turned away and returned to the camp, leaving Aelius watching her from behind with a small sigh.
Everyday, my doubts grow. If she really is acting, could someone really go this far? I know Aria has incredible abilities in manipulation, but for some reason, I just can’t find myself thinking it’s all a facade anymore.
He looked back up to the sky, squinting his eyes at the sun overhead.
Either I really am wrong, or Aria’s spell is finally taking effect on me.
He sharply inhaled.
I really hope it’s not the second possibility, but if it were in my last life, I would’ve never left something uncertain untouched.
Finally shaking his head, his thoughts leading him nowhere, he returned to the tent.
—-----------------------
Upon slipping back in, he found the Daniesvich Lord had done as he asked and delivered Saki some nice clothes.
She sat at the chair he had rested her at, wearing a beige and green one-piece dress with a robe over it.
As soon as he entered and stared at her, she blushed and dropped her gaze to the ground, fidgeting with her fingers.
“These two are thousands of years younger than you and still have more gall,” Aelius remarked with a chuckle as he sat down on one of the other makeshift chairs and took his mask off.
“Hmph,” Aria, upon seeing Aelius reveal his face, also took her mask off and crossed her arms.
“Where did you find this timid creature anyways?” she asked.
Finally, Lia did the same, sitting cross-legged on the ground watching them.
“W-well… yes, everyone has always told me I’m timid,” she shyly answered, flinching under Aria’s glare.
“Aria,” Aelius began. “Do your eyes work on her?”
“Yes, to some degree. But it’s different to normal. Like I’m trying to look underwater. Some sort of barrier?” Aria wondered.
“So the God-eyes are really just human embellishment,” Aelius chuckled. “Well, no matter,” he dismissed as Aria looked at him angrily.
“It’s not like I was the one who named them the God-eyes,” she clicked her tongue.
“Yes, yes,” Aelius waved his hand at her. “Take a seat somewhere.”
“There’s no chairs,” Aria pouted.
“Look at Lia,” Aelius gestured to her. “Such a fine example and role model you should learn from.”
“Are you really the type of man to tell your women to sit on the dirty ground?” Aria asked with a narrowed gaze.
“Aha… well…” Aelius wryly scratched the back of his head. “It’s just because of the circumstances. There’ll be times where we’ll have to sleep in the wilderness. I hope your ladyhood is not intimidated by such a thought,” he jested before suddenly wincing when Aria jumped up and landed on his lap, almost knocking them both over.
“Jesus!” Aelius exclaimed, having not seen it coming as the warm ball that was Aria weighed down on him, her back up against his chest.
“I don’t see a need to sit down on the ground when I have a chair right here.”
She turned her nose upward.
Lia and Saki both watched on with wide eyes as the couple continued to quarrel.
“Please… get off,” Aelius asked with a groan, suppressing his frustration. “I can’t make eye contact with Saki like this.”
At his words, Aria shuffled onto an angle, resting up against Aelius’ shoulder, and lifting her legs to sit them across his knees.
“There. Now you can make eye contact with her, hmph.”
Aria crossed her arms.
Aelius pursed his lips, glaring at her for a moment but decided not to argue further.
Shaking his head, he gave a deep sigh.
“What will I ever do with you, Aria?”
She refused to respond any further, angrily glaring to the wall instead.
Ignoring her as well, Aelius turned his eyes onto Saki and the atmosphere in the room changed.
His breathing calm and his eyes almost narrowed, the boy before Saki was now sitting before her as though he were assessing his prey.
“So, Saki,” Aelius took a breath and focused his gaze, having dismissed Aria’s antics.
“Y-yes,” Saki sat up attentively.
“I have mainly two questions for you. Firstly, you said I have a talent for Realisation and you could teach me Awakening Arts. What do you mean by that? What is Realisation, and what exactly are Awakening Arts?”
At his question, he saw Saki’s brain enter thinking-mode.
“Yes, well, Realisation,” she cleared her throat.
“Realisation is the term we use to describe the application of Awakening Arts, and you have a talent for it,” she began to explain.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
“Why do you think that? Are you able to tell just by looking at me?” he asked.
“That, as well as some other indications. It’s because of your Spiritual Contract. Spirits are a vast, but niche corner of Realisation. Realisation comes in two main categories; Manifestation and Authority. Spirits are under the Manifestation branch. Like the name implies, Manifestation refers to instigating paracausal changes in the reality around you, in other words, conjuring. Authority refers to using that same power of Awakening Arts, but in a different way where you exert influence over what is already in this reality, as opposed to manifesting something in this reality. Both have similar end results but the application is different, and in certain cases, have different practical uses,” she explained with a finger in the air, excitement almost taking over her.
“I see,” Aelius thought aloud with a narrowed gaze. “And so what exactly is this power of Awakening Arts?”
“To put it simply, it is the power of the mind. It is an Art that runs parallel to Soul Arts, but where Soul Arts use Soul power, Awakening Arts rely on the power of your mind, your Spiritual energy.”
“Right, and through using that so-called power of mind, a person can achieve Realisation, in whatever form, Manifestation or Authority,” Aelius concluded.
“This is the first time I’ve heard of Spiritual energy or power of the mind, though. In this time and age, everyone only uses Mana.”
“Yes…” Saki looked around her with glowing pink eyes. “I’m very inexperienced with something like Mana, but the two powers have similar applications. It’s just their origins appear to be different. Mana appears to be energy that you harness from the atmosphere, whereas mind power of course, comes from within oneself as opposed to from without oneself. It’s just another form of power though, similar to the power of life force, Soul power, and many other forms of power.”
Saki turned her eyes onto Lia.
“This girl appears to have been blessed with the power of the Heavens.”
Aelius looked to Lia, who nervously looked back to Aelius.
“What is that supposed to mean?” she hesitantly asked.
“The Heavens is another way of referring to the Universe at large. It doesn’t exactly have its own will, nor is it conscious, but it is an entity that is alive. However, it functions more like a subconscious, or an animal on instinct, rather than an intelligent organism,” Saki explained.
“Right! Sorry, I forgot about the original question. Yes, where Mana focuses on manipulation over the elements, or conjuring the elements, like fire or water, since that is its origin, Awakening Arts instead focuses on penetrating the laws governing the world. Things like space, time, or other natural phenomena, are all bent in an unnatural way to achieve certain results. Both Mana and Awakening Arts sit under the branch of a higher power - that is the power of law. For example, any fire in this world is governed by the law of fire. A person who comprehends the law of fire can both control and conjure fire. But that’s where Awakening Arts become incredibly revolutionary. Manifestation and Authority will allow both creation and control over something like fire, ultimately achieving the same result. The only shortfall is if you meet someone with the law of fire, their influence will defeat your Authority. At least, until your Authority becomes the law of fire.”
As she fell silent, Aelius stared at her blankly for a long moment, until he frowned.
“If Realisation can also manipulate fire, what is it that’s happening when it comes to something like this?” Aelius asked, raising his hand and summoning a small flame in his palm, a fire birthed from Mana. He saw Saki squint at the ball for a moment before she looked back into his eyes and answered.
“That is a flame born from Mana. A flame born from Manifestation will function completely differently to an element sustained by Mana. That flame currently is defying this world’s principles, through Mana. It was created without a spark, without a gas, and without all of the other things fire requires. What form it takes or how destructive it is will all depend on the Mana that is funnelled into it. Manifestation is different. Manifestation is fueled by Spiritual energy, yes, and that also acts as a limit like Mana does, but the fundamental difference is that your imagery is what becomes pivotal. It’s similar to Spiritualism- well actually, it’s the complete same. Control and technique, or rather, the limits of your imagination, act as an important factor. So, even with half the Spiritual energy than Mana you have, you could create a flame double the size, double the strength, or in any way you want, so long as you can imagine it correctly. After all, that is the role of the mind. To create something in a mental landscape. Manifestation only translates that creation into reality.”
“Saki, everything you’ve told me, you need to keep to yourself. Particularly your Awakening Arts,” Aelius gravely told her. “They could turn the world upside down if they get out.”
“Hmm…” Saki pursed her lips. “I understand. Would you still like me to teach it, though?” she asked and Aelius sat back, frowning.
“I’ll learn it, but I don’t intend to abuse that power,” he answered after a short moment of time, and Saki returned a warm smile.
“Of course. I believe in your compassion.”
“Thanks… there’s one last thing now.” Aelius leaned forward again. “How did you end up like that when I found you? Who was it that killed you, and why?”
At his question, Aria and Lia both frowned, looking to Saki, who gazed at the ground for some time.
Finally, she took a deep breath and returned a saddened gaze to Aelius.
“Very well. I will share my story.”
—-----------------------
The Grand Horizon was home to billions upon billions of lifeforms. There were countless stars, and the Heavens spanned far and wide with its blessing.
Where mankind no longer needs to fight nature, they start to fight each other.
In a world where power could be stolen and strength was everything, betrayal was commonplace.
At some point, the lifeforms had begun to band together into Factions and go to war with each other. The weak Factions perished and the strong prospered, the cycle repeated for eternity.
From a certain prosperous clan in a place without anything noteworthy about it, merely a city with millions hidden away in the mountains, encased in its own world as many Factions were, two twin sisters were born.
They grew to become polar opposites not only in appearance, but mind and heart as well.
The older sister had her father’s raven blue hair and her mother’s pink eyes while her younger sister had a vibrant strawberry pink shade to her’s, and her eyes glowed raven blue.
The older sister grew to be shy and timid, but she received much love from her father.
The younger sister was open and outgoing, social and loved all-around.
The older sister did not engage much in frivolous activities, and developed an unparalleled talent for the Awakening Arts, her clan’s specialty in heritage.
The younger sister created many connections, but had little capability to her own name other than her allies.
—-----------------------
Suddenly, a horrific day had arrived.
The father had been killed in battle, and the grandfather had been assassinated suspiciously around the same time.
The clan was now patriarch-less.
The elders gathered to elect a new heir to the seat.
The older sister was taken by grief, and had always been distant with her remaining family.
The younger sister took charge of matters eagerly, as though she long awaited this day. She had long since won the hearts of the elders and soon, she had become the matriarch.
The older sister cared not for internal affairs; she only ever continued her cultivation.
—-----------------------
One day, a curse in disguise found its way to her.
In their city, there existed quite a few prodigies, elites of their generation.
Among them was the older sister, but she hardly engaged with her peers.
All the while, her younger sister desired nothing more than to join their ranks.
Yet to the younger sister’s despair, the air of enigma and quiet nature of her older sister attracted the gaze of the young master of a certain allied clan.
He was not only strong, but dashing and handsome. His family were on equal footing, if not even stronger than their clan, and he was the desired husband of all young girls.
A letter came requesting the marriage between the older sister and the young master, the younger sister was enraged.
Whenever she watched from afar, the young master’s eyes would only ever be on her older sister, and never her.
Even as the matriarch, her older sister still had one up over her, without ever even trying.
Impulsive and in a fit of rage, she hatched a nefarious plan.
Without ever presenting her older sister the letter, she put on a mask of lies and a facade of compassion.
Abusing the trust her innocent older sister had in her, she convinced her older sister to go into training seclusion for some time, promising to sort the clan’s internal affairs by the time she returned.
Hesitantly and apprehensive, the older sister reluctantly agreed.
As soon as she left the main house, her younger sister immediately dyed her hair blue and bought pink contacts.
—-----------------------
Now, her plan was coming to fruition.
For a time, it was the best choice she felt she had ever made.
When the young master arrived to meet her, he was ecstatic.
His love filled gaze was settled only on her, spurred on only by her obsession in return to him.
All seemed perfect, until time dragged on and he became suspicious.
Something was strange.
For one, she was meant to have a younger sibling but he would never meet her. And worse yet, she seemed far different to his expectations when he had the marriage proposal drafted.
Instead of a quiet and innocent wife, he had somehow found a social, and at times frightening one.
His suspicions grew by the day, like an illness that encroached on him and poisoned his mind.
Paranoia, anxiety, and regret plagued him every night she lay in his arms in their bed, but he would always fall asleep from exhaustion in the end.
And one day, yet another horror arrived.
No, it had always been there, but he knew not of it.
One night, in the dead of the dark, he woke up prematurely and she was not by his side.
Due to the nature of her impulsive plan, a moment like this was destined to come someday.
He could hear the sound of flowing water and followed it to the bathroom.
Hiding in the shadows, he dared not make any noise for the conspiracy he was stumbling upon.
He found her with her maidservant attending to her.
Their backs were turned to him as he snuck a glance around the corner, to see they were undoing her makeup.
Terror gripped him as he realised he had been courting an imposter, for the blue dye in her pink hair was being washed out and her pink eye contacts sat to her side, revealing her true, gleaming purple eyes.
The truth then took him. That she was the younger sister.
—-----------------------
He pretended like he saw nothing since that day onward, but not a moment went by where it did not afflict him - the idea that her identity was a lie.
And a question remained: where was the real one?
Fear and anxiety plagued him.
What if she had her killed, out of jealousy? What if she were imprisoned, and tortured every day because the younger sister coveted his love?
A mixture of guilt and concern would overwhelm him.
And thus began his search for the older sister, to set things right.
To avoid the younger sister realising he had noticed, he tried to act as naturally as he could and while her back was turned to him, he searched high and low for traces of the older sister.
Until the day came that he found her.
What he never noticed, as dense as he was, was that she had long since realised his odd behaviour around her, and through enquiry, she knew he had begun his search.
Yes, in reality, she had always been one step in front of him, dangling him in the palm of her hand.
He never knew of it, until the day he mustered the courage to go rescue the older sister.
Alone in the dead of the night, he travelled out of the city to where her training cave was located.
Blade by his side and dressed in golden lining, he valiantly prepared himself to face his true beloved.
Yet what awaited him was only despair.
When he arrived at the cave, he came upon a horrific sight.
The older sister had been taken hostage by the younger sister and all her allies - the band in the city known for being tyrannical, merciless and untrustworthy.
They forced him to lay down his sword, with the threat of his beloved’s life, and she gave him one last offer to cease this foolishness.
If so, she can spare both of their lives. The condition was he take her as his bride, not her older sister.
With no other choice, he agreed, and she got her superficial position back.
Yet that was all it was. Superficial.
He never looked at her the same as he did when he mistook her identity, and gradually, as days of neglect from him passed, the younger sister grew more and more bitter.
Forcefully picked fruit is never ripe, goes the saying.
He tried as best he could to keep her satisfied, but he could never forget the evil smile on her face when she threatened him.
One day, the younger sister saw her husband sneaking out of the manor and in both anger and suspicion, followed him.
She had been continuing to keep her older sister hostage in the main clan-quarters, locked up and chained to never see the light of day.
To her fury, her husband secretly visited her older sister to deliver food and water, his eyes filled with love as he gazed at her.
The younger sister’s vision was so tunnelled, she was unable to see nor hear their discussion.
The older sister looked at the young master with resentment.
They say to be loved is just as a burden as to love.
She refused the food and drink, and refused his company.
She had come to hate and despise him, her sister and everyone in their clan, and eventually, the world at large as well, as she spent more and more time confined in her cell.
In despair, the young master withdrew.
The younger sister watched on, hatching yet another evil plan.
Yet the chance for her ingenuity to see the light of day never came, for when someone is pushed too hard from all sides, they will self-destruct.
With the guilt and sin on his shoulders that his love had cursed his beloved, and he had become the puppet of a devil in human skin, he had pushed through each day however he could.
And then one day, he lost the strength.
The last straw was that he had finally come to terms with his sins.
He will never have the older sister’s love, and so long as he was alive, she will continue to be imprisoned to threaten him with.
In the dead of the night, he awoke, his mind strangely calm, but calm with anger.
He reached into his draw, his thoughts strangely arranged.
Smoothly, he put the blade to his neck, one last, lingering thought on his mind.
That he curses the younger sister and hopes justice comes to her.
A ‘shhingg’ ran out through the night and the still darkness of the night became an eternal one.
—-----------------------
The younger sister was ready to put her plan into motion, a perfect plan to steal his love for herself, for real this time.
Yet when she came to his room in the morning, all she found were his remains.
Horror, grief, despair, and all sorts of emotions overwhelmed her.
Her plan was in shambles before it even began.
Now she was left with all but a dead body on her hands.
The dead body of the man she loved.
What to do now?
—-----------------------
The older sister’s days blended into one as each was a repetitive cycle.
Until the day came something new.
She was pulled out of her cell and pushed into a room where the young master’s rotting body lay.
Mixed in the horror was a moment of relief, but it all quickly disappeared.
Her younger sister watched over her from the balcony, giving her a cold glare, but tears ran down her eyes.
Right there, before her very eyes, her voice quaking uncontrollably, her sanity visibly tested, the younger sister admitted to having plotted their father’s death and that her older sister’s hellish life had been her intention from the very beginning.
Before the older sister could grasp what was taking place, the ground opened up into a space gate and she fell into another world with his body.
She was absorbed through countless lights and warping space.
This was something her father only told her about in stories. A sealed, closed off, isolated world.
When she arrived, she was dumped into a scorching hot desert with him beside her, and she realised she had been expelled from the Grand Horizon.
The new world that awaited her could not compare, it was a mere plane of mortals.
A small sealed world out of millions, like one grain of sand on an infinite beach.
For a time, she was dazed, but with no one but a dead body to take out her anger on, she began to wander the wilderness.
Any form of life was far too primitive to be considered intelligent, and there appeared to be no one else from the Grand Horizon here.
Unable to resist the world's principles because her strength was too lacking, she could only pass by time and barely survive off nature, until one day, the sky overhead suddenly opened.
The matriarch of the young master’s clan descended into the small sealed world with fury.
The world’s principles tried to strike her down but in rage, she returned an equal blow, her fearsome power crippling the world for but a moment, freeing her from its influence.
It was enough for her, at her high level of cultivation, to hunt the innocent older sister down.
The older sister had no chance to even begin explaining her circumstance, when the mother, driven close to madness by her son’s corpse, blasted her vulnerable body with her clan’s ultimate spell.
All she could recall before everything fell black were a flurry of lights, a moment of pain all over her body.
And then nothing.
—-----------------------
The nothingness lasted for so long, it was almost too much for her sanity to bear.
Until her consciousness gradually began to return to her, she realised she was still alive, her soul was still intact thanks to a secret, forbidden technique of her Awakening Arts.
However, reality soon dawned on her that she had been sealed in purgatory, an artificially made hell that would torture her for eternity.
Her killer had made preparations in case her soul persisted. A soul cage.
The young master’s mother was so enraged, she would not give the older sister peace even in death.
Trapped in a cruel array of scorching hot chains, the older sister suffered in a half-conscious state for multiple millenia.
Each day in her prison, she reflected on her life.
Even when she was alive, she was trapped in a cell.
Nothing had changed, and in parallel to her despair of her own powerlessness, grew her anger and desire for revenge.
A new day dawned at some point, and the numbed Immortal felt a somewhat familiar presence.
To her surprise, it called out to her and the chains around her began to weaken.
She felt power - lifeforce- gush into her, and her senses return.
The world around her began to shake violently and she closed her eyes in fear, but then everything died away and became peaceful.
Slowly, she opened her eyes again, only to see a blurry figure leaning over her, her body resting in his warm embrace.
He softly welcomed her back to the world of the living, and she came to realise that she had escaped that hellish purgatory.
With it, an eternity’s worth of grief overwhelmed her, along with relief.
The relief that she was finally free.
In that moment, a million thoughts jumped around within her head, but one stood out above the rest…
Vengeance.
Such was her promise, to herself, her deceased father, her innocent grandfather and lastly, her sister.