Chapter 189 - Spirited Away
Illeana drew the bow across the strings, coaxing a haunting melody from the Stradivarius. Eyes closed, she furrowed her brows in concentration as her fingers danced along the neck of the violin.
With every gust of wind, the music swelled, filling the air with a complex harmony that seemed to paint pictures in the mind's eye. Her only supporting cast for this piece were the crows circling up above, cawing in pure hunger and impatience.
She swayed gently, lost in the rhythm, her body an extension of the instrument. The crescendo built, each note crisp and pure, until the final, triumphant chord rang out.
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.
.
The sound lingered, slowly fading into silence. The moment the echo abated, a fleet of crows rushed down, but even these creatures had the instinct not to come in a few feet of her.
Illeana lowered the violin, her expression unchanged. She opened her eyes and swept across the desecrated street. Bodies lay scattered about—some of her victims and others, their victims—all silent witnesses to her impromptu performance. Blood stained the bricked floor, reflecting the evening sunlight.
Gross and wet squelches echoed in her ears as the crows began their feast earnestly. Yet, it was better than what she'd heard before and throughout her piece. She'd stumbled in here too late to stop the cause of grief, but she at least ensured the cycle would stop right here.
Swinging the strap on her back, she placed the violin in its case and turned around, navigating through the corpses carefully. Every few steps, the shadow of some faraway tall tower eclipsed her figure, but her dress remained spotless, untouched by even a hint of all this blood.
She'd gotten distracted, but at least this gave her a chance to better tune herself with the sorrows of the dead. Better than before. Better than—
Suddenly, she stopped in her tracks as she looked up in the sky with a shocked expression. In a moment, however, the shock turned to surprise, and surprise gave way to panic.
"I can't get caught out here. Not in this part of the city," she murmured, her voice carrying a tone of excitement and fear. She knew this feeling. Something was pulling at her very being.
Except, there were no warnings this time.
Another Confluence?
However, she didn't have much time to contemplate. If she really wanted, she could resist it, but why in seventeen harmonies or twelve notes would she do such a thing?
It was better to face events like that head-on, no matter what. Even if it's as bad as last time.
Being framed as some witch to be burnt at the stake wasn't a fate she'd foreseen for herself, but she'd rather resist and take her stance than live in blissful ignorance.
And what if…
What if her prayers were actually heard? Father never allowed her to pray to anyone when he was around, and she'd proudly followed the tradition even after he was gone. Until after the confluence, that is.
She was alive due to a single person. No…not a person. They were not a person. They were…greater than that.
They were a being made of the world's rules itself. A being she couldn't help but pray to when she was suffering the crushing backlash of overusing her emotional vault.
She'd never thought there would be any kind of response. After all, they knew she was just a weak girl.
.
.
.
But maybe not…?
There was only one way to know.
A determined light flashed through her eyes, and she beelined straight towards the nearest house across the intersection. Luckily, she was in her knee-length skirt and tall boots, making the sprint a breeze.
Before even reaching the door, her eyes flared, and the door handle cried in grief. So the moment she pulled it, it didn't even resist and let her enter freely.
"Visandra, have mercy! Who let you in? Woman, have you no sense?"
Illeana gave the man a single glance, and the man's eyes instantly turned moist. Rubbing at them, he slowly slipped down and broke down in tears.
Even Illeana turned to look back at the man before heading towards the basement. This one was really bottling up too many emotions. Her little vision would do him far more good in the long term than the little harm right now.
Unfortunately, she didn't have the mind to care about him too much. Her chance was fleeting. The pull had already begun to wane.
Slamming the basement door shut behind herself, she pulled out Father's stopwatch and clicked its knob as a thin barrier formed around her.
Without any further delay, she gave in, and the force whisked her conscious away.
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Kaneki stood at the edge of the crowd, his eyes fixated on the high altar that almost reached the ceiling of the Zenith. The air was thick with incense and low hum of chanting.
"Don't be jealous, Ken," chortled his neighbor as the guy patted his shoulder, "I'm pretty sure you'll awaken the god's eye soon enough yourself." With a proud smile, he pushed off Kaneki and launched into the crowd, leaving a few words in the air, "When you do, you can come to serve the gods, too. I'll take you under me."
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Kaneki didn't respond and instead pulled his hood further down as the crowd parted for his neighbor like he was some messiah. Their chanting grew heated as more of the awakened ones came pouring in from each of the seven entrances of the plaza.
Today was the day of ascension for the awakened ones. A feat that mere few could achieve in this world with over ten thousand people—assuming the ones that talked to him over the old parchment were figments of his imagination.
Unfortunately for him, that dream a couple of days ago felt real. Too real.
He'd always made excuses and justifications for what he learned through the old paper. He went so far as to attribute it to the gods beyond the ceiling. That one of the gods was playing with him for amusement.
.
.
.
It wasn't working anymore.
This was to say, when the Lorendales told him to hide his awakening and forgo the invitation to serve the gods, it wasn't the very same gods playing tricks on him. It meant he was hiding it for real. That if he got caught, the repercussions would be lethal.
That it was a real person who'd contacted him through the old paper. A person not from Zenith. Not of this world. From out there, somewhere. Someone who knew him, his situation, his whole life.
And that the Omniscient One, First Observer, Weft of Elyndor, Eterna, Shading of Perception, and most importantly the Zeroth Axiom—it was all real.
That awakening was nothing but the enlightenment of Observers, and he knew for a fact that it was nowhere near enough to serve gods.
Then, what exactly was the point of this ritual? Did they teach the 'awakened' ones the ways of the so-called Observers up there? Something he'd become without even knowing it himself.
He looked up as the group of seven ascended the altar, arrogance oozing from their every action. The hymns caught onto a rhythm, and the crowd matched it with zeal.
The shamans bowed to the electrical obelisks, and their prayers seemed to reach the ceiling as the pillar of gods descended with terrifying momentum. It phased right through the myriads of wires that run across the Zenith's skyline—a word he'd recently learned.
Except, maybe it didn't fit here? Zenith didn't have a sky, after all. Or was a very, very high ceiling also considered a sky?
He didn't know. And it scared him.
There was so much he didn't know. That none of them knew.
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.
.
The chantings felt like they were getting louder by the second. It was to a degree where they felt as corrosive as the whispers he heard every day.
Taking a deep breath, he tried to compose himself when—
Wh—what!?
However, before he knew it, he was…outside himself? His body fell into the crowd, and luckily, someone caught it. They were courteous enough to make him lean on the fence before going back to chanting with the crowd.
Before he could contemplate what the heck was going on, his vision blurred, and his sight zoomed out.
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.
.
When he came to, it was that glassy dream—No, not a dream, once again. However, unlike last time, everything was dark.
He had no clue what was going on, but his curiosity was enough to push him towards that familiar central direction.
Unlike last time, there was no fanfare, no blocking walls, no parade of powerful observers. Walking out of the arrival chamber, he surveyed his surroundings.
"Can't see for shit."
Almost instinctively, he raised his hand as his eyes shone blue. A similar hued spark surfaced on the finger, and he used it like a makeshift lamp.
Yet, in the very next moment, he regretted it. Last time, everyone was prohibited from using their powers, so he didn't even try. But what if there was a reason for that?
He didn't know. He didn't fucking know anything.
Right when he was of mind to plead to the god of this place to let him go, a sound came from behind him.
Thump!
Kaneki swiveled around and almost jumped back when he saw the silhouette of something large walking out of one of the other arrival chambers.
Phew, he soon sighed as the figure walked into the illumination range of his spark. It was just another human. Someone not from Zenith, though. No. People in Zenith didn't dress like this.
That's when—
"What…what is going on? Wh—what is this place?" came a yelp from even farther ahead in the same direction.
"Did I…we die?" asked another sweet voice from behind him.
"This…this is the fabled Nexus! Nexus of Elyndor. It—it has to be. I've read about it!"
More and more voices came from all around him, and Kaneki backed away a little, trying to find a less conspicuous spot. He didn't want to be surrounded by these…beings of unknown origin.
Before he knew it, ten or so people congregated around him. Fuck, why me. He really regretted creating the spark now.
These people were so…different. Fortunately, their faces were hazy. He couldn't make them out, no matter what.
He was okay with that. It was this Nexus's functionality if he understood it correctly. Here's hoping they couldn't recognize me either.
At that moment, a man wearing half-plate armor stomped his foot, and all eyes turned towards him. "What in the hells is going on!? Tell me this instant! If all of you don't, I will have to force it out of you."
"Calm down, mate. Aren't you listening? We don't know, either. Take a breath, aye?"
"Calm down!? I calm down!? I will raze this place to ashes and all of you with it if someone doesn't explain to me right now."
One of the girls who joined the last sent a disgusted look aimed at this man before walking out of the group. But Kaneki was far more worried about himself. What the hell did he get himself into?
It was no dream. He would die for real if he didn't defend himself. He'd only ever used his abilities for powering his devices. He couldn't fight off a shaman child, much less this man in armor.
No. Man in armor with flaming hands.
Fire serpents coiled around the man's arms as his stance grew violent.
"I will do it! Tell me. NOW!"
Most others backed away and took their own stances, their eyes flaring as powers he'd never seen shimmered in the darkness—yet they were still somehow unable to cut through the thick of it.
Kaneki didn't know what to do, so he just backed away and hid behind a pillar.
"Alright, I'll first blow this place up!"
BO—
A flash of orange light only began to erupt when, suddenly, everything turned quiet. Eerily quiet. The shimmering powers, loud flames, aggressive chatter—all was gone, replaced by a numbing silence.
A silence that was instantly shattered by a new sound.
Tap, Tap.
Kaneki peeked out and followed the voice to the source.
One moment, there was nothing. Next, a large beam of light fell on one spot from some shrouded canopy, cutting through the darkness.
Tap, Tap.
His heart, which was already in overdrive, pounded even faster as the sound got closer and closer.
Tap, Tap.
He could barely make out a silhouette up high. It felt very much like he was a mere commoner looking up at the awakened ones at the altar back in Zenith.
Tap, Tap.
Finally, the figure fully walked out of the shadow, and he almost forgot to breathe.
That's…
His pupils contracted as the masked figure registered in his sight. They were even more majestic than he remembered them to be.
It was the being who'd single-handedly put every Observer of this foreign world in their place.
It was the entity that extended this world's lifespan with a mere wave of their hand.
It was the only Observer he truly respected and feared.
It was the manifestation of laws itself.
It was the definition of a God.
It was…
Axiom.
The Arbiter of Balance.