The acute coldness that shook Syllis only grew as she neared the bottom of the staircase.

This was certainly the path to the cellar, it was the only area still populated with wall braziers. The lack of typical electrical lighting gave off an eerie atmosphere. Maybe this was what had the secare nymph quivering.

Her boots echoed every step she took, as if reporting her movements to a hidden entity.

‘Come on Syllis, stop overthinking it!’

Syllis urged herself, she knew that she was accompanied by a crippling tendency to overthink things. It was a mostly useful trait she had developed in the outer ring, where criminals jumped anybody that moved.

Now though, it was not convenient to have. It only led to overcomplicating things. There was no need in fretting over some hidden entity as if there truly was one, then there was nothing that Syllis could do about it!

Until it attacked, that is. If that were the case then she could think of a plethora of ways to deal with it.

Syllis reached the bottom of the—longer than she had anticipated—staircase. She had descended nearly thirty steps before reaching the ground floor.

The bottom was like a stone coffin. The cold pressure was noticeable, a stark contrast to the warm and inviting upstairs, illuminated by lights.

Of course, Syllis could not help but compare it to her own basement, back before her father died and her mother left.

This was where she was forcefully turned into a kindred. She remembered bits and pieces of the encounter—trauma blocking the rest of them. Her mind helped keep her in the dark. If she remembered the entire event then she might have gone insane by now. Sure, her father was not a good-natured man, and her mother was still evil despite being less. But this shroud over her memories allowed her to maintain a semblance of good-will towards them.

There was no way that Syllis would have been able to trust again if she had known the entirety of what transpired that event. She did not even know if her mother held a place in that forsaken ritual.

The only memories that were available to her were of her father apologizing, Coyzan’s hand touching her head, and finally waking up in a pool of cold water.

That was the day her innocence and normalcy had been stripped from her. Syllis had never been the same, even while her mother tended to her in the years after. Her mother had turned abusive once her husband died.

It was only now, after being shown kindness by Clyde and contracted by Clark that she felt a semblance of normalcy being returned to her. Thus, she was faced with a dilemma at the bottom of these stone stairs.

‘Am I betraying their trust? They’ve shown me kindness, although they undeniably have their own motives. So what? Doesn’t everybody have their own motivations, even for something as simple as living? So is it wrong then, for me to be betraying their trust? If I did not then I would be going against myself, is that not a bigger crime?

‘Yes, how can I return to normalcy if I continue to let the world act on its own? There is a need to take control in accordance with my own motivation of living a normal life. If I act based on my surroundings then I have truly not changed since living on the outer ring.

‘Without change, it is impossible for me to live normally. Right or wrong, it does not matter. If it satisfies my motivation while also keeping them in the dark, then ignorance is bliss. This is indeed how to please oneself while also appeasing the world. This lie was a necessary evil.’

Syllis felt a weight being lifted from her shoulders at this discovery. Growing up, she had always equated lies with being evil. The truth was absolutely good and one must not deviate from that, if you must, then you can only choose to accept the fact that you have lost and leave the conversation.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

So, lies were naturally a symbol of wrongdoing. Good could be acknowledged by all so if you had something that you did not want people to know, and chose to lie, then it was inherently wrong.

Now, after finally facing her ongoing dilemma over the past couple days, Syllis finally found the truth:

Lies were not inherently wrong, and the truth not inherently good. It lay in the situation, only when faced with all possible information could a true verdict be faced.

‘Yes, even in courts, the innocent were sometimes ruled against. Even if you told the absolute truth, then you could lose. It lay in the nature of the truth or lies that determined which one was right.’

Syllis let out a sigh, taking a few steps forward.

‘This would be the most desirable trait of an omniscient god. But perhaps that would change once having ascended to godhood. Maybe shedding my human skin would also leave any evil behind, and there would be no need for that kind of omniscience.

‘I wonder if Coryzan is omniscient? Is he? I suppose I have not put the most thought into it. Is this corruption that festers within a conscious effort of his? If it is then that would mean he would be aware of whenever his bond was invoked, else it would be perpetual. Or is it an automatic response, a defense system of sorts to make sure nobody can draw too much from him, lest he run dry?’

Syllis shook her head no less than ten times before placing her hands together. Another sigh left her mouth as she thought. ‘There goes my penchant for overthinking again.’

The secare nymph had been overcome with a sudden urge to delve further into the dungeon that was the cellars, which undoubtedly connected to the main basement.

After a couple of moments of deliberation, she refused her own mind. Syllis was not about to lose herself in a labyrinth of interconnecting hallways. It did not sound like the most pleasant experience.

Quietly, she approached a brazier. Her plan hinged on whether they were portable or not. She had expected them to potentially have a handle to carry them due to Edward suggesting them. To her surprise, the ‘braziers’ were merely anchors for torches, which she assumed would be changed out daily.

Syllis lifted one such torch from its enclosure. She nearly hissed at the sudden heat, it was unbearable! At least until she moved it further from her, an arm's length was enough for it to be easily withstood without breaking a sweat.

Syllis had not thought about it before, but she wondered whether her bond gave her a weakness to the heat. She never really confronted the heat. Even the false sun did not give off true heat, and the times she swam up to the surface, she was still more than halfway submerged—with only her head poking out above the calm waves.

The torch burned, but did it burn equally for everyone else. Syllis could not come to a conclusion right now, with no one else present. Her compromising position also did not quite warrant exposing her objectives to any servants to test. Even if it had, her overall endurance was increased due to her being a kindred, and her potential weakness to heat could still be above a normal person’s threshold.

Carefully, she peered out from the top of the staircase after setting down the torch briefly. Syllis was not blessed with greater-than-normal hearing so she needed to scout out potential servants roaming the halls.

After confirming no one was around, Syllis picked up her torch once again before quickly shifting through the hallways. The absence of neither anyone nor anything interrupting her plan made her feel uneasy. She touched her heart, which was beating quickly.

‘It seems that one cannot change their nature so easily. I’m going to have to push more, to change who I want to be and take control of my life.’

Syllis resolved to become a person who would act in accordance with herself, without having a philosophical debate with herself beforehand. She wanted it to become second-nature to her.

‘Self-satisfaction… It’s indeed a much better purpose than self-preservation. Although that latter is still necessary, just not my entire being.’

Finally, Syllis had arrived at the ominous room, devoid of light. She quickly entered before closing the door behind her and stepping off to the side, moving her hands in front to make sure not to bump into anything.

Just because she had entered the room did not mean she was safe. The light from the torch shining could still prompt someone to open the door, checking for the source. If that happened, Syllis would surely be aptly apprehended. It would be difficult to glean anything but a robbery from such a scene.

‘Or even worse, Arson.’ Syllis shuddered at the thought. She could be put on trial for something so heinous. Such a crime warranted a hefty sentence, much more terrifying than a fine!

Syllis, finally out of line of sight of the door, looked at the scene in front of her.