Chapter 22
Fleur hurried away from Li, dashing over to Mars and Yu-ze, presumably to keep Mars' arms unencumbered.
As Abel approached them as well, his fingertips released a faint blue aura, resembling the flicker of a flame, remaining visible as he swept his hand from side to side.
His other hand, firmly holding the dowsing pendulum, displayed the same curious effect, seeping through the gaps of his clenched fingers.
Hoku was caught off guard by their proximity, but the astonishment was fleeting as he noticed the petals from Juno's elixir beginning to rot and curl before his eyes.
Like a low tidal wave originating from afar, it advanced toward the few that rested near his boots.
A shiver ran through Hoku as he felt an unnameable cold energy surround him, engulfing him like a thick veil of darkness.
Feeling an unexplainable weight, Hoku's eyes were drawn to what appeared to be an ordinary bare tree in the distance, positioned to the right of Li, who stood quietly without a word.
His lips parted before he could pinpoint why he felt something was amiss from Li's direction.
"Li? Are you o—"
Boom!
Li seemed to assume the tree's descent, as its roots were wrenched from the ground, sending it crashing down with a speed that implied a powerful shove.
He briefly glimpsed at Li, who had hurled himself toward Hoku, and rolled in the debris before briskly sitting up.
His sword was unsheathed and driven into the dirt in front of Hoku.
Li pushed on the hilt to give himself leverage, a low grunt escaping him as he steadied himself.
With the hair band loosened, his hair spilled over his shoulders, nearly falling across the frame of his bangs.
When Li turned to look at Hoku, he hesitated, noticing that instead of his usual displeased glare, Li's slightly furrowed brows conveyed puzzlement.
Despite the prompt vanishing of it, Hoku couldn't shake the doubt that it might have been a hallucination.
Li slid his sword back under his mantle and stretched out an arm toward Hoku,
"Give her to me, we must move quickly."
Hoku glances from the side at Juno. Her head rested peacefully on his shoulder as strands of hair covered a small proportion of her face.
He nodded and bent down, carefully releasing his hold of her legs.
Juno's head rolled across his shoulder blades as Li assisted in tugging her off of his back.
The relief in his arms almost quelled his hostile sentiments.
Just as Hoku was about to lend a hand to him, Li had already managed to properly secure her limp figure before he could offer.
Suddenly, a sharp and commanding voice rang out, declaring refusal against a matter Hoku and Li had been disregarded in.
"I told you, no! We don't have time for this Yu-ze, we can carry you through Abel's Astrapie. You won't slow us down."
Hoku blinked, shortly unsure who had shouted.
He turned, confusion knitting his brow, then registering Mars' intense glare as he bent toward Yu-ze, who had now returned his arm across Fleur's shoulders.
Yu-ze met Mars' gaze, an overbearing hint of fatigue etched into his visage.
"If there were less than two I might've given in to your persistence. But we've made too many mistakes," he replied, his tone both measured and husk. "I don't think this will be our last sequence."
Hoku's mind raced to comprehend the unfolding tension, gradually assembling the solemnity of the conflict.
'Is he asking to be left behind…?'
The idea grew more upsetting as he fathomed Yu-ze's resolve.
"Mars, we need to go," Fleur interjected.
"I'm sorry—but I think Yu-ze is right. We'll come back for him if this sequence isn't over by the time we depart this nest."
She squinted, her eyes betraying a mixture of worry and sadness.
Mars lingered in silence, his shoulders slumped, as his fingers pinched something under his clothing.
An evident sense of defeat enveloped him.
Hoku hesitated, ready to step in and implore Mars to open up when a familiar voice broke through the stillness.
It changed in pitch every so often between the breaths of his words,
"Abel… give me your pendulum." Mars drew in a deep breath, gathering himself from the depths of his own regret before carefully taking the dowsing pendulum from Abel, and continuing to address Yu-ze. "I never understand why you feel compelled to be so selfless, especially when it brings irreversible consequences for yourself and pain to those who care about you. But…" Mars paused.
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Near the roots of hundreds of trees, a low, gravelly growl reverberated from behind the group.
Hoku felt his heart plummet, a cold dread settling in his stomach as his eyes snapped toward the origin of the disturbing noise.
However, outside of his vision, no one else had turned to acknowledge it.
Mars gripped the bird at one end of the chain, ignoring the discomfort that came from its sharp beak and dull-ended wings caving in the flesh of his palm.
All but one paid it no mind as Mars reached his hand down inside the collar of his shirt and retrieved a plain star-shaped pendant with a rather long point at the end of its silver-plated structure.
Abel glanced down at the ground, where the debris—once a murky brown—had deepened into a darker hue, mingling with the dried blood that poured from Yu-ze's mouth and nose.
Mars swiftly removed the pendant from around his neck, the brown-knotted string slipping off effortlessly.
He stole a two-second glimpse at its cold appearance, then resumed what he was saying to Yu-ze.
Meanwhile, Hoku remained paralyzed in sheer horror, his eyes fixed on the cloaked figure that emerged from the shadows cast beneath the branches.
It carried a perplexingly shaped staff that nearly stretched to the height of its covered form.
"—Sadly, I don't think I'll ever be able to alter that instinct of yours," Mars completed.
Fleur too looked away as Mars secured his fingers between the points on the side of the star and raised it above his chin.
The slim figure approached slowly, digging the sharpened end of its 'cane' into the ground before picking it up and puncturing it into a new place through the leaves.
"Is it humming?" Hoku wondered, disturbed by the fragmented shifts in its pitch that almost seemed to mimic the melody of a lullaby.
"There's something—something is coming in—" Hoku's voice faltered, panic rising past its limit as an overwhelming urge to flee took hold.
His eyes darted toward the others in the forest, but his gaze quickly shifted away, unwilling to witness the horrors unfolding.
Mars had tipped his head back, the way one might when applying eye drops, but this was no ordinary act.
In a violent, almost frenzied motion, he drove the sharp end of the pendant deep into his right eye.
Hoku's mouth hung open in shock as Mars yanked the pendant out with the same brutal speed.
As Mars lowered his head, a dark fluid began to seep from the wound, its flow disturbingly unnatural.
It wasn't even blood—at least, not any blood Hoku had ever seen. The substance oozing from Mars' eye was thick and black, creeping out in tendrils that defied gravity, clinging to his skin in unnerving trails.
Mars remained eerily silent as if the grotesque act hadn't caused him any pain at all.
'Why—!' played in a repeating loop in Hoku's mind, the repetition of disbelief finding him again, twisting in his stomach.
He was repulsed, yet a sickening fascination took hold as he watched the dark liquid begin to slither upward, spreading from Mars' socket like some unnatural growth.
It pulsed and writhed, almost as if it were alive, drawing him into its terrible, mesmerizing dance.
Li, who had been unsettlingly silent since his near miss with the falling tree, suddenly grabbed Hoku's arm, yanking him toward the others with a firm grip.
"Come on," he commanded, constraining access for refusal.
As Hoku was pulled closer, he caught Yu-ze's voice again, faint but clear. "Fleur. You can let go now."
Fleur bowed her head, biting her lip as she straightened her posture and adjusted Yu-ze's arm.
No one spoke as Fleur gently propped Yu-ze against a nearby tree, her expression tense.
Mars didn't acknowledge any of them, his focus entirely elsewhere.
With a strange, deliberate motion, Mars spread his fingers around the area of his wounded eye.
Slowly, something began to form— a bright, yellow core that filled a hollow space, glowing like a miniature sun where his eye had been.
The eerie light cast long, distorted shadows, and for a moment, it seemed as though the world around them dimmed in response.
As if the forest itself recoiled from this unnatural radiance.
"I invoke the spell of deflection. Redirect this pendulum's power onto the holder...and undo my third eye" Mars intoned with conviction.
A chill seeped through the soles of each of their boots. The coldness felt unnaturally penetrating.
Before Hoku could look down, he was roughly yanked downward, sinking into a dense, thick liquid.
He disdained the sensation as it clung to his skin like syrup, hindering his movement during the brief phase he was able to struggle.
The setting around him dissolved, and in an instant, he was thrust back into a familiar space—an illusion from before he had met anyone.
Crossing further into the inevitable path of his journey through a story he once derived inside of a failed universe.
"You have quite an unpredictable nature."
The Memoir Chapter 17
Objective 11
To: Flyingduck2112@*****
CC: Aliceliddle2106@*****
Subject: Contract reminder!
Hello, 'Navigator'.
We hope this system message finds you well! We are contacting you to remind you that your contract with "Alice Liddle" may expire if not used before the next sequence.
Failure to utilize any exchanges made in the contract will result in the extermination of resources for both parties.
Your "rabbit hole" will require immediate use if you wish to continue your contract.
We apologize for the inconvenience and wish you all the best with future experiences.
Thank you for choosing Contracts [category: Clavier Trade]!
Sincerely,
Your automated service provider.
Attachment: Hoku, don't forget about this! I printed the message receipt here so you would remember. If you put me in debt again, I will force you to do labor for compensation. I don't care if you're still a kid—technically, I am too.
Don't forget you punk!
Rule 21
The Nine Eyes are a collection of hidden fragments, deliberately concealed from all perception. Aside from the Prism that is concealed in the central stream, these Nine Eyes serve as the secondary pillars of the Sequel. Their role is to stabilize this interconnected universe of distinct "worlds," as timelines that are not meant to overlap coexist here. Each "world" contains a separate "catalog" that the abundant creator has woven into the Mantras, simulating various epochs that once existed as centuries or eras in the original universe. This design emerged to expand upon what began as a solitary star, intended as an alternate planet to safeguard an enigmatic source of significance belonging to an individual known as the "Story Keeper"—the original architect of this intricate series of worlds.
Currently, our understanding of the Nine Eyes is limited; they appear to play a role in separating each mantra. Initially, we speculated that these fragments were responsible for the barriers between mantras, but we soon discovered that they were not the source of that function. We eagerly await clarity on how the Nine Eyes exert their influence, especially given that they seem to exist merely as placid monuments.
How can something eternally anchored in place channel 'division' across diverse worlds? Perhaps these fragments govern an external species, acting as vessels for their control.
If this is true, we should prepare for the possibility that the external entity could be human, as such power would need a stable vessel. Creatures unable to withstand even an elixir's energy would likely be unsuitable, as their instability could threaten the balance it aims to preserve.
A human conduit could fundamentally change our understanding of the Nine Eyes and their influence in the universe.
It would ultimately mean we need to kill our own companions.
-The Memoir Chapter 17 End-