CHAPTER 39: FLORAMERE KEEP

A few hours had passed since he found himself in Floramere Keep. To say he was shocked was an understatement. After the sudden flash of light, what reflected in his eyes was not the damp, underground cell he found himself in—no, He was in a grand palace hall filled with chandeliers hung from tree roots that weaved across the ceiling like straws in a nest. Opulent pillars filled with decorations and runic symbols glowing in ethereal energy went around the circumference of the grandeur space.

He was now no longer in that cramped dungeon—whether it was through magecraft or something else, he didn’t know. The first person to greet him was a tall Yadrian man covered in white robes that matched his silver, cascading hair. Soren wasn’t sure what was more beautiful—the castle’s interior design, or his enchanting smile.

His name was Silmar, a Custodian of Faith under the grace of Saintess Sylia but also her younger brother. To the right of him stood another Saint—one that he was familiar with.

Luvin.

The man’s beautiful features were slightly hidden behind his annoyed expression. At that moment though, Soren was too flabbergasted to even analyze his surroundings more deeply.

According to Silmar’s explanation, the cell he was being held in was a test of faith ordered by the Saintess of Spirits, Lesticia. She had devised this test to prove the character of the humans they had captured. Demons were the mortal enemy of all Yadrians and Fae-folk. To sign a contract with one was akin to blaspheming the name of the Maiden. And just as Soren had guessed, the demon had lied about how much time had passed—it was still only the morning after the Nightshade raid. If he had been a bit more delirious, he would have most likely fallen for the trick.

Unlike his original theory, Silmar disclosed that they had never actually left Floramere Keep—despite feeling like he had teleported. He didn’t fully explain how it worked, but according to him, they would be automatically awakened back here the moment their thoughts held a strong desire to reject the demon. It was through this that the nobles and clergymen of Yadria were able to witness Soren and Tina’s noble character which wasn’t corrupted as Luvin had claimed it was.

After he found out about this, Soren’s knees almost gave out. He had truly dodged a bullet.

To him, nothing was taboo or off the table if it benefited him. In fact, he wouldn't have minded signing the contract if that demon proved to be more powerful. Why wouldn’t he desire more strength? Whether it came from a demon or an angel didn’t matter to him. It was a good thing that the demon didn’t try convincing him too hard, or else he would have revealed his true colors.

Tina’s test on the other hand only lasted a second. According to Myrin, she tried to kill the demon the moment he disclosed his identity. When he heard this, he considered using [Record] to store this information in his Soul Weapon—a permanent reminder to never mess with her. Ever.

Surprisingly, the person who ordered this test, Saintess Lesticia, was not present in the grand hall. Tina explained that the Saintesses weren’t allowed to leave their temples unless they received revelations from the Maiden herself. He did see a person at one end of the hall hidden behind a curtain however. She was the Matron of Faith, Titania. The moment he even glanced in Her direction, his entire soul screamed to look away.

After that incident, he was granted a room to stay in with the others of Star Fate Guild—much to the dismay of Luvin who looked like he wanted to flip a table or two. It seemed like he really wanted them to fail the test.

Soren glanced out of the balcony of his room. The view was enchanting—trees further than the eye could see were huddled together with Victorian style buildings in harmony. Large platforms with roots jutting out of them moving entire buildings atop their backs could be seen flowing from either direction.

It was truly beautiful.

Taking in the fresh air, Soren relaxed his shoulders, only to be startled by Myrin. “Good morning!”

Soren frowned, “don’t you have better things to do?”

Myrin shrugged, “Aside from annoying you and teasing Tina? No.”

“Fine, come watch the view with me then.” He sighed.

They stood on the balcony leaning against the railing with the breeze carrying the scent of a thousand flowers to them. Leaves from the Spirit Blossom Willow occasionally fell from high above—each one was the size of a table. He could see them shifting hues as they glided down to the bottom.

“I’ve always wondered,” Soren said. “Why do they change colors?”

Myrin chuckled. “The Dragon Vein’s energy permeates across the entire tree. The anima within it… It is very special. Only the Maiden really knows what its true purpose is, but many scholars have studied that visual change—it is always constant. For as long as the tree stood, Yadrians have used the shifting of its colors to tell the time.

“This was especially true back then, by the way. Since its crown of leaves used to cover the entire night sky. You used to not even be able to see the sunset like we can right now,” he laughed. “It has shrunk in size over the centuries.”

“Shrunk?” Soren lifted his brow. “How could it lose so many of its leaves? Is the tree dying?”

Myrin signaled him to lower his voice. “Do not say something so sacrilegious! But nay—it is viewed as a good thing.

“According to Yadrian myth, it is said that the Maiden and all Her grace will awaken when the Spirit Blossom Willow loses all its leaves.”

The conversation shifted from there. They began discussing the Nightshade raid and its aftermath, as well as what Myrin had to deal with in the castle at that time.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

“The fact that the Krilo district is still quarantined is very concerning,” Myrin said. “Nothing they’ve done so far has worked at stopping the spread of corruption.”

“The Whispering Dream,” Soren murmured.

“The what?” Myrin was stumped. Soren repeated what he said, “It is what what that hooded figure we fought said right before his head exploded:

“The Whispering Dream greets you.”

Myrin stared out into the city with a blank expression—the rays of the sun hitting evenly across his smooth skin. Soren stayed silent for a few seconds before asking, “didn’t Tina say anything to you?”

He shook his head. “She only told me that the hooded figure smiled at her before he died.”

Soren’s frown deepened. Was I the only one that heard that phrase? It was certainly odd, but not outside the realm of possibility. They were dealing with a person capable of fooling entire populations of Magi and Sentinels into not even noticing his presence. Making someone hallucinate a phrase wasn’t that impossible to do for him.

But it did open up a question: Why? Why would he go through all of this when Soren was going to share it with the others anyway? He didn’t know. And neither did Myrin. In fact, they both suspected that the shopkeeper who they fought was only a distraction or a puppet he was using. The true culprit was still out there.

“Do you think they’ll be fine?” Soren asked. “I wonder how they’ll solve the problem of the Nameless Mist…”

“We’ll see… There are seven Saints currently missing in Yadria after all. Once they come back from investigating the Endless Sea and the colossal rift fracture opening there, they should be able to figure something out.

“Regardless, we’ve done our part. The samples I have gathered of the Nameless Mist will be sent off to the Church of Nature and the Brilliant World Church for study. We need to find out what its origins are. Hopefully the skyship they are granting us will be ready by this evening.”

“Did the negotiations go well with Saintess Sylia then?”

Myrin smiled. “More than well. She accepted all our proposals. Of course, there were some unexpected caveats, but I don’t believe the Aetolus Royal Family is willing to haggle over such things.

“I do apologize for not making it to the raid with both you and Tina, however. The Saintess requested my art skills for a ball performance that night… The nobles were complaining too much with Saint Luvin heading the movement.”

He chuckled to himself as he continued. “I must say, the Saintess is as cunning as She is enchanting—bless the blossoms… I completely forgot about the Royal Yasini Ball…”

Myrin explained that it was a celebration hosted by the Royal Zinrie family. The musicians they employed were all skilled Magi that could utilize magecraft that added to their performance. Musicians that could play the sacred tree songs of their past were very well respected in Yadrian society, and were also granted immunity from many things. Saintess Sylia saw this as an opportunity to grant Myrin more legitimacy in Yadria, regardless of his exiled state. Of course, Myrin completely eclipsed all their expectations—his Soul Weapon specialized in this after all.

It was truly ingenious. It made him wonder what else She had planned for them. It also finally made sense to him why Luvin was so pissed. Both of his schemes had ended in failure.

Soren remembered his time in the jail cell. The fact that Luvin and the Saintess he served wanted to punish them this badly even with all the evidence pointing to a different culprit baffled him.

“So what exactly was that cell I was in? And that demon too—what’s up with that?..”

Myrin frowned. “The Subterranean Shunning Grounds…

“It is a place devoid of life and outside the bounds of our reality. It lies deeper than the deepest roots of the Spirit Blossom Willow, far below even the Dragon Vein.

“That is where you were. At least, where your Astral Projection was.”

“The what… And what?!” He was rightfully confused.

“Let me explain,” Myrin replied. “Within the Beyond is a location feared by many. It was made during the War of Swords to imprison demons far too powerful to kill. The demon you met was said to be a Sovereign during the Third Age of Fantasia. Millions of people died trying to simply seal him—and it worked.”

Soren was stumped for words. After hearing Silmar’s explanation when he first completed the ‘test,’ he assumed that the experience he went through was some kind of illusion.

It turned out, he really was speaking to a demon. And not just any demon—someone with the title of Sovereign. Whatever that meant.

But this also confirmed one other thing for him that he was worried about. According to Myrin, he had traveled toward the subterranean shunning grounds through a process called ‘Astral Projection.’ This method entailed separating a person’s Soul Realm/Soul Frame away from their body to float freely. With this special technique, his very being was transported toward the demon’s lair to partake in the test. When he heard this, Soren was rightfully angry. The fact that they put his life in danger just so they could test his ‘faith’ was ridiculous. But as he thought about it more, he could at least appreciate the fact that none of his conversations with the demon were leaked to the nobles and saints watching over the test—the magecraft they had casted only allowed them to sense the person’s intentions and witness the event unfolding visually.

After all, that demon somehow had discovered many of his secrets—there was no way he’d want a bunch of hostile elves who hated his guts to know about them.

The mention of those secrets reminded him…

A fairy… That was what the demon called him. What he read in that revelation during his dive into the Heart’s Shroud certainly led credence to that.

His inner self called itself a Wandering Fairy.

Soren wondered if this somehow tied to his Soul Chain’s instability. As he understood it, a person’s Runic Existence and their Inner Will were two, separate entities, but both governed the same thing.

While a Runic Existence represented a person’s conceptual make up externally, a person’s inner will did the same thing internally. It was this distinction that created a separation between Soul Realm and Soul Weapon.

But for whatever reason, it seemed his Inner Will and Runic Existence was blurring that definition… And he had no idea why or how such a thing could even happen. For his Soul Weapon to be connected this deeply with his Soul Realm could only mean that the two distinct parts of his identity were somehow meshing together unnaturally.

Even now, he refuses to disclose anything about what his True Self looked like.

He was afraid.

Afraid that Tina and the others would abandon him for this strange oddity.

Soren recognized it as an irrational fear. He knew that he was being ridiculous, but he couldn’t help but not trust Tina or Myrin just yet. The fact that the demon was so close to weaponizing that insecurity of his didn’t allow him to sleep at all that night.

He knew he needed to change himself quickly.