CHAPTER 57: AN ACCORD

“As for how I know of your supposed title, I have my ways of course…” Her eyes glanced up and down his body. “But nothing is more telling than your very soul. I can sense a deep yet obscure anima hidden within you. One that is foreign to your body.

“It seems to be a blessing of some sort. One that even I cannot remove.”

“A blessing?” Soren wondered. Mr. Unknown did grant that title to him. Its effects gave him some protection from the echoes of the rift. He did question its effectiveness, however. After all, the memories of what happened to him at the very end of his journey to the Heart’s Shroud still continued to haunt him. He considered his words carefully before replying.

“Mistress Sienna… I do not want to rely on the help of an outsider, especially one I have no relationship with.”

She propped her elbow on the railing of the canopy and leaned her head against her palm, “Oho?” Her lips curved into a warm smile.

“Will you take me in as a student?” He asked.

For a moment, the only thing Soren could hear was the sound of his own heartbeat as well as the swaying of branches in the surrounding garden. She continued observing him for a few more agonizing minutes before the silence broke.

“Show me your Soul Realm,” she commanded.

“Yes, Ma’am.” Soren did as he was bid. He slowly expanded his will around him, covering the entire marble canopy in a bubble. Sienna glanced up and observed. He didn’t know what she was seeing and decided to wait for her to tell him herself.

“Hmm.” She thought. “How interesting. Your anima seems to overlap both the natural world and the beyond. Actually, can I even call it your anima?”

Soren’s brow lifted. “What do you mean?”

“It means your Soul Realm which is a representation of your inner self and your Runic Existence which is a representation of your Soul within the Beyond are practically one in the same.”

Soren remembered his experience within the Heart’s Shroud. Should I tell her? He was still hesitant about revealing what his Inner Self looked like. He decided to just stay quiet. She continued to observe his Soul Realm before commenting again.

“Still, this isn’t bad. Managing to unlock your Soul Realm with only a few days of training is not only highly impressive, but very dangerous as well. As for the Mystery regarding your anima… That will be something you’ll need to discover on your own.”

“I’ve been wondering,” he said. “My Soul Realm is currently in the nascent stage. How exactly should I go about upgrading it?”

“You’re asking the wrong question,” she answered.

“Huh?”

“A Soul Realm’s mastery isn’t just about improving its quality—that is something that will require you to build upon your Three Layers of Self and is something most magi never accomplish in their lifetimes. What you need to focus on right now is mastering your control over what you have. How long can you keep your Soul Realm expanded for?”

Soren frowned, “Only 30 something seconds…” He was very embarrassed by this. He had assumed that with his constant usage of the ability, he would slowly get used to it. But that turned out not to be the case. Ever since unlocking his Soul Realm a week or so ago, there had been no improvements at all.

“Makes perfect sense,” she said. “You still haven’t manifested a single Channel of Willpower.”

He heard that term before. “Myrin had mentioned this to me… But he refused to disclose any info on it even when I tried to pry it out of his tongue.” It pissed him off the more he thought about it. What was the point of unlocking a Soul Realm if he wasn’t going to teach him how to improve it?

“Myrin had a very valid reason for this, so do not blame him too much.”

“A reason?” He tilted his head.

She nodded. “Yes. The whole purpose behind unlocking your Soul Realm was due to him wanting you to regain control over your Echo of Mind. Your Soul Weapon had been creating many contradictory thoughts within it, ones that Myrin was able to pick up. In theory, if you were able to take back control of your Echo of Mind by manifesting a Soul Realm, you would automatically create another obstacle in the struggle between you and your Soul Weapon, or more specifically, the Abstract Rune that powers it.”

She crossed her arms while keeping her innocently warm smile. “Myrin however, didn’t account for one other factor when it comes to how you were able to survive this long.”

One other factor? He tried to theorize what it could be but came empty handed. Sienna realized and decided to give the answer.

“The law of Mirrored Influence. That is what we magi call it. For every amount of influence exerted on the natural world through Mysteries, the same amount of influence is reflected into The Beyond.”

She chuckled, “There’s a common saying that is taught in Luvinica. It goes like this—the more one interacts with the Beyond, the more it changes… What many of those scholars don’t know, however, is that this statement originated from an ancient Empyrean. They were His last words. The Law of Mirrored Influence is far more ‘influential’ on Phantasms than it is on regular magi.”

Soren pondered over her words slowly. “Are you saying that my usage of [Eyes of the Fairy] which interacts with the Beyond has an influence on my lifespan? B-but how…”

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“Simple, really.” She replied. “It has to do with how Abstract Runes function. But this is a discussion we can have much later. Right now, I want to gauge your answer about something.”

Suddenly, the air shifted—her face had turned semi serious. “Soren,” she said solemnly. “I would like to offer you an accord.”

“An accord?” He frowned. “Demonology?”

She shook her head, “It’s very similar to that field, but no. An accord uses the same logic and parameters as contractual magecraft, but the difference is, rather than a bond between souls, it is a vow you uphold upon yourself—one that is witnessed by a person who dictates the edict in question.”

The words floated around in his mind chaotically—he didn’t understand what any of that jargon meant.

“How should I explain it,” she pondered. “Essentially, you are creating a promise to yourself, and I, to uphold a certain edict. You can think of edicts as rules that are manifested from the authority of a certain concept. When it comes to your case, the Accord I am proposing will entail an edict formed from the concepts I administer—Star Fate.

“To put it in simple terms, you will be vowing under the rule of my edict to freeze the fate of your Soul Chain.”

“Freeze… My Soul Chain’s fate?” His face was filled with confusion.

She nodded. “From what I have observed so far, it seems the way you merged with your Abstract Rune was very unnatural. I am unsure what method you utilized—you spoke of a ritual of some kind, but no Soul Alchemy Ritual is as simple as the one you described. It is most definitely concerning.

“Tell me, Soren. Have you ever tried to use your [Eyes of the Fairy] ability on yourself?”

“Huh?”

“More specifically,” she followed, “on your Soul Weapon.”

Soren squinted and looked down at the ancient tome he was holding—its cracked leather looked dilapidated even from this distance. “Now that you mention it…”

Why didn’t I think of that? It should have been an easy conclusion to make…

“You’re probably thinking, why didn’t I think of that right now, aren’t you?”

He nodded. “Yes…”

Her smile crept up her cheeks. “It’s not that you didn’t think of it. You for certain did. It was just erased from your mind.

“More specifically, you steered yourself away from that thought. And when I say you, I don’t mean the you standing here right now…”

Soren’s eyes widened as he stared at his deactivated Soul Weapon. “You don’t mean…”

“Yes. Your Soul Weapon has been subtly influencing you, steering you away from this conclusion. Still, your ability to manifest a Soul Realm greatly thwarted this outcome. Usually, those who undergo Soul Alchemy Rituals tend to be already well established Magi and Sentinels—their Soul Realms and Soul Frames give them an edge in fighting against the corruption of the Abstract Rune. You on the other hand became a Phantasm prior to even knowing what magecraft even was. It’s already a miracle you weren’t taken over completely.”

“So then… What do you propose I do… Should I peer into my own Soul Weapon using [Eyes of the Fairy]?”

She shook her head. “No. Although your Soul Weapon steered you away it, that doesn’t automatically mean that its something you should do. At the end of the day, your Soul Weapon is still a part of you. You are its host—its sustenance. Your purpose is to spread its influence upon the world. It may want to harm you, but that’s only for the sake of gaining more control and leverage over you. It is outside a Soul Weapon’s interests to harm you in a way that doesn’t benefit it, so it steering you away from the thought of using [Eyes of the Fairy] might be its way of self-preservation, not just deception.

“A far better method would be undergoing a Soul Dive test. It will most likely offer the same results but with a thicker layer of protection, especially with my magecraft acting as a filter.”

Soren nodded, “I see… But then why does this mean I need to put a pause upon the fate of my Soul Chain… What does this even mean, really?”

“Good question,” she smiled. “The accord you will be agreeing to will freeze your Soul Chain’s fate in place. This will accomplish two things. First, it will put an end to its instability, and two, it will be immune to all changes within yourself and the Beyond. Obviously, such a change will also prevent you from unlocking the next node in your Soul Chain, and even the influence you accumulate within the Beyond will build up, meaning your fragments of insight won’t increase.”

His eyes widened, “So then I won’t be able to grow as a Phantasm?”

“Nay, you can still grow.” Her smile turned devilish. “The accord will last 1 year. After that year is up, it will unbind itself and your fate will resume once more.”

He rubbed his chin, “That doesn’t seem so bad…” Even so, he couldn’t help but feel a hint of suspicion. “There’s more to it than that, though, right?”

Sienna giggled softly. “Very astute. Yes, after the accord ends, the fate of your Soul Chain will resume as it once did a year ago. But there is one key difference. Remember how I mentioned that fate has layers to it? This accord deals with the innermost layer, Epoch. We are essentially pausing time itself around your Soul Chain, preserving it in its current state. The problem with this method, however, is that the other layers of fate also orbit—specifically, World. The World Fate, as its called, will continue its orbit and movements. That means that the moment the accord ceases its edict, its fate will begin to course correct in order to ‘catch-up’ on all the accumulated fate it needs to bring its orbit back in the correct position in relation to the World Fate.”

“I… I didn’t understand much of that…” Soren rubbed the back of neck awkwardly. “But essentially, you are saying that my Soul Chain will experience everything it should have experienced in the duration of that year the moment the accord ends? Am I understanding this correctly?”

She nodded, “Yes, and it will happen instantaneously. That means all your accumulated corruption, instability, growth, influence… All of it will impact your Soul Chain at once. As you currently stand, your instability is combating against the influence you are creating within the Beyond to break your Soul Chain, but your rate of influence is dwarfed by its rate of instability. You should technically have only a few days left before your Soul Weapon fully takes over your body. So picture what would happen if a year from now, the accord ends, and all the instability that you should have gained gradually over a year’s length is suddenly added back to your Soul Chain.”

“It would instantly break apart and I’ll lose control…” Soren answered as his voice slowly lowered in defeat.

She nodded, “Correct.”

He glanced back up at her ethereal figure. “So then… What should I do after this year is up? Will I be doomed?”

“Most likely, yes.” She sighed. “Your goal a year from now should be to focus on immediately unlocking your next node and merging with another Abstract Rune. That will reset the instability again. But as I stated, it will be extremely dangerous. You will have to undergo a Soul Alchemy Ritual while your Soul Chain breaks apart. You won’t even have that much time to undergo the ritual itself—most likely only a minute or two before your Soul Chain shatters into pieces. That means the window of opportunity is pathetically small—if you miss it, that will be the end of you.”

Soren felt his shoulders weaken. He couldn’t blame himself for feeling dejected. Throughout his journey to Yadria, he had constantly dreamed about this very moment—meeting this supposed Witch of Star Fate. His delusions spun tales of her casting away this supposed issue with his Soul Chain easily, of him journeying this world without any issues.

Wake up, Soren. He thought. Nothing in this world comes easy or cheap.

Soren looked up at Sienna—looking directly into her star-filled eyes. “I agree to this Accord. Let us do it.”

Her smile widened, “I knew you’d make the correct choice.”