CHAPTER 85: BREAK IN

A short-haired girl wearing the usual mage dress gifted to her by her mistress stepped out of her room—her face sunken and full of gloom. These days, it was hard to even find Joyce’s meals fulfilling, as impossible as that was to say.

Not only was her mistress and many of the other members gone on the expedition, her new favorite junior was still wandering the Beyond with the chances of him coming back dwindling by the hour…

No, it was more bleak than that. Cassia was almost certain that his chances of returning were fairly close to nothing by now—two weeks had passed since he had wandered across the unfounded plane, and many months must have passed for him during that vast journey. From what she read up, the current record holder for the longest astral projection was an archmage from 200 years ago who had managed to stay sane for three weeks—an equivalent of 3-4 months in the Beyond... No one had ever gotten close to that amount of time and survived.

Soren on the other hand, was entering his third week now. And the difference between him and that archmage was akin to comparing a drop of water to the sea. It’s already a miracle he had survived for this long, but she was sure that even if he made it back now, he would no longer be the same Soren she knew…

What a shame… I only got to know him for two or so weeks… He had so much potential…

Even though she didn’t want to feel like giving up, her internal thoughts betrayed her. It was simply beyond the realm of hope now… Even with Soren’s boundless talent and potential, the reality still remained the same…

What’s worse, her own psyche had been under pressure as well. As much as she wanted to deny it, it was still her fault that Soren entered the Beyond this early on… Had she warned him even more or barred his request, would things have gone this way? She wasn’t sure. Soren was stubborn, but she was still his mentor in a way… If she had denied his request, he would have had no choice but to suck it up and wait until she felt more confident about his prospects…

In the end, however, she was swept away by his talent and previous accomplishments and let him take the journey, anyway. It was hard not to feel guilty and regretful—even worse, helpless…

Sighing, she walked dejected through the familiar corridors, heading toward the lounge for a much needed break.

I can’t even seem to concentrate on my own research anymore…

Suddenly, a voice startled her from behind:

“Cassia? Are you heading for breakfast? It's already somewhat late—how unusual.”

Recognizing the voice, she glanced back briefly—Candice was holding a few books in her bosom, presumably for study.

Unlike the other members of Star Fate Guild, Candice was the only member to not be either a Sentinel, Magi, or Phantasm. However, despite her weakness, no one would dare to say she doesn’t deserve her place in the group.

There was more to running a guild than just strength—wit and cunning were also necessary… Especially a guild like theirs which was designated as a criminal organization in the eyes of many. Vagrant Phantasms didn’t really have the best reputation, after all…

…And that was exactly her role to play. Unlike the facade she displays, Cassia’s eyes could see through deception fairly easily… And the smile Candice was currently displaying was anything but real.

Cassia sighed, “I’ve been busy tending to our sleeping princess… Soren has still not come back from his pilgrimage.”

“What about your divinations? Didn’t you say you will be pinpointing his location soon?”

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“I was… I even obtained a dream vision. He’s in an area full of darkness? It was fairly hard to even see anything though… Dream divination isn’t that accurate, after all, and it tends to only show partial glimpses of certain events… But this is by far the worst case I’ve had… There’s absolutely no details to the scene I was shown, and I can’t even tell if what I saw was a glimpse of the future, or the past… Either he’s stuck in an area with high amounts of anti-divination anima fields, or…” Her voice trailed off.

“Or?...” Candice held her breath.

“Or, he’s in a section of the Beyond that doesn’t even have full representation… An area full of darkness—there is really only one that I can think of that fits the details somewhat.”

They both reached the same conclusion: “The Dark Forest.”

Candice covered her mouth with her hand. “But… But that’s impossible! The Astral Projection magitech device I lended to you doesn’t even have the range to transport anyone that far!”

“I know…” Cassia rubbed her forehead. “I just can’t think of anything else… And even if my theory is right, the both of us know just how hopeless navigating that treacherous place is… Not even archmages are able to survive there for long, let alone me who’s only a 2nd Circle magus…”

“So then, what do we do?”

Cassia wanted to shrug, but couldn’t bring herself to. “I… I don’t know. When I spoke to the mistress, she told me to simply wait and see… I know Soren’s fate holds some sort of importance, but at the same time, can we even deduce when that importance comes into play? What if fate wants him to die there, alone in the Dark Forest? Should we just accept that?”

Candice shook her head. “No one can understand fate. The more you chase after it, the more you fall into its grasps. All we can do is hope that Soren’s end is not destined to be now.”

Even without her ability to detect deception, Cassia knew that what Candice was saying was the truth. It was no wonder the mistress assigned her as the guild manager. Without her pragmatism, they would have most likely sunk into debt, or worse, gotten in trouble with the authorities. And even more so, the delicate balance between the hidden factions of the underground shadow guilds was not something anyone could navigate safely…

Even the last deal she had tried to broker with the Silver Vial Distillery ended roughly. If not for Candices guidance, they would have caused a much bigger rift between the guilds, something they couldn’t afford to do when the group was aiming for a major expedition in the coming days.

I wonder how they are all doing over there, in the Avalon Ruins…

Her string of thoughts were cut by Candice who brought the girl close in for a warm hug. “Do not worry too much about Soren… Although he might look a bit silly at times, he’s definitely very smart. It might sound improbable to you, but I have a small hunch he might prove us all wrong… Well, we can only hope so anyway.”

Cassia smiled a bit. Although Candice’s real personality was always hidden behind a thick veil, she knew for a fact that the woman loved and cared for all of them like family. It was moments like these that proved it to her. After all, the mistress wouldn’t have entrusted her with so many important responsibilities otherwise.

“Thanks…” She replied softly as she embraced the hug. To say she didn’t feel burdened would have been a lie… Cassia’s heart had grown heavy in the past week or so. Even though it was hopeless, a part of her still wanted to believe in the boy who had diligently helped her with all her experiments.

The next few minutes flowed rather quickly as they conversed about the expedition and everything else happening around Celestine—mostly about the Greenfather Festival preparations which were going to happen tonight.

The event was meant to last for three days, after all, with those from the Church of Nature conducting mass on the first day, followed by festival celebrations on the second, then finally, a sacrificial ritual to the Greenfather, Nurtured of Nature, on the final day, marking the start of a new year, according to the old Dulval calendar that they still follow.

As they passed by Noctharn’s smithing hall, the giant shadow continued to hammer at a glowing rod of hot metal. Booming sounds echoed across the chamber and into the corridors, urging Candice and Cassia to speed up toward the next corridor, away from the deafening noise.

Just as they were about to finish crossing, however, a colossal sound was heard—one that made even the vibrations of Noctharn’s anvil seem silent in comparison. The ancient stone hallways of the abandoned dungeon creaked and shook, raining dust and rocks on them all.

Cassia hissed and glanced at the distant corridor that the sound emerged from. Her feet were almost thrown off balance from the blast.

“What… Just happened?”

Candice coughed, “I don’t know… But that sound… It came from the entrance to the dungeon, didn’t it?”

Suddenly, Noctharn stopped his rhythmic hammering and stared out into the distant corridor—his face was obscured behind countless ancient shadows, making it hard to read his thoughts.

The mysterious giant stirred—a hoarse voice entered Cassia’s mind:

“Prepare yourself. Intruders.”