Breaking my second shackle was...odd. I felt strange. Like there had been a lot of little gaps in me that were gone now. The sublimation that elevated my soul to green had further refined it, made it seamless, stronger. Of course, I still had one more in store, eventually. The condensation of my Azure Soul Body. That was a ways away though. I had to completely refine my soul through green first.

Callie had slowed down, but as I watched, something about her changed. She stepped onto the platform and her posture shifted, altering the impression she gave. I felt through the bond when she changed as I had. Her soul was still her, of course, but it was...MORE her. Somehow. She grinned and raced over to throw herself into my arms, clinging to me as we both nearly collapsed against each other for support.

Billy was gone. I knew where, at least, whichever temple the bronze key opened. For the moment though, we were all but useless, and he'd gotten here ahead of us. We needed to rest. We spent about twenty minutes on the platform, both of us absorbing the energy since there was no one close enough to ambush us. This was the last one, so we wanted to get as much out of it as possible.

"So." I said as we sat and gathered ourselves. "What was your heart shackle, if you don't mind me asking. I felt you break it but I didn't get the whole picture."

"You." She said bluntly. "The further we go, the more we see, the more I worry I won't be able to keep up. You've shown me all these amazing things, and I love being with you, but I'm scared you'll leave me behind, and I've been constantly fighting with that."

I nodded. "I've felt some of that. Through the bond I mean. And YOU'VE felt how stupid it is to even think it right?"

Her smile lit up the whole platform. "I have. It didn't help. The idea that you would leave me behind, that I needed to keep up. That was the shackle. Because...you won't. I know you. I can feel what you feel most of the time. You love me and you won't leave. It took a lot to break that. It helps that I have my own thing that makes me special now, granted. Being a godslayer will probably help me keep up."

"Not to mention this whole experience." I pointed out. "We're at green now. Even if we don't manage to get to the Azure Soul Body we're still at the same level as some of the most powerful juniors across the factions. We're going to be on track to really hit the scene with a bang when we get to some of the more central galaxies."

She nodded. "That too. All in all, it was a lot of little stuff that let me break it. It's hard to put it into words, which I'm sure you get having experienced it."

I lapsed into silence. She was right, words fell short, and we knew each other well enough not to need them. I took her hand in mine and we just sat, recovering, relaxing, being together. Eventually though, we reached our limits and we both got a good ten percent of the way into green.

Standing, I turned in the opposite directions of the stair, finally ready to take in the temples. I'd purposefully help back, forcing myself to be careful about looking lest I get excited and want to cut our recovery short. It had been a good idea, because they were all fucking amazing. Past the steps was a sea of clouds, thick and white and almost solid looking. Actually, they WERE solid, because as I looked closer I could see the buildings sitting ON the clouds.

The temples were far apart mostly. Evenly spaced in a circle around a central point. The only exception was three unusually large buildings, built in a triangle around some kind of central courtyard I couldn't see. I felt a pull from the golden key I was holding, leading me towards the most ostentatious temple.

"Ok, so he got the bronze key, I'm guessing he was trying to get to whatever is in that courtyard." I said as Callie and I cautiously stepped onto the clouds. I had a hand on her arm, ready to step off the air if necessary, but the clouds only gave a bit under our weight, more like a bouncy floor than any sort of dangerous drop.

"If that's true we'll need to split up and enter from either temple." She said with a nod. "Aside from the keys being made like that, it'll give us the best chance to catch him."

Approaching the trio of buildings, we stopped a small distance away, where we would need to separate. I pulled my mask off, leaning down to kiss her softly. "Be safe, ok? If you get there first don't attack without me. And I'll do the same. Whatever he's doing PROBABLY isn't good, but chances are whatever it is won't be enough to cause problems with all the guardians outside. The whole system is full of A and B-rankers."

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She giggled. "Are you reminding me or yourself. You look terrified." Her own voice was a little rough, and I felt her unease through the bond but chose to say nothing. She gave me one more kiss, then turned and headed for the temple where I assumed her silver key would be inserted.

Left alone, I readied the gold key and headed for the door it was pulling me toward. I wasn't sure what would be IN the temple, but I admit I was looking forward to it. I already had plans for what I wanted, and while it might not be anything too crazy, I was sure it would help me going forward. I'd been planning what to do since Zeke had mentioned some of the options, after all.

Approaching the temple (subtemple? we were in a temple already so I wasn't sure), I took in the facade. White marble trimmed in gold. Not overdone, but still ostentatious. The door at the entrance was circular, and made of an overlapping mass of golden gears, all locked into place together to create an impassable barrier. in the center was one extra shiny gear with a small hole the exact shape of the key I was holding set in the middle.

Glancing around and half expecting some kind of monster or minion to jump out and attack me, I took the whole piece in with interest. This thing was immaculately built, gorgeously refined, and seemed to be balanced absolutely flawlessly. I kind of wished Benny was here to see it. Since he wasn't though, I withdrew the key from the pouch I'd stored it in after it formed and slipped it into the lock, giving it a light turn until it clicked.

The gear turned, and the ones beside it began to spin. One gear turned another turned another, and each one began to make a sound. A symphony of golden wheels spinning in synchronized, hypnotic harmony. As the gears spun away, they all shifted along each other, whirling up and around or down and back, stripping away the barrier in front of the entrance to the temple until the door became an archway, admitting me into a brightly lit temple.

Inside the archway I was surprised to find green grass instead of hard floors. A peaceful meadow extended the length of the room, and in the center sat a crystalline lake, smooth as glass. A series of stones led to the center, where a small island sat, a single tiny hut adorning the sugar sand, in front of which sat a rocking chair.

I stepped onto the grass, and even through my shoes I could feel the soft, luxurious give of the grass. It was heavenly. I could even smell a mixture of flowers and cool refreshing water (somehow, even though water doesn't really smell like a thing, I could smell it) carried on the breeze that there shouldn't have even been inside a building. All in all, I gave it a nine out of ten for comfort.

That impression was somewhat dampened by the slam of gears crashing together as I turned to see the door resealing itself, but I got over that quick. Shrugging, I turned back to the lake, heading across the meadow. Along the way I saw cute little animals like rabbits and birds flitting about, they looked adorable and I wanted to pet them, but they were all shockingly E-ranked, and I didn't have a death wish.

When I reached the lake I took a step out onto the first stone, and I immediately felt a weight slam down on me. I wobbled but got my footing, looking around for some kind of trap. It wasn't one though, not that they would need one with the super animals hopping around. The little singing bluebird I'd just seen flutter by could probably kill every person in the damned temple.

After it became clear this wasn't a trap, I realized it had to be a test. That was fine, I'd already absorbed plenty of energy when I topped up earlier, I had soul refinement to spare. Unlike the stairs though, this wasn't an emotion or a sensation. This was just...weight. Pure soul weight.

Grimacing, I steadied myself, took a deep breath, and hopped to the next rock. I grunted as I landed, this felt like trying to jump wearing a car strapped to my back. The previously idyllic and scenic rock path had transformed into an agonizing obstacle. I tried to feel for my bond with Callie, but I got nothing. I was isolated. Having gotten close I could see a figure in the rocking chair that hadn't been there before. Specifically, MY figure.

Of course it would be me. I shook off the surprise. This whole place was designed to keep you off balance. On the upside I could make some progress in green with the leftover soul refinement energy from the platform, and work on my willpower too. It was a win win. Unless I fell into the water. I wasn't sure what the hell would happen, but somehow I didn't think it was going to be idyllic or scenic in the least.

I jumped again. And again. It was...hard. But it wasn't difficult. Without the emotional turmoil it was almost fun, like a tough workout. One step at a time, one hop, then the next. I was dripping sweat by the time I was halfway, but I felt more complete at the same time.

My soul had been upgraded, sublimated, but there was still some dissonance between my new abilities and my usage of my soul. The soul could alter skills, could adjust them, but the actual act of alteration required control. With all the power I'd gotten my soul was overpowered. I was wasting effort when I did things, shoving power into actions to make them work. This pressure was helping me refine that control, gain precision.

Now I knew why this was here. It wasn't a test. It was a reward. A helping hand along the path for anyone who was willing to take it, provided they got to the temple. I wondered if the silver and bronze subtemples had them. Maybe Callie was on one right now.

With that in mind, the rest of it was, while exhausting, mentally much easier. This was something I WANTED to do, not something I was forced to do. When I finally arrived I collapsed to the sand, panting and wheezing with effort. It took me a few minutes to recover, mostly thanks to the energy from the platform. Finally, I was done and I stood up, climbing to my feet and striding forward to stand in front of myself. "Ok asshole." I told me. "I have some questions."