NOVEL NEXT Chapter 229: Recorded Theories
Sitting before his candle-lit desk, Soren flipped the page on his Soul Weapon. He read the date at the top of the page—150th day in the Vyak calendar. His eyes naturally shifted down to the entry he had [Record]ed previously.
Status
Name: Cassia of the Nagashi
Race: Drakari
Age: 74
Vocation: Maiden of the Serpent
Magi Rank: Adept (3rd Circle)
Magi Affinities: Gravity, Dragonflame
Soul Realm: Dragon's Roost (Unique) (Kindled Stage)
Spells: Flame Arrow, Circle of Fire, Scorched Earth, Tornado of Embers, Flame Embodiment, Fire Ball, Levitate, Earthly Body
Soul Weapon: Figments of the Serpent (Tier 1)
Skills: [Vitality of the Serpent], [Eyes of the Serpent]
Blessings: [The Untruthful Prayer] (???)
Rune Collection: [The Reverse Scale] (4 Insight)
Soren stared at the displayed information for a while. His thoughts were in complete disarray.
"What are you thinking so hard about?" Tazzith's voice entered his mind like usual, plagued with both curiosity and mockery.
Soren shook his head. "It still doesn't make any sense to me." He leaned back, watching his shadow dance across the ceiling from the flickering light. "Cassia is rash… She is emotional and extremely impatient at times. She's also a complete workaholic… To the point that I even question my own efforts at times.
"Even if she is being plagued with guilt, the way she's handling everything seems out of character. She has to know that the tribe most likely survived, right? So then why not strive to return to them?
"Is it out of fear that the Vynasians might return? But even then…"
"That is most likely a part of the puzzle," Tazzith sighed. "After all, she did after all say either you or her had to die… Something is forcing her to take such drastic measures.
"She must have seen or learned something. Perhaps a premonition? A Dream Divination? Though, only Spirit magi have that kind of ability. But she could have done the same with a magitech item either way…"
Tazzith's final words rang loudly in his mind. Soren quickly recalled something he had forgotten.
"Her dreams?.." His eyes widened.
During the Mirror Game, Cassia—or more specifically, the ancestor whose body she came to possess—had constantly been plagued with strange dreams… Aside from the constant abuse and torture the Elves inflicted upon her, she was also bothered by the endless corruption her nightly hallucinations brought her.
These lucid visions depicted the battles happening in the Beyond… The warring spirits were constantly radiating their influence everywhere, and that poisonous Astral Anima was a constant danger to her mind's sanity.
Soren had always found this rather strange. Unlike himself or Myrin, Cassia was a Holy Phantasm. Her Soul Weapon wasn't forged—it was given to her as a blessing from her patron deity. This became obvious when observing her Status Sheet. Despite possessing Figments of the Serpent for more than fifty years, Cassia was only able to grow the rune's size to 4 Insight Fragments…
Unlike Vagrants, Holy Phantasms have no control over their own growth. And nor should it be their goal… Their prime focus should be on serving and connecting with their God.
At the end of the day, their role was never unique. Multiple Holy Phantasms of the same faith could possess the same Soul Weapon with some slight distinctions… It was for this reason that Cassia fit so well within the Mirror Game. Because she was placed in the body of her ancestor, she was able to keep her Soul Weapon, since the ancestor had also obtained the same "blessing" in the past.
And yet, despite these similarities, there was one thing that differentiated Cassia from this ancient relative of hers: those strange dreams…
That was an experience she had never been through in the past.
Dream Divinations were a familiar aspect to most magi, but this was different. The visions she was receiving in her dreams were visions of the present—events happening in the moment within the Beyond… And there was no way of controlling it either—the endless chaos invading her mind drove her close to madness.
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In a way, this reminded Soren of his own dreams of Mount Tolarion. Except, those felt more static and easier to understand… Fate was simply trying to point him in the direction it needed him to go. Whereas for Cassia, the same could not be said. There was no semblance of reason or purpose for her dreams… Rather than help, they sought to harm her instead.
Although Soren was never able to fully figure out why they were happening, he eventually stopped caring. After all, the scenario had ended—there was no reason to believe Cassia would continue to be bothered by them after leaving the Mirror Game.
But what if… he was wrong?..
Looking back at her status page, Soren glanced at a peculiar line all the way at the end:
Blessings: [The Untruthful Prayer] (???)
"The Untruthful Prayer…" He muttered to himself. This was likely the blessing of the Serpent of Untruths… But because his Soul Weapon couldn't confirm it, it left it as "???".
But what really mattered was its purpose. Soren was certain that it was likely responsible for Cassia's twisted lie from fifty years ago… That silent prayer she conducted, surrounded by the flames of her home, was a desperate one… And in her rejection of that reality, that prayer was answered.
"Tazzith, how far can a Divine Authority interact with its believers?"
As the candle wax slowly melted under the radiance of the flame, he heard a response back:
"As far as their faith takes them."
"The believers you mean?"
"Yes."
Soren rubbed his chin. "So then, could for example, a Divine Authority be used to influence their believer's dreams?"
There was an obvious pause from the ancient demon. It took a few more moments for him to hear a response:
"That is fairly easy… Are you saying that Cassia received a revelation through her dreams?"
Hearing the question, all Soren could do was shrug. "Its hard to say. But I see no other explanation. After all, Cassia experienced such a phenomenon during the Mirror Game. What's there to say it can't happen to her now?
"My theory is not very conclusive, but perhaps this is all due to the unraveling of that fifty year old lie… Perhaps Cassia was always supposed to receive such dreams, just like her Maiden of the Serpent ancestor. But because of the Untruth that was casted upon the Nagashi village, her connection to that Divine Authority was restricted too… All to preserve the lie.
"Once it unraveled, that restriction was lifted as well, allowing her to receive these supposed 'revelations.'"
The silence deepened—broken only by the endless scratch of the mysterious fountain pen across the enchanted pages. Every detail of Soren's theories was faithfully being [Record]ed.
Eventually, he heard the old demon sigh:
"You might be right… But why does that matter in the first place?"
"Hm?" Soren tilted his head slightly.
"Divine Authorities are not omnipotent. Sure, they are forces most cannot contend against—not even some Empyreans. But their powers are limited to the domains they operate under.
"The Serpent of Untruths was certainly an enigma. A miraculous God whose existence dwarfs mine in comparison… But that was all in the past. He no longer exists. He is no longer alive…
"Even if His markings upon this continent have yet to fade, He himself had already faded. Whatever revelations that Divine Authority is sending her isn't really that important."
Soren shook his head. "I am not so certain. Even if these revelations are inconsequential, I am certain they are related to me in some way. You said it yourself, didn't you? That something she saw or learned was compelling her to either kill herself or kill me instead…
"Still, it is true that needless worry won't help anyone." He stood up from his chair and stretched, glancing at the glass-less window covered in a hazy white fog. "There's a lot of things I must prepare."
Cassia's circumstances were certainly a mystery, but it wasn't as urgent as everything else he needed to do. It was only due to his injuries from the fight that required him to stay confined to his room for the past two days… Being free for that long gave him ample time to lay out his thoughts on everything.
More than anything, Soren was more annoyed by how blatant his defeat was… Cassia being two Circles above him was a fact he couldn't deny, but what unsettled him was just how utterly powerless he was against her. He couldn't even run away gracefully…
It became clear to him that reaching the 2nd Circle as soon as possible needs to be his top priority.
Fortunately, his efforts have not been in vain. Soren's month-long experiment at trying to confirm Pendragon's Theories was finally reaching its climax… He had asked Myrin and Mistress Solyara for assistance, in case anything went wrong.
And further past that, there was the issue of his new rune… Cantor's Crown. A rune he has yet to fully understand.
Not for long, he said inwardly. Picking up his Soul Weapon off the table, Soren sent the usual mental command to The Records. He watched as its pages turned bright gold, flickering fervently like flames before unfurling a deep and bottomless void.
[The Faerie Court].
There was no need to remain passive now that most of his injuries were healed.
Just before his body disintegrated into a swarm of butterflies, he heard Tazzith ask one last question with a slight chuckle:
"If you were faced with the same ultimatum again—to kill Cassia or allow her to kill you—what choice would you make?"
Soren's lips curled up as his body rapidly broke to pieces.
"Ultimatums are no different from having no choice at all."