Chapter 192: You Carry Us With You

Every decision that had brought Elias to this point was all tied to this cube that Yseult watched with piercing silver eyes, and with the drop of blood that she placed upon it, the line that represented Elias grew a bit broader.

Originally, the line was meant to cross the dots on the cube one at a time, and now the line broadened and it was now crossing two dots at a time, causing the gray line to subtly deepen.

She did not understand the full operation of the cube, a price she had to pay for the secrecy that she surrounded it with, but it had not let her down despite the unexpected turns and twists along the way.

She placed it away and closed her eyes to rest. Shw had done everything she could, and what happened next depended on the strength of Elias convictions. If he was willing and able, he would seize the chance placed in front of him; if he was not, he would perish.

As much as Yseult treasured her disciple, she had the cube, and making another one like him was just a matter of time… she could bear the loss.

Ⓐ

The still lake was wrong. Elias had known it from the moment he dragged himself out of its waters and watched the ripples he had raised by his passage through it vanish, like a mouth closing around prey.

In his rush to get to the forest and travel beyond it, he had skipped past this lake, but now that he was about to leave, Elias stopped because he had sensed a faint vibration coming from somewhere in the lake.

He had not felt this vibration before, but it seemed that after gaining two of the items, he was able to sense where the other two were, and one of them was under this still lake.

The second tunnel lay on the other side of the forest, and Elais suddenly felt the urge to leave this still lake and go pursue the other item at the other side, but he pushed through these feelings, even though staring at this lake made his skin crawl. Elias was not even aware that he was capable of this sensation.

He checked his Status again and frowned.

Vitality: 3772 / 4551

Stamina: 489 / 973

His body was healing, slowly, almost too slowly. The wounds from the Alpha still struggled to fully heal under his skin, his regeneration working overtime to repair the damage that the beast’s claws had done.

Without the Crimson Vein’s passive resistance, he would be dead. Without the Ascendant Swarm’s active sealing, he would have bled out before the Alpha hit the ground. He had barely survived, but survival was not enough.

Something had changed in his senses, and he could feel the pressure in the air growing deeper, and he knew he could not be wasting time.

“I really don’t want to do this,” he spoke aloud as he looked at the dark water of the lake that should have been reflecting the environment because it was still like a mirror, and yet, Elias could see nothing… how had he crossed it at first without freaking out?

He groaned and took a step toward the water, and without thinking too much about it, entered the lake.

The water was cold, but it had a slimy sensation that placed his teeth on edge; it was almost as if this lake were a gigantic pool of saliva. Elias gritted his teeth and kept walking, and as the water rose past his waist, he heard a whisper by his ears, “The Tear of Sorrow.”

Elias paused as he heard this voice, and there was a faint sense of connection in his mind that he thought he should have connected, and then his eyes lit up.

He knew that the Commander did not do anything without reason, and the depths and complexities of her ambitions were so grand that he did not know when he would fully understand them all.

While in the Fragment of Divinity, he was to find four Fragments, and one of the Fragments was fused to his spine at the moment, and inside his Lumina Space was a massive Pillar… the Pillar of Sorrow.

What was the connection between the Tear of Sorrow and the Pillar of Sorrow?

The Fragment seemed to be an exact copy of Stormfall, so how could there not be any connection with this trial and what he had experienced inside the Fragment?

Was Commander Yseult giving him hints about what he would be facing when he went for the other three Fragments?

First was the Echo Stone that seemed to have a connection with the Passenger in his head, and then the Heartwood that had a connection with his supernatural healing. Would this Tear of Sorrow be the third of the Fragment that he had already collected, which was the Pillar of Sorrow?

Now excited about what he may discover inside this lake, Elias pushed past his irritation and continued moving until the water reached his chest. He glanced back and could no longer see the shore behind him.

A fog had risen from nowhere, and the forest where he had gained the Heartwood and killed the Alpha was gone as if it were just a dream, and the only thing that existed was this cold lake.

Elias turned around, and he began to swim. Soon, there was only the water and the darkness.

And then the lake began to speak.

“Elias…”

He stopped swimming and listened, but he could not hear anything. ’Was that a figment of his imagination? He would have sworn that he heard his name.’ Elias began swimming again, following a faint sensation in his heart that he was heading for the right place.

“Elias…”

This time, the voice was clearer, and it was a woman’s voice, soft and distant, like a memory half-forgotten.

This voice was familiar; he had heard it in the Fragment and in the dreams that came after, and not too long ago, this voice was the reason he had been able to defeat the Void Echo.

It was the lady in the palatial dress that Elias had now almost conformed must be a goddess, whose soul now sat at the edge of his infinite oceans with her children.

“Elias… Elias… Elias… Elias…”

She was not the only one now. Other voices had joined her, children’s voices, young and old, voices he had heard in the Passenger’s words of madness, and the voices of the prey he had silenced with his own hands.

“Why did you let us die?”

“You could have saved us.”

“You killed him, but you didn’t save us.”

“We’re still here, Elias. We’re still waiting.”

Elias stopped swimming. The voices were not coming from inside his head, but all around him, and no matter how he turned to search, he could see nothing. Elias even closed his eyes and opened them, only to see that the fog was thicker now, pressing against his face, chest, and arms.

Despite his strength, Elias could tell that the water was now heavier, as if he were inside an extremely dense mud.

“You carry us with you,” the goddess whispered, her voice cutting through the noise around him. “You always have, from the moment you took the Pillar and you opened your pool. We are part of you now, and we will always be part of you.”

Elias did not answer. There was nothing to say… because she was right.

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