Abyssal Awakening

Returning to his office, Caelan slumped over in his chair. His fingers tapped against his table as his mind began to turn.

Alice having the traces of Yvael was no coincidence.

The fact that she was practically retracing her steps could only mean one thing.

Taking a deep breath, he let out a fatigued sigh.

His mother was. . . someone who predates the Ayrian days. When the Abyss was beginning to flourish. She was the one who gave humanity the power to properly channel the energy that was ambient in the air. She was also the one who granted the Eclipse their twisted rituals.

If he was being honest, Yvael was rather. . . tame before the fall of Ayr.

But during the final battle, he could still recall his mother asking him to watch with him through an orb.

"Cael~ Make sure you don't turn your eyes away okay? Witness this and understand. The truth of this world~ Burn the sight into your eyes and bask in the afterglow of mortality leaving a God's body~ For the next few centuries, this sight will never appear again."

With Velouria dead and her blood dripping from her body, Caelan had looked towards his mother, wondering what she was thinking about.

While his couldn't quite remember her facial features. He could still remember that haunting smile that only stretched wider as the blood left Velouria's corpse.

"Ah~ the body of a God. Their divinity. If even Gods can bleed and die, why do we still call them Gods? If their only redeeming factor are the abilities bestowed by Divinity then what sets them apart from Realm Rulers? Their mythos? The crystallisation of their achievements?" Yvael muttered with a chuckle. She bit her fingers in jealousy seeing Nyer retrieve that body and leave with it.

If only she could get her hands on a piece of Velouria.

"I can feel it~ Fresh inspiration. The new possibilities flowing into my mind~ Cael~ Do you trust me?" She turned towards him.

At that time, Caelan didn't know the true nature of his mother's personality. If he did, he wouldn't have nodded his head that day.

Unlike him, Rosalyn was never deeply involved with Yvael. She was more concerned with her own well being and happiness.

When the battle between realm rulers broke out years later, Rosalyn felt the weakness of her own power and mistakenly sought out their mother.

Clenching his fist, Caelan leaned back on his chair.

Yvael is dead. He's sure of it as he saw it with his own two eyes.

But was that all deception in the end?

After shredding away the concept of mortality from his body, his mother had abandoned him for years while he accumulated to the constant pain. The feeling of death trying to tear him to piece from the inside out but never succeeding.

He didn't die but the pain was always there.

Then he found Rosalyn in a coma. Her body half melted into a pool of blood, unable to drag itself back together. His mother appearing once more, calling her a failed product, how disappointed she was and how she couldn't match up to his potential.

Her greatest masterpiece.

It was then that Caelan understood one 'truth' that his mother had always preached about.

A truth that he couldn't deny.

His mother could not be allowed to continue on this path!

Hesitating for a moment, Caelan walked towards his closet and pulled out a small orb. Playing around with it between his fingers, he resolved himself and crushed it.

Mist began to flow from the bead as viscous blood slapped against the ground.

Taking a step back, Caelan watched as from this blood, bones and flesh was reconstructed.

A temporary vessel, a method of contacting. . . Nyer.

The incomplete vessel didn't grow the full body. It simply grew enough so that it could talk and see and listen.

Eyes grew in the hollow sockets and turned to look at Caelan.

"Now this is a surprise. I hadn't expected you to contact me after how we parted before." Nyer spoke slowly.

Usually, he kept his sentences short but for Caelan to contact him, it was truly an eye opener. He knew full well how difficult it must've been for him to choose this decision.

Especially after finding out that he had been collaborating with Yvael for. . . certain projects before she died.

Seeing Caelan hesitant to say a word, Nyer closed his eyes and injected more power into this vessel.

So that they can have a proper conversation.

Flesh whipped around the bones, reconstructing his form fully as cloth wrapped around his body. Giving himself a rather stylish suit, Nyer walked over to the sofa and sat down. Crossing his legs, he pulled out some tea and placed it on the table.

"Are you contacting me because Rosalyn's body is falling apart?" Nyer decided to take the initiative.

He was grateful to Caelan. Without him, some of his research wouldn't have been as successful as they were.

"No, Rosalyn's body is functioning just fine. There are no issues with her body." Caelan sat down opposite Nyer.

"That's good to hear. So what's the reason for your. . . hesitation old friend?" Nyer chuckled.

Closing his eyes, Caelan took a moment before staring back at Nyer in seriousness.

"What did you do with Yvael? I believe we agreed that she should be killed and left that way. So why does your experiment now show traces of Yvael's thinking? Why is she able to replicate Yvael's techniques despite never having seen them or have heard of her before?"

Hearing this, Nyer's finger twitched ever so slightly.

He placed his tea down and tapped his finger against the able. A slight echo that pulsed outwards.

"So she's in your library." Nyer spoke briefly as Caelan gritted his teeth.

"Calm yourself friend. I have adhered to our agreement. Yvael is dead, I can guarantee that. There is no reincarnation, no incarnation nor possession. She is and forever will be gone." Nyer narrowed his gaze, forcing Caelan to sit back down.

"So explain why the hell Alice is doing what she's doing? What exactly did you do after I left."

Caelan was. . . somewhat involved in the experimental progress after Nyer sought out his mother. But when his mother started stray, he formed an agreement with Nyer.

One that he surprisingly accepted.

But looking back, Caelan was beginning to see that he was naïve in that moment.

Pulling out a plate of sugar cubes, Nyer grabbed on and placed it in his tea before slowly stirring.

"Yvael was brilliant in all the ways imaginable. Willing to break any taboo, even if it meant experimenting on her own son and daughter. Your immortality is her greatest work after all." Nyer began as Caelan clicked his tongue.

"Oh jeez, thanks a lot for the reminder. It's not like I've been seeing her shadow in Alice because of what she's been doing."

"Be patient, I'm getting there. As an immortal, time is something you have in an abundance is it not? Patience and composure is a gift of experience." Nyer pointed his tea spoon at Caelan.

"While Yvael may have experimented on you and your sister, she wasn't like the others. She was opportunistic. Anything and everything was at her disposal, even herself. When you came to me with the suggestion of killing her, I was rather surprised.

"Surprised at how mother and son can be so very different yet at the same time very similar. She decided that the next step of her evolution, of her thinking, wasn't through herself.

"She helped you transcend mortality, she's created the fundamentals of casting. She even created rituals that promoted exchange. Contracts and agreements. To her, she did everything. But no more sparks of inspiration came to her.

"The world was simply lacking. Or rather, the cogs of fate have ceased to move. Much like her casting, she believed that everything had a requirement that had to be met before activation.

"She believed that there are. . . people that can fulfil these requirements. Velouria being one of them. And so am I. Though to a lesser extent." Nyer shrugged his shoulders.

Yvael was a frighteningly smart woman. Someone who saw through everything that Nyer wanted to achieve. No matter what he wanted to hide, she would be able to find it.

"However, Yvael said that she wasn't one of these people. She wasn't someone that can turn the cogs of fate but rather, the one who puts them into place. The world was her sandbox and she decides what can or can't be moved when the person comes along.

"Her final grand experiment. . . I have yet to unravel the full extent of it either. But some of her predictions have already come true." Nyer pulled out a preserved sheet of parchment.

Furrowing his brows, Caelan grabbed the page and read the contents.

As he continued to read, his fingers began to tremble.

"Yvael couldn't see the future nor was she some kind of omniscient being. What she can do however, was simulate and predict likely events based on the 'cogs' that have been put into place. What would happen should they begin to move." Nyer finished his tea.

"And I believe some of it has already come true. So perhaps calling it a prophecy and Yvael a 'seer' might not be inaccurate."

Caelan didn't say anything. He simply read the prophecy in silence.

[One who shall tread the trodden path not as daughter but as the great divide. The fifth boundary will wane, the sixth will weep. Beyond the seventh veil, what is bound shall blink.]

[Blood not born, yet burdened. Thread not spun, yet sovereign.]

[Three times shall the one bleed what is not theirs.]

[Once for the living.]

[Once for the dead.]

[Once for the chained.]

[The weeping star shall rise thrice and fall once. One who bears no beginning shall step upon the path lined with sin.]

[A name forgotten shall bloom in silence. Three veils torn by your hand.]

[The Eye that Watches.]

[The Mouth that Whispers.]

[The Womb that Devours.]

[Beware the boundary that sings. Beware the ruin that listens. Beware the child who does not blink.]

[At the Seventh Threshold, you will tread barefoot in blood. At the Eighth toll of the bell, you will speak words not meant to be heard.]

[Then comes Nine.]

[Neither number nor ending. A face turned backwards, the breath after death.]