Beyond The System

Chapter 295: Legend

Unfortunately for Thea and whatever scrap of rest she’d managed to steal, it wasn’t long before Alrid returned, knocking once before letting himself in. The moment he stepped through, he addressed me directly, dipping his head in a small bow.

“We’ve prepared what we could,” he said, a pack already strapped to his back, a bedroll cinched tight into a bulky sack.

“That was fast,” I replied, genuinely caught off guard.

He nodded without hesitation. “It’s a military camp. We’re efficient when it counts, and… when you’re serving the Champion of a god, motivation is only natural.”

“Right…” I murmured, glancing back with a faint, uneasy hesitation.

I filed it away. Another thing to ask Griffith, or Serith herself, when there was room to breathe. The “godhood” part wasn’t exactly a leap, not with what Serith could do, but when had she ever shown something that would spark faith to the public?

Not urgent. But still, interesting.

Behind me, Thea shifted, lifting her head, clearly not having had enough time to truly drift under.

“We’ll be down in a moment,” she told him, smiling despite it.

Alrid nodded again and stepped back out, leaving us with a few final words. “Of course, my Lady.”

A chuckle climbed up my throat and slipped out before I could stop it.

“What?” Thea asked, amused. “You know, I am actually nobility.”

I rolled my eyes, pushing myself up and walking over to Bristle. I scratched his flank, trying to coax him into moving. “Noble or not, ‘My Lady’ is a bit… unfitting.”

A small volt of electricity snapped against the back of my neck. Nothing painful, just a sharp, tickling jolt that crawled down my spine.

Thea stood too, wearing innocence. Her slime-blanket unfurled from her shoulders, smoothing into that oddly neat, geometric oval it always became—an almost perfect little shape of—well… a slime. She gathered it up and cradled the small creature in her arms.

“What a day, huh?”

Giving up on dignity, I hoisted Bristle the same way Thea held her companion and nodded with a tired grin. “You could call it that, I guess. I’m just… Well, relieved isn’t right.” My brows pinched together. Elric was probably fine, but I wasn’t entirely sure that he was.

I trusted Serith’s power.

Her connections.

But there was no dimming the pressure in my chest.

All I could do was hope Lyra and Sia could figure something out about healing. When I’d first tried Extraction, the feeling had been too similar to Animora for coincidence. Hopefully they could work from that too. Or Lyra could.

Thea’s hand settled on my shoulder gently, like she’d read my thoughts. “Everything will be fine.”

My hand covered hers, but I didn’t answer. After a beat, I let go and headed for the door. She followed, and we made our way down the stairs, the ornate wooden railing cool beneath my fingertips as we passed.

Alrid waited below, alone until he opened the door for me.

Outside, everyone else was there.

They snapped out of their conversations as one, eyes turning toward me expectation. It felt like I had to say something.

So I cleared my throat and did the best I could.

“I’m sure you’ve heard something from Alrid…” I scanned the crowd, searching for understanding. Thankfully, it looked like he had spoken to them. I straightened anyway, forcing my shoulders back, lifting my wooded hand in front of me. Looking at it—at Luna—was comforting in a way. “To build a place where we choose to fight, instead of living through what you’ve all endured… it won’t be easy. This is only the first step.”

Thea stepped up beside me then. “But we won’t force you to fight.”

A couple dozen eyes went wide at once.

Did they think I would force them? I guess my impression from the events before didn’t exactly imply freedom. Obedience was all I wanted. But emotions were running high. Though it was something I’d demand, I wouldn’t force them to throw their lives away for nothing.

“All I can offer is an escape from all of this,” I clarified. “But there are others like you. Others who are silent in pleading for escape. Who suffer under the hands of those above simply by means of luck.”

A deep breath.

“So those who wish to learn under me, follow. If not, head to the Shattered Expanse. So long as you don’t attack anyone there, you’ll be accepted,” I added.

No one moved.

Alrid stepped beside me with a loud command. 

“Since you’ve all decided, start marching!”

With his voice, they stood at immediate attention, then with the command, shifted, turning towards the rising moon. And, they walked. Or marched.

“In the end, their leader is you,” I said with a single breath. But not from annoyance or anything close. It mostly just made me wonder if that was from strict conditioning, or trust. Though, it would make sense to have both.

“Nonsense my Lord,” Alrid said, shaking his head. “They simply aren’t as aware of your status as I am. Most who’ve never seen the capital know nothing of the Guardian, and her Champion.”

Thea looked Alrid up and down for a moment then turned to me with an expression that screamed the question, “This guy is alright, right?”

I truly had no answer to those eyes. I literally threw this guy around, not to the degree of his boss, but still… beaten and resistant to complete devotion was a little uncomfortable.

But either way, we started walking at the back of the pack, keeping conversation as well as we could.

“Even I’d never heard of Serith—the Guardian—until I met her,” Thea said, looking at Aldrid who kept just a step ahead of the both of us. “My family is the noble house of Aster, and still, nothing.”

Alrid glanced back, just before shifting his gaze back to scanning the plains, watching carefully, for… anything I’m assuming. “I don’t know much about nobility. But as I said, only those who visit the capital are aware of the Guardians. Or, perhaps, some out there know, but the way I learned was the same,” he explained.

“You learned?” I asked, pushing for more.

He nodded. “Just beyond the gates, everyone must swear loyalty to her. My family had, for many generations, visited. It wasn’t easy but…” he shook his head, as if throwing away a thought. “The first champion and her. A statue of them. And in the permitted areas, it is possible to learn more.”

My interest was seriously peaked.

I figured that Serith wouldn’t actually have that much of a relationship with the Kingdom aside from Lucan, who was only a powerful figure.

But this seemed to imply more. Though, of course, it could just be that this first champion was powerful as well. And the fact he came from the Kingdom was purely a coincidence.

“And what could you learn?” I asked.

He looked up for a moment in recollection before answering. “How she shifted the balance of this world.”

I shook my head. “That doesn’t explain much.”

“It is mostly legend, but according to it, there was a dark Guardian before that. A evil god who forced his will upon mankind, using them for his own means,” Alrid elaborated.

“Drema?” Thea asked.

“Who?” Alrid asked.

I waved her statement away, now completely absorbed. “Continue, please.”

“Oh. Yes, of course, Lord. Well, she erased his Champion, defeated him… The battle was apparently a sight near-impossible to even observe,” he said with awe, as if wishing he had been there himself.

“What do you mean?” Thea asked, just as interested as me.

He looked back with confusion. “I figure you would know. Isn’t that why you formed your Kingdom there?”

Our expressions must’ve been telling of our ignorance.

He rubbed his neck, mumbling something about gods having secrets just like us, but still, he helped us understand. “It’s just legend, but the battle is responsible for the separation of our continent from another. The destruction of a bridge that expanded across the world, leading to another land.”

It was truly shocking to me.

Of course, as he said, Legend, but it wasn’t like I couldn’t directly ask. But even Griffith hadn’t known any of this, or I’m sure he would’ve said something.

Really, his reaction to Serith had been more surprise that led to devotion. Kinda like he was making up for lost time. Really, I wouldn’t be surprised if he hardly believed that she existed.

But I could form some guesses already.

It may have had something to do with her boyfriend, Jerim, but there was too little to tell. But why else would Serith, who had created a place to teach the literal entire world, go and kill a King, then defeat Drema?

Either way, if all of it, or even some was true, it was clear:

In some way or another—at some time long ago—

Serith had created the Shattered Expanse.