novelraw Chapter 168: His Synaxis II
Chapter 168: His Synaxis II
***
SNAP...
Ignotus’s eyes fluttered open.
The ceiling was white-tiled and crisscrossed by polished brass pipes that groaned with the effort of heating the room.
He squinted, his vision swimming until it landed on a man sitting in a high-backed chair beside his bed.
The suit-wearing man was strikingly pale, his skin near translucent under the flickering gaslight. His ears were tall and thin, tapering into points that marked him as an elf-folk.
Everything about him seemed mystic, from the way he sat with perfect stillness to the silver rings that adorned his slender fingers.
This was Marcus, Ignotus’s closest friend.
The only man in his life who had ever managed to pick the lock on Ignotus’s mind and call it "therapy."
Groaning up from the bed, Ignotus stared at Marcus, his heart hammering against his ribs.
He didn’t speak; he just looked at the way the light caught the elf’s face, proving that he was actually there.
"What’s with that look, brother?"
Marcus leaned forward, a small, knowing smirk tugging at the corners of his mouth.
"If I didn’t know better, I’d say you finally fell in love with me."
He chuckled and revealed a ring on his finger.
"I’m flattered, truly, but even if you ignore the fact that I’m married, I don’t swing that way. You’re not my type, and you’ve got too much baggage."
Ignotus didn’t snap back with a sarcastic remark like he usually would’ve, nor did he roll his eyes. Instead, he lunged forward, ignoring the ache in his joints, and wrapped his arms around the elf in a crushing hug, burying Marcus’s head in his shoulder.
"I thought you died... I saw you fall."
Marcus froze for a second, clearly surprised by the uncharacteristic display of emotion. Then, he let out a soft huff and patted Ignotus’s back with his usual gentleness.
"Did you have a nightmare? Well, look at that—actual psychological progress~."
He teased, though his tone held genuine concern.
"Though I’d rather you had a pleasant dream, I suppose a nightmare is better than the usual void you call a mind. At least it means you’re starting to feel things again."
Even now, Marcus couldn’t stop the over-analysis.
It was the elven way, or perhaps only his, studying everything Ignotus under a microscope.
"No..."
Ignotus pulled back just enough to look Marcus in the eye, his grey irises searching.
"No... it was real; everything was real. Your deaths, my own, the regression... I know it happened."
Marcus chuckled again, adjusting his cuff.
"No, brother. You always protect me. I’ll be fine. I’m far more worried about you."
He reached out, pressing a cool, slender hand to Ignotus’s forehead.
"Are you having some sort of episode? Perhaps you’ve pushed yourself too hard this time."
His certainty made Ignotus doubt himself.
"...was it all really a nightmare?"
Before Marcus could nod, the heavy doors of the ward swung open.
A crowd poured in... it was everyone he called "his people." They crowded around the bed, their faces weeping with joy and relief.
"Ignotus! You’re awake!"
"My Lord... just look at you!"
"Thank the Gods, we thought we’d lost you!"
They were crying while touching his hands and shoulders.
It was overwhelming, especially for a man who’d just woken up dazed, but Ignotus didn’t seem to mind, far from it in fact. It was the exact life he had traded away piece by piece for the sake of survival.
Ignotus looked at them for a long, quiet minute.
He saw the way the light played in their eyes.
He felt the weight of their hands on his shoulder...
’Thank you.’
A soft, genuine smile crossed Ignotus’s face, a look so rare it seemed to make the room brighter.
"It’s been good to see you all again."
But just as he spoke, his grey eyes went flat.
The "Stranger" in him saw through the curtains.
"May you all never involve yourself with me in this life."
***
SNAP!
The white tiles of the ceiling cracked, revealing a black, spiraling iris behind them. The smiling faces of his family stayed fixed, their joy turning into a grotesque, frozen mask, the edges of their forms beginning to bleed into shadow.
Ignotus didn’t need to say the words out loud; he knew what this was.
He knew that the kindness of ghosts was the cruelest trap of all.
As the med hub shattered into a million shards of glass, the last thing Ignotus saw was Marcus’s pale face dissolving into mist, leaving him alone once more in the crushing dark.
It was all gone in a blink.
He was out of the illusion, now in a bright world.
Standing within the confines of his own Soul, Eris smiled at him.
’Have you bid your people goodbye?’
Ignotus nodded, his lips pressing into a thin line.
"Yeah."
’Then end this.’
He opened his eyes to the real world again.
The wind tugged at his long hair, the scent of the burnt forest was sharp in his nose, ans the fatigue of battle lingered in his muscles.
Of course, the Demon was before him, its spade-shaped eyes widening as they caught his return.
Surprise flickered across its features, but before it could react further, something else arrived.
A woman stepped forward—black hair, red eyes, every inch a Goddess.
That was literal, for She was a Goddess of Calamity, Eris.
"G-Goddess Eris... h-how are you—"
Before its sentence finished, Ignotus’s sword flashed.
The Demon was cut down, collapsing in a Corrupted heap.
Neither Eris nor Ignotus reacted to its death with any ceremony.
The fight was over.
He had won.
Ignotus wiped the blood from his blade and approached Eris.
"So... what now?"
She tilted Her head, playful yet thoughtful.
"Hm?"
"How do we explain your arrival to the others?"
He crossed his arms.
"Oh, that’s simple~."
She giggled, the sound tinkling like bells.
"We can tell them I’m from the Second Stratum, ’a servant of Eris,’ here to help you."
"Hm... maybe."
Ignotus shrugged, not really putting much thought into it.
"Yes."
She tilted Her head with a teasing smile.
"You can be my knight, and I your princess."
"Oh really?~"
He mirrored her tone with a smirk.
The two of them made their way back to meet the others.
Once they cleaned things up, he explained what had happened as best he could.
No one doubted him.
No one even questioned Eris’s sudden appearance, and they went back to the Academy, back to their routine.
Months passed, and the cohort constantly grew stronger.
It wasn’t long before they managed to kill Nex and stop the Third Stratum’s Fall.
Queen of Time, the Second Stratum’s Lady, tried to end them, but she too couldn’t stop their rise; House Calamity was beginning to dominate the entirety of her domain, leaving only ???.
Yet even He, despite his Godly strength, had failed to end the Heretic.
One by one, his enemies fell and his victories piled up. His people, his friends, his strange family—they lived, fought, and thrived.
It all culminated in a single moment that was decades in the making.
Ignotus broke the world, and they...
All lived happily ever after.
***
***
***
***
***
***
SNAP.
"So this is your dream..."
A voice in the world mocked.
"No doubt influenced by that Goddess."
The voice chuckled, unable to contain itself.
"What a nice dream, isn’t it?"
It sounded way too gleeful.
"May you forever sleep in it."
And it, of course, belonged to the spade-eyed Demon.
"It’s unfortunate that this is how a man of your caliber dies."
A Demon that stood before a sleeping Ignotus.
"But hey, at least you’ll go happy."
The Demon turned around.
No longer was it interested in him.
Once its victims accepted the illusion, it was impossible for them to leave. Not only because it was their mind’s best interest to stay, but also because they could no longer resist even if they wished to.
Yet, perhaps it had underestimated Ignotus.
The Demon couldn’t see what was behind it.
It couldn’t see Ignotus’s eyes fluttering open.
Eyes that were as red as the Goddess of Calamity.
Eyes that spoke of one thing and one thing alone...
His Synaxis had finally come true!