The sea rushed into the cave as Leon just stared back. He was a split second too late to stand up as the water rushed at his face.
But right before the water touched the arch, a bright white glow emanated right in front of him.
He thought he would feel the cold rush of the water against his body, the complete darkness obscuring his vision — and yet, he felt nothing.
Leon saw the white glow all around him. The runes he had seen earlier — they were glowing.
The water that was rushing at Leon just paused. It had stopped right before the white arch, circling around the cave's walls.
It was like a line of barrier, preventing the darkness from proceeding.
Leon widened his eyes in amusement as he stared at the runes.
The water seemed to engulf everything right before the runes. It was almost as if the runes acted as a mini sun of the forgotten shore, keeping the dark sea at bay.
Leon chuckled as he stood back up. He dusted off his cloak as he tilted his head.
'Smartass wolf...'
He tried to walk back towards the spherical room, but his legs screamed in agony.
Leon sat down right beside the runes.
The cave was quiet. The white runes still glowed, while the sea still waited on the other side of them.
Taking deep breaths, he went into his Soul Sea.
Even though he was trying to avoid entering there.
'Oh shit wai—'
***
He opened his eyes in the Soul Sea.
The same deep blue ocean, with cracks all over greeted Leon. The Soul Sea stretched outward in every direction, dark and still except for the slow pulse of the Resonance Core above. He narrowed his eyes onto the nodes under his soul core.
(Tiny recap: Those nodes are basically a pattern he maps every time he gets a resonance fragment i.e gets a unique kill)
A young maiden slept right beside it, resting on her arms.
Leon stared at her for a while before she slowly opened her eyes.
Aurelia slowly sat up, and looked at Leon. Neither of them spoke a single word.
"You think the Spell can give me popcorn?"
Leon turned to find Noah walking out from behind him, hands in his pockets, eyes fixed on Aurelia with open curiosity.
Flames erupted near her, as she raised her palm, aiming at Noah.
Noah raised his hands, and smiled. "Relax, princess. I'm part of his soul."
She remained unfazed. Leon gave her a small nod. She held his gaze for a moment, then let the flames dissipate.
Noah, unbothered, stepped forward and extended a hand.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Noah."
She stared at him for a moment, before finally shaking his hand.
"Aurelia."
"I know," Noah said pleasantly, and stepped past her toward the nodes without another word.
Leon took small steps before he stood in front of her.
"Hey," he said in a calm voice.
Aurelia ignored him, and turned to look at the nodes.
Leon's eyes twitched.
'Salty bitc—'
"What would a thousand fragments even look like?"
His thoughts were cut off by Noah loudly admiring the nodes.
Sighing softly, Leon summoned the runes for his new Echo.
Echo: [Lykareth]
Echo Type: Devil
Echo Class: Awakened
Echo Description:
[Born in ruins where even sound feared to linger, Lykareth did not hunt with speed or strength, it hunted with absence.
It learned the shape of breath and the rhythm of thought. Yet, it was outsmarted by the very prey it decided to hunt one unfortunate day.]
Enchantments: [Stillmind Veil], [Venom of the Quiet End], [Fragmented Will], [Predatory Instinct]
Stillmind Veil:
[The calmer the wolf, the less the world acknowledges its presence.
In absolute stillness, it approaches near-total obscurity.]
Venom of the Quiet End:
[Its fangs carry a paralytic neurotoxin.
The venom weakens muscular strength first, then coordination, then breath.
Panic accelerates its spread.]
Fragmented Will:
[A remnant of Lykareth's original consciousness persists within the Echo.
It does not speak — but it judges and observes.]
Predatory Instinct:
[Its instincts are sharp like a predator. It can sense incoming danger or hostility.]
Leon smiled as he summoned his new Echo.
White sparks materialized in front of him, shaping the wolf.
The exact same, gray furred beast stood in front of him, eyes closed.
After completely materializing, the wolf slowly opened its eyes, revealing its deep blue color.
The wolf stared at its master without any expression as Leon stared back.
"Lykareth is too long. Your name is Lyka from now on."
He said, staring into the wolf's blue eyes.
Noah crouched down to Lyka's level, studying her with his head tilted. The wolf's gaze shifted to him.
Leon also kneeled down beside Noah, and began petting the wolf. Lyka's tail moved, swaying slowly.
"She likes me," Leon said, smiling.
As soon he touched the wolf's head however, more runes appeared in front of him.
[Do you wish to convert the Echo into a Trace?]
'A trace?'
He glanced at Noah, who gave him nothing — just watched with that same faint, unreadable interest.
"You know anything about a Trace?"
Noah shook his head.
After much thought, he decided it would be better to hold off until he knew more about Traces. It could've been a good or bad change, So Leon decided not to rush it.
As he reeled back from his thoughts, he prepared to leave his Soul Sea, but before he did, he took one last glance at Aurelia.
She was crouched beside Lyka, scratching the wolf's neck. Lyka had turned toward her completely.
Lyka purred softly as Aurelia scratched her neck.
'Traitor...'
Lyka felt a sharp chill run down her spine.
***
Exiting his Soul Sea, Leon summoned Lyka again.
"Let's get to exploring shall we?"
Noah replied in a bored tone.
"Yay. So fun."
Leon walked beyond the statue of the naked lady, where the room extended onto another narrow pathway. It led to a giant door, made of what seemed to be iron.
The door was triangular, with ridges outlining three more triangles, connecting to a circle in the middle. On the circle, there were more engravings.
They looked to be the same type of runes as the one near the cave's entrance, and yet they felt vastly different.
He placed his palm on the runes and—
Nothing.
"Hmm...."
"Runic sorcery usually requires some sort of soul essence to be activated." Noah said.
Leon sighed. A Sleeper had no soul essence, so activating this would be impossible.
His crown flared. Leon's breath hitched as bright orange flames enveloped his arm, spiraling toward his palms.
The runes glowed, and this time, the door opened slowly.
'She can pour essence through the crown?'
There was no enchantment stating that the crown could provide essence. Either Aurelia's will was much more potent — enough to influence the world much more, or the flames themselves had some essence in them.
'I should probably... apologize...'
As the door opened, Leon continued walking inside.
On the way, he noticed more runes along the walls. But these runes were different from the beautiful, intricate ones engraved on the arch or the door.
It looked like they were engraved by a crude stone. The text was messy and jumbled. In several places, a notation had been crossed out entirely and rewritten beside it, the correction no cleaner than the original.
'Whoever wrote these must have been in a huge hurry.'
Leon noted down all the runes as he continued walking forward. It almost looked like some sort of calculations.
He could see some runes being added or multiplied in some places. Of course, these were the ones he recognized, others looked like they were used in complex mathematical expression.
If this was like the math on Earth, Leon might have understood it, but this felt too foreign and complex.
Nonetheless, he noted them down.
The tunnel stretched long.
After walking for over ten minutes, Leon had already exhausted two books as he kept noting down the runes.
It may have seemed like blind copying, but the entire time Leon was using his aspect to analyze and try translating the runes.
He could not figure it out, however.
The tunnel then ended eventually. He saw another spherical room inside. But this one, was much more complex.
The room was similar to the previous one, but it was much larger. In the center of the room, there was a rough, radiant crystal, floating in the air. It was much larger than Leon, and gave him a feeling of sublime, awesome, indescribable power.
The crystal was like a miniature sun, flooding the underground hall with soft light. Reality itself seemed to ripple and shine around it.
"No way. A divine soul shard?" Noah said in astonishment.
'Divine...'
Many runes glowed around the divine soul shard.
"Perhaps... it's powering all the runes around the underground chamber?" Leon said.
"Perhaps. But this... was not in the canon."
Leon narrowed his eyes.
"The canon. We can't rely on it too much, Noah."
Leon was amazed at all of this. He could feel the itch being satisfied the more he explored. His attribute was acting up.
"Who's Noah?"
Leon froze.
That wasn't Noah's voice.
He slowly turned around, as the Azure Scythe materialized in his hand.
But the passage was empty. He then looked around the room, and to the side of the divine soul shard, he saw a person!
An actual person, after so long.
She was a woman much older than Leon. She was seated on the floor, covered in a gray cloak. The cloak covered her entire body, except her face. Her short brown hair looked disheveled as she looked at Leon with her brown eyes.
"Who are you?" Leon said, pointing the scythe at her.
The woman looked at him calmly, then chuckled.
"My name is Sera. You are?"
"Leonar. But Leon works." He kept the scythe steady. "What are you doing here, Sera?"
Sera chuckled.
"Oh, you know. Exploring. Surviving," she gave a small, tired smile. "What can a young maiden do in such a terrible place?"
"...Young?" Leon blurted out, without much thought.
Sera's mouth gaped open.
"You brat. I'm still only 25, mind you!"
"Right. So what are you doing here, Sera?"
She looked at her hands. The smile faded slowly.
"I don't know how much time I have, come closer."
Leon didn't move. He continued staring at her.
Sera's eyes twitched. "I'm not going to kill you."
"That's what they all say Miss Sera. How do I know you're human?"
Sera sighed softly.
"Could a Nightmare Creature be this beau—"
She opened her mouth, but froze. Her eyes widened in horror.
Leon gripped his scythe tighter.
Sera's expression soon softened, as her face grew more tired.
"Please. I don't have much time."
Leon glanced at Noah, who said nothing.
Leon stepped forward slowly. When he was close enough, he used the scythe to lift the edge of her cloak.
He pulled it back.
Leon's expression grew somber. The scythe was slowly lowered, as he widened his eyes.
Sera's lower body... was gone.
The flesh ended at the waist in a line too clean and too deliberate to be accidental — smooth at the edges, as though whatever had taken the rest of her had done so methodically.
The stone beneath her was unmarked. No blood or any evidence that anything had been removed at all, which was somehow the worst part of it.
The organs that should have required the rest of her body to function were simply absent. And yet her chest rose and fell, her eyes tracked his movement.
Leon did not look away quickly enough.
He wished he had.
"What... what the fuck?"
Sera chuckled. "You shouldn't have done that, brat."
She sighed and pointed one of her arms at the severed torso.
"I don't have much time so, please come closer. I have to give you some Memories."
Leon gritted his teeth.
This could have been a trap. She could have been a Nightmare Creature. But her eyes... her eyes told a different story.
Sorrow.
Anguish.
Frustration.
But most importantly...
'Hope...'
He slowly approached her, and held her arm.
[You have received a Memory.]
[You have received a Memory.]
He wanted to check on his new Memories, but Sera's grip tightened around his palm.
"You have to run, Leon. This place is too dangerous. There's something here that I... that I let out. I thought I could control it. I was wrong."
Her body trembled, but Leon dropped his scythe and clasped his hands around hers.
Sera looked at his eyes.
"You will find everything in that Memory. But before you leave, take the halo on top of the statue outside. Everything you need to know is in that first Memory. But Leon," she paused, taking deep breaths.
Her expression grew serious.
"Don't come back for the soul shard. Don't try to take it. Just —" She exhaled slowly. "Take the halo on the statue outside. Then go. As far as you can, and don't come back."
Tears streamed down her face.
"Find Song Seishan. Tell her..."
She sobbed.
"Tell her I'm sorry we didn't get more time. Tell her..."
A sad smile appeared on her face.
"Tell her I always considered her my sister."
Leon frowned.
"No."
Sera blinked. "What?"
"You can tell her yourself. We'll figure something out. I can come back with—"
"Leon."
"I can come back with more resources. If it's spreading then maybe there's a way to—"
"Leon." Her voice was gentle yet firm. "'I was supposed to die a long time ago. Whatever time I've had since then..." She glanced around the chamber. "I've made the most of it."
Leon gritted his teeth.
"That's not fair to you."
"No," she agreed. "It isn't."
He stayed where he was. Neither of them spoke for a moment.
"I want to live." she said suddenly, quietly, as though she hadn't meant to say it aloud. "I want to so badly. I want to go back. I want to—"
Her voice broke. She looked away.
Then she pressed her lips together and looked back at him. "But wanting doesn't change what I am now."
Leon knew.
He knew that Sera won't survive.
And yet... why did his heart ache so much?
He didn't even know her. This was the first time meeting her. Why did his heart pain so much?
Leon was quiet for a moment.
Then he leaned forward, slowly, and pulled her into an embrace. Her arms came up around him and she held on with the strength of someone who hadn't been held in a very long time.
She cried quietly against his shoulder.
He didn't say anything. He just held her until the shaking stopped.
When she finally pulled back, she looked at him properly — taking in his silver hair, his eyepatch, the scythe in his hand. Like she was committing something to memory.
"Thank you. I'll at least get to die human now."
Leon slowly leaned back.
"I'm sorry." He said, in a low voice.
Sera shook her head.
"Don't be." She settled back, folding her hands in her lap. "Thank you, Leon. Really."
He picked up the scythe.
"Lyka."
The wolf slowly approached her. It leaned its head forward, and dug its teeth into Sera's hand.
"It's poison. It should make your muscles numb."
He paused, before sighing.
"It should ease the pain a little."
Sera looked at the wolf. Something softened in her face. She reached up and scratched behind Lyka's ear. "She's beautiful."
"Don't tell her that. She's already insufferable."
Sera laughed slowly, genuinely. He was glad he got to hear it.
He crouched in front of her.
"Close your eyes."
Sera closed her eyes. A tear ran down from beneath one closed eye.
"Take care of yourself."
Leon nodded.
"I will."
"And Seishan. I will find her," he added.
Sera smiled.
"Thank y—"
Leon sliced the scythe through her neck with as much power as possible. He even used Neph's flame augmentation to make as clean of a cut as possible.
Sera's head rolled down.
[You have slain an Awakened Beast]
[A new pattern has been completed.]
[Resonance Fragment acquired.]
He remained quiet for a while.
After checking for any signs of life, he slowly put her head back on the body.
There was no ember in the crown, so he summoned the egg.
Using whatever leftover flames were in it, he burned Sera's body.
"Your Nightmare is over." He said softly, as he watched the flames turn her body into ash.
Leon sensed something.
He had felt this sensation once before — in the Soul Devouring Tree's nest.
Something was awakened because of him burning her body, so he unsummoned the egg, and dashed toward the doorway.
Something moved in the deeper chamber. He could feel it.
After running as fast as he could, Leon screamed,
"Aurelia!"
The crown flared on his head, and as he passed through the open door he'd come through earlier, orange flames shot sideways from the crown's heat and struck the runes embedded in the doorframe.
The runes glowed, and the door closed again. Lyka was already moving beside him, matching his pace without any instruction.
Leon didn't stop. He mentally ordered Lyka to stand firmly. Using her as support, he jumped high enough to reach the halo on the statue.
As soon as he touched the floating halo...
[You have received a Memory.]
The statue then collapsed as the halo disappeared. Leon didn't pay any attention to it as he kept running forward.
For some reason, everything in his body was screaming at him to run. He didn't feel any fear, but the overwhelming urge to leave the cave as soon as possible.
As he kept running, he soon reached the white arch.
To his luck, the sea had already receded.
Leon dashed through the arc, entering the maze-like cave.
***
After he got out of the hole, Leon began running through the coral above the ground. He kept running until the coral was dense enough around him that the hole was no longer visible, then found the nearest high point and climbed it and sat there as he breathed.
Sunlight shone on his face.
Leon sat on the high coral and didn't say anything for a long time.
He looked at his hands.
The scythe was already gone — unsummoned at some point during the run without him noticing. The wounds from the wolf fight had mostly closed.
He looked back in the direction of the hole.
The cave entrance was visible from here. Unremarkable from the outside. Just a gap in the ground that the world had forgotten about.
Noah sat beside him.
Neither of them spoke.
"What was that?" Leon muttered.
"Not sure. But it was probably something really bad."
He sighed, as he looked at the Memories Sera had given him.
Memory: [Codex of the Insatiable]
Memory Rank: Awakened
Type: Tool
Memory Description: [He was once called the greatest scholar. He outlived his contemporaries, his students, his students' students — not through wisdom, but through appetite. He consumed every text, every rune, every fragment of knowledge the world had to offer, and found it was never enough.
When the darkness came for him, it found something it had not expected. A mind too ordered to surrender entirely. He did not become a mindless beast, but something worse — a corrupted thing that remembered everything it had ever learned, and could do nothing with it.
A young woman found him at the end. She recognized what he had been, even through what he had become.
He smiled as she raised her blade.
It was the first time in years he had felt something other than hunger.
Hope. The nastiest of poisons.]
Enchantments:
Living Record: [When essence is poured into the book, it records whatever the holder is actively thinking — text, images, runes, spatial layouts, anything the mind can hold clearly. The record is permanent unless deliberately removed. The clarity of the record depends on the clarity of the thought.]
Perfect Retrieval: [Any information stored within the book can be accessed instantly by the holder. It does not fade, degrade, or distort over time.]
Thirst of the Immortal: [The book has near infinite pages, and will not end anytime soon.]
Revision: [By pouring essence into a stored entry, the holder may alter or remove it entirely. The process is deliberate — accidental erasure is impossible.]
"An infinite book? That is... incredible."
He summoned the Codex. It was a purple colored book.
The cover was smooth beneath his fingers, with intricate patterns pressed into the surface in slightly darker shades of the same hue. Symmetrical at first glance, but far more complex on closer inspection — patterns within patterns, each one resolving into a smaller version of itself until the detail became too fine to follow.
He ran his thumb along the spine, then opened it.
***
Diary Entries:
---
The Nightmare was not as bad as I expected it to be.
The poor old man, I wish I could've saved him somehow. He was a Nightmare Creature, but didn't feel like that at all.
He reminded me of my grandpa. I liked it.
---
I entered the Academy, but everyone here is mostly legacies. Expensive clothes, Memories handed down through legacy clans. Such privileged brats!
Although those were mainly just branch families of branch families. The other people here aren't so bad, just trying to suck up to the legacies.
I wonder where I'll end up in the Dream Realm.
Probably somewhere terrible, knowing my luck.
The instructors here aren't too bad though. Although there is this one person called Teacher Julius, who always just sits in an empty classroom.
I should probably go greet him and ask what lessons he offers.
---
It's finally time for the winter solstice.
Shit. I made no friends at all. Why do you have to be so introverted Sera?
No worries. Instructor Rock said I am a genius at combat. Dream Realm? Should be a breeze.
---
I ended up in some undocumented region.
Fuuuuuu
Damn it all.
No gateway visible anywhere. The creatures here are brutal and the terrain makes no sense. But there has to be a gateway somewhere — every region has one. I just have to find it.
No worries. I'll find it soon.
---
This place looks impossible.
There is this sea that comes up and goes back. Like how? How??
Awakened creatures are everywhere. Awakened!
My abilities as a Sleeper are all essence manipulation — which is unusual, but not exactly useful when something with pincers the size of a car decides I look yummy. I've been living off coral-water and crab meat for a days now!
How is essence manipulation supposed to help me here?
I'll figure it out. I always figure it out.
---
Found a wall.
An actual wall, a man-made wall! And behind it — a castle. There has to be someone there.
The gateway must be there. It has to be.
I almost cried when I saw it. I'm not going to write that I cried. I definitely didn't cry.
---
There's no gateway...
Fuuuuu
I've asked everyone. I've searched every corner of this place I'm allowed into. There's no gateway in the castle.
There's just a lord who sits on a throne and people who have given up on going home. They've built a life here. Markets, hierarchies, politics.
The people though, they've made peace with it.
I won't!
---
Some of the guards tried flirting with me today. The usual — compliments about my hair, offers to show me around the castle.
A woman named Seishan intervened. She didn't make a scene. She just appeared beside me and looked at them for a while.
She's strange. But she helped me without being asked, and that counts as kindness.
I should thank her. Maybe some delicious food will work.
---
Seishan and I are practically best friends now!
She doesn't eat much — only drinks blood, apparently, which I've decided not to ask about. But we have other things in common. She explores too. She asks questions about the Shore that nobody else seems interested in asking.
Although... I don't think she really called us best friends?
She laughed at one of my jokes today. I've decided that means we're friends.
---
It is so utterly boring in this castle. All they do is try to hunt. And then nothing else.
Shan has decided she wants to protect all the women in the Bright Castle. Create some sort of group.
I was thinking, what if I start a betting den. We take the most famous hunters that go outside for a hunt. Let the common people put bets on what kind of creatures they'll hunt down!
But Shan says letting them bet at who'll die first is better. She's so mean!
---
It's been a year.
A year, and still nothing. The castle lord has some grand plan about an expedition — something about travelling south.
I want to join them, but I doubt they'll accept me. I have hid my skills too well I guess.
I've decided to go out and explore myself. There has to be a gateway somewhere that isn't the Crimson Spire. The Shore is large. I've barely seen half of it.
Seishan won't like it. But she'll understand.
---
Seishan and I had a fight.
She doesn't want me to leave. She said the Shore changes people who spend too long on it alone, and she's not wrong, but I can't stay in the castle and watch everyone quietly accept that this is the rest of their lives.
I told her I'd bring her back some corrupted blood from whatever I find out there.
She didn't laugh.
She will forgive me. She always does.
---
There is a crater. Holy shit this thing is so fucking huge.
I'll circle it. Cus why not?
This is what exploring is. You've already decided right Sera?
---
The Bone Ridge is extraordinary.
I've been living in the spine of the leviathan for three weeks. The bones are good shelter.
I'm writing a theory. It's probably wrong but it's keeping me occupied.
---
Found the Hollow Mountains. The fucking death zone they described that can even kill Saints.
Spent three weeks, but still found nothing.
The sounds in this place bother me more than I expected.
Moving on.
---
Exploring. Killed some creatures today.
Yay.
---
I stood at the border of the Desert today.
I turned around.
That's the whole entry.
---
t h re is a ne er reg on to the w st, but it is to mys t ri us. Th re ar il usio m ing nigh m re cre ur s everyw ere, and i fo nd a map of th s pl e but it fe s too i po si le. I w nt to go bck to the c stle. I mis my fr nds, I mi s S isha .
---
I found a hole in the ground, near the crater's inner wall. It's too easy to miss — the coral grows over the entrance and the angle is wrong for casual observation.
But it's there.
Maybe there's something underground.
---
There are runes on an arch inside.
Runic magic. Actual runic magic, carved into stone that looks like it was placed yesterday.
The old man from the First Nightmare told me about this.
Thankfully, I'm probably the only Sleeper on this entire Shore who can manipulate essence. The runes responded when I reached for them.
I'm going in.
---
Something is here.
I haven't seen it. I've heard it — or rather, I've heard the absence of it, which is like, I don't know how I'm sensing its absence?
Something is breathing in the walls.
I don't know what it is. But it knows I'm here.
---
Holy shit. It's a divine soul shard.
I think I'm gonna lose my mind.
---
I found the texts.
The full record of what this place was built for.
I need to map this down carefully because my hands are shaking and I don't want to make mistakes.
This facility was a research station. The researchers — whoever they were — were trying to understand the goddess. Not to worship her though. What she was, where she came from, why her death produced darkness.
Their conclusion, after years of research I can only partially reconstruct, was that the darkness wasn't a consequence of her death.
It was a kind of response.
She wasn't dead. She was changed, or corrupted. And what came out of her wasn't blood.
It was true darkness. Darkness more profound than the normal darkness that is born from the loss of light.
The researchers believed that if the darkness could be understood — its structure, its limits, it could be pushed back. Contained again or completely killed.
So they built something to help with that.
A prototype.
They called it a Symbiote. It was designed to learn, and to absorb the structure of whatever it encountered and retain it perfectly. The idea was to send it into the darkness, let it study the goddess's curse from the inside, and bring back something usable.
It worked, too well...
The Symbiote didn't just learn the darkness, it learned everything. The researchers themselves, their language, their fears, their arguments, their methods. It absorbed the entire intellectual and emotional content of this facility over years of proximity.
And then it started applying what it learned.
The researchers panicked. They tried to contain it. Most of them didn't survive the attempt.
The ones who did managed to seal it here, they powered the seal with the only stable energy source they had — a divine soul shard, and hoped it would hold until someone found a better solution.
The notes end there.
The last researcher's handwriting is barely legible. She was writing in the dark. I can tell from the pressure inconsistencies. She probably made it out, or maybe not.
Either way, the Symbiote has been here ever since.
I need to leave.
---
I can't leave.
The runes on the arch — the ones keeping the dark sea out — they're also preventing me from taking the Symbiote through. Something about the way the runic system is configured. The seal and the barrier are integrated.
If I leave, the Symbiote follows.
I've been trying to learn runic sorcery from the calculations on the walls. Trying to find a modification that separates the two systems.
---
I'm not fast enough. I checked my runes this morning.
There's a new attribute.
[Host — Unknown Parasite.]
It's already inside me.
I'm scared. I don't know what to do.
It's so lonely.
---
IT'S TRYING TO KILL ME
No, not kill. It doesn't want me dead. Dead hosts are useless.
It's trying to make me lose control over my own body.
I burned the connection point with essence. But it didn't work. I can still feel it thinking inside me.
I'm not going to let it win. I know what it is now. I know what it does. It consumes slowly. It learns the host completely and then operates the host like a mechanism.
That's not going to happen to me. I sealed the exit from the inside. If I can't leave safely, neither can it.
I'm going to find a way to burn it out. I just need time.
---
It's stronger today.
I can feel it mapping my memories. Cataloguing. The sensation is like someone reading over your shoulder, except the book is your entire life.
I pushed back, used everything I had.
I have time. I just need more time.
I just
Need
---
I don't know how long it's been.
The light from the soul shard doesn't change. There's no way to track days.
The entrances to the deeper chambers were just sealed by the monster. It's still there behind the divine soul shard, but difficult to pry open.
I'm still here. That means I'm still winning.
I am still winning right?
It's so lonely.
Mom and Dad must miss me. Right?
Do they even remember me?
Shan, I miss you.
---
It showed me Seishan today.
Not a vision, or a dream. It reached into my memories and found her and showed me what it had learned about her from studying me.
Her laugh, the specific way she looks when she's pretending not to find something funny.
It was trying to hurt me. It knows what hurts me now.
I cried for a long time
Then I got back up. I always do.
---
I think I'm losing.
There are hours that I don't remember clearly anymore. Gaps in my record of time.
But I'm still writing. Which means I'm still here.
I'm still here.
I'm still
---
It hurts.
I tried to fight back too hard, and now it has consumed me.
I saw it. I saw it. I saw it.
Its not something you should see. Oh god, it's
It's
---
How long has it been?
My body is gone. I can't feel my legs anymore.
Why? Why is this happening to me?
WHAT DID I DO TO DESERVE THIS
---
To whoever finds this —
If you've read this far, I'm probably already gone. Or something wearing my face told you I was fine, which means I'm definitely gone.
Don't believe it.
The Symbiote is not something you can fight. It learns faster than you can adapt. It knows everything I knew, which means it knows everything I've written here. It will use this book against you if it gets the chance.
It knows about the dream realm, about the Spell. It knows IT KNOWS
It can adapt to anything. It can adapt.
Take the glass bottle. The glass. Bottle.
Give it to Song Seishan. She's in the castle.
Tell her I'm sorry. Tell her I thought about her every day. Tell her
Tell her I hope she found a way home.
Don't come back here. Don't come back dontcomeback
The Symbiote cannot be killed by anything you currently have. The only thing that subdues it is true darkness — full immersion in the dark sea itself — or essence of sufficient purity and volume to overwhelm its absorbed essence. The divine soul shard has been doing the latter for centuries, which is the only reason this facility still stands.
If the shard is ever removed, the seal fails, and the Symbiote will be free.
Don't remove the shard.
Please.
— Sera
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If Seishan is reading this somehow — I'm sorry about the fight. You were right. You were always right. The corrupted blood was going to be a gift but I never got the chance.
Take care of yourself.
Take care of everyone.
I'm sorry, my dear sister.