Stepping out of the Carriage, Cecilia grabbed her bag and, after waving goodbye to her maid, stepped through the massive arched steel gates that served as the entrance to the Academy. Gone was the white and gold gown she had been dressed in back at the Manor; now she was dressed in a much more practical outfit – consisting of a green blazer with a white silken undershirt, a black shirt and a pair of equally dark stockings. She had a pair of short heels that clacked against the ground as she walked past the gates.
As she walked through the courtyard, she couldn't help but feel the gazes of others on her. The blonde-haired girl smiled, wondering what was up with them. She wasn't dressed improperly, and she wasn't even doing something worth looking at her over.
She rolled her eyes when she saw a small group of three to four students point at her, with one of them saying something. She flicked her hair, turned around and kept walking. A gust of cool breeze blew through the courtyard, making her voluminous hair gently sway in the wind. It sure was nice today, she thought, idly looking at the grey clouds tinged with red floating in the starlit sky, a visible symbol of Sefirah Castle's protection of the planetoid Nation of Arcos. The grey clouds reflected the light coming from the sun to create an approximation of an old-world phenomenon called a Day.
Realizing her thoughts were drifting about, she shook her head and entered the academy proper. She'd just walked in when she heard her name being called.
"Cecilia!" Turning around, a bright smile spread across her face as the girl rushed towards her. Aveline was a girl with unique pink hair, dressed in the same uniform as Cecilia. She was holding a small suitcase on her side as she jogged towards the blonde girl. She skidded to a stop just a few feet or two away and clasped her hands behind her back, and smiled, "Hi."
Cecilia couldn't help but smile back, "Hi, Avy."
"Are you feeling better now?" Aveline asked, tilting her head cutely.
Cecilia frowned, what did that mean?
She asked as such, only to receive a completely unexpected answer.
"Well," Avy idled for a moment, before saying it. "You were all jittery and tired and moody all month. You just snapped at everyone and were acting completely different. I was really worried! Then, then you yesterday said that you were sick and you will be better today, so are you better???" she rambled faster than most people could understand.
Cecilia's brows furrowed, and she looked confused – not at how fast Avy had been speaking, she'd known Avy for years now and was quite used to her excited speed talking, but at what she had said. And she had a bunch of questions jumping around in her head. What had happened to her exactly to change her so much? Had she known in advance that the curse would activate today and rob her of memories? Or had she somehow figured out a way to forcefully trigger the curse?
Realizing she'd stayed silent for too long and noting the hints of impatience on Aveline – she was good, but not good enough to fool a Spectator – she spoke up. "I'm better now. The treatment worked perfectly."
"Good!" Aveline shot her a bright smile. "Then I assume you're coming to the trip after the lectures?"
Cecilia kept her face placid as her thoughts ran amok, trying to remember if there was any trip today. Other than the little field trip after the lecture, and she doubted Avy was talking about that, she didn't remember anything. Realizing it must've been something not covered in her mothers snap shot, Cecilia Hall did something she never enjoyed doing to the people she cared for. She used her Sequence 8: Telepathist powers to read Avy's mind.
A flurry of surface-level thoughts washed past her, and she expertly organized them in her own head to find the relevant information. This all took the timespan of a single blink, after which she replied. "Yes, I will be coming to the Street of Silk for the shopping trip arranged by Laena. I don't believe I have any arrangements that should impede me today." Her mother usually went easy with her schedule for a few days after each snapshot.
"Brilliant!" Aveline jumped in excitement before wrapping her slender arms around Cecilia in a tight, warm Hug. They separated when the period bells rang across the entire campus. "Come on, let's go, the lecture is about to start," Avy pressed her lips against Cecilia's for a brief moment, before pulling apart and rushing towards the lecture Hall.
A Goofy, and nothing like her normal regal smiles, grin spread across Cecilia's face as she remembered something very cool.
Oh yeah, and she was also her girlfriend.
///
The two girls made it to the lecture hall in record time – i.e. just a few moments before the professor stepped in – and quickly found their own seats. Seeing that the only places to sit were on the opposite side of the room, the two had to regrettably split apart, as Aveline went across the hall to sit next to Joanne Rutherford, while Cecilia took a seat next to Avery Fou Graham.
"Where were you?" Avery asked, wondering why the blonde girl was late. She was usually so punctual.
"Don't even ask," Cecilia muttered as she placed her bag on the desk and slid into the seat. She had no idea how to explain all that had happened to her ever since she'd woken up today, amnesiac and all – and neither did she feel any inclination to share such things.
The white-haired girl cocked an eyebrow but didn't say a thing, seeing that the blonde princess was already irked.
It didn't take long for the professor to arrive and for the lecture to start in earnest.
The professor's voice, a greying woman who went by Mrs. Baxters, carried through the lecture hall in a steady, measured cadence, her educational experience showing the way she spoke with a certain authority and the way each word landed with deliberate precision. "…and therefore, if one were to examine an ascended being's soul essence, they would find it to be of a higher quality, a feature that exists even before the formation of the soul core, and only improves with this…"
The chalk lightly tapped on the board as Mrs. Baxter wrote down something for her students to copy.
Cecilia sat perfectly still, posture straight, pen resting lightly between her fingers.
She wasn't writing.
She wasn't listening either.
Not really.
She just watched, or rather –
Her eyes were pointed towards the podium.
But her mind was already somewhere else, lost in her thoughts.
One month.
That's how many memories she was missing. Her eyes unfocused as she used her beyonder abilities to scour through her memories, sorting through what she did know. The last thing she remembered was completing her assigned reading on Transcendence and then going to sleep, over a month ago. The Snapshot her mother had restored ended there.
Everything after that?
Gone.
Erased.
Or rather -
It was never recorded.
But that was wrong, because they'd never allowed the snapshots to have any gaps before. Both she and her mother were unnecessarily strict on maintaining the snapshots, mainly due to the sheer irregularity of the curse acting up, and because she didn't want her grade average to go down, but still.
Cecilia exhaled slowly.
So, what changed?
She started putting the pieces together, using the Spectator pathway beyonders' enhanced mental capabilities to piece it together like a puzzle.
The first thing that came to mind were Avy's words.
"You were all jittery and tired and moody all month… snapping at everyone… acting completely different…"
Even with the curse, the way her behaviour was described was… abnormal to say the least. The curse took her memories, but it wasn't something that altered her personality. There might be small differences during the period without memories, but it wasn't anything too drastic, or something even noticeable to most – only Spectators like herself or her mother would be able to note any divergences.
She didn't just change like that.
The other thing nagging her was that she had told Aveline that she was 'sick', and that she would be 'better today'. That wasn't something you say casually; it implied things, disturbing things. It implied that she, Cecilia, knew that something was wrong and that she expected it to end today.
But what?
She could only think of two options right now, both an echo of the thoughts from earlier. Her gaze sharpened slightly.
Meaning I knew the curse would trigger.
Or, her thoughts shifted, I forced it to trigger.
But why?
The third thing that was rubbing her the wrong way was the shopping trip. Laena had planned it, and nothing was inherently wrong there, as Laena tended to drag them along shopping every couple of weeks or so, but what felt odd was the fact that she hadn't cancelled. Even when feeling 'sick', even when behaving erratically, snapping at people and being out of control, as she inferred from what Aveline had not said.
It could only mean two things, either she hadn't been in a good enough mental condition to cancel, or… she had wanted to go.
That didn't feel like a coincidence to her.
The last thing nagging at her was the dress from this morning.
The Gold and White gown.
She had personally requested to wear that specific gown in the morning. Not the uniform, not something practical, but that exact gown.
Why?
There had to be a reason. She was never careless with appearances, and everything she wore was with deliberate intent behind it.
Timing.
Context.
Audience.
But today, she had apparently handpicked that gown, not even the best one or her favourite one, but that particular one to wear, on the same day she expected to 'recover'.
Her eyes narrowed slightly.
Was I planning something?
And then there was her mother. She was also wearing a similar White and Gold dress to the one she had worn. Not only that - before she could theorize any further, Cecilia heard her name being called. "Miss Hall?" Cecilia blinked before realizing with a start that she had drifted on into her thoughts. Her gaze lifted smoothly to meet the professor's. "Yes, Professor?"
The older woman's eyes studied the princess of the nation for a moment, her eyes sharp but not unkind. "Would you care to explain the distinction between a Transcended's Nascent Domain and a Realized Domain belonging to a Supreme?"
Cecilia rose gracefully to her feet, appearing confident while using her powers to forcefully recall everything she knew about the Steps of Ascension. "A Nascent Domain is an incomplete, early manifestation of a Transcended being's Authority, where the aspect begins extending influence beyond themselves. A realized Domain, by contrast, is that authority being fully matured, and an extension of a Supreme's Aspect expressed through territory, influence, and Rule. A Supreme's power and rate of essence regeneration is greatly magnified inside their domain."
"A basic answer, but correct nonetheless," the Professor nodded. "Now, for the next question. How many new Supremes have been born in Arcos since the start of the Ninth Epoch? And how many of those are still alive today?"
The blonde girl answered without hesitation. "Thirty-seven Supremes have risen in Arcos since the dawn of the Ninth Epoch. Of those, only three remain alive today."
"Correct on all accounts. Do sit down, and pay more attention to the lecture."
Cecilia smoothed her skirt as she sat down, her movement smooth and unhurried. Across the hall, Aveline beamed at her girlfriend, an expression Cecilia noticed, and offered a small, absent smile in return. She decided to put her thoughts and theories out of her mind and just focus on the lecture – there wasn't much left to it anyway. She had no idea how she had lost more than an hour in just her thoughts, but she had.
Reaching into her bag, she intended to grab her notebook to start copying down the notes the professor had written on the blackboard, but instead of grabbing the small yellow book that held all her notes for this course, what she found was a black hard-bound book.
A wave of confusion washed over the girl, for she had never seen this book before. She cracked the book open, and it opened to the first page. She tried turning the pages further, but found that she couldn't – it was like it had been superglued together. There was also something scribbled on the first page of the notebook, a mess of jumbled-up letters with suspicious gaps in between, like they had been intentionally broken up.
What had she been planning? Cecilia pondered as she gazed at the remaining letters, trying to figure out what had been written.
D_ __T T____ _____R
__E D_____T ___ ALR____ _____
__ I ___E M____F, FOL__W ___ PL__
SE______ _ _F L_TM, T___ D__TH
M_M_ _S G_NE
What did it mean? It certainly wasn't something ordinary, given how her spirituality was reacting whenever she laid her gaze on the page. It was flaring in its own distinct way, the way it did when whatever she was doing was both extremely dangerous and also wholly important. So she was sure that it was just some scribbles and had an important meaning.
She just had to figure out what.
On some instinct that seemed to come out of nowhere, she clicked her tongue and activated Spirit Vision, only to recoil at what she saw. Gazing down at the book, she saw the book covered in an eldritch aura, and the world was a constantly changing mess of mind-melting chaos rather than the broken writing it had been.
She jerked her head around to the side and shut her Spirit Vision close.
The whole sequence of events had just a few seconds, but she was still panting in exhaustion. If she hadn't turned her Spirit Vision off, then whatever that was… it would have started affecting her as well.
What the hell was that anyway?
She thought about showing the book to her mother, and then changed her mind. No, she needed to solve whatever this was on her own. She couldn't just go to her mother every time there was a problem.
She could do this on her own!
Unbeknownst to her, her actions hadn't gone unnoticed. Avery, seated beside her, heard the faint click of Cecilia's tongue and, on instinct, opened her Spirit Vision.
She recoiled instantly.
Something crawled. Not on her skin - no, under it. A writhing, ceaseless movement that spread through her limbs in an instant, like her body had been hollowed out and filled with something alive. Her stomach lurched. She bit down hard, forcing it back. Her eyes burned.
No, they itched.
A frantic, unbearable sensation, like something was burrowing just beneath them, scraping, digging— She squeezed them shut, nails digging into her palms. Don't scratch.
Don't -
The urge rose anyway, violent and absolute.
Tear them out.
The rest of the lecture passed in a blur.
Cecilia was still deep in her thoughts when the lecture ended. In a Daze, she gathered her stuff and packed her bag before making her way down towards the exit of the lecture hall, following dozens of students before her. Just before she left the hall, she heard her professor say from behind, "For Homework, I want a 10-page report on the steps of Ascension. Start at awakened and end at supremacy, and write a comparison on how they differ and why. I want the report on my desk no later than next week."
Cecilia ignored the multitude of groans around her and searched for a particular shock of pink hair. Where was she? She frowned as she searched around for her girlfriend.
Just as she was starting to wonder if Avy had ditched her, a pair of slender arms wrapped around her from behind, and her sight darkened as she felt a warm weight cover her eyes. "Guess who~" A familiar breathy voice whispered in her ear, making her slightly shiver.
"Hmm, I don't know," Cecilia played along. "Is it you, Eris?" she said, naming a random classmate that she didn't have much interaction with, but she knew that Avy did.
The next moment, the grip on her shoulders tightened, and she was forcefully whirled around to come face to face with a pouting Aveline. "What?" Cecilia asked, biting down a giggle at the way Avy started pouting even harder somehow.
In the end, Cecilia didn't bother answering. She simply leaned forward, closing the distance in one smooth motion and pressing her lips against Avy's. The kiss lingered, soft at first, then deepening as Avy melted into it without hesitation, fingers tightening ever so slightly against Cecilia's sleeves. There was a familiar sweetness there, something like vanilla and strawberries, warm and bright and unmistakably hers. Cecilia responded in kind, precise without thinking, matching the rhythm, the pressure, the small shifts that made it feel natural. Practiced.
When they finally pulled apart, Avy was smiling again, all traces of her earlier pout gone.
Cecilia smiled too. "Happy?" she asked, unconcerned with the eyes around them. Psychological Invisibility made things wonderfully simple.
"Mmm," Avy nodded, grinning. "Happy,"
"Good, now let's depart. Laena is most likely already waiting for us."
"Depart?" Avy looked confused, "Where are we going?"
Cecilia matched the confusion on Avy's face with her own. "To the street of Silk? You are the one who reminded me of Laena's invitation earlier this morning."
Aveline blinked at her for a second before bursting into a soft laugh, tapping Cecilia lightly on the forehead. "You're so silly. We have the field trip first, remember? Then we go to the Street of Silk with Laena."
Cecilia froze.
Field trip?
She immediately recalled that Avy had told her about the trip this morning, so how had she forgotten? She didn't forget things, and had never forgotten them ever since she'd become Sequence 7 at least – the curse was an exception, a mystical anomaly that not even her Mother or Mama could help with – her thoughts churned in her head, she skillfully concealed the irritation she was feeling beneath her calm expression, almost as if she had used her own Placate ability on herself.
"…Right," she said slowly, eyes narrowing just a fraction. "Where exactly are we going?"
Aveline grabbed her hand without a second thought and started pulling her along through the dispersing crowd. "Come on, we're already late. Everyone's gathering near the east courtyard."
"That doesn't answer my question, Avy."
"It's your place," Aveline said brightly. "Hall Manor."
Cecilia stopped walking. "…What?"
Avy tugged harder. "Don't make that face. We're going to your home."
Cecilia let out a quiet, annoyed sigh as she started walking again. "Then why did I even come to campus today…" she muttered under her breath, more grumbling than anything else as she let herself be dragged along.
///
Reaching Hall Manor with the rest of her classmates, Cecilia grabbed Avy's hand and pulled her forward with her, making her way through the crowd of students. The guards, on seeing their princess before them, promptly pulled the large doors open and let the two girls in.
They had just entered the manor when an elderly butler wearing a formal suit appeared before her. "Princess Cecilia," he said, his voice baritone as he bowed. He turned to Avy, "Lady Aveline, welcome."
"Oh, you don't need to bow to me, Edward," Cecilia waved her hand, letting the head butler stand back straight. "The tour group from the Academy is here, do go about with whatever arrangements have been prepared for them. And do tell Layla to have a fresh set of outdoor clothes prepared in my room, I will be visiting the street of silk with some friends later this day."
"Yes, my lady," Edward bowed again and went back to work.
The Field trip started in earnest not long after.
Edward commanded the guards to open the door, and let the academics gathered outside be let in the entrance Hall of the manor.
The first wave of students arrived with all the subtlety of a festival. Voices of awe, curiosity, and poorly concealed excitement spilled through the grand entrance beneath the vaulted ceilings of Hall Manor. Polished marble floors reflected their movement in fractured glimmers, chandeliers above scattering warm light like captured starlight.
For many of them, this was their first time stepping into the residence of one of Arcos' Great Houses.
And it showed.
"…Is that real gold?"
"Don't touch it, idiot -"
"I'm not touching it, I'm just looking -"
"You're leaning on it."
A boy near the entrance nearly lost his balance trying to peer up at one of the towering statues lining the hall – members of her mother's old compatriots, the Tarot Club, if she remembered correctly. Another group lingered near a set of paintings, whispering theories about which famous hero had done what, each story growing more dramatic than the last.
At the center of it all, the staff moved like clockwork. Servants guided students into designated areas with polite firmness, while guards were arranged at every critical point, their presence a quiet reminder to all of where they were.
Professor Aidenoff stepped in shortly after, her gaze sweeping over the students as she clapped her hands once. The Sound echoed through the hall, sharp, precise. "Settle down." The effect was immediate, if not perfect. "This is not a sightseeing excursion," she continued, her voice cutting cleanly through the lingering chatter. "You are here to observe and learn. You will conduct yourselves accordingly, or you will be asked to leave."
A few of them smiled sheepishly, while a few tried to make themselves invisible, trying to hide themselves behind their larger classmates. Needless to say, that did not go unnoticed by the sharp-eyed teacher.
Avy watched the guards and the servants work with their usual terrifying efficiency and leaned forward to whisper in her girlfriend's ear. "Your house is terrifying."
"You always say that," Cecilia muttered, not looking at her. "And it's not terrifying, it's structured."
"That statue looked like it was about to judge me." The statue she was talking about was of one Alger Wilson, the Hanged Man of her mother's club. And from what she'd heard of them before, yeah, judgy was certainly one word for the brash Tyrant pathway beyonder.
"It probably was," Cecilia said, lightly smiling at the way Avy shuddered and moved closer to her.
Edward reappeared at the far end of the hall, his presence alone enough to draw the attention of the nearest students. He spoke quietly with one of the instructors before stepping forward, his voice carrying just enough to gather the group. "Students of the Academy," he began, hands clasped neatly behind his back. "Welcome to Hall Manor."
The last of the scattered conversations died down. "You will remain in this hall until all the students have arrived," he continued. "From there, you will be escorted to the reliquary in order. Do not stray from the group, and do not wander around areas you were not explicitly informed to." Something in the way he said it made the warning feel… heavier than necessary.
Aveline shifted slightly. "That didn't sound optional."
"It wasn't," Cecilia replied calmly. Edward had always been an intense person, and she could see that the last month hadn't warmed his cold heart at all.
More students filtered in over the next several minutes, the hall gradually filling until it reached a comfortable limit. The doors were closed behind them with a soft but final sound.
A faint tension settled over the space, not enough to alarm, but enough to be felt. Cecilia stood near the front with Aveline, her posture as composed as ever, her expression unreadable.
But her attention was not on the chatter or to the talks that were happening around. It had drifted about to the deeper parts of the manor. To the Hallways she knew, Doors she had passed by more times than she could count. But still – something was different.
Beneath everything, she could feel it.
A quiet pull
Like a thread brushing against the edges of her mind. It was Familiar, insistent, and waiting.
Her thoughts inadvertently went to that weird black book she'd found during the lecture, and her fingers brushed against her bag, against the book hidden within.
For that one fleeting moment, she felt it again - That same subtle warmth. That same silent call.
Aveline nudged her gently. "You're doing that thing again."
Cecilia blinked. "What thing?"
"The 'I'm thinking too hard and ignoring the world' thing."
"…I do not have a thing."
"You absolutely have a thing."
A faint, almost reluctant smile touched Cecilia's lips. "Noted."
Before Aveline could reply, most likely with some goofy romantic quip, Edward's voice rose once more. "We will begin shortly."
They did indeed begin shortly.
The descent began behind a door that most visitors would have mistaken for a decorative panel. Edward pressed his gloved hand against an unmarked segment of the wall. There was a soft, almost polite click, followed by the low hum of concealed mechanisms awakening. The panel slid aside, revealing a narrow stairwell spiralling downward into shadow. The manor had been designed by the best paragon pathway beyonders, all of whom were attempting to curry favour with Mother, so despite the innocuous appearance, it was far better protected than it appeared.
"Stay close," Edward instructed as they all made their way down the stairs. "Do not touch anything unless explicitly permitted. And under no circumstances are you to activate Spirit Vision while inside the vault." He said, the last part aimed at the beyonders in the group. There were a handful of them in her year group – not too many, all things considered.
That last part drew a few curious looks.
Cecilia didn't miss it.
Her fingers tightened, just slightly, around Aveline's hand.
As they descended, each step they took felt… heavier, so to speak. Not physically, no - the stairs were immaculate, the spacing perfect, the incline gentle. But there was pressure here. Subtle. Lingering. Like walking deeper into water without ever seeing the surface above you. The air turned cooler the lower they went, and there was an anticipatory charge to the air, like it was anxious and awaiting something.
The chatter that had followed them from the courtyard slowly died, replaced by an uneasy quiet. Even the most talkative students seemed to sense that whatever lay below was not meant for idle conversation.
Aveline leaned closer, her voice dropping to a whisper. "Your family really knows how to make an entrance."
Cecilia shot her a reassuring smile and tightened her hold on the other girl's hand. She didn't know what to say. What could she say – that she had never been down here in the reliquary before, and didn't know it would be like this. That she didn't know why some students at the academy had even been permitted to visit the most secure Vault in all of Arcos?
Yeah, no. It was better to stay silent.
At the bottom of the staircase, the space opened into a vast underground chamber.
Or rather, a series of chambers.
Massive reinforced doors lined the walls, each one marked with intricate sigils that shimmered faintly under the dim, bluish lighting. Some doors were pristine. Others bore marks - scratches, dents, things that looked suspiciously like something had tried to get out. At the center stood a circular platform, where Edward took his place.
"Welcome," he said, turning to face the group, "to the Reliquary of House Hall."
He paused for a moment before continuing. "This facility houses artifacts collected over centuries. Some are remnants of the early epochs. Others are acquisitions. Each item is classified by threat level and sealed accordingly."
A boy near the back raised his hand, trying to sound casual. "Uh… what kind of artifacts?"
Edward regarded him for a moment, "Powerful and dangerous Sealed Artifacts from the previous Epochs. Angel Sequence beyonder Characteristics, Artifacts belonging to the other divine Realms, or to the now fallen Gods from Earth."
That shut him up. A faint wave of thrill and anticipation ran through the crowd of students, who were all suddenly much more excited for this tour.
Edward gestured toward the nearest door. "We will begin with a low-risk exhibit." He said as the door opened with a deep, resonant thrum. "There are no dangerous artifacts in here, but be attentive – I have been told that this will be on the curriculum," he finished with a sardonic, and uncharacteristic to him, smirk.
Cecilia blinked.
Edward. Making a joke.
Truly, the world was probably about to end.
The room itself was modest when compared to the rest of the vault. It was still elegant, beautifully decorated, and meticulously arranged, but it lacked the oppressive feeling she'd felt when coming down the stairs. Glass cases lined the walls, each one housing an artifact suspended in faintly glowing containment fields.
Nothing here screamed of danger; it was just an ordinary room. This made it easier for the students to relax.
That lasted all of thirty seconds.
"Don't-"
Tap. The sharp crack of Edward's cane against bone echoed cleanly through the room. A boy yelped, jerking his hand back from the display with wide, scandalized eyes, clutching his knuckles as they visibly went red.
"You were instructed not to touch," Edward said mildly, already moving on.
Cecilia pressed her lips together, barely containing her laughter. She didn't feel much pity for the boy; after all, it was his fault for trying to grab the massive, timeworn greatsword resting within its field. It belonged to the Giant King Aurmir back in the second Epoch, if the plaque below the field was accurate.
They moved along.
The next display drew them in more gently. It was a crown of woven flowers - delicate, almost impossibly so - rested beneath its enclosure. It looked as though it had been freshly made, with the petals looking soft and fragile.
A faint fragrance exuded from the flower crown; the scent was faintly sweet and warm to smell. It reminded her of the cookies her Mama used to bake for her when she was young, and at the same time, of the biscuits that were sometimes delivered to the Valor orphanage.
Wait what?
Cecilia paused for a moment, wondering what she had just thought. The moment passed by as the fragrance drifted outwards in a subtle haze, brushing against the deepest parts of her memories.
Aveline leaned in, eyes bright with fascination as she peered at the crown. She kept going further and further towards it.
And yep, that's far enough. Cecilia caught her by the collar of her uniform and tugged her back just before she crossed the invisible threshold of good judgment and tripped into the display field. "Careful, dear," she murmured.
"I wasn't going to touch it," Aveline whispered back, though she didn't pull away completely.
"You were about to fall into it."
"…That's slander."
Before Cecilia could reply, a soft voice rose from behind them.
"Excuse me sir, but isn't it too dangerous to be near the artifacts of a God? Even if they are dead?" Eris, the mildest student in their group, asked.
Edward turned to her, "Giant King Aurmir perished in the Second Epoch. The Earth Mother Omebella in the Fifth. Whatever divine influence once lingered has long since degraded. What remains is simply residual power." He gestured lightly toward the displays. "These have all been appraised. At present, they are comparable to Sealed Artifacts of Sequence 6 or 5."
Eris smiled softly. "Thank you, sir."
Cecilia noticed the others too, the way shoulders relaxed, how eyes lingered a little longer now that the lack of danger had been clarified. Edward, catching that shift, added almost idly, "Every item presented in this tour has been verified as safe for observation." He paused for a moment, and then with the faintest hint of dry amusement, he said, "There is no need for concern."
Cecilia quirked an eyebrow as she looked at the butler. That was the second time today. That was the second time he'd quipped today. Someone's in a good mood today.
The next door did not open as easily.
Before activating it, Edward turned back to the group, his gaze sharper now.
"Once again," he said, "while anything excessively dangerous has been removed, you are to remain with the group at all times. Do not wander. And if you encounter anything unexpected, you will call for me immediately."
No one laughed.
No one spoke.
That meant they understood the seriousness.
Good.
Edward pressed his hand against the wall, and the wall pulled back one panel at a time till a door appeared.
They were promptly led in.
There were several relics on display throughout the room, but none drew attention quite like the one at its center. An elegant Black crown floated over the pedestal, exerting a palpable spiritual weight on those who even observed it.
Cecilia had to resist the urge to activate her Spirit Vision, remembering the warnings given before.
The crown had nine prongs arching upward, with four on each side and one larger one on the front. The front spoke had a deep red, almost blood-like gem studded to it. The gem glinted when her eyes landed on it, and a shiver ran down her spine as, for a singular brief moment, she heard ravings echoing in her ear, bouncing about in her mind.
They disappeared before she could make sense of what she heard.
Professor Aidenoff's voice suddenly cut through the silence. "Tell me," she said, stepping forward at last, having been silent the entire tour. "Who wore this crown? It was covered in your lecture two weeks ago."
The students looked at each other, none of them knowing the answer. Cecilia didn't bother trying. Even if she had known, that knowledge was currently drifting somewhere in the void of the past month.
Just as it was starting to look as if no one would speak, Aveline spoke up. "It belongs to a Black Emperor."
Aidenoff's brow lifted slightly. "Half marks for the lack of specificity. But correct."
Avy beamed, and Cecilia smiled back, softer, quieter - and just a little warmer than usual. It was a smile full of pride.
"The crown," Aidenoff continued, "belonged to Emperor Caesar, Roselle Gustav. Now, why was he called the 'Son of Steam'?"
Avy once again answered the question before anyone else could; the pink-haired girl was on quite a roll today, and that did things to Cecilia if she were being honest.
"He started the Industrial Revolution during the Fifth Epoch. His inventions and ideas changed the world - so people named him after the then God of the Paragon Pathway – The God of Steam and Machinery."
"Correct again."
A faint flush colored Aveline's cheeks as a few students snickered nearby.
Cecilia's gaze flicked toward them, and they flinched. For her gaze was sharp, deadly, and slitted just like the eyes of a dragon.
The gaze had been brief, but it had been enough.
The laughter died instantly.
Aidenoff, either unaware or unconcerned, continued, "Roselle was once the ruler of the Intis Republic. How he ascended to the position of Black Emperor remains unknown. Particularly as his assassination was recorded two centuries before his reappearance onto the world stage during the events surrounding the Fall of the World Barrier."
The lecture continued on, and eventually they were led into another room.
There was only one thing in this room, and it had everyone's eyes wide with surprise.
It was a sword, forged out of austere, pale silver metal that looked unnaturally shiny, and unnaturally sharp, like it was just as sharp as the day it had been forged. It had rippling patterns flowing across its blade like frozen waves. The handle was simple by comparison - lacquered wood, dark and polished.
But none of which was the cause of the surprise.
That, would be because of the size.
It was nearly Ten Meters long, and had to be hung on the wall of this room because it wouldn't fit in any other way. There was also no other side display here like there had been in Roselle's Display room.
Edward allowed them a moment before stepping forward. "This is the Great Arc Blade." His voice echoed faintly through the room. "It is believed to have once been wielded by an avatar of the Goddess of Black Skies."
He paused for a moment.
Then, with a slight incline of his head toward a man standing near the far wall, he said. "My own knowledge on the subject is limited. Doctor Markos will elaborate."
A low murmur rippled through the students, no longer the careless excitement from earlier, but something quieter - measured. Respectful.
Uneasy.
"So it's just metal?" someone near the back asked, hesitant, as though expecting the sword itself to take offence. Which, to be fair, was very possible. It was the sword of one of the 6 Great Gods after all.
Doctor Markos adjusted his spectacles, clearly pleased to have an audience. "Just metal is a rather inadequate way of describing it," he said dryly. "The blade itself no longer carries active divinity, that much is true. However, its structure and composition remain anomalous." He gestured toward the surface of the sword. "The material has resisted all attempts at replication, alteration, or degradation. It does not dull. It does not corrode. It does not respond to conventional or mystical forging techniques. In essence," He tapped the air lightly for emphasis. "It is permanent."
That drew a sharper reaction. Even the less academically inclined students straightened slightly at that as they imagined wielding a weapon like that. A weapon that could not dull. Could not break. Could not Rust.
Aveline leaned closer to Cecilia, her voice hushed but brimming with interest. "That's… kind of terrifying."
Cecilia didn't immediately respond.
Her eyes traced the length of the blade, following the faint ripples across its surface. There was no aura she could perceive, not without spirit vision, but she could tell something was off.
"It's incomplete," Cecilia murmured under her breath.
Aveline blinked. "What is?"
"The story," Cecilia replied, gaze still fixed on the blade. "An avatar doesn't simply leave something like this behind unless - "
Ahead, Doctor Markos continued, unaware of the princesses' thoughts. "House Hall acquired the blade shortly after its abandonment. Records suggest it was found embedded in a mountain ridge several hundred kilometres from the nearest settlement, as though it had simply been placed there."
"Placed?" someone echoed.
"Yes," Markos said. "Not thrown. Not driven in with force. Placed."
Avery, standing a short distance away, frowned slightly. "If the Great Old Ones drove the avatar away, why didn't they take the weapon?" Cecilia frowned, unable to not notice the slight tremor in her fingers and the subtle twitching in her eyelids.
Markos hesitated before answering. "We believe it is because it has no value to them."
A wave of hushed murmurs erupted in the crowd of students, and Edward stepped forward, neatly closing the discussion before it could spiral further. "You may approach," he said. "Touching the flat of the blade is permitted. Do not, under any circumstances, make contact with the edge."
That was the only invitation some needed. The students surged forward, running their hands across the metal, not knowing what to expect – but all they found was metal cool to the touch, nothing supernatural, mystical or anything seeming divine.
Just metal.
Sometime later, Edward clapped his cane lightly against the floor once. "That concludes this exhibit."
They were shown more and more things.
What Cecilia personally found the most interesting was the drop of ichor from the Sun God. It was golden, and floated in its own display field, and seemed to such up all light and heat and emit the same at the same time. It was a paradox of the kind most Error Pathway Beyonders won't be able to perform, and frankly, it was making her head hurt.
There were also the twin scepters of Alista Tudor and Trunsoest – one a red Scepter that had been obviously corrupted with a malice and deathly darkness, and the other a Navy blue one. It was quite clear which one belonged to whom. The plaque below the display brought attention to the fact that the first name of Trunsoest had been lost to history, and Alista Tudor's hadn't. So, that was pretty interesting.
Another thing that caught her eye was a deathly black scythe that was so dark that she couldn't even make out the shape. It was like a void of darkness against the colours of the World. It was the scythe wielded by the former Evernight Goddess, the goddess that her mother had claimed to hold faith in in the fifth epoch.
There was a cross too, simple at first glance, almost humble, until one looked at it for too long. Then it began to feel like it was looking back. The former Visionary's relic from when he had been the Angel of Imagination. That Visionary had held this cross in his hands till his death in the final phases of the Seventh Epoch, and if the plaque was accurate, the god was found dead with this cross held to his heart.
Then there were the Cards.
The Cards of Blasphemy.
Not the refined, polished versions known in the current era.
These were older.
Rougher.
Older.
The plaque said that these were the cards that had been used by the outer gods to infect the pathways in the sixth epoch. These cards were the older, now prohibited iterations created by Roselle Gustav, and not the current ones, which had been created by the God Mystics.
Even the instructors spoke more carefully around those.
Finally, they passed a large-scale recreation, an illusory construct depicting the Ancient Sun God's war against the Mad Gods of the Second Epoch. Golden light clashed against writhing, impossible forms; the battlefield stretched beyond comprehension, reality itself bending under the strain of that ancient conflict. It was a recreation only possible using several Scholar of Yore characteristics and the Historical Void they granted access to.
It should have been captivating.
It was, at first.
But it soon got tiring.
And the lectures, by the gods, the lectures. Long, thorough, relentless lectures have a way of grinding even wonder into dust.
Voices droned on.
Dates. Names. Context. Analysis.
Exhaustion spread among the students as enthusiasm dimmed into polite endurance. Even Aveline, bright and curious as she was, leaned a little more heavily against Cecilia's side, her earlier excitement mellowing into quiet fatigue.
Cecilia herself had checked out long ago.
Not visibly.
Never visibly
She'd been taught to never show weakness visibly.
But her mind had drifted the moment the pattern had become clear. She knew these stories.
Had heard them before, and not just as distant histories, but from someone who had been there. She had been narrated them all across quiet evenings by her mother. The artifacts were interesting, sure. And seeing the actual objects from those stories was cool, but even she was getting exhausted.
By the time the final explanation wound to a close, the room carried a subtle but unmistakable air of collective exhaustion.
The professors noticed.
Of course they did.
Professor Aidenoff exchanged a glance with the others before stepping forward. "We will conclude the tour after the next one."
A chorus of barely concealed relief rippled through the group. A few students, the more brownnosing ones, echoed soft protests, attempting to sound disappointed.
No one took them seriously.
Edward pressed his hand to the wall, and the door pulled inward panel by panel to reveal another door. He turned towards the students, "As requested by the academy professors, this will be the last of the displays. Please exit the vault in an orderly manner afterward." He said before leading them all in.
The students filed in with noticeably less enthusiasm than before, the long chain of lectures having worn down even the most eager among them. A few stifled yawns. Others dragged their feet just a fraction too slow.
Cecilia did neither.
The moment she crossed the threshold -
She stilled.
It wasn't obvious. Not to anyone without the eyes to see it. Her posture remained perfect, her expression composed, her breathing even.
There were several display cases here, and just like before, only one was in the center, with the rest lined up at the sides next to the walls. They were led to the display in the center, and it was a Book. It was a golden-silver hardbound book floating above the pedestal, with the book forcefully kept close by the runic circles inscribed upon it. Edward stepped next to the display case and said the words that shook most of the classroom, even the teachers, who had not been expecting that. "This is the Uniqueness of the Justiciar Pathway."
A ripple of shocked gasps erupted from the students, and for good reason. The last Justiciar, Xio Derecha, had fallen only three hundred years ago. The full story had not been released, but according to the conspiracy theories, it had something to do with the actions of a Great Old One.
The common thought was that the Son of Chaos or the Uncertain Mist did something to get the upper hand in their eternal war against each other, and the Lady Judgement was just caught in the crossfire due to being in the same pathway group – but no one knew for sure. But one thing was certain: with no method of resurrection, she was the first and only god to fall since the beginning of the Epoch.
But Cecilia didn't care for any of that.
Her gaze was eerily settled on one of the other display cases, the one furthest away from her.
It was a gemstone. A six-faced gemstone, brighter than any she has ever seen before floating above the pedestal in a way that reminded her of the moon – not that she'd ever seen one before, after all, everyone knew, you should not gaze at the Moon. There were wisps of red energy erupting and collapsing from the red gem, performing a harrowing yet beautiful dance.
Her eyes flickered downwards to quickly read the plaque before coming back to rest on the gem. The plaque read: A gem containing the residual power of the Fallen ****** retrieved by the Lord of the Mysteries at the end of the Fall of the World Barrier Incident. One of the words, the most important one in fact, was scratched out.
But she didn't care; she just kept her eyes locked onto the crystal. She could feel her heart thump in her chest and strange power crawl through her veins. Her eyes flashed red, and then something appeared in front of her eyes.
"What the…?!" escaped her lips before she could control it as words appeared in front of her. Words in an ineligible language, but she could still somehow understand them.
Name: Niklaus
True Name: -
Rank: Aspirant
Sequence: 5
Soul Core: Dormant
Memories: -
Echoes: -
Attributes: [The Fire] [Dreamwalker] [Mythical Creature] [Child of Destiny] [Overwritten]
Aspect: Princess
They were her runes, she realized - somehow naming the phenomenon despite it being her first time witnessing it.
She suddenly froze, her eyes wide.
The, she remembered.
It all came rushing back.
Her Name
Who she was.
The outskirts.
Her earlier days at the Valor Orphanage.
Meeting Master Tyris.
Fighting the other rats for just one more tube of synth-paste.
Fighting the other rats for just one more tube of synth-paste.
Him meeting Juliet.
Him saving Ruby.
The Nightmare Spell.
Getting infected by the accursed spell.
Waking up in the first Nightmare.
With a gasp that was somehow suppressed, Niklaus awakened. He sucked in a sharp breath and immediately choked on it.
The air felt wrong.
The little breath he'd just taken had been too smooth, too controlled. His body had reacted before he could think, and his shoulders straightened as his chin lifted just enough to project a regality he'd never borne before – his breathing evening out into something measured, practiced.
Something Refined.
He froze.
That's not me. The thought rose up slowly, like it had passed through a dreamy haze to appear to the forefront. His fingers twitched, but they didn't curl into fists, nor did they shake. Some unknown instinct rose unbidden and directed his actions, and his hands came to rest lightly against the fabric of Cecilia's skirt, poised, elegant, and perfectly still.
A flicker of irritation rose within him, before vanishing just as quickly, smothered by a calm that did not belong to him.
It was her, he realized.
Her composure.
Her control.
He looked around and flinched as memories inadvertently flooded his mind, filling in where he was and what was going on. The sharp jerk he'd made did not go unnoticed, drawing concerned gazes from Avy and a few others standing nearby – but Niklaus was in no position to care.
His gaze dropped instinctively to check his posture - and for a brief, horrifying moment, his mind supplied the wrong thought.
Unbecoming.
He flinched as if struck.
"No-!"
The word came out soft. Controlled. Too controlled. He dragged in another breath, forcing it deeper this time, rougher, uglier - anything that didn't feel like her.
Niklaus staggered half a step back, his heel clicking sharply against the marble floor of the vault, the sound being lost amidst the lecture. But it still echoed in his ear.
Precise.
Delicate.
Wrong.
A sharp breath broke through his lips, uneven and jagged, and the illusion cracked. His hand suddenly jerked upward and slammed against Cecilia's voluptuous chest, almost like he was trying to make sure something inside him was still his.
The heart beat in his chest.
Good, he thought, that meant that it was real.
But beneath all of it, he could feel it – there was something else
Fragments slipped through his mind. They weren't memories, not fully. They were instincts, trained, learned instincts. On how to stand, how to look. how to be seen.
They weren't his.
But they were there.
Layered over him.
Pressing in.
Waiting.
And he was losing himself in them,
The tide of memories kept growing and growing, and more and more images passed in front of his eyes. He could feel Avy's concerned gaze on him, but he had no time for his – Cecilia's girlfriend. He could feel the memories starting to overwhelm him, trying to mould his actions and thoughts into the same patterns as Cecilia. He was about to lose himself, and there was nothing he could do!!!
He tried to focus on his own memories, the core of his experiences that made him him, to try to stop himself from drowning.
Then, A familiar voice echoed in his ears.
[You have lost an Attribute]
It was like a switch had been flipped.
Suddenly, the overwhelming flood of memories settled, seamlessly merging with Niklaus' own mind and settling inside him. The ego, the instincts, and the experiences that were threatening to overwhelm him and turn him to Cecilia again just…vanished.
Everything just clicked, and all of a sudden, Niklaus was there alone, his mind empty of all but his thoughts. All he had left as proof that this even happened were the extra set of memories that hung around in his head just as naturally as his own did. If he had to make a comparison, he felt like it would be as if he had used Placate on himself. And whoa, it was fucking weird having the memories of a whole other life inside his head, and that life belonging to someone of the opposite social status, and… gender.
Remembering something, he willed his runes to appear and checked his attributes.
Attributes: [The Fire] [Dreamwalker] [Mythical Creature] [Child of Destiny]
And sure enough, the [Overwritten] attribute had disappeared. He breathed a sigh of relief when he figured out what that meant. He was finally back and won't be drowning under the pressure of Cecilia's memories and ego again.
But one thing was for sure: he had to keep away from that woman, Audrey Hall.
Something was not right about her.
The way she just rewrote Cecilia's memories back into place and erased him from existence… Niklaus had to suppress a shudder that threatened to erupt. He thought he'd have goosebumps by now, but soon realized that Cecilia was perfectly waxed, and there was no hair to stand up straight.
///
He had no idea how he had managed to keep up the Cecilia act till the end of the tour trip, but disoriented as he was, he had somehow managed it. He'd even kissed Aveline goodbye before she'd stepped onto the carriage, and despite how much of a shit person he felt for doing it, and how much his face had burned red during the moment, he'd done it to keep up the act.
He could not allow anyone to even suspect that he was not the Cecilia they'd known for so long.
He shuddered at the thought, his mind filled with scary images of what might happen – the face of Audrey Hall appeared in his mind, and he shivered as he imagined her enraged.
So here he was, back in Cecilia's unnecessarily opulent room – and look at him, using fancy legacy words like opulent, he snickered – wearing only a pair of matching bra and panties as he lay on the bed. He'd tried wearing Cecilia's night gown, but he just couldn't get used to the draft or to the silky, sensitive feel of the material. At least he got to preserve the girl's dignity somewhat, what little she had left after having him possess her.
Niklaus absentmindedly turned around to lie on his belly, shifting and adjusting a little to make sure his tits rested comfortably.
And he didn't even want to talk about the Psychological Invisibility ability the Spectator Pathway has. That power was so OP. If he had it back in the outskirts, there was so much he could have done, could have accumulated so much Synth-paste for himself and Ruby without any issues.
Before he could dive any further into his thoughts, he heard a knock on the door.
"Yes," he asked, cringing when it came out as Cecilia's lyrical voice. He was still not used to it.
"Lady Cecilia, I have your change for clothes for your shopping trip at the Street of Silk," Layla's voice came from behind the door, and the invitation to Laena's trip and the fact that Cecilia had agreed to it slammed to the forefront of his mind. Along came the realization that he would have to go if he didn't have to appear suspicious.
After all, a lady of noble birth cannot break her word once given.
It would be unsightly, he mocked in his head.
So he did the only thing he could: he buried his head into the pillow to muffle the sounds, and screamed.