Soren had only been in this location a few times, and most of them ended fairly quickly. He had to admit though—Sienna had taste. The underground garden was supposedly grown through spirit magic thanks to Myrin’s efforts. And the false night sky was something Sienna herself created. Together, they created a serene atmosphere that was easy on the mind…
If Soren had to choose between studying here or in Cassia’s lab, he would most likely choose here a hundred times over… It was just that relaxing, especially inside her cozy marble canopy.
It's strangely similar to [The Faerie Court]… Indeed, the marble canopy he had spent two weeks inside was fairly large in comparison, but the similarities were there… Even the surrounding courtyard gardens seemed to match slightly.
That space was created through [Fictionalization], so maybe The Records modeled it after Sienna’s eden?
Regardless, this was an unexpected tour, but a welcome one. As they went around the garden, Sienna showed off a few of the Spirit Beasts they had captured. One of them was a deer with antlers that glowed in the same colors as the surrounding flowers. It was called an Axel Deer and it was native to the Feylith Forest. There were a few other creatures too, from birds to insects, to a dozen breeds of strange mammal-like animals he had no way of fully describing.
All of them were docile, though that was likely due to Sienna’s presence. The poor creatures could probably tell they stood no chance against her.
Either way, they definitely added to the ambience.
However, this wasn’t just a tour for him to familiarize himself with the garden he was soon to leave behind. Along the way, Soren told Sienna stories of everything that had occurred to him in the past few weeks… From his harrowing journey across the treacherous Beyond, to his meeting with Hurion in the Castle of Devastation… He eventually retold her what had occurred afterwards when he arrived back in the real world—how he was able to evade the Whispering Dream through his ability to enter the Rift, and how he and Tazzith managed to twist the hands of fate slightly in their favor.
While describing the events of the Crimson Ritual, Soren would periodically glance at her in secret, hoping to pry her reaction. That proved to be impossible—Sienna was even better than him at maintaining a poker face.
The only things he left out were how he managed to reach the 1st Circle so quickly as well as what power he had access to that allowed him to enter the Rift freely… He had anticipated that she would question him on these things, but strangely, she never did. Not that Soren minded.
Things like how he achieved Affinity Fusion or him possessing the fragment of a Forgotten Rune were best left secret. Although he trusted Sienna for now, Soren also knew that it was always best to have at least one or two cards left out of play.
“And that’s the entire garden,” Her voice interrupted him. “What do you think?”
Soren smiled. He took off his cone hat and rested it on his chest while scratching his hair. “Beautiful, really. I am going to miss this place.”
Sienna looked at him for a second then looked away, sighing. “We all are…”
“You’re planning to abandon this place too?” Soren was surprised. He knew that she was going to disband the guild, but he didn’t know that meant fully discarding their home.
“Indeed…” She nodded. “As I said before, the guild has served its purpose. And now that we have achieved Official Guild Status in the eyes of the Aelloran Kingdom, more and more people will flock here to look for me. I’d rather return to the academy.”
“Luvinica?”
Sienna kept walking ahead. Her steps were both steady and uncertain. “The information in that first scroll—I plan to submit a report on it. Ah, don’t worry, you will be cited!” She chuckled. “There’s also my other research too. I’ve neglected so much since I was gone…”
“Well, you did leave for twenty years after all,” Soren chuckled. “As for me, I plan to pass through Staterra first.”
“Oh, I know.” Sienna stopped and glanced back at him. Soren frowned.
“You know?”
She nodded, “The prophecy, remember? Ah, I did forget to tell you. You’re not the only one going on that pilgrimage.”
Soren tilted his neck, “Huh?”
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She turned around and kept walking forward—a mischievous smile masking her face. “You’ll see what I mean later~”
He stopped for a bit before following behind her. “Still, you haven’t told me what exactly was so important about this prophecy… Yes, you saw my journey during the pilgrimage, but why was it so urgent? And the Vynasians attacking…”
“Yes, it had to do with that,” She interrupted.
Soren’s eyes widened. He had suspected that to be the case but her words finally confirmed it.
During their battle in the skies, Myrin speculated that the one who attacked them first was meant to probe their capabilities while the rest watched in secret from a distance. After the Crimson Ritual Incident, security across the city was heightened. Countless Magi were employed to detect even the faintest of anima flow, so the Vynasians had to be careful not to reveal themselves.
However, that only lasted for a moment. After they defeated the first Fallen, the rest promptly revealed themselves, going against what should have been the end of their altercation.
The battle hasn’t been long since it ended, and yet, even now, Soren failed to understand their purpose. What exactly drove them to go against their initial mission? Or did him and Myrin simply miscalculate their intentions?
The answer turns out, was Sienna all along.
“The Vynasians… They are strange beings indeed. Countless scholars have poured their lives into researching them—all of them have failed.” He could hear her sighing as she continued to walk forward.
Soren frowned as he placed his cone hat back on his head. “Its that strange quality about them, right? They’re… rejected from the Beyond?”
Sienna nodded. “The Beyond knows that their existence is alien to this world. Their Runic Existence is not one that belongs here, nor is attuned to the rules that govern this world. And so, they are promptly rejected and shunned. Information about them is deleted, and any act in defiance of this decree is seen as a threat by the Beyond itself.”
“Yes, I also felt this,” he nodded. “If I had tried to use [Eyes of the Fairy] on them, I would have likely died on the spot.”
“Indeed… However, although studies into them have mostly resulted in failure, we have observed one distinct quality. Their lives… It depends on the Celestial Fate of Yarian.”
“What?” His brows furrowed. This was the first time he was hearing this.
“Strange isn’t it?”” She turned her neck to face him and smiled. “Their activities… It depends on the Orbits of Fate. In fact, we can see this now based on what you explained to me about the Whispering Dream…
“That Saint, Silmar, or whatever his name is… He is trying to unravel the Divine Accord that froze this world’s fate just like I am. But his method is far more sinister. Rather than achieving the main condition behind the Accord, he would rather destroy its foundations, one promise at a time… And we can see the result of his efforts in real time.
“Every time a gateway to the Rift opens, Vynasian armadas enter this world… And as we observed earlier in that fight, the Fallen have the ability to open these Rift Gates on their own… The only thing that stops them from fully invading this world is the Divine Accord—the freezing of this World’s Fate.”
“So doesn’t that mean that the Vynasians will fully begin their war once the orbits move again?”
Sienna nodded. “Yes, but that is why our methods are different. I am trying to unravel the Divine Accord in its intended way—by achieving the conditions necessary to do so as outlined by its own Edict. We still haven’t figured out what that Edict is yet, but once we do, we might be more prepared for that inevitable confrontation…”
Hearing this, Soren stopped in his tracks. He finally realized something crucial. “Are you saying that the Vynasians can also read the flow of the orbits?...”
“Exactly!” She chuckled. “If they didn’t, how else would they act when necessary? Whether that is a biological quality of theirs or something they learned to do—we don’t know. But what happened earlier finally confirmed it to me.
“Those Vynasians… They must have sensed that my prophecy would shift the orbits against them… That the intel I received from my visions would go against their plans. And so, out of desperation, they decided to abandon their mission and tried everything they could to kill you—the man pictured in my prophecy…”
Soren’s frown deepened even more. “What exactly could have happened in my pilgrimage that would threaten them this much…”
Sienna chuckled, “I can’t tell you what I saw. If I did, it would ruin everything. But I will give you a hint.”
As she said this, she turned around once more to face him. A warm smile tugging at her lips as the brilliance of the false night sky illuminated her figure:
“Beware those who bask in the worship of lies.”
A few minutes had passed since his conversation with the Mistress had ended. And yet, even now, his confusion has only grown. He walked down the lonely corridor, masking his steps one at a time.
“Those who worship lies…” He couldn’t help but frown. “Could she mean Cassia’s tribe?” After all, they did worship the Serpent of Untruths. But even if that was the case, why would he need to be wary of them? Didn’t the Silver Moon Church wipe them out?
As these thoughts ran freely in his mind, Soren spotted a figure ahead, basked in the shadows of the corridor. It was obvious who it was.
“Myrin…”
He could see the handsome elf folding his arms as he leaned against the wall. Hearing his name be called, he glanced over at Soren and smiled.
“Finally here.”
Soren nodded. “Need something?”
There was an awkward pause after he asked that, as if the next words Myrin wanted to say were hard to spell out…
In front of him, Myrin stepped away from the wall and dusted his robe. It only took a second or so, then he glanced up at Soren—eyes resolute.
“I heard from the others that you’ll be going on a pilgrimage soon.
“That journey… I want you to take me with you.”