Chapter 171

  After Maul was pleased with the gadgets and connections, he put his thumb up and gave Dreadus his approval. “Don't be too harsh.”

  Dreadus sighed, and Celeste felt as if the sky had come over her little head. She shuddered when Dreadus motioned with his hand forward and squeezed nothing right in front of her.

  Something moved, making her breath slow, her mind strange yet familiar, and down, and it clutched her body as if she were back on that mountain. Something else was also there, watching her, while a huge hand pressed on her.

  She didn't scream, wince, or play with anything. She glared at Dreadus, who wore quite a forceful face. “I am a Walker. A big one, in fact, so I will test your capabilities, and I swear I won't hurt you too much.”

  “You... can.”

  “I am not that crazy. Little can go far, and you... your limits and body is yours. Not mine, I know. You might not know it yet, but there is something good at remaining human but knowing you aren't one. It is a lesson to be learned in stages and layers. Don't take it personally.”

  Maul grabbed papers and began compiling data right beside the moving screens and shaking new patterns. Her vitals shot up immediately, and shockingly, a few of them went to almost normal human levels. It wasn't mild or cohesive. It was chaotic and erratic.

  He tested heartbeat, blood pressure and flow, muscle tension, rates of oddities among them, and something with Emblem and mind started to perk up. The little devices on her temple read her brainwaves and compiled weird data.

  They were calm, looking like nothing was happening.

  Almost empty.

  Dreadus was doing a rather fundamental form of physical Arcana and Emblem test and fell into creeping shock when Maul suggested going deeper.

  So he did.

  He passed into Rank 3 territory in less than a minute. Then, Celeste flinched and began to stress out and mutter nonsense as she began to shake. Many readings started to make even less sense.

  Even when Walkers were involved, some things never change, but the starting bodies were often relatively tame and typical. Arcana had its effects and body-relations, despite there being limits to growth when one wasn't even an adult. The foundation establishment has to be honorable.

  Her Emblem wasn't doing a thing, and that was something Maul hadn't expected. He even exposed her right arm for this test. Looking over her Emblem, both of them decided not to do too much because she wasn't a normal case, let alone at Rank 1.

  However, Celeste felt comfortable, as this much pain and pressure wasn't a big deal at all. Her brain waves were serene, and her heartbeat intensified like blood and muscle, stressing together and making her wince and jerk. Many things kept her on the chair, which began to creak a lot.

  “How is it?” Maul asked Dreadus because he judged what Maul couldn't.

  The System, self-worth, and creeping power of this Emblem and Arcana were important.

  “Hundreds of pounds of pressure is beyond what regular humans can endure. Sometimes, going over a line is a lot more than a mere number. My control only goes so far, so I think a thousand pounds? Nah. It is my Arcana and touch. It does make me wonder. Maybe I am underestimating you, Celeste. A lot more than necessary.”

  Maul wished to touch her right now, but couldn't because of that pressure.

  He could see her stressed neck and face. Unfortunately, her clothes weren't exposing her skin and muscles too much. But from what little Maul could see, coming from that colorful arm, her clutched hands slowly crushed the handles. Her forearm even bulged out a little, giving thin veins some notes, and Celeste looked more and more furious, yet her readings said otherwise.

  Something did not make it right, let alone fine.

  Her right arm was off the chart, unlike the left one. “Oh, this is interesting,” Maul said and urged Dreadus to keep up with what he was doing.

  He did, and that wasn't a great change.

  Celeste endured it like a rock under the sea, slowly being chipped away and molded by great waves.

  Maul approached her after five minutes and chatted because huffed grunts could become words. “How and where does this pressure reside, dear? Do muscles scream? Does heartbeat feel like voice, tone, or noise? Lungs seem occupied, but muscles and tension bear multiple links. Emblem, my dear, is one giant root. You had it active for a long time, but how long is it? Where did it escape, clutch yourself, or protect you?”

  The answers might be more than a decade old, or no one really knew when was when, or what was who.

  Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!

  Celeste opened her mouth, her teeth gritting, and eyes wavered. “Nothing... I... did nothing.”

  She felt it everywhere; in her head, fingers, and feet. It felt like she broke through the earth and fell very deep right where something clapped.

  The chair exploded into bits, and her mind skipped a beat like thunder hitting a tree. In a moment, a flash shook and light sizzled, approaching Maul and making him into near halves.

  If it hadn't been for Dreadus's open and quick shove, Maul would be dead.

  Celeste stood up, her right arm gleaming in white bright lines around it, while cracking geometrical lighting lines of many angles and straight tilts danced within.

  Huffing for breath, she was free and back. She clutched her right arm, and aside from her, Hound approached, a starry blob of magic in its mouth that was out of that container.

  Around the room, most things kept their shape, which was good. Maul would rather halve his life than see anything in here destroyed.

  He was down on the floor, feeling Dreadus' arm pressing him to the floor, while Celeste was still there, full of her Arcana that went out of her every pore and flesh and Emblem, obviously.

  A wide dome akin to a palm was all around them, and Celeste, protecting them, or protecting the room. Reaz was outside of this ring, startled at the outer layer of this room.

  Most cables and gadgets fell off Celeste, whose form seemed stable at Rank 0, with obvious cues and strange acts that nothing was truly sane and fine.

  It was within expectations, yet answers it might not create.

  Dreadus swore he should've thought about this sooner. If that damned thing killed Rank 7 Walker, he could end up the same.

  “Alright. Sorry. Breathe and calm. This isn't your first time doing this anyway.” he almost begged Celeste to calm down.

  “N-no...” Celeste mumbled and fell to her ass, where she tried to calm herself down, but the little cracking lines kept creaking and touching her, resizing and coming just to never took their rest.

  She knew it. It will calm down on its own, or when the light blinks, the Cycle will end.

  Everyone in this room realized it and felt that her Rank 0 almost didn't resemble one. The Cycle acted within clear boundaries, limits, bound space, and clear flow between the flesh and Emblem, but the quantity was bizarre and the pattern way too eratic.

  The worst thing was her almost complete control of everything. She was aware and very much calm and furious at the same time. At least parts of her were that, or so Dreadus believed.

  For her to do this, perhaps the Sea constructed it, or her Emblem seized it, and her life prevailed between them.

  Dreadus had no doubts this was incredulous, dangerous, and life-threatening across the board. Maul felt it was incredible and worth researching even when he knocked on the door of death.

  Just how many years of practice had she gotten? How much mending was conceivable?

  Well, he was wrong. That Sea fixed most possible mistakes without any side effects, since the worst effect was to live for it.

  Celeste sat down on her own, feeling no guilt that she nearly cut Maul apart.

  For an entire ten-minute period, she grabbed her head and exhaled white fog as those little geometrical lines traveled around her before slowly diminishing and returning where they formed. Hound beside her helped as well, observing and chewing on that Emblem.

  Her Emblem still glowed in mild whiteness while her mind felt the rush of tiredness, as it often accomplished.

  Dreadus caught her when she collapsed, trembling and still muttering some words he was too bothered to catch.

  Maul was left speechless and tasted the floor just fine. His eyes quivered in a near-death experience until he got up. Quivering and glaring at his computer and stuff that was still fine, his eyes darted around to find more clues where things reached their crescendo.

  He almost hugged and kissed that damned Dreadus who protected his research. He should be thankful for his life, but he wasn't the kind of person to think twice about his purpose.

  Dreadus eased his Dome and assured hissing Hound, who checked on Celeste that everything was fine.

  “She is just tired.”

  “And crazy,” Reaz added, standing not that far away.

  “Looks like an interesting new gem, in my opinion,” a new voice declared, coming from the open door. A familiar person stood there, leaning on the frame with her arms crossed and with a smile on her face.

  “Mi-Yung?” Dreadus frowned and felt this might be it. Someone worse than him had finally crossed that line and met his match!

  “Hey, I am not here for troubles or... invitations. Almost. I coincidently came over and felt like visiting. I mean, I owe you something big; haven't I said that before? I tend to take such words seriously, and if you know Songs, you know we play and handle pain very well.”

  Reaz eyed her. “Get lost, Lower Pillar! You aren't welcome here.”

  “I kindly refuse, dear Reaz.”

  Reaz sneered. “Says a troublemaker who pissed Fain off and who knows how many Assembly Pillars wants your resignation. I put my two whole arms up without hesitation.”

  “Shame you can't vote. Shame indeed.”

  “And shame you didn't get lost...”

  “Good to see you in two pieces.” Mi-Yung smiled and felt great after this cold-blooded battle of words. She glanced at Dreadus and Celeste and didn't care for his responsibility.

  After all, she had hers, and no one should stop them, either.

  “What are you here for?” he demanded, defensively holding onto unconscious Celeste, whose Arcana was getting stable.

  Hound barked at both of them, but a mere glint of Mi-Yung's eyes shuddered his tail until he fled behind Dreadus in no time.

  “Nothing. I wanted to see what was up with my problems, and guess what, I see that everything ended weird and good depending on who I am looking at.”

  “We nearly died!” Reaz argued.

  “Nearly?! What a shame of a world we live in that it hadn't been successful. Wait. That sounds wrong. I almost care about your words and safety. I should have gone at you myself and finish the job, yes?”

  Reaz nearly unlocked her steps and approached this arrogant bitch but knew this wasn't a good thing to do here.

  “Wait,” Dreadus said. “Maybe there is something that you can do... as payment, or trade for this opportunity and missed mark. Will you listen to me, Song Mi-Yung? Me... I mean. Not Reaz.”

  Mi-Yung showed him a polite smile and felt much better speaking to him. Reaz might become air, and even then, everything would remain irritating.

  “I am all ears, dear Dreadus. Who do I owe this debt?”

  There wouldn't be easy days ahead, let alone an easy path for anyone.

  “Her name is Celeste, and her life doesn't seem to be very ordinary,” He wanted to do it properly, but Reaz stepped right in.

  “I named her, by the way, so don't mess with it.”

  “Must have been hard to think of seven letters. Did it take a lot of extensions out of your head?”

  “Ha. You still think you are better than you are. Remember, it won't take long for me to reach you and become a Lower Pillar myself!”

  Dreadus sighed at the two women and swore the day had barely begun. Maul was speechless with the new reports and swore on heavens that the night better change into a day. Because if it won't, this girl will break the nature apart.