35. Gathering Courage

I dropped my head on Farin's table as the heat of the day made my already tired brain ache.

We had spent several hours pouring over different designs for the armour and weapons I was going to make.

We agreed on most things, but Farin was the meticulous type and so he made me explain everything in excruciating detail.

He then wrote down those details before making suggestions, which he also noted.

I didn't mind it at first, but part of me wanted to just make everything and call it a day, but alas.

Farin was also helping me design the Anti Knight Ballista or the AKB and fortunately, bows and crossbows were a thing in this world, so I didn't have to start from scratch.

We had concluded that I could make extremely hard and sharp bolts, but the problem was finding a way to launch them at the knights at a speed that they wouldn't be able to dodge.

Using leather strings wasn't gonna cut it and darkness didn't possess any elastic properties.

This led me to wondering what would happen if space magicians somehow gathered enough space to make it solidify.

Wouldn't that collapse the space time fabric thingy?

I wasn't sure and I don't think finding out would be a very safe idea and so I shelved it.

I then wondered what would happen if polar aspects interacted.

Under normal circumstances, when light shines on dark places, darkness recedes.

I wondered what would happen if crystallized darkness were to come into contact with crystallized light.

I shared my thoughts with Farin.

"Interesting. We could test this out with lady Yna when she returns." He said.

I nodded before hopping off my chair.

"Yeah. Jot it down. I'll go check up on Han and see how he's doing." I said before walking out of Farin's living room.

I then exited his house only for my body to be bathed by the sun's searing heat.

I winced before making my way to Yna's dojo where the sounds of exertion could be heard.

I entered the bright lit building to find twenty people tirelessly training.

Standing in front of them was Han, who's face had grown a lot stiffer since I'd first met him.

I say this because he was fairly young and yet the Han before me looked a lot more mature and capable.

He noticed me as I approached and he greeted me with a gentle smile.

"Greetings."

"Yo. How's everyone looking?" I asked.

"Everyone is still very tense, but other than that, they are performing pretty well." Han said.

I knew that having the Ia and Foph train along side each other was going to be tough, but fortunately for me, no one had started any fights or anything.

"Good. Let me know if you need any help. Oh and don't forget, you and I are headed south tomorrow." I said while walking out of the dojo.

"Don't worry. I won't forget." Han said.

In all honesty, I'd used Han as an excuse to get as far away from Farin as possible.

That guy relied on second hand information a little too much.

I wondered if sending him out to learn things on his own would help , but I didn't know what I would do if he got hurt out there and so I discarded such thoughts as I made my way to the southern wall.

I looked out into the sunlit Expanse and thought about how to contact Prince Caligo.

After all, it's his ambitions I would be standing in the way of.

I hoped he was a reasonable man.

Part of me wanted to access Kenos's memories, since I could now, but I was far too afraid.

If I was gonna go back to that place, I'd need to make sure that everything in the Expanse was taken care of.

Yna was currently on the base I'd built titled camp Cohval due to the fact that it was between Coh and Eimval.

She had spent the last couple of days training the Rendaro there and although I was curious as to how that was going, I didn't really wanna see what Yna considered training and so I stayed put.

What I did know is that all the soldiers there were living there while Yna came back every evening.

I planned on creating several smaller bases across the border between Lanceberg and the Expanse, but that'd have to wait until we had soldiers to put into those bases.

Han and Yna's students were training a small number of Rendaro to become something called Black Blades. The defenders of Coh.

I kinda liked the name.

This circles back to the issue from before.

Farin wanted unique designs for every group that our army would have.

This was a pain in the ass since I had to create three body size categories all while taking into consideration different styles!

He was working me like a mule!

I deeply sighed as I sat on my tall dark wall.

I subconsciously sent darkness into the structure, reinforcing it by several folds.

All this happened while wisps of black smoke rose from my nose.

I heard footsteps coming from behind me.

"Katsíki?"

A certain voice called.

I turned around to find Serylea, Shiru's close friend.

She wore simple, but rather muddy clothes and had a hair tied in a neat bun.

She was a slender and rather tall woman and she always had a serious expression.

"Yes?"

"There's something I'd like to show you." She said.

I hopped off of the wall and followed her to a place just east of Coh's heart.

A vast garden- well, the frame of one.

Not all the plants had grown into their places yet.

Instead, the entire area, an area about the size of a field, was filled with seedlings.

A few Rendaro from Eimval and the Oasis could be seen tending to the various plants.

Serylea led me to the centre of the garden where a circular bed of flowers sat. They were all very small and varied in colour, but they still looked pretty great.

"Beautiful." I mindlessly uttered.

Some of the flowers even looked like some from back on earth.

This made me think about all the trees, animals and other things.

It was hard for me to believe that all this crap came from a single collision that occurred five hundred years back.

All this stuff needed time to grow and I reckoned there were many collisions before the one that led to the great war-

"Katsíki?" Serylea called.

"Err… yeah?"

"Why do you choose to take the form of a child?" She asked.

"Good question. I honestly don't know. When Kenos and I met, we were both knocking on deaths door. Our fusion is the only reason we were able to live for as long as we have." I said before sitting on one of the nearby benches.

Serylea sat next to me while I rubbed my chin thoughtfully.

"I'd always assumed that we would take on the appearance Kenos had before we met. Even if it was slightly altered. But alas, here I sit."

"I see… do you think you were destined meet prince Kenos?" Serylea asked as she braided my hair.

"Perhaps. When I arrived on this world, I was nothing but livestock. To say that I'm grateful Kenos and I met would be an understatement. Everything I have become and everything a built wouldn't exist if we hadn't met, but…" My voice drifted off as certain visions flashed in my mind.

"But?"

"Kenos… is… I don't actually know, but I'm deathly afraid of finding out." I said while trembling eyes.

"Mmm….you and prince Kenos are one now, right? So in a sense, learning more about him would teach you more about yourself." Serylea said. Her voice sweet and her words a song.

"That's… a very interesting way of looking at it." I noted aloud.

"Anyway, enough about me. How are doing?"

"Oh, you know. I'm just about as busy as everyone else. Although Shiru and the other cooks are much busier than me." Serylea said.

"Oh? Do they need any help? Are our supplies not enough?"

"No! Everything is fine, I just meant that Shiru is far busier than me."

"Oh." I sounded while Serylea pulled at my hair.

The sensation of having your hair pulled and weaved together was slightly painful, but I really couldn't complain.

I looked up into the orange sky as the sun slowly set.

"Are you happy here?" I asked.

"Yes, why do you ask?"

"I don't know. I just want to make sure that you guys have everything you need." I said with a yawn.

Serylea simply giggled before picking me up and placing me between her legs where she continued to braid my hair.

My eyelids grew heavy, but Serylea kept me upright as the minutes ticked by.

"Some ale would be nice." She muttered probably assuming that I couldn't hear her, but I took a mental note of it.

"Should I take you to the cabin?" Serylea asked and I weakly nodded.

She then picked me up and I noticed that her weak arms trembled a bit as she walked.

We eventually arrived at the cabin where she placed me on the bed before silently leaving.

My eyes may have been closed and I was barely conscious, but all I could think of was Kenos and that place.

His mind.

It was time that I confronted him, but I had a few loose ends I wanted to tie up before then.

.

..

I felt my body shift as someone picked me up.

I opened my eyes and saw that Yna was about to cradle me.

"Wait. There's something I want to discuss and test." I said with a yawn.

"Oh?" Yna asked.

She had gotten a new set of leather clothes and her hair was tied in a neat bun instead of the usual ponytail.

I sleepily led her outside before plopping onto the ground and creating a small cube of darkness.

"Create a cube of light." I instructed as Yna sat in front of me.

She did as I instructed and crested a small cube of light.

I took the small gem and immediately felt the darkness in my left hand crawl away.

"Farin and I have designed a bolt that we think will be able to deal significant damage to golden knights. However, we don't have the means to launch at an undodgeable speed." I said.

"So you're going to see how much force you can generate by making our aspects touch."

"Precisely." I said before moving the two cubes in my hands closer together.

I watched as they're surfaces rippled and my eyes widened as they came into contact.

"Heh?" I sounded as the dark and light cubes slowly melded into each other before slowly vanishing.

My fingers felt a little bit hot, but that was it.

My head fell as that was the only idea that I had.

"Aww… there, there." Yna said as she rubbed my head-

"Space magic!"

Yna's expression turned to one of pity, but I didn't care.

If we were going to fight knights, we were going to go all out, even if we ended up tearing the fabric of space.

"Umm… see if you can compressed and crystalize a small bit of space."

Yna nodded while raising her hand.

She then squeezed it into a fist and almost instantly after, several muffled pops could be heard.

My eyes widened as a bursts of air shot out from Yna's fist.

A brief burst of air struck my face, but my eyes sparkled at the possibilities-

"Yey! We found the key to your crazy plan. Now it's time for sleep." Yna said as she tried picking me up.

I swiftly escaped her grasp before raising my hands defensively.

"Wait! We have to discuss this at length! How much compressed air is required to launch the bolts at a lethal speed? How can we capture it?" I asked, but Yna quickly grabbed me before taking me back into the cabin where, after sitting down, she placed me on her lap.

"Tomorrow is another day. Rest now." She said, but I'm pretty sure she didn't need rest.

I sighed as there was no point in resisting.

I placed my head onto her chest and although Yna didn't have a heartbeat, she was still warm.

"Err… why don't you have a heartbeat?" I asked, my voice muffled beneath the blanket.

"I do. It just doesn't happen very often. Listen." Yna whispered as I pressed my ear close to her chest.

My entire body- no, all of Coh was then shaken as Yna's heart thumped once.

"My heard has been modified and imbued with magic. It doesn't need to beat every second to keep me alive. Just once every now and then will do."

"So if one of our bolts strikes a knight's heart, they won't die?"

"They will, just not instantly. A headshot would be an instakill."

"I see." I said while gathering the courage to visit a part of my new self.

A part that was both cold and cruel while also being a fiery inferno of hatred and pain.