Chapter 29

CHAPTER 29: Redemption

Diven's rough outline appeared before slowly adapting to a finer resolution. He was wearing clothes pretty similar to the ones Arkyn saw him wearing on the first call, though there were no flecks of color on the arms and pants this time, implying he hadn't done much painting recently.

His salt and pepper goatee had become more salted in white, adding more age along with the creases on his forehead and wrinkled bags starting to form beneath his eyes.

The moment he saw only Arkyn, the flash of understanding and sadness ran through his face before deeply sighing. Arkyn didn't have to say anything, as Diven knew this call was going to come sometime soon.

"I would hope that at least near the end, she'd at least call to say goodbye." Diven started to reach for something out of sight, but stopped himself. Arkyn recalled the last time he reached out, there was a decanter just beyond his sight.

Arkyn said a few words about what had happened, explaining that the therianthrope version of the Coven virus had built up too much bacteria in her lungs, driving her to try and use some stronger remedies. Silim Cap extracted into its liquid state.

The end result only hastened the compromise of her immune system and bedrid her for her last remaining weeks.

Diven quietly listened, and only thanked Arkyn for being so caring at the end and accepting of the truth. Arkyn was somewhat surprised that Diven knew and before he could ask, Diven explained the reasons for secrecy.

"I didn't want to say anything before since it was up to Kresha. It was her life, her innovation, her soul . . . that resurrected you. The first time she called me after you died, she told me about the promise you two made, and how she wouldn't complete it until you were with her to explore the world.

After months of research and years of work, she came back to me and said it failed. You could function and behave like a person, sometimes fragments of the old you would reappear, but then you'd fall apart or lose your mind.

She had to reset you each time it failed, which by no means is an easy feat. Even a deranged and dying animal knows when to fight for its life.

Her final project was by far the best, but instead she decided against trying to bring back the old you. Too many errors had brought her to an even greater low, and at the same time it gave her the acceptance she needed to move on."

Diven began clenching his fist, he had to restrain himself as his thirst for it was making him actively fight his will to just stand still.

"My guess is your strongest memories were also the most emotionally traumatizing, and when they were the only thing to come back at the start, you'd go mad each time. It wasn't until Kresha severed any connection to said traumas that you became fully functional, just with an offkey personality and no recollection to your past."

Arkyn nodded in agreement, wondering if he should finally share with someone that the memory fragments he'd seen so far sounded a lot like what Diven just described. The only difference is none of them were as dangerous as he had said.

Sure some were filled with anxiety, dread, and fear but not all of them were bad. Arkyn silently thought over the information while Diven started asking a new line of questions.

"I am rather curious though, can you go into more detail about this 'Energy Vision' that you used to diagnose the spread of her infection?"

Arkyn then explained his sight as a golem, how it wasn't on the visible spectrum of light since the Mimic Steel that made up his body was not covering them or reproducing the human eye.

"Fascinating, almost sounds like the blessed vision of power from a rather old novel I read a few centuries back."

"Are you referring to the vision of All-sight given to the antagonist in Gelsenstiche Roroche's Divided Across Realms series?" Arkyn asked, wondering if the library at the Frost Keep had the same selection as the Ash Keep.

"Yes, I suppose so. I would love to have a perfect memory such as yours my friend. Although instead of being able to see souls, you can actually see the mana circuit of living creatures. Considering that all forms of the Coven virus have an adverse magical reaction in the body as well, those black dots and veins were representations of the progression."

"You are correct, though I should mention it's not just the concentration of energy in bodies, but I can see it drifting through space. When I focus, I can see wisps of the natural elemental energies in the air, colliding and moving towards objects with the natural affinities for it."

"Well that sounds both chaotic and beautiful, like what an aspiring artist might hope to recreate on a canvas. So my final question to you Arkyn is this; what are you going to do now?"

Arkyn took the silver necklace with the obsidian looking shard out of his pocket before giving an answer. "Back when I was completely human, I had Kresha promise to move on and find the good there is in the world. See that calamities and tragedies were only a fragment of this plane."

He held the necklace up at their eye level, watching the strange pendant of black swing back and forth.

"Even though she did not keep her promise, and Kresha asked me to do it instead, I will uphold her request."

Diven nodded, Arkyn could almost see a part of his face relax at the answer.

"That is reassuring to hear. I was afraid you might cycle into Kresha's grief and start making her into a golem as well."

Arkyn chuckled at the thought, but knew that wasn't going to be possible. When looking through Kresha's personal notes and all the journals she had written, not a single one covered the experiments and research surrounding his creation.

It didn't take Arkyn long to understand the notes must have been destroyed or hidden. Kresha had been wanting to die, and disregarding her wishes to make her an immortal golem was more cruel than anything.

"Death is an unfortunate but natural aspect to life. I will respect the dying wishes of Madam Kresha, and live in her stead."