Chapter Nine

(A/n Read author's note in the end. Cheers!)

/// Seris Vritra ///

Sitting inside my office in my castle at Sehz-Clar, my eyes scanned different documents and other usual paperwork. It was a part of our duty as Scythes of our respective diminions. A spark of pain went through my temple as I blinked my eyes a few times.

My head turned back- looking outside the window as I saw a thick veil of darkness enshroud and cover the whole dominion. I hadn't realised how much time I had spent here, locked in my office, keeping myself busy with something on a daily basis. Ever since Grey went away, the palace has been... quite to say the least. The once lively castle that beamed with life and energy and events that made me laugh and mad at the same time was now quiet.

Like it was mourning. The castle didn't feel like a glamourous castle that everyone hoped to have one day. Rather it felt like a morgue- reeking of a suffocating silence and a plaguing loneliness.

A tired sigh escaped my mouth. Pushing the chair back I stood up. The chair rolled slowly and stopped upon making contact with the wall behind it, producing a slight thump sound. My fingers trailed along the smooth wooden texture of my table. It was smooth, unnaturally clean despite all the dust in Sehz-Clar. My eyes caught sight of a small shiny relic.

Leaning against the table I reached out for it and grabbed it. It was a crystallised relic which was circular in shape. Inside the pristine, transparent ball was another object. It was a hexagon as Grey puts it. Purple lights glowed in and out from the edges. It was an interesting phenomenon to watch.

Placing it on the smooth surface of the table, I swirled it. The orb moved rapidly, and the purple lights seemed to engulf the entire relic because of the speed of it. My eyes remained moored to the relic. It was alluring, a comforting phenomenon to watch. I could feel myself fall deeper and deeper into it the more I stared at it.

I felt my perception increase. My hearing as I heard the slight taps of water in the distance. Distant steps of someone walking in the direction of my office. Slight, strangled whispers and murmurs of the maids as they talked about weird things. Bird chirped violently in some faraway place as another predator snatched its children. My vision enhanced in tandem with my other senses. My eyes that seemed to be fixed at the outer, superficial surface of the relic now burrowed deeper in it as I could see the inner mechanism of it.

Gears turned and gyrated keeping the relic's colour from completely fading in and out. My mind trailed back to my memories. Nausea, disgust and contempt boiled in a violent alchemy of rage and rancour in the pit of stomach.

I wanted to throw up...

Burn down everything...

Escape from all this struggle and give up...

Was all this too much to ask for...

Flashes of my life repeated again and again in my mind while I felt my limbs incapacitated. I couldn't move. Even a minute twitch in muscles felt like a thousand scorching needles being stabbed and pierced inside me.

My memories... the ones that I was never supposed to remember... my separation from my biological parents... my upbringing... the inhumane experimentation I was made to go through.

All flashed in my mind in a near instant while I could do nothing. Couldn't even shut my eyes, cover my ears, run away. I felt like a prisoner to myself.

I don't want this...

None of this...

Just as I felt myself in a hopeless situation, I felt a tug on my body. My hand... a warm sensation encompassed it.

Suddenly the world seemed to melt away. The relic, my castle everything as it stirred in a

indecipherable mess, too inarticulate for me to make sense of.

A warm breath touched the insides of my ear. Then again. My head jolted as I opened my eyes. My vision was blurry, and everything seemed upside down. Someone stooped lower and looked at me. His features were recognisable yet they felt so distant. His hand touched my shoulders, slightly shaking them. My body felt weak as I felt my body shake violently despite how gentle the touch was.

"Seris?" He spoke again.

"Mmm- Grey?" I asked, unsure before my vision came back to me. A frown sat at his forehead, his alluring lavender eyes looking at me from up to down. "Are you okay?" He asked, his tone soft and mellow, almost like it was a treat to my ears despite the subtle raspiness in his voice making it sound really comforting.

"I am", I replied, my voice sounding more meek than I thought. Pushing the ground with my hands, I tried to get up. My arms felt wobbly. Too weak to even support my own weight. I looked up to him as his eyes set on the relic.

"I told you to give it away. I had no use for it. Also the remnants of the insight would do more harm than good. So why? Why did you use it?" He asked as he dropped lower once again and applied a little strength on my shoulder. However it didn't feel bad. Somehow, a part of me felt happy. Happy that he cared so much.

"I didn't use it on purpose. It just activated", I replied as he let out a small sigh, loosening the grip on my shoulder. He looked at me for a brief moment and the turned swiftly and sat right beside me.

"Been a long time, right?" He asked, his eyes looking at the ceiling. Now that I noticed, he was considerably taller than before, his hair reaching down to his nape.

"Been 5 months for us... how much for you?" I asked, my gaze remaining fixed at him.

"2 Years... maybe, give or take." He replied casually. I wanted to say something but my throat felt parched. As I let out a cough, Grey extended a glass of water to me. "Here", he said as he touched the glass to my lips. My body felt even weak as I let him feed me the water.

"Better?"

"Better"

Silence lingered between us for a brief moment before I felt his hand travel up to my head. He pulled it and rested it on his shoulder.

"Stay like this for a while. The relic takes a huge toll on physique", he said, sounding serious. His hand travelled subtly over my head, caressing my hair as his fingers ran through my locks.

"So... how have things been on your side?" I asked him, curling in his side embrace.

"It's been hell. Don't even get me started on that", his granite cold voice was replaced by usual cheerful voice. Excitement tinted his voice as he started his story narration. The cheerful mood mixed with the natural raspiness of his voice made me want to listen to him. Conjuring ice and fire he replicated multiple relic tomb dives as he explained them in great detail. The instant teleportation god-rune that he said he had no name for now. He then explained how gaining sufficient insight in aether can grant God-runes.

Time trickled slowly, minutes into hours, hours into more hours as we talked more and more about the mysteries of relictombs.

"I am sure you'll be named blood after I hand over these relics to Sovereign Orleath. Maybe even after evaluation and the relic having some real use, you could be a highblood", I said excitedly as I rummaged through the relics Grey brought back.

"Hope so, but let's not be too optimistic." He replied, chuckling slightly.

"Have you thought about the name of your blood?" I asked and his face turned grim.

"I have been thinking about that a lot lately", he stood up and walked to the other side of the table. His hand travelled towards the table where a bottle from my finest collection of wine laid. Picking it up he poured it in two glasses. The red liquid twirled as he took sip from one and handed me the other,

"Wilbeck. Blood Wilbeck" He replied, clicking his lips as he savoured the taste.

"Highlord Wilbeck. Has a nice ring to it." I said and a sinister smirk formed over his face. "Also I think a certain someone will be pleased to hear it." He said and took another huge sip from the glass, finishing it in one go.

"What do you mean by that? Who are you talking about? And wait, when did I allow you to drink?" I almost screamed at him.

"Come on Seris, don't be like that. I can kill a scythe, but I can't drink a glass of wine?" He replied as he nonchalantly walked towards me. "You don't mind me taking this with me, right?" He asked, getting closer.

I took a step back, averting my gaze, "Well I guess you can. You look much older for your age, physically and mentally so I think you can hold your front against alcohol", I replied.

"Hmm, good", he hummed, and the bottle of wine disappeared. There was no influx or outflux of mana. Just a purple mist covering the bottle and then it disappeared without a trace.

"New rune?"

"Yep", He replied casually and walked towards the window. "I'll take my leave now, Seris. I have to make another stop at Central Academy too", he paused as he looked at me again, "That's okay?"

Why is he asking me?

"Of course. You should meet your girlfriend too", I said, letting out an almost muffled laughter.

"Ha. Ha. Funny. You and I both know I have nothing like that with Caera." He said and swung his feet over the window, ready to jump out of it.

"You can take the door", I said, deadpan at him.

"Too much hassle", he replied, grumbling about the size of the castle.

"See you later, Seris." He said as his frame became a silhouette because of the sun rising from behind. His long white hair fluttered, and his lavender eyes looked at me one final time.

I merely blinked...

And he was gone...

Like he was never there...

The purple lightning that clung to the window was the only evidence that remained of him. Maybe he used the technique he was telling me before. I looked out. The sky was clear today. I never looked at the sky at this moment, but it was beautiful.

Like the sky had been split into two halves comprising day and night at the same time. The night sky seemed to have been stitched with lustrous pearls that shone in all their glory while the rising sun illuminated the other half of sky, giving it a deeper shade of orange. The sunlight wasn't piercing or uncomfortable. It was soft and gentle. Just like Grey's touch. A subtle comfort continuously permeated from it.

Grey was performing better than I had anticipated. With his help I would be able to achieve the only goal of my life. A dream where there are no lessers and superiors. An era of peace.

However, peace comes at a cost...

The cost of blood and war...

And I could see Grey standing amidst the heaps of bodies and mountains of burnt down, demolished debris. He was the conduit for my cause and dreams. He was the only one who could make a change.

No matter what... even if I had to take his innocence and charismatic self away I would do it. I would not let anything stand in my path.

The door opened and a figure walked in. His armour clamoured as he took a knee, "Scythe Seris. You summoned me?" Cylrit spoke formally.

"Pick these relics up. We are to meet Sovereign Orleath. It's about time we move our plans to the next stage."

"But the next stage involves him being a high-blood", he paused and upon seeing the corners of lips curve into a smile, his eyes widened, "Will this really be enough? Named bloods work for tens of years and still can't achieve it", Cylrit spoke.

"I have tried the relics. It's definitely useful. And the fact that it does more harm than good is even better", I replied with a sneer and Cylrit shook his head in affirmation. After that we picked up the relics and started to walk towards the tempus warp,

"Excuse me, Scythe Seris, I might be overstepping my limits but", he paused, and I motioned for him to continue, "Did something happen?"

"What do you mean by that, Cylrit?"

He stayed silent for a while, "Nothing, I was just happy to see you genuinely smile for the first time since I met you", he replied and kept walking at his normal pace.

HUH?

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(A/n Ahh so this is the last chapter for a while now. My health is deteriorating and as I mentioned before in "The Masterpiece" Author's note, my meds have an intoxicating effect. So, I am on rest most of the time. Even while writing this, I had a severe headache.

Don't worry I am not dropping it. Not after the stupendous amount of support it's getting. I will continue it once I am perfectly fine. I don't want to post chapters while I am still sick because they'd end up substandard.

The recovery might take a week at most. So it won't be a really long hiatus. Maximum one week and minimum like 4-5 days. So yeah you don't have to wait extremely long.

Just like this chapter. So, I hope you all understand. Thanks for reading and I will see you soon (I HOPE? lol)