Chapter Seven

/// Grey ///

The world turned achromatic- dyed in nothing but black and white. The kinetic, vibrant motes of varying colours danced in front of my eyes. A cold sensation washed over my entire being.

The feeling of an abounding superiority over everything took control over me. The motes of red, orange, blue, and green palpitated in numbers, drawing in towards my core. To my every command. The runes on my arms glowed even further, burning against my flesh. The runes on my core branched even further. Like an ancient tree, it branched more and more until it was covering the entirety of my mana core. The purple sheen of aether that surrounded it grew in size- thickening, like another layer, was added to it.

My vision pulsated, becoming blurry. I felt my consciousness waver, betraying me.

"Arthur." A voice rang in my ears.

Arthur? Who's Arthur?

A voice rang once more in my ears. My heart thrummed against my chest. How could I forget? How can I ever forget? It was her... Sylvia.

"Sylvia?" My voice quivered, sounding foreign to my own self.

"So you've finally done it," Her voice echoed inside me again. Clutching my heart I held back a choked sob, unable to say anything, I just nodded violently.

"I don't have much time. Since you can hear me it means you've inherited and unlocked my race... or rather my clan's technique, the Realmheart Physique."

"Sylvia... are you alive? Is this another recording?" I asked, a part of me still aching for the impossible to happen.

"It will help you see mana physically. Not only mana but aether. As for what aether is, you will know with time as you unravel more and more of my will." A metallic taste infiltrated my mouth as I bit my lip in an alchemy of desperation and despondency at the continuation of her speech despite my question.

So it was another recording after all...

"As for your question earlier. I am alive. I will always be alive... inside you, I'll live on, guiding you until you're ready. Don't despair, my child." She said and the tangible warmth that engulfed my entire being during my exchange with her was replaced by a glacial cold again. But her words gave me a purpose, like a glimmer of sunshine illuminating the pitch-black darkness in my world.

"She's alive. That's enough for now." I reassured myself. Looking up I saw the physical realm of mana and aether- coexisting with each other. It was a glamorous phenomenon. The concurrency of weaker but versatile and malleable-natured mana with a more potent but inflexible and firm-natured fifth element, Aether, working in a well-balanced synchronization. The aether was like the bank and mana was the river that flowed through it.

I was brought out of my fascination by another heart-curdling scream. My ears perked. With a quick dash, I arrived beside her. Her bloodied hands covered the side of her head, clutching it tightly. My eyes squinted at her. Motes of sickly green mana stuck to her core and her... to her entire being. It was like it was a part of her.

A Vritra-blooded human.

My hands reached for her lean frame and I clutched it tightly, pressing her head against my shoulders. Her bloodied hands gripped my shirt tightly. My white shirt was stained red with her blood and her tears that flowed seamlessly in immense pain drowned my shoulders.

I racked my brain for all the ways I could help her. I tried to influence the sickly green motes but I couldn't even move them. My affinity with them was next to zero. A surge of trepidation washed over me as I couldn't think of any way to help the little girl.

"MMGH" Her pained groan was muffled as she dug her face deeper and deeper inside my chest.

Think. Grey. Think...

The pressure of saving the girl mixed with my own anxiety made me think at speeds I never knew I was capable of. My brain trailed off to a certain aspect. The power to make the impossible possible. Aether. But how could Aether help me right now?

With no further conception of what to do, I did what I was able to right now. The thin sheen of purple wavered as I felt the otherworldly strength flow through me. A burning sensation flared to life under my eyes. The runes under my eyes extended even further, branching and curving.

Motes of mana trembled before coming to an absolute halt. I looked down and the subtle tremble in the girl's body was still there but she was more in shock right now than in pain. She looked up at me, her ruby eyes looking at me in amazement and panic. Her head jerked back, looking around as she took in the sight of everything around her. Her navy blue hair fluttered as she turned her head here and there in an erratic manner.

"Relax... calm down." I tried to say but her hands pressed against my chest as she pushed me slightly.

"W-what have you done to Scythe Seris?" She said warily, taking back one frightened step at a time. A morbid fear rose in her ruby eyes as she looked around, looking for a possible way to escape.

"I am just trying to ease your pain. Seris brought me here because of that." I lied. I had no idea if the real reason for bringing me here was to help the girl or for something else but I couldn't just ignore her.

I took a step forward and she countered it with a frantic step backward. I could see the visible fear in her eyes. It was all right for her to fear me as I had stopped a Scythe, the so-called epitome of power in Alacrya other than half-bloods and asuras and themselves.

Static Void wavered, the halted world fading in between monochrome and polychrome, mana flaring between a continuously active and passive state. My feet became wobbly as I stumbled, landing on one knee. I looked up at the girl who was now watching me carefully, her eyes twitching as the pain started to come back to her, now that the influence of Static Void was receding.

Mustering as much strength as I could in myself, I pushed the ground. With quick steps, I arrived in front of her in the blink of an eye. Her eyes went wide at my sudden approach. However, I didn't have time to worry about that. Time was running out, and so was the little purple sheen around my core that allowed me to stop time. My hands wrapped around her body, constricting her arms.

"L-Let go of me." She said while struggling to break free. However, her body, which was already undergoing changes, wasn't strong enough to bypass my strength. Seeing it was hopeless to struggle she calmed a little, a look of hatred on her face as she looked at me.

"It will hurt but I need you to hang on," I said. Despite her face being caked in blood, I could see it going pale. Letting out a sigh, my grip over her frame weakened.

"Believe me, it's better than the slow-paced pain. Endure it all at once." I said. She looked up once and then down. Her head nodded in affirmation. However, whether this affirmation was because of her hopeless situation or something else, I couldn't discern.

Realmheart was still in effect. I could still see the motes of Mana and Aether. It wasn't impossible. Just like how I stopped time, I could fasten it too. However, this was a gamble. Controlling Aether in itself was an arduous task. However, constricting that to a specific place required unearthly control.

During the past 4 years, I learned that Aether couldn't be used by just imagining it. Understanding the mechanism behind a phenomenon and its causes and effects was necessary to truly use it. While I could stop time by understanding the time halt from the theoretical knowledge from earth, I needed the same knowledge for this situation.

I needed to fasten time. Time of her awakening. It came with its own risks. However, it was still better than sitting ducks and seeing the little girl cry and suffer in agony.

I closed my eyes, letting the otherworldly presence encompass me. I felt my flesh burn. The stabbing sensation visited me once again. It was the same as the last time. I felt the rune under my eye extend.

Pain akin to a knife stabbed in the guts and then being turned vindictively spread throughout my body. However, the source of my pain was my eyes. The flesh seemed to tear as the rune extended downward. It elongated and stopped. A new line drew out of its edge. At the same time, a stream of knowledge invaded my mind.

It was a feeling of authority over time. It was meagre. But I had it. The ability to slow, stop and fasten time. Although the insight needed to utilize its full was like an ocean while the insight I had was like a drop of water in that ocean.

But it was enough... for now. Directing the flow of energy from the flickering sheen around my core, I directed at the girl's head. The place where her horns were sprouting from. The place was covered in a thin layer of purple. Time around that place seemed to fasten and my control over the static void started to recede. Focusing on two aether-related spells was way out of my league. Jabbing the back of her head, I felt her body going limp. The next moment her horns sprouted out with a wet squelch.

The moment I saw the obsidian horns appear from the side of her head which extended upwards from the side of her head like a crown, I retracted my spell. The runes burning underneath my eyes disappeared.

Suddenly, my vision started to flicker. A wave of nausea hit me, making the bile rise suddenly. My grip over the girl's body weakened and she fell with an audible thud on the ground. My vision doubled, flickering in and out. Getting one last look at the girl as she breathed peacefully, her chest rising up and down rhythmically, I let the darkness embrace me.

---------------------------------------------------

Sounds of crickets chirping and slight murmurs reached my ears. My body felt heavy. Like drenched in a puddle of thick viscous liquid, I struggled to move. I turned around, my eyes still shut. The warm sheet over my body rustled in tandem with my movements.

I tried to open my eyes. My eyes felt unnaturally tired. As I struggled to open them, the pain increased more and more. Like my eyes had been stitched together, I felt the excruciating, burning pain increase more and more. My breath hitched as I forcefully opened my eyes.

An unfamiliar ceiling came into view. My vision was strained, almost as if my eyes had been gouged out once and then put back in their place again.

"Grey!" Seris' voice rang in my ears. Pushing either side of the bed, I sat up, my back against the bed. Seris reached for me and wrapped her arms around my waist.

"What did you do to end up like this?" Her words were bittersweet- happy that I was okay and at the same time angry about what I did to myself. Although, I myself was still unsure of what happened to me, I decided not to think of it.

"Don't start crying now. Were you missing me that much?" I said jokingly, trying to alleviate the mood. Her face peeled away from me, anger evident in it.

"Why would I miss a brat like you? You were sleeping for seven days and your heart was as slow as dead. How else were you expecting me to react? I thought you were a goner." She explained and I finally grasped the severity of the situation.

"What was it anyway?" She asked, taking a seat beside me. The soft, mushy foam bounced once by her weight. She crossed her left leg over the right, one hand behind her back acting as support, and her face towards me.

Although Seris was trustworthy, I was not sure whether to tell her about my real abilities and Sylvia. It wasn't because of a lack of trust but rather a lack of information. I wasn't sure if Sylvia was actually alive or did she predict that I'd ask that and she recorded the answer to it already. Neither was I sure about the aether and the vast possibilities and mysteries it held. It was better to let her remain in the dark than to give an ambiguous answer.

"I am not very sure about it," I replied.

"Yeah, I know you're not 'Sure' of it," Seris said sarcastically, emphasizing the "SURE" part. "But then again, it's totally up to you when to reveal everything to me. I'll be waiting until then." She said as her head slightly cocked to the right, her eyes trailing off from me to the door.

The doorknob turned. With a meagre creek the door opened. Cylrit walked in first. With his usual formal bow to Seris, he looked at me and a small smirk tugged at the corner of his lips.

"You look great, Grey", he said. A burst of stifled laughter escaped Seris while Cylrit kept looking at me with a smirk on his face.

"Ha. Ha. Wait for me to get out of bed." I spat at him.

"Won't make much of a difference though." He spat back at me. I was about to say something but then suddenly another figure walked in. Navy blue hair fluttered wildly as she ran inside the room. Her hair was let loose, sweat dripping down her face as her bewitching ruby eyes remained fixed on me.

"You're the girl," I said suddenly, pointing my finger at her.

"And where are your horns?"

"Come on, Grey, you can do better than that. Is that a way to start a conversation with a girl your age, huh?" Seris spoke in a reprimanding way.

"Ahh... Sorry for that. Hey, My name is Grey of Blood unnamed." With practiced efficiency, I told her my name. It was something Seris had drilled into me. And for me to find answers I had to earn power and prestige. Meaning, becoming a highblood through merit.

"First of all let me thank you for helping me with my Vritra blood manifestation. My name is Caera of Highblood Denoir. As for my horns the-"

"Wait... Caera Denoir? So, you're the girl who's her second disciple." I said looking at Seris. Seris let out an audible snort as she looked the other way.

"So, Scythe Seris has already told you about me. That means we can get acquainted eas-"

I interrupted her once again, "Remember one thing, Caera Denoir. She was my mentor first. Don't you dare steal her away from me. I am still her favorite." I said and I swear I saw her roll her eyes. Cylrit just scoffed and kept his gaze at Caera who was now looking at me and then at Seris alternatively.

"N-No I didn't mean anything like that." She stuttered over her own words, taking a step back.

"Stop teasing her, Grey," Seris said standing up.

"Hey! I wasn't teasing, I am dead seri-" I was interrupted as Seris smacked the back of my head.

"Ow, what was that for?"

"Listen to me quietly," She said glaring at me. "Now that you're awake, I want to tell you about something. The prime reason for you to come here in this mansion." She said as my interest was piqued.

I had almost forgotten that Seris brought me here because of a reason. Due to the events that ensued because of the girl- Caera, the thought had completely escaped my mind.

I left the support of the bed as I sat straight, my eyes set on Seris and the words she was speaking...

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(A/n: Hey Everyone. I was about to publish this chap when we hit 3k views. By the time this gets beta'd, most probably it would be 3k. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter.

Also, I am about to do some self-promotion so skip it if you're not interested.

I have another fic, TBATE : A Masterpiece, which you can find by clicking my profile. If you're interested in a COTE x TBATE crossover, then you can give it a try. Anyways, that's enough for my shameless self-promotion. See ya all next time.)

(SR/n: I hope your brains remained intact after reading.)

(A/n Oh yeah, sorry for the cliffhanger but... I was tempted. Also Props to Sleepywalker for helping me with plot. Would've botched many things if it wasn't for him... as usual -____-)