Chapter 33. Where Fragments Meet

"What do you mean we can't take the shard?"

The three researchers almost jumped in front of Zein, eyes widened in horror. It was as if their research fund had been canceled out of the blue. Bassena had to pull Zein back before he got pounced. He had seen enough of Han Shin throwing tantrums in Guildmaster's room.

"Just like I said," Zein shrugged and casually explained like he didn't just shatter people's hope and dreams. "The shard had already taken root for a long time. If I had to take a guess, this is the place where the fragment fell originally, and the other shards scattered from here."

"Wha..." Han Shin looked at him with glassy eyes. "Like an anchor?"

"Like a core," Zein looked at the shard floating there. He had never thought there would be a day he would explain something to other people, being the ignorant and less knowledgeable about things as he was. "If you want to form a fragment, you have to bring other shards here."

"And we can't take that away?"

"Can you take the one on top of the tower away?" Zein asked back.

They fell into silence then, as the answer to that was obvious. "I don't know how the Tower looks or functions, but this...domain, probably works the same way," Zein looked up, at the sturdy dorm formed from sturdy woods. "Minus the trials and everything."

"Since there's no deity to fuse the power into fragment..." Bassena muttered.

They looked around the 'domain' then, the fortress made of trees and the abundant lifeforce felt like a different world altogether. There was a rich scent of mana that made the esper feel like they were inside of the dungeon, except that there was no miasma here.

Right—like they were inside the floor of trial.

"Ah..." Han Shin sighed. They had been so preoccupied with just finding the shard that they haven't been stopping and pondering enough about the place in more depth.

"S-so we can't really take it back?" Anise sat back down with a slump. "We can't even examine it back home?"

"Can't you just...I don't know, do the research here?" Zein tilted his head. It might be a little bit complicated going here, but as long as they brought enough food, they should be able to last for a long time here. And if they established a safe route with the power that Mortix and Trinity had—

"That's impossible, unless we move the whole lab here," Eugene sighed. And with that, Han Shin and Anise followed with even bigger sighed, and the picnic turned from chaotic to depressing.

The three poor researchers continued to eat in silence, brows and lips cast down, shoulders slumped in heartbreak. Zein didn't mean to be a harbinger of despair, but what could he do? Coaxed the shard?

...hmm.

Zein stood up, leaving the depressed researchers and the other espers mulling about around the luncheon. He took Bassena's hand and pulled the esper away wordlessly.

"You're going there?" Bassena followed the guide to the edge of the lake. Surely, there was only one reason why Zein took him there suddenly.

It would be nice if the older man took him for some romantic escapade, but the guide's rather serious gaze told him otherwise.

"Can you just send me there?"

"Without platform? You don't want others to come too?"

Zein nodded. "I can't afford disturbance."

"I have to come with you if we use shadow step," Bassena tilted his head down to look at the guide, waiting for the answer with anticipation. It was written all over his face that Zein couldn't help but smile.

It was just a flash though, and the smile vanished in just a second, to Bassena's dismay. It was clear that Zein drew some kind of line to not indulging Bassena's attachment too much.

That being said, Zein spoke in a light tone, tapping the esper's cheek with the back of his hand lightly. "As long as you keep quiet."

Of course Bassena would keep quiet. He would even breathe as quietly as he could if it allowed him to be the exception. With a grin, he grabbed Zein's waist and enveloped them in darkness. At this point, Zein had grown familiar with the shadow step's sensation that it felt as comfortable as just stepping through portals.

This time, Bassena transferred them right in front of the shard and Zein reached out instantly so the repelling force wouldn't hit Bassena and threw the esper to the water.

As soon as he clutched the shard, the domain dimmed just a little bit—like a cloud shadowing the sun. Just like the feeling it gave out, the shard was warm in Zein's hold, it made him wonder what kind of celestial being Setnath was.

Was the deity as warm as the shard, or was it just the obvious product of the deity's soul fragment? What happened to Setnath after his soul and celestial body became a scattered fragments?

As he questioned all of these, Zein was sinking slowly into the shard's consciousness. When he touched the shard before, he was only briefly communicating with the crystal to find out what kind of environment this place was in. He had no basis for this, but he thought: what if he could communicate more with it? After all, at the end of the day, it was a piece of soul.

Zein didn't think much; he just thought of trying something after seeing the depressed state of those people. And even now, he had no concrete idea of going about communicating with a piece of crystal. He just tried doing it like he was guiding, diving inside the shard's system. Sinking deeply, sinking deeper.

Bassena caught the guide's swaying body and looked at Zein worriedly. But the man was closing his eyes peacefully as if he was just sleeping; hands still clutching tightly into the shard even as the rest of his body slacked against Bassena, the mark on his nape pulsing so strongly that even the esper could feel it.

"It's a good thing that I come along," Bassena muttered, imagining Zein's figure dropping into the hard root surface had he stayed back. "Really, what are you, Zein?"

* * *

It was bright. A sea of brightness. No, a void. In Bassena's core, Zein could visualize a sea, the body of water itself. But here there was nothing. It was what he imagined the inside of the shard to look like.

After all, the shards was glowing in bright, white light.

[ah, a guest. How long has it been?]

There was a voice. Behind him? All around him? Zein tried to look around but realized he couldn't. He had no control over his body at all—was he even had a body here? Obviously, he couldn't speak too.

[hmm, is this your first time? No wonder you couldn't do anything at all...]

Huh, what? So he would be able to move and speak if he did this a few more times?

[how unfortunate...you were supposed to come to me years ago. Seventeen years, is it?]

Zein sighed. If he could move or speak, perhaps he would have the energy to be shocked. But now he just wondered who this voice was. It sounded like a male, but with all the distortion and the confusion of losing his senses, Zein couldn't be sure.

Honestly, he was just hoping he could find a way to uproot the shard, or probably ask this one about the location of the others.

He certainly never thought he would hear something about himself.

Seventeen years—it was pointing to his awakening time then. What, so It thought Zein should come all the way to this treacherous land when he was ten? Crazy bas—

[no need to be spiky, child. I had no hand in the twisting of your fate. And no, you don't really need to come all the way here]

Ah, now Zein was sure who this voice belonged to.

The moment he was sure of it, the bright void melted, like sculpted ice under the blazing sun. The white space unfolded into trees. Rows and rows of trees, like the one caging and protecting the domain outside.

And then in the space that felt far and near at the same time, Zein saw a vague figure, as if he was seeing it through a fog. No, the fog was its coat, veiling the figure in a haze. A long black hair flowed through the gentle breeze, and the voice rang all around him.

It rang with the sound of the wind; the brisk among the leaves, the crack between the stones.

[go to the others, you'll find some answers if you keep looking for them, won't you?]

Haa...fucking deity. Zein couldn't even swear in his paralyzed state. Ah, no, how could he be paralyzed without any corporeal form? Zein realized he was just a ball of consciousness right now, not familiar or proficient enough to create any tangible appearance.

But his thought of cursing the celestial being melted in the flash of sorrow contained within the voice.

[so you won't be the one too...]

What even? If Zein could tilt his head, he would.

[I guess I can patient for a little bit more]

Zein rolled his metaphorical eyes. Now this deity was just monologuing—even laughing.

[haha, don't worry. You'll be able to locate them when you're near. That one shouldn't have taken a root yet]

Oh, finally something he could use. Zein breathed a sigh of relief in his head. But his relief crumbled when he saw the figure turn its head. Through the fog, eyes filled with the entirety of the world flashed at him.

[repair them. If it's you, you can do it]

Suddenly, there was a weird sensation creeping into Zein's consciousness. Like a bad omen. Like forcibly eating a stale bread since it was the only thing he had. Like something he didn't want to but he had to digest nonetheless.

[after all, you are also a fragment of mine, Luzein]

* * *

Zein gasped, thick eyelashes fluttering open.

The shard was still inside his hand, pulsing. It was throbbing as hard as his own heartbeat, as if they were one.

As if they were the same.

With dread, Zein let the shard go, and it flew back to its place in the air. Another blanket of darkness embraced him, along with a pair of strong arms, and Zein closed his eyes again. When he opened them, they were already on the lakeside.

"Zein..."

Zein flinched, realizing his breath had been hitching the whole time. The damp grass and moss seeped coldness into his lower body, but there was warmth inside the sturdy embrace enveloping his torso.

A warm palm, as warm as the amber eyes peering at him from above, stroked his temple, his cheek, wiping something. Oh—he was sweating.

"What—how long?"

"A bit over an hour," Bassena answered calmly, and Zein blinked in surprise. It didn't even feel like five minutes inside. "I told the other not to approach for a while."

Ah, so that was why it felt quiet. So quiet Zein could hear the drumming of his heartbeat. Breathing slowly, Zein let his body relax inside Bassena's hold, the esper cradling his upper body with enough care to treat a fragile glass.

"Just a bit...I need to..." Zein closed his eyes again, organizing his thought and breathing. He was rewarded with Bassena's gentle caress on his shoulder.

"Okay, take your time."

Zein couldn't help his smile to form. If he thought back on how dreadful it was to face the leftover vestige of a celestial being, Zein suddenly understood how what felt like a short interval turned out to be a long one. Moreover, he was filled with gratitude for finding a familiar presence and face as soon as he got back. The dread he felt from the encounter slowly dissipated as he sunk into the esper's embrace.

A fragment of Setnath.

It actually answered quite a few of his questions; about why he could sense the shard and seemingly 'tame' it.

But what did it mean for a human to be a...fragment?

Zein was entertaining the thought that everything was just a hallucination. A fever dream, perhaps. But the mark on his nape still pulsing hard, as if scolding him for considering such thought.

Also, Zein had been sensing it—the other shard. There was one nearby that he couldn't feel before. But after meeting the fragment's core—the celestial vestige of Setnath—it felt like his sense getting sharper.

So it should be real then.

Zein opened his eyes again. He tapped on Bassena's arm, and the esper helped him to stand again.

"You're alright now? It's okay to rest more, you know."

Zein exhaled, clenching his hands and opening them repeatedly. He still couldn't wrap the idea of what the vestige told him about being a fragment. And obviously, he had no plan on telling anyone about it either.

So there was only one thing to do now. "Where are the others?" he asked.

"I texted Shin to not make any sound that could disturb you," Bassena turned to look toward the camp. "So they were probably gone down to the lower lake or inside the tent," the esper looked inquisitively at Zein. "Why, did you find something?"

"Hmm...I think so," Zein nodded and started to walk toward the camp.

"What happened?" there was a worry inside his voice. "You suddenly collapsed after holding the shard. The others were panicking and started yelling."

So that was why he told the others to stay quiet. It didn't really have any effect since Zein could sense nothing while he was under. But he did tell Bassena that he didn't want any disturbance.

"…I talk to Setnath, probably."

Bassena stopped walking, frozen in his step that Zein had to pause and turned.

"You're what?"

"Well, it's probably just the vestige saved inside the core, but that's not important."

"How is that not important?!" the amber eyes blazed at Zein, prompting the guide to flinch and stepped back.

"Really, it's not that important," Zein waved his hand and resume his walking. "What's important is that there's probably a solution to the others' depression."

Bassena pressed his lips before sighing. Chanting to himself that he was a calm, collected, mature Saint-class esper who shouldn't be agitated even in the face of a news about someone talking to a celestial being. No—a vestige of celestial being thought to have perished at the dawn of time, supposedly.

"And what is this solution?"

Zein turned his head, a rare smirk played on his lips. "Finding another shard, obviously."