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Star Bound Sorcerous

Life could have been soo easy if only Zee had chosen the life of a farmer. But that was not her path. Conflict, and battle, that is the life she wanted. A heroic warrior, charging into battle to save princes and defend the weak. Life is not always the same as what you read in stories. And Zee quickly learns this cruel fact. Thrown into conflict she must first survive, and once she does that, she needs to find her way back home.

Eric_Blackmore_5616 · ไซไฟ
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Book 6, chapter 32

Zee took in deep gasping breaths as she collapsed onto her butt on the dusty stone. Around her wisps of energy glistened in the air for a few seconds before disappearing as the soul link ritual fizzled out. For better or worse, the ritual had fulfilled its purpose and the bands of power keeping the monster in place dissipated. The fact was alarming, though she was able to calm herself upon realizing the hole in her inner world was no longer empty. She could sense the monster's presence growing with each passing second. It was just as the ritual promised.

Intricate pathways were already forming, replacing the island she had lost. She was curious what would form where that empty island had once been but would have to wait a while to find out. 

From what the notes on the ritual said, the connection would be basic at first, but grow sturdier over time. In the meantime, it should be enough to receive some impressions and give basic commands. Despite knowing this, Zee was extremely nervous when the monster started moving.

Just because the ritual had gone off without a hitch, didn't mean it would work as advertised.

A very disoriented snake opened its slitted yellow eyes, its long coils undulating as it gathered its body in front of her. The monster was atleast fifteen meters long, with most of its body thicker than her torso. Thick black scales, each the size of her palm covered it head to tail, with wisps of blue smoke leaking out from the cracks. 

All gathered together it easily blocked the tunnel, incredibly imposing as its wide head loomed above her. 

Zee licked her suddenly dry lips as she looked up into its eyes. It's long forked tongue darted out from between its lips as it glared down at her. The urge to run was strong, but she held herself back. Its piercing gaze gave her the chills, not seeming friendly at all. 

Or that could just be the fact that it was a giant ass snake with fangs the size of daggers. Very hesitantly, she reached out through her newly established link and tugged on it. 

She took a startled step back as it twitched. Much to her surprise, it immediately obeyed her unspoken command, resting its giant head on the stone infront of her. Zee let out an incredibly relieved sigh. 

"You had me worried there for a bit," Zee said tiredly.

It said nothing, hissing softly as its long forked tongue darted out between its lips. 

Unlike Dern, Raina and Zul, she didn't sense more than an animalistic intelligence from the creature. All she got were impressions from it, like hunger, and a desire to protect its home.

Honestly, Zee was relieved. Having another voice in her mind might have been too much to bear. Curious, Zee reached out again, and gave it another command. The snakes form undulated, turning nearly liquid as it changed forms.

In seconds it turned into a giant fox, with black and blue streaked fur. Towering above her it had large fluffy ears and slanted yellow eyes. Sitting on its haunches, its fluffy tail swished side to side, its tongue lolling out between a row of viscous teeth.

It was actually pretty damned cute in this form, well at least when it wasn't trying to kill her. A small leather bound book floated up in front of her, a wide eyed girl appearing next to it. 

"It's so fluffy! Can we keep it? Please aunty" Raina exclaimed excitedly.

Zee smiled. 

"Yeah, I guess we can keep it," Zee replied. Not that she really had a choice after the ritual she just performed.

"Yay! Can I name it?" Raina asked, glancing back with the most adorable expression.

"Fine.. You can name it. Just come up with a good name okay?" 

"I will," Raina said, flying around the monster's head excitedly. 

For its part, the monster just sat there, not seeming to mind Raina's presence.

Zee didn't know where Raina got that kind of energy from. 

She felt wrung dry, like a wet rag squeezed until it had no water left.

All she wanted to do was lie down, and recover. Too bad that was a recipe for disaster. Instead, she tossed a few pills in her mouth, feeling soothing waves of energy wash through her body and soul. 

Hopefully, the top-quality healing pills her mother gave her would help with the lingering soul damage, as well as the injuries to her body. 

Her body protested as she stood, pain shooting through her wrung out body. 

Zee wanted to just lie down, but this was not the place to lower her guard. The monster might have been defeated, but this labyrinth was the bigger danger. Letting out an exhausted sigh, she reached out to the monster through their connection and gave it another command. 

"Take us out of the labyrinth," Zee commanded.

It was a simple command and yet the monster didn't respond. It simply stood there, unmoving as Raina poked one of its fluffy ears.

Zee frowned. What was the problem? Was it too complex of a command? Or, maybe it didn't know a way out? But that shouldn't be the case. After all, how else would it get back to its lair?

How about a different command? 

"Take me home," Zee said.

The giant fox immediately turned, walking down the tunnel, back into the draining rituals. Wisps of energy were dragged from its body, but it ignored them, following her command without concern for its own safety.

Zee shrugged. Well, that was easy. 

Pushing past the fatigue, she jogged to catch up, following the giant fox. 

Things hadn't exactly gone according to plan, but they worked out in the end. Whoever ran into those draining rituals in the future was in for a surprise, but that wasn't her problem. Taking them apart was a risk she wasn't willing to take.

With the labyrinth's odd ability to confuse and make her lose track of herself, she couldn't risk getting distracted.

Following her newly contracted monster, she forced herself to remain focused. Now that she was paying attention, she could feel this place trying to drag her under. It was subtle, and yet always there probing at her mind. It was like a fly, constantly buzzing in her ears.

She couldn't wait to leave this place. Zee was beyond sick of these tunnels. Dern wanted to find Sersie, but they didn't even know where to start looking. Zee had to put her foot down. Finding the exit was top priority. Once they did that, then perhaps they could return for that no good Ashary. 

Zee followed the fox down a series of winding pathways, many of which were familiar.

It seemed like they were walking in circles until the monster walked headfirst into a random wall. The wall looked exactly like the others and yet, this one must have been different somehow. The monster's body vibrated, releasing a high pitch humming sound. After a few seconds, the wall rippled, and the monster slipped through as if it were made of water. Not wanting to get left behind, Zee followed on its tail, sensing hints of spatial fluctuations as she did so.

It was faint, and yet she could tell they appeared elsewhere in the labrinth. The tunnel looked the same as before, and yet the monster didn't seem surprised. It strode forward confidently, and Zee could only follow. They went through at least ten more similar transitions, with Zee having to fight off the probing mind fog the whole way. She was starting to think it was leading her in circles, until they entered one final wall. This time, instead of appearing in a tunnel, she stepped out into a large brightly lit cavern. She had expected to see the cave where they entered the maze, but this was something else. 

Immediately her attention was drawn to the grey light at the center of the cave. It looked like sunlight pouring in from a crack atop a mountain that nearly touched the top of the cave hundreds of meters above.

She squinted, shielding her eyes. With the harsh glare no longer blinding her, her jaw dropped. It wasn't a mountain at all, but instead a towering pyramid, several hundred meters tall. 

She couldn't make out what was atop it, as the light radiating from it was blinding, but she had a good guess what was up there. Zee could feel it now. A calm hum filled the cavern, not a sound, but the world river dancing to a familiar tune. The thing above was calling to her, urging her to climb, and claim it. 

Ignoring the urge, she turned back to the monster, which was quietly sitting on its haunches a few meters away. She was both excited, and wary of such good luck. Things usually didn't go so well for her. Zee studied the monster's emotions and expression, getting only eagerness in return. It didn't seem to have a spec of deceit in it. Well, why look a gift lizard in the mouth? 

The key she had been searching for was suddenly right in front of her. She would be a fool not to go and secure it. But, who said she had to do that right away? Not staring right at the light above, so as not to blind herself, Zee walked towards the looming pyramid. 

The last two keys she had absorbed were not exactly her choice. Both times had been out of her control, either when Tarnival tricked her into forming a contract with Raina, or when Kur Zul had tried to possess her body. From what she had learned over her life, nothing was ever free. There was always a catch.

It was more than that. This whole eternal throne thing had her on edge. Someone hid the keys to the eternal throne across the universe for a reason and she doubted it was out of the kindness of their hearts. Whoever created it had something to gain, but Zee still couldn't figure out what.

Getting access to the eternal throne was an unimaginable opportunity, a path for those stuck at the peak of the celestial grade to take that next step into the Boundless ranks. There was very little information on how it was accomplished, and even less information on what happened to the keyholders.

For her own sake, Zee was hoping that she could unravel that mystery. After all, even if she took this key, and the throne emerged, what would come of her? She was valuable now, but what about when the throne had already emerged?

Which of the old monsters would bother to save her when they had to fight for such an invaluable opportunity? With those troubling thoughts in mind, Zee reached the base of the pyramid, and looked up. It was several hundred meters tall, made of smooth metallic alloy. Both majestic, and ominous, releasing a foreboding aura.

Her eyes landed on the pillars bracketing either side of the wide stairs leading up to the peak.

Thousands of intricate markings covered its surface, a combination of etchings and ritual markings. She had labored for years in the labyrinth to hone her skills with rituals, and was far more skilled than her former self. 

Despite that, the ritual embedded in the base of the pyramid made her head spin. She studied it closely, and instead of walking up the stairs, she walked around the base. Zee had jumped into many situations like this head first, and wouldn't do it again. 

As she rounded the base, examining the markings, her initial caution only grew. She wasn't sure why, but she had a very bad feeling about what was up there. 

All the while, the monster followed like a loyal pet, not seeming to mind waiting on her. Its presence was comforting in a way.

"Is anything standing out to you?" Zee asked aloud, eying one of the pillars bracketing the staircase. 

Dern hummed in her mind. "Hmmm. From what i can glean, the etchings are mostly for containment, and energy gathering purposes. This pyramid seems to be a massive energy-gathering array, probably what has been drawing energy from the labyrinth," Dern surmised.

"The ritual markings seem to be doing something similar," Zee said, with a frown.

"That's quite interesting. I wonder what it's all for?" Dern asked.

"I don't know, but i don't like it. This thing gives me the creeps. Whatever is up there is bad news," Zee replied.

"I don't see why you are so anxious. It seems safe. You captured the big bad monster. Stop stalling, let's go collect the key, and go find Sersie," Dern said.

"Hold your metallic britches. We aren't in a rush," Zee replied.

"Sersie could be in trouble out there," Dern replied. 

"Unlikely. As you said, I captured the monster. Besides, we will go and find her after. In the meantime, stop complaining. Let's take our time with this thing. I'm not going to absorb whatever is atop this pyramid without knowing what it is first," Zee insisted.

"Fine.." Dern grumbled.

Zee ignored Dern's moping as she meticulously examined the ritual markings on each stone. Thankfully the brain fog didn't seem present inside the cavern. Even so, Zee was wary of getting distracted. Getting trapped in tedium for years was not something she wanted to do again. 

After nearly a day of studying the markings, she was running out of excuses to give to Dern. Saying it was a feeling would no longer slide. Eventually she walked up the steep steps, her eyes on the stairs. 

Despite its brightness, not a speck of energy was released from its summit. It was bright, releasing a gray hue that lit up the chamber. She had gleaned little from the ritual markings, but she was confident that all the energy was being funneled up to the top.

With that in mind she ascended cautiously. The peak of the pyramid was flat, and at least the size of a courtyard, with three pillars bracketing the light at the center. Each pillar was covered in dense patterns, the light so bright she couldn't really make them out.

At the center of the pyramid, was the object she had endured so much for. She couldn't look at it directly, but with her spatial ripple skill, she could vaguely make it out. The key was roughly the size of her head, twisting and turning, constantly in flux. 

Unable to see with her eyes, she probed it with her spatial ripple skill, getting a good look.

The key was right at the heart of the ritual, feeding on the energy siphoned by the pyramid. Aside from its vague shape, she couldn't make it out at all. 

It hung atop a plinth, covered with a transparent glass case. Probing the case with her sensory skill made chills run up her spine. The energies contained within gave her a foreboding chill of doom. Inside were pure energies far beyond her, reminding her of something she had touched on all those years ago.

She couldn't quite put her finger on what it was, the memory distant, and vague.

Her senses traced the marking on the pillars around the peak, slowly studying each. Each was unique with markings that touched upon truths of the cosmos. One gave off the aura of the soul, while another seemed to phase in and out of her senses. 

The third was the most familiar, releasing intense waves of spatial energy into the pyramid below. The concepts of soul, space, and… Was the third perhaps the concept of time? 

That nagging thought slowly returned as she approached the pedestal in the center.

Space, Soul, and Time, the three base concepts that made up reality. They were scattered and considered the most difficult concepts to cultivate individually. 

Cultivating all three together was never done by any sane person. After all, combining those concepts could drag a piece of the apocalypse into reality. 

 A chill ran down her spine as her hand paused just above the glass case. 

Standing so close, the aura leaking from within was unmistakable. How someone had managed to trap a piece of the apocalypse inside a box was beyond her. Her hypothesis seemed like madness, and yet, the more she studied the marking around her, the more her idea solidified.

If she was right, then opening this case was utter insanity. From what she could see, there wasn't even a lock on it. She could simply pull off the lid, and expose the world to the madness within. 

Zee was of course not going to do such a monumentally stupid thing. 

This might be a key to the eternal throne, but whoever absorbed the energy within would not be alive long enough to enjoy the reward. 

So what if she had evolved her fractured inner world? In the end, she was still just a peak E grade cultivator. Drawing in a piece of the apocalypse into her body was certain death. Either from the energy itself, or the heavenly wrath that would follow. There was no doubt in her mind of that fact. She had been right to be cautious. Trying to take that thing on blindly would have gotten her killed.

Just as she was going to back away, someone cleared their throat. 

Hand above the case, Zee whirled, just as Tavza emerged from the shadows next to one of the pillars. 

"Hello cousin," Tavza said, with Sersie emerging shortly after, her cloud like form bound in shadowy chains.