Chapter 437 (1/2)

Chapter 437

Chapter 435: Scales of Understanding

SYLVIE INDRATH

The Co me in The transition was seamless, unlike the ancient portals dotted around Dicathen On the other side, I found myself in a picturesque world that seemed more likely to be found in Epheotus than in Dicathen or Alacrya Towering trees, their tops not visible frorew up from an expansive, crystal-clear lake It was one of the s I had ever seen Like a picture

Like coeness of this thought, I was already losing focus on the scenery A purple haze fell overMy body felt stiff and distant, outside of ht

The forest was gone Above me, the aetheric void stretched into infinity in every direction My feet rested not on solid ground but smooth water, opaque with the reflection of the purple sky

The ed the water, I descended into it There was no splash, only cool pressure enveloping me from the feet up I tried to swim, to claay back to the surface, butthe upward force necessary to propel s ached, and panic threatened to overwhelm me

The water, solid as ink, parted A hand reached down for me, but it wasn’t made of flesh and blood It felt more like aetheric wind molded into the approximation of an arm and hand

It didn’t rabbed a charged mana crystal where the aetheric li free of the water, and was back out under the void sky

A violent fit of coughing racked led to wipe the viscous liquid from my eyes

“Breath Cal rapidly, I tried to look at the figure before —or rather, whose hand was still holding me up My toes sank into the water, and without their support, I would have plunged down once again

“This poill s you whole if you let it Take control”

The speaker was…a dragon, but—no, she was huhtly taller thanup from ae, de down atfrom one to the next in rapid succession, unless it was a trick of the swirling winds that forhtly deeper into the water as her grip on me slackened “I don’t understand, I—” A distant, time-blurred memory surfaced “Sylvia? M-Mom?”

The wind-carved lips twisted up, indistinct “Your identity is forged of contradictions Both dragon and basilisk, an asura bonded to a human, twice born and twice adapted to the power that is aether You are order from chaos, but the nature of this universe is entropy These contradictions—these paradoxes—will always be trying to pull you apart Father and grandfather, dragons and humans…vivum and aevum”

I listened the same way a child listens to a conversation between adults: I heard the words but could make little to no sense of theain, andmy ankles

“I am not here But you are And you will not leave if you continue to focus on all the wrong things You and you alone can keep yourself fro forever”

I closed my eyes, but the aetheric realure were still clearly visible before me “I’m sorry What do I need to do?”

“First, you must stand on your own”

“I can’t walk on water,” I protested, peeking down at the water around my ankles

“There is no water”

I wanted to argue, to point at the liquid overtaking me and let out so what else the figure had said Breathe Take control

I did, or at least I tried I was hardly in a coh position to search for ained control of that, Ihold over one muscle, one limb at a time Finally, I pulled myself up sowhat she had said, I approached theisn’t real then…I’m in my own mind, aren’t I?”

When I’d been in the aetheric realm with Arthur, the only interruption of the ele Relictombs zone as seen from the outside This place was similar, but not the same

My breath steadied My feet felt sturdier I lowered theainst the cool water Be stable, I thought, both to lassy surface It held

I was standing atop the water like I had been when I first appeared here, in that single nized the floor for what it was My perception of the floor had caused it to change, taking on the characteristics I expected from it Like how mana reacts to both my purposeful intention and my expectation of it simultaneously

“You have many questions This is your conversation to lead Ask the is how you’ll take control Tiht, the word triggering a deeperhalf lost and only partially found Even time bends before Fate

“You…it was your voice I heard in the void What did you mean?” I asked

“Time is an arrow”

Lines for a bo in the saure’s words, but the longer I looked, the htly slower or faster, and others weren’t straight at all They curved, weaving in and out of the paths of other arrows

“My innate capacity to influence aether in the path of vivuht that had been growing inthat… to what I was taught, this isn’t possible”

“Many things are thought impossible until they become real Fools insist reality must confore of our reality is constantly evolving, timeless and without finality”

The arrows arced sharply doard and began to fall as raindrops, and where the rain landed, it revealed the outline of a building Lacking color, contrast, or detail, it tookcastle over the dense canopy of the Beast Glades Aetherial clouds drifted overhead, wind-blown and dark The water below reflected the rain-drawn outlines above

Of all the places I had lived—Zestier, Xyrus, Mount Geolus—the flying castle held the strongestclose to the Beast Glades, where I had hunted for years while Arthur adventured There was aunexplainable and ancient, and I had enjoyed that too

But rew into ure, now a towering being with huge horns, as she faded in and out, the aetheric wind dispersing in chaotic gusts

“Time is also limited, the most finite of resources As your mind wanders farther away froer”

“What danger?” I asked “What is this place? Did you bring me here?”

“Entropy”

“Is that the answer to one question or all three?” I asked quickly, trying to force ht indestroyed in the background, and my heart sank to think of it Zestier demolished, only dust and ash, Xyrus taken by the Alacryans, and the flying castle destroyed by Cadell

My ure faded further, the winds growing evene In on with lavender eyes When I peeked through half-closed lids, the figure was stable again “What are you here to tell me?”

“What do you need to know?”

I shook my head It was too open-ended, too broad I hadn’t been back long enough, didn’t fully understand as needed Only…

“What is Fate?” I asked, holding my breath

The voice spoke The noise of her words enteredhelplessly as I stared at the figure It was just that, noise, but absent ain “I…I don’t…” I trailed off, struggling even to forure’s explanation still wriggled through my brain

“Unlike the djinn, you can’t construct a castle in the air Lacking the foundation to build such insight upon, there is no hope for you to understand it”

I dragged in a long, conflicted breath The air s citrus and tasted of ozone By now, the flying castle, shown only by where the dots of aetheric rain splashed against it, was nothing but a cru bricks and broken stone

One thing was starting toit, aren’t I? You can’t volunteer infor specific I have to ask you the right questions”

“In a way, though perhaps there are no specific ‘right questions,’ only those that bring you closer to insight or push you farther from it”

“Why didon a path forward