The man rolled his eyes, looking at Hajime on the floor. He instantly knew that the two were discussing the going price of Hajime. The archer looked at him with a confused expression on his face.
"And who might you be?" He asked, his eyes still fixed on the man who had just arrived.
"... Shut up, clown."
Lyraeus said, still staring as if the devil himself had just arrived. But the archer was still confused with the man in front. What surprised him the most was that he never anticipated seeing a man as fancy as him to be found in a place so dirty.
The man in front of them swiveled and looked at Lyraeus with a blunt expression on his face. His eyes appeared dead, and there was no trace of emotion on his face.
A second later, he shrugged, looking at the man.
"Where are my manners... I should have first introduced myself." He said, still looking at the archer as Lyraeus turned mute. The archer was still confused; he darted his eyes towards Lyraeus and then back at the other man.
"I am Gorthok, but the locals refer to me as the chain master." He bowed slightly.
The archer's eyes grew. His fingers started to tremble the moment he heard the name of the man standing before them. Gorthok offered a smile to the archer and continued.
"What's with the silence? You, have you come to sell him, haven't you?"
The archer looked at Hajime, his eyes filled with fear and terror.
Suddenly, Hajime shifted his body. He could feel every part of his limbs creak as if he were being stepped on by a giant. But he didn't let this stop him. He continued to push through until he landed flat on his back.
"I did it..." He uttered under his breath.
For some reason, he could feel his body getting lighter and lighter. But his vision was still fuzzy, so he couldn't make out anything surrounding him, but he could hear the voices of the people as clearly as if he were in a tunnel.
Everyone looked at him with surprise.
"What...?" The archer mumbled, not sure what to say about what he was looking at.
"Interesting... How much did you say he was again?" Gorthok asked as he looked at the archer.
Lyraeus looked at Gorthok with a surprised expression on his face and dropped his jaw slightly, unable to express his thoughts.
"... How much...?" The archer uttered, his eyes still wide.
What's going on here? On the floor, Hajime wondered.
Is this place some sort of slave market? He continued. But what I'm doing here
His heart rate slowed down, and the pressure was just too much to handle for him with the murmuring that was going on between the men... If he could just move a little more, he could maybe find a loophole to get out of.
He continued to wonder as the archer was about to mention his price.
"Yes. How much do you want?" Gorthok asked once again with a smile on his face.
"... sixty vey, I mean, give me a thousand silver veyr..."
"What?!" Lyraeus shouted. He didn't know that the man had mentioned a thousand silver because he was afraid of mentioning the wrong price to Gorthok. And he was shaking as he mentioned the price of a thousand silver.
"Okay then," Gorthok said, touching the collar of his jacket.
"Follow me to get your prize. And don't forget to bring him along." He resumed, as he walked close to Lyraeus. "Bring me all the capable ones you have, too. Oh, and don't forget that one."
***
The archer carried Hajime off the floor and started following Gorthok outside the building. Hajime was confused; he could feel that someone was moving him, but he didn't know just how, because his body had surrendered to pain, and not him."
"...What?" He uttered softly.
Moments later, as they were out of the building, they went straight for the fancy carriage that was standing a distance away by the building.
"Set him there," Gorthok said, pointing at the back of the fancy carriage.
The archer did as he was told and waited for Gorthok to say something. In his mind, only one word was going through it, and it was that he needed to get out of there before anyone saw him, and he was still wearing the bloody clothes... And that was that.
A few seconds later, Gorthok came from the front of the carriage with two bags that sounded like they were filled with coins. But one of the bags had an odd symbol that looked like a Wyrm forming a circle.
"Here, take this and get lost." He said, handing the bag with the symbol to the archer.
The archer quickly grabbed the bag without checking its contents. In his mind, he imagined it was stuffed with a million copper coins, enough to make a stack of silver coins.
He moved down the alley he had passed earlier on his way to Lyraeus's building, his face showing clear relief.
Gorthok watched him go, saying nothing.
"Now I should check on what's taking Lyraeus so long." He said, sliding his hands in his pockets.
◊◊◊◊
Later, the archer had bought new clothes and was ready to leave the town. He had not yet opened the bag, but just kept it crossed in his hands. He even bought new equipment to accompany his new appearance. Everyone's attention turned to him, but he just ignored them by walking without looking at any of them.
He reached the gate and stopped looking for the guard to whom he had given his necklace. He searched in the crowd standing by the gate and saw him. He was busy doing his job, but the archer didn't care.
He approached the guard, but the moment he got closer to him, he felt like something inhuman was watching him.
"Hey!"
The guards turned, looking at him. The guard who was holding on to his necklace immediately knew that something was off with the bag the archer was carrying.
"What's that?" The guard asked his friend, looking at him, then turned back to glance at the archer.
The man was confused about what the guard was talking about, but before he approached, even got closer to the guards, He exploded into oblivion.
All the guards' eyes enlarged, caught off guard by what had just happened. Some people who were walking next to the man fell with surprise, while some froze in shock.
"... What just happened...?" One of the guards who wasn't paying attention to the archer asked. His tone was curious yet surprised.
Back to Lyraeus's building.
"That's the last of them," Lyraeus said, wiping his hands.
"Okay then, see you next month," Gorthok said, riding on his carriage.
Lyraeus waved goodbye while looking at four bags of veyr lying by the entrance of the building. He smiled, knowing that he had made a profit with leftover goods, but little did he know that all the veyr in the bags were silver coins and not even a single piece of gold.
***
Chapter 24: Part 2 Arrival
Somewhere in Avalon.
The sky was tainted crimson, its glow reflecting against the vast ocean below.
On the water, there was a massive ship, slowly moving along the waters while heading east of the planet Avallon.
Inside it were a lot of people seated in uniform lines; upon seeing their size, one might guess that their numbers passed the thousand digits. But among these people were three women who were dressed in white cloaks with a pretty, odd pattern drawn on them. Their silver hair slightly showing through their cloaks, together with the pristine knightly armor they were wearing underneath the cloaks.
All eyes around were on them, though no one dared to ask what the ladies' business was; all the people around them could do was watch them silently. The women themselves couldn't help but stay silent, while looking back at the masses all around them.
Somewhere on the ocean, waves crushed against rocks in abrupt force.
The night passed with nothing of the sort to be documented.
***
Morning arrived, replacing the crimson glow with a blue one, and the massive vessel had finally arrived to it's destination in Avalon.
All passengers on board the massive vessel started to descend one after another, leaving the ship and taking in the almost violet colored skies.
Some time later, the three women in white cloaks emerged from the vessel, still covering their persons as they made their way off the massive vessel, their knightly armor clinking with every step, and none of them had any weapons visible on their persons.
In front of them were a lot of people, hoping to make a profit selling food and other luxuries to the arriving guests. And from the looks of things, most of them had already made a profit, counting their currency in the form of silver coins and paper, a smile on their faces, and as for the others, it appeared as if they had just arrived, opening up their business to start the day.
"Ladies, you look tired, mind if you take some rest in our inns! It only costs five hundred Veyr!" One of the people called out, approaching the women in white.
Yet, the women just passed him, ignoring him without even sparing him a glance.
"Hungry ladies? We've got fried, smoked, boiled, and even tenderized fish in your aboard, and it only costs fifty Veyr for each one." Another one said. Yet, the ladies ignored him as the last one.
Most of the people gathered there approached the ladies, begging for Veyr or just trying to sell them goods, but the ladies ignored them all, as if the people weren't even present.
Sometime hence, the three women reached the city of Avalon, though there the situation was almost the same as at the shore, strangers offering them a place for rest, food to eat, and some even asking for assistance.
"What the hell is a Vayr?" Finally, after reaching a decent inn. The three women booked a room; it wasn't big, but to them, it was the right size for all of them to sleep in together, though the room only contained a single bed.
"I'm guessing it's the currency of this world, cause the owner of this place said something similar when Aztec asked. But knowing Aztec, that man's words only mingled for a brief of a second in her head."
The woman who looked slightly taller than the others explained, still putting on the cloaks.
"Currency?" Another woman muttered, standing by the open window and taking in the city view.
"Oh, I almost forgot... You're too not a professional on the matter, but I'm glad you're here with us today." The taller woman said, stepping closer to the bed.
"I can't help but wonder, what did you think about the humans' behavior in this world, Flora?" She asked.
"Can't say, but humans are quite odd no matter the world." Replied the woman at the window. Her name was Flora, and from her posture, she appeared to be the youngest in the group.
"Odd, huh?" Uttered the taller woman, hovering a hand on the bed, her hand was dressed in armor, dressed in silver, white, and black, also possessing the odd pattern on their cloaks.
"An odd person can't be saying such words, because you know, strange can't be calling another strange, 'strange.'" She continued. Flora only stayed silent, still taking in the view of the window.
The tall woman stopped hovering her hand on the bed and swiveled, looking at the closed door.
"Do you know why Aztec is taking her sweet time retaining here... Don't tell me she's eating that strange food we saw in the diner."
She stepped closer to the door, and a second later it clicked open.
"Ah, Lady Caelthys?" The woman named Aztec appeared.
The sentence Lady Caelthys. Aztec was referring to the tall woman.
"What were you doing out there?" Caelthys asked, then paused, looking at Aztec's unarmored hand. "Were you eating the grub we saw in the diner?"
"Ahhh... No. But I was about to, then I remembered the one million one hundred and eighth rule that states about enjoying the pressures of other worlds." Aztec stated.
Caelthys let out a soft sigh, pivoting and looking at Flora on the open window.
"Flora, set a barrier on the window and the other open spaces of this room. We don't need to draw attention from the humans around."
Some moments passed, and the room was now covered in flowers that ran along the walls of the room until the opening in the window. The flowers were slightly radiating light as figures that looked like fairies started taking shape atop each flower and embracing them before turning motionless.
The three women now had their cloaks off. They all had such long silver hair that ran all the way down to their feet, though it was tied to prevent it from getting into contact with the ground.
Their faces were beautiful, too beautiful, suggesting that these women were human or anything that can describe a humanoid. Their eyelashes were the same color as their hair, but some small details separated these women apart. They all had a different set of eye colors, going from scarlet, blue, and green.
"So, where should we start looking?" One of the women inquired, and from her height alone, this was Aztec. She had scarlet eyes that glimmered like expensive, rare crystals.
"We'll keep going east. I can sense large amounts of ether coming from that direction." This was Caelthys, though she appeared to be older than the others. If she were human, she would have been somewhere in her late twenties. And her blue eyes shimmered with a radiant hue of abstract blues.
She then sat on the bed, glancing up at the sky with a grave expression on her face.
"Judging from the ether I'm sensing, it seems Lumina Nexus is a human now. The ether is just too weak to be recognized by the others, that's why I guess they haven't made a fuss yet. So it seems." She said.
"But at this current time, I too sense Lumina Nexus presence, yet, it's naught coming from the east directly, but slightly to its nearshoring contour." Flora described, staring at the blank space in front of her.
"Yes, I too sense it," Caelthys said. "But that ether... it feels like it belongs to Makina Azuryth and Lumina Nexus fused together. And, sorry to state the obvious, Flora, that fusion is Estaria, Lumina Azuryth, in simpler terms. That ether seems more like it's coming from his daughter rather than him."
She paused, considering. "Still, I shouldn't jump to conclusions. Yet I feel like Lumina Nexus may have split into two. Or it could be Estaria herself. But if it's her… what is she doing here?"
Both Flora and Aztec looked at Caelthys with a wry expression.
"Hey Caelthys, why can't we just open a portal to get there quickly?" Aztec asked, Caelthys shifted her attention to face her.
"You can't be serious... Don't you remember the last time we cut a portal on an alien world... The whole galaxy was in shambles, with nothing left except ether." Flora said.
Aztec glanced at the floor, feeling stupid for even suggesting something like that.
"Don't worry about it. Right now, let's focus on getting some rest before we can proceed... And, oh, Flora, you'll be heading to uncover who that ether belongs to exactly, if you find anything, summon me to a dimension gap, we'll discuss things moving from there." Caelthys explained, finally removing her whole cloak, leaving only the armor.
"What about Aztec?" Flora asked.
"Don't worry about her, she'll be coming with me, to keep an eye out for any other gods trying to get to Lumina Nexus." She stretched her shoulders.
"As you already figured, she can't be left on her own, she's too reckless when it comes to making decisions, she might end up wiping this whole world again."
Aztec stayed silent, listening as Caelthys spoke of her recklessness, and she didn't even try to defend herself because the statement Caelthys gave stated only the truth about her.
"Fair point, then I'll take off next time when I wake up," Flora said, stepping close to the bed and sitting next to Caelthys, who now lay on her back with her eyes closed. A moment hence, Flora followed.
***
Hours later.
The three women had taken their fair share of sleep and now were heading east as the sky roared with thunder clouds that covered half of Avalon.
Flora went her separate way from Caelthys and Aztec, who continued heading east on foot. And they had put on their cloaks again, covering their faces to appear normal to the public. But their journey wasn't one of awkwardness. All eyes were on them every time they passed a crowd.
As for Flora, she had taken a carriage that was heading straight to Steria. Unlike the others, she had the carriage to herself since she was the only passenger. But she remained cloaked, making sure that no one got a glimpse of her face.
Caelthys and Aztec passed through the mountains for days, without even taking the time to rest their eyes.
A month passed.
Finally, the two women had stopped to rest and purify their ether.
They stopped east of Mel, where a town named Fall settled a few miles from Dol.
...
That evening, Aztec had a vision. In her vision, they were dressed like servants of humans—maidens—only with slightly different faces, and they were working deep underground in some sort of dungeon. There, there was a man, Caelthys called Hajime, and this young man was Lumina Nexus, only now he was a human who couldn't even use a sword.
The vision continued, Caelthys was trying to awaken this boy, making him remember who he was and what he needed to do, but the odd thing was that Flora wasn't there; it was only her and Caelthys.
After Aztec illustrated her vision to Caelthys, Caelthys first found it hard to believe, but later believed every single word spoken by Aztec about the vision.
"Fine then, we'll head wherever your vision points you to go."
Caelthys was willing to take a chance just to find Lumina Nexus. The reason being that she had been in search of him for more than a million years, and with the timing of Aztec's vision and the strong presence of ether as they got closer to their destination, everything was starting to add up little by little.