UmbralWhite (TheFrozenMoogle)
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Chapter 44
🕑 Added 2025-03-18 20:18:43 +0000 UTCI was finally cleared—not that I’d ever followed my doctor’s advice to the letter.
My leg, or rather, the veins inside it, had been replaced with something called Ion-Veil. A synthetic vascular system designed to regulate my blood flow after I’d ruined my original one through mercurial toxicity. My healing limit had been stretched far past its breaking point, which was why I’d spent an entire year in a coma.
Naturally, the moment I was cleared for “light” exercise, I threw myself into a gauntlet of never-ending flies.
I swear, if I ever see a blowfly again, it’d be too soon.
But today, the doctor finally gave me the official clearance to return to Marr, where my skillcubes were waiting.
The doctor also cleared me for visitors—as if that mattered. Because the three Domini standing in the room with me had long since proven that they couldn’t be seen by anyone unless they wanted to be seen.
First was Cordelia.
She arrived with her usual grace, carrying a delicate porcelain teacup filled with rose tea. The scent alone was enough to ease the tension in my limbs, and when I took my first sip, the floral warmth settled deep in my chest.
"You always bring the best, Cordelia," I murmured, savoring the taste.
She smiled, ever composed. "One of us has to make sure you experience the finer things in life, Alexander."
Then came Fractal.
In her childlike energy, she fluttered into the room, her brilliant, iridescent feathers shimmering as she landed on the table with a dramatic fluff.
“I brought games!” she chirped, presenting a small stack of wooden puzzles and playing cards. “For the trip back home. You’ll need something fun while you’re stuck in a carriage.”
I ruffled her spectral head, watching as the veil of mist that made up her face swirled at my touch.
Then came Ten.
Her arrival was…unexpected.
She stood in the doorway, her small, delicate frame somehow completely betraying the absolute devastation she was capable of. Her usual ragged combat gear was gone, replaced by a sleek, high-cut dress that accentuated her legs. The spheres attached to her ankles gleamed under the dim light, and it didn’t take long for me to recognize them.
Uncle Rodrick’s invention. The spike balls.
The same ones I had rejected.
But for Ten? They were perfect. They suited her ‘my legs are a cannon’ approach. I still remembered what she’d done to those beasts on the way to the duchy. The sheer force. The devastation.
She didn’t say much—not that she ever did.
And behind her?
V.
Ever indifferent, ever unbothered V.
His choice of clothing still made him look like a mobster who had never actually committed a crime. A man desperately trying to ignore the times while simultaneously refusing to change.
He leaned against the wall, arms crossed, eyes half-lidded with his usual air of lazy amusement.
I exhaled, looking at all of them. The people I had chosen.
"It's good to see you all," I said, and then turned to Cordelia. "Have you arranged a carriage for me?"
She gave a small nod, sipping her own cup of tea. "Already handled. It will arrive in an hour to take us to Marr."
I nodded back. Good.
I turned to all of them.
"There you have it. Once we arrive, I’ll be acquiring my skillcubes—and then we start training. All of us. I’m tired of being weak. I want you to punish every single weakness I have. I have a feeling, though, that you’ll have help in that matter."
"If you mean the three geezers in the corner trying to not be perverts, yeah. We know."
V’s voice cut through the room like a knife.
He shrugged, completely unimpressed.
"I’d say Dominus damn them, but that’d be like me yelling at bread. They’ve already got a plan set for training you privately—along with pretty feathers over there." He nodded toward Fractal, who chirped proudly.
"As for the rest of us?" He stretched, rolling his shoulders. "We either assign ourselves early to their lovely little training program, or we stick with whatever hellish regime you assign, boss."
I smirked, eyes flicking toward the three figures lingering in the shadows.
The Domini. Watching. Waiting. Always waiting.
Their presence loomed in the room, unseen by the uninitiated, but suffocatingly real to those who knew better.
I exhaled sharply.
"I guess I should see what kind of hell they have planned first."
"For now?" Ranah answered, shrugging as if our conversation was mundane. "We have nothing until you get your cubes. Morres is going to explain how to form your shell."
I frowned. Shell formation wasn’t exactly difficult. Every Walker worth their salt eventually developed one—a structured network that stabilized their skillcubes and let them utilize multiple abilities efficiently.
"Why would he need help forming a shell?" V asked, shifting his weight against the wall. Then, he turned his gaze toward Cordelia. "Also, did you ever find those two death cubes? You had the budget for it."
Cordelia gave a small nod, setting her tea aside. Cool. Collected. Always prepared.
"I’ve finally formed my shell," she said smoothly. "I took a Life/Death/Desire cube and a Death/Rat/Dream cube into it. Neither had side effects, so I absorbed them fully."
A Life/Death/Desire cube. And a Death/Rat/Dream cube.
The combination alone made me pause. The first was a rare hybrid, capable of manipulating the border between existence and longing. The second? Likely filled with the kind of abilities that only those fascinated with death and subconscious torment would consider useful.
V let out a low whistle. "Guess we won’t have to worry about your skillset, huh?"
Cordelia merely smiled.
Temptation, however, took that moment to step forward.
"As for why he needs help forming his shell," he said, tilting his head, "he’ll be incorporating some…extra weight into it. Something we need him to have."
A pause.
Then, Ten spoke.
Her voice was quiet but beautiful—the eye of the storm, a serenity that never faltered.
"Why?"
A single word, simple and direct.
Morres, still appearing half-asleep, gave a soft sigh. "Dragon Huntress Ten, we can’t inform you of this. All we can say is… it will not harm Alexander, nor will it harm any of you."
Not exactly a reassuring answer.
That was when V narrowed his eyes, his tone turning sharp.
"You plan on having him absorb his Machina, don’t you?"
The air in the room stilled.
None of the three answered.
Not Morres. Not Ranah. Not Temptation.
Their silence was all the confirmation I needed.
***
The hour passed, and the carriage ride was long. The Domini didn’t bother joining us, instead opting to meet me later in my “barracks.” That was fine. More time to relax.
Fractal and I were playing with the cards she had gotten me specifically for the ride, her feathers shimmering excitedly as she shuffled through them. It was a strange game—one I had never heard of before. Each player had the same base deck, but everyone also brought twenty-one blank cards, filling each one with their own miasma. The blank cards would then adopt the three starting mana types of their creator.
Since there were five of us playing—Fractal, Cordelia, V, Ten, and myself—our game had an interesting spread of mana types:
Fractal: Crystal, Dream, Venom
Cordelia: Life, Mind, Death
V: Smoke, Wind, Sand
Me: Dimension, Crystal, Nature
Ten: Blood, Bone, Flesh
V let out a huff as he glanced over Ten’s set. “Wait. You’re telling me Ten has the perfect set of mana for elemental body-type cubes and she hasn’t used them?”
Cordelia sighed, shaking her head. “Please don’t judge someone’s skill choices. She’s already becoming a perfect damaging vanguard as she is.”
V held up a hand in mock surrender. “I’m just saying, Flesh, Blood, and Bone? That’s basically the textbook definition of a full elemental body build.”
I cut in before V could go on another one of his rants. “So, Fractal… how does this game actually work?”
Fractal chirped happily, her mask-like face shifting in excitement. “Ooooh! I was hoping you’d ask! Okay, so now that we all have our full sets of cards, we put everyone’s mana-infused cards into a shared deck and shuffle it. That makes up the mana deck.”
I nodded. “Alright. Then what?”
“Then, we each draw three cards from the top of the deck, one at a time. But! You don’t show anyone what you got. The goal of the game is to figure out what mana types people have in their hand—without getting caught lying.”
V raised an eyebrow. “So it’s a bluffing game?”
“Yup! On your turn, you draw a new card from the deck and announce what mana types you have in your hand. You can tell the truth, or you can lie. But the next person in order is the only one allowed to call you out. If they think you’re lying, they can accuse you, but if they’re wrong, they’re out instead.”
Ten tilted her head. “And if they’re right?”
“Then the liar is out.” Fractal fluttered her wings. “Last one standing wins!”
V crossed his arms. “So it’s basically Liar’s Dice but with mana cards?”
Fractal’s wings drooped slightly. “Kinda…”
“Why bother with all the mana infusion then?” V asked, shaking his head.
Fractal perked up again. “Because this is only one of the games! We don’t have all the other pieces yet. Myne didn’t have the full set—just the blanks. Once we get to Marr, we’ll be able to play the actual full version!”
She sighed dramatically, but then grinned. “But hey! Games are fun!”
I chuckled and picked up my cards. "Alright then. Let's play."
And just like that, we passed the time in the carriage, the echoes of laughter and the sharp tension of each bluff filling the space between us.
***
“Is no one going to call BS on the fact that we’re playing a lying game against a psyker?” V groaned, tossing his last card onto the pile in frustration. “She’s won every single round. She’s the one who literally shields our thoughts and can passively read them. How is this fair?”
Cordelia smirked, shuffling the discarded cards back into a neat stack. “Get better at thinking quieter, then.” She turned to me, eyes sharp with amusement. “I’ve always told you—you think too loudly. You should hear how bad he gets when he has that ring off.”
I exhaled sharply, leaning back in my seat.
V immediately rebutted Cordelia. “Duh. That’s exactly why I’ve got enchantments to counter it. I know I’m weak to mental attacks. If Fractal hadn’t insisted that removing my ring would somehow make me better at lying—”
“It does.”
Ten’s quiet, serene voice cut through my words, her tone carrying a rare certainty.
V shot her a skeptical look. “And how does that make any sense?”
Ten didn’t so much as blink. “Because lying isn’t about blocking thoughts. It’s about flooding them.”
I sighed. “You’re not wrong. And yeah, I get it. I’m weak to mental interference.” I crossed my arms. “That’s why I’ve been working on it.”
Cordelia raised a brow, intrigued. “Oh? And what method have you been using?”
I didn’t even hesitate. “Found an image. One that I abhor.”
Cordelia, sensing the invitation, reached into my thoughts—and immediately recoiled, her expression twisting in distaste.
In her mind’s eye, she saw thousands of animated bodies.
Men, women, children—all controlled by swarms of carrion flies.
Blowflies crawling into ears, burrowing into eyes, their bodies writhing with grotesque purpose.
They marched in unison, an endless tide, their hollowed expressions void of will.
The buzzing was deafening.
Cordelia jerked, shaking her head as if to dispel the imagery. “What the hell have you been doing to have a mental image like that?”
I exhaled slowly, tilting my head. “Time flies when you’re not having fun.” I allowed a small smirk. “Although, this game is pretty fun. At least compared to the weeks I spent in that ruined city.”
Her expression shifted in understanding. “Right… that.”
Cordelia straightened, her fingers drumming against the cards in thought. “For what it’s worth, the buzzing flies make an excellent distraction. They distort your true thoughts, and the imagery of being assailed by them makes it even better.” She leaned forward slightly. “I could pierce it if I wanted—but for a passive defense? Much better.”
She gave a small, approving nod. “You still think loudly, but whenever you sense me even getting close, you flood your mind with the flies. It’s obnoxious, but it works.”
A slight smirk tugged at the corner of her lips. “Good job.”
“See! Proof she’s just better than us.” Fractal chirped in, laughing.
“Of course she’s better than us at lying!” V said. “It’s her entire…”
His words were cut off by Ten delivering a solid punch to his shoulder, with V yowling in pain.
“Lie.” I called out immediately. “No one has pain mana here.” Which caused the entire carriage to erupt into laughter.
I smiled. This felt good. Travelling with friends, learning new abilities, new powers. This is what a Walker is supposed to be. I just hoped these good times were worth the nights of bad ones.
I gazed at everyone’s face, and smiled. The smile was a bittersweet. I lost a year. A whole year. Only Fractal and Cordelia knew the truth.
Only eighty-two years remained before Dominus Demeterra’s deadline.
Comments
Dark Mage
Am I dumb? I still don't see it? I see where he sent his wasp to find something he could use but I don't see it finding anything or any mention of the workshop 0.0
Dark Mage
Maybe I missed a chapter...I know the invoker but the workshop was new and it mentioned the remnants of the other eaten relics but I don't remember reading that...let me go back!
kannonpq .
You were informed what the invoker gave when he did. others were just brief bonuses to movement and etc as mentioned.
Dark Mage
Are we going to find out what powers he got from the relics he consumed in the book? And did he gain anything for conquering it?
