The City of Silver Guardians, Sephoria

The Interpreter of Fate had been having nightmares lately. Ever since the Demon King’s left eye debacle, she had exhausted every means at her disposal to calm the Great Flow but found little success. In her distraught, the Spiritual Leader and good friend, Sallustia saved her with her wisdom and patience.

She was still haunted by nightmares but she’d found her courage to brave through the swift current of the future in the great boat called the Church.

Once more, she peered into the Flow of Fate.

“Ahh… How unfortunate.”

A benevolent little star that was supposed to become a great star and light up its surroundings in the future was swallowed by darkness. It was deeply regrettable, but she had seen that happen many times. The Flow was mostly fixed, but there were always those who could change their destiny through various means.

A tiny change would become a cascading effect in the Flow. Fate itself cared not, like a river that was constantly flowing. But for the observers of Fate like her, it could make decades of effort go up in smoke. That was why there were so few people like her.

She examined a deviation from where her nightmares began, not to meddle but to observe. She thought there would not be changes like the days before, but now something was different today.

The fate of the ‘entity’ was gone.

Fates were linked, she could see threads of fate between individuals connected to one-another or to their past events. The Interpreter of Fate pondered the disappearance. Just yesterday, the fate showed no sign of fading. It could disappear from unforeseen circumstances that resulted in the death of the fate bearer, or it could be something else. She didn't know if this was an individual or a group because they were hidden and yet, the sudden disappearance was odd.

She decided to follow this anomaly and cross-checked with all the major happenings across the land. There were many but among them, the disappearance in Regidana city stood out. The Church, with its extensive records, knew it was the doing of Aletro.

And the trial takers had just returned.

A day later, through the survivors, news of what happened inside the trial reached the Church. A mysterious soul user named Tanael gathered great interest. Not only was he an unregistered user of an easily abused element, he was also an otherworlder based on his words and actions.

An otherworlder!

The higher-ups were alarmed. Those in the know were agitated. A task force was to be mobilized simply from that fact but the importance rose through the roof when she was informed the person might have ties to the Demon King matter not too long ago.

At the same time, an unfortunate thread between Freya -a seed that might grow to become a great tree in the future which the Church nurtured carefully- and another also suddenly disappeared. But this one was known to the Church: someone named Viers Isuel who coined the fake name of Cain at the time. He was wanted for questioning about the incident in Luxore town and the killing of town officers in Osemore town.

And this Viers was a soul user too! Viers used a soul-based attack to awaken a slumbering Rank 4 monster in front of Freya and her Level 5 master.

The feedback she got from divining their fate was also the same, as if the two were using the same technique. It wasn't hard to make a connection that Viers and Tanael might be the same person.

The Interpreter of Fate had caught onto Viers’ tail. From a single mistake, Viers’ ploy was quickly unraveled like a hand through a cobweb.

Three Level 5s and Five Level 4s teleported into Regidana in the hour, locking down the place. Viers tried to escape through the portal to Dia’s Biome but he was one step too slow and was caught. No matter what Viers did, in front of the attentive eyes of three Level 5s, it was futile. He couldn't even suicide if he wanted to.

This was the absolute difference in power.

And so Viers was caught by the Estellian Church, made to answer for all of his crimes. He lived his life in misery. His dream of freedom faded beyond reach.

Until far, far in the future.

End of arc 7 — The Mysterious Book

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Or rather, that would’ve happened if Viers missed the particular detail about what he wished for. If he was drunk in the wake of his victory over Anne.

The 99th Interpreter of Fate didn't know where Viers was, nor did she know what Viers was doing. To her, Viers Isuel and the mysterious entity in the Demon King’s left eye incident were two different parties, because there was no thread connecting them.

To the Interpreter of Fate, divining Tanael was like seeing into the void, there was only emptiness. Viers, on the other hand, was like a specific drop in a pool of water. Since it was too ordinary and inert since his last sighting, it was too faint of a trace for her to pinpoint, but it was there.

Viers covered his tracks well, so when the Interpreter of Fate received the news about Aletro’s trial she simply couldn't connect Viers and Tanael as the same person, and life went on.

With the disappearance of the future great star of fortune, the Flow was greatly disturbed. She no longer had the luxury of putting a significant amount of time into observing a mysterious entity in the shadows with nothing to show for it.

The great darkness looming in the future was real. A great calamity was coming that would envelop the whole world. The mysterious entity of the Demon King’s incident, although indicating they had a hand in making that eventuality, was only one cause among many.

She trusted the Goddess had a plan and resumed her duty. She began to toil to undo the great darkness in the future, nudging serendipity to the Goddess’ faithful and shift woe from them. To be the scout that charted the unknown path ahead, to seek those who threatened the balance of the world. The leadership of the Church had been informed, preparations were being made. United, they would survive any dark age as they had for more than nine thousand years.

For now, she was content to continue searching for the Fate of the entity. She was oblivious that Viers, the ‘entity’, and Tanael were the same person and the subject had grown from an elusive cat to a camouflaged young tiger with unlimited potential.

Furthermore, Viers had the Mystic Star Shroud protecting him. The difficulty of searching for Viers was akin to searching for an invisible grain of sand on a planet-wide beach without tools.

***

“Hello, World!”

The basic program used as an introduction in many computer programming languages depicted Viers’ feelings as he returned to the real world after about nine months in the book of Aletro.

He was in a grassland, teleported under a lush tree. He could see the city of Regidana in the distance. It was quite a walk but it wouldn't be too much of a problem for a Pathseeker like himself. The air that entered his lungs was fresh and smelled of the sea. All the while the weather was nicely sunny.

First things first, tinker with the Mystic Star Shroud.

For twenty minutes he learned the options for the magical equivalent of an anti-malware program. He knew he had several identities and if he used the Shroud as is, it might tip off his enemies that have been observing him through fate.

Basically, Viers made decoys. For his identity as Viers, he kept using Insignificant Fate Arte and not the Shroud. It was the opposite for Tanael's identity. He knew people would be gunning for Tanael once the happenings inside the Book World were known so the Shroud must stay active there.

By making a difference in the two identities, Viers had dodged a bullet.

I will also use the Shroud on Viers’ identity, but not now. I should wait a couple of weeks first.

Satisfied, Viers donned his garb as the knight-helmeted Avel the adventurer and started walking to Regidana.

Time to face the music.

There was nothing stopping him from leaving the city, he guessed that the member of the underworld that got sucked into the Book World would not openly go back. By coming back and showing himself from the front entrance, he showed off as if he had nothing to hide. And he still had unfinished business in the city.

Viers didn't rush, the long walk gave him time to relax and adjust his mental state. He reviewed his plans, checking for mistakes with the other board members of Viers Corporation. It was calming, for he just had an intense fight a few hours ago. His healing factor was the hero in the shadows, mending the invisible after effects constantly.

Speaking of which, I should be able to start my Advancement to Level 3 now.

When he reached the main entrance of the city, he was greeted with a familiar sight: the airport pickup crowd.

Since the teleportation to the outside, about two hours had passed. Someone definitely had returned first and the news had spread. The eager families and friends of the trial takers were gathering to welcome their loved ones.

Sorry folks. I think I killed most of them… How many survivors, by the way? I forgot to ask Aletro. There were 382 people at the beginning if I remember correctly?

Flight Aletro with 382 people had landed and the pickup crowd at the airport was sufficiently large. There were even a hundred people with matching uniforms, members of the same School.

Viers, as Avel, had no one waiting for his return but that was okay. He was a stranger in the first place. He informed the swamped city guards trying to keep things orderly and after a simple procedure, was allowed to enter the city after giving proof of his identity, as Avel of course.

He scanned the crowd, the most notable were two Level 5s. One was someone he had seen before, Marlin the Blue Storm, The Governor’s brother and the father of Oscar. The other Level 5 was emitting the air of a sagely swordsman. Viers recognized the uniform of the people attending him, the Righteous Blade School. That meant they were people from Troy’s camp.

And both died because of me. Keep calm, Viers. Keep calm. Play it cool.

The two Level 5s were conversing, something broke them into laughter. Viers guessed they hadn't heard the news yet and passed through without incident.

Viers politely shrugged off some people that asked him what he knew about their folks. They suspected Viers was one of the trial takers and they were right. Viers apologized and said that he was only a small fry that didn't go far into the trial. Viers kept walking to his home.

As time passed, people started to worry. Those who returned were fewer than expected. The people that returned needed time to tell their stories and often gave bad news. However, Viers was no longer there to witness the proceedings.

“Ah, back at last…” Viers emotionally said when reaching the house that the Governor-King gave him.

A sullen Boram was waiting at the front door. Understandable, since he didn't have the key.

“Master… I’m sorry.”

“Why are you apologizing?” Viers asked.

“...I didn't do well in the trial,” Boram said with the meekness of an elementary schooler that had received a bad grade on his test.

“What Stage have you reached?”

“Five.”

“Better than me,” Viers patted his head. Boram looked surprised. “I only reached Stage 3.”

“What? How? I don't believe it. How could someone as strong as Master-”

“I was unlucky and met Tanael. I gave up before we fought for real. My instincts screamed to me that I won't survive his full might so I escaped… He was out of my league.”

“Oh… I did too.”

“You’ve done well, returning from the trial alive. As long as you’re alive, it isn't over. Come. Let us rest and then you can tell me about Stage 4 and 5, about what you experienced.”

“Yes, Master.”

The master and disciple were reunited. Some of the gloom was chased away.

“Ah, I wonder what happened to Chacha and Brownie,” Boram said while Viers was unlocking the door. “I searched for them but they were gone. Brownie isn't in the stable.”

“Well, the mare would have starved since we’ve been gone for ten days. Let's ask the city guards later. As for Chacha… look there.”

Above the fence, there was a black cat lounging.

“Chacha! I miss you!” Boram went to the cat with zeal, to which the cat responded by dodging the hug attempt as if her life depended on it.

“Hohoho, easy on the poor thing, B.”