CHAPTER 481

ONE

The weight of those eyes was heavy, Lino noted. However, he still remained smiling, as though truly accepting the warm welcome. After casting a quick glance over the entire sky, a worm of confusion in him, he turned toward Hannah and others, sauntering away. Strangely, nobody attacked him. He could see Two in the distance, her eyes the scorches of hate. Yet, she held back, simply turning away as though she couldn't stand to look at him.

His own group, too, looked away, their cheeks flushed in faint red. Lino smiled bitterly, shaking his head, landing next to Hannah who sighed.

“Would it kill you to just keep ‘em shut once? Just once?”

“Ah, I imagine it would.” he chortled. She eventually relented, smiling back and kissing him gently.

“I’m glad you’re safe.”

“How else would I be?”

“Dead, a whole lot presumed.” Lucky chimed in from the side. “The look in your eyes tells me you have no clue what’s happening, do you?”

“... uh...” Lino truly didn’t know, though that certainly didn’t prevent him from guessing. “I stumbled into a raging war and immediately ended it by the sheer virtue of my handsomeness?”

“Look up,” Ella said calmly from the side. “And see.”

“...” doing as told, his eyes veered up and beyond the high-skies, his muscles immediately stiffening.

There was a jolt that shook his mind as he saw those rocks ablaze streaming through the void, en-route to Noterra. He couldn’t recognize them, per se, but he certainly knew where they came from -- the only place they could come from, Hell. The whole world shattered under the weight of the battle, but Lino was too preoccupied at the time to think ahead of it. Yet, now, it caught up to him.

Sucking in a cold breath, he finally realized why so many camps were set up this high, yet there were no battles going on. It was also only then that he’d noticed a spectacular formation bounding the sky; it was well beyond his means of understanding, though he imagined that Primul played a rather large part in crafting it.

“I’m sorry,” he said, his expression growing somber. “I should have been more careful.”

“Nothing to feel sorry about,” Ella said, noticing an approaching figure from the corner of her eyes, her brows furrowing. “You have a visitor. He might try and pry your lips open.”

Prompted, Lino glanced sideways, over Ella’s shoulder, and saw an ordinary-looking man, black-haired and eyed, floating over calmly, hands held behind his back. ‘1’ lay carved thickly on his forehead, blistering smoke occasionally flashing out in whims.

There had been a time where a deep inspection of One told him nothing -- but not today. He was a different man now, much stronger. He’d understood it, well-enough. Partly, that was what the knowledge he acquired was about; perhaps it wouldn’t make him stronger, but it’d make him understand more. The capacities. The gaps. The limits. Certain truths.

“Want me to come with you?” Ella asked as Lino slowly walked over.

“No need,” he chuckled, glancing at her. “Go back with the rest.”

“Back where?” Ella quizzed, confused.

“Where else? Home, of course.”

“Eh? What about--”

“Let me worry about the sky,” he interrupted her. “Protect them.”

“... what will you do?” Hannah asked immediately, stepping out while the rest tensed slightly.

“Something that needs to be done,” he said, speaking directly into her soul. “Don’t worry; I’ll return as well. Once back, activate all defensive arrays and secure the borders.”

“...” Hannah gazed into those confident, black eyes for a moment before nodding, smiling sweetly. Lino’s mood, however, immediately soured. “Guide them back,” she said aloud, floating over to Lino, her crimson hair, unstained by the passage of time, fluttering behind her. “Full alert.”

The rest frowned at her words, but seeing the determination in her emerald eyes, they gave way and followed Ella through a tunnel. The latter glanced at Lino one last time, uncertain as to what he was about to do, but certain he would live, stepping through as well.

Hannah stood by Lino’s side, seemingly entirely disinterested at the angry and confused gazes of her surroundings; she could hear the chatter, yet filtered it out. Lino didn’t even seem to hear it, his attention locked onto the man who stopped in front of him, all of a sudden. Two meters, at most, separated them.

“We meet again.” One said, smiling lithely. “Young Empyrean.”

“... I’d hardly call our last... something... a ‘meeting’, though,” Lino smiled effortlessly. “But, if you say so.”

“May I ask why you sent them back?” One quizzed.

“You may not.” Lino replied simply.

“Oh? And why is that?” One played along.

“May I ask the size of your cock?” Lino tilted his head slightly, ensuring his voice was loud enough for the rest of the people to hear it.

“--”

“See? Some things, as you may know, men like to keep to themselves.”

“... you’re as childish as you are witty,” One smiled after a short silence. “Myths don’t do you justice, I’m afraid.”

“They never do,” Lino said. “But, enough about quips. Will you gate them, or should I?”

“Why should I gate them?” One asked. “Will we discuss something they shouldn’t hear?”

“--let them, then, hear of Adur--” even before Lino could continue, he felt the spacetime around the two of them close up as One isolated them from the rest. His expression was dark, haunting, lips quivering.

“Do not utter that name, Empyrean,” One said darkly, yet Lino didn’t seem surprised. “Lest you wish the blood of your kin to decorate the world for all eternity.”

“... it’s one thing to threaten me,” Lino said, his voice similarly growing dark as the tension between the two exploded temporarily. “But you dare threaten my family? Utter them from your lips one more time and I’ll see you end up the same as they have, I promise you.”

"..." the heavy atmosphere between the two held for a long while, yet neither striding toward their weapons. Both knew, in their hearts, no blood would be drawn today yet at the very least there needed to be a pretense of it, if for nothing but for the curious eyes. "Forgive me," One said, sighing. "I should not have. The name, however, I haven't heard in a long time. Your knowing... surprised me."

“... I’d long-wondered of all these elusive realities,” Lino said. “And though Ashtar hardly gave me a reality to work with, he did throw rays of light toward some of the dark corners I’ve never pried into. No, to answer your question, that pillar -- or, as you call it, quasar -- was not intentional. Simply the only way I knew to channel Qi so it doesn’t consume everything in its wake.”

“... there are two more," One said, his expression still dark, yet differently so now. "Traces linger on in the void, Lyonel. It is not a coincidence."

“... it may not be,” Lino shrugged. “Or it may be. Some call them Pillars of Creation, some of Destruction. Some call them Heralds of Gods, some Incarnations of Death. What are they to you, Alladin?”

“... they are gusts of death that blow wayward,” One replied, seeming unsurprised that Lino, too, knew his name. His real name. He did wonder, however, how he knew to pronounce it. “I know what you are thinking -- but it is impossible. No soul can tame them.”

“... are you sure?” Lino smiled lightly.

“What? You think Primal Chaos will help you?” it was Lino’s turn to be surprised as he met Alladin’s mocking gaze. “Even if you commanded a hundredfold the amount, it would be futile. Your knowledge may be broader than the most’s, Lyonel, but your perspective is still limited -- you still think of terms of Noterra, chained to this singular world in the midst of the vast void. Broaden it. Look beyond. You may well become the Emperor here, but are you content with just that?”

“... I am.” Lino replied simply after a short silence, surprising the man. “I’m not like you, I’m afraid. Not in any capacity. All I need and want is here, on this single world in the midst of the vast void. I’ve no business entangling myself in the cosmos’ tales, in the business of your kind.”

“Noterra won’t be exempt from the Judgment Day -- you should know.” Alladin said, furrowing his brows.

"And so?" Lino tilted his head faintly. "I've never quite understood it. Why... why are you all so terrified of dying? Why is it that the hands of death freeze you, occupy you? Is it so wrong to live a fulfilling life and then perish? Is it so wrong not to wish to defy it? You, and those like you, spun the void to seek a way to live when you could have died. Died with the rest -- whatever catastrophe befell you. Closed your eyes. Sang. Faded away."

“Is that what you plan on doing?” Alladin chortled. “Do you think you are somehow more resilient than us? That you won’t crack? Or, better yet, do you think we chase these headless tails simply because we’re afraid to die? You underestimate us, young Empyrean.”

“...” Lino didn’t say anything, though inwardly frowning. “Send the rest home. Why have you gathered them here anyway? For some sort of a parade? In hopes you’ll convince them to stop fighting me? Good luck with that. Why do you even care? They’re, at best, your tools.”

“... Ashtar shouldn’t have disclosed my identity to you,” Alladin suddenly said, as though having realized something. “How did you figure it out?”

“I’ve suspected for a long while,” Lino said. “Ever since Dangwe told me of you, that you weren’t like him. And then, the more I looked at the way you operated, the more I was reminded of certain others who functioned similarly. Though, I must say, you did do better than them.”

“... haah,” Alladin breathed out heavily, glancing at the strange boy’s eyes. Something in them burned, something more primal than even the force which had driven him all the way here. “I should tell you this, at least. I don’t know that woman by your side. None of us do. I imagine even Ataxia doesn’t. Yet, I am certain -- though she may not be us, she is like us.”

“I know,” Lino nodded. “But, just as much as she is like you, she isn’t. Whatever happened to her, somehow, someway, a trace of humanity was merged into her. She’s like you, yet different.”

“You can choose to believe that,” Alladin said. “Rather, you can choose to believe anything. The rest of us... we can’t be content with beliefs.”

“And you needn’t,” Lino smiled. “Be content with reliance. Trust me.”

“--and why--”

“Trust me.” Lino repeated, his tone firm. “One, the Faithful. Writ of Unity. Trust me.”