Volume I Chapter 4 Part III: Seeds of Disgrace (III)

Mech’s body was covered with the white synthetic towel while she was still leaning back on the bathroom door, as in front of her there was tub ready for a warm bath.

“I didn’t need to be so harsh with him…but…” Mech murmured, as once again the images of her bloody sins toured her head, making her clench her fists with impotence.

“What I am supposed to do…” Mech spoke to herself, slowly sliding down the door till she hit the floor and then hugged her knees, completely overburdened by her past.

Mech’s sight darkened, as a tear fell on the white ceramic floor followed by more impotence tears…

Everyday Mech could feel the weight of those taken lives over her shoulders, bearing the burden of her sins day and night, tormenting her mind every single second.

Even so, something inside her kept pushing Mech forward, to keep living on even if that meant to suffer in silence every day; she kept going forward, as her fragment of life felt that her mission in this world wasn't yet finished.

But what was that mission? What kept her motivated to live on?

Not even Mech knew it, despite she now had Sayune’s visions, she could still not decipher what her real purpose was.

What Mech didn’t know, is that she was already fulfilling that purpose, she was just unaware of it.

(Courtesy of TERA fan-kit artwork)

Somewhere in Celestial Hills, Arcadia province.

The Celestial Hills was a deep desert located between Velika and Lumbertown, more precisely at the north of Velika and the South of Lumbertown.

The orange-yellow desert sand bathed in the glowing sun, and despite it being winter in Arun, the temperatures were comfortable enough during the day, but the nights were deathly cold.

There were numerous rocky structures everywhere within the desert, forming natural rock towers and arches along sand mountains, making the landscape a very irregular plain.

At the east of the wilderness, in the distance, it could be witnessed vast green mountains and grassy plains, which slowly disappeared as they approached the desert.

This desert was the main economic and civil route for the Free Traders and Velika with Lumbertown and Crescentia, the primary producers of raw materials for the continent.

Even so, the main large FTC’s convoys passed through biweekly, transporting goods from Lumbertown to Velika or vice versa; meaning that the rest of the time, this route was nearly unused and barren.

During this period; Quote, the mysterious man wearing a formal frac suit and a sinister white mask, soared through the air with mighty leaps, from one rocky arch to another, with every pulsing leap reverberating sharp echoes throughout the desert.

*Pshh!*

The sharp echoes originated from crimson arcane hexagons conjured under the sole of his shoes, significantly boosting his leg strength and accelerated his leaps.

Whenever he was about to land, he decelerated himself by passing through many crimson arcane triangles he conjured while in midair, and then jumped again after landing, repeating his actions.

Thus, Quote managed to travel extended distances in just a few minutes.

Meanwhile, his two other companions followed his pace a few meters behind him, using the same technique without any other difference than the speed of their respective magic sequences and the efficiency of these.

Their brown tunics fluttered vividly while they traveled in high speeds towards the northern part of the continent.

Suddenly, while Quote was on the air in the middle of his leap, he felt a strong magic presence behind him and turned his head back to the source…only to see a giant red laser in his direction at incredible speeds.

“Kh…” Quote vocalized as then the giant red laser was about to hit him.

(Courtesy of TERA fan-kit artwork)

One day ago.

Somewhere near Pora Elinu.

Sayune, also known as the Timeless Wizard, was on the lake shores, calmly witnessing the incredible and astonishing nature surrounding the city of Pora Elinu.

This town was settled down within the trunk of a huge tree, known as the Tree of Life among the Elins; yet for the surprise and the amazement of everyone, the Elins architecture was completely fluid with nature surrounding the tree and the tree itself.

The Elins had such an incredible connection with the nature that this itself accepted them as one of theirs, and Pora Elinu was the living proof of that asseveration.

All the nature within the Pora Elinu’s territory was incredible alive despite being in winter, displaying vivid colors, colorful flowers and leafy trees with thick trunks and large roots.

The weak winter sunlight reflected on the calm and transparent waters of the lake around Pora Elinu known as Lake of Tears.

After a few minutes, Sayune decided to sit on a big, mossy brown root behind her and relax for a couple of minutes.

She wore her usual royal purple, hooded armored tunic, and thigh high leather black stockings along with her low heeled boots.

After sitting on the root, Sayune gave a long sigh and took out her hood and shook her head to accommodate her long black hair.

Her emerald green eyes were still fixed on Pora Elinu’s magnificent scenery while giving long deep breaths.

‘This place is so relaxing…’ Sayune thought for herself, as this placed always gave her peacefulness in her mind and soul and not just that, as the surroundings of Pora Elinu were engulfed by a strong but serene magic flow.

Every Elin was able to feel this due to their innate affinity with the nature; while on the other hand, just a few of the other races were capable of feeling the purity of the mana flow within these lands.

“Eh? Long time I did not see you, Timeless Wizard.” Sayune heard a firm female voice next to her, yet Sayune did not startle upon the sudden apparition of…

A ghost, or better said, a spirit of an Elin was sitting next to Sayune; she had short hair and an average height of an Elin, wearing a calm and friendly face.

She was wearing a simple dress, resembling something similar to a pajama.

“Haha…hello Nornil,” Sayune murmured as her eyes were still fixed on the scenery, contemplating the beauty of Pora Elinu landscape.

Nornil was a known magician and teacher within Pora Elinu, who taught Mech during her early age within the Eldritch Academy in basic magic training and also participated in the Argon War.

But after during the Reaper’s persecution, she was executed by the patrols of Humans, Amans and High Elves known as ‘Death’s Fist’, when she covered the retreat of a few Reapers.

Even so, for her luck, her fragment of life wasn’t damaged, but instead creating a new mortal body, she became one with the nature.

Although Nornil was now an ‘immortal’ being as long as the nature persist and also had more power than before; this was just possible due the nature itself accepted her, as many others Elins tried it before and ended up dying.

If in any given time, the nature feels Nornil like a threat, she will die in just a second, that’s why she must preserve what she is: pure, composed and vivid.

On the other hand, Nornil’s body was entirely made of little particles, each of them particles was done by compacted mana of a pale light blue color.

“You know what is hard of knowing someone like you, a Time Warden?” Nornil spoke carelessly, looking at Sayune.

There wasn’t any response from Sayune as she kept staring forward as a quiet, cold wind gust went through them.

“I cannot say if this is the second time we meet. Is this the second time we meet?” Nornil asked puzzled, as she knew a little about Sayune’s powers.

“Yes, it is,” Sayune replied shortly without hesitation, but Nornil by her side, somehow felt the emptiness of those words.

Upon hearing Sayune’s answer, Nornil stood in silence for a few seconds, staring at Sayune’s expression noticing something on her face, body and presence changed, and then she smiled.

“What have you seen, Sayune?” Nornil asked as she felt a firm resolution within Sayune, as if she would have made a huge decision.

After hearing Nornil’s question, Sayune smiled softly and lifted her right hand forward, feeling the soft air stream.

“It is time for a change, Nornil,” Sayune exclaimed ambiguously, turning her head to her left, where Nornil was.

Nornil’s eyes slightly widened upon hearing those words, as she finally managed to know what changed within Sayune...her magic aura significantly decreased.

“Sayune...your magic...what’s happening?” Nornil asked, as her voice tone demanded an answer.

“Everything will be fine, our child...Mech has my gift now. I trust her; I trust she will be able to accomplish what I couldn’t.” Sayune cooed, with complete calmness.

“What?! No...Sayune. You have made her suffer too much already! It is not fair for her, why didn’t you say me this before? She is not ready yet...more important! You just sentenced your own-” Nornil exclaimed worried, standing up from the root she was seated on.

“Mech is going to be alright. And don’t worry about me, I will be alright too.” Sayune interrupted Nornil keeping her words calm; while Nornil looked at Sayune, unable to comprehend her decision.

Nornil kept staring at Sayune’s emerald green eyes, knowing right away that Sayune was going to do something that would put in danger her life.

But what was so important to do it? Sayune never acted like this before, Nornil knew this well.

“I am doing this to defend Mech and you. If I hide, he will come after both of you.” Sayune explained to Nornil as she stood up from the root.

Sayune knew that if Quote doesn’t find her, he will start hunting down every single being that has had contact with her.

Due to this situation, Sayune knew she was between the sword and the wall, forced to fight against Quote before it was too late.

“Sayune…” Nornil cooed, being able to feel something else behind Sayune’s words, she wasn't to fight...

“You don’t need to...Don’t do this Sayune.” Nornil exclaimed, looking at Sayune directly to her eyes.

Sayune couldn’t reply back to those words, even after the thousands of years she lived, she never learned to say goodbye.

“I must go,” Sayune exclaimed, as Nornil saw a flash on Sayune’s left wrist for a second, and then took a closer look, seeing several runes and numbers creating a ring-shaped sequence around Sayune’s wrist.

Suddenly, the magic flow around Sayune increased although not as much as Nornil remembered, and then two light-blue arcane decagons with a star inscribed within them materialized together floating, one over Sayune’s head and another one under her shoes.

“Why?! This is not what you promised me years ago!” Nornil shouted as the decagons started to close vertically, swallowing Sayune.

“I am sorry,” Sayune murmured before vanishing, leaving Nornil alone near the Lake of Tears.

Nornil stood there a few seconds, sitting back on the root and looked down at the lake with sadness on her face, and then her spiritual body vanished like dust scattered to the wind.

*** *** *** ***

Now, Sayune was in the middle of a desert known as Celestial Hills, reminiscing her last time with Nornil after she shot a high-level spell to Quote while he was in midair.

‘I will do my best, Nornil.’ Sayune spoke to herself, without the slightest hint of hesitation in her mind.

*BOOM*

A second after, Sayune heard a loud explosion produced by her high-level spell as a big black smoke cloud rose up on the air from the blast.

Right after, she could see how Quote fell and crashed into a large, rocky structure, creating a clangorous collision and a large smoke cloud rose from his landing point around 300 meters away in front of her, regarding her actual position.

“Now I must take care of those other two.” Sayune murmured to herself after feeling Quote’s magic aura fading away, and then tried to track down the magic presences of Qoo and Iri, but she was unable to detect them anywhere near her.

‘I felt them before; they must be somewhere near here.’ Sayune thought for herself, preparing herself to search for the other two.

Suddenly, while she was sweeping the area looking for Iri and Qoo, she felt an abrupt magic power spike from Quote’s landing point.

“Kh!” Sayune vocalized upon seeing a similar spell of hers coming towards her in high-speeds, leaving Sayune only a couple of seconds to react.

“Eko jegeo!” Sayune loudly exclaimed while placing both of her hands forward, one over the other.

A second after, the giant red laser collided with her hands.

*PSSSSSSSSSSSS-BOOM!*

Sayune managed to stop the giant laser with her palms, decreasing its power significantly using a spell to coat her hands and body in a mana barrier but it wasn't enough to completely negate the offensive power.

“Aghh!” Sayune cried in pain, enduring the spell as much as she could.

Then, Sayune was in the middle of a dense dust cloud, heavily coughing as her whole body ached with bearable pain while her armor displayed signs of burns here and there.

‘Impossible…how?! The only one capable of that is Quote himself!’ Sayune though in her mind, as she was completely sure she killed Quote with her first attack.

Suddenly, the dense dust cloud surrounding Sayune was dispersed in a single, abrupt and unusual air stream; while her armored tunic terminations fluttered as it happened.

Due to the strong air flow, Sayune was forced to cover her eyes with one of her arms; yet, right that moment Sayune could perceive Quote’s aura as clear as water.

And after the air stream concluded, Sayune exclaimed puzzled.

“Impossible!” Sayune shouted, upon seeing Quote standing completely unscathed around three hundreds of meters ahead of her.

Not even his clothes displayed any minor scratch; while Sayune looked at him, Quote had both of his hands on his back, in his usual calm pose.

“Hehehehe…” Quote laughed despite being in such hostile situation against Sayune

“What’s so funny?” Sayune shouted, baffled from Quote’s strange personality.

“Ha...ha...hehehehehehehehehe! I was tricked! It is just amazing!” Quote exclaimed, loudly laughing.

As Sayune was able to see and from her experience with him, he had apparently found out something worth of his interesting, which was something entirely uncommon.

“It is just awesome! WONDERFUL! Hehehehe…” Quote kept laughing, placing his left hand over his mask.

“I was tricked by her Eidolons. They were trying to save you...hahahaha...hehehehe!” Quote added, slowly calming himself down.

“What? What do you mean?” Sayune asked confused, without letting her guard down, as she knew that Qoo and Iri were somewhere near

Sayune was completely oblivious to the existence of those enigmatic Eidolons, which were created by Mech as it seemed, but even Mech wasn't sure of that fact.

“It is not relevant for someone who is going to die,” Quote spoke with an earnest voice, leaving his usual mocking tone and then Sayune could see several flashes in his wrists.

They were many magic sequences activating one after another, as Quote was going to fight with her at his maximum.

“Then so be it!” Sayune exclaimed, as she also started to cast numerous magic sequences and then rushed forward against Quote.

Both had cast mana blades coming from the back of their hands, Sayune’s blades were crimson red, and Quote’s were black.

*TIWIN!*

Colliding plasma echoed throughout the desert, as Sayune and Quote were close to each other, both struggling with pure mana blades.

“Heheheh...what happens Sayune? I feel you weak.” Quote mocked.

Sayune did not reply; instead, she pushed Quote’s mana blades back, over forcing both of their sequences, ending breaking into pieces Sayune and Quote’s mana blades.

*CRASH!*

Without wasting a second, Sayune took advantage of this and tried to sidekick Quote with her right leg, boosting her strength with several magic sequences properly done.

Yet, Quote stopped her attack with his left arm, without even using a single magic sequence, just his raw might alone and pushed Sayune away.

Upon seeing her sidekick blocked, she then quickly regained her balance and swiftly swung her left leg aiming for Quote’s neck, yet Quote once again stopped it easily with his right arm, seeing through her movements with destreza.

Quote then grabbed her left shin, and pulled Sayune towards him.

“You’re no match for me Sayune. You gave a significant part of your power to Mech, making yourself harmless to Beatrice or me with your current power.” Quote exclaimed as he instantly raised his right leg, kicking Sayune’s jaw with his heel and knocked her to the floor.

*WAPA*

“Agh!” Sayune cried in pain, as she rolled on the sand a few times.

“You are now indisposed as a Time Warden,” Quote said seriously again; his wicked light-blue eyes fixed on her.

Slowly standing up, Sayune gritted her teeth refusing her defeat.

“You…you are destroying our future…” Sayune said with difficulty, trying to stand up while her legs quivered and her head disoriented.

“If that is our eternal fate, then so be it Sayune. This world will never change, if you keep going with this, you will just find a wall of pain.” Quote replied back with dark and ominous words.

“The time…has come then.” Sayune said with unbreakable resolution, rematerialized crimson mana blades from her hands’ posterior.

“No one can break the divine chains of the Destiny, Sayune. Not even you.” Quote replied to her words, as he then also materialized two black mana blades from his hands’ dorsal once again.

Sayune had never accepted that Destiny cannot change, as she vowed to prove that even Destiny is not absolute, even if she has to fail a hundred times more.

‘If I fall, I will get up. I will not fail…I must not let Destiny have its way.’ Sayune thought for herself; she was sure that the world cannot have such an ominous Destiny.

After their words, both looked at each other for a few seconds in silence, generating a tense environment between, hearing only the warm streaming air.

Sayune and Quote were ready to fight at any moment, their spirit fueled by their ideals.

Meanwhile, Sayune and Quote were unable to perceive numerous shadows were moving through the desert as if something or someone was watching them from afar…

“Gasog beoseuteu!” Sayune exclaimed as several magic sequences showed up one after the another around her wrists, as purple arcane decagons appeared under her soles as she dashed towards Quote.

Seeing Sayune's dash coming towards him along with her fandango purple trail behind her…

“You cannot defeat me.” Quote murmured to himself by some reason, as if he could not understand Sayune’s motivation in fighting a losing battle.

“RAHHHHHH!” Sayune shouted, pointing her mana blades to Quote’s chest.

But without moving a centimeter, Quote moved his arms along his mana blades and deflected Sayune’s attack to his left and then unsummoned his mana blades.

Then, without the slightest delay reacted with a lunging knee and kicked Sayune’s stomach, knocking her back a few meters.

“Khh!” Sayune cried in pain, feeling a few of her ribs broken as she kneeled on the sand with her left knee.

Right after, Sayune could hear a few words from Quote.

“Mabeob chimmug.”

Sayune knew very well his words meant ‘Magic Silence’. A high-class spell specialized in denying the target on further use of magic in a certain fixed duration.

*Gasp*

She could feel how her mana flow was almost entirely negated, as her mana blades broke in pieces once again, but this time she was unable to summon them back.

Even so, Sayune wasn’t one to give up so fast.

“Khh…” Sayune face twitched in pain while blood trickled from her mouth, but despite this fact, she stood up and…

Quote was no longer in front of her.

“Hello.” Sayune heard his voice behind her, right behind her.

Out of desperation, Sayune quickly turned around to punch Quote’s face

“Hehehehe…do you really want to do this?” Quote laughed, casually catching her fist in his right hand.

Then, Quote throw her hand away while lunging his left fist into her stomach.

“Agh-!” Sayune screamed, but then Quote lifted his right leg and struck her face with his knee, knocking her down painfully.

“Hehehe...You are too weak Sayune.” Quote exclaimed, mocking Sayune’s current state and then stomped her stomach once, pressing his right foot deep into her belly.

“Aghh!” Sayune cried in pain, forcefully coughing out a mouthful of blood.

“I w-will never…surrender…” Sayune said with difficulty, as she placed her hands around Quote’s right foot.

“Hehehehe…” Quote laughed from Sayune’s meaningless words and then added.

“…Send my greetings to the Nether Goddess.” Quote exclaimed as he materialized a black mana blade on his left hand’s dorsal and pointed it at Sayune’s neck.

Sayune looked at Quote, seeing his wicked light-blue eyes affixed on her with arrogance and contempt, and then watched him lifting pull his left arm back few centimeters.

“You have failed,” Quote said with a stern voice and then thrusted down his blade…

Sayune by her side, looked at Quote helplessly, as she was unable to change her fate this time.

She was able to see the mana blade coming down towards her, and upon seeing that, Sayune just closed her eyes and accepted her ineludible fate as a tear slid down from her cheek.

She failed to meet the expectations of Isren and defend this world from its Destiny while a new seed started to root the Annihilation.

Credits to I4MD347H for editing!