《Defy the Legends》Chapter 3 - Part 8
Advertisement
"I guess it really was a whole millennia ago, when that Great Schism went down. But, believe it or not, you and I, along with a few other faces, go back even further than that."
"Even further than the Great Schism...?" Kyoya echoed. He'd been taught of the war, old stories spun of silken memories, weaved into accounts of the single most atrocious event in Takera's extended history. Despite how frequently he'd been told the tale, it seemed that every time, someone offered a piece of the story yet to be uncovered. It was no surprise to him that this could be one such occasion.
"Yeah, believe it or not. But, I'll clarify that saying we go that far back isn't so accurate. From how it's supposed to go, our Threads of Fate are the parts of us that knew one another way back when. Us today are as good as strangers, compared to how it used to be."
The Seraph maintained her look to the starry sky. Glistening amber orbs compounded an already immaculate nighttime scene, and the Miscreant felt that her boundless curiosity was looking well past even the furthest he could see.
"I think I'm beginning to tie things up, now." He noted. The pain in his head was there, but very noticeably less intense, so little now that it felt no more than a minor headache. "I'm feeling a bit of that migraine, but there's no going back now."
She laughed and nodded.
"Okay -- I'll hurry it up, then. The tale goes something like this..." Lyric poised herself and closed her eyes, appearing to clear her mind. She caught him on his heels, though: the Seraph had began to sing. Her voice became harmonic, smooth and light in levels previously unknown to him.
In that, her hymn to the ages had begun. "O' Legends of nine, o' heroes of time, millennia grants us thine. Dark yet darker, pushed far yet farther, to the Void will they resign. Glory to the light, Hope for the fight. Potential to prevail, Serenity will entail. From Valor to bare, comes Comfort to share. With Pace comes ease, and Love brings these, Being truly is ye: O' Legends of nine, o' heroes of time..."
Advertisement
Kyoya was dumbstruck enough to have to be nudged again. "Hey, gimme a break... I don't sing as often as I'd like to, so practice is far from consistent-"
"No, that's not it at all! That was great! It's probably the best I've heard anyone say it, even if I haven't heard it from many-"
The Miscreant had to pause to keep himself from staring off a second time. She was hiding part of her face with overhanging hair, but he definitely caught a bit of a smile before she turned back to him.
"Well, if you think it's alright, I guess I won't worry too much." The girl seemed to have recovered from her momentary outage, reattaining a cool and collected manor. "If I'm thinking about this right, there's seven more people out there like you and me... And, whether we want to or not, we're gonna meet them somewhere down the line."
Lyric looked neither excited nor depressed to have made such a statement, instead bringing out that signature curious indifference to her skyward stare.
"I'm not able to get a ton back, yet, but..." Kyoya spoke as memories seemed to remove their veils of mystery. "Hope, Glory, Potential, Serenity, Valor, Comfort, Pace, Love, and Being... Legends of nine..."
He looked to the Seraph, "If me and you have something to do with that, then you're saying...?"
"Yeah. The Legend states that every thousand years, reincarnations of those nine traits personified join together to prevent the Great Schism's arrival all over again... But, if the geeks are telling the truth, the last one was never prevented. That threw the whole spool of Fate's strings out of whack... So, now, nobody has any way of telling what's gonna happen. It's already gone against what was said to be the only way things could have turned out, because I was never supposed to find you -- not now, and not ever."
Advertisement
It should have gone without saying that Kyoya had absolutely no idea how to process what he'd just been told. But, there was success somewhere in this. The intricacies of Fate were ever-so-slightly clearer to him now, and as he'd learned earlier, any victory was one to cherish in a world where a single defeat meant the end.
"Then I'll color myself lucky... But, hey, thanks for all this. I've got about all I need for now -- my head's a bit too short on storage for much else."
Lyric looked as though she'd still harbored some concern, stammering out words until she could put a sentence together.
"That didn't make you hurt at all, did it?"
"Nah, it wasn't anything nearly as rough as in the street. Maybe the singing put anything left over to rest."
The Seraph made a pouty face and crossed her arms, sighing lightly before furthering their exchange.
"Let's consider that my way of saying sorry for the street incident, then. I've-... I've been wanting to apologize, but just saying sorry wouldn't have cut it. Not after hurting like that."
"Simmer down, alright? Thousand-year-friends or not, you've already done so much to make up for it. After all, how're we gonna get along if something as little as that was enough to get at me?" Kyoya flashed his thumbs up with a smirk.
Despite how inherently ridiculous all that she was spouting off sounded, none of it actually felt wrong. With a mostly accurate gut, this was the only seal of approval he'd need.
Lyric kept her arms crossed, still not quite losing that pouty face.
"Don't take this as a complaint, but now I'm dying to know, and if you got to ask why I want you around, I get my fair share." She stated. "Why're you so willing to believe me? I'm sure you've bumped heads with customers plenty tougher than me who didn't seem an inch more threatening at first glance."
Kyoya's answer was about as simple as they got.
"I've just got a bit of an intuition; never once done me wrong, never will. When something's up, I almost always pick up on it... And, at least so far, nothing you've said has tripped any triggers -- so I'm inclined to think you're being straight with me."
Skepticism showed as clearly in her eyes as the shine on the sun.
"What're the odds it's failing you as we speak?"
"How d'ya think I figured out that we were dealing with a Demon before the wall even fell?"
"Damn... That's a good point."
Kyoya jumped at the chance to return the favor of her teasing, beginning his ploy with a nudge to her shoulder.
"Get used to it, good points are about all I put up."
But, she, too, didn't seem to leave a retort unsaid.
"We'll see about that, golden ticket; call us one-one. Score's even"
"...Guess I can't let my guard down 'round you, can I?"
"Sure can't!"
Advertisement
The Bit of Human Left
Arris Graham is a regular college student, attending a high ranking college in California. It's summer break, and Arris is returning home to visit his relatives and pay homage to his deceased parents at their graves. Little does he know, the entire world is about to change. When Arris goes out to visit his parent's graves, he's caught in the middle of a thunderstorm. He continues on through the thunderstorm to pay his respects to his parents but is interrupted by some disturbing texts from his cousin. Arris tries to leave the graveyard, but before he can get to his car he is confronted by a screen which appears in mid-air before him, reading, "Initializing World Server start", with an ominous countdown just below those words. Just as the server is about to initialize though, Arris is struck by an enhanced bolt of lightning, and the very flesh melted off him. When he comes to after the System has initialized, Arris finds himself in the body of a skeleton, stuck in the dungeon, with no way out for another 6 months. How will Arris navigate this new world? Cover by David Corry
8 160Rebirth of the Cultivator in the Apocalypse
Co-authoring this series with JL Huang! Link to his page here: https://www.royalroad.com/profile/145707 Wang Shen, after ten years of struggle in the apocalypse, has finally let the embers of his life die out. However, the heavens have granted him a second chance to make things right. This time, he’s ahead of the curve, having retained the knowledge of his previous life before it all ended. This time, he knows how to efficiently manifest his qi and to properly cultivate his body in order to surpass his previous restraints. Would he be able to transcend his limits and breakthrough this lifetime? Or would the world burn once more without change? Welcome to Rebirth of the Cultivator in the Apocalypse.
8 60Grant Peart Saved the World, But He Can't Get a Girlfriend to Save His Life
There's nothing Grant Peart wants more in life than a girlfriend. Yet, for whatever reason, no woman on earth seems to want him for their boyfriend, and these rejections in spite of the fact that he's the very superhero who destroyed a meteor on a one-way course into the planet's surface. Now in peacetime, and with the world in no danger whatsoever, Grant lives out his days paying the bills with two dead-end jobs, playing video games in his spare time, and trying (and failing) to find that one woman in the world he saved who will say yes to a date with him. ----- Written work is published under a CC-BY-NC license. The public may share and distribute this work, in adapted, remixed, or original format, non-commercially however they please, so long as credit is provided to the original work. Adaptation of the original characters and scenarios in this work are encouraged.Ten years from the date of original publication (04/10/2021), the copyright will transfer to the public domain. Book cover is under full copyright of Pianofairie.
8 166Dragon of the Void
Kane Solbourne is the last of his kind, and he is on the run. Not from a great enemy, but from the shadows of his past. However, no matter how far he runs, fate has a way of catching up. Once again, he must try and push back the forces of the Void. His first task? Defeat an ice dragon that aligned itself with the Void and is threatening the entire elf kingdom....what could possibly go wrong?
8 181Heavenly Paragon
Within the universe of thousand world, the great earth world has been chasing the heavenly void venerate after the great war. After heavenly void venerate left the great earth world many have started to arise and transceded to heaven. In heavenly orchid institute experience a great change upon an arrival of a mysterious young man.
8 156Battling for Survival in a New World (On Hiatus)
A sixteen year-old boy passed away in a tragic accident. He awakens in a dark room in a strange body, and with little to aid him. Where is he and what's he to do? A dark isekai story with survival as the primary goal. A/N: Sorry if it's not very good quality, first story.
8 70