The Astral soul system

Chapter 264: Beacon

Opening his eyes...or whatever he was currently using to see, he looked around seeing but beams of light rushing past him at incredible speeds.

"Theia"

He called out but got no reply

"Where am i?"

He asked, looking around. It didn’t feel like he was moving,then again he could be wrong .

He suddenly heard a faint him, though his mind translated it to something else.

Destroyer

He sighed.

Of course

He’d touched the obelisk with his bare hands. He already had Zen’s memory of their history with strange dungeons. He should have seen this coming

Why did this stuff have to be so confusing .

Just as he was about to try something else,he suddenly felt something. At first it was strong but it quickly faded.

"Was that...?"

He closed his eyes again, concentrating.

"Where am I really?"

A few seconds later he felt the brief flare of energy again before it’s faded.

Taking a breath, he focused on it as intensely as he could, trying to map his way towards it in his mind, but for some reason none of it made sense.

He felt his back begin to itch again as it lit up, his wings emerging, glowing brightly.

The next time the energy flare emerged, the light from his wings covered his whole body, and as it passed, his body was pulled alongside it like they were tethered together

Time passed, though he didn’t even know if that was the correct term for what he was experiencing but it felt appropriate.

He felt like he was being dragged along, and although he didn’t know where he was going,it was better than just staying here, besides, the signal he’d got felt familiar.

Almost instantly he felt himself stop before being shot out again. He crashed into the floor, the force pushing him back a few meters before he finally stopped.

Grunting he looked up. Recognizing the stars above his head, he looked around and realized he was back in the forest surrounding the academy.

He got up, pulling his wings back in and scratching his head

"What the-"

He suddenly noticed a faint glow in front of his face and looking up, he could see Moirai floating there above him. As soon he noticed it,it let out a faint sound that resembled a squeak.

"You pulled me out"

It flew up and down as if nodding

"How?"

It paused, unable to answer.

It might have been slightly sentient, but it wasn’t alive. A question like that was much too difficult for it to answer.

"Theia?!"

This time she appeared

"Hey,hey. Sorry. Was a bit busy in there when you last called-"

"Doing what?! And why the hell did you reject that quest"

He asked harshly.

She froze for a second before answering.

"I figured it was pointless. Destroying the beacon would strand us in that world for who knows how long and that wasn’t even the whole beacon,it was just a part of it,so I decided it wasn’t worth deliberating"

"I don’t remember asking you to make that call"

"I said I’d take care of the rest and that’s what I did"

"What about me getting stranded?"

"I don’t know, that wasn’t supposed to happen"

Zaine scoffed

"Where were you?"

"... I can’t say"

Zaine scrutinized her. He had no idea she could just... override the system like that and make it do what she wants, and without his go ahead. Once again it felt like he thought he knew something but didn’t in the end.

He didn’t like it

Theia mumbled something under her breath, changing the subject

"As for an explanation on how you got back,Beacons are basically lighthouses. They help you see, but also broadcast your location, it’s a two-way street, however since you’re personally connected to Moirai,it was able to use itself as a mini beacon that only you could sense,then you just... followed it here"

Zaine raised a brow.

"I just followed it?"

Theia nodded

"If a beacon is a lighthouse, then think of different realms as islands, and the metaphorical distance between them is ocean that you need a boat or in this case,some sort of artefact or dungeon to cross, though lucky you,you can swim-"

"Wait, what?"

"What?"

She said, not realizing what she’d just said.

"You said I could swim"

She nodded

"Astrals are one of the few races capable of passing through worlds autonomously, though a beacon is needed for mapping and navigating "

Theia suddenly stopped talking.

"You heard all that?"

She asked,half expecting everything she just said to have been beeps like last time.

It seems after he did it the first time, the system deemed it acceptable for her to explain it.

"Huh, what do you know. Anyway,you can still do it without your beacon but you might end up in the wrong place. That’s why your wings are the most important part of you. You could lose literally any other body part and regrow it but these things are permanent, one set per person, and if you lose them, you’re stuck in this world, and Moirai can’t help with that"

He went silent for a second. Theia had told him there’d be consequences to loosing them, but this was the first time he was actually hearing them. The wings were no longer something they considered an add on or temporary transformation,it was a part of the body through and through. When they came out, he could feel the bones and nerves that connected them to his body, as well as everything that came into contact with them due. The extra sensory input was something his brain had grown to accommodate and even assimilate.

It had even affected their posture somewhat.

At this point, loosing it could be likened to loosing a limb or getting outright crippled.

He groaned, his back itching at the thought

"One set per person "

He repeated to which Theia nodded

What a bummer. Making arguably the most important tool in an Astral’s biology the one part they are unable to regenerate

He was about to start walking back to his dorm when Moirai flew in front of him, blocking his way

"What do you want?"

"Wait a minute? How did you get back?"

Theia asked.

"I don’t care, now get out of my way"

He said, but it didn’t budge.

"I think it wants to show us something"

The orb glowed again as if to confirm.

"Fine, what?"

The surface of the orb suddenly like lost its shine and a deep voice suddenly came from it.

"Where is it?! Where is it?! I’ve searched every corner of this godforsaken land. It must be here,it can’t have just vanished"

Zaine and Theia looked at each other at the same time.

"I think it’s a recording of something it saw while it was there"

"Something is watching me. How did you find me, show yourself"

Hearing that, Theia asked as well

"Yeah,how DID you find this. The bridge is huge,it-"

"Let it finish"

Theia quited down, settling back on his shoulder

"You took my treasure, didn’t you, forbidden one?!"

Treasure? Now they were even more confused

They heard several more sounds that sounded like a chase but no words for a while.

"Well this guy is definitely insane, but which treasure island he talking about?"

"You cannot escape your destiny. It belongs to me,Sylphiette, and I will find you again, even if I have to destroy the ashes that are left of this world, and you will give me what is mine"

Hearing the familiar name, they both suddenly turned to look at each other in silence.

The chase continued for a bit longer before the replay stopped.

The codex let out a low hum and glow, and Zaine felt like he understood what it was saying. It was somewhere along the lines of.

"I barely made it. Scary"

"There there"

Theia comforted before turning to Zaine.

"Talk about a plot twist. Well...not really but you get my point "

Zaine sighed, digging his fingers through his hair.

Theia spoke up again

"Someone IS chasing her, and from what I just heard,I don’t think he’s got all his marbles intact"

"Ugh, fine. How hard is it to use a beacon?"

Theia tilted her head curiously.

"Hard?"

"How powerful do you need to be?"

"That’s less important than how many people actually know about their existence across worlds"

"And?"

"Not a lot"

"So there’s no chance this loser can keep his sick promise and end up becoming a pain in my ass?"

Theia thought for a second.

"Syl didn’t seem shocked or suprised when she ended up in our world, and if she ran away from this guy..."

Zaine groaned, punching a tree as hard as he could, knocking it down.

Theia quickly spoke up to calm him

"Still,I think we should talk to her first and find out what’s going on"

"Good fucking idea? You have any idea where she is?"

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