When the Final Seal Breaks

9th Entry

I have a lot to think about today. Namely... the ruby is stuck to my chest. Is it ok to skip right to that? Its my own diary, I don't need to tell the story in order. But maybe I should anyway.

We got back to central. Navar asked what we had learned. We learned nothing, so I told him that. I don't know what he was expecting, history books playing the telephone game are even less reliable than my fifteen year old memories.

He said we should plan to join the next council session tomorrow but at this point I don't know what value that will have.

So, he sent us back to the guest rooms that we had been given while we had been attending all the council meetings before and hurried off.

And that's where I am now. Its barely the afternoon, and I had nothing to do. I was thinking maybe I should test to see if I can use the only ruby, we have to seed new sealing stones.

But I can't take it off anymore. Its stuck to my chest. The funny part about this is that its basically what I intended to do. This is exactly what happened when we seeded the crystals before. After a while of being in contact with a stone, they would stick to them and grow crystals around them.

I don't even know what to think about this. I did keep it in a bag before, and as earrings they didn't even touch my skin most of the time. But now... its connected to my skin. And frankly it seems like its rooted into my sternum. I only gently tried to pull at it, but it doesn't feel like there is skin there anymore. I don't remember hearing anything about this before, we thought that it could only root in stone anyway. Metal was always fine.

To be frank, I feel like I should be more shocked about this. Instead, while I am clearly disconcerted, ultimately this is helpful. If its really rooted, in a couple weeks I'll have the sealing crystals I wanted, assuming there's a way to disconnect them from me without breaking my bones. Don't get me wrong, I am shocked. But I have this overwhelming sense of patience. Plus, this way I don't have to try to dangle it in front of anyone to try to get them to believe me anymore. At this point, I'm beyond trying to convince anyone anyway.

I feel like the correct answer is to bide my time and wait until I have enough ruby grown on my chest to seal the Demon Lord, then we can worry about chipping it off me without killing me.

I guess from here I just need to make everyone accompany me on busy work to think we're making some kind of progress.

Having the opportunity to write this down has helped me think it over. I feel much less concerned than I did before. I have plenty of time. According to my phone, it hasn't even been one day back home.

***

Orleris stayed in the tiny room and read an entry in the morning, then another. It was the first time he read two back-to-back, and he really felt it. The drain on his magic was felt exponential the longer he read. It already wasn't his forte in magic after all.

He felt obligated to read another entry as soon as possible. He had been curious how she was managing to absorb all the miasma alone on the front line when she had no rubies without hurting herself and as soon as he saw the mention of rubies he couldn't hold back reading it, even as his pace slowed down to a crawl.

At least it seemed that she wasn't too out of sorts by the end of sorting herself out, but that also meant any plans to try to learn what she had done to absorb the miasma were a waste. It wasn't a secret new technique at all.

He stowed the diary away and after meeting up with everyone, they walked to the north edge of town. A few craftspeople watched them, but as the book binder said, no one tried to stop them. He wondered if the cloak crafter was among them.

He took the first step in. There was no path, and it was a dense forest compared to the sealed one. He didn't need one though, he just proceeded in the direction his dream told him to. Whenever it felt like he was making a mistake he would close his eyes again and keep going forwards. Something about the forest felt serene, and it felt like he had passed through into a dream at some point.

He turned back for a moment, only to see Navar and Eloitte were gone.

"Sorry, I'd Like To Talk Alone, If You Don't Mind."

The voice was more tangible now, though barely more than a whisper.

"They Will Be Back In Town, Don't Worry."

It was enough reassurance to go ahead.

"Welcome."

He finally found his way to the clearing in his dream and waiting there was the being that had called him looking exactly as he had seen.

Ashen skin, grey hair, a black nondescript cloak, and white eyes which were now open. It was strange to see in person- he had irises, but they were white. The only indication of the direction he was looking was his pupils, and a light ring of grey around them. In his dream he had thought there was simply nothing but whiteness beneath his eyelids.

"Why did you call me here?"

"Its Very Exhausting To Reach Out To People So Far Away. And I Didn't Want You To Get Hurt."

"That's not an answer, is it?"

The being smiled and nodded. "What Do You Think I Am?"

Orleris thought it over, but since it seemed like the ashen one wanted to just talk before revealing anything, he went along and offered his original interpretation. "A new God?"

"It's Hard To Say Whether That Is Right Or Wrong. I'm Not This World's God, But I Am From The Same Place As Your Former Goddess."

A real gut punch of an answer. Orleris took another step forwards. "Former? She's really gone?"

"I Will Answer That, But From Here I Would Like To Tell You A Bit Of A Story Before I Answer Anything Else. It Might Help."

And so, he told Orleris a story that started over one thousand years ago.