’Amase. She was the reason Sayda found your group and why Arthur Sanders is dead now.’
Baseth’s words echoed in Nadia’s mind as she sat quietly in a poorly furnished bedroom barely large enough to fit ten people.
Despite being back in Eventide, she was stuck replaying Baseth’s words over and over, trying to make sense of what she’d been told.
She’d thought the matter with Arthur was over, that she had managed to avenge him against all odds, being part of the group that put an end to Sayda.
However, it seemed that was not the case... or maybe it was.
All she had to do was ignore Baseth’s words, to take it as a dumb attempt to pit her against the Devil of Greed, Amase.
... But she couldn’t.
She needed closure and for that, questions needed to be asked.
Did Baseth tell the truth?... If she had, then why had Amase done what she did?
Clenching her jaw, she closed her eyes and took deep breaths, struggling to calm her thoughts and her rapidly beating heart.
Only after several seconds did she finally manage to calm down well enough to get out of bed.
Then, she stepped out of the room into a ridiculously short hallway with wooden floorboards and another door at the other end.
She considered heading to the other door only to decide against it.
Ultimately, she left for the living room only to find it illuminated by a lantern and occupied by a troubled Victoria.
"You are still awake," Nadia muttered as she approached the vampire.
As a sigh escaped her lips, Victoria replied. "You seem to have forgotten that vampires do not need sleep."
"... True that." Nadia appeared slightly embarrassed as she changed the topic. "So, found anything yet?"
"Unfortunately, not." Victoria seemed exasperated. "Before now, I wouldn’t be so invested but there’s no way I can keep on ignoring it."
"Is it really that important?" Nadia asked as she came to sit across from the peeved vampire.
"Whatever that thing was is the only reason Master and I survived the death of the Jester. It’s also not the first time I’ve encountered the entity. That only means one thing."
"The creature, whatever it is, might have taken an interest in you."
"Exactly," Victoria remarked. "And you should know how dangerous it can be to catch the attention of such entities."
"You can’t be sure it has bad intentions." Nadia pointed out. "You said it yourself, it saved you and Alex."
"And what if it’s only keeping me alive to be slaughtered later?... Like a pig being fattened for slaughter?"
"Now that’s just pessimistic."
Nadia let out a sigh as she crossed her arms, aware that arguing further would be a waste of time.
"Alright then, let’s say it’s neutral right now, could be good, could be evil. What exactly would it want with you?"
Victoria shook her head. "I do not know and that is what vexes me greatly. I’ve done my research, dug into all I could find..."
"Nothing." Victoria breathed out as she leaned back against the couch behind her while running a hand through her hair.
Victoria sighed. "It’s not the first time though, that someone has seen a being from the void. In fact, it’s happened quite a few times in history, usually in places where terrifying battles leading to the rending of spacetime occurred."
"Apart from the fact that my case is the first time a being from the void managed to insert an appendage into our world, not much. Scholars refer to the beings as Nothings and consider them as one of the Seven Mysteries."
"That’s problematic."
"Exactly," Victoria said with a hint of annoyance. "Ever since it was tagged as one of the Seven Mysteries, very little research has been done on the subject, leaving very little for me to work with."
"So what now?" Nadia asked. "You can’t just keep moping?"
"Unfortunately, I can’t. I might have to search for answers elsewhere."
"We?" Victoria raised a brow.
Nadia smirked. "Of course or would you rather I not help you?"
"I did not say that," Victoria said. "However, shouldn’t you be on Trial right now?"
"Not at all," Nadia replied. "I passed. As of this moment, I am an Evil Incarnate."
"So what now?" Elena asked, watching as Ana studied the invincible barrier before them.
Ana pursed her lips. "It’s of Abyssal origin, I can tell you that."
"So... the Timeless Serpent?"
"Most likely... unless there’s another Otherworldly with control over Distorted Time."
"That’s a Second Class Otherworldly. I doubt we’d be able to deal with it in our current state."
"Agreed... but no need to worry. Even though the barrier appears to be from the Timeless Serpent, the Authority keeping it active is much less."
"Someone else must be utilizing the powers of the Timeless Serpent, which gives us some leeway to act."
"So we break it down."
"Not exactly." Ana intoned. "If my guess is correct, we can’t break this down from out here. Only if the source is destroyed can the barrier collapse."
"But if we get in..."
"We risk falling under the influence of whatever is happening within the barrier. Don’t worry, I’m sure he can handle it."
"So we wait for him to break the barrier down?... If things were that simple, you wouldn’t have brought me here."
"On that you are correct." Ana intoned, a smile dancing at the corners of her lips.
"Well, my dear student, firstly, we muddy the waters."
As she said that, she pressed her palm against the barrier while exerting her Will on the aether.
A moment later, the barrier flashed with an emerald glow.
A gasp escaped Alex’s lips as he opened his eyes to find himself seated on a chair while holding a paintbrush and staring at the artwork before him.
It depicted a field filled with green grass, reminding Alex of the planet he called home.