Roughly two hours after I had arrived in the Sky Citadel, I felt a presence silently emerging. Naturally, it was Dana who had returned from Deckan. She seemed to have taken her time on her way back, knowing that Tsubaki wasn’t likely to return too quickly. However, when she noticed that my host was not seated on my throne, she immediately made her way to my room.
“Hey, boss!” Dana called out happily as she entered my bedroom, seeming pleased to see me. “I didn’t realize you were coming, or I would have been back sooner.”
“It’s fine, Dana.” I smiled back at her, still working on my Cities deck. “Your ‘Card Master’ actually gave me an idea.”
“Oh?” She looked past me to see what I was doing on the computer. “If you wanted cards, I could just make them for you now! Whatever kinds you wanted, even!”
I could tell that she was bragging, but I simply chuckled in response. “I know. If I knew exactly what cards I wanted, I’d ask for your help. Right now, I’m still using this site to experiment on what I can use. I want to create domain-themed decks to enhance my power in case I ever need to act personally.”
“Nice.” Dana’s smile grew wider, not appearing disappointed when I refused to use her services.
“How are you adjusting to your new energy, by the way?” As I asked that, I finished up what I believed should work as the next card in my deck, setting it to compile and test.
“It’s a lot easier to get used to than I thought it would be at first. When you talked about it, I was imagining this really difficult energy to master that wouldn’t act how I wanted it to. But the World’s Shadow isn’t like that. It’s really well behaved and helps me get what I need quickly.”
I shook my head at her statement. “That’s because you have an incredibly good affinity with it. I’m still mastering how to create enchanted items out of the World’s Shadow. Aside from yourself, nobody else that uses it is able to communicate with the energy in such a deep manner.”
Dana thought about that for a moment, offering a small nod in agreement. “Mind if I help you with your cards, or you want to handle it all yourself?”
Remembering how she had created the spell model to automate the creation of the World’s Shadow, I answered her with a nod. “Feel free. I could use your insight here. Especially given how tricky some of these domains are to plan around.”
It was four full days before Tsubaki made her return. When she did, I could tell that she was mentally exhausted, her light especially dim. It even took her a minute to realize that I had arrived at the citadel, before her face lit up in panic.
Her body flickered through the halls, before arriving where Dana and I were talking. The two of us were currently in one of the citadel’s training rooms. I had noticed her arrival through my World Sight already, so I was not surprised to see her. Dana, on the other hand, looked shocked by Tsubaki’s current state.
“Tsuba!” She shouted out, rushing over to greet her. “Are you alright?”
Even without a direct connection to Tsubaki’s soul, Dana could still understand her incredibly well. However, the kitsune simply shook her head. “I’ll be fine.”
“She’s right, Tsubaki. You should rest.”
When Tsubaki heard my words, her ears drooped slightly. Dana simply shook her head with a grin, grabbing Tsubaki’s hand. “Come on, you’ve earned a rest, right.”
I could tell that Tsubaki was only reluctant because she felt guilty for not seeing me when I first arrived, so she felt like she had not lived up to her ‘duty’ as my Servant. As such, I decided to speak up again. “I’ll still be here when you are feeling better.”
Her ears perked up slightly at that, and she forced herself to nod, allowing Dana to pull her out of the room. Just by looking at her, I could tell that she had been pushing herself to complete the Metong’s emergency request as quickly as she could. The fact that she had returned now should mean that the last of the swarms had been dealt with. It was just hard to say how many lives were lost before we noticed the problem.
More importantly, this was only the beginning. While these were the first monsters that emerged with the power to casually destroy planets, I could not see them being the last. It was necessary to be prepared to face such a monster at any time.
James leaned back at his chair, letting out a sigh of relief. The last of the swarms had just been killed, according to the Goddess of the Hunt, so James withdrew the energy that was sustaining his avatar. Instead, a small smile appeared over his lips. “Five percent now.”
He flipped his hand, and a ripple emerged in the air, allowing him to peer at the various different possibilities. Of course, the scope this time was incredibly small, only encompassing his desk, so there were hardly any changes on the observable level between one future and the next.
His mind thought back to Phisher, the one that dipped into the weave of fate and emerged with the powers of a future possibility. He had long since been wanting to study that man’s anomaly, hoping to be able to reproduce it on some level. If he did so, he would have the power to quickly offer years worth of training in a single night.
This was his first true passion project ever since he completed his nine-tails plan. While everyone else in the lab was working on the mechanism to perfect the soul, James himself had his sights set higher. Now I just have to wait for him to sleep again.
That was the hard part now. Even when Phisher was given time to himself, he rarely used it to enter a state of slumber. At most, he would meditate to refresh his mental energies. In the last month, he had only truly slept once, and James hadn’t been lucky enough to find his connection with the weave of fate at that time.
Now that he had this new energy from the Metong, however, he would be able to see through all possible futures once Phisher slept. If it was even possible to trigger his anomaly a second time, James would be able to glimpse the future where it happened.
Charlotte allowed her eyes to scan over the scenery around her, letting out a quiet gasp. She had decided to visit the world of Sorii, using the transportation channel established by the shrine of Aurivy. Her eyes gazed up into the night sky, seeing the gathering clouds.
After running to the heart of the forest, she was greeted by a blue sylvan, one who offered her a small fruit. Having learned from the memories of the great tree, she quickly accepted the fruit and consumed it. As she felt the juices sliding down her throat, a pleasant sensation spread throughout her body.
“Ahh…” She opened her mouth, testing out her new voice. “Thank you!” Charlotte looked at the blue sylvan that offered the fruit, waving thankfully to her. After that, she began climbing up the outside of the great tree, aiming for its highest branches.
Charlotte was briefly surprised by how many unripened fruits she had seen, before remembering that there seemed to be a sort of time difference between this world and the one she had come from. If I wait here, won’t I be able to leave for the other world sooner?
The idea made her excited, and she couldn’t help speeding up as she rose to the highest branch. Her arms stretched out above her, as if trying to grasp the sky.
Almost seeming to respond to her presence, the clouds gathered together, rolling in darkness as lightning flashed within. Charlotte’s smile grew wider and wider, feeling her connection with the clouds. “Rain for me!” She shouted, her voice punctuated by the clap of thunder.
As her voice fell, a great deluge descended from above, splashing across her face. Charlotte let out a loud laugh, happy to be able to call a true rain for the first time in her life. She could feel the water on her face, the coolness of the breeze. All things that she could never feel in her own grove, where the air was scorched beyond salvation, where the suns refused to let water thrive.
Charlotte danced beneath the clouds, which seemed to churn and roil to accompany her. Her rain spread out into a storm that grew over the grove. While rain was by no means uncommon within Sorii, it was still a surprise for many to find it arriving so suddenly.
Many people naturally realized that the storm was due to someone using a special ability of some sort. Druids would often call for rain over a wide area in order to tend to crops. However, since the rain itself did not have any negative effects, few people paid it any mind.
At most, it was a minor inconvenience for those who did not have a means to protect themselves from the rain. However, to Charlotte, it was the greatest thing she had ever seen. Water pouring from the sky across the entire horizon, dark clouds refusing to give way to the heat of the sun. It was hard to tell if the water flowing down her face was from the rain, or from how happy she was to be able to produce such a sight.
At that moment, Charlotte resolved herself to remain within Sorii until she had to leave for her new home. Here, she felt free. Here, there was nothing to restrain her rain.
“I thought I’d find you here.” A voice came from behind Charlotte, causing her to spin around with a laugh. She saw Philia standing there, arms crossed in front of her. “We were wondering how long it would take you to come to this world.”
As Philia said that, she walked along the length of the branch, moving to stand next to Charlotte. Her eyes swept over the horizon, seeing the rain falling on the trees. “Do you like it?”
Charlotte nodded her head quickly. “I’ve been wanting to see something like this ever since I was born! Isn’t it beautiful?”
Philia offered a small nod at that, a smile tugging at her lips. “This world is definitely more suited to your gifts, Charlotte. Would you mind watching over it until you have to leave?”
Charlotte’s eyes went wide when she heard the unexpected offer, before quickly nodding her head. “Of course! I’d love to!” She lunged forward, wrapping her arms around Philia to tightly embrace her, drawing a laugh from the other sylvan.
“I’ll be counting on you, then.” Philia brought a hand up to stroke Charlotte’s head, earning a small giggle from the excited girl.
Charlotte herself was as happy as she could be. With Philia’s permission, she could now remain on Sorii for as long as she wanted without any concerns. The clouds above let loose a thunderous boom, the rain growing heavier to match her excitement.
