Godslayer Lysette: Chapter 270

Chapter 270: To the Sea

Sunrise came far too soon for the deific couple.  The false dawn’s first light and the dimming of the stars twinkling in through the window was the cue for Lysette to rouse her avatar and prepare for the journey of thousands of miles which lay ahead.  She stood with Karchek’s body as she lay beside Mirae with her own, stretching both in perfect synchronicity as she again adjusted to moving two bodies at once.

Her avatar walked out in the living area and waved to Aurie, who was now back in her child form.  Aurie had, as promised, put all the food away and had cleaned the area far more generously than expected for a guest.  She was playing some sort of card game by herself, occasionally throwing bits of sparkle onto the ground that evaporated on contact.  The two made eye contact, eliciting a grin from Aurie.

“Hi, Cousin Lysettie!  Did you two have fun last night?  It sure sounded like you did.”  Aurie winked, and for a fraction of a second, she licked the insides of her lips.

The two had indeed taken care not to be overly loud as per Serrena’s standing request.  But Aurie was far closer, separated by only a thin door and a few dozen feet.  She too was a demigoddess, and had almost certainly improved her hearing enough through her Cultivation to hear the quiet moans and squeaks leaking out through the bedroom door.

But Lysette felt no need for shame, and so Reciprocated Aurie’s wink and grin.  “Of course.  Nights with Mirae are always wonderful experiences.  I’m very lucky to have them for myself and hope to have many more such nights in my future.

“Anyway, random question before I leave.  Do you know anything about the language that scroll was written in?  I’ve never seen the script before, but I could read it as though I’ve known it my entire life.”

“Oh, that?  That was written in Celestial tongue.  I don’t know all the details, but it’s a language of intent spoken by the gods.  So the script is pretty varied based on who’s writing it, but any deity can just naturally decipher and understand the meaning.  A great way to communicate if you’re worried about spies intercepting your message.”

“Huh.  Is it hard to learn how to write it?”

Aurie’s head tilted.  “You should already be able to do so.  Just focus your intent into your writing and let the ink flow.”

Lysette resolved to try that later.  When she and Mirae had some time to work on that between themselves.  For now, however, it was nearly time to depart.

Her main body looked up and scanned the area, searching for the visiting diplomat.  He was just east of town, resting underneath a quartet of trees themselves just south of the diversion path of the Fliori River.  It took but a moment for Lysette to arrive, greeting Dennell the diplomat with a curt hello.

“Ah, Are– you?” he stuttered.

“I am,” Lysette said.  “I will travel with you back to Ereill in this body.  If that is not acceptable, then you can return to Zarielle’s Grand Priest alone.”

Dennell dissolved his body and emerged back into corporeality a moment later, completely devoid of any signs of fatigue or discomfort as he pointed off to the west and started sprinting across the landscape with the emergent dawn at his back.  Lysette followed suit, and together, the two rushed off toward the northwestern ocean.

“I apologize once again for the lack of suitable accommodations,” Lysette said.  “I hope that you were able to get at least some rest over the previous night.”

“I admit some discomfort, but when I saw how small Ciricu was, I was of half a mind to expect far worse treatment.  Regarding the lack of sleep, I will be able to rest once we make it back onto the boat.  Even though I may be as mortal as I was the day I was born, a human Cultivator is still capable of suppressing his need for water or sleep for a couple of days.”

Lysette hadn’t considered that, although it made sense given what she did know.  Cultivation was the power of the gods, after all.  A skilled human Cultivator became closer to the divine in terms of both strength and longevity, tripling the latter and expanding the latter manifold.  Why then couldn’t they do the same with regard to required nourishment, subsisting on their Essence as temporary sustenance?

“So, how far is Ereill, anyway?”

“Our boat is anchored just west of here, against the coastline.  After that, it will be a journey of a thousand miles by sea until we again see land.  As for provisions, although I know Your Ladyship shall not require any, we have sufficient quantities of both food and drink should you wish to partake.  The journey should be between three and four days— we have skilled Water and Wind Cultivators among our crew to ensure smooth sailing during the voyage.”

Lysette was less assuaged by Dennell’s words than she showed, and certainly more than he would have liked.  These crewmates were certainly capable of handling their jobs and more than capable of handling rough seas or any aquatic creatures that got any ideas.  But Thosse was a known enemy, and Lysette was about to intrude upon her Dominion on Aimarion, right into the heart of her worldly power.  The chances of some sort of interference were nearly certain.

“I trust that contingencies are in place in the event of outside interference preventing us from reaching our journey,” Lysette said.

“Of course, Your Ladyship.  I would not deign assume that you would take up arms on our behalf, but rest assured that I and others are capable of defending ourselves from wayward pirates or Cultivation beasts upon the high seas.”

Lysette smiled.  “Then we shall leave the matter at that.”

Scarcely an hour passed of sprinting through trees and rocky plains.  Dennell was maintaining a steady pace through it all, expertly twisting shadows around him to anchor his feet through the underbrush.  And Lysette needed but to extend her will out of her body for the trees and shrubs before her to part and accommodate her passing before returning to their previous resting places.

“I see you have been broadening your slate of techniques,” Dennell said.  “First you wield flame, and now you move the grasses and plants before you as though they are part of yourself.”

“There is benefit in taking a single technique, or even a single affinity, to its zenith.  Overwhelming power is its own flexibility.  But even that flexibility has its own limits.  I had, at one time, attempted to use artifice to mitigate the weaknesses of Zarielle’s techniques.  I was even successful.  But only in terms of mitigating those weaknesses.  Not eliminating them completely.”

“I see.  And, would you share the results with Your Ladyship’s humble acquaintance?”

Lysette found the overly servile diplomat a bit grating, but didn’t push that issue.  She instead smiled and answered as dispassionately as she could.  “Shadow Dissolution, as I call it, has three weaknesses.  One is its susceptibility to Light techniques, one that I was able to mitigate with artifice.  The second is that sight and sound are distorted while dissolved.  Not a problem for me with my ability to perceive the environment through my aura alone, though it serves as a reminder that a well-balanced slate of techniques, both primary and supporting, makes for a well-balanced combatant.”

“Your Ladyship is well-informed.  But if you mitigated both of those drawbacks already, then why speak in such a way to suggest that the technique should not be utilized extensively?”

“Because the third drawback is fatal and cannot be mitigated.  Only those who maintain Zarielle’s favor may use her techniques.  Great power granted by another can easily be reclaimed by that other.  By becoming reliant on another’s power, you tie yourself to their designs, and are subject to their whims to maintain that power.”

“I see.  What about you?”

Lysette sighed.  The same could be said of her.  She did use her power as a deity to enrich the power of the people of Ciricu.  And she did so liberally, at nearly all times of the day or night, working to apportion her gathering strength among the community where she lived.  That was what she had wanted ever since her arrival in Domaria all those months ago.  Build a community of people who worked together to gain power, rather than tear each other down to hoard it for themselves.

But once again, Bionco’s damned words kept echoing in her ears.  What did they want?  The people of Ciricu, the Cultivators of Domaria, her friends and those under her protection.  And even more broadly, what were the collective wishes of humanity that Omnia’s system was trying to grant?  So many questions which had no clear answers.  Might not have single, concrete, and fixed answers at all, Lysette corrected herself.

“I’m still trying to find out my path,” Lysette said.  “Both in terms of my Cultivation and in terms of what I want to do with the life Zarielle has given me.  I am hoping that this journey will give me answers, both in terms of who and what I am, as well as what I want to do with the rest of my life.”

“Those are more tightly connected than you give them credit,” Dennell said.  “I would not dare assume I understood Her Divinity’s grand designs nor my role within them.  However, I would suggest that there is grace and wisdom in reaching a state of balance within the world.  Accepting that we have our own desires which sometimes conflict with those of others as well as that of the world at large.  We try to change what we can to better suit ourselves and our loved ones, but we also need to accept that we cannot do everything on our own.”

Lysette smiled on the surface, but her heart filled with turmoil just beneath.  Part of Zarielle’s so-called ‘grand design’ was to reforge her as a demon.  A destroyer, the bane of the gods, whose existence was maligned by the world and whose purpose was to undo the very keystones upholding the status quo.  In raging against the gods, had she been doing nothing more than carrying out what Zarielle had wanted from her, sowing chaos that did nothing beyond serving her once-patron’s ends?  Did she continue, even now, to dance to invisible strings even after having fought and nearly died to be free to create the society she wanted to bring to Aimarion?

It took every bit of her willpower and a gentle caress from Mirae back in Ciricu to suppress the scoffing laugh that bubbled up from her very core.  She needed answers.  Needed to know to what end Zarielle had planned for her.  Lysette knew that she was still nowhere near strong enough to tear the answers from Zarielle by force.  But, as before, she was more than capable of biding her time, continuing to build her strength, and working toward her own ends in the meanwhile.

Lysette took a deep breath as the massive ship came into view.  She cast aside the anger, the primal enmity toward the Celestials that was baked into every fiber of her being.  No, she was no better than the deities who reigned from on high, untouchable by and aloof from the world.  But that didn’t mean that she couldn’t strive to do better, at least going forward.  But to best understand how to do that, she needed answers.  Needed to understand not just the world around her and why it was as it was, but to understand herself all the same.

“I have returned with Her Ladyship!” Dennell called out once they’d arrived at the coastline.  “Make whatever final preparations are needed, we depart in five minutes!”

“At once, Captain!” several of the men on board called out in unison.

By the end of this ordeal, Lysette hoped, she would at least have some idea of what to do going forward.

Chapter 269: https://www.patreon.com/posts/115877057

Table of Contents: https://www.patreon.com/posts/101896170

Chapter 271: https://www.patreon.com/posts/115989271