Grevla unlocked her door after hearing a knock to see Monk Zumma on the other side. "Monk Zumma, what are you doing here?" She questioned.
The monk cleared his throat and invited himself into the house. "Wow, has this place always looked like this?" He said while taking in the house.
"Anyway, I didn't see you anywhere around the village and I was worried you had taken your own life," he said.
"That's ridiculous," the heir to the throne of Herimol said while shutting the door behind herself.
"You know how much of a sin it is to take your own life, I would never do that, I can't believe you think I'd commit such a sin."
The Monk smiled weakly. "I'm glad you are alright."
She gestured at a chair for the Monk to sit on before walking into the kitchen and returning with a drink which she gave the Monk.
"Everyone keeps saying how much of a pain in the ass I'm being so I thought I should stay away from everyone and everything for a while."
"By everyone, you mean just Heyt."
She paused for a second before wearing a smile. "Yeah, just Heyt."
He shook his head and took a sip of his drink. "At least you stayed sane, unlike my other student who turned to the dark side."
"It's not like you can train their minds, all we do is tell and show them what to do, they decide their destiny."
The Monk nodded. "Yes. But I feel there are things I neglected as his mentor, things that I could have done better, it's like I made him who he is today."
Grevla tucked back her hair and laughed.
"What is it?" The Monk asked.
"It's just— hearing you now made me understand how Heyti must feel whenever I talk about my shortcomings."
"Good, now that you've realised that, I'll move on to the third reason I came by," he continued. "On your journey with Eryth, did you find the Tome of Discordia?"
"We did find it, but it's being held by Komnene the witch and she refused to hand it over until he takes a test… I believe they should have concluded by now."
Monk Zumma set the cup on a table in the middle of the room and exhaled softly. "It will be disappointing to have another of my students lost to Chaos."
"Relax. Eryth won't be that easily swayed," said Grevla. "For some reason, I believe he will come back still the way he left, on our side."
The monk held her stare before smiling. "Let's hope so."
.
.
.
[Eryth? What happened?] Wendy questioned.
"What do you mean?" Eryth who had been sitting on the ground trying to catch his breath probed.
[I suddenly blacked out… the last thing I remember is the arrival of Archiva, the divine registrar. Did something happen?]
Eryth stood up from the ground and picked up the pieces of the destroyed clock. "Oh, right, I sent her running back to the High Realm."
Wendy chuckled. [You? You did? You fought off a Servant of the Realm?]
"What? I'm also a Servant of the Realm myself, soon to be at least… very soon I'll live in Divinara and be known as Eryth, the Time Keeper," he made a gesture with his hands while imagining the moment in his head.
[Right.]
"Anyway," Eryth paused for a second while wiping the dust from the pieces of the clock. "Do you know anything about Devils? Aside from the part that they are from the Hecahiyk?"
[I do. I've read a book that explains extensively about Devils and their purpose.]
"Wanna share what you know with me?"
[With pleasure.]
[Where do I even start? Right… as you said, Devils are from the Hecahiyk. They are creatures created from the darkest corner of Maelstrom, the area in Hecahiyk where Kagurath rest, a place where no Chaos being or any being in all dares wander to.]
"Maelstrom…" Eryth mumbled.
[These Devils, are mindless creatures that are spawned there, and they continue to wander Maelstrom, hunting any other creatures, and sometimes fighting against themselves. But in rare cases, some devils arise with a mind of their own and move to other parts of the Hecahiyk.] She stopped for a moment before speaking again.
[It is also stated in the book that right before the sleeping Chaos awakens again, some of these devils will be able to slip through the veil and infiltrate other Realms.]
"I see. Is there a case where a Devil merges with a human?" He questioned.
[Normally, for Mystic and Borrowed Acts, Devils are summoned from the Hecahiyk and chained to the mortal. They won't be able to act on their own as they are bound to the mortals, hence allowing the mortals to be able to harness pure Chaos Energy or Black Energy and perform the acts.]
Eryth tossed the device away and turned to the Inshik mountain. "Any case where the Devil have a mind of their own?"
[A Devil controlling the mortal after a merge?]
"Not a merge."
[The only other way is sacrificing a human to summon a Devil and even then, the summoner will be in control of the Devil. But I understand what you mean… a situation where the Devil completely takes control of the body. The book I read talked about a prophecy, a time when the devils will walk into our realms right before the return of Kagurath, take control of our minds and rain Chaos on everything, days of the Devil, it is mentioned as.]
Eryth nodded. "I see."
[Why'd you ask?]
"Archiva made mention of Devils and I simply got curious."
[Don't you worry, if that day does come, we probably will be dead.]
Eryth paused for a few seconds, allowing his thoughts to run haywire. Wendy may he right and he will be dead before that time comes, sparing him the trouble it comes with. But what happens to him before even the days of the devils?
He recalled Archiva's words about a devil in him, and it made him ponder more than he previously did, who really is he? What was his past like?
Eryth managed to shake it all off.
"Right, anyway… let's get that hourglass before the time runs out," he said before starting towards the mountain.
He entered through a hole in the mountains and continued deeper until he was in an area that had an opening from the top, allowing the sunlight to shine on a pillar which had an hourglass on it.
"That is it?"
[Looks like it.]
"Why is there just one? Shouldn't there be like a million hourglasses for the other beings?"
[You are doing it again, Eryth. Have you forgotten what happened the last time you complained.]
Eryth cleared his throat and looked around the place. "It's because I remember that moment that I'm cautious," he added.
He stepped forward and picked up the hourglass from the pillar with his brows furrowed before dropping it on the ground.
The glass hit the ground and immediately shattered into pieces.
Eryth stood still, his brows arched up in a frown. "Is that it? I'm immortal now?"
[Don't ask me, I don't know how this works, you simply asked for my help with directions to the Inshik mountain and I have done that part.]
Eryth narrowed his eyes before slowly turning around. "Okay then, I guess now I'll use the Tome of Discordi…" His head abruptly pushed up to the sky, his hands outstretched and his eyes rolled upwards, leaving only his sclera.
A thin horizontal line appeared on his forehead, slowly tearing his head open but he didn't react to the pain. As the blood rolled down his face, his mind got clouded with scenarios and events, some of which he had seen, and some which he hadn't seen before, and some really clear scenes which were mixed up with moments from his test by the Witch.
Eryth found himself looking through the perspective of the young boy, Theron who was chained to several pillars on a mountain, his vision was blurred by the heavy rain that dropped on them. Approaching him was the brown-haired man whom he called Uncle Dibo with a long sword in his hand and a stern expression on his wet face. Beside him was the light-skinned red-eyed knight he calls Uncle Bu and a few other knights.
"I'm sorry," Dibo said before it all vanished with a thunderstorm.
….
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