A Walk with Eternity-Chapter 37: No one

"Here we are again..." Cimmerian commented and all his friends collectively gulped in nervousness. They stood before the high tower of their close friend, Lysander. Nothing changed the past few years, it was still the same gloomy mansion they tried to conquer multiple times as teenagers.

The thing about this tower is that it’s in complete defense mode when its owner is not inside. It contains traps and other defensive spells that keep intruders from reaching the very top floor. From what Syvestian said, Lysander’s soul is inside the tower. They came to a conclusion that the one fighting Syvestian is actually Lysander’s body, but it holds a different soul.

Yes, they weren’t exactly surprised anymore. So many things had happened for the past few years for them to doubt or even be surprised at Svestian’s revelations. For one, the textbooks he gave them when they were barely teens have contained too much knowledge for them to see the world as a place of limitations. That textbook contained everything that many adults would deem impossible.

On the other hand, Syvestian himself is a living proof that even something they never thought was possible was indeed possible.

"W-Wait, it should be different now, right? W-we’ve grown..." Stuttering twice, Ezio couldn’t hide how scared he was.

There were a lot of things that happened when they were kids, entering this tower without Lysander inside. Ezio, despite his incredible speed, was immediately humbled when he nearly entered death’s door.

"I don’t know about that," Henly joins in the conversation. "This tower is over a century old. It’s been designed to keep its Lord safe in any circumstances. It didn’t matter how strong they were, they were all thrown out because they had not received verbal permission from the Lord to enter the tower."

"We will have to enter either way without Lysander’s permission," Dolunay stated, sighing. "With Syvestian around, we’ll probably make it there within minutes. With just five, it might take us a while. We have Cimmerian over here too, I think we’ll do just fine."

Cimmerian let out a nervous chuckle... "I hope so... I had a hard time when I last entered..."

It was a near death experience, Cimmerian though as a cold sweat trails down his neck.

The town keepers however, had something else in thought.

They rely on that heir that much...? the town keepers thought to themselves. From what they’ve seen hours ago, Syvestian was a genius yet vulnerable piece. He was an easy man to deal with as he seemed to prefer peace over anything.

However, what happened earlier proved them to be completely wrong. He’s not a vulnerable piece just because he was a humble pacifist. He was the mentor and savior of these monsters, but they didn’t think he’d be a monster himself.

That was certainly a naive assumption to have, however... Reene trailed off a thought. Out of curiosity, she opened her mouth to speak, she said, "I don’t understand. You immediately believed his nonsensical words..."

They all turned to her and then looked at each other from that question. They were quiet for a moment, then burst into a fit of laughter. Reene and the other blinked in bewilderment, she began somewhat feeling embarrassed.

What’s so funny? She didn’t understand their need to laugh at this tense moment.

"Oh, believe me," Milera started with a smile. "Anything that comes out of Syvestian’s mouth is anything but nonsense. The emperor himself trusts him almost blindly."

"Yes, my own father trusts him more than he trusts me," Kian jokes, but he wasn’t completely lying.

"But why...?" Gavin asks. Causing Dolunay to raise a brow, but her expression soon relaxed when she remembered that no one other than the nine of them would completely understand why Syvestian is a god to them.

Technically, he was a deity...

"He has credentials to back up his knowledge," Cimmerian simply responded. "He’s like a god of some kind, he made us who we are now. Our core training started with his help and ended with his help after all."

They all then flinched at the explosion from in front of the mansion. It was probably the two fighting... It must’ve turned into a more serious fight.

"Damn... At this point, he might as well destroy the whole property like he did at the imperial training grounds the other day," Kian cursed and sighed, then faced the town keepers. "We’ll pay for the damage he causes as an apology."

"You all... can we focus on saving Lysander now... please?" Ezio being awfully quiet, showed his concern for the current situation.

"Oh, right," Kian snapped back to reality, facing the entrance door. "Let’s just go now, it wouldn’t be so bad."

With enough steel-like courage, Kian stepped up to push the door open, but before her could even touch the wooden door, it slowly pushed open by itself. Flickering lights lightened up the insides, and they see no possible laid traps.

"What...?" They were all speechless.

The tower is not in its defensive mode...?

"Now that I thought about it, Lord Lysander... or whoever that was, has not tried entering the tower since Lord Cimmerian last visited five years ago," Kaelia shares her own observation amidst this confusing phenomena. "I’ve found it quite strange that he would often look out at the tower, but not enter himself."

With that in mind, they all remembered Syvestian’s words.

"Hurry. His soul is trapped somewhere..."

"It’s because... Lysander is still inside..." Cimmerian mumbled under his breath and immediately pushed himself to run inside.

I wasn’t wrong! He is still trapped inside!

"Hey!" Dolunay immediately followed.

"Don’t run! You’re still recovering!" Milera shouted and ran inside.

"Careful, girls," Kian says as he walks calmly, following after them.

"W-Wait! Hold on! Wait for me!" Ezio, even though scared, followed after. He was a big cat... a scared one.

Once again, the town keepers kept quiet at the chaos. They are unable to even form proper words or to react to the absurdity happening right in front of them. Another explosion then had them flinching at the impact.

Somehow, they were now worrying for the safety of someone other than their lord.

On the other hand, they need not to worry at all. Syvestian didn’t even give him enough time to land a proper hit. Daimon was now injured all over his body. Broken ribs and internal injuries had him bleeding from his mouth and nose. His head was bashed multiple times over the concrete before Syvestian let him escape.

His vision began to blur, and he could barely even stand. He looked as if he would just faint and die from the blood lost.

Syvestian was meters in front of him, completely unscathed, overpowering him.

This leaves a question in Daimon’s mind.

"You... that’s not my spell that you used... isn’t it?" Daimon was weakened, barely letting out the words. Syvestian heard it loud and clear and simply shook his head with a straight face. This made Daimon smile at the irony.

They were wrong. They were dead wrong.

The council, including him, had always thought that he copied the exact same spell that Daimon had been using for all his life. But without certainty, they had to make sure Syvestian would be brought down to his knees without resistance.

We were wrong all along, Izar... This fucker was still the same old fool we hate.

Daimon laughed.

"Well, learning about that damned spell you used at this moment would be such a waste of time, so instead, I’ll let in on something."

Syvestian maintained his stoic expression looking directly at Daimon, but Daimon kept his grin. He shows that he’s uninterested, but would do anything in his power to keep his friends safe... What kind of two-faced bitch are you, Yves? Daimon laughed in his mind.

"You won’t be able to save anyone, no matter what you do."

Syvestian raised a brow at his provocation. There was something he didn’t like about that.

"Now that you’ve revealed yourself, Izar will be coming for you, sooner or later," Daimon says, straightening his posture. Meeting Sysvestian’s gaze calmly. "No one among your friends will be safe... Not even this one."

Syvestian’s eyes widened at that, he immediately dashed to Lysander. No!

Lysander’s body nearly fell down the rubble, Syvestian was able to catch him on time. And boy, was he heavy. He was almost as tall as Cimmerian, and even without a soul, he was still as heavy. Syvestian was visibly panicking, sweating and shaking as he was staring at the aftermath of his beatings.

Fuck! A body without its soul is dead!

This was now Lysander’s lifeless body. Any longer and he could actually completely fade away from existence. His soul has been trapped and bound, turning into a lost soul because his body is occupied, refraining him from crossing the bridge. However, once the spell is removed and his body remains unoccupied while his soul is trapped and unable to come back to its body, he could really die.

I planned to keep Daimon occupied until the others found his lost soul, but it seems I didn’t distract him well enough and acted on my raging emotions, Syvestian thought to himself, cursing internally. He carried Lysander with the help of his telekinesis and rushed to the tower immediately.

No one is dying in this family! Not even by my hand!