Echoes of the Abyssal Blade: Path to Free Will-Chapter 95: Ayaka’s Resilience
The air shifted as the last fragments of the statue dissolved into the darkness, leaving no passage, no return.
Jonan felt the darkened surroundings around him being unmade; he was waiting in worry, for what would come next. He did not expect to get an inheritance; he thought he would get a passage outside of this ruined city.
Hw was wondering if it was the same for the other passages, were those other passageways inheritances.
Around him, the reshaping darkness finally settled in quiet undulations, colors and forms continuing to bleed through the pale veil of what remained.
Each breath carried the taste of something unnamed, as though the land itself were exhaling after long-held confinement.
Jonan advanced a step, his gaze was lowered, though his fingers twitched with habitual caution.
"Just what is that swirling radiance in between," he muttered, his gaze sweeping the spinning colors in front of him.
Jonan then noticed it had turned into a colorful mirror, which he went forward and held in his hand.
Following which, his world turned upside down, everything was spinning for him, he was completely disoriented, but when he opened his eyes, he found that he was again with the natives, who were incredulously staring at him.
The glowing small mirror was still in his hands, he did not know what to make out of it.
Raerin came to him with a worried expression, "What happened? Are you alright, and why did you even enter the dark pathway? It was the most ominous one among the other pathways."
Jonan exhaled, feeling his mind reeling with chaos, as he tried to settle his thoughts, and he said, "I apologize, I do not know why I felt that I should go into that pathway, but somehow I have cleared it".
He raised his hand, showing the small mirror to Raerin, to which Raerin nodded, by showing him another one of the colorful mirror.
Jonan was joyful that someone else had cleared one of the pathways. "I found that there is also inheritance at the end of these pathways, but what I got was some kind of scripture."
Raerin nodded, shaking his hand, and replied, "It is your reward, no need to explain among us, Kedes was the one who cleared the flaming pathway, he also got some inheritance, but it looks more like a mystical art, not something which any of our colony members could understand, and for the water pathway, many are still trying, let us see who gains victory over the last one, and what would happen, when we gather all the mirrors."
Jonan nodded with a smile and handed the colorful mirror to Raerin, as he also respected the chief to lead them in this expedition, without his calm demeanour, it would not be possible for Jonan and the colony members to stay united during all the perilous situations that they had all gone through.
He could now see that there is only one oceanic pathway present, whereas the other two have disappeared.
The gathered group turned their eyes to the pathway as well. It almost felt alive in its stillness, as though the rippling mist was listening.
Several of the colony’s warriors and adepts had already attempted it over the past day, each emerging bloodied, hollow-eyed, or in one case, not emerging at all.
No one spoke of those who did not come out, their absence gnawed at them all.
Raerin exhaled through his nose, the weariness showing in the lines of his brow. "It seems the oceanic trial is quite brutal, and we don’t have anyone suitable for clearing it. I’ll not order anyone else to attempt it."
But his words hung there, unclaimed — until Ayaka stepped forward.
She had been quiet for much of the expedition, her presence a steady, reliable force that never drew too much attention. A slim, dark-haired girl with an unusually clear, ocean-gray gaze. She was a renowned cheeky girl of the colony, though her talents with water-attribute arts made her an invaluable support during the prior battles through the city.
And yet, now she moved toward the pathway’s edge.
"Wait — Ayaka, don’t," Alori called out, his voice tight. He stepped in front of her, hands raised. "You’ve seen what it did to the others. These pathways are dangerous... Only Jonan and Kedes have cleared it because of their strength; unlike them we are not geniuses."
"I know," she said quietly, but her eyes never left the shifting mist.
Another voice, Aloka’s, sharp and raw. "Don’t be a fool, Ayaka. We need you. If you’re gone—"
"I’m going," Ayaka cut in, her voice barely above a whisper but somehow still carrying across the hushed gathering.
The others looked to Raerin, expecting him to forbid it, but the chief merely closed his eyes for a long moment. "If it’s your will, I won’t stop you."
A tension broke then — Aloka cursed under his breath, Alori turned away, his shoulders were stiff. Ayaka stepped forward.
Jonan caught her arm as she passed him. "Why do you worry my friend, you have us, who will shoulder these troubles."
She gave him a small, strange smile. "Iknow, and don’t worry I’m not chasing death. I hear something inside calling me."
Then, without another word, she stepped through the mist.
The oceanic pathway swallowed her whole.
The first thing Ayaka felt was cold.
It wasn’t the harsh bite of winter or the bracing sting of ice, but something older — a deep, aching cold that seemed to seep into the marrow of her bones, as though the world itself had forgotten what warmth meant.
The mist gave way to a landscape of endless, rippling water.
It moved like a tsunami, lapping at her ankles like a clutch, but it shimmered too brightly, and then it pulled and pushed her, she could not even control where she was going, she only felt she was drowning little by little.
There was no sky. Only a ceiling of shifting, pale light, like sun refracted through endless leagues of ocean.
Her breathing slowed as instinct took over, drawing in large oceanic body, she started dancing irregularly, weaving thin threads of water energy started to be around herself to steady her footing, to resist whatever this world sought to impress upon her, it was not like aura, where she could easily control the water surrounding her, but it was barely manageable.
Then, a voice.
"Who are you that walks upon the Sea of Memory?"
It was neither male nor female, ancient nor young, but something between all of them. It reverberated in the space between heartbeats.
"I am Ayaka," she said, and her voice felt small against the vastness.
A figure coalesced from the mist ahead. A woman, tall and imperious, draped in flowing robes made of liquid starlight. Her face was obscured, features blurred as though viewed through rippling water, yet her presence was undeniable — sovereign, terrible, beautiful.
"Many have come seeking, and many have drowned."
The figure lifted an arm. The water around Ayaka surged, becoming a ring of cascading waves. A crushing pressure bore down on her — her knees buckled, breath driven from her lungs.
Her spirit trembled.
The figure spoke again. "What is it you desire?"
Ayaka’s chest ached, her vision blurring. She could feel the weight of lives lost in this place, the sorrow of those who sought to claim a legacy they weren’t meant to carry.
She forced herself upright.
"I don’t seek power," she whispered. "I seek the right to protect what matters to me."
The figure’s hand opened, and in its palm hovered a sphere of water, spinning so quickly it shone like a star.
"Then withstand the Tide, and protect yourself, if you can protect yourself, you shall have my inheritance."
Without warning, the water around Ayaka roared to life.
A colossal wave, higher than any mountain, bore down upon her. Its crest glittered with specks of bone and light, voices screaming from within it.
Facing such a mighty water body, she could not run.
Ayaka raised her hands, pulling on every drop of her strength she had — shaping it, weaving it into a barrier of rippling blue threads, thin as spider silk but bound by intent.
The wave struck.
It was annihilation.
Pain lanced through her. Her flesh cracked, shattered. The force hurled her across the water’s surface, tumbling, suffocating. Every joint screamed, every bone felt as though it would snap.
But something within her — not her strength, not her skill but her resilience which was more stubborn, clawed her back to her feet.
She was drowning, but still breathing.
More waves came. Some carried images of faces she knew — a freind of her, Lira’s furious glare, one of her elders, Aeren’s worried frown, her chief Raerin’s weathered face. Others carried shadows she didn’t recognize. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮
Each one struck her. Each one tore away pieces of her self — her fear, her memories, her sorrow.
Until nothing was left but the barest core of who she was.
The figure in the Sea of Memory watched, unimpressed.
When the last wave receded, Ayaka remained standing.
She was shaking, bloodied, hollow-eyed, one of her limbs were missing.
But she remained standing.
