Chapter 134: [First Light]
Almost five minutes passed with our cohort climbing the 'steps' towards the monument, and, before long, the five of us arrived at its base. The land upon which it stood was flat, neatly carved to hold the grand structure firmly in place.
The sleek silver monument, engraved in an unknown language, was stained with streaks of black; the Sunless Skies? Or Curses? Or is it something else?
Jill, donned with the Cloak of Verdasnk, the same as the rest of us, stepped towards the monument first. Unlike our venture into The Canary the first time around, he didn't casually plant his hand on the monument.
Instead, a slightly duller flicker of light, not sharp enough to be spotted from a distance, flickered off his index finger and towards the stained monument.
It blinked and waved over like a drunken spirit-
Tap.
-and landed quietly on the monument.
No reaction.
Eying us over his shoulder, Jill shrugged, "Safe, I think."
He thinks?
Nemora didn't mind that remark, apparently, as she walked up to him, past him, and planted her palm flat on the monument. The black stains streaking throughout the monument wriggled irregularly for a split second with a familiar aura, Curses, then relaxed.
It reacted to human touch but not to Jill's Blessings?
So, these black streaks—are they truly Curses?
Did they react to the Curses in Nemora's body?
Shooting a glance at Esme; there's only one way to confirm it, for my dear sister to touch it herself. But it's not worth the risk-
"Alora, come up and touch it. I want to confirm if these are Curses or not. They reacted to me, but not to Jill's light. If it doesn't react to you, that will solidify my suspicion and allow me to reevaluate the danger level of this anomaly."
Risk Esme?
Nothing is allowed to risk my dear-
"Okay."
-Esme...?
Regardless of my unwillingness for my sister to take a blind risk for seemingly no reason, Esme offered herself up on a platter and walked away from my side and to Nemora's.
She nodded at Nemora, then planted her hand onto the monument.
This time-
No reaction.
"It's likely Curses that have ingrained themselves into this monument, and if not Curses, then it's something similar enough to draw a reaction from us who do have Curses..." Then, Nemora turned her eyes towards me, "Say, want to give it a try?"
My next decision was stupid.
It lacked almost all rationality.
But I didn't want Esme to be the only one taking a risk. If she was willing to put herself in danger for my sake, I must then do the same for her.
As long as it doesn't kill me.
I, too, stepped up to the monument.
With Esme to my left, and the even taller Nemora to Esme's left, I took my position and raised my palm;
Touch.
It was cold to the touch.
Not freezing, but low enough to make you wince.
Wait...?
As I pressed my palm onto the monument, a thrumming, almost... wailing? Sensation burst through from the monument and onto my palm; through my skin, this invasive existence cracked past my defences and directly into my-
Into my Cursed Vessels?
-as though it belonged there, this thrumming irregularity began cementing itself in my body until it fully revealed itself.
Finally, as I stood before the monument with the others curiously glancing at me, I pushed my focus onto the words imprinted within me.
No.
Technically, they're not imprinted within me, but within the stele floating silently in my veins.
A cold, dark stele carved beautifully with white, recognisable words:
[The stream slithers ever onwards.]
The first line drew a shiver from within me.
[It has been a month, yet the spines allude us to this day...]
The second drew out the curiosity from within me.
[First Light is insistent on avoiding the-]
The third drew out the suspicions from within me.
And, the final two, they-
[They've come.]
[To hell with it all.]
-they warned me.
An immediate, spine-tingling warning; a horrific sensation burst through my central nervous system the moment I comprehended the words imprinted within the stele.
Simultaneously, the section of the monument my palm had been sitting on shifted; it converged the sticky darkness spread across its vast structure to the one point in front of me.
Thus, before the eyes of our cohort, to the shock of them all, and even to me, the darkness formed the same imagery of the stele stuck within my conscious mind.
And, carved upon it-
No, not even carved. The darkness outlined the silver monument to reveal words—the same words I'd comprehended seconds ago.
[The stream slithers ever onwards.]
[It has been a month, yet the spines allude us to this day...]
[First Light is insistent on avoiding the-]
[They've come.]
[To hell with it all.]
"The fuck?" Jill's short and explicit language broke the drowning, silent confusion that had befallen us.
Nemora and Esme glanced over at me with many questions, but I could only shake my head; I knew just as much as they did, nothing.
Perhaps the fact that it had condensed within me first could mean something, but I'd deal with that later.
For now...
"Just me, you guys, or are those last lines only, just, very, slightly, ominous?" Elden chuckled with a cautious breath.
He didn't want to jinx it, but the others were also thinking the same at the moment.
Me included.
Elden scratched his chin and turned backwards to face the fairly distant Canary, "But there's nothing so far?"
Then, Jill, too, did the same. Except he took a walk around the monument and disappeared from our vision to check the other side. Alora and I took a side each, she on the left, and I on the right.
Nemora, on the other hand, didn't include herself. The icy lady focused on the monument and on the newly engraved words that we could comprehend.
Because the rest of the monument...
Scribble.
I heard the sound of a quill being scratched on paper. Shifting my vision backwards for a brief second, I saw Nemora holding out a book upon which she was copying the monument's structure and the words carved into it in a language that we knew nothing of.
She's working hard.
That thought lingered as I turned my gaze back towards the distant waters.
---
Tap.
Tap!
Tap!
An impatient foot rattled the ebony flooring of The Canary; the owner's eyes glared at the redhead standing in front of her with a dry smirk resting on her lips.
The person in question was, obviously, Vanessa.
Hilda, who stood at the receiving end of Vanessa's wrath, wriggled on the spot with an awkward smile; unlike her olden, brash days, the Hilda of now had become almost an entirely different person.
If anything-
"I said, go back and join them. Now."
-Vanessa had taken over Hilda's old aggressiveness and lost her own sly demeanour. The change was drastic, but...
Understandable.
"I'm sorry... The little dummy wants me to stay here."
Vanessa clicked her teeth at the unrelenting wench standing with her buxom body as though she were all innocent, "Fucking bitch, did that dumbass say those words directly to you? No, right? So fucking go."
With each moment, Vanessa's ticked-off brain grew wilder with more exaggerated curses slipping from her mouth.
She didn't give a damn, though.
Vanessa needed Hilda to go.
She had to.
"S, she didn't. But I can't. I have to stay here." Hilda stood stubbornly in the midst of the tense Captain's Cabin.
Hildekar stood by the wooden panels covering the window at the back, alongside Lily and the eerily quiet Yulei. They watched with their mouths zipped in hopes that Vanessa wouldn't redirect her ire at them.
Clicking her tongue, Vanessa swept her hand through her black hair and sighed with a crinkled, pissed face, "The hell do I have to do to convince you?" The first section of her voice came out loud and clear, but the second section...
"To change it?" ...that part hummed through her mouth, silent enough not to be picked up by even those of the Third Step.
"Can't convince me." Hilda firmly shook her head. Alora's Sword Maid would wait here as instructed unless something changed.
Vanessa knew this, but she tried to convince her nonetheless.
But now...
Now she would no longer play fairly.
Squinting her eyes, Vanessa crossed her arms and tapped her elbow with slow, thoughtful movements. Her smirk lifted slightly as she took a step closer towards the defensive, sexy maid.
"You will go."
Hilda responded immediately, "No, I wont-" But Vanessa raised her palm, cutting her off with an unrecognisable, prim and proper smile that had touched her lips at some point within the past few seconds.
"You will."
Taking another step closer, Vanessa stood slightly below Hilda in height. Tilting her head upwards, she leaned in close enough to graze her breath across Hilda's collar, "And you will do as I say. Otherwise, I will tell Esme." She whispered with the aid of a breath of Blessing in the second half.
Hilda flinched, almost stumbling back with faint confusion.
"You see, the last person who should ever find out at this moment is Esme."
"F, find out...?"
"Hush... Lower your voice."
Smiling sweetly, Vanessa tapped Hilda's shoulder, "Don't you remember? The fun you had with Alora in the carriage...? The smouldering heat~" Playfully giggling, Vanessa's dark eyes glinted with pure malice.
This was a threat.