Myriad Rivers to the Sea

Li Yu stood completely stiff and was unsure what to do here. She wasn’t harming him in any way but the situation was a bit awkward. The Ancestor of the Eidolon Court continued to sob into his shoulder. Her grip on his dark robes was desperate and crushing.

"What is going on?" Li Yu asked slowly. He kept his voice low and measured. "We need to step back. Why are you crying on me?"

Elysia’s mind finally came back to her and she froze. She took a ragged breath and slowly loosened her grip around his neck. She stepped back and wiped the tears from her pale cheeks with the sleeve of her simple robe. She looked at him for a long moment and a deep sadness flickered in her dark eyes before she carefully masked it.

"I apologize for my actions just now. My name is Elysia." Elysia said quietly. Her voice was much steadier now. "The soul poison has been messing with my mind. I am not completely myself these days. I mistook you for someone else I knew long ago."

Li Yu narrowed his eyes. He did not believe her for a single second. He opened his mouth to press her for the actual truth but she completely ignored his skeptical glare. She turned away and walked toward the small wooden table in the center of the room.

"Please sit," she offered while gesturing to a wooden chair. "Let us have some tea."

Li Yu hesitated but he eventually walked over and took a seat. He would never be able to find out the real truth if she isn’t willing to tell him. He kept his chaotic domain active beneath his skin. Elysia moved with a practiced grace despite her sickly pallor. She filled a clay kettle with fresh water and placed it over the small hearth.

She sat down across from him and folded her hands on the table.

"You must think I am a monster," she began softly. She looked out the open door toward the vibrant vegetable fields. "My council fears me and history paints me as a tyrant who cursed her own bloodline. I suppose I earned those titles eras ago. But time changes everything."

Li Yu remained silent and waited for her to continue.

"I had gotten significantly weaker over the eras," she explained. "Long before the poison struck me, I was already fading. Anchoring my soul to the core of this realm required a monumental amount of energy. Eventually I lost the ability to project my physical form across the Omen Realm. I could only take physical form here in this tiny spatial pocket."

She looked back at Li Yu. "After the poison struck twenty years ago I began getting even weaker. However, I still have been enjoying this small space and doing the simple activities I enjoy. I raise my fish and I tend to my garden. It brings me peace."

Li Yu looked at her rough but refined features. There was clearly more to her story. She spoke with a heavy nostalgia that hinted at hidden depths she was refusing to reveal. But he did not press the issue of someone else’s past. He was not here to uncover her ancient secrets. He was here to secure a Realm Essence and ensure his own survival.

"I know the terms you set for my council," Elysia said as the water in the kettle began to boil. She stood up and poured the hot water over a handful of dried silver leaves in a clay pot. "They told me you demand a contract before I enter your body. What exactly do you want from me?"

Li Yu sat up straighter. "I want to form a soul binding contract with you. The terms are simple and are there for my safety. They shouldn’t impact you in any way unless you have bad intentions. You must agree that you cannot ever attempt to take over my body or suppress my consciousness. You are to just stay in my soul space and live peacefully forever or until you are cured and can leave safely."

Li Yu went on to say a few other benefits that he can obtain from her such as some teachings, calling on her help if she is able three times and also three separate favors he can ask of her and in extension her empire at a later time. However, Elysia didn’t hear any of those words.

Elysia only heard to the end of “live peacefully forever” and she paused and tuned everything else out. The clay teapot in her hand hovered above the cups. Her dark eyes widened slightly. She looked at Li Yu to see if he was making a cruel joke but his expression was entirely serious.

Her eyes suddenly lit up with a brilliant and unmistakable spark of joy. The heavy burden of her dying realm seemed to vanish from her shoulders.

Internally her mind was racing. ‘Is this all just a dream?’ She thought to herself. ‘I can live inside his soul space? I can live there peacefully forever?’

It was all she had ever truly wanted. To live peacefully with the person she cared most about but fate was cruel and separated them long ago. She set the teapot down with a soft clack. She looked at Li Yu and offered a bright and genuine smile.

"I accept," Elysia said without a single moment of hesitation. "I agree to all of your terms right now."

Li Yu was surprised. He had mentally prepared himself for a grueling negotiation. He expected an ancient supreme being to fight tooth and nail against any kind of restrictive soul contract. Instead, she agreed faster than a starving man accepting a meal.

Before Li Yu could question her motives, she raised her hand. She pressed two pale fingers against her own forehead. She closed her eyes and chanted a silent syllable.

A fragment of her soul emerged from her skin. It was a sphere of pure and radiant white light. It was breathtakingly dense. Even though it was just a tiny fragment, it carried an weight that dwarfed the combined souls of her thirty seven council members that Li Yu had accepted.

She opened her eyes and pushed the glowing orb across the wooden table toward Li Yu.

"I will initiate the contract," she said softly.

Li Yu reached out and touched the orb. He pushed his own spiritual sense into the light to verify the terms.

However, as Li Yu read deeper into the ethereal runes he noticed she had added a massive condition of her own. She had actually formed a contract where her life and his were inextricably bound together but the flow of consequence only went one way.

If she died inside his soul space nothing would happen to him. He would remain perfectly unharmed. But if he died she would die instantly with him along with all of his terms.

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Li Yu looked up in shock. "Why did you add that? You tied your survival entirely to my life."

"It is for my own protection," she replied smoothly. She picked up her teacup and took a slow sip.

Li Yu frowned. The logic made absolutely no sense. Tying her life to his mortality was an incredible risk for a supreme being. "Are you not worried that I am trying to hurt or harm you? You are giving me an immense amount of leverage over your existence."

She set her cup down. She looked at him with that same profound and mysterious affection she had shown during their embrace.

"Out of anyone in this vast cosmos that could ever hurt or harm me," Elysia said softly. "It would never be you."

Li Yu was taken aback. He stared at her and tried to find any trace of deception in her dark eyes. There was none. She spoke to him with a level of absolute trust that he could not comprehend. She spoke to him as if she knew the very core of his being. He still believed she was confusing him for someone else but he could not deny the sincerity of her actions.

"Fine," Li Yu nodded. He did not understand her but the contract was heavily in his favor and he had no reason to refuse it. He accepted the terms and solidified the ethereal bond.

"I am ready when you are," Elysia said as she stood up from the table. She smoothed her simple robes.

Li Yu stood up and walked to the center of the wooden room. He sat down on the floor and crossed his legs into a meditative lotus position. He regulated his breathing and opened the pathways to his inner world.

"You may enter," Li Yu said.

Elysia did not hesitate. Her physical body dissolved into a torrent of radiant white light. The light swirled around the room like a localized blizzard before funneling directly into Li Yu’s chest.

Li Yu naturally let her in. He relaxed his chaotic domain and lowered his internal defenses. He felt an undeniable and instinctual feeling that she would not harm him. He was not sure why his instincts were so calm but he trusted them. The radiant light sank deep into his foundation.

Li Yu closed his eyes and tried to sink his consciousness inward to make sure everything remained stable during the integration. However, he was rejected and blocked. A massive pressure fell on him and he had to struggle against it.

‘Is this part of the process? It is incredibly tough to hold on. I hope everything internally is going well.’ Li Yu thought to himself and he continued to fight.

Within Li Yu’s soul space the ethereal environment was vast and serene. The boundless Ocean of Qi churned gently below. High above the waters floated the main sanctuary island. The Fisherman sat on his rock and was fishing as always. The whale drifted within the Ocean of Qi somewhere. The Koi soul was drifting through the clouds. Muddy chewed lazily on some spiritual grass. The Human Soul sat quietly under a tree.

Suddenly the sky of the inner world flared with a blinding white radiance.

On the island with his other souls, Xyphyra watched the event unfold. Old Du's sister looked up at the blinding light and her eyes widened in shock.

She could sense the terrifying density of the foreign soul entering the space. Xyphyra was a powerful entity but she could instantly tell that Elysia’s soul strength was even stronger than hers. The weight of the new arrival made the spiritual air of the inner world vibrate.

Elysia’s radiant soul did not crash into the main island or attempt to dominate the space. Instead, the white light condensed a few miles away from the main island. It hovered directly above the Ocean of Qi.

With a display of mastery, Elysia began to shape the ambient energy. She pulled spiritual dirt and water from the surroundings and rapidly formed a brand new island. She shaped the terrain with meticulous care. Within moments, she had perfectly recreated her sanctuary from the outside world. The large pond, the tilled vegetable fields, the wooden fence and the small house all materialized on her floating island.

Xyphyra watched in stunned silence as the new being made herself completely at home. Once her sanctuary was established, Elysia stepped off her new island. She floated across the open sky and landed softly on the edge of Li Yu’s main island.

She did not look around at the environment. She instantly locked her dark eyes onto the Human Soul sitting beneath the tree.

The Human Soul currently looked like a younger adult version of Li Yu after the split. It sensed her arrival and stood up. It looked at her with a blank and confused expression.

Elysia did not say a word. She quickly ran across the grass and threw her arms around the Human Soul. She hugged it with a fierce and deep affection. The Human Soul stood stiffly and its confusion deepened just like Li Yu earlier. It did not push her away but it did not return the embrace either.

Elysia stepped back. She reached into her radiant robes and took out a small glowing orb. She held it out and gestured for the Human Soul to touch it. The Human Soul hesitated for a fraction of a second before reaching out. Its ethereal fingers brushed against the smooth surface of the orb.

In an instant a massive torrent of different memories entered the Human Soul’s mind. The transfer was instantaneous. The Human Soul’s eyes widened as the hidden history flooded its consciousness. It processed the memories and the emotions embedded within them.

The confusion on the Human Soul’s face melted away completely. It was replaced by a look of understanding and an overwhelming warmth.

The Human Soul smiled at her. It was a wide and incredibly genuine smile. The ethereal construct reached out and pulled Elysia in for a big hug. It held her tightly against its chest and then leaned down to give her a deep and passionate kiss.

Xyphyra watched the scene and her jaw practically dropped. She was completely baffled. She had no idea what kind of bizarre romance was playing out in her captor’s soul space but she was entirely powerless to do anything about it.

Elysia eventually broke the kiss. She rested her forehead against the Human Soul’s chest for a brief moment before turning around. She walked over to the edge where the Fisherman soul was sitting.

The Fisherman did not stand up. He kept his woven bamboo hat pulled low over his eyes and held his fishing rod loosely in his hands.

Elysia stopped a respectful distance away and gave the Fisherman a deep and formal bow. She seemed to speak to him but her ethereal voice was completely silent. She conveyed her words through some method.

The Fisherman’s only response was to slowly raise his free hand. He put a single finger to his mouth in a universal sign for her to be quiet. A wide and knowing smile stretched across his face beneath the shadow of his hat.

The Fisherman suddenly stood up. He whipped his fishing rod backward and then cast the line forward with blinding speed. The ethereal hook shot through the air and struck Elysia directly in the center of her chest.

It did not hurt her though. The hook bypassed her soul entirely and latched onto the hideous grey poison buried deep within her foundation.

The Fisherman yanked the rod backward with a massive surge of strength.

A thick and grotesque glob of murky grey poison was dragged forcefully out of Elysia’s body. The toxic sludge hissed and writhed on the end of the hook. The Fisherman casually swung the rod and dropped the deadly soul poison into a small wooden box that he had quickly taken out. He slammed the lid shut and sealed the box with a tap of his finger.

He had just effortlessly removed nearly all of the lethal poison that had stumped the Eidolon Court for twenty years. The Fisherman sat back down on his rock. He said something silently to her and gave her a dismissive wave of his hand.

Elysia nodded in understanding. She offered the Fisherman another deep bow of immense gratitude.

She turned around and walked back to the Human Soul. The Human Soul smiled and took her hand as the two ethereal figures left the main island and flew across the open sky. They landed gracefully on her newly formed plot of land and walked toward the small wooden house with a smile on both their faces.

Outside in the physical world, Li Yu remained seated in a meditative trance. He was completely unaware of the dramatic reunions and miraculous cures playing out within.