Chapter 354
Ollie got off the taxi and entered his apartment's foyer. Tapping his keyfob onto the reader, he pulled the door open after an audible click. After pressing the up button, it took a couple of seconds before the elevator arrived. Once he entered the elevator, he pressed 8, and it started moving immediately.
Dainv…
The name of the race didn't really roll off the tongue. Cosmic defenders against foreign dimensions, born from the blood of four 'Ancient Ones'. Each Ancient had their own specialty, and Gale was that of the Cev Bloodline which made him part of the vanguards….
Did Rachel know? That could've been why she suggested for Gale to be the vanguard in the Architect's Tomb. She was also suspicious. Aurumn was the personification of life and death via fire. Erin went directly to Rachel's family's house after she escaped the tomb by herself to get 'healed'.
Was Rachel a Dainv too?
The slow elevator stopped at 8 as it dinged open. Walking out of the elevator, he went to his apartment, unit 808.
Home sweet home.
Unlocking the door, he pulled it open and entered the unit. After he put his bag down to the side, he said, "I'm home."
Welcome back, Ollie! She would say.
His eyes caught her picture by the entryway stand. He smiled, pulling out his phone again. He scrolled to a random day within their text, as he couldn't quite focus on his daily routine.
Ollie moved to the sofa and turned on the tv. He put on a random 3D movie and dropped down onto the couch.
Aurumn's fire… Cev's void…
Erin's story told of these two combinations being the most lethal when it came to protecting the cosmos. Then why didn't she also take in Rachel as her disciple or student or whatever they call it in their culture?
Something was amiss, and Ollie couldn't quite put his finger on it. Putting this into perspective, Rachel never once told him that she was a Dainv. Unaging and nigh immortal beings do exist in Aur. The Caffeine Transcendent and the Salem Witches were the most prolific ones. Many also exist within United Knights and Jiuling factions, but more reclused.
There were two ways to look at this: Rachel is a Dainv. And the other not. She was the lynchpin for this hypothesis.
If she were a Dainv, then her family would fiercly hide from the Cesnv eyes. If she were not a Cesnv, then her family shouldn't be hiding their abilities from anyone because the signature for a Dainv were completely… different?
Her signature was different. It was similar to Erin's and Gale's. Much thicker than Ether, Mana, Qi, and Prana.
The only problem with that theory was Gerard and Esther. They had completely normal mana signatures. But could they be masking their own signatures?
That also didn't make sense. Erin said that this combination would be terrifying in a battlefield. It didn't make much sense to prevent the growth of the two.
Then, what's the angle here, Esther? What is it?
Ollie telekinetically unzipped his bag from at the door and pulled out his laptop. Having put his laptop on his lap, he turned it on then immediately went to search.
Ming Cult.
Contrary to popular belief, this cult was older than any of the sects in China. The family name Ann was of Chinese descent. This cult specifically worshipped the sacred fire that represented hope and salvation.
From what?
The only answer could be rifts. If what Erin said was true, then the combat capability of Earth would have been drastically advanced by foreign influence. By advancing it, she could live here in peace without needing to set a beacon to the Cesnv about her family's existence.
That was if she lived for that long, but how else would the Ming Cult have worshipped the sacred fire for eons? There was no other Aurian family that could create the same strength of fire as the Ann Family. Even the Ming Cult members respected them almost to the point of reverence.
Should the Ann Family tell them what to do, the Patriarch and the Sacred Priestess would mobilize their whole cult to do her bidding.
Searching up Guatemala Incident of 2064 in the Neutral Grounds Database, the factions involved were…
United Knights Orders 1, 6, and 21.
The Path Divisions 6 (Asset Recovery), 13 (Heavy Unit), and 16 (Special Investigations Division), and contracted the Blue Witches.
Jiuling Wutang, Mount Hua, and Ming Cult… Baker and Ann family were also involved. Although it was a bit of a reach, that rift war did confirm the connection between the Ming Cult and the Ann family.
Yet, none of these explained why Esther would prevent Rachel from reaching her full potential, unless the Cesnv were just that strong. From Erin's explanation, the Cesnv were weaker than just a pure Dainv.
If the angle was absolute self-preservation, that would make total sense. Rifts were call to action portals that lead to worlds that needed help. Since Earth was technically a Tier 2 combat capable world, many Origin Spirits opened up their portals to around the globe.
Since Esther lived for that long, then did she perhaps prepare Earth to become that strong? Based on multiple rifts that held civilizations and filtering for ones that were at least in their medieval stages, none of the rifts held the strength of Earth's own Aurian society during the medieval stage.
Historians also noted that the strength achieved from the constant bloodshed allowed Earth to defend itself against rifts that could have potentially wiped out humanity.
Such as the 1945 massive class 6 rift in Hiroshima.
By advancing Earth's combat capabilities by leap and bounds, Esther created an ecosystem that allowed her to hide amongst the inhabitants of Earth.
Was that it, Esther? If a being like her needed to hide against the Cesnv, then did the rifts matter at all in her eyes?
It only came to one conclusion. The Cesnv potentially had stronger technology than the raw access of a Dainv to the Origin System. That wasn't entirely unbelievable.
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Problem was, if Esther was doing all of this for self preservation, then Rachel would be told that the only Dainvs that exist were her family. There was only one way to test this.
Ollie pulled out his phone from his pocket and called Rachel Ann. The phone rang for at least 7 rings until she finally picked up.
Hey, Ollie. Are you ok?
"I'm ok. How was your rift raid with the others?"
It was good. Did you know we got a new member?
"I heard. Haven't met her yet though. Did the twins really take them in?"
Yup. Did you check the group chat? They sent a photo of Xinyi in a cute maid outfit.
"Seriously? Hold on." Ollie took his phone and navigated to the group chat. The first thing he saw Rachel typing in all capitals at the twins. Scrolling up, he saw the new girl, Xinyi, slicing vegetables in a maid outfit. Putting his phone back onto his ear, he said, "she actually looks cute in that."
She is pretty….
"What if Gale asked you to wear a maid outfit and cook for him? Would you?" Ollie asked.
A bunch of random noises came from the phone, just Rachel stuttering. I probably would. Maybe in private?
"In private? Why probably?"
Why are you asking so suddenly?
"Hey, don't deflect now. We all know how you look at Gale. How come nothing's happened yet?"
It's not that nothing happened… it's just—
"Esther?"
Kind of. But also because…
"Because what? Come on. I won't tell him anything."
My family's kinda weird, you know that right?
"Yea so what?"
My grandma and Gerard we age slow so I don't know… I'm just afraid.
"Really, that's what you're worried about? If Gale reaches Arcane, there's a high chance he'd stop aging. And he does have the potential."
That's what everyone says about the Mid and Late-Mystics. Most of them have died by now.
"Sure, but why torture yourself? You can just have another lover after Gale dies."
Ollie. Please don't say that.
"Right. Sorry," Ollie sighed. Even he was kind of iffy on finding new love for himself.
Why are you so interested anyways?
"Nothing. I've just seen the pictures of everyone during the rifts. I just saw you and Gale are becoming real close. I just find it weird why nothing happened yet."
You really think he can become an Arcane?
"I know so. If I'm gonna be one, he'll be one too."
Pfft. Starting to gain your confidence back?
"You could say that. I'm glad everyone's having fun, though."
We were thinking of going to High Park for barbeque. Do you wanna come with?
"I'll think about it. Anyway, I'm hanging up now."
What you up to?
"I'm on Toy Story 2 right now. Gotta finish the series by the end of this week."
Sure. Have fun with your movies. Just let me know by next week if you're coming.
"I know. I'll talk to you later. Bye."
Night night.
Ollie took a deep breath. That confirmed everything. Esther hid everything from Rachel. There was no way that Esther didn't know about Gale's Dainv status. Then the pressure now comes from Esther.
For someone powerful like her, having Rachel rifted to an unknown world with her insured safety meant she was looking too far ahead. Or, since she knew of the strong combination of Aurumn and Cev, she saw that rifting incident to just clean out a potential problematic family in Aur. The Silver Lions, after all, were trying to unveil the existence of Aur via Project Armament.
Erin, you idiot.
She shouldn't have told him that. How was he supposed to hide it from Rachel now? If he accidentally blurts it out, Esther might just do something drastic to him.
Welp, worry about that later. Time to make some popcorn for Toy Story 2. Ollie set aside the laptop and stood up. Walking into the kitchen, he took a bag of popcorn from the cupboard. He telekinetically opened the microwave, set it to 2.5 minutes, and put in the popcorn bag while walking towards the washroom.
Opening the door, as he took the first step into the washroom, the world suddenly changed. Ollie entered a space of darkness. Across the horizon of this space was the milky way galaxy in the brightest form he had ever seen it in.
Taking another step forward, he felt the ground was still solid. He could still breathe and move his hands and arms normally.
But before he could orient himself any further, a giant fiery eye in the sky looked down on him with its slit pupils. Heat emanated from above, not burning, just warmth and more soothing. Weight pressed on his shoulders, a vast mana signature that of a Late-Arcane, but its consistency and thickness was on another level compared to the highest form of energy, Prana. It was definitely essence.
Oliver Glory.
"Yes?" Ollie asked, trying his best to maintain his composition. Honestly, just looking at this eye made his head hurt. It felt like his left eye was about to pop out.
The knowledge you've been granted. Do you believe it's truly free?
"Haha, what knowledge are you talking about?" Ollie asked, yet he couldn't take his eye off of it.
Let's not play games, Glory. We both know why you're here.
"Look, Lady Esther—"
Since when do you wish to use the traditional honourifics?
"Fine. Esther. It wasn't my choice, ok?"
The floating eye vanished in a blink of an eye. A woman appeared in front of him just a couple of meters away. She wore a simple black dress with multiple earrings that all held the shape of a rhombus. Her hair was of a dark red with streaks of lighter reds that made it look like fire.
Esther Ann.
"Let's stop the pretenses, Glory. What did Erin tell you?" Esther said.
Ollie attempted a smile. "What if I tell you, that it would probably easier to ask me what she didn't tell me?"
"I see…" Esther glared at him. "And which side are you on?"
"In a way that Gale says things… truthfully, honestly, and most certainly, I'm on Gale's side."
"An interesting statement, Glory." Esther walked around him. "Then I take it that you know what to do?"
"Can I ask one question?" Ollie asked.
"One. Question."
"Are the Cesnvs that strong?"
"They are not," Esther said.
Shit. That was a bad question that didn't even get her to answer anything. Ollie cleared his throat. "Funny enough, if they're not, then I guess Erin and Gale has nothing to worry about, eh?"
Esther smirked. "What have you believe that just because they are not strong does not mean they can squash two small Dainvs?"
Ollie gulped. "Because you've lived this long. The only way for you to perish is through fighting against what lurks beyond the rifts. Gale's parents left him at 12 years old. He's the same age as Rachel--I checked their records before. But no massive event occured on Earth in 2054."
"Go on," Esther said.
"It only means 2 outcomes. Cesnv or massive rift that the Earth couldn't handle. Since you're still here, the Cesnv is ruled out. Then it could only mean that Gale's parents, your daughter and son in law died to protect Earth."
Esther glared down at him. "What do you get out of knowing this?"
"Actually nothing. Apart from knowing why rifts keep appearing," Ollie said. He really did get nothing out of this. However, it was a gamble. She can eliminate him here now and no one would ever know what happened to him. Or, she can see what he was getting at. In a fight against the constant rift appearances, he would be invaluable.
Ollie bet everything on Glory Industries.
Esther closed in on him, leaning down to reach his ears, making him close his eyes. "Stay in your lane. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
"Yup. Haha. Loud and clear, Esther Ann matriarch madam!" Ollie waited for a couple of seconds for a reply. When he slowly peeked from his closed eyes, he saw himself in mirror.
He was back at the washroom. Suddenly, his legs buckled. Fucking Erin, putting him between this cold war between two old women.
The microwave beeped, signaling the popcorn was done. Whatever. For now, he was saved, and Toy Story 2 awaits.