Chapter 103: A Murder In Black And White
Blanchette settled beside Kivas in the monochrome lounge, light from the towering window casting pale patterns across polished floor tiles.
Beyond the glass the gothic spires of Monochara stretched upward, silhouettes carved by lantern glow and traceried runes.
There, Blanchette asked, voice gentle yet sharp in the hushed atmosphere, still wearing her usual mask of a smile. "How’s the view?"
Kivas did not turn immediately. Her gaze lingered on the shifting panorama—fortress walls bracketed by black-forged towers, ribboning streets of cloud-forged conduits between them.
After seconds, she finally spoke, voice calm yet weighted by something, "This bastion thrives in its own form," she said. "Blackened stones and people living their own journey. Yet I sense something is missing. It unironically waits—like a garden tending buds before blooming its fruits."
Blanchette wore her usual closed-eyed smile as she leaned back into the lounge chair. "Missing what exactly?"
"It is strangely related to the director." Kivas gave a slow blink. "When Cayame finds what she truly wants—or accomplishes something, then maybe a path will open in which prosperity and warmth befell upon this place."
Blanchette cocked her head, her smile widening. "That’s the vaguest statement I’ve heard from you in weeks. That’s not usually how you speak. Did Samael give you a weird potion?"
Kivas chuckled. "I can see that happening." Kivas then frowned, slender brows knitting. "In a way, I can feel a domino has budged," she said softly. "And everything else is aligning for something ominous."
Blanchette also frowned in turn. "Is that the divinity in you reacting? Or being a Fateling in itself has something to do when the world’s temperature changes?"
Kivas chuckled, shadow-light of the antique bulb on the ceiling glinting its shine on her halo. "Maybe both? Lately I hear faint whispers—I think it’s my own voice, but distant. Like a castaway calling toward a familiar someone near home on a horizon it cannot reach."
At that moment, a Limbo Tier Divine Construct materialized between the two women, framed in pale glyphic motes.