A Journey Unwanted

Chapter 521 - 509: What they are

[Realm: Uhorus]

[Location: Verdantis]

[Capital City]

Lucinda found her eyes latched onto what she was seeing. The flame suspended between Alyssia’s pale palms was unlike any fire she had ever witnessed.

It was fire, certainly.

Yet calling it fire felt inadequate.

An orb of luminous flame hovered between the other spawn’s hands, rotating slowly upon itself as though obeying laws entirely separate from ordinary magic. It was not orange or red. It possessed none of the familiar colors Lucinda associated with heat, destruction, or combustion.

Instead, it shone with a radiant golden light. It spilled outward across the courtyard gardens, washing over flowerbeds, stone pathways, trimmed hedges, and rock structures alike. Yet despite how brilliant it was, Lucinda felt no heat.

No warmth or a sensation of burning. The fire illuminated everything around it while somehow remaining completely detached from the physical world. Even then she could feel its power.

("It’s not simply mana radiating from it...") Lucinda’s eyes narrowed slightly as she studied the orb. Her instincts as a spawn of Octavia immediately rejected the notion that this was ordinary magic. ("It’s the same type of energy I use when I make use of Arcane Ascendance...")

Arcane Ascendance was not simply making one stronger through mana. It never had been. There was always something else mixed within it. For most Arcane Ascendance was tapping into the power their God represented, in its purest form. No imitation through magic.

The golden fire felt eerily similar, as though both abilities drew from the same distant source. The orb gradually diminished as the golden flames folded inward. The light softened and eventually the fire vanished entirely.

Alyssia lowered her hands.

The white-haired girl immediately turned toward Lucinda with an expression that could only be described as expectant.

There was even the smallest trace of pride on her face.

"So what do you think?" Alyssia asked, a small smile appearing. "Quite beautiful, no?"

Lucinda blinked once, then twice. She was still trying to process exactly what she had witnessed. After a moment she slowly nodded.

"Sure..." she admitted. "It’s certainly something." Her gaze lingered on Alyssia’s hands where no residual mana was, with no visible spell construct.

Which somehow made it even stranger.

"You used an entirely different energy source to construct the fire," Lucinda continued thoughtfully. "Though even then, I still only sense your mana."

Alyssia looked mildly pleased by the observation.

"Well, I was drawing from another personal source."

Lucinda immediately opened her mouth, questions rushed forward.

What source?

How?

Could she replicate it?

Was it connected to the Angels?

Unfortunately Alyssia clearly saw the incoming barrage, the former princess sighed.

"Do not ask me to explain." Lucinda paused as Alyssia folded her arms. "It’s merely a vague feeling I get. One which I am in no mood to try and explain."

The answer somehow sounded both genuine and frustrating.

Lucinda slowly closed her mouth.

"Right." A beat passed. "Of course." She awkwardly cleared her throat. For all her curiosity, she recognized when someone genuinely lacked the words to explain something. "And you say you discovered this power after that Uriel took over?"

The question caused Alyssia’s expression to lose some of its earlier amusement.

"Yes." Her answer was quiet. "It became second nature to apply this power."

Alyssia raised one hand, her red eyes settled upon it. She stared at her fingers for a long moment, not as someone admiring their own power. But more as someone still trying to understand it.

"Imbuing things with this foreign energy," she murmured with her fingers slowly curling. "Amplifying and altering the effects."

Lucinda studied her carefully.

("Yeah...") Her gaze drifted toward the place where the golden fire had been moments ago. ("I could all but feel the power radiating from it.") The sensation lingered, even now. ("It’s definitely more potent than average magic.")

That much was undeniable, no ordinary spell felt like that. And ordinary mana did not behave like that.

("Yet despite my eyes, I can’t get a proper read on it.") Normally her eyes provided answers, normally she could dissect such powers. Yet this power felt strangely distant as though she were trying to grasp something hidden behind a veil.

Lucinda eventually exhaled and turned her attention back toward Alyssia.

The conversation had drifted far enough.

"I suppose this is what Lady Lyra wanted me to help you with."

Alyssia immediately huffed. "As if I cannot manage it on my own." The response came far too quickly and defensively. "That woman worries too much." She bristled visibly.

Lucinda couldn’t help smiling, however it was a small, sheepish smile.

"It seems to me she’s merely overly worried." Alyssia’s expression flattened as Lucinda continued anyway. "Like an overprotective mother."

Alyssia snorted, the sound caught Lucinda completely off guard.

"That and more." Alyssia folded her arms, her gaze drifting toward a patch of blooming lilies nearby. The flowers swayed gently beneath the warmth of the enchanted courtyard. "When I was younger she treated me like glass." Her voice carried equal parts exasperation and affection. "Honestly, it would have been annoying if it were anyone else."

Lucinda listened quietly as Alyssia’s expression softened, only slightly.

"Lyra has a way of being comforting despite how overbearing she used to be." The words emerged naturally, without resistance or complaint, without trying to, they felt genuine.

Lucinda found herself smiling slightly, the relationship made much more sense now. Lucinda noticed something else as well, that distant look. The same one Alyssia had worn several times already. Her eyes drifted somewhere beyond the courtyard, beyond the flowers, castle and the present.

As though briefly lost within memories that no one else could see. Memories stretching back three hundred years.

Then, almost immediately, Alyssia shook her head. The expression vanished.

"But let us not dwell on the past." Her tone became lighter as she straightened slightly and looked directly at Lucinda once more. "Back on topic."

Lucinda couldn’t help noticing how quickly Alyssia redirected the conversation. As though some memories remained easier to discuss than others.

Lucinda decided to go along with Alyssia’s abrupt change in subject. Truthfully, she would have preferred something simpler. Something normal that did not involve discussions about Angels. Or conversations about powers neither of them fully understood.

Just a normal conversation, the sort two girls might have while walking through a garden.

Yet Lucinda knew that would have to wait as she watched her fellow spawn quietly.

Alyssia was still not quite comfortable with her, that much was obvious. It made sense, Lucinda told herself. They had only met a short while ago, their entire acquaintance could be measured in hours rather than days.

The only reason their conversation had lasted this long was because they shared something nobody else truly could. They were both spawns of Octavia, both carried burdens neither had asked for, and both had learned far too much in far too little time. Even then, Lucinda had begun noticing a pattern.

Every time Alyssia opened up even slightly, when she revealed something genuine and when warmth slipped into her voice, she would immediately retreat afterward.

The walls would go back up, the distance would return, and the sharp comments came once more. Along with the guarded expressions and careful avoidance. Lucinda was not oblivious to it, far from it.

She could see how tense Alyssia often was, how her shoulders stiffened whenever conversations drifted too close to personal matters. How her gaze occasionally darted toward exits, how she always seemed ready to pull away, even physically.

There was always a small distance between them.

Lucinda understood what that meant.

Alyssia had problems.

Problems that ran far deeper than simply being a spawn of Octavia, far deeper than learning she was an Angel’s incarnation, far deeper than mastering strange powers, and far deeper than even her death.

Three hundred years separated her from everyone she had once known, three hundred years. Lucinda could not even begin imagining what that felt like.

("But as a fellow spawn, I should help.") She paused, then immediately corrected herself. ("No. I must help.")

Not because Lyra requested it, or because Guinevere expected it, and not because Alyssia needed training. But because Lucinda looked at Alyssia and saw someone struggling.

Perhaps not visibly or openly, but struggling nonetheless.

Drawing in a small breath, Lucinda focused back on the conversation.

"Well," she began carefully, "I suppose if you’re curious about the power, I may have a bit of advice." Alyssia glanced toward her as Lucinda continued. "The energy you use is somewhat familiar to me," she hesitated. "At least to a degree."

Alyssia’s brow lifted slightly.

"Well, that’s good," she mused. "I would rather not merely have something sitting in my arsenal that I have no idea how to use."

Her tone carried its usual dryness, yet beneath it Lucinda could hear genuine frustration.

Lucinda nodded. "I understand that."

She thought about Arcane Ascendance. About the strange sensations it brought and how difficult it could be explaining something she herself barely understood.

Then another thought surfaced, one she had been quietly mulling over for a while.

"But you’re more motivated to learn about this than Lady Lyra," Lucinda said. "I cannot help but notice."

Alyssia stopped walking, just enough for her pace to slow. The breeze stirred strands of white hair around her face. For a moment she said nothing, and then she folded her arms. The movement seemed almost defensive.

Her red eyes lost some of their usual animation, becoming distant and almost blank, like they were just somewhere else far away.

"I merely do not want to be powerless."

The words were simple, yet they were said far more gravely than anything she had said before. Lucinda felt herself immediately paying closer attention, Alyssia had not deflected or changed the subject, she had simply answered honestly.

The silence that followed felt strangely fragile; Lucinda studied her carefully.

Powerless, that was an odd choice of words for a spawn of Octavia.

It was as though that was something Alyssia experienced, something she remembered, and something she never wished to experience again.

Lucinda’s expression softened.

"Alyssia..." She started to speak, and started to ask. Started to tell her she did not have to carry something alone. But before the words could leave her mouth a third voice interrupted.

It sounded dignified yet unfamiliar and warm, yet carrying a presence that immediately commanded attention.

"I do hope you two are enjoying your time in my garden."