Chapter 994. The Fragment of The Captured Star

The darkness was both infinite and limiting.

Cer’s tail brushed against the dark wall, assessing the space as she studied the figure in the center of the room. It was a sphere just large enough for a fully sized adult to stand inside. Not enough for Cer clearly, as the tip of her ears brushed against the scratched surface.

There were etchings along the walls. Symbols and letters of a language she failed to understand. The light emitted from her magic and eyes did not work here.

In fact…

My magic’s malfunctioning. Status.

Cer | MP:

Reducing

Her mana was being drained. The interior of the Site Core possessed both mana suppressing and mana absorbing properties, where even an Awakened Moon such as herself could not resist it.

She focused hard on the center of the palm of her hands as she slowly approached the child.

A spark formed, but it was much too unstable. The walls absorbed it. Odd. Her status didn’t reveal anything more than the name of this place.

“The Sideral Chalice. Is that supposed to be the name of the Advent of Despair?” She spoke, announcing her presence to the child.

But the child didn’t move.

“You alright? You look like someone I know. Don’t know if you’re closer to Frost or the Star Child, but what’s got you so sad?”

Suddenly, her head bumped into an invisible veil.

Parts of her golden fur were stripped away and for a moment, her hair and fur were completely black.

“Tch. What the hell– Dangerous. Can this thing rob me of Light too?”

She gave her stats a glance and confirmed that she had dropped from 3 to 2 Light.

“Nav? Hello? Can you hear me? At all? Tch. Guess I’m stuck here. Doesn’t seem to be a way out. But that worm cracked into the Site Core. Shouldn’t there be an opening?”

Cer had a closer look. Approaching that child was far too risky. She didn’t want to imagine what would happen if the Advent of Despair sapped her remaining Light. Claws scraped along the walls. But no matter how much she tried, or how empowered they were with Absolution, she could not break out of the shell.

“I can hear drilling from outside. Cracks. They’re forming. So, what do they want with

you?

”

She addressed the child again, this time, wearing a kinder face.

“Oi. Kid. Are you hurt?”

“… I don’t know.” The child responded.

Her arms peeled away from her knees, revealing tear-stricken face identical to Frost’s. Her pallid hair coiled beneath her like ropes. They weren’t frayed as Cer expected. Those golden eyes she held reminded her of the Demi-Human slaves of Grandis.

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Colorless. It could be a radiant jewel, but to Cer, they were always colorless.

It was the same for this child. But at the same time, those eyes reminded her of Alice’s before she was taken by the White Rabbit.

Despite the faded color, the child looked somewhere beyond the darkness.

A place that Cer deeply resonated with.

“You should know. You’re the only one here.” Cer said.

The child laid down, sprawling her limbs across as she stared into the air with empty eyes.

“I wish I wasn’t. But now you’re here. You found me.”

She smiled.

“You’re waiting too right?”

“Waiting?” Cer tilted her head.

What is she talking about?

“Mhm. Waiting. Always waiting. Aren’t you waiting to see what’s outside?”

“Difference here is that I’m from the outside. Listen to me. You’re in danger right now. Come. I’ll protect you.” Cer urged her to approach.

But the child wiped her tears away, giggling.

“Ahh. That’s why your ears are strange. I’ve never seen a person with ears like you before. They’re usually round like mine. Are you a wolf?”

“What does that have to do with–!?” Cer stopped herself.

Why? Was it because this pipsqueak had Frost’s face? She didn’t think so. She had always barked back at Frost.

So what stopped her from lashing out at this child?

We’re in a hurry. Emotions be damned. She needs to get away from the center or I won’t be able to protect her! But why…

“Ruff.” The girl said. “… But you speak my language. Like everyone. Hey. You smell good. Not like everyone. Like flowers. And…”

She then pointed up.

“Like that person who also found me.”

Slowly, the girl pushed herself up to a seated position.

“Miss. Do you really come from outside?”

“Where else would I come from? Your imagination?” Cer barked.

“… I’m not hooked up to the wiggly things.” She pointed at something in the darkness. “So I guess not. You somehow found me. Ahaha. Like my caretaker does. Every time… Mhm.”

The girl stood up.

She was small. Smaller than the old Cer. Of course she was. This was a child.

But she cast an ancient gaze unbefitting a child of her age.

It was but for a fleeting second, like thousands…

millions

of years flickered through her mind.

Cer’s mouth moved, and she inadvertently spoke.

“What are you? You’re not an ordinary child. I can’t even see your stats. Are you aware that you’re trapped in the center of a singularity?”

The child walked forward. Her steps were airy. Where Cer expected soft patters, she heard nothing, as though this child was a figment of her own imagination.

But her eyes couldn’t fool her. This thing was undoubtedly connected to Frost, as were many things.

“I don’t know.” The child repeated. “But I can show you!”

Suddenly, the moment she reached the veil, she fell over.

“Watch out–!”

By the time Cer was able to catch her, their surroundings changed, and the girl fell right into her hands. She was unnaturally heavy. The heft caused Cer to also topple over, and they rolled along pale-colored grass, down a hill where a large oak tree sat.

The child buried her face into Cer’s chest, laughing before pulling herself away.

“Welcome to my world.”

“Pale grass… pale flowers. This is a garden?”

Cer wasn’t alarmed by this at all. As strange as it was to find herself in a stranger’s world, she had experienced this phenomenon numerous times. This was, in all likelihood, the child’s State of Mind.

A fragment perhaps. Like how Cer was able to meet her mother.

Or…

How Frost interacts with us. I think so. She never really described how it works or how she feels to jump into people’s minds. Is this it?

Of course, another way to look at it was how Hora Therapeutics could enter a person’s State of Mind using the Traumatic Clock. But there wasn’t anything to fight, and the person in question: the child: was fully aware of this and she took Cer’s hand.

She took her across the garden that Cer could only describe as a paradise. Past the rivers that flowed through the center, and the lush pale vegetation she saw the base of a pillar reminiscent of the Nexus.

Only that up close, it looked more like a tree than a monolith. A hollow cavity was carved out, and beneath it was a peculiar sphere suspended between two black towers.

“What are you trying to show me?”

“What I am. I don’t know myself. But I thought that if someone from the outside saw, then maybe they can tell me. That’s you. Wolf wolf.”

“I know it’s me. Look. Kid. We don’t have the luxury to take a deep dive into what’s–!” Cer stopped herself again.

It was too risky.

What if they weren’t conscious when the Site Core was fully breached? She couldn’t afford to be complacent.

But this isn’t about a kid. I don’t need to see her face to know whose memories I’m treading through.

The reason why Cer didn’t stop herself was because she was curious.

No one really knew much about Frost. As odd as it was to admit it here and now, they only knew such small fragments that they barely amounted to memories. Frost didn’t consider them to be hers.

Still, Cer wanted to know more about her.