Chapter 1374: Blink

The sound of parting air. Atticus and the saint snapped their head to the side to see a figure approaching in a streak of light.

Atticus cursed at not being able to get his answer. The saint was already on her feet, eyes narrowed. And Atticus also stood, and waited for the approaching figure.

A man landed just meters away from them, sinking down to one knee in front of the saint.

"One..." the saint muttered, almost confused.

It’s that man. Atticus focused on the man. It was the same man that had accompanied the saint to the Gilded Debt, that had come to warn her in the basement.

"There’s trouble," the man, One, simply said.

Atticus didn’t miss the sudden drop in temperature. The saint turned toward him, the coldness in her eyes surprising him.

"I’m afraid we’ll have to call it a night. Duty calls," she said, walking towards One. She turned to look at him as she got close. "So, what did you decide?"

Atticus knew what she was talking about. Would he ally himself with the resistance or not.

’I need to be able to keep my emotions in check.’ His coldness and level-headedness had always been one of Atticus’ greatest qualities in battle.

It enabled him to think, to plot, and to see and exploit weaknesses where others couldn’t.

To have that taken from him was like cutting off a limb, except the former was more painful. Nothing had ever hurt Atticus more than emotions.

He finally came to a decision and nodded. "No commitments. No forced orders."

The saint nodded.

"Then I accept."

A smile appeared on the saint’s face, and she turned. The air around her and One began to distort, and in that moment, she gave Atticus the answer he wanted.

"I’m Anorah," she said, turning towards him with a smile. "But my people call me the Violet Saint."

Atticus smiled. And as the duo vanished, he could have sworn he felt One glare at him.

"Anorah, huh," Atticus murmured. It sounded... good.

Atticus felt refreshed. The meeting today had truly not been what he had been expecting. He had expected tension, possibly even a death match between them.

She was another fragment bearer, after all. The last thing he’d been expecting was... this.

Anorah was open, direct, and even fun. Atticus noticed traits like fierceness and coldness, but it was expected. After all, she was a leader.

Tonight, amongst the endless enemies he’d been making since arriving to the middle planes, Atticus had finally made a friend.

By the time he stopped pondering, he finally realized his current situation. He was in a wasteland, having no idea where the city was.

’Have I been abandoned?’ Atticus almost chuckled. ’She did this intentionally.’

As though he thought aloud, a sudden force acted on him. Atticus laughed, but didn’t fight it. The next moment he vanished from the wasteland and appeared in his room.

...

"You what?" For the third time, Whisker asked.

Atticus had called the group to his room to discuss how his talk with the saint went. He had just told them that he agreed to ally himself with the resistance in exchange for learning how to control his emotions.

Atticus frowned. "I’m not repeating myself again."

The room was quiet, and aside from Whisker, Ozeroth and Kancilot seemed to be thinking.

"If I may, your eminence," Kancilot cut in before Whisker could speak. "You told me it was a bad idea earlier today. What changed your mind?"

"It IS a bad idea. Do you even realize what a resistance is?" Whisker chimed in.

"Weak fools who are tired of being oppressed by the strong. No one truly strong would be in the resistance. They would simply do whatever the fuck they want. Plus, are you really about to become enemies with every major faction? I don’t understand why you’re doing this..."

"First of all, I’m allying with them, not joining. Secondly, I told you, I need to be able to control my emotions," Atticus said with a hardened voice. "During our fight with those sentinels, I blacked out twice. Twice. If you guys hadn’t been there, I would have died."

"I support Bond," Ozeroth suddenly said, causing all eyes to focus on him.

"You support?" Whisker asked, incredulously.

"Bond is our leader and we all accepted that already." Ozeroth shrugged. "If you don’t like how he leads, then leave."

Whisker’s words were caught in his throat. He fell silent. Then began to take and release deep breaths.

Atticus instantly noticed the look of resignation that appeared on his face.

"Alright. Just promise me one thing." Whisker looked straight at Atticus.

"What?"

"That you’re doing this for the reasons you stated, not because you were bewitched by that woman."

"But if I was—"

Atticus paused, holding back his clever retort. Whisker stared at him with intense eyes. He sighed. He had just wanted to point out that if he had been bewitched, would he admit it?

"Alright. I promise."

The rest of the night was spent talking about their next course of action. Now that Atticus had accepted Anorah’s offer, he could learn what she used to keep Solvath’s emotions in check.

For that, he had to stay for an unknown period of time. But Atticus promised to visit Eldoralth if it would take too much time.

To this, only Kancilot, who was Atticus’ guard, had been chosen to remain behind, while Whisker and Ozeroth head back to Eldoralth.

Whisker had to continue his duties of training the Eldorians, while Atticus wanted Ozeroth on Eldoralth just in case of any incident.

There was still a need for an absolute being on the planet, especially when they had just absorbed Nerrot’s world. A lot of things were still unknown.

The meeting was adjourned, and they soon left Atticus’ room to rest for the night.

That night, Atticus barely got any sleep. Every second he closed his eyes, he saw the same thing. The Big Bang, the betrayal, and his past. He ended up drenching the bed in sweat.

Regardless, it became so bad that every moment he closed his eyes, the vision played in his mind and emotions overwhelmed his senses.