Chương 43: Arc of History

This is second chapter of the day. Please read 42 first. The time dilation between the Necropolis and the actual world was vast. If Auram were to teleport directly to the Necropolis, her body would compress into dust and then explode with the recoil of a Dostrike. Instead, Auram teleported to the Qirahth first, which lay beyond two realms, allowing her body to acclimate from one chrono pressure to another. That was the reason why Auram teleported to the Library, or so she told herself.

Deep down, she was here for a completely different reason. He's never going to help, even if he agrees, so what's the point of asking? But we have to exhaust all possible options available for you to survive, even if I know this is futile. With a frown, Auram settled on the shelf by the Custodian's seat. She stared at him, unwilling to even talk. She hadn't gotten over the fact he betrayed her last time. But I need his help.

"Impressive," the Custodian uttered as he watched the human perform the fourth successful strike in a row. Yet, he knew this was the last flare of the dying spark. It was a shame. A deep shame.

"She was the most ideal candidate we have encountered in the last millennia. Alas, it was short-lived."

"You can save her," Auram scowled at the old creature.

"You don't have the time to find someone else anyway. She is your only shot." The Custodian drew his eyes away from the floating window and stared at the spirit. The outermost golden ring in his iris was no longer burning and showed hints of fading. That was the mark of his remaining life. Once all seven rings faded, he would pass away.

"She is bright, for she has no shelter, no guardian to preserve her life, or a mentor to applaud the failures. It is the mental fortitude of feeling the reaper's scythe digging into her throat, and possessing the calmness still to perform one of the hardest Shade Techniques known to mortals, that makes her worthy in curiosity. If I step in to protect her, the weight of her abilities ceases to be special. Then all her acts of bravery become a charge of a reckless girl granted immortality by an outside factor."

"But... but if she dies..." Auram was lost for words. The Custodian could never care for a human life, and Auram didn't think she had enough charm to convince him otherwise. The only argument she ever had was her importance to him. If he was unconvinced, "Then are you going to let this place crumble because you are worried about something so stupid? Just say this is the only time you are doing this. Even if you say you are going to protect her, she'd tell you to go away.

She doesn't even accept my healing, let alone this. And I doubt she'd need help again. She's so close to fixing her soul, and then she'd be actually strong enough to take care of herself. Don't you think it's unfair for someone with so little power to be forced into such a dangerous place... a place that you tossed her into?"

"It is simply impermissible for me to intervene. I must wait here, and though many exceptions have already been made, we shall not meddle further with the world that is no longer ours," the Custodian shifted his eyes to the screen again.

"We have shown our interest, and she made her own decisions, independent of our interests." Auram didn't look at the screen. She was afraid of what she might see there now.

"Give me a good reason, and I will stop bothering you. I thought you cared about preserving this place above everything else, more than the thousands upon thousands of people you throw at demons without a shred of remorse, for the greater good. But it's not important enough for you to reconsider your own self-assured belief once?"

"If you wish for a more deliberate reasoning, that is fine," the custodian nodded, "I shall not produce an heir for my role. I shall find one, produced by the arc of history, an individual of this age or an age to come. They shall not see the world as I do, for I am a relic of a much more violent and cruel history, and I carry that taint with me. The world I know is what you consider unpalatable evil.

Should I protect her, I am no longer an observer who has no control over the path she forges, but an active decider of her fate. She shall not be tainted, for it will render her worthless to nothing." This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

"Even though you gave her a quest, nudged her to fight the Door Guardian, gave her a Dominion Jewel to reach the final requirement of the Skill, gave her a cultivation method, and above all, the codex that gives her a path forward. But it's only now."

"An earned reward, rightfully deserved for their act, is not the same as saving her life when she has not earned it."

"What else must she do to earn it then?!" Auram's fist clenched. She was half tempted to teleport away to Liesel's side and try to heal her with her magic, and the other part wanted to help Isa prepare her potion quickly. But either was futile. Whatever the spirit dust might do, Auram employed the same kind of healing magic as Liesel's healer. She couldn't replicate the effect of the natural body's healing.

"You worry too much, spirit," the Custodian said, shifting his eyes back to the screen.

"We shall let fate decide her fate." Auram stole a glance at the screen and saw red blood. Her eyes flinched away.

"You are heartless..."

"Yes," the old creature nodded, "Which is precisely why I must let the arc of history find my heir. The library has survived, for it was its destiny, for the world needed it still. If the age has moved past its necessity, if history has decided I shall not find one to maintain this realm, then it must wither away with me and my ways. But if it is needed, we shall find the one who may inherit it."

"Maybe it's you who needs to change," Auram said, her heart reeling as she felt hope. She might have found a way to convince him.

"Perhaps history wants you to act, instead of withdrawing from the world that you still live in. If you change, you can save your library, and even her. Don't you think that's the way to act?"

"No," the Custodian said assuredly.

"History is not a thing with a desire, but the manifestation of the collective acts of all beings that breathe and sleep in this world. It has its course, always a violent and destructive one, a regressive cycle that all mortals are stuck in, spiraling towards collective doom. Yet, history continues, so it protects the necessary objects to guide it away from its inevitable end.

Then there comes an individual," he stared at the screen, "around whom history arcs, who bears the weight of an age, and changes the course of that history. My master, the Librarian, was one such individual. Yet, he failed in his task. He created this library for someone who will change that history, but he asked me never to train another Custodian, or the library's heir. It shall come to us, so we must keep our door open to all."

"And... you think Liesel is like that?" Auram asked. Does that mean she can still live?

"No. She's insignificant," the Custodian said tonelessly.

"None of her actions matter in the grand scheme of the universe. Yet, she keeps walking through impossible obstacles, whether it be the Mindeater, Ders'gul Vornacan, or now, fighting with a poisoned, crumbling body, already past her mortal limits. She should be dying. Yet, each successive Shade Severance is more precise than the last. If it was the last flare of a dying spark, it has lasted longer than we expected. But what if..." Auram strengthened her heart as she glanced at the screen.

She could hear Liesel heaving as she saw the gentle human barely clutching her sword. And here she was, running towards the next knocked-down centipede.

"How have her veins still not completely burned away?" Auram asked.

"The grueling training that she subjected herself to seems to have borne an unlikely fruit."

"So..." Auram took a deep breath, "But... how many more can she kill? How many are there?"

"Eighteen more," the old creature said.

"Her, that we know not yet."

"That's too many..." Auram's heart stopped for a moment as she heard the human's voice.

"Don't!" Liesel's shout echoed through the screen.

"Don't waste your energy on exposed demons. I will kill them!" There was a weight in her words that shouldn't belong to someone so frail, on the verge of death. Liesel heaved. She channelled Materiality into her body, and even through her heavy clothes, the blood leaking from the tearing skin was apparent. As Markil distracted the sand crawler, Liesel jumped on its back using one of Yehia's barriers as a platform. She clasped the gap between the shell with one hand and pushed Materiality into the blade.

Her eyes closed for a moment. Taking a deep breath, she stabbed the blade and... Auram's heart thumped as the blade moved. She felt the Materiality ripple inside her.

"What was..."

"So close to touching all the shades," the Custodian said, "Closer than I had ever thought a blind mortal with so little sense could breach. Yet, this is the farthest she can reach." As the centipede dropped onto the sand, Liesel's body fell as well. It jolted with the impact and bounced off the shell. Liesel didn't move as the sand beneath her body began to ripple.