Chaos Cycle: The Eye of Genesis - Chapter 142

“Good Morning, miss,” Elior woke up from his meditation to give her a bright greeting. He looked around the sun, the strikingly blue sky, and water everywhere, to mutter, “Sometimes nature wants to question your sanity, isn’t that right?!”

Inari lifted her head to look at him. Her depressing thoughts were broken as he heard the radiating greeting. He certainly had uncanny ways to greet.

“I am feeling very sane today,” he said again to stretch his body as cranking noise came out. Inari a head the feeling that this youth has unlimited energy to keep on with things.

“Is it otherwise, any other day?” Inari could not help but ask.

“Oh, no, I am sane most of the time, but I am always prone to bad decisions,” Elior continued, “but here in the trial, most of my decisions will not have any drastic effect. I can kill around as I please without any repercussions.”

“All sounded right, except the last phrase,” Inari said, raising her eyebrow.

“Correction: I can kill monsters as I please without repercussions,” he added and got to his storage equipment.

Inari was damn jealous of this lower-worlder with the storage equipment. He also had all sorts of things in it. Some were super useful, like the weapons, and there were also those weird drinks and snacks.

But this time, Elior brought out another thing. It looked like some device. She examined it with her eye very carefully to figure out it was likely something to make some drink.

“So, killing monsters has repercussions?” she asked. “Isn’t that the most important thing all guardians had to do?”

“It is,” Elior agreed, “unfortunately, the monster comes in different sizes and shapes. The worst of them all are those who wear human skins and act like one to do as they please.”

“Shapeshifter?” she asked, but he only gave her a smile.

“Ever had a nice hot aromatic tea after a maddening night?” Elior asked as he readied to prepare tea. He did not lift his head to look at her, prepare the tea leaves, the milk, or some weird alchemic solution into the flask-like device to warm. He took her silence as an affirmation to continue. “Well, I have. Actually, I always have. What I miss is a cold shower.”

“We have no shortage of water here,” Inari added, looking around.

“That we don’t,” Elior acknowledged. “Unfortunately, this water was not a bit refreshing as it looked from outside – you should have some experience in it while drowning. How does it feel then?”

“Helpless,” she muttered as Elior finished brewing the tea. He opened the slid as a refreshing aroma drifted towards her nostrils. Really, what does he miss? Inari was never a tea person, but when offered, she did not decline. At least, it would be better than that weird drink he acclaimed as an energy drink.

Inari sipped in a slow sip of the hot tea, and her eyes sparkled. It was not just better than the energy drink, but a lot better. Moreover, it seemed to refresh her mind a lot. “What did you put in those?” she asked, knowing should be the alchemic solution that he dropped a couple of drops to make it so refreshing.

“Something very valuable,” Elior muttered, “I never cheap out in living. We are given one life, if I want to live; I want to live like a king. Wait, that is not a good explanation. Usually, kings are not very good examples. They indulge in . . .”

“I got it,” Inari said. “What happened to the suit you were repairing, are you not going to continue?”

“oh, that? It finished yesterday.”

“What?” she shouted, “Then why don’t you wear it? You don’t feel the corruption?”

“Oh, I am feeling it, but I want to see it through,” he said and stood up with the bag. “I like to challenge myself. Let’s see if the insanity consumes me before I can end this trial.”

“So much for saying, you’re sane.” She could keep herself sane for a couple of hours before the corruption invades her mind, she will start to have drastic effects from the second day. She looked at the whistling youth walking on the water, the storage bag on his back with no care. Does he not fear corruption? Or was he already insane enough?

Inari felt early staying with such an irresponsible man with that thought, but what she could do? At least he does not look insane, not fully, other than the bits of weird vibes she got.

. . .

Scarlett had the urge to do something outrageous again as the side effect of using her bloodline ability wore off. She was jumping around the boat just after waking up, sadly, to find there was actually nothing surrounding them other than the vast sea.

“Where did the ship go?” she asked out loud to figure out what was wrong with her question. “Right, I sink that, didn’t I?”

While from the sides, Ileana gave her a wary look, dark patches under her eyes, face pale as she did not have any sleep last night. Mopher was similar, but a tad better.

“Mopher, I am bored,” Scarlett called instantly, getting the wind of her knight.

“Your highness, you just woke up,” Mopher said with exhaustion. Just looking at her energetic face made him feel that.

“So, I can’t feel bored after waking up?” she snorted, removing the mask of her head to take in the fresh air. What she got was murky, heavy air, making her stomach churn.

“By the way, how’s your sleep, your highness?” Mopher inquired hesitantly, “Did you feel any discomfort?”

Scarlett looked at him peculiarly at first, then scoffed off. “Well, under your protection, I slept like a baby,” she said, “good job there, Mopher.”

“Thank you, your highness.” Mopher looked at her oddly.

On the other hand, Ileana was staring at the egg-shaped island, keeping an ear open for the duo. “What is on the island?” she could not help but ask. The slaver that captured her told her to get there first and wait for the next instructions. While she had no intention of getting into that slaver again, she knows her intention hardly matters in the grand scheme of themes.

There was no collar on her neck, the slaver that let her go probably freed herself from it, but that did not mean she was free. Perhaps he was watching her now, with those cold vacant eyes. She shuddered at that thought.

“What’s on the island?” she repeated the question, this time looking at the duo.

“That,” Mopher said, gazing in that direction, “that should be our destination. It is where the next phase of the trial will continue.”

“Next phase of the trial,” Scarlett muttered and looked at her knight. “Mopher, how long do you think will take us there?”

The innocent-looking youth calculated. “Two or three days if nothing goes wrong,” he said, “but we can’t expect that we can. We are likely to get ourselves into some form of danger like last night, so it’s four or five days.”

“So, I will get bored here for five days,” Scarlett scowled, glaring at her knight as if it was all his fault. “Well, do something.”

“I am sorry, your highness.”

Scarlett clicked her tongue. “Since it’s a trial, why I can’t see no participants with us?”

“Perhaps because you sunk them all with the ship,” Ileana cut in.

“No,” Scarlett shook her head. “You can’t die here. Mopher, was there something else?”

“I am not sure, your highness,” Mopher said and sighed, looking at the vast sea, the blue sky, and the egg-shaped island. “I suppose everyone who succeeds in the initial quests will get there.”

“Or did they already leave there? Was that why I didn’t see anyone?”

“You can’t explain with normal logic here, your highness,” Mopher continued, “This realm is created with the power of deities, we mortal could not only understand what we see with out own eyes.”

“There goes your self-esteem,” Scarlett snorted. “Gods might have built this realm, but they are not all powerful. Perhaps we just drifted off in a different direction.”

“But the island is still there,” Ileana added.

“Yes, Leanie is right,” Scarlett said, as if constipated. “So the others could drift off to different directions too, but that’s too far-fetched.”

“Who’s Leanie?” Ileana asked with a glare.

“Of course, it’s my new friend from the lower world,” Scarlett said with a laugh, wrapping her hand around her shoulder.

Ileana grunted as she did not like that idea of acting free with someone who had sunk a ship, knowing thousands of people in it. Even if it was a trial, it is not something easy to digest.

“Or it could be some illusions,” Ileana continued. “Some mirage of sorts.” A frown appeared on her brows as she looked around the vast sea.. “This is not a desert, but places like this can create optical illusions, moreover, this is not in any way a normal place.”