Eote - Chapter 23

Without much time to explain things before having to rush towards the fields, Loki and Rykar still had no idea what they had been through for the last hour and a half. In their state of unconsciousness, it was as though they had seriously turned into black holes, with everything in the surroundings being sucked into them without restraint.

After awakening and finally calming down, Chance only left them the words, “Don’t tell anyone about what happened. I’ll explain when I see you later, haha”. After which, he ran into the crowd of workers before giving the twins a chance to follow up with any more questions.

Loki and Rykar still went to the same station to check in while working next to each other. After the incident, it wasn’t just the managers that now kept a distance from the twins, there weren’t even any other workers within a hundred metres of either of them. Looks of apprehension and fear were thrown their way more often than they could count. Although this caused Loki to feel on edge, Rykar smiled and hummed to himself under this new limelight.

It was infinitely more peaceful than it had been previously. From the very beginning, Rykar’s first shift had been filled with whips and curses, now gifted with this simple and monotonous atmosphere, he compared it to a paradise.

Despite the gazes and work that had to be done, Loki and Rykar still couldn’t shake off the feeling they had experienced earlier. Thrown back into that void-like feeling, it was like reminiscing of the past, taking them back to the very first monumental change that had occurred within the tree.

Although the moment had now passed, they still felt as though their bodies were surfing with energy beyond anything before. It was completely different from being well fed and rested. Clenching his fist around the handle, Loki felt as though the knife within his hand had grown lighter over the past two hours, albeit only slightly.

At this moment, Rykar was only a few metres away from Loki. Rather than revelling in the inexplicable feeling, he had begun to harvest the fruit and had already taken back the first batch of three.

Compared to when he first arrived at the camp, he could definitely feel an explosive growth in his physical condition. He began with only taking back three fruits at a time, but before he entered isolation for the second time, he increased his load to five fruit per trip. Despite being currently in a state of physical decline due to the lack of food in isolation, just on the hours of rest prior to eating and the events that happened after, he was able to carry three fruits per load already. That in itself was testament to his capabilities when compared to Loki, who was carrying three as standard.

Without a doubt, this was a peaceful moment and he had many positive things on his mind due to welcoming Chris as a brother and the secret he had shared, but he couldn’t shake off the negativity in the back of his mind.

‘How much am I really worth? Beyond an object of interest, Is there actually any value in me?’

These thoughts kept surfacing no matter how many times he shook them off. At first, he simply said anything he had to in order to get out of the predicament, but slowly, he seriously began to question himself.

Loki was smarter, more analytical, had a cooler head and could even materialise the Book of Greed. Chance was difficult to see through but just the secret he had just shown them was amazing, much less the rest of his experiences on ‘the outside’. The guards had a certain amount of authority.

All he was, was a ‘pretty’ face, and even that was dependent on Sir’s questionable tastes. He didn’t even take his strength into account. All that strength would help him to achieve was collect more fruit. Fruit that could be picked by anyone. It wasn’t enough to make a difference.

Even if it did improve Sir’s evaluation, that was irrelevant. It wasn’t something that made Rykar feel as though he was worth anything in his own eyes. Slaving over plants all day with nothing that set him apart from the other cogs within the machine that was this camp. It was a depressive thought that was now haunting him.

Rather than being carefree like Loki, basking in the moment while enjoying the wonderous feeling, the meek thoughts began to ripple through his mind, dampening his mood rapidly. His eyes began to frost over once again as he stared venomously at the glittering silver pearl within his palm.

He hated the idea of working only to give his own earnings away in exchange for trash

Such a wonderfully beautiful fruit should belong to whoever took it. Why should they have to work only to hand over what they harvest? F*ck, he wouldn’t even earn anything before turning in a hundred of them!

As he directed his negative emotions onto the glamorous fruit, it began to feel as though he was being robbed of what was rightfully his. To have a treasure sitting on his palm, only to have it ripped away at the next moment. His fingers slowly began to curl, closing around the fruit like a vice.

Deprived of sleep. Deprived of freedom. Deprived of voice.

It currently felt like he was more isolated than he had been while in the pits. In the dark, that was his world. No more and no less. Out here however, there was a world within sight, people within reach and fruit within his palm. Yet he had no power to act on any of the desires he may have.

“Gluttony is an undying hunger, the desire to consume all and the power to make all a part of yourself. A being blessed by the laws of gluttony will never claim that there is nothing to eat, only that they are not powerful enough to consume it. To be a glutton is to eat. To eat is to become one with the world.”

Once again, he was taken back to the moment within the tree as the figures before him turned into dust. The words from that moment seemed to pass through time and sound out clearly within his ears, so clearly that they seemed nearly tangible.

At the time, he felt that he understood the simple words. They were concise and to the point, but he now realised how much more profound they were. The statement wasn’t made in regard to food. To simply eating. It was a law of life itself.

“A being blessed by the laws of gluttony will never claim that there is nothing to eat, only that they are not powerful enough to consume it.” Rykar began to mumble the words under his breath, repeating them perfectly while staring at the fruit in his hands. It was now, more than ever, that he felt weak. Absolutely powerless.

To have food right here, less then half a metre from his face yet not even daring to raise it up and take a bite out of fear of retribution. Was this all there would be to his world and to his life?

“To eat is to become one with the world.” As he finished the verse, his attention was solely focused on the fruit. His level of concentration and focus was unprecedented to the point that the world around him seemed to become greyed and silent.

As the fruit occupied his vision, it felt as though as his consciousness was being dissolved into it. He began to sense the interior of the fruit and the myriad of particles swirling within. When this feeling reached the extreme, he could sense ever single millimetre of the fruit, feeling more familiar with it than his own body!

‘This is mine, is belongs to me!’ he shouted within his mind. At this moment, he felt a coldness spreading along his right arm as the eyes of the dragon within his tattoo seemed to come to life for a brief moment. Despite not seeing the dragon move, he could feel it crawling up his shoulder before burying its teeth into the centre of his forehead!

A blinding pain shuttled through Rykar’s body as he shrunk to the floor while clutching his head. The pain only lasted a moment but, in that time, he felt as though he was drawn into a completely new dimension.

There lay a sphere comprised of dried dirt and rock, thousands of metres in diameter, which was floating in empty space while rotating quietly. At first, all was silent but as the teeth of the dragon sank into his consciousness, a deafening heartbeat thundered at the very core of the rock. This huge disturbance deafened Rykar while causing cracks and fissures to emerge across the sphere’s surface like a spider’s web.

After the commotion was over, heartbeats continued to pulse through the sphere but at a much weaker rate. It was as though a giant had woken from a nightmare, after going into shock from the awakening, it had finally been subdued and peace restored.

The marks from the event still remained, however. Cracks could still be seen stretching across the surface of the dried-out soil and rock as the sphere retained its lifeless look, only becoming more desolate.

As Rykar’s consciousness began to recede, he was startled as he saw an object just next to one of the cracks! Luckily enough, the cataclysmic event hadn’t caused it to fall into the depths of the sphere but it looked amazingly familiar.

As he focused, he aw the shining pearl in its entirety. The essence fruit lay on the ground with only a few scratches on its surface. Silver particles still lined its surface and interior as the liquid continued to swirl naturally at its centre.

Confusion washed over Rykar as his consciousness returned to his body. Looking into his palm, he found that the fruit which had sat there just moments ago was actually gone without a trace. A bead of sweat trickled down his forehead as he looked around on the ground and the surroundings. On one hand, he was checking if the fruit was simply misplaced. One the other, he was looking at the workers and managers in the surroundings for any reactions to what had just transpired.

‘After everything that happened, you’re telling me that no one saw sh*t?!?!?! No f*cking way!’ He could hardly believe himself, but the evidence was in front of him.

Steadying his breathing, he focused internally while trying to feel out the connection between himself and the dragon once more. There was definitely something there which was intangible yet had a presence of its own.

Following the connection from one end to the other, once again he delved into the void. Once latching on to one end, it felt as though he was being sucked along a path with no way of breaking free. As he began to panic, light flashed, blinding his senses before breaking out of the empty darkness and into the dimension he had just recalled! That same rock was floating in the empty space with the essence fruit sat quietly on its surface without a change.

Without missing a beat, Rykar recalled his consciousness before rushing around the field in search of another ripe essence fruit. It only took a few seconds before he had his net target as he peeled the petals and plucked the fruit with renewed vigour, all of the previous self-depreciative thoughts had vanished with the wind.

Focusing on the fruit, there was no change no matter how much Rykar looked. Frustrated, he began to go over the process while regaling his emotional state at the time.

“To eat is to become one with the world.”

‘I WANT!’ He nearly screamed out loud as the epiphany hit him dead in the face. He had an extreme desire not to eat the fruit, but to take it and make it his!

With this frame of mind, he once again directed his consciousness towards the fruit which resulted in the familiar feeling of diffusion. After a few seconds, his mind was once again filled with the details of the fruit, from the size to the weight and blemishes.

‘I want it. This is mine.’

He uttered within his mind. Then without any fanciful effects or sounds, the essence fruit simply disappeared. Staring at his empty palm, Rykar’s heart beat was thundering within his ears to the point that he couldn’t hear one of the managers shouting at him from the distance.

“F*ck! Aye, get back to work!” The man shouted angrily but as Rykar suddenly jolted up and looked in his direction, he became lost for words. Despite the brave front, he was definitely afraid of this demon. Deciding that one warning was enough and declining to continue, he huffed and walked away quickly while convincing himself that he only left because there were other things to be done. He definitely wasn’t scared

After the manager left, the section of the field was left to Loki and Rykar, who quickly noticed that there was no one watching over them any longer.

“Hey! Loki!!” Rykar walked over and exclaimed quietly while pretending to look at the bushes in another direction.

As Loki looked up, he had wariness in his eyes as he looked for any managers in the surroundings. Not just managers, he took a look for any workers too as he knew they had more than enough initiative to invite trouble unto them.

“Don’t worry its cool, their gone Wanna see something cool?”