Lucid opened his eyes to an endless expanse of vibrant green grass. The transition from the physical world to his internal soulscape was always disorienting. The air here held the crisp scent of ozone and morning dew, a sharp contrast to the bitter coal exhaust of the coastal railway carriage.
A melodic voice drifted across the open field. Someone was chanting nearby. The sound was almost awe-inspiring, weaving through the quiet atmosphere like a physical current. Lucid listened to the rhythmic melody and felt his heart execute an uncomfortable, fluttering sensation against his ribs. He forced his breathing to steady and began walking toward the center of the grassy plain.
He approached the solitary tree towering over the landscape. He gulped instinctively as he inspected the massive wooden trunk. Dark red stains marked the bark from a previous altercation. He remembered the exact circumstances of those stains. He remembered the heavy chains and the massive metallic shaft that had pinned his divine companion directly through her stomach against this very wood. Lucid quickly brushed the violent memory away. It was not a pretty image, nor was it comfortable to dwell upon.
He activated his metaphysical perception from his chain of heart to distract himself. His vision shifted, piercing through the superficial layers of the mental landscape. A tremendous amount of fate essence saturated the environment. The raw magical energy flowed everywhere, pooling in the roots of the tree and drifting through the air like invisible currents of water.
Lucid continued forward until he saw the solitary figure sitting under the shade of the broad branches.
Alice was no longer pinned to the trunk. She rested peacefully on the grass, a stark contrast to her previous battered state. She wore a loose white robe that only partially covered her body. The fabric had slipped casually down her arm, revealing the smooth skin of her shoulder and her sharp collarbone. A series of thin, fragile green thorns wrapped delicately around her exposed upper leg, holding the hem of the robe in place.
Lucid looked away immediately. A sudden rush of heat flooded his cheeks. He tried to rationalize his embarrassment. He had seen far worse during his travels across the Scattered Realms. He had accidentally seen Ayame in varying states of undress multiple times. The Oni mercenary never cared about modesty. Ayame was endlessly blunt and sharp regarding such matters, usually telling him to stop acting like a sheltered child before throwing a heavy boot at his head to secure her privacy.
Lucid flushed even harder at the memory. He forced his gaze back toward the tree, focusing his attention on Alice's face rather than her attire.
A thick white headband covered her eyes. The fabric was no longer pristine. Several fresh stains marked the cloth right over her brow. Lucid narrowed his eyes in interest. The stains were composed of a translucent, glowing amber liquid. It was divine blood. It was the exact same substance that Mercyros, the Monolith of Commerce, had spilled upon his death inside the vault.
Lucid analyzed the metaphysical contradiction. If this glowing gold substance was standard divine blood, he did not understand why Neptune had bled a dark, cosmic purple. He filed the question away for another day.
Alice stopped her melodic chanting. She tilted her head upward, sensing his approach despite the blindfold.
"I must confess," Alice announced.
"that I do not prefer your presence when you arrive in this manner, unannounced and hesitant. You carry such burdensome doubt within yourself, such unnecessary resistance to what we are becoming together."
"I cannot read your thoughts."
Lucid halted his advance. He took a slow step backward. A sharp sting of genuine hurt pierced his chest. He wanted to say something defensive, but the words caught in his throat.
Alice's expression softened considerably. When she spoke again, her voice had shifted into something sweeter, more inviting, though it retained that particular quality of taunt that suggested she found his vulnerability amusing.
"Though I must confess as well, my mortal, that your hesitation is rather endearing," she continued, tilting her head with deliberate grace. "You arrive here in such confusion, as though you do not already understand the nature of what binds us, what has always bound us since the moment you first awakened in this world."
Lucid let out a deep sigh of relief. He relaxed his shoulders.
"I do not know what is occurring inside your mind," Alice explained, her voice dropping to a more intimate cadence while maintaining its divine formality, "I do not know what thoughts occupy the deepest corridors of your consciousness when you stand before me in this state. That uncertainty is precisely what makes this space sacred."
Lucid stared at her in utter disbelief.
'What,' he thought internally, 'is she suggesting that my refusal to be mentally transparent is somehow... valuable to her?'
Alice looked up at him and offered a faint, knowing smile. She seemed perfectly aware of his silent confusion.
Lucid dropped to the ground. He sat cross-legged on the soft green grass and looked directly at her. Alice observed his movements quietly, her lips parted in mild interest.
"Looks like you even took away my sleep," Lucid complained, resting his elbows on his knees. "How selfish can one divine entity be?"
Alice listened to his accusation without a hint of guilt. "I did not totally force you in here," she replied with measured sweetness, "a part of your own desire sought to end up in this place. Your spirit yearned for this encounter. I merely manifested what you were already calling toward me. Do you truly wish to deny yourself what you are seeking?"
Lucid looked down at his own chest to inspect his current state. He immediately noticed a glaring absence. His bulky orange life vest was gone. He was no longer wearing the heavy gear he relied on in the physical world. Instead, he wore the clothing he had possessed prior to arriving in the Scattered Realms. He wore a plain white buttoned shirt and dark leather pants tucked neatly into his boots.
He shifted his weight, feeling incredibly uncomfortable in the refined attire.
"You can even change my clothes now," Lucid muttered, pulling at the crisp white collar. "That seems unnecessarily invasive. I liked my life jacket."
Alice nodded her head with satisfaction. "I like you wearing plain, simple noble clothes," she explained, her tone carrying both sweetness and taunting in equal measure.
"It makes you seem more refined, more suited to standing beside divinity itself. Surely you do not object to becoming worthy of my presence?"
"And I am not worthy normally?" Lucid challenged.
Alice shook her head side to side in a slow, deliberate motion.
Lucid could only look at her with complete indifference. There was absolutely no use in arguing with the Primordial maiden. She always found a unique way to tear at his deepest insecurities and unravel his hidden personality traits. It was a losing battle every single time they spoke.
Lucid cleared his throat to shift the topic. "So. What is the purpose of this?"
Alice straightened her spine. She adopted her usual posture of supreme, unshakeable arrogance. "You are in the presence of me, Alice, the divine maiden of the Scattered Realms," she announced with formal grandeur. "This is the greatest blessing a mortal like yourself could ever dream to achieve. This proximity to divinity is something that transcends mortal comprehension."
"Yeah, yeah," Lucid mumbled under his breath, completely unfazed by her grandstanding.
Alice ignored his sarcastic interruption and continued her divine decree. "And I express my deepest desires of love and affection towards this mortal. No."
She paused. She raised her hands and clasped them together as if she were offering a silent prayer. She looked upward through her blindfolded eyes, her voice softening into something intensely possessive.
"My mortal," she corrected. "The one I have chosen. The one I will never permit to leave me."
Lucid looked at her. He let out a long, heavy sigh.
He remembered the exact moment he had confessed his allegiance to her. He had been bleeding out, desperate for her to revive him.
He remembered thinking he was going to die. She had initially refused to heal him because he did not want to submit to her authority. He constantly questioned why this submission and devotion were so critical to her existence. Why did an ancient being require the absolute loyalty of a displaced human from Earth?
He thought about all their past encounters. She had revealed very little of her true nature early on. She had acted merely as a cryptic guide during his initial journey through Tyrianna and the Red Mountains. But she had become something entirely different after the void rail incident. Ever since he encountered Neptune and killed the Monolith, Alice possessed her own distinct personality. She interfered constantly with his decisions.
Rather than a passive observer, she actively took apart in the events unfolding.
It was too late to sever the bond. He had already confessed to her. He had already given her a part of what she desperately wanted. He needed her protection. More importantly, he needed this power.
But as things stood. He would not and could not let her go.
He needed this Enlightened status.
A Primordial rank status was something exceptionally high, a tier of authority that defied conventional magical laws.
His old comrades on Earth, Renji and Aika, were nothing but mere low-tier Enlightened fighters who struggled to survive the calamity.
With this divine status, Lucid could potentially reshape the very course of his destiny. He could alter fate itself.