Somewhere deep underground.
Audreya had a plan - or at least something she felt was worth attempting.
She had come to understand her new daily life as a prisoner. The guards brought food twice a day and permitted one bathroom break. Those were harsh conditions to live in, but that was the reality now. So she was prepared when the guard arrived with her first meal of the day.
"Eat. And eat lots," he sneered. "Your time to be taken away could come soon."
She looked at the food, and contrary to her expectations, it was actually quite decent and nutritious. Her jaw gnashed.
Want their slaves to be healthy and obedient as a donkey, don't they? As if I'll allow myself to be sold!
But if they're putting this much effort into feeding us good food, then they can't afford for us to fall sick, right?
Thinking about her next steps, she finished her meal and slid the plate aside. She let a little time pass and sprung to action.
Violent, chaotic coughs and gasps tore through the stony walls. The dazed prisoners from other cells watched her, befuddled, though most were in no condition to react either way.
Two guards came rushing in, horrified at Audreya's worsening condition. They observed that she had indeed finished her meal.
"Is it something related to food?"
"I don't know! It was the same as always!"
"Was it though?"
"Well…I think there was a different pudding today?"
He gritted his teeth. "Ahh!! Did the new food do this!? The doctor had warned that some people fall strangely sick upon eating certain kinds of food!"
Fearing the consequences, one guard swiftly unshackled her and scooped her in his arms - and bolted towards the doctor's room.
Audreya's heart thundered in her chest. She barely parted her eyelids, absorbing everything she could - the place and the map to the best of her abilities. Escape was a dangerous maneuver. At one point, the guard took a flight downstairs.
Down…So were we kept on a higher floor all this time?
"Doctor Caelus! Take a look at this woman!"
"Fine, fine. Just put her on that bed. I'll take a look. Always keep telling that damn chef not to experiment with new delicacies…Leave now! Each one of you only knows how to make my life miserable!"
Audreya thanked her stars. She hadn't wanted to fight with the guards, not yet. As the guards left, she exhaled very slowly. Her hands trembled with anxiety and uncertainty, but she willed herself to be strong.
From the corner of her eye, the doctor's back faced her. He was tinkering with some herbs. The man was neither too young nor too old. Audreya sat up, not allowing even the rustle of her dress to make the slightest sound. From around her wrist, she untied a ribbon she had torn from her own dress.
Time to knock you out.
—
Yin and Yang together…
Vivia took a careful look at the altar. Something familiar nagged at her memory.
"I've seen them in the Fourfold Covenant…" she murmured.
"Indeed, the runes represent Seasons. You'll see them in the Covenant. It's a center of devotion, after all," Finnian hummed.
Zerath asked, "You said that these runes are used to perform magic?"
"Yes, my lord."
"But what kind of magic would require the Yang side of runes? If children were being born to serve as soldiers, then it only makes sense that only our side should be sufficient."
"Well…" Arzan said, uncertain, "There are certain types of forbidden magic that require the amalgam of both Yin and Yang. But those are extremely blasphemous rituals. E-Even more blasphemous than loving a human!"
Zerath smiled. "Thank you for your encouragement, Arzan. I appreciate your support."
He cleared his throat, embarrassed. Though unsure of Zerath's relationship with a human and what the future held for them and their realms, he found he didn't really detest it that much.
As far as Arzan cared, learning about magic was everything to him - including the Human Realm's side if he ever got the chance. The racial hatred, to him, existed only at a surface level. Nevertheless, the discomfort around humans remained, so Vivia's twinkling eyes made him promptly retreat behind Zerath.
"What blasphemous rituals are you talking about?" Silas leaned against a wall.
"Oh! So there're three forbidden rituals," his nose stretched an inch longer with pride.
Knowledge of these rituals weren't widely known to many - and he suspected Finnian wouldn't be aware of them.
"The first forbidden ritual is bringing the dead back to life."
Vivia's eyes widened. "Is that actually possible?"
"In a way, yes…? Dying means the Yin or Yang ceases to exist within our bodies. It begins to flow back into the larger world's consciousness - Yang towards the Aetherios and Yin towards Lavos. But this ritual attempts to drag the Yin or Yang back into the mortal body by force. It never succeeds though. Life and death are natural events, and one must not interfere with these entities at all. Even if you did, the ritual will almost certainly fail, and there's also a heavy price to pay for trying."
Technically…didn't I defy death? Vivia felt a quiet discomfort settle in her chest.
Arzan continued. "The second is prolonging one's own life in exchange for another's."
"In exchange?" Judith frowned.
"Yes. In a sense, immortality, but you cannot extend your life from nothing. Someone else must exist whose remaining life years will be taken away."
Vivia shuddered. "Isn't that basically murder? Snatching someone else's life to keep living an immortal life."
"That is exactly why it's considered one of the sins of the highest orders. Again, there's a price to pay - even if by some miraculous chance, the ritual succeeds."
Zerath asked, "And the third ritual?"
"It's the convergence of the previous two forbidden rituals - Reincarnation."
Vivia froze. So did Zerath.
Arzan said, "This ritual allows for the dying soul to reincarnate into someone else's body. That other person - or sacrifice - should have already ceased to live. One cannot reincarnate into a living person's body. So in a way, it's a culmination of both - the dying person gets another chance at life and in a way, they enjoy the life and years of the other person."
Vivia's heart hammered against her ribcage. Her vision began to blur as the walls and the cave began to close in on her. The energy from her opal ring seemed to course through her, as if Clairette was trying to talk to her, but a clear focus was out of the question. Guilt and horror gushed through heart with an unstoppable force.
"Princess," Zerath held her shoulders, a calm smile laced across his lips, as though willing reassurance through his gaze. "I know it's tough to listen, but stay calm. I'm here with you. Always."
Vivia smiled faintly, trying to win against her tears. "Y-Yes, of course. It's just the atmosphere here is so bleak…"
Her hands clasped together as her own heartbeat tore through her eardrums. "The reincarnation…or any ritual for that matter, doesn't happen naturally at any time?"
Arzan's eyes went wide. "Not at all! Our world has rules - especially with entities like life, death, time and space. One cannot come back to life once they've passed away or increase their lifespan that has already been decided by fate. People perform these rituals and try to alter their fates by force. For greed and benefit. Nature herself doesn't interfere."
Every last drop of moisture got sucked out of her throat.
Then how…? Does it mean someone performed the forbidden ritual for my soul to reincarnate into Clairette's body? But who…and why?
Judith said, "But it still doesn't make any sense. The only one that does, at least to some extent, is extending life? Were the slaves and their children being used in exchange to extend the lives of some greedy people?"
"That's messed up if that was indeed the case," Silas grimaced. "Everytime, the world stoops to a new low."
"There's a fourth forbidden ritual," echoed Finnian's calm but eerie voice.
"Fourth…?" Arzan knitted his brows.
Finnian inhaled the nauseous aura with an alluring smile. "Yes. The ones you mentioned are certainly deadly, but it inherently doesn't give you any power."
"By power, you mean magic?"
"Magic or…divinity."
Finnian turned to address the group's puzzlement. "Why do you think a veil-born is feared?"