Genetic Ascension

Chapter 2112: Wandering

Sylas sat in silence, his mind wandering. He felt good right now for reasons he couldn't quite describe. The only thing that would have made it better would be if his wife and family were here. But that seemed to be part of the sacrifice he would always have to make… At least until the day came that he could stand at the top of the universe.

He looked down at the food spread out before him, a light smile tugging at his lips. He remembered Cassarae's first attempts at cooking for him.

She was so easy to read, sometimes. She had no desire to become some chained housewife, but the gesture itself was important to her. She wanted him to understand that now that they had truly put the past behind them, she would give her everything to their relationship.

Honestly, until now, though she had been quite resistant and obstinate at many points, she had helped him a lot. She was the one who helped him to manage the matters related to the Petals of the Seeing Thorn, she was the one who kept things on Earth in mostly working order as he had never had the patience or the time to manage a city himself, and she was also the one who gathered information he sometimes missed as it fell through the cracks.

If not for her, his recent enlightenment as to the matters related to the Thryskai might not have come so easily.

But most importantly of all, she was the only person who truly understood him. Even now, even after seeing the reflection of Nosphaleen's grit and determination, Sylas wasn't sure if she truly saw him either.

Logically, she should have. She had been the one to personally experience his cruelty the most obviously. He had let her die even though he could have done something about it. No one had suffered at his hands more cruelly than she had, even in comparison to the enemies he killed in cold blood. Sometimes, wounds of the heart were far worse than wounds of the flesh.

'Am I wrong?' Sylas couldn't help but wonder. He wasn't wondering about whether or not he was wrong to let Nosphaleen die. That matter was complicated, and even now, he wasn't sure if there existed another way that he could have assured Cassarae that he would always choose her from now on.

What he was really wondering was whether or not he was wrong about whether Nosphaleen could see the true him.

Maybe that was part of his Pride. Maybe he was unwilling to believe that he was so easy to decipher.

Was that it?

Sylas honestly wasn't sure. His existence was an anomaly, often to even himself. The way he talked and communicated with Cassarae just felt so free flowing and easy in ways that he couldn't describe.

Others saw an abrasive woman with a sharp tongue and foul mouth, but Sylas had never cared about how people came off, what words they said, or what veneers they placed over their faces to hide their true intentions.

All he ever cared about was the bottom line, that clear truth that divided reality from falsehood.

And through all of that hard exterior, Cassarae was the woman he loved.

The question was… did Nosphaleen come to understand him as well after what he let happen to her? Or was she like many other humans and humanoids alike, lost in a quagmire of self-gaslighting and contradiction, believing that she had never been wrong about him in the first place?

If it was the former, if Nosphaleen understood the man he was and loved him anyway, then Sylas could only greet her with open arms the same way he did Cassarae. Maybe he would be unable to distinguish the two of them in his heart for any reason other than the fact he had known Cassarae for far longer.

But if it was the latter… then the Envy in Nosphaleen's heart was driven by something else, maybe…

Sylas didn't want to think about it. He wouldn't allow that day to come, he wouldn't allow that failure to be on his heart.

He wouldn't fail.

Even if it meant finding a way to reconstruct Nosphaleen's soul from the ground up.

She had given her life and the result was that he finally had the wife by his side that he had always wanted. He owed her more than he could describe in just a few words.

And he would give that back to her severalfold.

And then there was Fanelei. He didn't love her or even think he loved her, that wasn't even remotely the case. But there was also no denying that she was the very reason his mood was so good right now.

Something about helping her made him feel good, and it went beyond just the challenge of it all, though that was certainly a large if not the largest part of it.

He didn't quite… understand why, though.

Sylas began to eat, letting his smile fade as his belly grew fuller.

The complexities of life went beyond just the work of understanding the universe. Maybe his own mind was even more of an endless chasm to grasp and understand.

And that he would do. He would conquer this as well.

After all, there was little else he wanted more in life than control.

**

There was a flash and the Seeing Eye Guild shook to its very foundations.

A bloodied Four stepped out, her gaze ice cold, her dress torn, but her gait steady and unbothered by it all nonetheless.

Behind her, Five and Six followed, but the elders that had once been there to protect them were nowhere to be seen. They were gone, erased in the battle.

But they had only just appeared when a frosty chill filled every waking crevice of the space, inundating it with a fury that burned with ice.

"Who did this to your face?"

Four only had a chance to blink and a shadow had appeared, looming tall and proud over her.