[You have arrived on the other side of The Land of Desolation.]
A voice that sounded like a blend of a boy and a young woman sounded in Kyran's head.
Typically, if someone hears a voice in their head after arriving at who knows where, they would feel alarmed. But rather than feeling alarmed, Kyran felt troubled.
Because when the voice spoke to him, something resonated inside him as well.
'You're....'
Kyran's brown furrowed as he looked into his sea of consciousness through his mind's eye.
[It is good to finally speak with you properly, Realm Scion.]
At the spot where the Shaiha should be, a woman wrapped in a flowing dress that glowed with the Shaiha's signature multi-colored light hovered like a mythical being. She had long silver-white hair that flowed behind her back like a white river, and her almond-shaped eyes seemed to reflect all lights— which was dangerously similar to Cyneah's mirror-like ones.
Her skin shimmered as if it were sprinkled with diamond dust. However, upon closer inspection, her skin shimmered because her skin was covered with scales. Her lips were painted light purple, and finally, her ears were surprisingly longer and pointed— like the high elves— however, because of their scaly texture, one would know she was not a high elf.
In any case, Kyran immediately knew who the woman before him was.
It was obvious.
'So this is why that 'guy' kept referring to you as if you were an individual, huh?'
Kyran looked at the woman with narrowed eyes.
'Shaiha?'
A gentle smile surfaced on the woman's face as she replied, "That is correct."
Kyran grimaced inwardly. He hoped his initial guess about why the being shrouded in black mist referred to the Shaiha as a living being was wrong. Alas, his hopes were dashed when 'Shaiha' was revealed before him.
"Why now?"
Kyran did not need to elaborate on his question because Shaiha understood what he had not said.
She replied, almost apologetically, "The Lower Realm's magic energy is incomplete. I can only sustain my form as a core. The black vortex fueled my body, allowing me to refine the magic energy from the Lower Realm and, upon arriving here, amalgamate it with the Higher Realm's magic energy.
"Because of this, I can finally appear in this form."
"'The Lower Realm's magic energy is incomplete?'"
Rather than giving a follow-up question to Shaiha's appearance change, Kyran was more interested in what she said about the Lower Realm's magic energy.
He found it strange and, at the same time, curious that she used the word 'incomplete' rather than 'insufficient' when describing the Lower Realm's magic energy.
Catching up on what Kyran might be interested in, Shaiha smiled and nodded.
"Caelan was only the first vessel. For the true Void Master to appear, the Void core needs to have a vessel, and Caelan agreed to become one—."
"I said stop," Kyran snapped at Shaiha, his voice dropping to a very dangerous level.
Shaiha looked at him with sad eyes. After a while, she sighed and closed her eyes: "You cannot deny your identity, Realm Scion."
Kyran did not respond this time. Instead, he left his sea of consciousness and opened his eyes in real time.
Still, Shaiha incessantly communicated with him. After all, he could not completely cut off his connection with her since she was currently serving as the central core of his four magic cores.
[It is dangerous to stay in one place in the Higher Realm. Unlike in the Lower Realm, the rules in this realm are pretty lax, which is why the Sovereigns here can do as they please. The Emperor is the only one who can subdue them.]
Kyran wanted to ignore Shaiha's ramblings. But after she confirmed where they were, he knew moving around without enough intel would be suicide. He needed her since she appeared to understand a lot about the Higher Realm.
Sensing Kyran's hesitation, Shaiha could only suppress her desire to have him accept his identity. Her priority was to ensure his safety. And frankly, coming to the Higher Realm placed him in a far more dangerous spot. Unfortunately, being discovered by The Emperor, getting chased by him, then meeting that person, and finally entering the Land of Desolation forced them there.
This was a bane possessed by an Ancient Magic Core had to endure.
The bane of being immune to the Fate's intervention.
If Kyran's fate was fixed, Shaiha could have predicted what would happen next. But then again, even if she could, there were two people constantly around him that could potentially change that.
Cyneah and Stella.
These two were also immune to the Fate's intervention because they were successors of an Ancient Magic Core. Unfortunately, the former had not received the Soul core because its previous vessel refused to relinquish it. Moreover, she allowed herself to be influenced by that other person.
As for Stella, she had long been affected by the first vessel's emotions and almost jeopardized Kyran's future because of her intervention. Fortunately, nothing untoward happened in the end.
'I'd like to ask how you know about all this stuff, but I guess your identity speaks for itself,' Kyran finally responded to Shaiha. 'You knew that the black vortex in the Land of Desolation would not destroy us; that's why you didn't stop me when I decided to use that to escape.'
[That is correct.]
Shaiha admitted. She then elaborated.
[That black vortex will devour anything and anyone except for you because of your identity as the Void Master— please don't get me wrong.]
Shaiha hastily added when she sensed Kyran's mood turning foul once more.
[As you've already guessed, the vortex possessed the Void magic's nature. If you had enough magic energy, you would have been able to control it completely, allowing you to warp into your desired destination.]
'And here I thought, you manipulated it into taking me here.'
[I don't have to.]
Shaiha admitted again. Kyran even imagined her shrugging her delicate shoulders.
[Since you only have enough magic energy to ensure your body could pass through that vortex without getting destroyed, it directly sent you here. Because that vortex is the passage allowing one from the Lower Realm to enter the Higher Realm.]