Chapter 884 The World's Memories

Chapter 884 The World's Memories

There was no fanfare, storm, or announcement about the death of a god. No one would know she was dead, aside from the ones who knew she was alive at all.

But Gaius wept.

Even if he initially hated her with all his godly being, this stemmed from his unfathomable love for her.

And now that he had taken her life away, it hit him like a meteor slamming into a planet. Gaius forgot everything about the seven individuals he had captured as he left with Psyche, and wandered the stars, thinking about how he could have done things differently.

This gave more than enough time to the Progenitors of magic to escape their darned prison, and leave behind a little gift to the god for capturing them.

They wouldn't stick around to find out if he liked it or not, though.

And when they reached back into their realm, the seven of them quickly boosted the power of the veil between the mortal and god realms. An incident like this shouldn't happen ever again.

Especially considering the casualty count Edith found out about when she teleported back to her mage tower and found nothing but a crater. Her heart squeezed a little, thinking about the lives lost.

But there was nothing to be done about it now.

If she had been there at the moment of the event, maybe she could have done something and brought their souls back. But it was too late now.

'They have rejoined the wheels of fate. May their souls find respite in their next coming,' Edith prayed, clasping her hands together.

She walked into the crater's center, searching for any remnant of her mage tower which she could use to replant it. Although it would take centuries before it grew back to what it had been, at least she would have a home again.

'I could always go back to Themisca... The Ley lines there were strong enough for me to perform the injection. But... Do I want to go back to what attached me to the mortal realm?' she mused, as she walked through the crater, letting her senses wander about.

But something caught her attention, and her mind snapped back to reality.

"Teleportation remnants?" she muttered, noticing a flutter of mana, about twenty feet above the ground, where the main room would have been.

She floated up and touched the remnants, trying to see if she could guess who had left them, and saw the face of an ash elf with white hair and icy-blue eyes.

"The court mage? The trace is so faint... Did he manage to escape?" she kept muttering.

There was only one way to find out.

With a swift movement, Edith pulled out something she seldom used.

An item that had more power in its twelve inches of length than most mortals had in their entire bodies. An item that should have become the embodiment of her power had she ascended to godhood.

The Quill of Origin. The artifact that represented her domain.

Glowing in a powerful golden halo, this quill, made from the feather of the first Phoenix and imbued with her very own domain through decades of pouring Aether into it, radiated in enough power to alert every being even slightly mana-sensitive in a thousand-mile-radius.

But Korin shouted back, "No! Obey the prince's orders! Save what remains of the Ash Elves' power!"

Gelum'vire took this as his queue and grabbed onto Kloud, teleporting away as he went to another spot in the tree.

There were many more he wanted to save, after all.

If he couldn't save the prince, then he would save as many of his loyal followers as he could.

Edith focused on other parts of the mage tower, trying to find something else. The world was egging her toward something she couldn't see.

And soon enough, she found what it was.

A pair of Ash Elves, both crouched over a smaller life force. One that was quickly fading.

Edith focused on the memory, trying to understand why the world was pointing her toward this, and the colours and sounds rushed at her.

"Please, Aj'axx. You know your strength won't be enough to protect both me and the baby. Save just the child. Save our son. I implore you!"

"No, Serene! I can't let you die! Who'll take care of our child if we are both dead?! I refuse! I will protect both your lives!"

Edith felt the soul of the man spike in power as his essence suddenly started covering both the woman and child, leaving his body at a rapid pace.

But something happened that surprised Edith just as much as the man, Aj'axx.

The woman, either out of desperation or motherly instinct, could tell this would never be enough to protect them both, and Edith could see that she was right, grabbed a dagger hidden in her cloth garments, and stabbed herself through the heart.

Her life ended in seconds, as her mate, who was already weakening faster than he could manage, was powerless to react.

The essence covering her immediately drifted toward the child, and a solid blue cocoon formed around him as the man's last words slipped out of his mouth.

"Ultimate Defence: Life Shell. Live, my son..."

Edith snapped out of the world's memories.

Her gaze refocused on the surrounding reality, and she rapidly scanned her surroundings.

"That shell would have held. Where is the child?!"

She rushed to the ground, looking for traces of mana that came from after the blast.

Expanding her senses over the crater but focusing on detection power, Edith quickly found a trace of that man's essence. But it was fleeting, and there was no life within it.

She dashed to the area where she felt it and frantically dug into the ground, using her bare hands.

"Please be alive. Please be alive. The world would never forgive such a young life to vanish!"