720. A Second Opinion

720. A Second Opinion

There was only one condition to fulfill before they could assault the Palace. Gerina needed to be present within the Palace as soon as Frost arrived. That way, the Impuritas could not execute their scheme at the flick of a switch so long as she was alive.

All precautions needed to be taken now that they were at the cusp of war. Galia and Jury were prepared for the most part on their side, and with the Exalted rapidly approaching their designated Towers, it was now only a matter of twisting the keys to war.

The moment she stepped foot into the 5-kilometer complex of Frontier’s Royal Palace was the moment war would be upon them. Frost recognized that it may be impossible to remain covert with the sheer number of Librarians in the Capital.

Furthermore, the supposed Heart of the City belonging to the Librarians was nowhere to be found in the Capital. At least from what the Tear Retrievers could find. Frost listened to every word that ran through her communication channels, all the while Terrent repeated the ‘Imprints of the Capital’ memory of the Memory Bistro.

“The Librarians are attempting to preserve Frontier by stealing the pages of its people. They have an extraordinary ability to copy the living, albeit in the form of a cutout page of their past. But the ones that roam the Capital are fuller. Closer to being complete.”

“Usually, and from what I’ve seen, aren’t they supposed to just take pages away from people? What’s the point of making their own versions?” Frost inquired as she watched over the relieved faces of a few hundred freed slaves.

They remained on the ship, with few daring to step onto the harbor. She’d be leaving them to fend for themselves down here temporarily until a Tear Retriever could haul them to the mines, or somewhere safer.

Frost had no plans to stick by them; a fact that caused Autumn to make a conflicted face as she was torn between wanting to say something out loud. In the meantime, Frost stood stiller than a statue, her arms folded with her back pressed against her Hired Arm in the middle of the desolate harbor.

Terrent answered:

“Vessels. Physical vessels of the living. Every one of us has an ideal concept of totality. The Imprints of the Capital is no more than an effort to completely replace what exists with their own to archive it. They are effectively saving the Capital into a book, so to speak. The Palace is a major point of concern. It seems that they specifically are after the Gift within.”

“So we’ll be fighting the Librarians now... I want to know something before we depart. What was your ideal concept of totality? You were human once. I’d hate to turn into something I’m not by the Hearts, but you willingly allowed that to happen. Why?”

“Because I truly believe that fear can make us better. Make the world stronger. Those who face the fear, can brave the future. I still wholeheartedly believe in it. Master. I come from the Subderma. My region is illuminated by only one light. There were only two kinds of people in that miserable world. Those who ventured into the dark, and those who cowered in the light.”

“No. It’s closer to an aberration of Light.” Nav said. “A distortion or deviation of the light source. Reminds you of a certain other bearer of Light.”

That never occurred to me until now.

The Alter Frosts were similar with the Aberrations to begin with, save that Frost’s were based on Corrupted and aspects of her past; whereas the Aspects of Amalgamation were more so pieces of herself – even though she didn’t know what Mimicry represented.

The Aberrations of Elysia were probably closer to the Aspects than the Alters, but the fact that the Alters improved with her Light said otherwise.

“You are my Nexus.” The Hired Arm spoke. “The reason why I want to fight beside you is because I am aware that my Light is yours. If you were to die in battle, then I’d follow you to the grave. I swear upon my life.”

“Good. I’m going to need you by my side for a little longer.” Frost was pleased by her Hired Arm’s pledge. “We’ll be assaulting the Palace immediately.”

“Then?” The Hired Arm turned her head around to look at Frost.

Frost mirrored her and locked gazes.

“Snap will ferry us to the north. A Hyperlink Relay has been moving through Grandis for a short while now, thanks to Inflow Direct. Snap’s just waiting for it to come online.”

Indeed. It was the same vessel that left Jury and Galia the Infusion canisters. The Hyperlink Relay was originally meant for them, but through the Little Frost and Snap, they were able to redirect it to the south-western frontier – near the place where they first found Gerina.

“And if we’re lucky, then we’ll have much more than just Moons to defend the 1st Tower.”