Chapter 598: Thousand eyes |
[Tartarus]
In the depths of Tartarus, hidden behind many seals, three women were sitting together, weaving mana slowly and carefully and handling each thread of mana as if they were extremely fragile.
The three women clad in flimsy white tunics that looked ready to fly at the slightest gust of wind and reveal the little they were covering. When looking at their faces, one would be immediately struck by the eerie similarity between the three of them. As if they were looking at the same person at a different moment in time.
Their pink skin glistened with sweat while their crimson pupils moved erratically, left and right, trying to capture even the slightest moment without blinking.
They were the Norns sisters. The Weavers of Fate.
Urd ("That which transpired") was the oldest as well as the calmest of the three sisters and had power over the past.
Verdandi ("That which is transpiring") was the most worrywart among the three sisters and could observe the present.
Skuld (“That which would transpire”) was the most carefree and chaotic among the sisters and could predict thousands of futures.
In the past, they were one of the worst enemies the Order had for their power was simply insidious and pervading. For what they lacked in power, they made it with smarts and cunning and the number of failed operations resulting from their machination was innumerable.
This was incredibly similar to what happened when they had to help Sol finish his transformation and walk toward the Duke level. Only, at that time, Skuld and Verdandi had been the only ones present.
One might think that the absence of Urd was minimal as her power represented the past and in a way, they were not wrong. Even so, a man without a past had no future and her absence had definitely complicated things. This time, the three of them were together and the results were incredible.
“Sisters. What do you see?”
Skuld asked quietly even as more and more strands of mana were filtered by her. Her brows showed clear signs of tiredness but she did not stop working.
“I believe I have found the last dragon traitor. Urd?”
“Fifty years ago, the young dragon signed a pact with Chaos. Surprising. I would have thought it would be an older one. It seems like all the elders who were related to this fled long in advance.”
“No matter. This has nothing to do with us. If Tiamat had hired us sooner we could have dealt with this more efficiently. Only the shrimps and the idiots were left.”
Skuld sneered as a small golden pair of scissors appeared in hand and then with the simple sound of a snip, the threads were and started darkening.
“It’s a shame though. This body had so many bright possibilities.”
“So did all dragons. Betraying Tiamat because of their greed or feeling of inferiority was simply pure stupidity.” Skuld did not waste time feeling sorry for the dragons whose future was not her problem.
Now that they singled those out, Kiyohime would go on and start a new massacre. Skuld would have felt bad for Kiyohime if she cared. But she did not. No matter how many dragons killed each other it did not matter. All that mattered was that with this, her deal with Tiamat was complete and soon it would be time for her to —
“Oh?” Skuld stopped, feeling a disturbance in the river of time. Urd also exclaimed quietly, “Someone is exploring the past.”
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This was a very small disturbance, one so small they would have never detected it if they were not weaving using the mana from the river of time at the very moment but they did.
“Is it Bastet? That woman is one of the few who can hide in the river of history.” Wondered Verdandi.
Bastet had managed to survive nine times by recuperating her past self from the river of time even when her body was destroyed. This was an incredible feat even for the Norns and they knew that Bastet could have truly become a false god if things had been different. Sadly for her, after each death, her chances of success lowered and now they were ever so close to zero they might as well not exist.
Urd tilted her head, as if listening, as if watching, her eyes growing ever so vacant and empty but soon a strange expression crossed her face.
“I cannot see?”
Her voice was bewildered. She was the Titan of time, Urd ("That which transpired"), the river of time held nearly no secret for her and only the goddesses and a few False gods could hide their pasts from her.
How could she not see anything?
She focused, trying to force through it, “Sister, stop!” Skuld screamed, realizing what was the cause of this weird event.
Even though Urd was surprised, there was no way she would not have heard Skuld's warning and as such she tried to take a step back. Sadly for her, she was a little too late.
“Ugh!”
What did it feel like to stare directly at the sun? Truthfully, this was a question that had no meaning for someone like Urd. After all, she was a titan. Unlike Mortals, staring at the sun for an hour would not even affect her.
Now though, as she covered her eyes with her hands and leaked tears of blood, she understood what it means to stare at the sun with naked eyes.
“Are you alright!?”
Verdandi asked worriedly while Skuld cursed under her breath, “What did you see?”
“Sister! Don’t you see she is hurt?” Verdandi was shocked by Skuld's action but the small Titan did not pay heed to her and only gazed at Urd who answered with difficulty,
“I do not know. I felt like I was facing a giant of light walking in the river of time. One covered in thousands of eyes. I was not able to see much more than this, thankfully.”
Urd's voice was filled with fright even as her vision recovered. She had no doubt that had she gazed deeply at creatures before Skuld warned her away, she might have truly become blind or worse.
“What was that thing!”
Urd asked after wiping the blood away and looking at Skuld whose face was covered by a giant grin.
“The All-seeing and the Crown. Sol had finally obtained this power.” [1]
Skuld fought the urge to laugh madly. In the past, Sol was not able to obtain the Eye of Akasha and as such did not have the Seven Chakra open. Even so, there was no doubt that Echidna's Seven Chakra opening was one of the cornerstones that allowed him to climb as high as he did.
“Things are moving faster than I anticipated.” Beneath her joy, there were also worries hidden. After all one of THEM should have already noticed Sol before this and with this event, THEY might all discover him.
Even THOSE aside, it was very possible for the goddesses to also notice him. If this happened, Sol might be designed as the number one enemy like what happened in the past.
Thankfully, things only lasted an instant and none of those related to the power of time should be awake yet.
She started madly biting her lips until she even drew blood. She could not afford to let this up to luck. This was simply too important. Sol should be about to carve his new name. She did not know what the name would be. Not even the previous Sol could deduce it. But whatever it was, it would be incredibly powerful. She could not let THEM disturb him or start attacking him now.
“Sisters. are you ready to risk your life with me?”
Trying to mess with the reverberation of the river of time to hide information from the gaze of gods would most likely cost the equivalent of hundreds if not thousands of years in lifeforce.
But it was necessary and this was how, with a gaze filled with Madness and determination, Skuld proposed what nearly amounted to suicide to her sisters.
Thankfully for her, even as she proceeded with hiding his traces, the price they paid was far inferior to what she had anticipated.
Almost as if — Someone was already hiding him.
Who might this be?
[1]: Been a while since I did one of those lol. The All-Seeing was a title bestowed to the giant primordial giant whose epithet Panoptes, "all-seeing", led to his being described with multiple, often one hundred, eyes. The epithet Panoptes was also applied to the god of the Sun, Helios.
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