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JACKAL AMONG SNAKES-Chapter 520: Little Wound Up
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When Argrave looked upon the so-called silver-tongued priestess with the [Minor Truesight] lent by the Alchemistās lens, pieces fit together in an instant. They were mysteries both within this small distortion, and those without it. The vague, incomprehensible experience that he had falling down into Sandelabara with the voice, the insistence of Dario and the figure behind himā¦ and the Heralds.
The silver-tongued priestess kneeled before a triangular altar that was unadorned. It wasnāt clear what, exactly, she was praying to, if anything at all. Argrave approached her with some caution. If his screaming instincts were correct, and this woman was related to the same being behind Dario, then caution was the proper move. Magic, divinity, all of it was powerless before the power Dario had used. He only hoped that the same was not true here.
Argrave didnāt undo [Chameleon], but instead walked with the utmost quiet through the small prayer hall the woman knelt at. She wore all white and gold with a veil over her face, and clasped her hands before her in a rather traditional fashion.
āYou ought to speak your prayers aloud,ā Argrave said. āThey might be better heard.ā
The priestess turned her head, but did not scare as Argrave had expected she might. Instead, she looked about as if in wonder.
āTell me, priestess. What mightāve possessed you to sacrifice the prince?ā Argrave stepped around the room, his voice projecting throughout the stone hall rather wonderfully.
āWho speaks?ā she whispered quietly. Her blues eyes wandered where he mightāve been, but found nothing to land upon.
āI believe you know the answer, if you look into your heart,ā Argrave returned vaguely, weaving through the pillars of the hall.
The priestess rose to her feet and followed after his trailing voice. āYouāre either a fool playing a god, or an answer come too late. What could you seek from me?ā
Argrave leaned against the altar. āWas all of this for power, just like the king, or did you seek something more?ā
Despite his overt questioning, she did not seem to panic or grow surprised at all. āAnd what is power? The king thinks it is strengthāto grab and hold, to maim and make lame, as he might put it in that rapacious, rhyming tongue of his. For myself, power is faith. In people, in institutionsā¦ the things that faith can achieve could make all things pale before its light. The mayor holds high the candle of wealth, affluence, and the elderās torch of knowledge burns ever brighter day by day. Power, all. Whoever you are, blessed lord or trickster, you donāt seem to know the half of it. And nor did I, praying before this altar, beseeching the masses ignore the insatiable appetite of the tyrant above them.ā
āBut now you do,ā Argrave guessed, moving away as the priestess followed after him yet further. āAnd what, dare I ask, have you become?ā
āA woman far too bored by mundane questions to suffer them much longer. If you are a god, should you not know?ā
āI know, even if you donāt,ā Argrave said, moving back to the door. āYouā¦ are an anchor. One of three, I should suspect.ā
Argrave once again triggered [Minor Truesight], and beheld the true face of the silver-tongued priestess.
Within her form, a vast and overpowering figure towered above. It mirrored her movements absolutely, yet staked into its flesh half a thousand times and concealing its true form were thick black spikes with red strands of power attached to the end of them. Argrave was completely certain of one thingāthese things, whatever they were, held the denizens of this place captive. Argrave even followed the strand attached to himself, and found it linked here.
He would need to visit the two others involved in this scheme with the Heralds, but Argrave felt that one thing was certain. These people were a key to unravelling this vast mystery. And to discover what, Argrave cast the same spell that had subdued the all-powerful King Normanā[Unfathomable Perception]. The bolt of power travelled out of Argraveās hand, struck the silver-tongued priestess, and yet did absolutely nothing.
Yeahā¦ just like it was with Dario, Argrave reflected. Meaning, whatever King Norman has inside him is wholly different from the three others thatāve met with the Heralds.
He was somewhat afraid to try and harm this person more. He could easily enough collapse a ceiling, or do something else indirect to end her, but he couldnāt tell what would happen if he did. Perhaps everyone attached would simply die. Perhaps the distortion would end, bringing Argraveās life along with it. This was a delicate puzzle, and there were many more mysteries ahead.
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With Bogartās slight help, Argrave was able to locate the elder and the mayor of Sandelabara. Just as hypothesized, they, too, carried along with them a hulking figure impaled with thousands of spikes attached to peopleās existence. The mayor stayed in his oceanside estate, while the elder had a humble home out in the countryside where he maintained a garden.
None of them had seemed implicitly evilāheād gotten the impression from the priestess she was disillusioned by her faith because of Good King Normanās terrible rule. The mayor seemed simply to chafe under taxes. The elder sought vengeance for one of his kin that had been slain. One was righteous, one pragmatic, and the last vengeful. But to that end, they had sacrificed the prince in some way or another, and sought to end the rest of the kingās family to finish the job.
With the so-called anchors evaluated, Argrave returned back to the castle. He let Bogart go free, because he couldnāt see much use for the man. Fortunately, the search party sent out to capture him meant the castle was lightly-manned, and from what Argrave gathered, even the meal the king planned with his daughter was cancelled. Sophia was left aloneāand that was where Argrave had hoped she might be.
When Argrave found Sophia again, alone in a guest room, he took some time to study her. He estimated heād spent two hours here during this loop, and yet all of that time, she didnāt seem to have changed in any way. Not in the physical or magical realms, eitherāhis use of [Minor Truesight] revealed the same results as ever.
Sophia sat on a couch with a coffee table in front of it, and another couch mirroring it. It was made for guests to speak with a host. She wasnāt doing anything at all, but she seemed somewhat happy. Argrave took a seat on the couch across from her, and then dispelled [Chameleon]. Heād blocked the room with a ward beforehand in case sheād cry out or something, but Sophia merely widened her eyes and leaned back into the couch.
āSir Ghost!ā she called out, somewhat joyously.
āHello, Princess Sophia.ā Argrave cradled his hands together. He was worried, somewhatāshould a child be this incautious? āGood to see you again. It seems we have some time to speak more. Did you do alright? Did anybody hurt you this time around?ā
āNo,ā she shook her head. Her black hair had been done into pigtails, and they shook around fiercely as she did so. āThanks to Sir Ghost, nothing happened. The maid even said I didnāt have to have a meal with the king!ā Her happiness was quite apparent.
āI might have something to do with that,ā Argrave nodded. He reached up and removed his monocle. āSay, princessā¦ how would you like to help me solve a mystery?ā
āA mystewyā¦?ā she repeated, then covered her mouth when she failed to pronounce the r.
She looked ready to try again, but Argrave smiled and continued, āYoung lady, youāre too smart. I didnāt pronounce it right. Itās actually mystewy.ā
Her red eyes sparkled and she rocked happily before pausing. āButā¦ whatās a mystewy?ā
āItās something that no oneās figured out,ā Argrave said, setting the monocle on the table between them. āEven Iām stumped on this one. And I think that only you can help me solve this mystery.ā
āMystewy,ā she corrected.
Argrave laughed a little. āRight. Iām a little slow.ā He pointed to the monocle. āI just need to hold that up to your eye, and you tell me what you see.ā
āUmmā¦ā she looked at the monocle. āWill it hurt? Iāve been practicing not crying,ā she said proudly. āI wonāt cry. Promise.ā
Argraveās happiness died with her promise, but he tried to stay smiling. āIt wonāt hurt at all, Sophia.ā
āOkay,ā she nodded quickly and happily.
Argrave stood from the couch, grabbed the lens, and kneeled down before Sophia. He held it up to her eye, willing magic into it.
āWoahā¦ā she muttered, looking about everywhere. āSir Ghost, youāre all glowie! Youāve got a sparkly thing in your chest, and all this blackāā she turned her head too fast, pulling away from the lens. When she realized she had to keep looking through the lens, she lowered her head back, then repeated, āWoahā¦ā
āIād like you to focus on the red strands coming from your body,ā Argrave said. āCan you see them? Theyāre like spiderwebs.ā
āUmmā¦ yeah,ā she confirmed quietly.
āAlright. Now, if you focus really hardā¦ can you feel them at all?ā
Argrave was pressing for information, largely, and he didnāt know what answer heād get. But when Sophia reached her hands out, she proved unable to interact with them.
āNot with your hands. Likeā¦ā Argrave closed his eyes, searching for descriptors. āTreat them like theyāre a part of you. Like another hand. Try to move them like you would your arm.ā
āSir Ghostā¦ā she sounded afraid. āWouldnāt that mean Iām a spider?ā
āOf course not,ā Argrave laughed. āHey, look at the back of my head. Iāve got one of these strands, too. But because youāve got so many, it just means youāre special. So, can you try to feel them for me?ā
Sophia seemed to focus really hard. After a while, her eyes opened wide, and she looked at him. āSir Ghostā¦ Iām a spider person?!ā
Argrave found himself smiling again, but asked instead, āDid you feel something?ā
Sophia hesitantly nodded, then tried once again the grab the strands of power. āIt wasā¦ it was just like Sir Ghost said. It was like another hand. I tried to pull it, but it was stuck.ā
Argrave pulled the lens away and held it to his own eye. āDo you think you could do it again?ā
Sophia nodded, closed her eyes and focused hard. When Argrave saw the power within her shift, he caught sight of volatile energies that heād never before seen. But looking at him, [Minor Truesight] in his head, he could see them for what they really were. At once, half a thousand things became clear.freewebn ovel.com
Those threeā¦ theyāre anchors in a sense. But what theyāre doing isnāt limited to that alone. Theyāre unravelling Sophia, bit by bit, until she becomes stretched too thin. After a certain time, she acts by instinct, pulls back her power. Onlyā¦ her power is so absolute it links everyone, everything. She restores everything back to the way it was, not just herself. And theyāve taken advantage of that to ensure a completely controlled environment. A cage to hold her, using her own power as the barsā¦
Argraveās thoughts were largely conjecture, but what heād just seen when Sophia felt her power was so convincing of that fact he felt hesitant to even call it that. These Heralds, it would seem, had made Sophia unwittingly create this distortion. They had harnessed her ability to make a little pocket of reality where she and all near her existed trapped in eternityānever growing, never changing, never learning. The only imperfection? It was the area theyād come into, where a window of opportunity no longer than five seconds waited.
But now, one who learned did exist. Argrave. He needed to break the anchors, which would allow Sophia to retract her power. Then, this endless loop might finally end. He wasnāt totally sure what that meantā¦ but he had a plan brewing in his mind as to how it might be done.
āAlright, Sophia. I thinkā¦ I think weāre going to get out of here, soon. Iām going to ask my friends for some help.ā