novelaction Chapter 84: Skopio
Chapter 84: Skopio
The sun had set long ago, and most of the villagers were having a hard time sleeping in the presence of a saintess, or even thinking of someone like her, with several knights in their border village.
The monastery has five entry points. Southern gate, which is the backside and leads to a spacious garden, which then connects to a vast farmland, two side doors, and the prayer hall’s main entrance, which faces the square directly, also referred to as the northern gate.
Sitting on the boundary wall of the farmland was a man with emerald eyes and black hair, wearing a long black coat over a shirt and pants. He was Vael.
The farmland behind him was flat and dark, and it smelled like earth and the cold of agricultural soil.
Ahead of him, across the garden, the monastery’s southern gate stood closed. He was looking at it.
Just with the comfortable attention of someone who’d been thinking about a problem, and was now simply watching the clock run down the moment it became relevant.
*Swish*
A man appeared beside him from the dark. Broad through the shoulders, quiet on his feet, the nerves in his body were clearly visible on his skin as they rotted off something black and hideous.
"Garden’s clear," He said.
Vael looked at the village past the monastery’s eastern walls; from this angle could see the edge of the square, the mana lamps on the monastery’s walls, and the silent homes.
The whole village was quiet, unlike the more bustling counties.
"What about the Prince?" The man asked.
"He went inside, I thought he’d roam in the corridors, but I guess he got cold," Vael scoffed.
"He’s eminently ranked," Vael said. "He’ll respond to the northern entry when it moves. That’s what eminent ranked knights do, they move toward the sound."
He picked up a small stone from the wall’s edge and turned it over in his fingers. "Reth can handle eminent."
"Our task is simple, don’t focus on knights, or the prince. Just finish that saintess off, and be gone with it, no need to stay back and indulge in any games," he said.
"Am I clear?" He asked.
"Absolutely, may the goddess bless us," the man replied.
.
.-.-.-.-.-.
.
"How?" Ymir whispered.
He was... sitting beside Violet, under the veil of white curtains, while the Knights weren’t aware of his presence.
"How can you ... How does one meditate...I need to know," he whispered.
He has had some difficulties concentrating and meditating. He just cannot do it.
"What do you think? Or do you think at all?" he whispered
"You have to keep your mind still," Violet replied, keeping her eyes closed.
"Well, it stays still in my skull, it’s not like it’s running away," Ymir said.
"Concentrate on your energy, or repeatedly think of the task you want to perform, the aim you want to achieve," Violet replied.
"Well, it’s just all blank. I close my eyes, and it’s all darkness," he said.
"Then bring forth that darkness by imagining it in reality, manifest yourself into that blank world," she answered.
"You’re the void you’re looking into, you can do anything with a calm mind," She continued.
"It’s not as easy as it sounds," Ymir replied.
"How did you manage to attain such power without mediation?" Violet asked, still keeping her head still and eyes closed.
"Controlling aura is quite different from what I want to achieve from meditation," he said.
"What is it that you want to achieve?" she asked.
"Hmm...I’m not sure. There’s this state of existence in beings, it’s called the mind realm," he said.
"I want to enter my realm."
"I never heard about something like mind-realm," Violet said. "And that’s odd..." she paused.
"What’s odd?"
"You always think of anything practically, and now you’re contemplating something which is...hypothetical? If you change your ways under someone’s influence, which I doubt you do, you’ll never be able to achieve what you want," she said.
"Mind realm sounds like something unique to everyone. So how you perceive and access it will be completely different from the understanding of someone else’s mind realm," she said.
"My guess is that you’re not able to enter your own realm because you’re not thinking about it the way you usually do." She concluded.
"That’s...quite an insight," Ymir muttered in deep thoughts.
"How do I usually think?"
"You look for evidence. Or something similar...you create your own reasoning of how something works, or someone thinks, from what I’ve observed, maybe try reasoning in your realm," she said.
He nodded. Violet was right. Up until this point, Ymir had been meaninglessly meditating and just hoping his realm would manifest as Orochi had told him. But mind-realms are unique. Orochi’s manifestation works because he’s a mythological demon even among demons. He’s a man whose thoughts and knowledge have been paved on countless misconceptions, but he still managed to pick up the right things.
But what Ymir had learnt up until now had a theory, a reasoning, a map, a structure. The way he looks at the world is different from how Orochi does.
"I never knew you were this insightful. I thought you were-" He paused.
"You thought I was?" Violet slightly opened her eyelids.
"Intelligent as always, but it seems like...we’ve got some company," he replied, looking at the main and massive doors of the prayer halls.
Violet just...sighed.
"...?" Ymir looked at her, "You’re not surprised?"
"I knew from the way you looked at the crowd that something was wrong, so it’s not really surprising for me..."
"You cannot be serious?"
"I am,"
"You knew just by looking at how I looked at the crowd? Am I that obvious to read?" he asked.
"No, but to me, yes. It’s pretty simple."
"..." Ymir had nothing to say to that.
"And I can smell that awful scent of demonic energy; it looks like these people have now begun to move," Violet said.
*BOOM*
The northern side door was the first sound.