Chapter 1247: Void, Dragon & Fairy

Phei’s attention turned toward the deeper presence. "Very encouraging."

{I am Endless, not encouraging. There is a distinction.}

That almost made him laugh but the thought of Elena and the Goddess.

He remembered her panic they’d seen when Althea disappeared after they went back in time, the Ashford Madam, Damien’s rage. Melissa’s grimace as the whole thing reminded her of something she’d lost to the same family. They’d come back to take yet another precious life!

His Goddess’s stepdaughter was missing.

Phei possessed power at this moment that should have made the idea of hiding one child somewhere on Earth laughable, yet somehow he was still sitting inside himself watching two ancient monsters search creation and come back empty-handed.

"I’m not stopping."

Eira already knew the reason. That did not make her less furious.

[You’re going to die.]

"Then find her before I do."

[Don’t you dare.]

"What am I supposed to do, Eira? Wake up, walk back there and tell Elena I couldn’t find her little sister?"

[Yes, if the alternative is dying.]

"And my Goddess?"

[You tell her the truth.]

"The truth?" Phei laughed once, without warmth. "That sounds wonderful. ’Madam Ashford, sorry about your daughter. I briefly had enough power to search the entire fucking planet and still came home without her.’ Maybe I’ll bring flowers."

[Phei.]

"And Melissa... what would I tell her? That I let the fucking bastards take another innocent child!"

Eira stopped.

That one hurt differently.

Phei continued before she could answer. "How exactly do I look her in the eyes? She trusted me. Her family trusted me. I’m supposed to tell the Goddess I couldn’t even bring her stepdaughter home after all this I can do now?"

The Void finally spoke, and its soothing voice carried enough depth to settle through every layer of the damaged soul they shared. {You confuse power with omniscience, Oh Little Dragon.}

"I didn’t say I knew everything."

{You behave as though failing to accomplish one thing means everything you possess is worthless.}

Phei’s irritation returned. "I don’t need your ancient philosophy, Void."

{You desperately need philosophy. Your current personality is mostly lust, spite and increasingly expensive decisions.}

Eira made a sound suspiciously close to laughter.

Phei turned his attention toward her. "Whose side are you on?"

[The side where you remain alive long enough to continue ruining my peace.

"Touching. Must I remind you I am your Master! Both of you?!"

[I’m serious.] Her voice softened, and that change worried him more than the anger had. [You didn’t take Althea. You didn’t send anyone after her. You didn’t know this was coming, and the moment you learned what happened, you searched farther than anyone else could have searched.]

"Don’t."

[Master...]

"Don’t give me that."

[It isn’t your fault.]

Phei’s consciousness tightened.

"I said don’t."

Eira ignored him.

[You cannot turn every person you fail to save into another chain around your own neck.]

His answer came quietly. "Watch me."

The Void laughed. It should not have been funny.

Eira certainly did not think so. [You are both impossible.]

{He is young.}

"Fuck off."

{See? Very young.}

[And you’re encouraging him.]

{I am observing him. There is entertainment value.}

Phei would have enjoyed the exchange more if another burning fissure had not opened through the rear of his soul.

This one was worse.

For a brief instant his awareness collapsed inward, memories scattered without order. His father’s face appeared... Melissa screaming... Sienna’s violet eyes. Maya’s smile... A pair of woodland-blue Elven eyes... why? Althea as a child inside memories that were not his own.

Then Eira forced everything together again.

"Enough!"

The force of his command shook their shared existence... even the Void yielded this time.

Its perception withdrew from the world, folding back toward Phei instead of continuing the search.

Phei immediately objected. "What are you doing?"

{Preventing stupidity from becoming suicide... I am sorry Your Absolute Emptiness!}

"Keep looking."

[No.]

"That wasn’t a request."

Eira laughed, though there was nothing amused in it. [Master, you are currently the least powerful person involved in controlling your own body. Perhaps choose your threats more carefully.]

Phei went quiet.

She had him there.

The Void’s amusement returned.

{She is correct.}

"Both of you can go to hell."

[After you wake up.]

{Assuming he wakes up.}

Eira’s fury turned instantly toward the presence. [That is not funny.]

{I did not laugh.}

"You two do realize I’m still here?"

[Unfortunately.]

{Painfully aware.}

Despite everything, Phei smiled.

It lasted only a moment.

Then he sensed something passing between Eira and the Void; a thought he could not hear since it wasnt connected to his mind or soul; just them.

It was like a direction of attention neither allowed him to follow.

His suspicion awakened immediately.

"What?"

[Nothing.]

"That was terrible."

[What was terrible?]

"That lie."

{It was indeed poor.}

[Whose side are you on?!]

{The side of accuracy.}

Phei felt their irritation with each other and almost forgot his soul was dying.

Almost.

"Eira."

[We are running out of time.]

"That’s not an answer."

{There is something that should be revisited before this state ends.}

Phei’s attention sharpened. "What?"

{Something old.}

"Very informative."

[Master, leave it.]

"No."

[You have used that word far too much tonight.]

"Still using it."

Eira’s frustration bubbled through the bond, and Phei could feel there was more beneath it now. Urgency. Something she and the Void considered important enough to reserve the last moments of this impossible state for, yet neither intended to tell him.

That alone guaranteed he wanted to know.

"You knock me out and go wandering somewhere with my body, I’m haunting both of you."

{You cannot haunt the Void.}

"I am your fucking Master!"

The presence seemed delighted by that answer.

Eira was considerably less entertained.

[We need time.]

"So do I."

[For what? Searching the same empty wound in history until your soul turns into glitter?]

"If that’s what it takes."

[Idiot.]

"Fairy."

[Suicidal Dragon.]

"Pocket-sized tyrant."

{Children.}

Both snapped at once.

"Shut up."

[Shut up.]

The Void laughed properly this time.

The sound passed through Phei’s soul like distant creation rolling beneath dark waters.

For several seconds, absurdity almost made the nightmare bearable.

Then Eira muttered, more to herself than either of them, [This would’ve been so much easier if you’d marked Althea with the Spiritual Bond Ring. We could have followed the connection regardless of whatever was hiding her and...]

Phei froze.