As the three of them stepped back into the room of the hotel, they looked around and saw that everything was essentially the same. Dust covered the tables and counters, but aside from that, nothing had changed.
Rei glanced down at himself, noticing his arm was still missing, but the bleeding had stopped. The blood on his hands from earlier, when he had vomited blood, was also gone. He looked up at Zay, then laid down on his back.
"Can you tell me what the hell that was now?" Rei asked, staring up at Zay, almost relieved to be back.
Zay clenched his hand and let out a soft sigh. "What we experienced was very light compared to what it normally is. I assume it was due to us being in a Sequence, but I have no idea why it was so light... Rei, Naomi, there's a lot I need to explain to you both going forward. Take a seat, grab some paper and a quill if you need to. I'll go over what that was as well."
Rei pushed himself up from the floor and moved to one of the tables. He blew away the dust, then pulled a notebook and quill from his Arbiter's Vault, ready to write.
Naomi sat beside him, prepared to listen.
"Rei, do you remember how I told you, a while ago, that a lot changes after Sequence Four? That's the first thing I'll go over."
Rei nodded and began writing as Zay spoke, determined to record every word.
"Normally, the change takes a few hours to occur. After that, we have Aura, yes? Well… don't worry too much about that after this change. Resonance Echoes, certain Passives, and Traits that once required Aura to activate will no longer need it. I told you before that the Aura Core and your Soul are connected, remember? Well… I may have lied. At the time, it was the simplest way to explain it. Your Aura Core and Soul exist in the same realm of existence within your body, but they aren't directly connected.
"Your Seal exists within your Aura Core, which is why you've needed to use Aura to activate its abilities. After Sequence Four, that changes. I still don't understand exactly why, but it does. Your Aura Core and your Soul will begin a process known as Core–Soul Synchronization. It takes about five hours to complete.
"During this process, the Aura Core and Soul merge into one, removing the barrier between them. Once it's complete, you'll feel… different. It will take time for your body to adjust to the sudden change. From then on, instead of using Aura to activate your abilities, you can use them at will—without the previous Aura cost. But… this comes with a catch. Using your Seal or Contract abilities will cause your Aura Core to enter a state called Core Drift.
"If left unchecked, Core Drift leads to unpredictable consequences—both physical and mental. Eventually, it will either kill you… or corruption will spread from your Aura Core into your Soul, turning you into something out of a nightmare.
"Don't panic. There is a way to prevent this. An old text I once read said: 'To maintain an Arbiter's synchronization, one must live according to the essence of their Seal when necessary to restore the bond between Soul and Core.' For example—Naomi, if your Seal was called Assassin, you'd have to live as an assassin for a period of time to restore the bond. Any questions?"
Rei raised his hand almost immediately. "So… after the Fourth Sequence, we won't need Aura to use our abilities because our Soul and Aura Core become one. But using those abilities causes Core Drift, and to fix it we have to live according to the nature of our Seal or Contract. If we don't, it either kills us or corrupts us into a horror. Does that sum it up?"
Zay's brows lifted slightly, and he nodded. "That's actually a very good summary. Good job. Naomi, did you get that?"
Naomi frowned, looking a bit confused. "There's… a problem. I don't use Aura for my abilities, except during the day. And even then, I avoid using them since they're too easy to spot in daylight. So… what does this even change for me?"
Zay rubbed his chin, visibly puzzled. "You can use your abilities without Aura?"
'It's probably because she's a Noctern. Shadows naturally obey their will, so using Aura for that would be pointless. But who knows… maybe this will matter for something else later.'
Naomi sighed, then closed her eyes, signaling she was ready to listen again. Zay looked at both of them.
"That's pretty much everything I had to tell you. Well—almost. One last thing about this subject: you can also remain in harmony with your Seal or Contract from the start, so you'll never have to worry about drifting. If drift does begin, simply start living according to the essence of your Seal again, as I mentioned before—in short, harmony. How you do all of that is entirely up to you."
A few tense seconds passed before Zay slowly sat down in front of them, his expression hardening as he fixed his gaze on Rei.
"Now… let me explain what we both went through before we left. There's no proper name for it—because no one is foolish enough to study it. And the few who were that foolish… are long dead.
"It was a Punishment. That's the closest word I can use. The price we paid for something no mortal was ever meant to do—to lay eyes upon a deity.
"We should be dead right now. That brief glimpse alone… should have annihilated our soul on the spot. Most who've suffered even that much are reduced to lifeless husks instantly. My best guess on how we survived was only because of the Resonance Lens. It was a required part of the sacrifice, and perhaps that shielded us just enough. But I don't know for certain.
"Understand this: never, and I mean never peer into what you do not understand. Do not try to see, do not try to know. The less you touch the divine, the safer you are. Every question you ask, every scrap of forbidden truth you chase… raises the odds that corruption will take you. Or worse—it will annihilate your soul, burn you to ash, and leave nothing behind."
Zay rose slowly, stretching out his limbs before making his way to the door. "Let's go. We've got a long journey ahead before we reach Pluvialis. First, we need to catch the train, then make our way to the Bronze Port, and from there, sail all the way to Pluvialis."
...
Several days later, on the morning of May 10th, they finally arrived at the Bronze Port. It was just past eight o'clock—the port had been open for barely an hour. Zay scanned the bustling harbor, but his ship was nowhere in sight.
He let out a long sigh before reluctantly purchasing three tickets to Pluvialis, draining the last of his funds in the process. He was left with nothing. 'Is it really too much to ask for the world to just… let me be rich for more than a week?'
Zay sulked inwardly, knowing that everything Roland had rightfully given him was now gone. Yet, part of him was oddly relieved. The vessel he had booked passage on was a brand-new model known as the Speedster—a cutting-edge ship powered by both steam and Aura. The two forces worked in tandem, granting it speed unmatched by most vessels in the First Realm.
Its estimated time of arrival in Pluvialis: just one week.