Special…
Never before had she considered herself particularly wishing to be special in any form.
Regardless of her own desires, the world seemed to have other plans for her, forcing that so-called uniqueness upon her.
A supply of mana and a proficiency in the Holy Arts akin to a prodigy, a mind that allowed her to solve any problem thrown at her, and a body fit enough to withstand even the deadliest disasters that rocked her home.
Eleanor Lynn was not in control of these things, the universe conforming her to its will.
Yet now, the man before her showed her an opportunity to take that specialness that surrounded her and turn it into something that she herself could control.
I…
Her lips moved without words following, her eyes focusing on Nautilus's form.
"I'll do it."
She was resolute, never wavering for even a second.
"I will defy the wills of others and act for my own self-interest. Yes… I think I deserve that, even just this once…"
The turquoise-eyed man smiled, dimples taking shape beneath his beard.
"Then, you should begin as soon as possible. Time isn't endless, and the gates of tomorrow that lead you to a new dawn are fast approaching."
Understanding the meaning behind his words, she nodded solemnly, taking a hard and heavy breath.
"I know that it won't be safe and that it's likely that I could perish, but…"
Eleanor paused.
"If I die then, it won't be because I was trying to save someone else; it will be because of my own choice. I'm the one who decided to risk my life to do what no other can do, and I will be the one who will succeed."
Standing from her chair, she grinned widely, a flicker of gold behind her bland-gray eyes.
The Wanderer stayed silent, his single visible eye filled with mixed curiosity and a certain knowingness that only an ancient being might have.
He had seen the worst of humanity, and he had seen the best of it as well, yet in all his years, only the girl before him stuck with him.
Exhaling, he felt a sensor he had placed near the mountain pass trigger; a True Angel, likely Lady Ariel herself, was fast approaching.
"Eleanor."
She snapped out of her trance, focusing on him with a puzzled expression.
"I have something to give you before our time is cut short."
As he reached into his robe, digging through what seemed like an endless set of pockets, the sound of metal clinking together could clearly be heard echoing through the room.
A moment later, he retracted his hand and allowed his grip to loosen, revealing a strange, thick solution jiggling in his palm.
Not any less perplexed, the blonde-haired girl leaned closer, trying to get a better look at the golden substance that twitched at every slight movement.
"What is that…?"
Nautilus sighed as he poked the strange goo with his other hand.
"I have given it the name Aether, a material I harvested off the main body of a weakened spirit that I had pursued until it was on its deathbed."
Eleanor recognized the name instantly, a face not too dissimilar to Marcus Twynam's flashing through her mind.
"The spirit Aether? Wasn't it killed rather recently for you to have…"
She paled, not quite knowing how to politely explain to the man that he was far too old to have slain the spirit that eventually became an emblem wielded by Marcus's grandson.
The Wanderer nodded with a hint of playful irritation.
"Indeed, I am far too old to be its slayer. I simply encountered it during a critical point in its life cycle, and like any opportunist, my friend and I attempted to subjugate it. We were unsuccessful; however, we received this item, which I used until my death."
Withdrawing his hand, he shut his fist fast and hard, causing the golden substance to shoot out in every direction.
Yet, instead of acting like a normal glue-like material, it ricocheted back, wrapping itself around the man's fist and forming something incredible.
"I-It's a gauntlet…?"
He tipped his head down, his single eye looking at her like she was crazy.
"Currently, yes. However, if I were to imbue it with enough mana…"
Taking his other hand, the one that wasn't wrapped in the golden glove, which looked as if it could crack the skull of a god, he slammed it against the substance.
Fwip!
The golden material shifted, then burst into liquid again, reforming around his face and creating a mask resembling that of a demon.
"This Aether substance can reform into anything that its user desires and establishes a close connection with its host to the point where theft is impossible."
Eleanor stared, mouth agape.
"The only negative effect is that it needs an occasional feeding of divinity to function, hence the golden hue."
Snapping his fingers, the mask dissolved, and the Aether formed a ball that floated gently in his palm.
"There is a guest who has come to collect you, so I'll keep this brief."
He looked up at the only sturdy part of the shack, the ceiling, which felt unusually eerie, as if something was watching from above.
Of course, behind the wooden frame, the True Angel Ariel Elaris could be seen, watching the shack with a seriousness unbecoming of her apparent age.
Forming chains of golden light in her hands, she prepared to strike down on the building, once again activating the seal upon Nautilus's body and mind.
Yet, unlike normal, he sat calmly with the girl, a weak grin across his face.
"You'll take this item and use it in your hunt for that being. He will know of its significance the moment he sees you, and then he will know that I've sent you to say…"
He paused.
"Hello."
…
His body burst into burning maggots that screamed out in agony while golden chains slammed downward from the sky, Ariel sparing no expense when eliminating the threat.
As he had spoken his last word, she had noticed malice so vast it could overwhelm even Devils themself in potency, something that was almost certainly directed towards the one person he hated the most.
If he had snapped at something Eleanor had done, he could've killed her in seconds if not sooner, and as such, there was no time for questioning.
Forcing her magic downward and subduing the threat, she struck the blonde child with a teleportation rune, forcibly sending her back to her apartment without another word.
Now, having taken care of the situation she hadn't been informed about beforehand, she could relax, taking a long breath.
Slowly, she descended to the ground where the soft grass met her bare feet, a sensation of peace falling over her.
"Why must it happen over and over again…"
Closing her eyes, the blue-haired Angel questioned her actions like she had done many times before.
The man known as Nautilus was by far the greatest threat to anything other than the gods themselves, and yet, he remained in his cabin, doing nothing even remotely dangerous.
While his occasional mental struggles often led to extreme damage, as seen with the numerous craters left throughout the very fabric of the Great Beyond itself, he was a kind man at heart, and the sworn enemy of the being that all creatures detested.
To her, she couldn't understand why he was forced into solitude, barred from a total memory erasure, and denied the peace of fading.
Ariel believed in her lord, yes; however, his methods were odd and unconvincing at times, making her struggle to comprehend the meaning behind them.
Exhaling, she opened her eyes to the sight of the dead maggots already on the verge of reforming, the man not one to stay dead for long.
"『A kindhearted soul reduced to a paranoid wanderer.』"
The raspberry-eyed woman whipped her head around, the sight of Death himself holding a maggot in his hand flashing before her eyes.
"M-my lord…"
Before she could kneel, he raised his hand, a signal for her not to continue.
"『You cannot hide your feelings from me, Ariel, nor could your mother.』"
The deity sighed, crushing the insect within his fingers and then throwing its carcass aside.
"『I cannot explain anything more than what I have already said about Nautilus or his enemy. A fact that you know well. Eleanor Lynn's excursion outside the walls here, even during the time I had ordered her to stay within the city, is not something that can be excused by mere words.』"
Ariel felt a tinge of guilt for failing at her duties; however, a fact bugged her relentlessly about the situation.
"Why did you allow her to leave? You have complete control over the city itself and enough control over the wasteland to stop her, yet you allowed her to come this far and meet with this man, even with every danger in the world present with that man's disappearance."
Her pale complexion seemed to shine in the cosmic eyes of the god before her, his form flickering as if he were merely a ghost.
"『Who am I to prevent her free will? I am not omniscient any longer. In recent years, I have become further removed from the actions of others. This is because of a simple principle that I have come to know: what my eyes cannot see clearly, others might be able to recognize.』"
His neck craned backwards, and his long hair fell behind him as he gazed upward towards the sky, and by proxy, the roots of the World Tree.
"『Nautilus was correct when he proclaimed that we see Eleanor in a light worse than she is. We underestimate her because we see her as young. However, doesn't that make us no better than the mortals who do the same to their kin? If divinity were the answer to every solution, then the existence of forces that could disrupt it could not be explained.』"
The God of Death smiled at the dying roots above.
"『Prepare, Ariel. We exist in an era of unprecedented change, and what events will transpire is undoubtedly impossible to judge.』"
The moment the words left his mouth, a jolt erupted through the World Tree, a dim flash of light shooting forth from the location corresponding to the Dimension of Waves.
The veil that protected the millions of lives still within the sunken world erupted into anarchy as a slash tore through it.
In the distance, a Spore began to fill with the souls who had been reaped from the madness that spread across the ten seas in an instant.
In the span of one year, it was the second mass casualty event from the Dimension of Waves, something that had only happened during the Age of Architects centuries ago.
Even as chaos broke out in the city over the earthquakes striking the Great Beyond, Death did not turn his stare away from the heavens for even a second as the disaster continued—the only thing on his mind was the unpredictable future.