"You guys can leave and explore the area, I'll stay and talk."
"I already told you everything I wanted to tell you."
"You'll find something."
Ismael's group exited the living room, leaving him and Grid alone as the man asked Inlfuenza to also leave.
"How long do you reckon a smell can linger? You'd think, even shit rots."
"I was wrong, you actually have nothing to say."
"I'm serious, though. This is an analogy. I've read a lot of books and mangas to try to see if one of them could ever show me the vision I have in my mind, that I can barely see let alone describe. If you live long enough, you end up seeing your people die, and the memory of them fades with your decaying brain. The only way anyone can ever be remembered is if they committed a war crime of some sort. Helios has that reputation and more."
"One of a tyrant."
"How do you even deal with this? Any hatred against the witch?"
"None. Grateful is how I feel. Both of them, my own parents, gone. Freed from any future exasperation nor burden. I carry their memory but it was abrupt, and at the same time so long. I refuse for anybody to tell me how long I've spent in the Structure trying to kill him. I know it's a lot. What you said is interesting. I wish for a day where I don't have to explain my whole life to each person I newly meet, but I also want those parts of my life private."
"How many of those you travel with do you actually want to travel with?"
"All of them. What a question. They all have their individual value to sharento the world."
"Perseus is a dead end. Wherever you come from has to be a better place; this, is a hell shut from the world. An enclosed torture chamber."
"I can't let go of that Dead Zone thing."
"I wish I could give more intel, but I have none. It stings, when you get close. Your skin burns. It honestly traps you, once you've seen it from afar."
"Right. How about this. How about you and me leave for the night? I want something to shoot at and your face doesn't look like a target right now."
"You want a v.i.p. close shot with it?"
"Absolutely."
"Why not..."
"Anaïs' circle can extend your entire life expectancy."
"I'll go as I am for now. But I won't get too close."
"Fine by me."
Outside, they walked around the area first, sharing things.
"Here's a bench, we could sit and talk some more."
"I'd rather walk."
"I assumed you'd be exhausted after all that you did. But you might just want to put this all behind. Now I think you just have a thing against benches."
"You have no idea."
"Well. What do you want to know?"
"Perseus. The way it works."
"Imagine that seven institutions out of ten function normally."
"And the rest?"
"A disaster. This way here leads directly to the only truly compromised site of Perseus. A long chain of progressively more isolated forest-like paths until the Dead Zone."
"Any roadblocks?"
"Every animal you'll find. Every person you'll see there has lost their mind and somehow became an asset for the Dead Zone to shield itself."
"So it is hiding something from all of us."
"Yes. And the worst part is, because it doesn't spread, it instinctively reinforces the defense system."
"Ambroise Ler and Geulsang Zhao would have lost their shit hearing this..."
"The Nephilims...probably. Not really fond of superior lifeforms that could just descend and kill all of us in a second."
"They dont' do that, they usually intervene when something really personal happens or because they had an order straight from Nara."
"Here we are. Approximately two miles ahead."
At the university.
"Influenza, where could we stay and sleep?"
"The main issue is this, you'll have the dorms. Which are nice and cozy, but that's where multiple generations of young ones had their lives taken from them. They lived here, left, and those of us who survived had to improvise and adapt."
"I think just a bed and a key would be fine. I won't be too picky anyway. In a way i think it's fine to keep their inspirations going, make it everlasting."
"Sure, why not."
The night was spent for all of them comfortably, peacefully, except for one, walking stairs upwards until a shadowy figure presented itself at the top of the staircase.
"When are you going to stop following me?"
"Never. There can only be one ghost in here."
The sun rose in a hurry, as the group members started knocking on every door with strength and fear.
"Genova, wake up!"
"Anaïs. What the hell do you want?"
"Karin is bleeding."
Understanding the situation, she jumped from her bed and ran with the others in the living room, where the air was heavy.
"Tell us what happened", Awane asked, anxious.
"I don't think you realize what it means, for someone else than me to be able to use the Ether. It's a dangerous power. You basically tap into a parallel dimension that negates all humanity. It senses strong emotions, so before I use it, I make sure to control myself. As to not attract anything I wouldn't want to see in a nightmare."
"What did the person look like?"
"A woman. In her early twenties. Long light red hair all over her face and that murderer look. She defenitely killed someone that's for sure."
"Oh. Oh no."
"Influenza, what's going on?"
"I know her. I don't remember her name but she was weird in a different way, she was always in rumors but when we gave her the opportunity to refute them, she refused and left. She had that smile. That horrible smile."
"If she can use the Ether, what is the danger, other than the obvious?"
"I saw what was lurking, and I found out, when Ambroise Ler was in the forest talking to Universalis, that he had that same exact energy and aura. The same feeling and smell. It was a Nephilim. They are getting close. And if she keeps on using it, they'll eventually descend and..."