I woke with a sharp gasp, my body jerking upright.
My head throbbed like I'd been hit with a brick.
My vision blurred for a mont before steadying, and I realized I was lying on the stone floor of the Diyu court.
I groaned, the throb in my skull flaring.
My limbs felt like lead, and the lingering haze from the vision clung to my mind like cobwebs.
My heart was hamring so hard it hurt, and sweat slicked my skin despite the cool air around .
I turned my head to see the smug purple-furred creature lounging lazily nearby.
Agnos was sitting nearby, grooming his fur. He licked his paw with an air of indifference that felt like a personal insult.
When he saw awake, he yawned, flashing sharp little teeth before flicking his tail lazily.
"Finally," Agnos muttered, his voice like sandpaper scraping my nerves. "You're up," he said, his tone utterly uninterested.
I groaned, rubbing my temples as I tried to shake off the lingering ache. "How long was I out?"
"Not long," he replied. "Though long enough for you to make a spectacle of yourself. The court spectators found it entertaining."
I glanced around, and sure enough, a few passersby were giving puzzled looks. However, the mont their eyes landed on Agnos, they hurried away without a word.
I pushed myself to my feet, brushing off my clothes. "What... just happened?" I asked hoarsely.
Agnos didn't bother looking at as he replied. "You absorbed another fragnt. Welco back, by the way. You've been lying there like a collapsed scarecrow for a while now. It was embarrassing to watch."
I ignored the jab, my mind racing back to the vision. The figure by the lake— but not . His cryptic words echoed in my head: "I had to do what I had to do."
Shaking off the thought, I reached into my pocket and pulled out the Sixth fragnt. It pulsed faintly, almost like it was alive. Reluctantly, I handed it to Agnos.
"Here," I said.
As usual, he popped it into his mouth and swallowed without ceremony. By now, I was used to the bizarre sight of a magical cat consuming ancient fragnts of power.
But this ti, sothing was different.
Agnos's fur began to glow, a soft purple light radiating from his sleek coat. His golden eyes shone brighter, the intensity almost blinding. The glow didn't fade imdiately like before—it lingered, building, until his entire form seed to vibrate with energy.
"Agnos?" I took a cautious step back. "You good?"
He didn't answer right away. His body tensed, his tail swishing rapidly as if he were trying to shake off whatever was happening.
Then, with a sharp exhale, the glow dimd, and his eyes returned to their usual piercing gold.
"Well," he said, his voice slightly strained. "That was... unexpected."
"What just happened?" I asked, my heart still pounding.
Agnos tilted his head, his gaze distant as if he were processing sothing.
"The fragnts are growing stronger. Each one I absorb brings closer to being whole. But this one... this one carried sothing extra."
"Extra?" I pressed.
"Agnos," I said, my voice sharper than I intended. "What are these fragnts really showing ?"
"mories," he said, finally glancing up from his grooming. His golden eyes glead in the dim light, unreadable as always. "But whose? Well, that's the question, isn't it?"
"I saw myself," I blurted out, unable to contain it. "Or soone who looked like . But he wasn't... . He said sothing—sothing that didn't make any sense."
Agnos tilted his head, his ears twitching as though he were contemplating whether to humor . "Care to elaborate, or are you just going to flail in existential confusion?"
I gritted my teeth, trying to organize my thoughts. "He said he had to do sothing. That he was sorry. And then everything just—" I made a vague gesture, "—disappeared."
For once, Agnos didn't respond with a snarky remark. He stared at , his eyes narrowing slightly, as though weighing his next words.
"Fragnts aren't just pieces of my power," Agnos said, his voice casual. "They're pieces of history. Maybe it could also be yours, who knows."
I froze, his words hitting like a punch to the gut. "Mine? What do you an mine?"
"You're the one seeing these visions, not ," he said, flicking his tail dismissively. "Maybe the fragnts are trying to tell you sothing."
I stared at him, my mind racing. The figure by the lake—, but not . His words echoed in my head again. "I had to do what I had to do."
"I suppose what you're experiencing is not surprising," Agnos said, breaking my thoughts, his tone uncharacteristically subdued. "The fragnts aren't just pieces of power—they're pieces of ti, mory, and will. Yours, mine, and perhaps... sothing greater."
I frowned, my frustration mounting. "Can you please stop speaking in riddles for once? I'm tired of being left in the dark."
Agnos sighed, rising to his feet and stretching lazily. "The answers you want are buried in the fragnts, Carl. All of them. You've only scratched the surface. But the more you uncover, the closer you'll co to understanding who—or what—those mories are."
"What do you an who?" I echoed, the weight of his words pressing down on .
I couldn't stop myself. My mind buzzed with a thousand questions, but the one that kept pushing to the front, that gnawed at like an itch I couldn't scratch, was the one I had to ask.
"Agnos," I began, trying to keep my voice steady despite the weight of everything that had happened in the last few minutes, "where do your powers co from?"
He looked at for a mont, his golden eyes almost too calm, too guarded for my liking. For a mont, I thought he might just shrug it off and toss a cryptic response like he always did.
But instead, his ears twitched slightly, and I could sense sothing change in the air.
"It's simple," he said with a nonchalant shrug, his tail flicking behind him. "From our creator, of course. The one who made Mythica, the world, and... well, everything else."
The words hung in the air, but there was sothing about the way he said it, sothing in his tone that felt off. His usual bravado, the easy arrogance that always seed to make everything sound like a joke, wasn't there.
I took a step forward, narrowing my eyes. "What do you an, our creator? And why does it sound like you're holding sothing back?"
He stiffened, just for a fraction of a second—so quick that, if I wasn't paying attention, I would've missed it.
But I was paying attention, and I saw it.
Sothing in him shifted, like a door opening just a crack, revealing a dark hallway I wasn't sure I wanted to walk down. For more chapters visit Novᴇl_Fire(.)net
"Let it go, Carl," Agnos muttered, but his voice lacked its usual edge. It was almost... tired? "It's not important."
I wasn't going to let him off that easy.
The whole point of this journey—hell, my reason for being here—was to understand what was really going on. To uncover the truth.
And if Agnos knew sothing, if he held answers that could explain all of this, then I was going to get them out of him.
I took another step closer, watching him closely. "Agnos, I know when you're holding back. You wouldn't be acting like this if you didn't have sothing to say. So, what is it? Who is the creator? Why do you keep acting like you're... scared of sothing?"
Agnos let out a slow breath, like the air was thick with sothing he didn't want to breathe. His golden eyes flickered briefly toward the sky, then back down at .
The usual teasing glint was gone, replaced by sothing far more complex—sothing almost... sad.
"We don't talk about him," Agnos finally said, his voice quieter now, almost distant. "We're not supposed to. It's... a rule."
"Who's 'we'?" I pressed, my frustration mounting. "Who made these rules? Why does it feel like you're all just following sothing you don't understand?"
"You want answers, Carl?" he said, his voice smooth, almost too smooth. "I can give you all the answers you want. But that doesn't an you'll understand them when you get them."
I stared at him, fighting the urge to explode. I wanted to shout, to demand that he tell everything, but sothing held back.
Maybe it was the sadness in his voice, or the faint shadow in his eyes that suggested he had no more answers than I did.
Maybe, just maybe, Agnos himself was as much in the dark as I was.
For a long mont, neither of us said anything. The world around us was strangely silent, as if it, too, were waiting for sothing to break.
Finally, I let out a breath, feeling the weight of everything pressing down on . I was starting to realize sothing—sothing that made my gut twist.
There were no easy answers.
There was no one handing the truth on a silver platter. This world, Mythica, the fragnts, everything—it was all connected in ways I couldn't even begin to understand.
And maybe the answers weren't sothing I could just grab by shaking the right person.
"I won't get the answers now, will I? Maybe I never will..." I trailed off slowly.
Reviews
All reviews (0)