Narrator's Pov
The Express suddenly stopped, Ryan looked through the window with a small frown, he saw Herta's Space Station through the glass and let out a short sigh, he had to talk with her, she seemed to learn about him some way, for a reason she had called him by his real name.
With a soft sigh he walked towards the door of the Express as the train started to move again approaching the station, as soon as it stopped, he'd go through the door directly to Herta...
"It looks...a bit weird from the outside"
He looked to the side, seeing Cocolia looking at the Space Station through the glass.
"Cocolia, I have to do something important now, you can stay here" he spoke, the woman seemed to hesitate for a second but soon she nodded her head.
"I understand...I'll stay here in the Express"
"...here, you can use my phone to pass the time, I might be gone for a while" he offered his cellphone to Cocolia, who slowly took it and looked at it.
"Are...you sure?" She asked slightly curious.
"Yes, it'll keep you entertained while I'm gone, you could talk with Ms.Himeko or Mr.Yang so they can get you your own later"
"I see...thank you, Ryan" the woman slowly nodded her head. "I'll...hold onto it until you come back."
"Ryan!"
He looked behind him, seeing March approach, the girl looked a bit nervous towards Cocolia, who slowly gave a few steps back letting March get closer, she cleared her throat and then started to talk.
"There's something I'd like to ask you..."
"What is it, March?" He crossed his arms across his chest.
"Well, you Uhm..." She lets out a soft sigh before speaking again. "Your magic can do a lot of stuff right?"
"There're a lot of uses for magic yes, why do you ask?"
"Is there like...a spell to view someone's memories? Or something like that?" She asked nervously.
Ryan took a hand to his chin, thinking for a few seconds. "There...is actually something to view other's memories, but I've never used it, I only know the theory"
"Great! Do you think you could do it with me?" March's face suddenly lit up.
"It's...not as easy as you might think March, it's a very complex spell and-" he stopped as he felt the Express movement stop. "I'll explain you once I'm back, March, I have to go do something important"
"Oh, Uhm...ok-"
Before she could even finish the sentence, Ryan left the wagon, leaving both her and March in an awkward silence, the blonde woman slowly looked at Ryan's phone, and then looked at March.
"How...do I unlock it?"
....
"I'm sorry, there isn't anything I can do"
Ryan grunted slowly, standing up from the bed he was lying on, had started to slowly put on the Kimono shirt and coat to hide the growing Ice on his left shoulder, behind him, a girl with long black hair and green eyes wearing a black and grey dress was sitting on a chair beside the bed, she let out a soft sigh and stood up from her chair.
"If even you can't do anything about the Mark..." He frowned lightly.
"I'm sorry Ryan...but whatever that mark is, it goes beyond me..." She paused with a growl. "That bitch...the leader of the Ice Spirits did that to you, didn't she? To think that monster would go to such extents...she ascended as a Demi-god, I was able to feel it from here...the amount of power she suddenly acquired...how did you manage to kill her?"
"I...just caught her off guard, that's all" he replied bluntly with his back turned on the girl.
"That's good! She was already a problem, if she had survived and kept her status as demi-god I don't think even all of us combined would have defeated her" She smiled softly driving a hand to her chest. "But again...I'm sorry I can't do anything about the Mark..."
"It's no matter...I don't know if I have time to reach for Ms.Orly to see if she can do something..." He sighed and walked to the doors of the room.
"Ryan, wait!" She called out to him, getting close and grabbing his hand. "I might not know how to take that mark off you, and we can't risk you dying because of the Ice, father might know something, when I was a child, he had a curse on him too, one that limited his body and soul...but he got rid of it"
"I see...I'll go talk to the Emperor then" he opened the doors of the room and then looked at the girl. "Thank you, Lilia" he yanked his hand away from hers.
"You're welcome, leader" she smiled lightly as he walked out of the room.
Ryan's footsteps were silent but quick, with a small grunt he took a hand to his left shoulder, feeling the ice growing under his clothes, with a frown he simply continued walking, after a few minutes he arrived at a pair of big doors, with some effort he opened them and walked directly into the huge throne room in front of him, the doors closed behind him, and the voice of the Emperor echoed across the room.
"Chevalier... I've heard you completed your mission, well done"
The man wore a golden and black robe, a silver mask covered his entire head and face, the top of it resembling the edged of a crown, his figure stood completely still on the throne, as if he was a statue.
Ryan slowly got on one knee in front of the Emperor, lowering his head. "I have, Emperor, the Ice Spirits have all dissapeared."
"Good...it's impressive that you managed to beat their Queen, the girl ascended to Demi-God in the middle of the fight didn't she?" He asked but he quickly replied to himself. "Of course she did, and she also cursed you, didn't she? That's why you came to me"
He opened his eyes slightly at the man's words. "Perceptive as always, Emperor, yes, the Queen of the Ice Spirits put a curse on me that is progressively freezing me, Lilia was not able to do anything about the mark or the Ice..."
"She would never be able to do something about it, if it was put on you by a Demi-god, then only people with divine status or power could be close enough to do something to the mark..." The Emperor kept himself silent for a few seconds before speaking. "You're too good to lose, Chevalier, your prowess, loyalty and skills are still needed, I'll tell you how you can get rid of it."
When hearing him, Ryan's eyes widened slightly and he looked up at the Emperor. "Thank you, Emperor, Lilia told me that you were once cursed..."
"Yes, I too was cursed by a Demi-god a long time ago, to the east of Shion Island, that's where you have to go" he slowly stood up from the throne and walked down the stairs. "You'll find a cave, in it, there's a lake that was created after the death of an already forgotten god, I went there and managed to purify myself and get rid of my curse, you should be able to do the same." He explained as he stood in front of Ryan.
"I...see, by your tone of voice, I suppose it won't be easy?"
"I do not know what you'll find in that cave, when I went there, I was forced into an underwater labyrinth, I was purified once I found my way out after 2 weeks of wandering aimlessly, whatever you find in that cave, whatever the spirit of that dead god throws at you, you'll have to overcome it if you wish to get rid of that mark." With those words he opened his right hand, and out of nowhere a map started to form, after a few seconds he offered the map to Ryan. "Here, a map for you to get to the cave"
The white-haired boy silently grabbed the map, standing up. "Thank you, Emperor, whatever my trial is, I'll go through it"
"Chevalier, survive, do not dissapoint me, or Shion Island by dying" the Emperor's stern voice echoed across the room as he walked back to his throne sitting on it.
"I won't dissapoint you, Emperor..."
Ryan's hand clenched the map tightly, he slowly stood up and without saying anything else he turned around and started to walk to the doors, opening them and coming out of the room, giving a small look towards the Emperor before the doors finally closed.
He looked at the map in his hand and then put it inside of his kimono, with a small grunt he grabbed his left shoulder, clenching his teeth as he felt the Ice starting to pierce his skin and muscle, starting to grow both outside and inside of his shoulder.
"I can't waste any time..."
He immediately started to walk, trying to ignore the growing pain on his left shoulder, and also the ache in his chest.
...
Herta was calmly tipping some keys on the console of the simulated universe, she soon stopped once she heard the door of her office open, she let out a sigh and simply kept tipping.
"You could've sent a message saying you were coming, I could've prepared this much sooner" the puppet spoke without caring to turn around.
"I don't have my phone on me" Ryan entered the office letting the door close behind him. "...how much do you know?"
"More than the Astral Express probably" after a few seconds she stopped tipping and fully turned around to see him. "Sit down and enter the Simulated Universe"
"...what?"
"C'mon, It's not that bad, besides, I've already added that feature that'll let you safely disconnect yourself from the Simulated Universe, that way you won't fry your brain if you try doing it again" she motioned her hand towards the Simulated Universe machine.
"Herta, i'm not going to-"
"Ace." The puppet sternly looked at him. "Do it"
Ryan flinched slightly at Herta's tone of voice, he closed his eyes for a second before letting out a sigh and walked to the machine, sitting on the circle in front of it, he closed his eyes again and felt himself relax for a second, before he opened his eyes again.
"Okay, we're both safe here"
Ryan looked around, he was now in a forest, one he did remember, the forest that Teo had thrown him into to test how much natural talent he had to survive, he had spent almost 2 whole days in there, before Teo finally decided to look for him.
In front of him, on top of a stone, Herta sat calmly with her legs crossed, her eyes curiously looking around for a second before looking at him.
"Are all the places generated by your memories going to be so...medieval?" She crossed her arms across her chest.
"It's not my fault, my home is not so developed..." He made a small pause. "Why in the Simulated Universe?"
"Well, besides the fact that in here that Goddess you belong to won't hear us-" Herta's words made Ryan eyes widen. "It's also for my safety, I don't know the extent of your powers as an Avatar of that woman, I'm not risking you being able to kill me through my puppets because these puppets can't handle a fight against you"
"It looks like she told you a lot" Ryan narrowed his eyes making Herta nod with her head.
The puppet slowly stood up from the stone and walked towards him. "She did, I still don't know what parts are true or false, she was very cryptic you see...to think a goddess like her would have such low communications skills"
Ryan stood up, looking down at the Puppet. "What do you want Herta?"
"I want answers..." She took a hand to her chin letting out a small smirk. "That woman refused to answer my questions after she finished telling me that little tale she used as a dumb metaphor for your true nature....if you're worried about the Astral Express, I have no plans of telling them anything about this, if I do you'd get mad and probably never come back here again, the Astral Express is emotional enough to allow you to not come here if you're uncomfortable"
"...fine, what do you want to know?"
"Oh? I thought you'd try to persuade me and try to find a way to escape from this to not tell me anything" the smirk on the puppet grew slightly more.
"I.... won't be able to keep all of this to myself forever, Mr.Yang already knows what I am...and what I did, I haven't told him everything but...I can't keep myself closed to them anymore"
"You grew fond of them already? That's a surprise, would you dare call them friends?"
"I'm not sure about that yet...just tell me what you want to know, Herta"
"Fine, first, what are you to that Woman who calls herself a goddess of death?" Her eyes looked directly at Ryan's.
"I'm her property...or product, whatever you want to call me" he spoke letting out a soft sigh. "My family, the Chevaliers, did a pact with her some generations ago, we would kill for her, she'd own our souls, and in exchange she'd give us part of her power, she also...modified us"
"Oh? She didn't tell me that last part" she hummed with some interest. "She did tell me your family made a pact with her, that you belonged to her, what did she do to you?"
"She wanted us to kill the most people possible, for that, she modified our souls with magic, she gave us a sort of apathy towards life itself, if we didn't care then we wouldn't have any trouble killing anyone, all Chevaliers are naturally good at killing, we also learn quickly, and I don't know how she does it...but I've learnt that every generation of Chevaliers grows stronger than the one before it"
"I see...so your offspring would be even stronger than you" she smiled. "This...apathy towards life, you don't seem to have it, are you an exception?"
"I...had it before, when I was a kid I simply couldn't care about those who I killed, the only ones that really mattered to me were Mr.Teo, Miss Orly and...Perla" he paused for a few seconds before be kept talking. "I killed many, some for Mr.Teo, other because I was bored, and others because...I was mad"
"The woman told me something about a big incident...one that caused something that made you...start to wander off the path of a Chevalier" Herta's face went back to the usual stoic expression. "Tell me about it"
"...Roclis, that's the place where it occurred, I...don't like to think about it."
The place started to change, the atmosphere seemed to vibrate and darken, suddenly, they found themselves into what seemed to be the insides of a cave, Herta looked around curiously, her gaze immediately going to the huge and many cages that were around.
"Hmmm, another place of your memories, this is Roclis, isn't it? Thinking about it must have made the Simulated Universe create this place" she walked to one of the cages, kneeling down to see the small stains on the floor. "Animals? No"
"Slaves, the owners of those cages were traffickers, they captured people from different races and ages to sell them as slaves or even mutilate them and use their remains for magic" he replied not bothering to turn around to look at Herta.
"I see...I won't push it, I prefer to have you in a reasonable mood so you can answer my questions" the puppet stood up and walked to Ryan's front. "Now, tell me, this'll be the last question for now"
"For now? Do you plan me to come back again?" He frowned down at her.
"Don't look at me like that, I still have many questions, but I also have to study your Aeon status"
"...fine, what is your last question?"
Herta's face slowly turned serious, her eyes looking directly at Ryan's as she straightened herself and with a demanding voice she spoke.
"Who is Ace Chevalier?"
"...Herta, that's just the name my biological parents gave me"
"Don't mess around, Ryan, for you, it's much more than just that, isn't?" She narrowed her eyes. "As much as you wish and crave to be separated from your true nature as a Chevalier, you can't escape from what you are...so you simply separated your nature from who you are right now, and that's a problem"
Ryan narrowed his eyes at her. "What are you talking about?"
"We can't have both Ace Chevalier and Ryan Chevalier as the Aeon of Guilt, an Aeon having double personality could break much more than you could imagine, you have to choose what you'll be"
"I can't just escape of what I am, I've already...accepted that, the least I can do is suppress my true nature, keep it away from others, that's what Ace Chevalier is" He closed his eyes for a few seconds before looking at Herta, slightly dissapointed. "Do you really think it'd...difficult my work as an Aeon?"
"I do, I don't think a god who switches between caring about life and not having any respect for it should exist, either of them is not that much of a problem, but switching personalities that way could really mess up with the Balance of the Universe and cause other Aeons to try and hunt you down or assimilate you, it could also mess up a lot with whatever path you carve" she explained making Ryan frown slightly.
"I...already have a follower" he said and Herta widened her eyes slightly.
"Already? That's impressive"
"She's in the Astral Express...if you really think I have to choose..." He drove a hand to his chest. "I...I can't escape from this anymore, I'm already an Aeon, I already have a follower and...this Path I'm carving, it could help a lot of people like...me"
"Who will you be then Aeon of Guilt?"
"I...need to think about it" Ryan let out a soft sigh.
The puppet's expression slowly softened and then she nodded. "Take your time, you might have a follower already but you still don't have enough influence as an Aeon to cause too much trouble"
"Can I...get out now?"
He blinked and everything turned black before he opened his eyes again, finding himself in Herta's office, the puppet to his side staring down at him.
"You can go back to the Express, or wander around, but get your phone first, I need to keep in contact with you"
"Aren't you going to investigate my Aeon abilities now?"
"I have other stuff to do first, don't think yourself too important, you're not my first priority" Herta took her hands to her hips.
"I see...I'll take my leave then, I have something to do in the Express too"
Ryan slowly walked towards the door of the office, as the door opened, Herta gave a small step forward, apparently wanting to call out to Ryan but she instead decided to keep herself silent, allowing him to walk out of the office, as soon as the door closed, Herta let out a short sigh.
"What the hell am I doing?"
She turned around and again started to work on her Simulated Universe.
★ ★ ★
A/N: I finished this before going to sleep, now I'm going to bed.
By the way how many of you would like to see an early The Herta in the story? I'm kinda curious about that.
Also I've been thinking about making some "Side Stories" that would basically be the secondary and companion quests, but I don't know if that would count as filler, I do understand that filler is not necessarily bad, but I would like to know you guys opinions.
Anyways, hope you enjoyed!