Beyond The System
Chapter 179: Echoes of the Seed

I stared at Griffith, the firelight flickering across our faces, casting shifting shadows on the armored slime squirming in my hands.

“I don’t know,” I said quietly, watching the slime wriggling, restless. “It’s probably the best move, but do you really think we should fight it? As soon as everyone wakes up?”

He blinked slowly. “No. Honestly, I’d prefer not to. But if we wait too long… the danger might only grow. Maybe it never leaves that spot, but the information that pillar may hold, it could be vital.”

I nodded, though the unease still clawed at the edges of my chest. “Further inland, the pressure is different. It’s intense, almost crushing. Even Thea and I could feel it. Like the whole world was pushing down on us spiritually.”

Griffith leaned closer to the fire, rubbing his hands together. “Then the creature must feel it too.”

“It might be adapted,” I said. “Who knows how long it’s been there. Could’ve been hunting in that kind of pressure for years while we…”

I trailed off, letting the implication settle between us.

He didn’t argue, instead rubbing his arms, contemplating my words. “You’re right. It’ll be dangerous. Maybe more than anything we’ve faced so far, but Elric’s holding on our key out. Worst-case scenario, we get to him and use the return token, and we all head back home.”

My eyes widened. “It really works from this far away?”

I'd never seen it used before, but on the first island, when it was described, I assumed it would... Well, I don't know, I guess. That place was small. Now? We’d traveled across an entire sea.

“A prince’s return token should work anywhere within the State of Stars,” he said, tone certain. “There shouldn’t be a problem with the distance we crossed”

I exhaled slowly, grateful. “So what’s the plan? Wait for everyone to wake up, then go straight in?”

Griffith shook his head. “Once Elric and Thea are done with whatever’s happening to them, we move into the first section of the ruins. Get used to the pressure. Learn the layout. Then, when we’re ready, we strike.”

“A hunt, then?”

He grunted, smirking faintly. “Maybe. Or at least enough of a pushback to let it know we’re not prey.”

I nodded and shifted topics now that we had some sort of plan. Carefully, I let go of the slime. It gave a wobble, then hopped over into Thea’s lap, content.

“How’s your foundation?” I asked, curious.

He rolled his neck, bones cracking as he rotated it in a full circle. “Different from my sketches, so I’ll need to adjust those. The restructuring, how it moves on its own, it’s really incredible. I’m trying to understand why. Why it shifts. Why the functions change. It’s like for every answer, three more questions appear.”

He looked up at the sky, eyes bright with wonder. “Our bodies… they feel built for this. Like we were meant to house these structures. Then there are our blessings—well, not yours, but…”

I laughed and waved him off. “Thanks for the reminder.”

He rubbed the back of his neck, a little sheepish. “What I mean is it all fits together. Separate pieces, but linked. The rearrangements alone say our bodies were prepared for this process. Otherwise, we’d be dealing with chaotic, wildly differing Inner Realms.”

I nodded slowly, eyelids drooping a little.

“You look tired,” Griffith said, arching an eyebrow. “Get some rest. Even if our bodies can push through it, your mentality can’t. I’ll keep watch. Good chance for me to try that Spiritual Sense you keep going on about.”

I rubbed my eyes. “Thanks. Wake me if anything happens.”

I laid down, feeling the warmth of the fire on one side and the cool night air on the other. My eyes closed almost on their own, and I slipped into sleep before I could finish another thought.

#

I will find you.

The cold and silent darkness that swallowed me slowly thinned, peeled away by the echo of my promise.

A forest passed in a blur. Men and women laughed, triumphant. I drifted through the haze like smoke, unseen.

I’ll find you. You won’t escape.

I had died. But somehow… I was still here.

In a blink, I stood on a wide-open plain, flowers and grass bowing to the wind. Above, a vast, cloudless sky stretched far past the horizon.

You will all suffer.

Hands. So many hands. I was passed between them. From person to person, smirking mouths, cold fingers, tossed like a trophy. A relic. A thing.

I WILL AVENGE MY PEOPLE.

Some of them died. My form stolen from their corpses. Extracted from there spiritual centers like I was from my own. Greed, betrayal, murder. They all blurred together. Throats slit. Trades made. Brothers turning on brothers.

It was always the same.

What was wrong with them? How could they laugh? How could they smile while my clan was gone? Reaped like wheat. Our screams ignored. Our families butchered.

My mind started to dim.

Then came the stars. A chasm of endless, infinite sky where celestial bodies drifted like glowing ghosts. We passed through light and dark as I was shoved into another pouch.

The moment I settled in, my heart or something else moved inside me.

I wasn’t alone.

My family sat there too.

Hello?! Anyone?! Please...

But none of us could speak. Or move. We were together, and utterly alone. Muted souls crammed into silence.

I prayed, begged the gods of my clan—our ancestors—any spirit that might listen, but there was no answer.

Please… Just one word. ANYTHING!

But there was nothing. Not even a whisper. Maybe I wasn't ignored. Maybe there was just no one left to hear us.

Did anyone even know what happened? That we were suffering, trapped inside prisons made from ourselves? Even among my people, I had never heard of this hell.

Dozens of stars kept passing, then hundreds. All flickering in the distance, and when we drew closer, their power danced across my surface without harm.

Eventually, the one who carried us slowed as we approached a new world filled with life. A stellar body so far from my homeland I couldn’t even grasp the distance.

We descended, the man’s golden eyes gleaming with anticipation, onyx hair flowing for the first time in… well, I didn’t know how long.

Once an invisible barrier was passed, our captor’s shoulder relaxed and he stopped.

Then the world shifted.

In an instant, we stood in a bustling town, alive with movement and sound. People filled the streets, smiling, bartering, shouting. Living.

Their skin was smooth. A few bore darker hues that reminded me faintly of my own, but none had horns. None bore the marks of my people. I’d of course seen some like that, but it was an unfortunate birth defect. Rare.

But here? These people were different.

Some rode in carriages drawn by four-legged beasts. Children played and tumbled in the streets, laughing or crying when they scraped their knees. Parents scolded or praised, and lovers whispered.

In alleyways, shadows stirred with quiet dealings and hushed voices hidden from the light.

It was peaceful.

A town that moved, breathed.

Some looked up as our captor passed, but most only offered a polite nod. He walked like he belonged with a smile, quietly observing. In the same way I was.

My rage still was there, but it had dulled. After so long adrift in nothingness, even this, watching, felt like a gift.

The only reminder of my past being the small black seeds of my people around me.

And for the first time in I don’t know how long. 

I was just glad to feel something again.

There had been time to think.

I had passed through so many hands, so many lifetimes, that I no longer even knew who was truly responsible for my clan’s destruction.

The Voidrace may have already vanished from history, erased so thoroughly they’d been forgotten by time itself. The ones who wielded the blades, or the ones who paid them... they might already be dead. Or not.

But what could I do?

Revenge? I could barely think until now. My mind drifted for years between numb silence, stray fragments of sorrow, flashes of rage, and long, echoing spirals of reflection.

And this man, whoever he truly was, had done what no one else could. He’d gathered us all in one place. Brought my people together again, even if only as seeds.

Someone so powerful that he didn’t just float through the heavens, but traversed.

Even still, I held no delusions. No false hope. I doubted he knew what we were. What I was. What any of us had once been. We were just treasures now. Beautiful things to be placed in bodies, and later carved out by strangers. Again. And again.

He stopped at a food stall, and bought buns. Hot, steaming dough filled with fragrant vegetables and meat. A greeting left his lips as he approached an older woman who froze at the sight of him.

“You grew up so well,” he smiled gently and reached for her hand.

“H—how? It… I—impossible.”

Still smiling, he placed something in her hand. A small pouch with round just like mine, smooth spheres inside.

“Your grandmother was kind to me. Even when she didn’t have to be. I miss the days we played, too,” he said softly. “Take one of these, and hide the rest. Find your family. If you want to see me again—" He pointed to a mountain in the distance. "Climb it."

The world shifted again.

A massive ornate building—no, this couldn’t be called a building. Even in my buried memories, the elders' home paled in comparison.

Though it only stood a single level high, it sprawled outward in both directions. The roof was layered with dark red tiles. Great pillars rose to support it, each one carved with gold-painted beasts twisting upward, swimming toward the sky.

The walls were made of a smooth, milk-white stone like marble.

And at the entrance, flanking the wide steps, stood two statues—massive guardian creatures with bared teeth and snarling faces, their manes rippling like flames.

I wanted to linger. To admire it all. To understand.

But before I could admire the structure more, a shout came from somewhere inside. A woman’s voice.

“Kaz!”