CH480 Thera’s Perspective

Her mother Pelenia, the current queen of Anailia happily waved at them as they drew closer, managing to look both excited and oh-so-smug.

“Mother, if you were going to come then why didn’t you just meet us at home?”

“Because then you might have tried to stop me,” She laughed. “Don’t think I don’t know how you’d react.”

“Okay, but this might end up taking a couple days. Don’t you have an entire nation to run? A nation that should be preparing for the next wave I might add?”

“You’re darling mother deserves a break too,” Pelenia told her, covering her eyes with the back of her hand and largely acting dramatic. “Besides, I already spoke with everyone that matters about this affair. They all understand and I’m sure our country will manage fine without me.”

The country will manage, yeah, but I have my doubts about how your talks went.

In Thera’s estimates, whatever advisors, employees, and others of note had likely been given little to no choice when it came to accepting what her mom wanted to do. She was too much of a free spirit to take no for an answer and pretty much all of the people under her had accepted that fact by now, even if they didn’t exactly like it and would still try to push back when it really mattered. She could only imagine plenty of them losing sleep given that they’d been given basically zero notice that the one they were working for had run off to a place where she could potentially die. If that did happen the impact on her homeland would be huge given what an important time it was for everyone, just thinking about it couldn’t help but make Thera stress out a bit herself.

“Relax sweetheart, just think of it as a little family bonding experience.”

“So you’re not doing this because you’re jealous aunty awakened her life magic?” Thera asked through narrowed eyes that her mother refused to meet. “Yeah, of course you are.”

She knew her mom’s charm was at the seventh level, there was no doubt in her mind that she was hoping that getting the blessing would give her another one so she could push it into awakening too. Symbolically, it might even be good for her to awaken it. As the queen of Anailia, awakening the skill so closely tied to their race was sure to impress a few of their people and create a good atmosphere for at least a little while in such a troubling time; though less so if they knew the motivation behind it.

In the end, she could only sigh. Whatever her mother’s reason for being there, Thera had no reason to argue against her presence. Even if Pelenia could be a bit much, they did love each other and knowing that one of the results could mean that she’d be given a few extra decades was something that would make her genuinely happy.

“Alright, just don’t get hurt,” She said in the end. “I’m pretty sure dad would try to go to war with the gods if you were injured in the tower.”

“I know, your father really is the sweetest,” She laughed, enjoying the idea far more than she was meant to when it was brought up.

“Ahem, so if that’s all sorted should we head in?” Ben asked, getting affirmatives from everyone. They were all feeling prepared, especially since they already knew what the first floor was going to contain and what their strategy would be for beating it so they joined hands to keep from being separated and went in to face the darkness within.

By all accounts, it was a straightforward one. On a floor where no light could exist, either magical or through chemical combustion, they needed to make it to the far-off exit while avoiding being led astray to any surrounding traps by the hallucinations that were going to be forced upon them.

It was straightforward as far as applications of dark magic went, but sure to be a nightmare for the average group of challengers that were forced to discern fantasy and reality without even their eyes to help them. Them though? Not so much.

There may have been no light, but her aunt Funa was a spirit, she didn’t perceive the world like that anyway. Instead, she sensed anything that interacted with her element, along with dark mana itself which the floor was flooded with. The rest of them couldn’t see, but for her, it couldn’t be brighter.

So with nothing else they could do they slowly moved forward, all of them walking with care with nothing acting on their minds for the time being either. Either the trial was waiting to show its effects or something else was at play.

“Stop!” Funa called out, but too late. A change, minor if it had happened in the light but terrible in the dark, ended up striking as each of them suddenly felt something hit their feet, making them stumble and at least one person fall, breaking the chain they’d made and letting the mental effects take root.

It seemed as if the trial had been waiting for such a thing, giving them just enough separation that they couldn’t trust their senses while the voices of the others filled the void, dozens of them calling out in confusion, with one hidden among them sounding resigned.

“It would seem the trial was designed to spring forth a few stumbling blocks to separate us if need be. Ben, be a dear and look after Thera, it seems I’m going to need to grab the other two.”

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“You got it.”

Even if he couldn’t see her, he could still reach out with his connect to find her since they were all still so close, giving her a sense of comfort as against the throng of so many other voices she knew that whatever mind effects there were probably weren’t doing much to him and felt him take her hand. Both hands in fact, pulling in opposite directions.

“Come on, this way,” They both said as one in a way that would have been reminiscent of the first trial they’d ever done together if not for how, unlike last time, one of the two didn’t have her best interest at heart.

“Don’t worry, I’m real, come on this way.”

“The others are just over here, come on.”

“Yeah, I have no clue which voice to trust here,” She muttered, getting a reaction from both.

“Which voice?” They again asked as one before they presumably connected to her, hearing what the other had to say through her mind.

“I’ll admit, he sounds cute so I get why you might be fooled, but I’m definitely the real one,” The one holding onto her left hand said.

“Ignore his sultry tone, neither of us can let ourselves be led by him no matter how handsome he sounds,” The one on her right spoke back, making her want to drop both hands to grab her head.

“You know, I would have thought the fake one would try and take this a bit more seriously.”

“That would be a bit of a giveaway, don’t you think?”

“Which does lead to the small problem of how I’m going to prove I’m real. Funa, want to give her a clue?”