[24] Naming ceremony – En’s name
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We reached the end of the third arc, but will there still be surprises in the final chapter?

 

"Stay relaxed. Everything will be fine."

Crete began to mumble, but before the circle began to glow, a tendril came from the side and stuffed her mouth.

"Sorry, Sorry."

Aigle had appeared out of nowhere and was standing behind Crete.

"If you don't mind, I'll take over this rabbit."

Aigle’s smile was mischievous, and I could see Crete winced.

"Please, sister."

Crete voluntarily let her do it.

"En, ready?"

Aigle laughed as she took a step forward and got ready to begin.

"Yes."

I answered her.

"All right!?"

Aigle laughed and started mumbling something.

The magic circle began to glow in the faint green light. Aigle stopped her mumbling and paused for a moment before starting again.

"En, your name should be from no-."

Aigle couldn't finish her sentence because the circle had changed color into a deep red.

"Never! I will not allow it!"

The voice in my head echoed. Her voice was full of anger.

"Crete!"

Aigle responded and ordered Crete to do something. Crete then disappeared, and before I knew it, Crete was standing behind me together with Myrani.

“En!”

Si wanted to run to me, but Crete hurled her away with a tendril.

"Get out of here!"

Crete was bitterly serious, but I didn't quite understand what was happening here.

"You can't stop me!"

Black spears came out of my shadow and attacked the three.

What's going on here!

"You worm, be quiet!"

The voice boomed in my head.

"En, fight it!"

F*ck off!?

I cursed the voice in my head, but my vision darkened as it went away. This was not due to me but to the black matter pouring out of my shadow.

“Aigle, Crete!? What are we up against?"

I could hear Myrani's worried voice.

“This magic belongs to someone who shouldn't be in this world anymore!? Someone who doesn't belong here anymore!"

Crete yelled against the wind.

“It's just a fragment!? We should be able to seal this fragment! We can do it."

"Never!"

A pressure wave of black matter tried to push the three away, but the barriers they erected to guard themself held.

“You two need to hold a barrier around her!? I'm going and try to seal it now!?”

Aigle screamed against the wind. The storm that the black matter created got worse. She began to take slow steps towards me. The other-self tried, again and again, to push her away, but Aigle couldn't be dissuaded.

Aigle dropped on her knees. She tried to reach me with her hand, but her hand was shredded by the dark matter. She withdrew the rest of the arm and let it regenerate with her magic. Again she tried to grab me with her hand, but her hand was destroyed again.

"En, fight, or we won't be able to save you!"

What should I do!? What, just what!?

I tried to stop the magic, but I had no control over my body.

“You can't do anything!"

The other-self laughed maliciously.

I won't give up.

“And I warned you! I told you if we meet a second time, your existence will come to an end. Now is the time!"

Never!

I stopped trying to control my body. I tried to get into the room where I faced the colossal shadow last time.

 

===

 

Everything was black around me. The wind, the voices, or the dark thoughts were gone.

Have I failed? No, not yet!

"Where are you?"

I screamed into the dark.

My voice echoed, but no answer came back.

Fire!?

I spread several flames in all directions to illuminate the area, but everything vanished in the dark.

I scrape ahead in the dark, disoriented and without a plan.

What?

Suddenly a bell rang in my ear. I squeezed my eyes shut and shook my head to banish the sound. When I opened my eyes again, the bells stopped, and floating torches lighted my path.

I followed the path until the torches ended and formed a space.

"Welcome to the end of the path."

The shape of a person appeared in the center. She sat on a black chair and looked over at me.

"My path will not end here!"

The person jumped angrily from the chair, causing the chair to fall backward.

"Do you actually know who I am!?"

Her voice trembled in anger. No, it wasn't just her voice that shook. Everything shook! Even my own body was affected, and I couldn't move.

She came closer to me and walked around me, caressing my back. Her touch let my body shiver.

"Who do you think you are? A human? A rabbit? No, you are just a living shell, a placeholder to give me a new life. I am the delusion. I am the deceit. I was born from the night1Nyx and the darkness2Erebus. I am Apate3Apate is the daughter of the goddess Nyx and god Erebus in Greek mythology. She herself is a Daemon, a lesser goddess.."

Her shape took on contours, and a woman was standing opposite of me, maybe in her early twenties. Her hair was pitch black, and so were her eyes. On her back was a pair of black wings.

"I'll finish thi-"

Something like a pressure wave pushed her away from me and forced her onto her knees.

"What?"

She tried to get up, but a second blast forced her back on her knees.

A magic circle appeared behind her, and another pressure tried to push her onto the magic circle, but she resisted.

"I think it's my turn to finish it!"

I shot a salve of fireballs at her and hurled her against the circle.

 

===

 

I opened my eyes.

"Which of the two are you?"

Aigle pressed my body against the floor.

"We live in one body. Shouldn't we both know what the other did?"

I answered with the only thing I could think of.

"Well, welcome back, En."

"Wait a moment? That was the test to check that I am, I am? "

Aigle looked down at me, puzzled.

"The other would have attacked without winking."

"Apate."

"Apate?"

I looked deep into Aigle’s eyes.

"That's her name."

Aigle looked worriedly at Crete before looking back at me.

"We have sealed Apate for the time being, but we cannot estimate for how long."

"We should continue with the ceremony."

Crete suggested that we continue, which sounded strange to me.

"How so? After everything that happened?"

“We give you and your soul a name, which further banishes their power over you because her soul fragment in you is also part of your soul. Thus her soul fragment is chained under your name and loses its power. A power that you can gain."

I didn't get the whole picture, but I knew it could help me against her, and that was enough for me.

This time the three of them mumbled, and the magic circle glowed green again, but when it should turn to white, it turned red again.

“Don't stop! Go on!"

Aigle ordered the others to continue while she prepared for the next step.

"En, your name should be... Eris from now on!"

Darkness surrounded me and enveloped me. My eyes went black and an incredible pain formed in two places on my back.

F*ck! What kind of pain is that?

The pain became unbearable, and my body sagged to the floor. An incredible load was building on my back.

The darkness disappeared, and I looked into Aigle’s surprised face.

"Hey Eris, back there?"

Aigle knelt down to me.

"What happened? My back is so... heavy. "

Aigle just grinned and said nothing.

"I think you should see it for yourself."

Crete pointed to my back. I turned and looked at my back.

"W... W... wings!?"

Two black wings adorned my back. They weren't feather or bat wings but made of crystals.

"Can you move them?"

Aigle looked really strange, but I could also sense Crete's curiosity.

"I'll try it."

I swung it slowly up and down. I felt how my body slowly lifted off the ground.

"I-I am flying!?"

In disbelief, I let out my surprise.

“Can you make the wings disappear? They're made of pure magic, so it should be possible."

Aigle looked curiously at my wings.

"Let me test that."

I landed and tried. I instinctively let myself be guided, and without knowing exactly what I was doing, my wings shrank until they were completely gone4The wings can only manifest on the same spot..

"Wow!"

It was so fascinating that I only now realized Silija’s worried look.

"Si..."

"I knew it. I knew I felt something!"

I looked puzzled at Si.

"What do you mean?"

“I have felt this dark energy in you for some time, over and over again. I couldn't put it in order, but now I could see it for myself. I was afraid that you would slide into the darkness yourself, but it looks like I was wrong. "

"Si..."

I didn't know what to say, and I didn't have to either because Aigle interfered.

“Eris, Crete will take care of you for a while. Unfortunately, I have to leave again, I've been gone for too long. I am sure, Erytheia and Arethusa5In each origin of the Hesperides exists a different number of them, but Erytheia and Arethusa, such as Aigle, are the three that always exist. have gone nuts because of my long absence."

She winked as she said the last sentence.

Aigle repeated her goodbye and disappeared into the shadows of the trees. Myrani went up the tree to Vond. Only Crete stayed with us and accompanied us back to the den.

“Aigle said it, but you mustn't get it wrong. I won't stay for long as well, but I can offer you, no, you two to come with me."

"Si and Me?"

Crete shook her head at my question.

"You and Viczien."

I dropped my head. Si’s words6If you already forgot, the end of the last chapter....

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