The Astral soul system-Chapter 237: An important question

The cool evening air blew softly against his face, but Zyro couldn’t bring himself to focus on the atmosphere.

He and Zaria found the bench in the secret area of the garden, sitting down

"This place never loses it’s charm"

He mused

"Thanks,I try to look after it. Least I could do since I’m using it without permission"

"Hmmm? I thought it was made for you"

"Well...not exactly. It’s more like i found it"

That was...nee information. This school had dozens of secrets apparently.

"Alright, down to business . It’s pretty obvious we should give up on having a relatively normal school year so just tell me about Max"

He shrugged

"Zen already told you everything. A gang took him"

"Yes, but you also said his family wants to kill him"

"Uh-huh,in fact we suspect that it was someone there who hired them to grab him. We don’t know why though"

"...so we can’t trust the authorities either. They might be in on it or on his family’s payroll "

Zen nodded

"So is he...?"

"No. They need him for something "

He then recounted the letter for her from memory

"That... sounds bad"

"Definitely "

Zyro concurred.

"What do we do?"

"Well, Zen suggested saving Max, and leaving the rest to the city to deal with but -"

"You’re right "

Zyro seemed a bit surprised

"You agree?"

She nodded

"Sentinel academy is one of the most tightly guarded places on earth. They can take care of themselves "

"... okay? Well I’ve got people already looking for him. I’m guessing his watch has been deactivated so it can’t be used to track him "

Unless maybe he went back to Ava but he didn’t really want to deal with her again yet

"I’ll see what i can do"

Zaria said before going quiet. Her face was locked on her hand, staring silently for a few seconds before sighing

"You okay?"

"Who was that? And I want a straight answer this time?"

"I don’t know"

She turned to face him

"So they just showed up and tried to kill you for no reason?"

Zyro nodded firmly but that just made her sigh again 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

"Do you think... they know? About you,I mean "

"Hard to tell, but it’s possible. Unfortunately we can’t report being attacked to the school since, one, that person seems to know the dean, and two,if they do know, they haven’t told anyone...yet"

"But you don’t think it’s that, do you?"

Zyro looked pleasantly surprised, turning to face her

"It’s in your eyes. You’ve got that look that’s a mix of "i have it all figured out" and "I’m thinking ". So are you going to share with the rest of the class,or am I not worth the effort of explaining?"

Zyro winced at the sharp tone. Seems she still wasn’t happy with them. So far it seemed like everyone was disappointed in them.

"Okay, I’ll start from the beginning, but I’m only saying it once so listen up"

He took a deep breath and...

"Okay,it all started when we went through the portal to that abandoned planet. At first I heard a weird voice and..."

He spent the next five to ten minutes explaining everything with as much detail as he could, right down to Zephyr’s brother escaping and vowing to kill him.

"...So, I’ve been getting ready for him so far but i don’t know anything about him or what he’s capable of, and Zephyr’s absolutely useless in that regard so all I can do is get as strong as possible as fast as possible "

"..."

"Did...did you get all that?"

Zaria stayed quiet for a few more seconds, staring at him before suddenly blurting out

"How long can you hold your breath?"

"What?... What does that have to do with anything?"

"Nothing, just... curious "

’I don’t think he stopped to breathe once through that whole thing ’

"Zaria "

"I know,I know. I was listening. Shadow god with amnesia is stuck inside you and his psychotic brother is out to kill the both of you"

"That’s an.... oversimplification but-"

"I honestly thought you would have gotten rid of him by now. Not that I want you to"

"We... considered it but it doesn’t matter because he’s stuck with us. Meaning we have to fight him"

Zaria sighed

"I wished you’d told me sooner"

"You don’t think I’m crazy"

"You have three separate personalities. If I didn’t already think you were crazy before,why would this change anything?"

"Good point"

"I can’t help if I don’t know what’s going on"

"You... want to help me?"

Zaria rolled her eyes

"We’re friends. Of course I do, but I’m no use to you if you keep keeping me in the dark"

Zyro sighed

Sometimes he felt like he was somehow taking advantage of Zaria or manipulating her but it was neither. Unlike the others,she specifically had no reason to trust him yet she’d risked her life for his a few hours prior.

’It seems Zen was right ’

"Besides,I already know gods are real. I met one, and apparently he wants my help"

"Right,the monkey. What confuses me about Zephyr is that he apparently existed in the early ages of humanity, before technology like most deities in earth’s myths and some stories even reference him today but there never existed a god named Zephyr who controlled shadows in any mythology I know of. Not Greek,or roman or even aztec"

"Well that’s definitely weird. I wish I could help, but I don’t really know this stuff. Too bad I can’t just get the book,hehe"

Zyro suddenly looked like he had a lightbulb moment

", You’re right. You don’t... but I do"

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Nothing, just a thought "

She looked a bit suspicious but didn’t press further

"Anyway.bDo we even know this guy’s name?"

"Eh...no"

"Powers?"

"No clue "

"But he doesn’t have a body right?"

Zen nodded.

"He’s similar to Zephyr , except he doesn’t have a host"

She remembered how her hand had passed through the figure in the cloak

"You don’t think-"

"No, Zephyr’s brother was released after I joined the academy, unless that person became his host"

"Then he’d also have all his powers. Maybe Zephyr and his brother had the same shadow power "

"Maybe "

"Good,then all we need to do is find him and

... kill him"

Zyro was a bit confused by the hesitation in her voice but then he remembered. He’d never asked what her stance was on murder.

It couldn’t be too negative, right? After all she hadn’t hesitated during the the invasion.

"Well, even if that is the case. You saw what happened last time. Neither of us can fight him the way we are"

Zaria finally calmed down before looking at her arm again

"What about that thing you did when you touched my arm. My powers came back for a little bit, and they felt even stronger than before "

"Yeah, being overpowered for ten seconds before fainting doesn’t seem like a good plan. Maybe something else?"

She sighed

"Fine but how did you do it?"

"Me?I thought it was you"

Zaria froze at the response

"What? You mean it’s not an alien thing?"

Zyro shook his head

"First time it’s happened to me,or Zen,or whatever"

Well now they were both stuck. How did they explain that weird reaction then

"It felt familiar though"

"Yeah,me too. I can’t quite place my finger on it, but something did feel familiar about it,it felt... right"

Zyro looked at the system screen and it was still glitching. He asked Theia how long it would take to get back to normal but she didn’t know. He eventually closed it back and asked

"You think it had something to do with your family’s ability?"

Hearing that, Zaria froze,an awkward look on her face

"I get it, family secrets, not yours to tell, but just look into it. I’ll check on my side too "

Zaria sighed in relief, twirling her hair with her fingers

"That-"

"That’s not right"

Zyro suddenly interrupted, pointing at her hair

"What?"

"It looks different. There’s more white than there used to be before"

She suddenly looked down at her hair, groaning

"Not again"

"This happens a lot?"

"Well...no, but enough for it to be annoying"

She said, seeming a bit agitated

"Is it serious?"

"I don’t know. I don’t think so"

She answered honestly

"It just doesn’t feel right. It’ll be back to normal soon "

She added, letting it go

Zyro didn’t like that answer. If his skill level was high enough he could have used read to check her stats to see what was wrong with her body and her ability but there was basically no point even trying the way he was now

"I hope you’re right "

Zaria smiled but didn’t respond out loud

’Me too’

"So...do you wanna try it again?"

Zyro tilted his head curiously

"Hmm?"

"The thing"

She said, gesturing to her hand

Realizing what she meant, Zyro perked up

"Yeah!... but we probably shouldn’t. My system still hasn’t completely recovered from the first time, and if we fainted here,I don’t think anyone would be able to find us"

"Oh, good point... wait... system? As in nervous system?"

"Oh, that too"

"???"

Before she could say anything else, Zyro spoke first

"Is it cool if I talk to the others for a bit. Zen brought something up last time and I think we should talk more about it"

"O...kay?"

"Great,thanks!"

Zyro said, closing his eyes

A few seconds passed on the outside and Zaria just stared at him

"Hey, Zyro. Zen?... Zaine?"

She asked, waving her hand front of his face

"Hmmm"

She suddenly picked up a small stick from the ground, poking his face.

No reaction

"I wonder..."

Meanwhile on the inside, Zyro appeared in the castle, the familiar feel of the rattling chain around his neck becoming more noticable.

"So? What do we think?"

"It’s a stupid risk"

"That implies that there is a chance "

"Nothing good can come of it"

Zen let them go back and forth, eyes locked on the book currently in his lap

Eventually, Zyro turned to him

"Zen, we need a tiebreaker. I trust Zaria, and I think it’s for the best. She just risked her life for us"

Zaine rolled his eyes

"You know what could happen. It’s too important to leave in her hands"

Zen finally looked up and faced them

"Well,can we keep it?"

Zyro shook his head

"It’s too much for anyone else, but if we leave it with her it might -"

"Force us into another wall"

Zaine interrupted

Zen shrugged

"So we can’t move forward and we can’t go back. So what can we do?"

"..."

"..."

"We can’t hold on to it because it’s too risky, and we can’t give it to anyone because it’s too risky, right?"

They all exchanged glances. Why did they always end up in situations where there was no easy or right answer .

"Zaria’s a strange enough choice that no one’s first guess would be her,plus she could probably contain herself long enough, and she’d be close enough to keep an eye on, but she won’t always be able to defend herself... alright, let’s vote"

*******

His eyes suddenly fluttered open and he immediately noticed something right in front of his face

"What are you doing?"

Zaria blinked, frozen like a kid caught with their hand in the cookie jar. She threw away the marker in her hand, smiling innocently

"Nothing, just...waiting for you"

"..."

"So how did it go?"

She asked, quickly changing the subject

He went silent for a bit before suddenly pulling a coin out of his pocket

"Zaria? I’ve got a question for you?"

She was a bit surprised by the sudden serious tone and straightened up unconsciously

"Sure. Ask away"

"What do you think of us three?"