Legacy of the Dark Sage

"Dinner will be served soon, Young Mistress," Myst informed Cyneah after preparing the coach. He looked at him and asked, "Will you dine downstairs, or will you prefer to have your dinner here?"

The master bedroom had a tea table set near the balcony so Cyneah could have her dinner there. The table might be small to serve dishes, but since she would be dining alone, it was more than enough.

"Yes, I\'ll have my dinner here. Thank you, sir Myst."

"Alright," Myst said with a smile. He looked at Raya, who silently walked toward the side of the bed to check on Kyran after closing the balcony doors.

Sensing Myst\'s gaze, Raya looked up, his expression a mix of concern and solemnity. He shook his head, a silent indication of the gravity of Kyran\'s condition.

Myst inwardly sighed and nodded. He then signaled their exit while informing Cyneah, "We will take our leave, Young Mistress. If you need anything else, just call out."

Cyneah gave a wry smile. Myst\'s telling her to call out for them if she needed anything actually meant calling out their names, literally. She did not have to shout per se and only had to say their name softly, and they would come running.

This was actually part of the sensory enhancement skills training that Myst, Raya, and the rest of the Regis were honing.

Ames suggested they train their senses. Doing this would also help stimulate the dragon blood in their veins, and if all went well, their natural senses would be enhanced without them having to activate the Regis Techniques."Thank you, sir Myst, sir Raya."

.net

Cyneah was once more left with her own thoughts after the two left.

After a few minutes, she shook her head slowly and sighed in dismay.

"I am not knowledgeable enough about Kyran\'s innate magic. So, all I can do is come up with baseless assumptions that may not be helpful."

"That may not be the case."

A female voice replied, alarming Cyneah. She wandered her eyes around, trying to figure out where the voice came from, but because she could not use her magic sense, all she saw was darkness. It was not apparent earlier because others were with her. But now that she was alone and the darkness had become evident once more, fear started to creep its way into her heart.

"You don\'t have to fret, Successor of the Soul Emperor," the female voice sensed Cyneah\'s fear and assured her immediately. My name is Shaiha. And I have been staying inside Kyran\'s sea of consciousness."

Cyneah was taken aback after hearing the voice, Shaiha, introduced herself. She was familiar with the term \'Shaiha\' because that was where Zephyr used to live. Or, to be more precise, he used to live in the Shaiha Temple.

Before Cyneah could comment on that, the rest of Shaiha\'s introduction flashed into her mind.

"You are staying inside Kyran\'s sea of consciousness?" she asked in both confusion and disbelief.

It was not impossible for another existence to enter another person\'s sea of consciousness. But Shaiha clearly said she was staying in Kyran\'s. That should have been impossible, especially when that existence possessed its own consciousness.

Seemingly sensing Cyneah\'s doubt, Shaiha explained, "It is not impossible for me because my existence is related to the Realm Scion."

"I remember now," Cyneah\'s demeanor changed as she faced the direction from which Shaiha\'s voice came. "The dragons called the Heart of the Cosmos, Shaiha."

"Because that is my name."

"That\'s why you are staying inside Kyran\'s sea of consciousness."

"You sound displeased."

"You\'re imagining it."

"... Is it?"

"You said my baseless assumptions may not exactly be useless," Cyneah veered back on topic with a deadpan expression. "Why do you think so?"

Shaiha made a face at how Cyneah abruptly changed the subject. The latter did not ignore her, but her expression and response were quite similar to Kyran\'s.

Deciding not to dwell on it, Shaiha replied, "Your knowledge of Kyran\'s magic may be limited, but you are familiar with him. Your assumptions will never be completely useless."

"...Is that so?"

"Perhaps you thought of something from what Myst said."

"I did," Cyneah admitted with a nod. "But rather than Kyran suffering from the Void, I think it has something to do with his Draconic magic."

"You are right. Ames also realized something, which is why she sought the Dragon Emperor."

Shaiha\'s admittance gave Cyneah another insight, and she said, "You know what is happening inside Kyran\'s magic cores."

"Yes. Since I have fused with his central core..." she paused slightly before adding, "At least, that was the case before I got expelled."

"\'Expelled\'?" Cyneah repeated incredulously. "You are now acting as Kyran\'s central core. Is it even physically possible for you to be expelled?"

"Just my consciousness, of course. My body is still inside Kyran\'s sea of consciousness. If not, he would have suffered a far more grave condition than having a high fever."

Cyneah did not need Shaiha to elaborate on that. She knew quite well what would happen if even one of Kyran\'s magic cores disappeared. Not to mention if that was his central core.

"In any case, I can only communicate with you because you are... the Soul core\'s current vessel. You may not possess it, but you are bound by it with an invisible thread. This means you will be able to hear my voice as well."

Cyneah remained silent. But inwardly, she knew Shaiha only said she could hear her voice because she could not see. If Stella was present, it was likely that she could also see Shaiha.

"What do you think happened that Kyran ended up in this state?" Shaiha asked after a short pause.

"It is only a guess, but it may have started right after he unleashed his Void Domain."

Shaiha nodded, "You are partially correct."

Cyneah furrowed her brows, "Partially?"

"The Void Domain\'s effect is to cut off all magic energy activity in the surroundings. This will then prevent anyone within its area of effect from circulating their magic energy. This also means that any active spell or array will be removed."

"Yes. I\'m aware," Cyneah agreed. She did not bother to expound that Kyran was actually worried she would overuse the mirror\'s magic energy, which was why he summoned his domain.

"Unfortunately, when he used the domain, he unwittingly removed an active seal."

Cyneah\'s eyes widened as she realized what Shaiha was trying to say, "Are you saying that there is a seal in the location where he used the Void Domain?"

Shaiha shook her head with a sigh, "No... Actually, I am not sure. Because the Dragon Emperor would not have beaten Kyran up until you ended up in that location if there was an array with a seal nearby. But it is not as if the Dragon Emperor knew the effect of Kyran\'s Domain or that he would use it because, let\'s face it, who in the Higher Realm would stay on guard against a Domain?

If it is a Dimension, maybe. But we are talking about a dragon here. Never mind a Domain, they did not even care about Dimensions."

Cyneah smiled wryly. She also noticed that dragons could not be bothered with Dimension. Though in the Higher Realm, having a powerful Dimension would dictate the flow of battle between two mages, the dragons believed their raw strength was enough to overpower any Dimension.

"Still, Kyran indeed removed a seal, and because of that, his Draconic core reacted. Now... well, the Draconic magic energy in his body had gone haywire and I am only barely containing it. Because of that, I did not notice another consciousness within that surging energy and failed to protect my place, which is why I got expelled."

"Another consciousness?" Cyneah repeated, raising her brows in sudden realization. "You don\'t mean... a remnant consciousness that was residing in his Draconic Core, right?"

Shaiha\'s face lit up when she guessed Cyneah\'s train of thought. But then her face darkened because something did not make sense to her.

"It is true that previous owners of Ancient Magic Cores may leave behind a remnant of their consciousness within. But... so far, the only consciousness I had sensed was Caelan\'s. I don\'t think Zane left a remnant in the Draconic core."

"From what I was told, only sister Stella... or rather, the Time Keepers, had several predecessors," Cyneah started as another thought crossed her mind. "So the Time Core possessing several remnant consciousnesses may be possible, right?"

"Yes."

"But... who are the first predecessors of the Ancient Magic?"

Shaiha frowned, "Are you asking whether the first predecessors are indeed the first ones?"

Cyneah nodded.

Shaiha sighed, "I kind of understand what you\'re trying to say, but... I\'ll let Kyran explain more about what the Ancient Magic Cores are—."

"They are artificially made. I know that. But before you can create an artificial one, you need a sample. Whose Ancient Magic Cores did the Ancients use when they conducted tests to create artificial ones?"

Shaiha gaped at Cyneah in shock as she started to make sense of what she truly wanted to say, "You... you\'re thinking of something really dangerous."

"I just think there is more to why Kyran\'s Draconic Core reacted after a seal was removed by his Void Domain. He used his domain in the Lower Realm, but none of this happened before. So why now? Why, when he was in the Dragon Plane?"