Jared caught the pull of an irresistible force tearing at his awareness, trying to strip his soul out of this body.
It felt like an invisible hand had closed around his throat. He couldn''t breathe. He couldn''t fight back. He could only watch as he was dragged, little by little, down into
the abyss.
"Give it up, child," the phantom said, with a thin note of pity in his voice. "Your body is mine."
Then the Aureate Codex suddenly red.
Not that soft glow from before. This was blinding, scorching golden radiance, fierce as the sun itself.
That radiance turned into golden pirs of light and shot straight at the ice-blue phantom hanging above the consciousness field.
The phantom''s face changed on the spot, and he threw open his ice-wings to block
it.
But the force inside those golden pirs of light was far too terrifying.
The ice-wings melted away the instant they touched the golden radiance.
Several holes were sted straight through the phantom''s body by the pir of me, and the icy blue radiance around him dimmed at once.
"Ah!"
The phantom let out a shrill, ragged scream.
Every bit of it came out packed with refusal and naked dread.
"The Aureate Codex... how could it have power like this... impossible... impossible!"
The Aureate Codex zed brighter and brighter.
Before long, the entire consciousness field was swallowed under golden radiance.
Inside that light, the icy blue phantom shrank and dissolved as fast as snow thrown under a zing sun.
It struggled with everything it had to escape Jared''s consciousness field.
But the golden radiance had already sealed into an invisible barrier and trapped it inside so tightly it couldn''t break free.
In no more than a few breaths, that phantom had shrunk from a human shape into an icy blue sphere no bigger than a fist.
It floated above the consciousness field, trembling nonstop.
Its glow had faded to the edge of extinction, like an oilmp that could go out at any second.
The light from the Aureate Codex slowly drew back and returned to the same soft state it had before.
But it had notpletely loosened its hold.
Around the icy blue sphere, a faint golden halo still circled like a cage, locking it down tight.
Jared dragged in great, rough breaths as his consciousness took control of his body again.
He opened his eyes and saw Gwendolyn staring at him.
Sweat covered her forehead.
"How are you?" Her voice shook.
Jared parted his lips, trying to answer.
But when he finally pushed sound out, his voice came rough and hoarse, barely sounding like his own.
"I... I''m fine."
Jared pushed himself up and closed his eyes.
He reached back into his consciousness field to check what was happening inside.
The icy blue sphere was still hanging above his consciousness field, locked in ce by that ring of golden light.
It wasn''t trying to snatch his body anymore.
It just stayed there in silence, like a trapped beast shoved into a cage.
A weak ripple of spiritual intent came from inside the sphere.
"I... give up."
It was Aldric''s voice, weaker than before by a hundredfold.
"The Aureate Codex... is protecting you... I can''t snatch your body... spare me... and
I can... serve you..."
Jared said nothing for a moment.
He had no intention of keeping a threat like that alive.
But Aldric was the progenitor of the Frost Deity Branch.
He was Gwendolyn''s ancestor too, and Jared couldn''t make that call on his own.
He opened his eyes and told Gwendolyn what had happened in his consciousness field.
After she heard him out, Gwendolyn stayed quiet for a long time.
Then she let out a soft sigh.
"Let him live."
"Spare him," Gwendolyn said.
Her voice was quiet, worn thin around the edges. "He is my ancestor after all. And... he''s
trapped now He can''t threaten you” anymore. If you keep him alive, he
might still be useful someday."
Jared considered it for a moment, then nodded.
Inside his consciousness field, he sent his will toward the icy blue sphere.
"I''ll let you live. But you stay in my consciousness field and behave yourself. If you try anything again..."
He didn''t finish the sentence, but nothing about the warning was unclear.
The sphere gave a slight tremor.
"I... understand... thank you..."
The icy blue sphere slowly sank into the depths of Jared''s consciousness field.
Under the cover of the Aureate Codex''s golden halo, it fell into a dormant sleep.
Jared opened his eyes and looked at Gwendolyn.
"It''s handled."
Gwendolyn looked back at him.
There There
moworry in her eyes.
release too, and one
e of something tha
settle into any easy name.
"There is a progenitor of the celestials from the ancient age living in your consciousness field now."
A faint, crooked note touched her voice. "So how does that feel?"
Jared gave it some thought, then answered withplete seriousness.
"A little crowded."
Gwendolyn nked for a beat, thenughed.
The smile was light, but it was more real than any smile she''d shown before.
"Come on."
She got to her feet and held out her
hand.
bet
n''s go back and get some
rest the shape your body''s in right
you need to recover properly.
Jared took her hand and rose to his feet.
The two of them walked side by side toward the Worldtree.
Golden leaves swayed softly in the night wind, their rustling sound drifting through the air.
Overhead, the aurora moved in a slow, silent flow. Rose-violet radiance spilled down across them like a soft nket.
Deep beneath theke, the seven eyes of Return to the Void slowly opened a slit.
It watched the two figures receding into the distance and stayed that way for a long
time.
Then it closed its eyes and sank back into the darkness.
The dark sapphireke returned to stillness, as if nothing had ever happened.